<!entity history SYSTEM "history.sgml">
<!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
<!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
+<!entity GPLv2 SYSTEM "../../LICENSE">
<!entity p-authors SYSTEM "p-authors.sgml">
<!entity config SYSTEM "p-config.sgml">
-<!entity p-version "3.0.20">
-<!entity p-status "UNRELEASED">
+<!entity changelog SYSTEM "changelog.sgml">
+<!entity p-version "3.0.25">
+<!entity p-status "beta">
<!entity % p-authors-formal "INCLUDE"> <!-- include additional text, etc -->
<!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
<!entity % p-stable "IGNORE">
This file belongs into
ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
- $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.152 2012/10/29 12:02:55 fabiankeil Exp $
+ $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.212 2016/05/25 10:50:55 fabiankeil Exp $
- Copyright (C) 2001-2011 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
+ Copyright (C) 2001-2016 Privoxy Developers https://www.privoxy.org/
See LICENSE.
========================================================================
<subscript>
<!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
<!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
- <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001-2011 by
- <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
+ <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001-2016 by
+ <ulink url="https://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
</subscript>
</pubdate>
-<pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.152 2012/10/29 12:02:55 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
+<pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.212 2016/05/25 10:50:55 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
<!--
<para>
The <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
install, configure and use <ulink
- url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>.
+ url="https://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>.
</para>
<!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
<para>
You can find the latest version of the <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> at <ulink
- url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
+ url="https://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">https://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> on how to
contact the developers.
</para>
-<!-- <para> -->
-<!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
-<!-- </para> -->
</abstract>
</artheader>
<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;[,
+ <application>Privoxy</application>, &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 a new version is currently nearing
<application>Privoxy</application> is available both in convenient pre-compiled
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
+ <ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
Page</ulink>.
</para>
<!-- XXX: The installation sections should be sorted -->
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat and Fedora RPMs</title>
-
-<para>
- RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
- and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
- of configuration files.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
- <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
- need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
- <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
- <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
- will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
- on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
- Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
- automatically if found, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
-</para>
-</sect3>
-
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian and Ubuntu</title>
<para>
</sect3>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris <!--, NetBSD, 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, more info needed? -->
-</para>
-</sect3>
-
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
you downloaded a ready-built installation package (.pkg or .mpkg) or have
downloaded the source code.
</para>
+</sect3>
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="OS-X-install-from-package">
<title>Installation from ready-built package</title>
<para>
To uninstall, run /Applications/Privoxy/uninstall.command as sudo from an
administrator account.
</para>
+</sect3>
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="OS-X-install-from-source">
<title>Installation from source</title>
<para>
</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<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="installation-tbz"><title>FreeBSD</title>
+<sect3 id="installation-freebsd"><title>FreeBSD</title>
<para>
Privoxy is part of FreeBSD's Ports Collection, you can build and install
it with <literal>cd /usr/ports/www/privoxy; make install clean</literal>.
</para>
-<para>
- If you don't use the ports, you can fetch and install
- the package with <literal>pkg_add -r privoxy</literal>.
-</para>
-<para>
- The port skeleton and the package can also be downloaded from the
- <ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">File Release
- Page</ulink>, but there's no reason to use them unless you're interested in the
- beta releases which are only available there.
-</para>
-</sect3>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 id="installattion-gentoo"><title>Gentoo</title>
-<para>
- 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 --sync</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>
<para>
The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
is to download the source tarball from our
- <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&package_id=10571">project download
+ <ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/files/Sources/">project download
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
+ version directly from <ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/p/ijbswa/code/?source=navbar">the
CVS repository</ulink>.
<!--
deprecated...out of business.
</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.
+ url="https://lists.privoxy.org/mailman/listinfo/privoxy-announce">subscribe
+ to our announce mailing list</ulink>, privoxy-announce@lists.privoxy.org.
</para>
<para>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect1 id="whatsnew">
<title>What's New in this Release</title>
+
+&changelog;
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+
+<sect2 id="upgradersnote">
+<title>Note to Upgraders</title>
+
<para>
- <application>Privoxy 3.0.19</application> is a stable release.
- The changes since 3.0.18 stable are:
+ A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
+ versions of <application>Privoxy</application>:
</para>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The recommended way to upgrade &my-app; is to backup your old
+ configuration files, install the new ones, verify that &my-app;
+ is working correctly and finally merge back your changes using
+ <application>diff</application> and maybe <application>patch</application>.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ There are a number of new features in each &my-app; release and
+ most of them have to be explicitly enabled in the configuration
+ files. Old configuration files obviously don't do that and due
+ to syntax changes using old configuration files with a new
+ &my-app; isn't always possible anyway.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Note that some installers remove earlier versions completely,
+ including configuration files, therefore you should really save
+ any important configuration files!
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ On the other hand, other installers don't overwrite existing configuration
+ files, thinking you will want to do that yourself.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ In the default configuration only fatal errors are logged now.
+ You can change that in the <link linkend="DEBUG">debug section</link>
+ of the configuration file. You may also want to enable more verbose
+ logging until you verified that the new &my-app; version is working
+ as expected.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Three other config file settings are now off by default:
+ <link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link>,
+ <link linkend="enable-remote-http-toggle">enable-remote-http-toggle</link>,
+ and <link linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link>.
+ If you use or want these, you will need to explicitly enable them, and
+ be aware of the security issues involved.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+<!--
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ What constitutes a <quote>default</quote> configuration has changed,
+ and you may want to review which actions are <quote>on</quote> by
+ default. This is primarily a matter of emphasis, but some features
+ you may have been used to, may now be <quote>off</quote> by default.
+ There are also a number of new actions and filters you may want to
+ consider, most of which are not fully incorporated into the default
+ settings as yet (see above).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+-->
+<!--
+ <listitem>
<para>
- Bug fixes:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Prevent a segmentation fault when de-chunking buffered content.
- It could be triggered by malicious web servers if Privoxy was
- configured to filter the content and running on a platform
- where SIZE_T_MAX isn't larger than UINT_MAX, which probably
- includes most 32-bit systems. On those platforms, all Privoxy
- versions before 3.0.19 appear to be affected.
- To be on the safe side, this bug should be presumed to allow
- code execution as proving that it doesn't seems unrealistic.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Do not expect a response from the SOCKS4/4A server until it
- got something to respond to. This regression was introduced
- in 3.0.18 and prevented the SOCKS4/4A negotiation from working.
- Reported by qqqqqw in #3459781.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
+ The default actions setting is now <literal>Cautious</literal>. Previous
+ releases had a default setting of <literal>Medium</literal>. Experienced
+ users may want to adjust this, as it is fairly conservative by &my-app;
+ standards and past practices. See <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
+ http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>. New users
+ should try the default settings for a while before turning up the volume.
</para>
</listitem>
+
<listitem>
<para>
- General improvements:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Fix an off-by-one in an error message about connect failures.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Use a GNUMakefile variable for the webserver root directory and
- update the path. Sourceforge changed it which broke various
- web-related targets.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Update the CODE_STATUS description.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
+ The default setting has filtering turned <emphasis>off</emphasis>, which
+ subsequently means that compression is <emphasis>on</emphasis>. Remember
+ that filtering does not work on compressed pages, so if you use, or want to
+ use, filtering, you will need to force compression off. Example:
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+ { +<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{google} +<link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link> }
+ .google.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Or if you use a number of filters, or filter many sites, you may just want
+ to turn off compression for all sites in
+ <filename>default.action</filename> (or
+ <filename>user.action</filename>).
</para>
+
</listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Also, <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> is
+ off by default now. If you've liked this feature in the past, you may want
+ to turn it back on in <filename>user.action</filename> now.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Some installers may not automatically start
+ <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+-->
+
</itemizedlist>
</para>
-<para>
- The following changes were made between 3.0.17 and 3.0.18:
-</para>
+</sect2>
+</sect1>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using Privoxy</title>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Bug fixes:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- If a generated redirect URL contains characters RFC 3986 doesn't
- permit, they are (re)encoded. Not doing this makes Privoxy versions
- from 3.0.5 to 3.0.17 susceptible to HTTP response splitting (CWE-113)
- attacks if the +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} action is used.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Fix a logic bug that could cause Privoxy to reuse a server
- socket after it got tainted by a server-header-tagger-induced
- block that was triggered before the whole server response had
- been read. If keep-alive was enabled and the request following
- the blocked one was to the same host and using the same forwarding
- settings, Privoxy would send it on the tainted server socket.
- While the server would simply treat it as a pipelined request,
- Privoxy would later on fail to properly parse the server's
- response as it would try to parse the unread data from the
- first response as server headers for the second one.
- Regression introduced in 3.0.17.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- When implying keep-alive in client_connection(), remember that
- the client didn't. Fixes a regression introduced in 3.0.13 that
- would cause Privoxy to wait for additional client requests after
- receiving a HTTP/1.1 request with "Connection: close" set
- and connection sharing enabled.
- With clients which terminates the client connection after detecting
- that the whole body has been received it doesn't really matter,
- but with clients that don't the connection would be kept open until
- it timed out.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Fix a subtle race condition between prepare_csp_for_next_request()
- and sweep(). A thread preparing itself for the next client request
- could briefly appear to be inactive.
- If all other threads were already using more recent files,
- the thread could get its files swept away under its feet.
- So far this has only been reproduced while stress testing in
- valgrind while touching action files in a loop. It's unlikely
- to have caused any actual problems in the real world.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Disable filters if SDCH compression is used unless filtering is forced.
- If SDCH was combined with a supported compression algorithm, Privoxy
- previously could try to decompress it and ditch the Content-Encoding
- header even though the SDCH compression wasn't dealt with.
- Reported by zebul666 in #3225863.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Make a copy of the --user value and only mess with that when splitting
- user and group. On some operating systems modifying the value directly
- is reflected in the output of ps and friends and can be misleading.
- Reported by zepard in #3292710.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- If forwarded-connect-retries is set, only retry if Privoxy is actually
- forwarding the request. Previously direct connections would be retried
- as well.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Fixed a small memory leak when retrying connections with IPv6
- support enabled.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Remove an incorrect assertion in compile_dynamic_pcrs_job_list()
- It could be triggered by a pcrs job with an invalid pcre
- pattern (for example one that contains a lone quantifier).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- If the --user argument user[.group] contains a dot, always bail out
- if no group has been specified. Previously the intended, but undocumented
- (and apparently untested), behaviour was to try interpreting the whole
- argument as user name, but the detection was flawed and checked for '0'
- instead of '\0', thus merely preventing group names beginning with a zero.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In html_code_map[], use a numeric character reference instead of '
- which wasn't standardized before XHTML 1.0.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Fix an invalid free when compiled with FEATURE_GRACEFUL_TERMINATION
- and shut down through http://config.privoxy.org/die
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In get_actions(), fix the "temporary" backwards compatibility hack
- to accept block actions without reason.
- It also covered other actions that should be rejected as invalid.
- Reported by Billy Crook.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- General improvements:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Privoxy can (re)compress buffered content before delivering
- it to the client. Disabled by default as most users wouldn't
- benefit from it.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} action checks URL
- segments separately. If there are other parameters behind
- the redirect URL, this makes it unnecessary to cut them off
- by additionally using a +redirect{} pcrs command.
- Initial patch submitted by Jamie Zawinski in #3429848.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- When loading action sections, verify that the referenced filters
- exist. Currently missing filters only result in an error message,
- but eventually the severity will be upgraded to fatal.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Allow to bind to multiple separate addresses.
- Patch set submitted by Petr Pisar in #3354485.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Set socket_error to errno if connecting fails in rfc2553_connect_to().
- Previously rejected direct connections could be incorrectly reported
- as DNS issues if Privoxy was compiled with IPv6 support.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Adjust url_code_map[] so spaces are replaced with %20 instead of '+'
- While '+' can be used by client's submitting form data, this is not
- actually what Privoxy is using the lookups for. This is more of a
- cosmetic issue and doesn't fix any known problems.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- When compiled without FEATURE_FAST_REDIRECTS, do not silently
- ignore +fast-redirect{} directives
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Added a workaround for GNU libc's strptime() reporting negative
- year values when the parsed year is only specified with two digits.
- On affected systems cookies with such a date would not be turned
- into session cookies by the +session-cookies-only action.
- Reported by Vaeinoe in #3403560
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Fixed bind failures with certain GNU libc versions if no non-loopback
- IP address has been configured on the system. This is mainly an issue
- if the system is using DHCP and Privoxy is started before the network
- is completely configured.
- Reported by Raphael Marichez in #3349356.
- Additional insight from Petr Pisar.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Privoxy log messages now use the ISO 8601 date format %Y-%m-%d.
- It's only slightly longer than the old format, but contains
- the full date including the year and allows sorting by date
- (when grepping in multiple log files) without hassle.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In get_last_url(), do not bother trying to decode URLs that do
- not contain at least one '%' sign. It reduces the log noise and
- a number of unnecessary memory allocations.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In case of SOCKS5 failures, dump the socks response in the log message.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Simplify the signal setup in main().
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Streamline socks5_connect() slightly.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In socks5_connect(), require a complete socks response from the server.
- Previously Privoxy didn't care how much data the server response
- contained as long as the first two bytes contained the expected
- values. While at it, shrink the buffer size so Privoxy can't read
- more than a whole socks response.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In chat(), do not bother to generate a client request in case of
- direct CONNECT requests. It will not be used anyway.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Reduce server_last_modified()'s stack size.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Shorten get_http_time() by using strftime().
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Constify the known_http_methods pointers in unknown_method().
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Constify the time_formats pointers in parse_header_time().
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Constify the formerly_valid_actions pointers in action_used_to_be_valid().
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Introduce a GNUMakefile MAN_PAGE variable that defaults to privoxy.1.
- The Debian package uses section 8 for the man page and this
- should simplify the patch.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deduplicate the INADDR_NONE definition for Solaris by moving it to jbsockets.h
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In block_url(), ditch the obsolete workaround for ancient Netscape versions
- that supposedly couldn't properly deal with status code 403.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Remove a useless NULL pointer check in load_trustfile().
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Remove two useless NULL pointer checks in load_one_re_filterfile().
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Change url_code_map[] from an array of pointers to an array of arrays
- It removes an unnecessary layer of indirection and on 64bit system reduces
- the size of the binary a bit.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Fix various typos. Fixes taken from Debian's 29_typos.dpatch by Roland Rosenfeld.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Add a dok-tidy GNUMakefile target to clean up the messy HTML
- generated by the other dok targets.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- GNUisms in the GNUMakefile have been removed.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Change the HTTP version in static responses to 1.1
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Synced config.sub and config.guess with upstream
- 2011-11-11/386c7218162c145f5f9e1ff7f558a3fbb66c37c5.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Add a dedicated function to parse the values of toggles. Reduces duplicated
- code in load_config() and provides better error handling. Invalid or missing
- toggle values are now a fatal error instead of being silently ignored.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Terminate HTML lines in static error messages with \n instead of \r\n.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Simplify cgi_error_unknown() a bit.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In LogPutString(), don't bother looking at pszText when not
- actually logging anything.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Change ssplit()'s fourth parameter from int to size_t.
- Fixes a clang complaint.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Add a warning that the statistics currently can't be trusted.
- Mention Privoxy-Log-Parser's --statistics option as
- an alternative for the time being.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In rfc2553_connect_to(), start setting cgi->error_message on error.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Change the expected status code returned for http://p.p/die depending
- on whether or not FEATURE_GRACEFUL_TERMINATION is available.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In cgi_die(), mark the client connection for closing.
- If the client will fetch the style sheet through another connection
- it gets the main thread out of the accept() state and should thus
- trigger the actual shutdown.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Add a proper CGI message for cgi_die().
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Don't enforce a logical line length limit in read_config_line().
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Slightly refactor server_last_modified() to remove useless gmtime*() calls.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In get_content_type(), also recognize '.jpeg' as JPEG extension.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Add '.png' to the list of recognized file extensions in get_content_type().
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In block_url(), consistently use the block reason "Request blocked by Privoxy"
- In two places the reason was "Request for blocked URL" which hides the
- fact that the request got blocked by Privoxy and isn't necessarily
- correct as the block may be due to tags.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In listen_loop(), reload the configuration files after accepting
- a new connection instead of before.
- Previously the first connection that arrived after a configuration
- change would still be handled with the old configuration.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In chat()'s receive-data loop, skip a client socket check if
- the socket will be written to right away anyway. This can
- increase the transfer speed for unfiltered content on fast
- network connections.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The socket timeout is used for SOCKS negotiations as well which
- previously couldn't timeout.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Don't keep the client connection alive if any configuration file
- changed since the time the connection came in. This is closer to
- Privoxy's behaviour before keep-alive support for client connection
- has been added and also less confusing in general.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Treat all Content-Type header values containing the pattern
- 'script' as a sign of text. Reported by pribog in #3134970.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Action file improvements:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Moved the site-specific block pattern section below the one for the
- generic patterns so for requests that are matched in both, the block
- reason for the domain is shown which is usually more useful than showing
- the one for the generic pattern.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Remove -prevent-compression from the fragile alias. It's no longer
- used anywhere by default and isn't known to break stuff anyway.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Add a (disabled) section to block various Facebook tracking URLs.
- Reported by Dan Stahlke in #3421764.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Add a (disabled) section to rewrite and redirect click-tracking
- URLs used on news.google.com.
- Reported by Dan Stahlke in #3421755.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Unblock linuxcounter.net/.
- Reported by Dan Stahlke in #3422612.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Block 'www91.intel.com/' which is used by Omniture.
- Reported by Adam Piggott in #3167370.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Disable the handle-as-empty-doc-returns-ok option and mark it as deprecated.
- Reminded by tceverling in #2790091.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Add ".ivwbox.de/" to the "Cross-site user tracking" section.
- Reported by Nettozahler in #3172525.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Unblock and fast-redirect ".awin1.com/.*=http://".
- Reported by Adam Piggott in #3170921.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Block "b.collective-media.net/".
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Widen the Debian popcon exception to "qa.debian.org/popcon".
- Seen in Debian's 05_default_action.dpatch by Roland Rosenfeld.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Block ".gemius.pl/" which only seems to be used for user tracking.
- Reported by johnd16 in #3002731. Additional input from Lee and movax.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Disable banners-by-size filters for '.thinkgeek.com/'.
- The filter only seems to catch pictures of the inventory.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Block requests for 'go.idmnet.bbelements.com/please/showit/'.
- Reported by kacperdominik in #3372959.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Unblock adainitiative.org/.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Add a fast-redirects exception for '.googleusercontent.com/.*=cache'.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Add a fast-redirects exception for webcache.googleusercontent.com/.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Unblock http://adassier.wordpress.com/ and http://adassier.files.wordpress.com/.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Filter file improvements:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Let the yahoo filter hide '.ads'.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Let the msn filter hide overlay ads for Facebook 'likes' in search
- results and elements with the id 's_notf_div'. They only seem to be
- used to advertise site 'enhancements'.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Let the js-events filter additionally disarm setInterval().
- Suggested by dg1727 in #3423775.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Documentation improvements:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Clarify the effect of compiling Privoxy with zlib support.
- Suggested by dg1727 in #3423782.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Point out that the SourceForge messaging system works like a black
- hole and should thus not be used to contact individual developers.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Mention some of the problems one can experience when not explicitly
- configuring an IP addresses as listen address.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Explicitly mention that hostnames can be used instead of IP addresses
- for the listen-address, that only the first address returned will be
- used and what happens if the address is invalid.
- Requested by Calestyo in #3302213.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Log message improvements:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- If only the server connection is kept alive, do not pretend to
- wait for a new client request.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Remove a superfluous log message in forget_connection().
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In chat(), properly report missing server responses as such
- instead of calling them empty.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In forwarded_connect(), fix a log message nobody should ever see.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Fix a log message in socks5_connect(), a failed write operation
- was logged as failed read operation.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Let load_one_actions_file() properly complain about a missing
- '{' at the beginning of the file.
- Simply stating that a line is invalid isn't particularly helpful.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Do not claim to listen on a socket until Privoxy actually does.
- Patch submitted by Petr Pisar #3354485
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Prevent a duplicated LOG_LEVEL_CLF message when sending out
- the "no-server-data" response.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Also log the client socket when dropping a connection.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Include the destination host in the 'Request ... marked for
- blocking. limit-connect{...} doesn't allow CONNECT ...' message
- Patch submitted by Saperski in #3296250.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Prevent a duplicated log message if none of the resolved IP
- addresses were reachable.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In connect_to(), do not pretend to retry if forwarded-connect-retries
- is zero or unset.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- When a specified user or group can't be found, put the name in
- single-quotes when logging it.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In rfc2553_connect_to(), explain getnameinfo() errors better.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Remove a useless log message in chat().
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- When retrying to connect, also log the maximum number of connection
- attempts.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Rephrase a log message in compile_dynamic_pcrs_job_list().
- Divide the error code and its meaning with a colon. Call the pcrs
- job dynamic and not the filter. Filters may contain dynamic and
- non-dynamic pcrs jobs at the same time. Only mention the name of
- the filter or tagger, but don't claim it's a filter when it could
- be a tagger.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In a fatal error message in load_one_actions_file(), cover both
- URL and TAG patterns.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In pcrs_strerror(), properly report unknown positive error code
- values as such. Previously they were handled like 0 (no error).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In compile_dynamic_pcrs_job_list(), also log the actual error code as
- pcrs_strerror() doesn't handle all errors reported by pcre.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Don't bother trying to continue chatting if the client didn't ask for it.
- Reduces log noise a bit.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Make two fatal error message in load_one_actions_file() more descriptive.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In cgi_send_user_manual(), log when rejecting a file name due to '/' or '..'.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In load_file(), log a message if opening a file failed.
- The CGI error message alone isn't too helpful.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In connection_destination_matches(), improve two log messages
- to help understand why the destinations don't match.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Rephrase a log message in serve(). Client request arrival
- should be differentiated from closed client connections now.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In serve(), log if a client connection isn't reused due to a
- configuration file change.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Let mark_server_socket_tainted() always mark the server socket tainted,
- just don't talk about it in cases where it has no effect. It doesn't change
- Privoxy's behaviour, but makes understanding the log file easier.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- configure:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Added a --disable-ipv6-support switch for platforms where support
- is detected but doesn't actually work.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Do not check for the existence of strerror() and memmove() twice
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Remove a useless test for setpgrp(2). Privoxy doesn't need it and
- it can cause problems when cross-compiling.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Rename the --disable-acl-files switch to --disable-acl-support.
- Since about 2001, ACL directives are specified in the standard
- config file.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Update the URL of the 'Removing outdated PCRE version after the
- next stable release' posting. The old URL stopped working after
- one of SF's recent site "optimizations". Reported by Han Liu.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Privoxy-Regression-Test:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Added --shuffle-tests option to increase the chances of detection race conditions.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Added a --local-test-file option that allows to use Privoxy-Regression-Test without Privoxy.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Added tests for missing socks4 and socks4a forwarders.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The --privoxy-address option now works with IPv6 addresses containing brackets, too.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Perform limited sanity checks for parameters that are supposed to have numerical values.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Added a --sleep-time option to specify a number of seconds to
- sleep between tests, defaults to 0.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Disable the range-requests tagger for tests that break if it's enabled.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Log messages use the ISO 8601 date format %Y-%m-%d.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Fix spelling in two error messages.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In the --help output, include a list of supported tests and their default levels.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Adjust the tests to properly deal with FEATURE_TOGGLE being disabled.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Privoxy-Log-Parser:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Perform limited sanity checks for command line parameters that
- are supposed to have numerical values.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Implement a --unbreak-lines-only option to try to revert MUA breakage.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Accept and highlight: Added header: Content-Encoding: deflate
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Accept and highlight: Compressed content from 29258 to 8630 bytes.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Accept and highlight: Client request arrived in time on socket 21.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Highlight: Didn't receive data in time: a.fsdn.com:443
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Accept log messages with ISO 8601 time stamps, too.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- uagen:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Bump generated Firefox version to 8.0.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Only randomize the release date if the new --randomize-release-date
- option is enabled. Firefox versions after 4 use a fixed date string
- without meaning.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
-</para>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect2 id="upgradersnote">
-<title>Note to Upgraders</title>
-
-<para>
- A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
- versions of <application>Privoxy</application>:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <itemizedlist>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The recommended way to upgrade &my-app; is to backup your old
- configuration files, install the new ones, verify that &my-app;
- is working correctly and finally merge back your changes using
- <application>diff</application> and maybe <application>patch</application>.
- </para>
- <para>
- There are a number of new features in each &my-app; release and
- most of them have to be explicitly enabled in the configuration
- files. Old configuration files obviously don't do that and due
- to syntax changes using old configuration files with a new
- &my-app; isn't always possible anyway.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Note that some installers remove earlier versions completely,
- including configuration files, therefore you should really save
- any important configuration files!
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- On the other hand, other installers don't overwrite existing configuration
- files, thinking you will want to do that yourself.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <filename>standard.action</filename> has been merged into
- the <filename>default.action</filename> file.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In the default configuration only fatal errors are logged now.
- You can change that in the <link linkend="DEBUG">debug section</link>
- of the configuration file. You may also want to enable more verbose
- logging until you verified that the new &my-app; version is working
- as expected.
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Three other config file settings are now off by default:
- <link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link>,
- <link linkend="enable-remote-http-toggle">enable-remote-http-toggle</link>,
- and <link linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link>.
- If you use or want these, you will need to explicitly enable them, and
- be aware of the security issues involved.
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
-<!--
- <listitem>
- <para>
- What constitutes a <quote>default</quote> configuration has changed,
- and you may want to review which actions are <quote>on</quote> by
- default. This is primarily a matter of emphasis, but some features
- you may have been used to, may now be <quote>off</quote> by default.
- There are also a number of new actions and filters you may want to
- consider, most of which are not fully incorporated into the default
- settings as yet (see above).
- </para>
- </listitem>
--->
-<!--
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The default actions setting is now <literal>Cautious</literal>. Previous
- releases had a default setting of <literal>Medium</literal>. Experienced
- users may want to adjust this, as it is fairly conservative by &my-app;
- standards and past practices. See <ulink
- url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
- http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>. New users
- should try the default settings for a while before turning up the volume.
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The default setting has filtering turned <emphasis>off</emphasis>, which
- subsequently means that compression is <emphasis>on</emphasis>. Remember
- that filtering does not work on compressed pages, so if you use, or want to
- use, filtering, you will need to force compression off. Example:
- </para>
- <para>
- <screen>
- { +<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{google} +<link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link> }
- .google.</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- Or if you use a number of filters, or filter many sites, you may just want
- to turn off compression for all sites in
- <filename>default.action</filename> (or
- <filename>user.action</filename>).
- </para>
-
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Also, <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> is
- off by default now. If you've liked this feature in the past, you may want
- to turn it back on in <filename>user.action</filename> now.
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Some installers may not automatically start
- <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
- </para>
- </listitem>
--->
-
- </itemizedlist>
-</para>
-
-</sect2>
-</sect1>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using Privoxy</title>
-<para>
- <itemizedlist>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
- linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
- information.
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- 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>
- 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>
- <para>
- Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
- HTTPS (SSL) <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>
- by setting the proxy configuration for address of
- <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
- <emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> activate proxying for <literal>FTP</literal> or
- any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) unless you intend to prevent your
- browser from using these protocols.
- </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
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
- 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, you may want
- to enable the
- <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">web-based action editor</ulink> though.
- Be sure to read the warnings first.
- </para>
- <para>
- See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
- configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
- 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 slip through, innocent images that are
- blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
- <application>Privoxy's</application> behavior, 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">Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
- Action</link></quote> has hints on how to understand and debug actions that
- <quote>misbehave</quote>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
-<!--
- Did anyone test these lately?
- fk 2007-11-10
- <listitem>
- <para>
- For easy access to &my-app;'s most important controls, drag the provided
- <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklets</link> into your browser's
- personal toolbar.
- </para>
- </listitem>
--->
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
- Developers</link> on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get
- help.
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, 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. And the more likely that some things
- may not work as 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. &my-app; can deal with each URL individually, so, for
- instance, the main page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such
- server are blocked.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: <literal><link
- linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
- linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
- <literal><link
- linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</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 is perhaps
- the single most used action, and is particularly important for ad blocking.
- 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 (with some exceptions, see below).
- </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="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> -
- sends an empty document instead of <application>Privoxy's</application>
- normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither
- HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files.
- </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>
- Advanced users will eventually want to explore &my-app;
- <literal><link linkend="filter">filters</link></literal> as well. Filters
- are very different from <literal><link
- linkend="block">blocks</link></literal>.
- A <quote>block</quote> blocks a site, page, or unwanted contented. Filters
- are a way of filtering or modifying what is actually on the page. An example
- filter usage: a text replacement of <quote>no-no</quote> for
- <quote>nasty-word</quote>. That is a very simple example. This process can be
- used for ad blocking, but it is more in the realm of advanced usage and has
- some pitfalls to be wary off.
-</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.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Note that as of <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta the
- action editor is disabled by default. Check the
- <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions
- section in the configuration file</ulink> to learn why and in which
- cases it's safe to enable again.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- If you decided to enable the action editor, 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="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>
-<para>
- There are also various
- <link linkend="filter">filters</link> that can be used for ad blocking
- (filters are a special subset of actions). These
- fall into the <quote>advanced</quote> usage category, and are explained in
- depth in later sections.
-</para>
-
-</sect2>
-
-</sect1>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="startup">
-<title>Starting Privoxy</title>
-<para>
- 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 (SSL)
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>. The default is
- 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
- used port 8000). This is the one configuration step <emphasis>that must be done
-</emphasis>!
-</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 Showing
- Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings</title>
- <mediaobject>
- <imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
- </imageobject>
- <textobject>
- <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
- </textobject>
- </mediaobject>
- </figure>
- </para>
-
-
-<para>
- With <application>Firefox</application>, this is typically set under:
-</para>
-
-<literallayout>
- <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Network</guibutton> -><guibutton>Connection</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Settings</guibutton>
-
-</literallayout>
-
-<para>
- Or optionally on some platforms:
-</para>
-
-<literallayout>
- <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>General</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connection Settings</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Manual Proxy Configuration</guibutton>
-
-</literallayout>
-
-
-<para>
- With <application>Netscape</application> (and
- <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 v.5-7</application>:
-</para>
-
-<literallayout>
- <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Internet Options</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 (sometimes labeled <quote>Secure</quote>). Make sure any
- checkboxes like <quote>Use the same proxy server for all protocols</quote> is
- <emphasis>UNCHECKED</emphasis>. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
-</para>
-
- <!-- image of IE Proxy configuration -->
- <para>
- <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
- Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings</title>
- <mediaobject>
- <imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="proxy2.jpg" format="jpg">
- </imageobject>
- <textobject>
- <phrase>[ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
- </textobject>
- </mediaobject>
- </figure>
- </para>
-
-
-<para>
- After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
- re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
- any <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
- if you want <application>Privoxy</application> to manage that. You are now
- ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
- <application>Privoxy</application>!
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> itself is typically started by specifying the
- main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
- file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
- will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
- directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
-</para>
-
-<sect2 id="start-redhat">
-<title>Red Hat and Fedora</title>
-<para>
- A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use
- the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
- file.
-</para>
-<para>
- <screen>
- # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
-</screen>
-</para>
-<para>
- Or ...
-</para>
-<para>
- <screen>
- # service privoxy start
-</screen>
-</para>
-</sect2>
-
-<sect2 id="start-debian">
-<title>Debian</title>
-<para>
- We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; 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-windows">
-<title>Windows</title>
-<para>
-Click on the &my-app; Icon to start <application>Privoxy</application>. If no configuration file is
- specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
- for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
- automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option
- when installing.
-</para>
-<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> can run with full Windows service functionality.
- On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments
- to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
- <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Windows Installation
- instructions</link> for details.
-</para>
-</sect2>
-
-<sect2 id="start-unices">
-<title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
-<para>
-Example Unix startup command:
-</para>
-<para>
- <screen>
- # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
-</screen>
-</para>
-</sect2>
-
-<sect2 id="start-os2">
-<title>OS/2</title>
-<para>
- 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>Mac OS X</title>
-<para>
- After downloading the privoxy software, unzip the downloaded file by
- double-clicking on the zip file icon. Then, double-click on the
- installer package icon and follow the installation process.
-</para>
-<para>
- The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful
- installation. In addition, the privoxy service will automatically
- start every time your computer starts up.
-</para>
-<para>
- To prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your
- computer starts up, remove or rename the folder named
- /Library/StartupItems/Privoxy.
-</para>
-<para>
- A simple application named Privoxy Utility has been created which
- enables administrators to easily start and stop the privoxy service.
-</para>
-<para>
- In addition, the Privoxy Utility presents a simple way for
- administrators to edit the various privoxy config files. A method
- to uninstall the software is also available.
-</para>
-<para>
- An administrator username and password must be supplied in order for
- the Privoxy Utility to perform any of the tasks.
-</para>
-</sect2>
-
-
-<sect2 id="start-amigaos">
-<title>AmigaOS</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).
-</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>
- See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
- further info.
-</para>
-
-must find a better place for this paragraph
-
-<para>
- The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
- point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
- <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
- where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
- aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
- such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
- persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
- default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
- session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
- configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
- to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
- and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
- more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
- case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
- sites is the popup-killing (through <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>),
- because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
- popups (explained below).
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> does not support all of the optional HTTP/1.1
- features yet. In the unlikely event that you experience inexplicable problems
- with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
- (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
- try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
- Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
- Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
- <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
- requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
- start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
- preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
- be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
- can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
- (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
- and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
- (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
-</para>
-
-<para>
- In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
- configuration can be viewed from this page, including
- current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
- the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
- to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
- editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
- be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
- <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
- you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
- based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
- then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
- is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
- again.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- 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 <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
- Developers</quote></link> below.
-</para>
-
--->
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="cmdoptions">
-<title>Command Line Options</title>
-<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
- command-line options:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <itemizedlist>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <emphasis>--config-test</emphasis>
- </para>
- <para>
- Exit after loading the configuration files before binding to
- the listen address. The exit code signals whether or not the
- configuration files have been successfully loaded.
- </para>
- <para>
- If the exit code is 1, at least one of the configuration files
- is invalid, if it is 0, all the configuration files have been
- successfully loaded (but may still contain errors that can
- currently only be detected at run time).
- </para>
- <para>
- This option doesn't affect the log setting, combination with
- <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis> is recommended if a configured
- log file shouldn't be used.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
- </para>
- <para>
- Print version info and exit. Unix only.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
- </para>
- <para>
- Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
- </para>
- <para>
- Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
- leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
- </para>
- <para>
- On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
- <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
- <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
- option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
- </para>
- <para>
- After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
- <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
- privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <emphasis>--chroot</emphasis>
- </para>
- <para>
- Before changing to the user ID given in the <emphasis>--user</emphasis> option,
- chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
- process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
- the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy.
- Unix only.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <emphasis>--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname</emphasis>
- </para>
- <para>
- Specifies a hostname to look up before doing a chroot. On some systems, initializing the
- resolver library involves reading config files from /etc and/or loading additional shared
- libraries from /lib. On these systems, doing a hostname lookup before the chroot reduces
- the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree.
- </para>
- <para>
- For fastest startup speed, a good value is a hostname that is not in /etc/hosts but that
- your local name server (listed in /etc/resolv.conf) can resolve without recursion
- (that is, without having to ask any other name servers). The hostname need not exist,
- but if it doesn't, an error message (which can be ignored) will be output.
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
- </para>
- <para>
- If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
- <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
- <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
- where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
- full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
- <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- </itemizedlist>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- On <application>MS Windows</application> only there are two additional
- command-line options to allow <application>Privoxy</application> to install and
- run as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>. See the
-<link linkend="installation-pack-win">Window Installation section</link>
-for details.
-</para>
-
-</sect2>
-
-</sect1>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="configuration"><title>Privoxy Configuration</title>
- <para>
- All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
- in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
- Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
- also be controlled easily with a web browser.
- </para>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect2>
-<title>Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser</title>
-<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
- URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
- (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
- which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
- You will see the following section:
-
-</para>
-
-<!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
-<screen>
- <msgtext>
- <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
-
- <simplelist>
- <member>
- ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
- </member>
- <member>
- ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
- </member>
- <member>
- ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
- </member>
- <member>
- ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
- </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
- <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.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
- 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 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.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Note that several of the features described above are disabled by default
- in <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta and later.
- Check the
- <ulink url="config.html">configuration file</ulink> to learn why
- and in which cases it's safe to enable them again.
-</para>
-
-</sect2>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect2 id="confoverview">
-<title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
-<para>
- For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
- <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
- AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
- <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
- and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
- subject to change as development progresses.]]>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
- some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
- principle configuration files are:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <itemizedlist>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- 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>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <filename>match-all.action</filename> 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 should be the first actions file loaded.
- </para>
- <para>
- <filename>default.action</filename> defines many exceptions (both positive and negative)
- from the default set of actions that's configured in <filename>match-all.action</filename>.
- It should be the second actions file loaded and shouldn't be edited by the user.
- </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>match-all.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
- to define sooner or later) are best applied in <filename>user.action</filename>,
- where you can preserve them across upgrades. The file isn't installed by all
- installers, but you can easily create it yourself with a text editor.
- </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>
- (Shortcut: <ulink
- url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
- various actions files.
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>Filter files</quote> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
- 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.
- <filename>default.filter</filename> includes various filters made
- available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
- others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
- filter files in <filename>config</filename> as you can with
- actions files. We suggest <filename>user.filter</filename> for any
- locally defined filters or customizations.
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- </itemizedlist>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- The syntax of the configuration and filter files may change between different
- Privoxy versions, unfortunately some enhancements cost backwards compatibility.
- <!-- Add link to documentation-->
-</para>
-
-<para>
- All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
- 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
- valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
- out" that line. Blank lines are ignored.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- The actions files and filter files
- can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
- maximum flexibility.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- After making any changes, there is no need to restart
- <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
- effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
- automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
- requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
- of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
- must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
-</para>
-
-<![%p-not-stable;[
-<para>
- While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
- The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
- Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
- please check all your configuration files on important issues.
-</para>
-]]>
-
-</sect2>
-</sect1>
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
-
-<!-- **************************************************** -->
-<!-- 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>
-
-
-<!--
- XXX: similar descriptions are in the Configuration Files sections.
- We should only describe them at one place.
--->
-<para>
- The actions files are used to define what <emphasis>actions</emphasis>
- <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 a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
- Each action does something a little different.
- These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
- our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that
- their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.
-</para>
-<para>
- There
- are three action files included with <application>Privoxy</application> with
- differing purposes:
-</para>
-<para>
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <filename>match-all.action</filename> - 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 should be the first actions file loaded
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <filename>default.action</filename> - defines many exceptions (both
- positive and negative) from the default set of actions that's configured
- in <filename>match-all.action</filename>. It is a set of rules that should
- work reasonably well as-is for most users. This file is only supposed to
- be edited by the developers. It should be the second actions file loaded.
- </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>
- <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Cautious</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Medium</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Advanced</guibutton>
- </para>
- <para>
- These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no
- influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
- editor</emphasis>. A default installation should be pre-set to
- <literal>Cautious</literal>. New users should try this for a while before
- adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
- the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
- not working as they should.
- </para>
- <para>
- The <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button allows you to turn each
- action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <guibutton>Cautious</guibutton>
- button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
- ad blocking and a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently
- there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
- <guibutton>Medium</guibutton> button sets the list to a medium level of
- other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
- <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> button sets the list to a high level of
- ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter
- three buttons over-ride any changes via with the
- <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
- lower sections of this internal page.
- </para>
- <para>
- While the actions file editor allows to enable these settings in all
- actions files, they are only supposed to be enabled in the first one
- to make sure you don't unintentionally overrule earlier rules.
- </para>
- <para>
- The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
- <filename>default.action</filename> are:
- </para>
- <para>
- <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
- <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
- <colspec colname=c1>
- <colspec colname=c2>
- <colspec colname=c3>
- <colspec colname=c4>
- <thead>
- <row>
- <entry>Feature</entry>
- <entry>Cautious</entry>
- <entry>Medium</entry>
- <entry>Advanced</entry>
- </row>
- </thead>
- <!-- <tfoot> -->
- <!-- <row> -->
- <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
- <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
- <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
- <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
- <!-- </row> -->
- <!-- </tfoot> -->
- <tbody>
-
- <row>
- <entry>Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</entry>
- <entry>medium</entry>
- <entry>high</entry>
- <entry>high</entry>
- </row>
-
- <row>
- <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
- <entry>no</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
- </row>
-
- <row>
- <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
- <entry>no</entry>
- <entry>no</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
- </row>
- <row>
- <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
- <entry>blocks only</entry>
- <entry>blocks only</entry>
- <entry>blocks only</entry>
- </row>
-
- <row>
- <entry>Privacy Features</entry>
- <entry>low</entry>
- <entry>medium</entry>
- <entry>medium/high</entry>
- </row>
-
- <row>
- <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
- <entry>none</entry>
- <entry>session-only</entry>
- <entry>kill</entry>
- </row>
-
- <row>
- <entry>Referer forging</entry>
- <entry>no</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
- </row>
-
- <row>
- <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
- <entry>no</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
- </row>
-
- <row>
- <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
- <entry>no</entry>
- <entry>no</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
- </row>
-
- <row>
- <entry>HTML taming</entry>
- <entry>no</entry>
- <entry>no</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
- </row>
-
- <row>
- <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
- <entry>no</entry>
- <entry>no</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
- </row>
-
- <row>
- <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
- <entry>no</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
- </row>
-
- <row>
- <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
- <entry>no</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
- </row>
-
- </tbody>
- </tgroup>
- </table>
- </para>
-
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
-</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 (e.g.
- <filename>default.action</filename> is typically processed before
- <filename>user.action</filename>). 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>.
- The over-riding principle when applying actions, is that the last action that
- matches a given URL wins. The broadest, most general rules go first
- (defined in <filename>default.action</filename>),
- followed by any exceptions (typically also in
- <filename>default.action</filename>), which are then followed lastly by any
- local preferences (typically in <emphasis>user</emphasis><filename>.action</filename>).
- Generally, <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word.
- </para>
-
-<para>
- 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 it is a separate file, which makes preserving your
- personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
- just some obnoxious URL whose content 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, some 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>
- 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. And, things can always change, requiring
- refinements in the configuration. 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 crunch all cookies per
- default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
- regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, 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>
-<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>.
- Note: the config file option <link
- linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link> must be enabled for
- this to work. 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>Advanced</quote>. Warning: the <quote>Advanced</quote> setting is more
- aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites.
- Experienced users only!
- </para>
-
-<para>
- If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
- the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at
- <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly commented with many
- good examples.
-</para>
-</sect2>
-
-
-<sect2 id="actions-apply">
-<title>How Actions are Applied to Requests</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 and tag patterns, each on a separate line.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
- compared to all URL patterns in each <quote>action file</quote>.
- Every time it matches, the list of applicable actions for the request is
- incrementally updated, using the heading of the section in which the
- pattern is located. The same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- If multiple applying sections 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. And there may well be
- cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
- might look like:
-</para>
-
- <para>
- <screen>
- { +<literal>handle-as-image</literal> +<literal>block{Banner ads.}</literal> }
- # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
- banners.example.com
- media.example.com/.*banners
- .example.com/images/ads/</screen>
- </para>
-
-<para>
- You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by visiting <ulink
- url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
- Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</link> section.
-</para>
-</sect2>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="af-patterns">
-<title>Patterns</title>
-<para>
- As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
- to determine what <emphasis>actions</emphasis> 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, an URL pattern has the form
- <literal><domain><port>/<path></literal>, where the
- <literal><domain></literal>, the <literal><port></literal>
- and the <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>
-<para>
- The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of
- the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
- while the path part uses more flexible
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
- Expressions</quote></ulink> (POSIX 1003.2).
-</para>
-<para>
- The port part of a pattern is a decimal port number preceded by a colon
- (<literal>:</literal>). If the domain part contains a numerical IPv6 address,
- it has to be put into angle brackets
- (<literal><</literal>, <literal>></literal>).
-</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. So ALL pages in
- this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
- simple <literal>example.com</literal> is different and would NOT match.
- </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 all the documents on <literal>www.example.com</literal>
- whose name starts with <literal>/index.html</literal>.
- </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 anywhere.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>/</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Matches any URL because there's no requirement for either the
- domain or the path to match anything.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>:8000/</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Matches any URL pointing to TCP port 8000.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal><2001:db8::1>/</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Matches any URL with the host address <literal>2001:db8::1</literal>.
- (Note that the real URL uses plain brackets, not angle brackets.)
- </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>. So its
- a mistake.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ 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><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- matches any domain with first-level domain <literal>com</literal>
- and second-level domain <literal>example</literal>.
- For example <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
- <literal>example.com</literal> and <literal>foo.bar.baz.example.com</literal>.
- Note that it wouldn't match if the second-level domain was <literal>another-example</literal>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
- <literal>www.</literal> (It also matches the domain
- <literal>www</literal> but most of the time that doesn't matter.)
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>.
- And, by the way, also included would be any files or documents that exist
- within that domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly
- speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as
- a domain.) This might be <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
- <literal>news.example.de</literal>, or
- <literal>www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</literal> for instance. All these
- cases are matched.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-
-<para>
- Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
- themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
- <quote>*</quote> represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
- equivalent to the
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
- Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax of <quote>.*</quote>),
- <quote>?</quote> represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
- regular expression syntax of a simple <quote>.</quote>), and you can define
- <quote>character classes</quote> in square brackets which is similar to
- the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:
-</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>
-
-<para>
- While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax.
-</para>
-
-</sect3>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
-
-<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>modern</quote> POSIX 1003.2
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
- Expressions</quote></ulink> for matching the path portion (after the slash),
- and is thus more flexible.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
- expressions, you also might want to have a look at your operating system's documentation
- on regular expressions (try <literal>man re_format</literal>).
-</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>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>.example.com/.*</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Is equivalent to just <quote>.example.com</quote>, since any documents
- within that domain are matched with or without the <quote>.*</quote>
- regular expression. This is redundant
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>.example.com/.*/index.html$</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Will match any page in the domain of <quote>example.com</quote> that is
- named <quote>index.html</quote>, and that is part of some path. For
- example, it matches <quote>www.example.com/testing/index.html</quote> but
- NOT <quote>www.example.com/index.html</quote> because the regular
- expression called for at least two <quote>/'s</quote>, thus the path
- requirement. It also would match
- <quote>www.example.com/testing/index_html</quote>, because of the
- special meta-character <quote>.</quote>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page
- named <quote>index.html</quote> regardless of path which in this case can
- have one or more <quote>/'s</quote>. And this one must contain exactly
- <quote>.html</quote> (but does not have to end with that!).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This regular expression will match any path of <quote>example.com</quote>
- that contains any of the words <quote>ads</quote>, <quote>banner</quote>,
- <quote>banners</quote> (because of the <quote>?</quote>) or <quote>junk</quote>.
- The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
- <quote>.jpg</quote>, <quote>.jpeg</quote>, <quote>.gif</quote> or <quote>.png</quote>. So this
- one is limited to common image formats.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-<para>
- There are many, many good examples to be found in <filename>default.action</filename>,
- and more tutorials below in <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>.
-</para>
-
-</sect3>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 id="tag-pattern"><title>The Tag Pattern</title>
-
-<para>
- Tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the
- request's tags. Tags can be created with either the
- <link linkend="CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER">client-header-tagger</link>
- or the <link linkend="SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER">server-header-tagger</link> action.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Tag patterns have to start with <quote>TAG:</quote>, so &my-app;
- can tell them apart from URL patterns. Everything after the colon
- including white space, is interpreted as a regular expression with
- path pattern syntax, except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored
- automatically (&my-app; doesn't silently add a <quote>^</quote>,
- you have to do it yourself if you need it).
-</para>
-
-<para>
- To match all requests that are tagged with <quote>foo</quote>
- your pattern line should be <quote>TAG:^foo$</quote>,
- <quote>TAG:foo</quote> would work as well, but it would also
- match requests whose tags contain <quote>foo</quote> somewhere.
- <quote>TAG: foo</quote> wouldn't work as it requires white space.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Sections can contain URL and tag patterns at the same time,
- but tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus
- always overrule them, even if they are located before the URL patterns.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Once a new tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's matched by one
- of the tag patterns and updates the action settings accordingly. As a result
- tags can be used to activate other tagger actions, as long as these other
- taggers look for headers that haven't already be parsed.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- For example you could tag client requests which use the
- <literal>POST</literal> method,
- then use this tag to activate another tagger that adds a tag if cookies
- are sent, and then use a block action based on the cookie tag. This allows
- the outcome of one action, to be input into a subsequent action. However if
- you'd reverse the position of the described taggers, and activated the
- method tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method tags would be created.
- The method tagger would look for the request line, but at the time
- the cookie tag is created, the request line has already been parsed.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of
- indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't
- make too much sense.
-</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>
- Actions fall into three categories:
-</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>+handle-as-image</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/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070602 Firefox/2.0.0.4}</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-filtering 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 action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the same type.
- 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 such
- as <filename>user.action</filename>). 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 to match more than one <quote>pattern</quote> (because of wildcards and
- regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last
- match wins.
-</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>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Multi-value.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- 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>
- <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>
- <para>
- Headers added by this action are not modified by other actions.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
-<title>block</title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Block ads or other unwanted content</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
- requests are trapped by &my-app; and the requested URL is never retrieved,
- but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
- the <literal><link
- linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
- <literal><link
- linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>, and
- <literal><link
- linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> actions.
-
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>A block reason that should be given to the user.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
- for requests to blocked pages. This page contains the block reason given as
- parameter, a link to find out why the block action applies, and a click-through
- to the blocked content (the latter only if the force feature is available and
- enabled).
- </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. Blocking is a core feature, and one
- upon which various other features depend.
- </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>Example usage (section):</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>{+block{No nasty stuff for you.}}
-# Block and replace with "blocked" page
- .nasty-stuff.example.com
-
-{+block{Doubleclick banners.} +handle-as-image}
-# Block and replace with image
- .ad.doubleclick.net
- .ads.r.us/banners/
-
-{+block{Layered ads.} +handle-as-empty-document}
-# Block and then ignore
- adserver.example.net/.*\.js$</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="change-x-forwarded-for">
-<title>change-x-forwarded-for</title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request in the HTTP headers.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deletes the <quote>X-Forwarded-For:</quote> HTTP header from the client request,
- or adds a new one.
- </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>block</quote> to delete the header.</para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>add</quote> to create the header (or append
- the client's IP address to an already existing one).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- It is safe and recommended to use <literal>block</literal>.
- </para>
- <para>
- Forwarding the source address of the request may make
- sense in some multi-user setups but is also a privacy risk.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>+change-x-forwarded-for{block}</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-filter">
-<title>client-header-filter</title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Rewrite or remove single client headers.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
- the specified regular expression based substitutions.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the
- <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
- all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
- you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
- You can do that by using tags though.
- </para>
- <para>
- Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
- and use their output as input.
- </para>
- <para>
- If the request URI gets changed, &my-app; will detect that and use the new
- one. This can be used to rewrite the request destination behind the client's
- back, for example to specify a Tor exit relay for certain requests.
- </para>
- <para>
- Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
- to learn which client-header filters are available by default, and how to
- create your own.
- </para>
-
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (section):</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>
-# Hide Tor exit notation in Host and Referer Headers
-{+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
-/
- </screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-tagger">
-<title>client-header-tagger</title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Block requests based on their headers.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
- the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
- tag.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the
- <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
- and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
- the original.
- </para>
- <para>
- Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed
- and their tags can be used to control every other action.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (section):</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>
-# Tag every request with the User-Agent header
-{+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
-/
-
-# Tagging itself doesn't change the action
-# settings, sections with TAG patterns do:
-#
-# If it's a download agent, use a different forwarding proxy,
-# show the real User-Agent and make sure resume works.
-{+forward-override{forward-socks5 10.0.0.2:2222 .} \
- -hide-if-modified-since \
- -overwrite-last-modified \
- -hide-user-agent \
- -filter \
- -deanimate-gifs \
-}
-TAG:^User-Agent: NetBSD-ftp/
-TAG:^User-Agent: Novell ZYPP Installer
-TAG:^User-Agent: RPM APT-HTTP/
-TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/
-TAG:^User-Agent: Ubuntu APT-HTTP/
-TAG:^User-Agent: MPlayer/
- </screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <screen>
-# Tag all requests with the Range header set
-{+client-header-tagger{range-requests}}
-/
-
-# Disable filtering for the tagged requests.
-#
-# With filtering enabled Privoxy would remove the Range headers
-# to be able to filter the whole response. The downside is that
-# it prevents clients from resuming downloads or skipping over
-# parts of multimedia files.
-{-filter -deanimate-gifs}
-TAG:^RANGE-REQUEST$
- </screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="content-type-overwrite">
-<title>content-type-overwrite</title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Replaces the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Any string.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header is used by the
- browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this
- header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of
- displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is
- supported by the browser.
- </para>
- <para>
- The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
- the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <quote>text/html</quote>,
- many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
- If it is send as <quote>application/xml</quote>, browsers with
- XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
- </para>
- <para>
- If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
- <quote>Content-Type: text/html</quote>, you can use &my-app;
- to overwrite it with <quote>application/xml</quote> and validate
- the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
- If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
- </para>
- <para>
- You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints
- error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared
- as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
- <quote>text/html</quote> and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
- </para>
- <para>
- By default <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal> only replaces
- <quote>Content-Type:</quote> headers that look like some kind of text.
- If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
- <literal><link linkend="force-text-mode">force-text-mode</link></literal>.
- This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
- </para>
- <para>
- Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom
- <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
- It allows you to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
- only replace the content types you aimed at.
- </para>
- <para>
- Of course you can apply <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal>
- to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
- more work to get the same precision.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen># Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
-{ +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
-www.example.net/
-
-# but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
-{-content-type-overwrite}
-www.example.net/.*\.css$
-www.example.net/.*style
-</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-client-header">
-<!--
-new action
--->
-<title>crunch-client-header</title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Remove a client header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Any string.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
- <application>Privoxy</application> action exists.
- <application>Privoxy</application> will remove every client header that
- contains the string you supplied as parameter.
- </para>
- <para>
- Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
- use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
- they contain the same string.
- </para>
- <para>
- <literal>crunch-client-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
- If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
- parts of them, you should use a
- <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header filter</link></literal>.
- </para>
- <warning>
- <para>
- Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
- </para>
- </warning>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (section):</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
-{ +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
-/
- </screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-if-none-match">
-<title>crunch-if-none-match</title>
-<!--
-new action
--->
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deletes the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
+ linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
+ information.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ 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>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ 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>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Removing the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header
- is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
- reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote> which
- would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
- </para>
- <para>
- It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
- replacement (unlikely but possible).
- </para>
- <para>
- Blocking the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> header shouldn't cause any
- caching problems, as long as the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> header
- isn't blocked or missing as well.
- </para>
- <para>
- It is recommended to use this action together with
- <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
- and
- <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
+ HTTPS (SSL) <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>
+ by setting the proxy configuration for address of
+ <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
+ <emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> activate proxying for <literal>FTP</literal> or
+ any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) unless you intend to prevent your
+ browser from using these protocols.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (section):</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen># Let the browser revalidate cached documents but don't
-# allow the server to use the revalidation headers for user tracking.
-{+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
- +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
- +crunch-if-none-match}
-/ </screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
+ If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
+ 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, you may want
+ to enable the
+ <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">web-based action editor</ulink> though.
+ Be sure to read the warnings first.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
+ configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
+ 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>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
-<title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are
+ blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
+ <application>Privoxy's</application> behavior, 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">Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
+ Action</link></quote> has hints on how to understand and debug actions that
+ <quote>misbehave</quote>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your system
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
+ Developers</link> on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get
+ help.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
- <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
- <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
- Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
- </para>
- <para>
- 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>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
+<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. And the more likely that some things
+ may not work as 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. &my-app; can deal with each URL individually, so, for
+ instance, the main page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such
+ server are blocked.
+</para>
+<para>
+ The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: <literal><link
+ linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
+ linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
+ <literal><link
+ linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal>,and
+ <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
+</para>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-server-header">
-<title>crunch-server-header</title>
-<!--
-new action
--->
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Remove a server header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this is perhaps
+ the single most used action, and is particularly important for ad blocking.
+ 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 (with some exceptions, see below).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+ <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>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Any string.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> -
+ sends an empty document instead of <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither
+ HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
- <application>Privoxy</application> action exists. <application>Privoxy</application>
- will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
- </para>
- <para>
- Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
- use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
- they contain the same string.
- </para>
- <para>
- <literal>crunch-server-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
- If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
- parts of them, you should use a custom
- <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
- </para>
- <warning>
- <para>
- Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
- </para>
- </warning>
+ <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>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (section):</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
-{ +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
-/ </screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
+</itemizedlist>
+</para>
+<para>
+ Advanced users will eventually want to explore &my-app;
+ <literal><link linkend="filter">filters</link></literal> as well. Filters
+ are very different from <literal><link
+ linkend="block">blocks</link></literal>.
+ A <quote>block</quote> blocks a site, page, or unwanted contented. Filters
+ are a way of filtering or modifying what is actually on the page. An example
+ filter usage: a text replacement of <quote>no-no</quote> for
+ <quote>nasty-word</quote>. That is a very simple example. This process can be
+ used for ad blocking, but it is more in the realm of advanced usage and has
+ some pitfalls to be wary off.
+</para>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
-<title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
+<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.
+</para>
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from your system
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ Note that as of <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta the
+ action editor is disabled by default. Check the
+ <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions
+ section in the configuration file</ulink> to learn why and in which
+ cases it's safe to enable again.
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ If you decided to enable the action editor, 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>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ A quick and simple step by step example:
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
- <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
- <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
- Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
+ 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>
- 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.
+ Set your browser to
+ <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
</para>
</listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
+ Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
+ on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
+ <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
+ <para>
+ <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
+ <mediaobject>
+ <imageobject>
+ <imagedata fileref="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>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
-<title>deanimate-gifs</title>
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<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>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<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>
+<para>
+ There are also various
+ <link linkend="filter">filters</link> that can be used for ad blocking
+ (filters are a special subset of actions). These
+ fall into the <quote>advanced</quote> usage category, and are explained in
+ depth in later sections.
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+</sect2>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+</sect1>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- 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>
- 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>
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
-<title>downgrade-http-version</title>
+<sect1 id="startup">
+<title>Starting Privoxy</title>
+<para>
+ 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 (SSL)
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>. The default is
+ 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
+ used port 8000). This is the one configuration step <emphasis>that must be done
+</emphasis>!
+</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>
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+ <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
+ <para>
+ <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
+ Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings</title>
+ <mediaobject>
+ <imageobject>
+ <imagedata fileref="proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
+ </imageobject>
+ <textobject>
+ <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
+ </textobject>
+ </mediaobject>
+ </figure>
+ </para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ With <application>Firefox</application>, this is typically set under:
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<literallayout>
+ <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Network</guibutton> -><guibutton>Connection</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Settings</guibutton>
-<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- 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.
- </para>
- <para>
- Note that enabling this action is only a workaround. It should not
- be enabled for sites that work without it. While it shouldn't break
- any pages, it has an (usually negative) performance impact.
- </para>
- <para>
- If you come across a site where enabling this action helps, please report it,
- so the cause of the problem can be analyzed. If the problem turns out to be
- caused by a bug in <application>Privoxy</application> it should be
- fixed so the following release works without the work around.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+</literallayout>
+
+<para>
+ Or optionally on some platforms:
+</para>
+
+<literallayout>
+ <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>General</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connection Settings</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Manual Proxy Configuration</guibutton>
+
+</literallayout>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (section):</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
-problem-host.example.com</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
+<para>
+ With <application>Netscape</application> (and
+ <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
+</para>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
-<title>fast-redirects</title>
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<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>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting
- the redirection server first.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+</literallayout>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ For <application>Internet Explorer v.5-7</application>:
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>simple-check</quote> to just search for the string <quote>http://</quote>
- to detect redirection URLs.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>check-decoded-url</quote> to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching
- for redirection URLs.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<literallayout>
+ <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Internet Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connections</guibutton> -> <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
+</literallayout>
- <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:
- <quote>http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/</quote>.
- </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 asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
- the advertisers.
- </para>
- <para>
- This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
- If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
- this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
- </para>
- <para>
- Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil.
- Some sites offer a real service that requires this information to work.
- For example a validation service needs to know, which document to validate.
- <literal>fast-redirects</literal> assumes that every URL parameter that
- looks like another URL is a redirection target, and will always redirect to
- the last one. Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't,
- the user gets redirected anyway.
- </para>
- <para>
- Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter.
- The URL:
- <quote>http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
- contains the redirection URL <quote>http://www.example.net/</quote>,
- followed by another parameter. <literal>fast-redirects</literal> doesn't know that
- and will cause a redirect to <quote>http://www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
- Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
- or lead to a <quote>page not found</quote> error. You can prevent this problem by
- first using the <literal><link linkend="redirect">redirect</link></literal> action
- to remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort.
- </para>
- <para>
- To detect a redirection URL, <literal>fast-redirects</literal> only
- looks for the string <quote>http://</quote>, either in plain text
- (invalid but often used) or encoded as <quote>http%3a//</quote>.
- Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the address
- of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses cases
- <literal>fast-redirects</literal> is fooled and the request reaches the
- redirection server where it probably gets logged.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<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 (sometimes labeled <quote>Secure</quote>). Make sure any
+ checkboxes like <quote>Use the same proxy server for all protocols</quote> is
+ <emphasis>UNCHECKED</emphasis>. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>
- { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
- one.example.com
+ <!-- image of IE Proxy configuration -->
+ <para>
+ <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
+ Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings</title>
+ <mediaobject>
+ <imageobject>
+ <imagedata fileref="proxy2.jpg" format="jpg">
+ </imageobject>
+ <textobject>
+ <phrase>[ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
+ </textobject>
+ </mediaobject>
+ </figure>
+ </para>
- { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
- another.example.com/testing</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
+<para>
+ After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
+ re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
+ any <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
+ if you want <application>Privoxy</application> to manage that. You are now
+ ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
+ <application>Privoxy</application>!
+</para>
+<para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> itself is typically started by specifying the
+ main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
+ file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
+ will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
+ directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
+</para>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
-<title>filter</title>
+<sect2 id="start-debian">
+<title>Debian</title>
+<para>
+ We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; 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-freebsd">
+<title>FreeBSD and ElectroBSD</title>
+<para>
+ To start <application>Privoxy</application> upon booting, add
+ "privoxy_enable='YES'" to <filename>/etc/rc.conf</filename>.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> will use
+ <filename>/usr/local/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main
+ configuration file.
+</para>
+<para>
+ If you installed <application>Privoxy</application> into a jail, the
+ paths above are relative to the jail root.
+</para>
+<para>
+ To start <application>Privoxy</application> manually, run:
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ # service privoxy onestart
+</screen>
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 id="start-windows">
+<title>Windows</title>
+<para>
+Click on the &my-app; Icon to start <application>Privoxy</application>. If no configuration file is
+ specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
+ for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
+ automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option
+ when installing.
+</para>
+<para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> can run with full Windows service functionality.
+ On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments
+ to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
+ <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Windows Installation
+ instructions</link> for details.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 id="start-unices">
+<title>Generic instructions for Unix derivates (Solaris, NetBSD, HP-UX etc.)</title>
+<para>
+Example Unix startup command:
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ # /usr/sbin/privoxy --user privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
+</screen>
+</para>
+<para>
+ Note that if you installed <application>Privoxy</application> through
+ a package manager, the package will probably contain a platform-specific
+ script or configuration file to start <application>Privoxy</application>
+ upon boot.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 id="start-os2">
+<title>OS/2</title>
+<para>
+ 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>Mac OS X</title>
+<para>
+ The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful installation
+ (and thereafter every time your computer starts up) however you will need to
+ configure your web browser(s) to use it. To do so, configure them to use a
+ proxy for HTTP and HTTPS at the address 127.0.0.1:8118.
+</para>
+<para>
+ To prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your computer
+ starts up, remove or rename the file <literal>/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.ijbswa.privoxy.plist</literal>
+ (on OS X 10.5 and higher) or the folder named
+ <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal> (on OS X 10.4 'Tiger').
+</para>
+<para>
+ To manually start or stop the privoxy service, use the scripts startPrivoxy.sh
+ and stopPrivoxy.sh supplied in /Applications/Privoxy. They must be run from an
+ administrator account, using sudo.
+</para>
+</sect2>
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
- do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
- this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular
- expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents
- are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
- <literal>text/plain</literal> MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<!--
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
+ further info.
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The name of a content filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>.
- Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
- <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
- option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>.
- <filename>default.filter</filename> is the collection of filters
- supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
- in their own file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>.
- </para>
- <para>
- When used in its negative form,
- and without parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> filtering is completely disabled.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+must find a better place for this paragraph
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- 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>
- 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. (The total time until the page is completely rendered
- doesn't change much, but it may be perceived as slower since the page is
- not incrementally displayed.)
- This effect will be more noticeable on slower connections.
- </para>
- <para>
- <quote>Rolling your own</quote>
- filters requires a knowledge of
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
- Expressions</quote></ulink> and
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"><quote>HTML</quote></ulink>.
- This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
- Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent
- <quote>action</quote> is not available.
- </para>
- <para>
- 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>
- Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
- (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data
- (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate
- the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might
- be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering
- by defining appropriate <literal>-filter</literal> exceptions.
- </para>
- <para>
- Compressed content can't be filtered either, but if &my-app;
- is compiled with zlib support and a supported compression algorithm
- is used (gzip or deflate), &my-app; can first decompress the content
- and then filter it.
- </para>
- <para>
- If you use a &my-app; version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on
- as much documents as possible, even those that would normally be sent compressed,
- you must use the <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
- action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
- </para>
- <para>
- Content 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>
- <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or
- improved filters is particularly welcome!
- </para>
- <para>
- The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
- predefined filter. There are <link linkend="predefined-filters">more
- verbose explanations</link> of what these filters do in the <link
- linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
+ point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
+ <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
+ where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
+ aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
+ such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file).
- See <link linkend="PREDEFINED-FILTERS">the Predefined Filters section</link> for
- more explanation on each:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
- <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-js-events">
- <screen>+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings and timers (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites).</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
- <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
- <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content.</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
- <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups).</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-unsolicited-popups">
- <screen>+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-all-popups">
- <screen>+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</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-banners-by-size">
- <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size.</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-banners-by-link">
- <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers.</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-tiny-textforms">
- <screen>+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap.</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-jumping-windows">
- <screen>+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves.</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
- <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizable.</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-demoronizer">
- <screen>+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets.</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
- <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects.</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-quicktime-kioskmode">
- <screen>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies saveable.</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-fun">
- <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
- <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering. Note that this filter doesn't work reliably.</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-ie-exploits">
- <screen>+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits.</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-site-specifics">
- <screen>+filter{site-specifics} # Cure for site-specific problems. Don't apply generally!</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-no-ping">
- <screen>+filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes in <a> and <area> tags.</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-google">
- <screen>+filter{google} # CSS-based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation and the toolbar advertisement.</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-yahoo">
- <screen>+filter{yahoo} # CSS-based block for Yahoo text ads. Also removes a width limitation.</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-msn">
- <screen>+filter{msn} # CSS-based block for MSN text ads. Also removes tracking URLs and a width limitation.</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-blogspot">
- <screen>+filter{blogspot} # Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this.</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
+<para>
+ You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
+ persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
+ default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
+ session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
+ configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
+ to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
+ and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
+ more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
+ case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
+ sites is the popup-killing (through <ulink
+ url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>),
+ because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
+ popups (explained below).
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> does not support all of the optional HTTP/1.1
+ features yet. In the unlikely event that you experience inexplicable problems
+ with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
+ (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
+ try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
+ Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
+ Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
+ <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
+ requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
+ start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
+ preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
+ be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
+ can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
+ (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
+ and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
+ (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
+ configuration can be viewed from this page, including
+ current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
+ the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
+ to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
+ editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
+ be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
+ <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
+ you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
+ based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
+ then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
+ is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
+ again.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ 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 <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
+ Developers</quote></link> below.
+</para>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="force-text-mode">
-<title>force-text-mode</title>
-<!--
-new action
-->
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Force <application>Privoxy</application> to treat a document as if it was in some kind of <emphasis>text</emphasis> format. </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Declares a document as text, even if the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> isn't detected as such.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="cmdoptions">
+<title>Command Line Options</title>
+<para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
+ command-line options:
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <emphasis>--config-test</emphasis>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Exit after loading the configuration files before binding to
+ the listen address. The exit code signals whether or not the
+ configuration files have been successfully loaded.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ If the exit code is 1, at least one of the configuration files
+ is invalid, if it is 0, all the configuration files have been
+ successfully loaded (but may still contain errors that can
+ currently only be detected at run time).
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This option doesn't affect the log setting, combination with
+ <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis> is recommended if a configured
+ log file shouldn't be used.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Print version info and exit. Unix only.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
+ leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
+ <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
+ <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
+ option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
+ <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
+ privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <emphasis>--chroot</emphasis>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Before changing to the user ID given in the <emphasis>--user</emphasis> option,
+ chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
+ process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
+ the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy.
+ Unix only.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <emphasis>--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname</emphasis>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Specifies a hostname (for example www.privoxy.org) to look up before doing a chroot.
+ On some systems, initializing the resolver library involves reading config files from
+ /etc and/or loading additional shared libraries from /lib.
+ On these systems, doing a hostname lookup before the chroot reduces
+ the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ For fastest startup speed, a good value is a hostname that is not in /etc/hosts but that
+ your local name server (listed in /etc/resolv.conf) can resolve without recursion
+ (that is, without having to ask any other name servers). The hostname need not exist,
+ but if it doesn't, an error message (which can be ignored) will be output.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- As explained <literal><link linkend="filter">above</link></literal>,
- <application>Privoxy</application> tries to only filter files that are
- in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to
- <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite</link></literal>.
- <literal>force-text-mode</literal> declares a document as text,
- without looking at the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> first.
- </para>
- <warning>
- <para>
- Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
- with regular expressions can cause file damage.
- </para>
- </warning>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
+ <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
+ <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
+ where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
+ full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
+ <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ On <application>MS Windows</application> only there are two additional
+ command-line options to allow <application>Privoxy</application> to install and
+ run as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>. See the
+<link linkend="installation-pack-win">Window Installation section</link>
+for details.
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+</sect1>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>
-+force-text-mode
- </screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward-override">
-<title>forward-override</title>
-<!--
-new action
--->
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<sect1 id="configuration"><title>Privoxy Configuration</title>
+ <para>
+ All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
+ in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
+ Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
+ also be controlled easily with a web browser.
+ </para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Multi-value.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para><quote>forward .</quote> to use a direct connection without any additional proxies.</para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>forward 127.0.0.1:8123</quote> to use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 .</quote> to use the socks4a proxy listening at
- 127.0.0.1 port 9050. Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote>
- to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
- for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 proxy.example.org:8000</quote> to use the socks4a proxy
- listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy listening at proxy.example.org port 8000.
- Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote> to use a socks4 connection
- (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
- for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This action takes parameters similar to the
- <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives in the configuration
- file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used as replacement, but normally it's only
- used in cases where matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient.
- </para>
- <warning>
- <para>
- Please read the description for the <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives before
- using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will reduce your privacy and increase the
- chances of man-in-the-middle attacks.
- </para>
- <para>
- If the ports are missing or invalid, default values will be used. This might change
- in the future and you shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect syntax causes Privoxy
- to exit.
- </para>
- <para>
- Use the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">show-url-info CGI page</ulink>
- to verify that your forward settings do what you thought the do.
- </para>
- </warning>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<sect2 id="control-with-webbrowser">
+<title>Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser</title>
+<para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
+ URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
+ (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
+ which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
+ You will see the following section:
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>
-# Always use direct connections for requests previously tagged as
-# <quote>User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0</quote> and make sure
-# resuming downloads continues to work.
-# This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing,
-# without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates
-# or downloads of bigger files like ISOs.
-# Note that HTTP headers are easy to fake and therefore their
-# values are as (un)trustworthy as your clients and users.
-{+forward-override{forward .} \
- -hide-if-modified-since \
- -overwrite-last-modified \
-}
-TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$
- </screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
+</para>
+<!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
+<screen>
+ <msgtext>
+ <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-empty-document">
-<title>handle-as-empty-document</title>
-<!--
-new action
--->
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis></para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+ <simplelist>
+ <member>
+ ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
+ </member>
+ <member>
+ ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
+ </member>
+ <member>
+ ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
+ </member>
+ <member>
+ ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
+ </member>
+ <member>
+ ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
+ </member>
+ <member>
+ ▪ <ulink
+ url="https://www.privoxy.org/&p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
+ </member>
+ </simplelist>
+ </msgtext>
+</screen>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
- 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 an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
- The <emphasis>empty</emphasis> document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
+ <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.
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
+ 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 manipulation is disabled, i.e.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Note that several of the features described above are disabled by default
+ in <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta and later.
+ Check the
+ <ulink url="config.html">configuration file</ulink> to learn why
+ and in which cases it's safe to enable them again.
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
- are blocked with <application>Privoxy's</application>
- default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
- And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the &my-app;
- BLOCKED message in frames.
- </para>
- <para>
- The content type for the empty document can be specified with
- <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{}</link></literal>,
- but usually this isn't necessary.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
-# but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
-{+block{Blocked JavaScript} +handle-as-empty-document}
-example.org/.*\.js$
- </screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
-<title>handle-as-image</title>
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <emphasis>if they do get blocked</emphasis>, rather than HTML pages)</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<sect2 id="confoverview">
+<title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
+<para>
+ For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
+ <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
+ AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
+ <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
+ and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
+ subject to change as development progresses.]]>
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <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>
+<para>
+ The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
+ some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
+ principle configuration files are:
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- N/A
+ 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>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- 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.
+ <filename>match-all.action</filename> 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 should be the first actions file loaded.
</para>
<para>
- 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.
+ <filename>default.action</filename> defines many exceptions (both positive and negative)
+ from the default set of actions that's configured in <filename>match-all.action</filename>.
+ It should be the second actions file loaded and shouldn't be edited by the user.
</para>
<para>
- 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.
+ 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>match-all.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
+ to define sooner or later) are best applied in <filename>user.action</filename>,
+ where you can preserve them across upgrades. The file isn't installed by all
+ installers, but you can easily create it yourself with a text editor.
+ </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>
+ (Shortcut: <ulink
+ url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
+ various actions files.
</para>
</listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <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{Nasty banners.} +handle-as-image}
-nasty-banner-server.example.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash
-</screen>
+ <quote>Filter files</quote> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
+ 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.
+ <filename>default.filter</filename> includes various filters made
+ available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
+ others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
+ filter files in <filename>config</filename> as you can with
+ actions files. We suggest <filename>user.filter</filename> for any
+ locally defined filters or customizations.
</para>
</listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-accept-language">
-<title>hide-accept-language</title>
-<!--
-new action
--->
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Pretend to use different language settings.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ The syntax of the configuration and filter files may change between different
+ Privoxy versions, unfortunately some enhancements cost backwards compatibility.
+ <!-- Add link to documentation-->
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deletes or replaces the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> HTTP header in client requests.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
+ 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
+ valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
+ out" that line. Blank lines are ignored.
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ The actions files and filter files
+ can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
+ maximum flexibility.
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ After making any changes, there is no need to restart
+ <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
+ effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
+ automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
+ requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
+ of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
+ must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
- foreign User-Agent set with
- <literal><link linkend="hide-user-agent">hide-user-agent</link></literal>
- more believable.
- </para>
- <para>
- However some sites with content in different languages check the
- <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> to decide which one to take by default.
- Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
- changing the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header first.
- </para>
- <para>
- Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
- <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header to languages you understand,
- or to languages that aren't wide spread.
- </para>
- <para>
- Before setting the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header
- to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to
- make your requests unique and thus easier to trace.
- If you don't plan to change this header frequently,
- you should stick to a common language.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<![%p-not-stable;[
+<para>
+ While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
+ The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
+ Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
+ please check all your configuration files on important issues.
+</para>
+]]>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (section):</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen># Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
-{+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
-+hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
-}
-/ </screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
+</sect2>
+</sect1>
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
+
+<!-- **************************************************** -->
+<!-- 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>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-content-disposition">
-<title>hide-content-disposition</title>
<!--
-new action
+ XXX: similar descriptions are in the Configuration Files sections.
+ We should only describe them at one place.
-->
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
+<para>
+ The actions files are used to define what <emphasis>actions</emphasis>
+ <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 a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
+ Each action does something a little different.
+ These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
+ our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that
+ their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.
+</para>
+<para>
+ There
+ are three action files included with <application>Privoxy</application> with
+ differing purposes:
+</para>
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
- Deletes or replaces the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header set by some servers.
+ <filename>match-all.action</filename> - 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 should be the first actions file loaded
</para>
</listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ <para>
+ <filename>default.action</filename> - defines many exceptions (both
+ positive and negative) from the default set of actions that's configured
+ in <filename>match-all.action</filename>. It is a set of rules that should
+ work reasonably well as-is for most users. This file is only supposed to
+ be edited by the developers. It should be the second actions file loaded.
+ </para>
</listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
+ <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>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Some servers set the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header for
- documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
- The <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header contains the file name
- the browser is supposed to use by default.
+ <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Cautious</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Medium</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Advanced</guibutton>
</para>
<para>
- In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
- <emphasis>just view</emphasis> the document, without downloading it first,
- even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
+ These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no
+ influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
+ editor</emphasis>. A default installation should be pre-set to
+ <literal>Cautious</literal>. New users should try this for a while before
+ adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
+ the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
+ not working as they should.
</para>
<para>
- Removing the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header helps
- to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
- <quote>Content-Type:</quote> header, before they decide if they can
- display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have
- to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
- download menus.
+ The <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button allows you to turn each
+ action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <guibutton>Cautious</guibutton>
+ button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
+ ad blocking and a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently
+ there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
+ <guibutton>Medium</guibutton> button sets the list to a medium level of
+ other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
+ <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> button sets the list to a high level of
+ ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter
+ three buttons over-ride any changes via with the
+ <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
+ lower sections of this internal page.
</para>
<para>
- It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion
- to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set
- it up.
+ While the actions file editor allows to enable these settings in all
+ actions files, they are only supposed to be enabled in the first one
+ to make sure you don't unintentionally overrule earlier rules.
</para>
<para>
- This action will probably be removed in the future,
- use server-header filters instead.
+ The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
+ <filename>default.action</filename> are:
</para>
+ <para>
+ <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
+ <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
+ <colspec colname=c1>
+ <colspec colname=c2>
+ <colspec colname=c3>
+ <colspec colname=c4>
+ <thead>
+ <row>
+ <entry>Feature</entry>
+ <entry>Cautious</entry>
+ <entry>Medium</entry>
+ <entry>Advanced</entry>
+ </row>
+ </thead>
+ <!-- <tfoot> -->
+ <!-- <row> -->
+ <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
+ <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
+ <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
+ <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
+ <!-- </row> -->
+ <!-- </tfoot> -->
+ <tbody>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</entry>
+ <entry>medium</entry>
+ <entry>high</entry>
+ <entry>high</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ </row>
+ <row>
+ <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
+ <entry>blocks only</entry>
+ <entry>blocks only</entry>
+ <entry>blocks only</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>Privacy Features</entry>
+ <entry>low</entry>
+ <entry>medium</entry>
+ <entry>medium/high</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
+ <entry>none</entry>
+ <entry>session-only</entry>
+ <entry>kill</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>Referer forging</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>HTML taming</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ </tbody>
+ </tgroup>
+ </table>
+ </para>
+
</listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+ </itemizedlist>
+</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 (e.g.
+ <filename>default.action</filename> is typically processed before
+ <filename>user.action</filename>). 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>.
+ The over-riding principle when applying actions, is that the last action that
+ matches a given URL wins. The broadest, most general rules go first
+ (defined in <filename>default.action</filename>),
+ followed by any exceptions (typically also in
+ <filename>default.action</filename>), which are then followed lastly by any
+ local preferences (typically in <emphasis>user</emphasis><filename>.action</filename>).
+ Generally, <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word.
+ </para>
+
+<para>
+ 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 it is a separate file, which makes preserving your
+ personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen># Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
-{ -filter \
- +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
- +hide-content-disposition{block} }
- .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
+<para>
+ Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
+ just some obnoxious URL whose content 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, some JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
+ fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
+ of actions</link>.
+</para>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="right-mix">
+<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. And, things can always change, requiring
+ refinements in the configuration. 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 crunch all cookies per
+ default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
+ regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, 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 ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-if-modified-since">
-<title>hide-if-modified-since</title>
-<!--
-new action
--->
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<sect2 id="how-to-edit">
+<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>.
+ Note: the config file option <link
+ linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link> must be enabled for
+ this to work. 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>Advanced</quote>. Warning: the <quote>Advanced</quote> setting is more
+ aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites.
+ Experienced users only!
+ </para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deletes the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> HTTP client header or modifies its value.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
+ the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at
+ <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly commented with many
+ good examples.
+</para>
+</sect2>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<sect2 id="actions-apply">
+<title>How Actions are Applied to Requests</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 and tag patterns, each on a separate line.
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
- reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the
- browser to use a cached copy of the page.
- </para>
- <para>
- Instead of removing the header, <literal>hide-if-modified-since</literal> can
- also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value.
- You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and
- <application>Privoxy</application> does the rest. A negative value means
- subtracting, a positive value adding.
- </para>
- <para>
- Randomizing the value of the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> makes
- it less likely that the server can use the time as a cookie replacement,
- but you will run into caching problems if the random range is too high.
- </para>
- <para>
- It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
- <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
- handle the greater changes.
- </para>
- <para>
- It is also recommended to use this action together with
- <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>,
- otherwise it's more or less pointless.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
+ compared to all URL patterns in each <quote>action file</quote>.
+ Every time it matches, the list of applicable actions for the request is
+ incrementally updated, using the heading of the section in which the
+ pattern is located. The same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on.
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (section):</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen># Let the browser revalidate but make tracking based on the time less likely.
-{+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
- +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
- +crunch-if-none-match}
-/</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
+<para>
+ If multiple applying sections 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. And there may well be
+ cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
+ might look like:
+</para>
+
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+ { +<literal>handle-as-image</literal> +<literal>block{Banner ads.}</literal> }
+ # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
+ banners.example.com
+ media.example.com/.*banners
+ .example.com/images/ads/</screen>
+ </para>
+
+<para>
+ You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by visiting <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
+ Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</link> section.
+</para>
+</sect2>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
-<title>hide-from-header</title>
+<sect2 id="af-patterns">
+<title>Patterns</title>
+<para>
+ As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
+ to determine what <emphasis>actions</emphasis> 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>
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ Generally, an URL pattern has the form
+ <literal><host><port>/<path></literal>, where the
+ <literal><host></literal>, the <literal><port></literal>
+ and the <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>
+<para>
+ The pattern matching syntax is different for the host and path parts of
+ the URL. The host part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
+ while the path part uses more flexible
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
+ Expressions</quote></ulink> (POSIX 1003.2).
+</para>
+<para>
+ The port part of a pattern is a decimal port number preceded by a colon
+ (<literal>:</literal>). If the host part contains a numerical IPv6 address,
+ it has to be put into angle brackets
+ (<literal><</literal>, <literal>></literal>).
+</para>
+<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
+ <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
- specified string.
+ is a host-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
+ regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in
+ this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
+ simple <literal>example.com</literal> is different and would NOT match.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
+ means exactly the same. For host-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
+ be omitted.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
+ <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- 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>
- This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
- <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
+ matches all the documents on <literal>www.example.com</literal>
+ whose name starts with <literal>/index.html</literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html$</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
- <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
+ matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
+ on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
-<title>hide-referrer</title>
-<anchor id="hide-referer">
-<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <term><literal>/index.html$</literal></term>
<listitem>
- <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
+ <para>
+ matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
+ i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server anywhere.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
+ <term><literal>/</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
- or replaces it with a forged one.
+ Matches any URL because there's no requirement for either the
+ domain or the path to match anything.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <term><literal>:8000/</literal></term>
<listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ <para>
+ Matches any URL pointing to TCP port 8000.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <term><literal>10.0.0.1/</literal></term>
<listitem>
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para><quote>conditional-block</quote> to delete the header completely if the host has changed.</para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para><quote>conditional-forge</quote> to forge the header if the host has changed.</para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header unconditionally.</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>
+ <para>
+ Matches any URL with the host address <literal>10.0.0.1</literal>.
+ (Note that the real URL uses plain brackets, not angle brackets.)
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
+ <term><literal><2001:db8::1>/</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <literal>conditional-block</literal> is the only parameter,
- that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the
- referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or
- typed in the address directly.
- </para>
- <para>
- Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
- allows the server owner to see the visitor's <quote>click path</quote>,
- but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing
- other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't
- a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between
- different requests.
- </para>
- <para>
- Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
- failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
- requests, in an attempt to prevent their content from being
- embedded or linked to elsewhere.
- </para>
- <para>
- Both <literal>conditional-block</literal> and <literal>forge</literal>
- will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page
- are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case.
- </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>.)
+ Matches any URL with the host address <literal>2001:db8::1</literal>.
+ (Note that the real URL uses plain brackets, not angle brackets.)
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
- <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
+ matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
+ there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>. So its
+ a mistake.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
-</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
-<title>hide-user-agent</title>
+<sect3 id="host-pattern"><title>The Host Pattern</title>
+
+<para>
+ The matching of the host part offers some flexible options: if the
+ host pattern starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
+ The host pattern is often referred to as domain pattern as it is usually
+ used to match domain names and not IP addresses.
+ For example:
+</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
<listitem>
- <para>Try to conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
+ <para>
+ matches any domain with first-level domain <literal>com</literal>
+ and second-level domain <literal>example</literal>.
+ For example <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
+ <literal>example.com</literal> and <literal>foo.bar.baz.example.com</literal>.
+ Note that it wouldn't match if the second-level domain was <literal>another-example</literal>.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
+ <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
- in client requests with the specified value.
+ matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
+ <literal>www.</literal> (It also matches the domain
+ <literal>www</literal> but most of the time that doesn't matter.)
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
<listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ <para>
+ matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>.
+ And, by the way, also included would be any files or documents that exist
+ within that domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly
+ speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as
+ a domain.) This might be <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
+ <literal>news.example.de</literal>, or
+ <literal>www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</literal> for instance. All these
+ cases are matched.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+
+<para>
+ Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
+ themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
+ <quote>*</quote> represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
+ equivalent to the
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
+ Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax of <quote>.*</quote>),
+ <quote>?</quote> represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
+ regular expression syntax of a simple <quote>.</quote>), and you can define
+ <quote>character classes</quote> in square brackets which is similar to
+ the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:
+</para>
+<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Any user-defined string.
+ matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
+ <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
+ <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
<listitem>
- <warning>
- <para>
- This can lead to problems on 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> the right thing to do: good web sites
- work browser-independently).
- </para>
- </warning>
<para>
- 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).
+ matches all of the above, and then some.
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- More information on known user-agent strings can be found at
- <ulink url="http://www.user-agents.org/">http://www.user-agents.org/</ulink>
- and
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</ulink>.
+ matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
+ <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
+ 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>
+
+<para>
+ While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax.
+</para>
+
</sect3>
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
-<title>limit-connect</title>
+<sect3 id="path-pattern"><title>The Path Pattern</title>
+
+<para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>modern</quote> POSIX 1003.2
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
+ Expressions</quote></ulink> for matching the path portion (after the slash),
+ and is thus more flexible.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
+ expressions, you also might want to have a look at your operating system's documentation
+ on regular expressions (try <literal>man re_format</literal>).
+</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>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
+ <term><literal>.example.com/.*</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
+ Is equivalent to just <quote>.example.com</quote>, since any documents
+ within that domain are matched with or without the <quote>.*</quote>
+ regular expression. This is redundant
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <term><literal>.example.com/.*/index.html$</literal></term>
<listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ <para>
+ Will match any page in the domain of <quote>example.com</quote> that is
+ named <quote>index.html</quote>, and that is part of some path. For
+ example, it matches <quote>www.example.com/testing/index.html</quote> but
+ NOT <quote>www.example.com/index.html</quote> because the regular
+ expression called for at least two <quote>/'s</quote>, thus the path
+ requirement. It also would match
+ <quote>www.example.com/testing/index_html</quote>, because of the
+ special meta-character <quote>.</quote>.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$</literal></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).
+ This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page
+ named <quote>index.html</quote> regardless of path which in this case can
+ have one or more <quote>/'s</quote>. And this one must contain exactly
+ <quote>.html</quote> (but does not have to end with that!).
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
+ <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
- <application>Privoxy</application> allows HTTP CONNECT requests to all
- ports. Use <literal>limit-connect</literal> if fine-grained control
- is desired for some or all destinations.
+ This regular expression will match any path of <quote>example.com</quote>
+ that contains any of the words <quote>ads</quote>, <quote>banner</quote>,
+ <quote>banners</quote> (because of the <quote>?</quote>) or <quote>junk</quote>.
+ The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
</para>
- <para>
- 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 means CONNECT-enabled proxies can be used as TCP relays very easily.
- </para>
- <para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
- the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent &my-app;'s
- filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
- </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
- <term>Example usages:</term>
+ <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</literal></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} # Port 443 is OK.
-+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
-+limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</screen>
+ <para>
+ This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
+ <quote>.jpg</quote>, <quote>.jpeg</quote>, <quote>.gif</quote> or <quote>.png</quote>. So this
+ one is limited to common image formats.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
</variablelist>
+<para>
+ There are many, many good examples to be found in <filename>default.action</filename>,
+ and more tutorials below in <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>.
+</para>
+
</sect3>
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
-<title>prevent-compression</title>
+<sect3 id="tag-pattern"><title>The Request Tag Pattern</title>
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
- passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ Request tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the
+ request's tags. Tags can be created based on HTTP headers with either
+ the <link linkend="CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER">client-header-tagger</link>
+ or the <link linkend="SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER">server-header-tagger</link> action.
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<para>
+ Request tag patterns have to start with <quote>TAG:</quote>, so &my-app;
+ can tell them apart from other patterns. Everything after the colon
+ including white space, is interpreted as a regular expression with
+ path pattern syntax, except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored
+ automatically (&my-app; doesn't silently add a <quote>^</quote>,
+ you have to do it yourself if you need it).
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ To match all requests that are tagged with <quote>foo</quote>
+ your pattern line should be <quote>TAG:^foo$</quote>,
+ <quote>TAG:foo</quote> would work as well, but it would also
+ match requests whose tags contain <quote>foo</quote> somewhere.
+ <quote>TAG: foo</quote> wouldn't work as it requires white space.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Sections can contain URL and request tag patterns at the same time,
+ but request tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus
+ always overrule them, even if they are located before the URL patterns.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Once a new request tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's matched by one
+ of the request tag patterns and updates the action settings accordingly. As a result
+ request tags can be used to activate other tagger actions, as long as these other
+ taggers look for headers that haven't already be parsed.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ For example you could tag client requests which use the
+ <literal>POST</literal> method,
+ then use this tag to activate another tagger that adds a tag if cookies
+ are sent, and then use a block action based on the cookie tag. This allows
+ the outcome of one action, to be input into a subsequent action. However if
+ you'd reverse the position of the described taggers, and activated the
+ method tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method tags would be created.
+ The method tagger would look for the request line, but at the time
+ the cookie tag is created, the request line has already been parsed.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of
+ indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't
+ make too much sense.
+</para>
+
+</sect3>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 id="negative-tag-patterns"><title>The Negative Request Tag Patterns</title>
+
+<para>
+ To match requests that do not have a certain request tag, specify a negative tag pattern
+ by prefixing the tag pattern line with either <quote>NO-REQUEST-TAG:</quote>
+ or <quote>NO-RESPONSE-TAG:</quote> instead of <quote>TAG:</quote>.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Negative request tag patterns created with <quote>NO-REQUEST-TAG:</quote> are checked
+ after all client headers are scanned, the ones created with <quote>NO-RESPONSE-TAG:</quote>
+ are checked after all server headers are scanned. In both cases all the created
+ tags are considered.
+</para>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 id="client-tag-pattern"><title>The Client Tag Pattern</title>
+
+<!-- XXX: This section contains duplicates content from the
+ client-specific-tag documentation. -->
+
+<warning>
+<para>
+ This is an experimental feature. The syntax is likely to change in future versions.
+</para>
+</warning>
+
+<para>
+ Client tag patterns are not set based on HTTP headers but based on
+ the client's IP address. Users can enable them themselves, but the
+ Privoxy admin controls which tags are available and what their effect
+ is.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ After a client-specific tag has been defined with the
+ <link linkend="client-specific-tag">client-specific-tag</link>,
+ directive, action sections can be activated based on the tag by using a
+ CLIENT-TAG pattern. The CLIENT-TAG pattern is evaluated at the same priority
+ as URL patterns, as a result the last matching pattern wins. Tags that
+ are created based on client or server headers are evaluated later on
+ and can overrule CLIENT-TAG and URL patterns!
+</para>
+<para>
+ The tag is set for all requests that come from clients that requested
+ it to be set. Note that "clients" are differentiated by IP address,
+ if the IP address changes the tag has to be requested again.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Clients can request tags to be set by using the CGI interface <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/client-tags">http://config.privoxy.org/client-tags</ulink>.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Example:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <screen>
+# If the admin defined the client-specific-tag circumvent-blocks,
+# and the request comes from a client that previously requested
+# the tag to be set, overrule all previous +block actions that
+# are enabled based on URL to CLIENT-TAG patterns.
+{-block}
+CLIENT-TAG:^circumvent-blocks$
+
+# This section is not overruled because it's located after
+# the previous one.
+{+block{Nobody is supposed to request this.}}
+example.org/blocked-example-page</screen>
+</para>
+
+</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>
+ Actions fall into three categories:
+</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>+handle-as-image</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/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070602 Firefox/2.0.0.4}</literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+ <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>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
- is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the <literal><link
- linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> and
- <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
- actions need access to the uncompressed data.
- </para>
- <para>
- When compiled with zlib support (available since &my-app; 3.0.7), content that should be
- filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't have to worry about this action.
- If you are using an older &my-app; version, or one that hasn't been compiled with zlib
- support, this action can be used to convince the server to send the content uncompressed.
- </para>
- <para>
- Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is seldom decreased by less than 50%,
- for markup-heavy instances like news feeds saving more than 90% of the original size isn't
- unusual.
- </para>
- <para>
- Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should only
- enable this action if you really need it. As of &my-app; 3.0.7 it's disabled in all
- predefined action settings.
- </para>
- <para>
- Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
- documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an empty document body,
- some IIS versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable
- <literal>prevent-compression</literal> per default, you might want to add
- exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
+<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-filtering 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>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>
-# Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
-#
-{ +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
-# Match only these sites
- .google.
- sourceforge.net
- sf.net
+<para>
+ Later defined action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the same type.
+ 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 such
+ as <filename>user.action</filename>). 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 to match more than one <quote>pattern</quote> (because of wildcards and
+ regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last
+ match wins.
+</para>
-# Or instead, we could set a universal default:
-#
-{ +prevent-compression }
- / # Match all sites
+<!-- start actions listing -->
+<para>
+ The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
+</para>
-# Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites:
-#
-{ -prevent-compression }
-.compusa.com/</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
+<!-- ********************************************************** -->
+<!-- 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="overwrite-last-modified">
-<title>overwrite-last-modified</title>
-<!--
-new action
--->
+
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
+<title>add-header</title>
+
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
+ <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Deletes the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> HTTP server header or modifies its value.
+ Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- One of the keywords: <quote>block</quote>, <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote>
- and <quote>randomize</quote>
+ 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>
- Removing the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header is useful for filter
- testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
- code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
- version of the page.
- </para>
- <para>
- The <quote>randomize</quote> option overwrites the value of the
- <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with a randomly chosen time
- between the original value and the current time. In theory the server
- could send each document with a different <quote>Last-Modified:</quote>
- header to track visits without using cookies. <quote>Randomize</quote>
- makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
- </para>
- <para>
- <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote> overwrites the value of the
- <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with the current time. You could use
- this option together with
- <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
- to further customize your random range.
- </para>
- <para>
- The preferred parameter here is <quote>randomize</quote>. It is safe
- to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct.
- If the server sets the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header to the time
- of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same.
- Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with
- <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>,
- just to be sure.
+ 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>
- It is also recommended to use this action together with
- <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
+ Headers added by this action are not modified by other actions.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
-{ +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
- +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
- +crunch-if-none-match}
+ <screen># Add a DNT ("Do not track") header to all requests,
+# event to those that already have one.
+#
+# This is just an example, not a recommendation.
+#
+# There is no reason to believe that user-tracking websites care
+# about the DNT header and depending on the User-Agent, adding the
+# header may make user-tracking easier.
+{+add-header{DNT: 1}}
/</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="redirect">
-<title>redirect</title>
-<!--
-new action
--->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
+<title>block</title>
+
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- Redirect requests to other sites.
- </para>
+ <para>Block ads or other unwanted content</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
- to another location and the browser should get it from there.
+ Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
+ requests are trapped by &my-app; and the requested URL is never retrieved,
+ but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
+ the <literal><link
+ linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
+ <literal><link
+ linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>, and
+ <literal><link
+ linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> actions.
+
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Parameterized</para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
- </para>
+ <para>A block reason that should be given to the user.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
+<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Requests to which this action applies are answered with a
- HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is
- either provided as parameter, or derived by applying a
- single pcrs command to the original URL.
- </para>
- <para>
- The syntax for pcrs commands is documented in the
- <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link> section.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
+ for requests to blocked pages. This page contains the block reason given as
+ parameter, a link to find out why the block action applies, and a click-through
+ to the blocked content (the latter only if the force feature is available and
+ enabled).
</para>
<para>
- This action will be ignored if you use it together with
- <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>.
- It can be combined with
- <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</link></literal>
- to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL.
+ 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>
- Use this action carefully, make sure not to create redirection loops
- and be aware that using your own redirects might make it
- possible to fingerprint your requests.
+ It is important to understand this process, in order
+ to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
+ ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
+ upon which various other features depend.
</para>
<para>
- In case of problems with your redirects, or simply to watch
- them working, enable <link linkend="DEBUG">debug 128</link>.
+ 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>Example usages:</term>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- <screen># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
-{ +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
- example.com/stylesheet\.css
-
-# Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
-# (relies on the browser accept and forward invalid URLs to &my-app;)
-{ +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
- a
-
-# Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles
-# (Note the $ at the end of the URL pattern to make sure
-# the request for the rewritten URL isn't redirected as well)
-{+redirect{s@$@&mode=expanded@}}
-undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$
-
-# Redirect Google search requests to MSN
-{+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/search\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=$1@}}
-.google.com/search
+ <para>
+ <screen>{+block{No nasty stuff for you.}}
+# Block and replace with "blocked" page
+ .nasty-stuff.example.com
-# Redirect MSN search requests to Yahoo
-{+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/results\.aspx\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=$1@}}
-search.msn.com//results\.aspx\?q=
+{+block{Doubleclick banners.} +handle-as-image}
+# Block and replace with image
+ .ad.doubleclick.net
+ .ads.r.us/banners/
-# Redirect remote requests for this manual
-# to the local version delivered by Privoxy
-{+redirect{s@^http://www@http://config@}}
-www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</screen>
- </para>
+{+block{Layered ads.} +handle-as-empty-document}
+# Block and then ignore
+ adserver.example.net/.*\.js$</screen>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
</variablelist>
</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-filter">
-<title>server-header-filter</title>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="change-x-forwarded-for">
+<title>change-x-forwarded-for</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- Rewrite or remove single server headers.
- </para>
+ <para>Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request in the HTTP headers.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- All server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly
- through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
+ Deletes the <quote>X-Forwarded-For:</quote> HTTP header from the client request,
+ or adds a new one.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
<para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
<varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the
- <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
- </para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote>add</quote> to create the header (or append
+ the client's IP address to an already existing one).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Server-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
- all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
- you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
- You can do that by using tags though.
- </para>
- <para>
- Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
- and use their output as input.
+ It is safe and recommended to use <literal>block</literal>.
</para>
<para>
- Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
- to learn which server-header filters are available by default, and how to
- create your own.
+ Forwarding the source address of the request may make
+ sense in some multi-user setups but is also a privacy risk.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <screen>
-{+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}}
-example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html
-
-{+server-header-filter{xml-to-html}}
-example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not
- </screen>
- </para>
+ <screen>+change-x-forwarded-for{block}</screen>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-tagger">
-<title>server-header-tagger</title>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-filter">
+<title>client-header-filter</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
+ Rewrite or remove single client headers.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
- the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
- tag.
+ All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
+ the specified regular expression based substitutions.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Type:</term>
<!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the
+ The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the
<link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
</para>
</listitem>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
- and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
- the original.
+ Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
+ all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
+ you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
+ You can do that by using tags though.
</para>
<para>
- Server-header taggers are executed before all other header actions
- that modify server headers. Their tags can be used to control
- all of the other server-header actions, the content filters
- and the crunch actions (<link linkend="redirect">redirect</link>
- and <link linkend="block">block</link>).
+ Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
+ and use their output as input.
</para>
<para>
- Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header taggers
- doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the server's log file.
+ If the request URI gets changed, &my-app; will detect that and use the new
+ one. This can be used to rewrite the request destination behind the client's
+ back, for example to specify a Tor exit relay for certain requests.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
+ to learn which client-header filters are available by default, and how to
+ create your own.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<listitem>
<para>
<screen>
-# Tag every request with the content type declared by the server
-{+server-header-tagger{content-type}}
+# Hide Tor exit notation in Host and Referer Headers
+{+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
/
</screen>
- </para>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
-<title>session-cookies-only</title>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-tagger">
+<title>client-header-tagger</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current
- browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
+ Block requests based on their headers.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- 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.
+ Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
+ the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
+ tag.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-<varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
<term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- N/A
+ The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the
+ <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- 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>
- 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>
- 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>
- <para>
- 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>
- 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.
+ Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
+ and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
+ the original.
</para>
<para>
- <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>.
+ Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed
+ and their tags can be used to control every other action.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+# Tag every request with the User-Agent header
+{+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
+/
+
+# Tagging itself doesn't change the action
+# settings, sections with TAG patterns do:
+#
+# If it's a download agent, use a different forwarding proxy,
+# show the real User-Agent and make sure resume works.
+{+forward-override{forward-socks5 10.0.0.2:2222 .} \
+ -hide-if-modified-since \
+ -overwrite-last-modified \
+ -hide-user-agent \
+ -filter \
+ -deanimate-gifs \
+}
+TAG:^User-Agent: NetBSD-ftp/
+TAG:^User-Agent: Novell ZYPP Installer
+TAG:^User-Agent: RPM APT-HTTP/
+TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/
+TAG:^User-Agent: Ubuntu APT-HTTP/
+TAG:^User-Agent: MPlayer/
+ </screen>
</para>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+# Tag all requests with the Range header set
+{+client-header-tagger{range-requests}}
+/
+
+# Disable filtering for the tagged requests.
+#
+# With filtering enabled Privoxy would remove the Range headers
+# to be able to filter the whole response. The downside is that
+# it prevents clients from resuming downloads or skipping over
+# parts of multimedia files.
+{-filter -deanimate-gifs}
+TAG:^RANGE-REQUEST$
+ </screen>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
</variablelist>
</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
-<title>set-image-blocker</title>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="content-type-overwrite">
+<title>content-type-overwrite</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
+ <para>Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode</para>
</listitem>
</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.
+ Replaces the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header.
</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.
- (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
- </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>
+ <para>
+ Any string.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</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>.
+ The <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header is used by the
+ browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this
+ header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of
+ displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is
+ supported by the browser.
</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.
+ The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
+ the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <quote>text/html</quote>,
+ many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
+ If it is send as <quote>application/xml</quote>, browsers with
+ XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
<para>
- Built-in pattern:
+ If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
+ <quote>Content-Type: text/html</quote>, you can use &my-app;
+ to overwrite it with <quote>application/xml</quote> and validate
+ the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
+ If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
</para>
<para>
- <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
+ You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints
+ error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared
+ as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
+ <quote>text/html</quote> and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
</para>
<para>
- Redirect to the BSD daemon:
+ By default <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal> only replaces
+ <quote>Content-Type:</quote> headers that look like some kind of text.
+ If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
+ <literal><link linkend="force-text-mode">force-text-mode</link></literal>.
+ This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
</para>
<para>
- <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
+ Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom
+ <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
+ It allows you to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
+ only replace the content types you aimed at.
</para>
<para>
- Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
+ Of course you can apply <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal>
+ to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
+ more work to get the same precision.
</para>
- <para>
- <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
+{ +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
+www.example.net/
+
+# but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
+{-content-type-overwrite}
+www.example.net/.*\.css$
+www.example.net/.*style
+</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<!-- ~~~~~ 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>
-</sect2>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="aliases">
-<title>Aliases</title>
-<para>
- 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>
- 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>
- 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>
- 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.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Now let's define some aliases...
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
- # 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}}
-
- # These aliases just save typing later:
- # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
- #
- +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
- -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
- +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
- allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-client-header">
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<title>crunch-client-header</title>
- # These aliases define combinations of actions
- # that are useful for certain types of sites:
- #
- fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Remove a client header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
- #
- c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
- c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- ...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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Any string.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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
- # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com
- mail.google.com
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
+ <application>Privoxy</application> action exists.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> will remove every client header that
+ contains the string you supplied as parameter.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
+ use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
+ they contain the same string.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <literal>crunch-client-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
+ If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
+ parts of them, you should use a
+ <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header filter</link></literal>.
+ </para>
+ <warning>
+ <para>
+ Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
+ </para>
+ </warning>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- # Shopping sites:
- # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
- #
- {shop}
- .quietpc.com
- .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
- mybank.example.com
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
+{ +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
+/
+ </screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
- # These shops require pop-ups:
- #
- {-filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
- .dabs.com
- .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
-</para>
-<para>
- Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are typically used for
- <quote>problem</quote> sites that require more than one action to be disabled
- in order to function properly.
-</para>
-</sect2>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-if-none-match">
+<title>crunch-if-none-match</title>
<!--
-hal stop here
+new action
-->
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="act-examples">
-<title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
-<para>
- 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>match-all.action</filename>, <filename>default.action</filename>
- and <filename>user.action</filename> file and see how all these pieces come together:
-</para>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<sect3>
-<title>match-all.action</title>
-<para>
- Remember <emphasis>all actions are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>,
- so we have to explicitly enable the ones we want.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deletes the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- While the <filename>match-all.action</filename> file only contains a
- single section, it is probably the most important one. 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 other actions files like <filename>default.action</filename>
- and <filename>user.action</filename>, but it will still be largely responsible
- for your overall browsing experience.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
- no need to disable any actions here. (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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ N/A
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <screen>
-{ \
- +<link linkend="CHANGE-X-FORWARDED-FOR">change-x-forwarded-for{block}</link> \
- +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
- +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
-}
-/ # Match all URLs
- </screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Removing the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header
+ is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
+ reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote> which
+ would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
+ replacement (unlikely but possible).
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Blocking the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> header shouldn't cause any
+ caching problems, as long as the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> header
+ isn't blocked or missing as well.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is recommended to use this action together with
+ <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
+ and
+ <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- The default behavior is now set.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Let the browser revalidate cached documents but don't
+# allow the server to use the revalidation headers for user tracking.
+{+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
+ +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
+ +crunch-if-none-match}
+/ </screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
</sect3>
-<sect3>
-<title>default.action</title>
-<para>
- If you aren't a developer, there's no need for you to edit the
- <filename>default.action</filename> file. It is maintained by
- the &my-app; developers and if you disagree with some of the
- sections, you should overrule them in your <filename>user.action</filename>.
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
+<title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
-<para>
- Understanding the <filename>default.action</filename> file can
- help you with your <filename>user.action</filename>, though.
-</para>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your system
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- The first section in this file is a special section for internal use
- that prevents older &my-app; versions from reading the file:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <screen>
-##########################################################################
-# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
-##########################################################################
-{{settings}}
-for-privoxy-version=3.0.11</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- 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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ N/A
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
+ <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
+ Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ 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>
+ <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- <screen>
-##########################################################################
-# Aliases
-##########################################################################
-{{alias}}
- # These aliases just save typing later:
- # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
- #
- +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
- -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
- +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
- mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-server-header">
+<title>crunch-server-header</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Remove a server header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- # These aliases define combinations of actions
- # that are useful for certain types of sites:
- #
- fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link>
- shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link></screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- 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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <screen>
-##########################################################################
-# Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
-##########################################################################
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Any string.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-# "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
-#
-{ fragile }
-.office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
-.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
-mail.google.com</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
+ <application>Privoxy</application> action exists. <application>Privoxy</application>
+ will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
+ use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
+ they contain the same string.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <literal>crunch-server-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
+ If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
+ parts of them, you should use a custom
+ <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
+ </para>
+ <warning>
+ <para>
+ Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
+ </para>
+ </warning>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- 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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
+{ +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
+/ </screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- <screen>
-# Shopping sites:
-#
-{ shop }
-.quietpc.com
-.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
-.jungle.com
-.scan.co.uk</screen>
-</para>
-<para>
- The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
- action, which may have been enabled in <filename>match-all.action</filename>,
- breaks some sites. So disable it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
+<title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
-<para>
- <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>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from your system
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- 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 information about you. 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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <screen>
-##########################################################################
-# Images:
-##########################################################################
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-# 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)$</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ N/A
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
- generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
- request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
- mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
- <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
- course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
- +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
- Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
- <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
- action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
- <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
- action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
+ <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
+ Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
+ with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
+ since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <screen>
-# Known ad generators:
-#
-{ +block-as-image }
-ar.atwola.com
-.ad.doubleclick.net
-.ad.*.doubleclick.net
-.a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
-.a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
-bs*.gsanet.com
-.qkimg.net</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
- is to block banners. Many of these can be <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>
- First comes many 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>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- <screen>
-##########################################################################
-# Block these fine banners:
-##########################################################################
-{ <link linkend="BLOCK">+block{Banner ads.}</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)?)/
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
+<title>deanimate-gifs</title>
-# Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
-#
-.hitbox.com</screen>
-</para>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- It's quite remarkable 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>
-<para>
- 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>
- 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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <screen>
-##########################################################################
-# Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
-##########################################################################
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-# By domain:
-#
-{ -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
-adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
-adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
-adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
-ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
-.edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
-.*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-# By path:
-#
-/.*loads/
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ 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>
+ 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>
-# Site-specific:
-#
-www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
-www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- 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>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
+<title>downgrade-http-version</title>
-<para>
- <screen>
-# Don't filter code!
-#
-{ -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
-/(.*/)?cvs
-bugzilla.
-developer.
-wiki.
-.sourceforge.net</screen>
-</para>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course much more
- comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-</sect3>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<sect3><title>user.action</title>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ N/A
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- 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>
+<varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ 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.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Note that enabling this action is only a workaround. It should not
+ be enabled for sites that work without it. While it shouldn't break
+ any pages, it has an (usually negative) performance impact.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ If you come across a site where enabling this action helps, please report it,
+ so the cause of the problem can be analyzed. If the problem turns out to be
+ caused by a bug in <application>Privoxy</application> it should be
+ fixed so the following release works without the work around.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
- <filename>user.action</filename>:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
+problem-host.example.com</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<!-- brief sample user.action here -->
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="external-filter">
+<title>external-filter</title>
-<para>
- <screen>
-# My user.action file. <fred@example.com></screen>
-</para>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Modify content using a programming language of your choice.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- 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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
+ this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified external
+ filter.
+ By default plain text documents are exempted from filtering, because web
+ servers often use the <literal>text/plain</literal> MIME type for all files
+ whose type they don't know.)
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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{all-popups}
-+block-as-image = +block{Blocked as image.} +handle-as-image
--block-as-image = -block
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-# These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
-# certain types of sites:
-#
-fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer
-shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The name of an external content filter, as defined in the
+ <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>.
+ External filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
+ <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
+ option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ When used in its negative form,
+ and without parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> filtering with external
+ filters is completely disabled.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-# Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
-#
-allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ External filters are scripts or programs that can modify the content in
+ case common <literal><link linkend="filter">filters</link></literal>
+ aren't powerful enough. With the exception that this action doesn't
+ use pcrs-based filters, the notes in the
+ <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> section apply.
+ </para>
+ <warning>
+ <para>
+ Currently external filters are executed with &my-app;'s privileges.
+ Only use external filters you understand and trust.
+ </para>
+ </warning>
+ <para>
+ This feature is experimental, the <literal><link
+ linkend="external-filter-syntax">syntax</link></literal>
+ may change in the future.
+ </para>
-# Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
-# MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
-handle-as-text = -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> +-<link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{text/plain}</link> +-<link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION">hide-content-disposition</link></screen>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+external-filter{fancy-filter}</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- 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>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
+<title>fast-redirects</title>
-<para>
- <screen>
-{ allow-all-cookies }
- sourceforge.net
- .yahoo.com
- .msdn.microsoft.com
- .redhat.com</screen>
-</para>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting
+ the redirection server first.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <screen>
-{ -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
- .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote>simple-check</quote> to just search for the string <quote>http://</quote>
+ to detect redirection URLs.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote>check-decoded-url</quote> to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching
+ for redirection URLs.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <screen>
-# Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
-# erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
-#
-.tldp.org
-/(.*/)?selfhtml/
+ <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:
+ <quote>http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/</quote>.
+ </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 asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
+ the advertisers.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
+ If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
+ this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil.
+ Some sites offer a real service that requires this information to work.
+ For example a validation service needs to know, which document to validate.
+ <literal>fast-redirects</literal> assumes that every URL parameter that
+ looks like another URL is a redirection target, and will always redirect to
+ the last one. Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't,
+ the user gets redirected anyway.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter.
+ The URL:
+ <quote>http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
+ contains the redirection URL <quote>http://www.example.net/</quote>,
+ followed by another parameter. <literal>fast-redirects</literal> doesn't know that
+ and will cause a redirect to <quote>http://www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
+ Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
+ or lead to a <quote>page not found</quote> error. You can prevent this problem by
+ first using the <literal><link linkend="redirect">redirect</link></literal> action
+ to remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ To detect a redirection URL, <literal>fast-redirects</literal> only
+ looks for the string <quote>http://</quote>, either in plain text
+ (invalid but often used) or encoded as <quote>http%3a//</quote>.
+ Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the address
+ of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses cases
+ <literal>fast-redirects</literal> is fooled and the request reaches the
+ redirection server where it probably gets logged.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-# And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
-# so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
-#
-stupid-server.example.com/</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+ { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
+ one.example.com
-<para>
- 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>
+ { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
+ another.example.com/testing</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <screen>
-{ +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link>{Nasty ads.} }
- www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
- another.example.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
-</para>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner
- farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which
- makes it impossible for <application>Privoxy</application> to guess
- the file type just by looking at the URL.
- You can use the <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above for
- these cases.
- Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an
- image are typically rendered as a <quote>broken image</quote> icon by the
- browser. Use cautiously.
-</para>
-<para>
- <screen>
-{ +block-as-image }
- .doubleclick.net
- .fastclick.net
- /Realmedia/ads/
- ar.atwola.com/</screen>
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
+<title>filter</title>
-<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. We later find other regular sites
- that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:
-</para>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
+ do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
-<screen>
-{ fragile }
- .forbes.com
- webmail.example.com
- .mybank.com</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
+ this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular
+ expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents
+ are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
+ <literal>text/plain</literal> MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
- but it is disabled in the distributed actions file.
- So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
- update-safe config, once and for all:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
-<screen>
-{ +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
- / # For ALL sites!</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The name of a content filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>.
+ Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
+ <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
+ option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>.
+ <filename>default.filter</filename> is the collection of filters
+ supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
+ in their own file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ When used in its negative form,
+ and without parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> filtering is completely disabled.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ 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>
+ 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. (The total time until the page is completely rendered
+ doesn't change much, but it may be perceived as slower since the page is
+ not incrementally displayed.)
+ This effect will be more noticeable on slower connections.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <quote>Rolling your own</quote>
+ filters requires a knowledge of
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
+ Expressions</quote></ulink> and
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"><quote>HTML</quote></ulink>.
+ This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
+ Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent
+ <quote>action</quote> is not available.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ 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>
+ Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
+ (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data
+ (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate
+ the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might
+ be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering
+ by defining appropriate <literal>-filter</literal> exceptions.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Compressed content can't be filtered either, but if &my-app;
+ is compiled with zlib support and a supported compression algorithm
+ is used (gzip or deflate), &my-app; can first decompress the content
+ and then filter it.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ If you use a &my-app; version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on
+ as much documents as possible, even those that would normally be sent compressed,
+ you must use the <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
+ action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Content 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>
+ <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or
+ improved filters is particularly welcome!
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
+ predefined filter. There are <link linkend="predefined-filters">more
+ verbose explanations</link> of what these filters do in the <link
+ linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file).
+ See <link linkend="PREDEFINED-FILTERS">the Predefined Filters section</link> for
+ more explanation on each:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
+ <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-js-events">
+ <screen>+filter{js-events} # Kill JavaScript event bindings and timers (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites).</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
+ <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
+ <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
+ <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags if refresh time is larger than 9 seconds.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-unsolicited-popups">
+ <screen>+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-all-popups">
+ <screen>+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML.</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-banners-by-size">
+ <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-banners-by-link">
+ <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers.</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-tiny-textforms">
+ <screen>+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-jumping-windows">
+ <screen>+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
+ <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizable.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-iframes">
+ <screen>+filter{iframes} # Removes all detected iframes. Should only be enabled for individual sites.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-demoronizer">
+ <screen>+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
+ <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-quicktime-kioskmode">
+ <screen>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies saveable.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-fun">
+ <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
+ <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering. Note that this filter doesn't work reliably.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-ie-exploits">
+ <screen>+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-site-specifics">
+ <screen>+filter{site-specifics} # Cure for site-specific problems. Don't apply generally!</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-no-ping">
+ <screen>+filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes in <a> and <area> tags.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-google">
+ <screen>+filter{google} # CSS-based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation and the toolbar advertisement.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-yahoo">
+ <screen>+filter{yahoo} # CSS-based block for Yahoo text ads. Also removes a width limitation.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-msn">
+ <screen>+filter{msn} # CSS-based block for MSN text ads. Also removes tracking URLs and a width limitation.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-blogspot">
+ <screen>+filter{blogspot} # Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this.</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
-<screen>
-{ allow-ads }
- .sourceforge.net
- .slashdot.org
- .osdn.net</screen>
-</para>
-<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>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="force-text-mode">
+<title>force-text-mode</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Force <application>Privoxy</application> to treat a document as if it was in some kind of <emphasis>text</emphasis> format. </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type <literal>
- application/x-sh</literal> which typically would open a download type
- dialog. In my case, I want to look at the shell script, and then I can save
- it should I choose to.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Declares a document as text, even if the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> isn't detected as such.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
-<screen>
-{ handle-as-text }
- /.*\.sh$</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ N/A
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
-<screen>
-{ +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
-/ # ALL sites</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ As explained <literal><link linkend="filter">above</link></literal>,
+ <application>Privoxy</application> tries to only filter files that are
+ in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to
+ <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite</link></literal>.
+ <literal>force-text-mode</literal> declares a document as text,
+ without looking at the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> first.
+ </para>
+ <warning>
+ <para>
+ Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
+ with regular expressions can cause file damage.
+ </para>
+ </warning>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
++force-text-mode
+ </screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
</sect3>
-</sect2>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-</sect1>
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward-override">
+<title>forward-override</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<sect1 id="filter-file">
-<title>Filter Files</title>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- On-the-fly text substitutions need
- to be defined in a <quote>filter file</quote>. Once defined, they
- can then be invoked as an <quote>action</quote>.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para><quote>forward .</quote> to use a direct connection without any additional proxies.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote>forward 127.0.0.1:8123</quote> to use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 .</quote> to use the socks4a proxy listening at
+ 127.0.0.1 port 9050. Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote>
+ to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
+ for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 proxy.example.org:8000</quote> to use the socks4a proxy
+ listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy listening at proxy.example.org port 8000.
+ Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote> to use a socks4 connection
+ (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
+ for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote>forward-webserver 127.0.0.1:80</quote> to use the HTTP
+ server listening at 127.0.0.1 port 80 without adjusting the
+ request headers.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This makes it more convenient to use Privoxy to make
+ existing websites available as onion services as well.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Many websites serve content with hardcoded URLs and
+ can't be easily adjusted to change the domain based
+ on the one used by the client.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Putting Privoxy between Tor and the webserver (or an stunnel
+ that forwards to the webserver) allows to rewrite headers and
+ content to make client and server happy at the same time.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Using Privoxy for webservers that are only reachable through
+ onion addresses and whose location is supposed to be secret
+ is not recommended and should not be necessary anyway.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- &my-app; supports three different filter actions:
- <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> to
- rewrite the content that is send to the client,
- <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header-filter</link></literal>
- to rewrite headers that are send by the client, and
- <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header-filter</link></literal>
- to rewrite headers that are send by the server.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This action takes parameters similar to the
+ <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives in the configuration
+ file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used as replacement, but normally it's only
+ used in cases where matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient.
+ </para>
+ <warning>
+ <para>
+ Please read the description for the <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives before
+ using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will reduce your privacy and increase the
+ chances of man-in-the-middle attacks.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ If the ports are missing or invalid, default values will be used. This might change
+ in the future and you shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect syntax causes Privoxy
+ to exit. Due to design limitations, invalid parameter syntax isn't detected until the
+ action is used the first time.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Use the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">show-url-info CGI page</ulink>
+ to verify that your forward settings do what you thought the do.
+ </para>
+ </warning>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- &my-app; also supports two tagger actions:
- <literal><link linkend="client-header-tagger">client-header-tagger</link></literal>
- and
- <literal><link linkend="server-header-tagger">server-header-tagger</link></literal>.
- Taggers and filters use the same syntax in the filter files, the difference
- is that taggers don't modify the text they are filtering, but use a rewritten
- version of the filtered text as tag. The tags can then be used to change the
- applying actions through sections with <link linkend="tag-pattern">tag-patterns</link>.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+# Use an ssh tunnel for requests previously tagged as
+# <quote>User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0</quote> and make sure
+# resuming downloads continues to work.
+#
+# This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing,
+# without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates
+# or downloads of bigger files like ISOs.
+#
+# Note that HTTP headers are easy to fake and therefore their
+# values are as (un)trustworthy as your clients and users.
+{+forward-override{forward-socks5 10.0.0.2:2222 .} \
+ -hide-if-modified-since \
+ -overwrite-last-modified \
+}
+TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$
+ </screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- Multiple filter files can be defined through the <literal> <link
- linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config directive. The filters
- as supplied by the developers are located in
- <filename>default.filter</filename>. It is recommended that any locally
- defined or modified filters go in a separately defined file such as
- <filename>user.filter</filename>.
- </para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-empty-document">
+<title>handle-as-empty-document</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis></para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Common tasks for content filters 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.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
+ 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 an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
+ The <emphasis>empty</emphasis> document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Enabled content filters are applied to any content whose
- <quote>Content Type</quote> header is recognised as a sign
- of text-based content, with the exception of <literal>text/plain</literal>.
- Use the <link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> action
- to also filter other content.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Substitutions are made at the source level, so if you want to <quote>roll
- your own</quote> filters, you should first be familiar with HTML syntax,
- and, of course, regular expressions.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ N/A
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- 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 one of the
- <emphasis>keywords</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>,
- <literal>CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER:</literal> or <literal>SERVER-HEADER-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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
+ are blocked with <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
+ And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the &my-app;
+ BLOCKED message in frames.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The content type for the empty document can be specified with
+ <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{}</link></literal>,
+ but usually this isn't necessary.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
+# but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
+{+block{Blocked JavaScript} +handle-as-empty-document}
+example.org/.*\.js$
+ </screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- Filter definitions start with a header line that contains the filter
- type, the filter name and the filter description.
- A content filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
- like this:
-</para>
-<para>
- <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
+<title>handle-as-image</title>
-<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
- PCRS documentation 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>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <emphasis>if they do get blocked</emphasis>, rather than HTML pages)</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- If you are new to
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
- Expressions</quote></ulink>, you might want to take a look at
- the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
- see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl
- manual</ulink> for
- <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlop.html">the
- <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
- url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
- expressions</ulink> in general.
- The below examples might also help to get you started.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <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>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ N/A
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
-<para>
- Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> content 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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ 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>
+ 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>
+ 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>
-<para>
- <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Generic image extensions:
+#
+{+handle-as-image}
+/.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
-<para>
- 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>
+# These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
+# blocked as images:
+#
+{+block{Nasty banners.} +handle-as-image}
+nasty-banner-server.example.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash
+</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
-</para>
-<para>
- Our complete filter now looks like this:
-</para>
-<para>
- <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
-s/foo/bar/g</screen>
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-accept-language">
+<title>hide-accept-language</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Pretend to use different language settings.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deletes or replaces the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> HTTP header in client requests.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <screen>
-FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-# 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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
+ foreign User-Agent set with
+ <literal><link linkend="hide-user-agent">hide-user-agent</link></literal>
+ more believable.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ However some sites with content in different languages check the
+ <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> to decide which one to take by default.
+ Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
+ changing the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header first.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
+ <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header to languages you understand,
+ or to languages that aren't wide spread.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Before setting the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header
+ to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to
+ make your requests unique and thus easier to trace.
+ If you don't plan to change this header frequently,
+ you should stick to a common language.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
+{+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
++hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
+}
+/ </screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- 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>
- 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>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-content-disposition">
+<title>hide-content-disposition</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- 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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deletes or replaces the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header set by some servers.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- 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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- 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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- 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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Some servers set the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header for
+ documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
+ The <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header contains the file name
+ the browser is supposed to use by default.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
+ <emphasis>just view</emphasis> the document, without downloading it first,
+ even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Removing the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header helps
+ to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
+ <quote>Content-Type:</quote> header, before they decide if they can
+ display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have
+ to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
+ download menus.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion
+ to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set
+ it up.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This action will probably be removed in the future,
+ use server-header filters instead.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
+{ -filter \
+ +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
+ +hide-content-disposition{block} }
+ .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<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>
-<para>
- <screen>
-# The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
-#
-s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-if-modified-since">
+<title>hide-if-modified-since</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <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 back-reference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
- with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
- a back-reference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deletes the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> HTTP client header or modifies its value.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- 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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <screen>
-# Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
-#
-s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
+ reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the
+ browser to use a cached copy of the page.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Instead of removing the header, <literal>hide-if-modified-since</literal> can
+ also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value.
+ You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and
+ <application>Privoxy</application> does the rest. A negative value means
+ subtracting, a positive value adding.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Randomizing the value of the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> makes
+ it less likely that the server can use the time as a cookie replacement,
+ but you will run into caching problems if the random range is too high.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
+ <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
+ handle the greater changes.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is also recommended to use this action together with
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>,
+ otherwise it's more or less pointless.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- The last example is from the fun department:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Let the browser revalidate but make tracking based on the time less likely.
+{+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
+ +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
+ +crunch-if-none-match}
+/</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- <screen>
-FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
-# Spice the daily news:
-#
-s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
+<title>hide-from-header</title>
-<para>
- 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>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
+ specified string.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- 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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- You get the idea?
-</para>
-</sect2>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ 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>
+ This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
+ <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<sect2 id="predefined-filters"><title>The Pre-defined Filters</title>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
+ <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<!--
- Note each filter is also listed in the +filter action section above. Please
- keep these listings in sync.
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
+<title>hide-referrer</title>
+<anchor id="hide-referer">
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <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>
+ Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
+ or replaces it with a forged one.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
-The distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file contains a selection of
-pre-defined filters for your convenience:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>js-annoyances</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.
- To that end, it
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
- <para>
- replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
- with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the <literal><link
- linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal> action on the content level.
- </para>
+ <para><quote>conditional-block</quote> to delete the header completely if the host has changed.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
- <para>
- removes the bindings to the DOM's
- <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">unload
- event</ulink> which we feel has no right to exist and is responsible for most <quote>exit consoles</quote>, i.e.
- nasty windows that pop up when you close another one.
- </para>
+ <para><quote>conditional-forge</quote> to forge the header if the host has changed.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
- <para>
- removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being
- full-screen, non-resizeable, without location, status or menu bar etc.
- </para>
+ <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header unconditionally.</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>
- </para>
- <para>
- Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that
- rely heavily on JavaScript.
- </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>js-events</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event bindings, which
- means that scripts can not react to user actions such as mouse movements or clicks, window
- resizing etc, anymore. Use with caution!
+ <literal>conditional-block</literal> is the only parameter,
+ that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the
+ referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or
+ typed in the address directly.
</para>
<para>
- We <emphasis>strongly discourage</emphasis> using this filter as a default since it breaks
- many legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should you really
- need to go there).
+ Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
+ allows the server owner to see the visitor's <quote>click path</quote>,
+ but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing
+ other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't
+ a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between
+ different requests.
</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>html-annoyances</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
<para>
- This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
+ Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
+ failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
+ requests, in an attempt to prevent their content from being
+ embedded or linked to elsewhere.
</para>
<para>
- The <literal>BLINK</literal> and <literal>MARQUEE</literal> tags
- are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser windows will be created as
- resizeable (as of course they should be!), and will have location,
- scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
+ Both <literal>conditional-block</literal> and <literal>forge</literal>
+ will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page
+ are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case.
+ </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><emphasis>content-cookies</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialog, where they can be intercepted
- by the
- <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>
- and <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>
- actions. But web sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript
- to sneak cookies to the browser on the content level.
+ <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
+ <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
+<title>hide-user-agent</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Try to conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- This filter disables most HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets
- cookies. It cannot detect all clever uses of these types of code, so it
- should not be relied on as an absolute fix. Use it wherever you would also
- use the cookie crunch actions.
+ Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
+ in client requests with the specified value.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>refresh-tags</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
- that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
- for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
- annoying.
+ Any user-defined string.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>unsolicited-popups</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
+ <warning>
+ <para>
+ This can lead to problems on 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> the right thing to do: good web sites
+ work browser-independently).
+ </para>
+ </warning>
<para>
- This filter attempts to prevent only <quote>unsolicited</quote> pop-up
- windows from opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user
- has explicitly chosen to open. It was added in version 3.0.1,
- as an improvement over earlier such filters.
+ 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).
</para>
<para>
- Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
- function to a dummy function, <literal>PrivoxyWindowOpen()</literal>,
- during the loading and rendering phase of each HTML page access, and
- restoring the function afterward.
+ More information on known user-agent strings can be found at
+ <ulink url="http://www.user-agents.org/">http://www.user-agents.org/</ulink>
+ and
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</ulink>.
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- This is recommended only for browsers that cannot perform this function
- reliably themselves. And be aware that some sites require such windows
- in order to function normally. Use with caution.
+ <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="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 or disable SSL for untrusted sites</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>all-popups</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Attempt to prevent <emphasis>all</emphasis> pop-up windows from opening.
- Note this should be used with even more discretion than the above, since
- it is more likely to break some sites that require pop-ups for normal
- usage. Use with caution.
+ 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><emphasis>img-reorder</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the
- <literal>banners-by-size</literal> and <literal>banners-by-link</literal>
- (see below) filters more effective and should be enabled together with them.
+ By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
+ <application>Privoxy</application> allows HTTP CONNECT requests to all
+ ports. Use <literal>limit-connect</literal> if fine-grained control
+ is desired for some or all destinations.
</para>
+ <para>
+ 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 means CONNECT-enabled proxies can be used as TCP relays very easily.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
+ the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent &my-app;'s
+ filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>banners-by-size</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Example usages:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are. Fortunately
- for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain standardized
- sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad stripping purposes.
- </para>
- <para>
- Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not ads,
- but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes.
- </para>
- <para>
- Recommended only for those who require extreme ad blocking. The default
- block rules should catch 95+% of all ads <emphasis>without</emphasis> this filter enabled.
+ <!-- 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} # Port 443 is OK.
++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
++limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-cookie-lifetime">
+<title>limit-cookie-lifetime</title>
+
+<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>banners-by-link</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if
- their URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently
- not of much value and is not recommended for use by default.
- </para>
+ <para>Limit the lifetime of HTTP cookies to a couple of minutes or hours.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>webbugs</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that
- are used to track users across websites, and collect information on them.
- As an HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the
- browser to contact a third-party site, disclosing the tracking information
- through the requested URL and/or cookies for that third-party domain, without
- the user ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party site.
- HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email addresses.
- </para>
- <para>
- This filter removes the HTML code that loads such <quote>webbugs</quote>.
+ Overwrites the expires field in Set-Cookie server headers if it's above the specified limit.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>tiny-textforms</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>
- A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas (those
- multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in them.
- It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such boxes are
- a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too.
- </para>
- <para>
- It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
- </para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>jumping-windows</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This filter
- neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might not display
- or behave as intended when using this filter. Use with caution.
+ The lifetime limit in minutes, or 0.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>frameset-borders</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view their
- web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution etc,
- because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame sizes,
- yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they be too
- small to show their whole content.
+ This action reduces the lifetime of HTTP cookies coming from the
+ server to the specified number of minutes, starting from the time
+ the cookie passes Privoxy.
</para>
<para>
- This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to sites
- which need it.
+ Cookies with a lifetime below the limit are not modified.
+ The lifetime of session cookies is set to the specified limit.
</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>demoronizer</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
<para>
- Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions (read:
- violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This can cause those
- HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant platforms.
+ The effect of this action depends on the server.
</para>
<para>
- This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents.
- It is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of
- all documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly
- worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if weird garbage characters
- sometimes appear on some pages, or user agents that don't correct for this on
- the fly.
-<!--
- My version of Mozilla (ancient) shows litte square boxes for quote
- characters, and apostrophes on moronized pages. So many pages have this, I
- can read them fine now. HB 08/27/06
--->
+ In case of servers which refresh their cookies with each response
+ (or at least frequently), the lifetime limit set by this action
+ is updated as well.
+ Thus, a session associated with the cookie continues to work with
+ this action enabled, as long as a new request is made before the
+ last limit set is reached.
</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>shockwave-flash</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
<para>
- A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips code
- out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects.
+ However, some servers send their cookies once, with a lifetime of several
+ years (the year 2037 is a popular choice), and do not refresh them
+ until a certain event in the future, for example the user logging out.
+ In this case this action may limit the absolute lifetime of the session,
+ even if requests are made frequently.
</para>
<para>
+ If the parameter is <quote>0</quote>, this action behaves like
+ <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>quicktime-kioskmode</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Example usages:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
- prevents saving, is disabled.
+ <screen>+limit-cookie-lifetime{60}
+ </screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
+<title>prevent-compression</title>
+<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>fun</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
- Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
+ 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><emphasis>crude-parental</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- A demonstration-only filter that shows how <application>Privoxy</application>
- can be used to delete web content on a keyword basis.
+ Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>ie-exploits</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>
- An experimental collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
- code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
- </para>
- <para>
- Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug, and
- would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
- </para>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>site-specifics</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't apply
- anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
- </para>
- <para>
- This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be applied
- to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
- <filename>default.action</filename> file does. Users shouldn't need to change
- anything regarding this filter.
+ N/A
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>google</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- A CSS based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation
- and the toolbar advertisement.
+ More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
+ is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the <literal><link
+ linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> and
+ <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
+ actions need access to the uncompressed data.
</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>yahoo</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
<para>
- Another CSS based block, this time for Yahoo text ads. And removes
- a width limitation as well.
+ When compiled with zlib support (available since &my-app; 3.0.7), content that should be
+ filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't have to worry about this action.
+ If you are using an older &my-app; version, or one that hasn't been compiled with zlib
+ support, this action can be used to convince the server to send the content uncompressed.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is seldom decreased by less than 50%,
+ for markup-heavy instances like news feeds saving more than 90% of the original size isn't
+ unusual.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should only
+ enable this action if you really need it. As of &my-app; 3.0.7 it's disabled in all
+ predefined action settings.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
+ documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an empty document body,
+ some IIS versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable
+ <literal>prevent-compression</literal> per default, you might want to add
+ exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>msn</emphasis></term>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Another CSS based block, this time for MSN text ads. And removes
- tracking URLs, as well as a width limitation.
+ <screen>
+# Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
+#
+{ +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
+# Match only these sites
+ .google.
+ sourceforge.net
+ sf.net
+
+# Or instead, we could set a universal default:
+#
+{ +prevent-compression }
+ / # Match all sites
+
+# Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites:
+#
+{ -prevent-compression }
+.compusa.com/</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="overwrite-last-modified">
+<title>overwrite-last-modified</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>blogspot</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this one!
- </para>
- <para>
- This filter also intentionally removes some navigation stuff and sets the
- page width to 100%. As a result, some rounded <quote>corners</quote> would
- appear to early or not at all and as fixing this would require a browser
- that understands background-size (CSS3), they are removed instead.
- </para>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>xml-to-html</emphasis></term>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from xml to html.
+ Deletes the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> HTTP server header or modifies its value.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>html-to-xml</emphasis></term>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>
- Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from html to xml.
- </para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>no-ping</emphasis></term>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Removes the non-standard <literal>ping</literal> attribute from
- anchor and area HTML tags.
+ One of the keywords: <quote>block</quote>, <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote>
+ and <quote>randomize</quote>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>hide-tor-exit-notation</emphasis></term>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Client-header filter to remove the <command>Tor</command> exit node notation
- found in Host and Referer headers.
+ Removing the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header is useful for filter
+ testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
+ code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
+ version of the page.
</para>
<para>
- If &my-app; and <command>Tor</command> are chained and &my-app;
- is configured to use socks4a, one can use <quote>http://www.example.org.foobar.exit/</quote>
- to access the host <quote>www.example.org</quote> through the
- <command>Tor</command> exit node <quote>foobar</quote>.
+ The <quote>randomize</quote> option overwrites the value of the
+ <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with a randomly chosen time
+ between the original value and the current time. In theory the server
+ could send each document with a different <quote>Last-Modified:</quote>
+ header to track visits without using cookies. <quote>Randomize</quote>
+ makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
</para>
<para>
- As the HTTP client isn't aware of this notation, it treats the
- whole string <quote>www.example.org.foobar.exit</quote> as host and uses it
- for the <quote>Host</quote> and <quote>Referer</quote> headers. From the
- server's point of view the resulting headers are invalid and can cause problems.
+ <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote> overwrites the value of the
+ <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with the current time. You could use
+ this option together with
+ <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
+ to further customize your random range.
</para>
<para>
- An invalid <quote>Referer</quote> header can trigger <quote>hot-linking</quote>
- protections, an invalid <quote>Host</quote> header will make it impossible for
- the server to find the right vhost (several domains hosted on the same IP address).
+ The preferred parameter here is <quote>randomize</quote>. It is safe
+ to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct.
+ If the server sets the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header to the time
+ of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same.
+ Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with
+ <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>,
+ just to be sure.
</para>
<para>
- This client-header filter removes the <quote>foo.exit</quote> part in those headers
- to prevent the mentioned problems. Note that it only modifies
- the HTTP headers, it doesn't make it impossible for the server
- to detect your <command>Tor</command> exit node based on the IP address
- the request is coming from.
+ It is also recommended to use this action together with
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-<!--
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis> </emphasis></term>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- </para>
- <para>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
+{ +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
+ +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
+ +crunch-if-none-match}
+/</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
--->
</variablelist>
-
-</sect2>
-</sect1>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect1 id="templates">
-<title>Privoxy's Template Files</title>
-<para>
- 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. It
- is possible to edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want
- to customize them. (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual
- user</emphasis>). Should you create your own custom templates, you should use
- the <filename>config</filename> setting <link linkend="templdir">templdir</link>
- to specify an alternate location, so your templates do not get overwritten
- during upgrades.
- </para>
- <para>
- 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>
- is 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>
- 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 ~ -->
-
+</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="redirect">
+<title>redirect</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Redirect requests to other sites.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
-Requests</title>
-
-<!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
- &contacting;
-<!-- end boilerplate -->
-
-</sect1>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
+ to another location and the browser should get it from there.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
- ©right;
-<!-- end copyright -->
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2><title>License</title>
-<!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
- &license;
-<!-- end copyright -->
-</sect2>
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Requests to which this action applies are answered with a
+ HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is
+ either provided as parameter, or derived by applying a
+ single pcrs command to the original URL.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The syntax for pcrs commands is documented in the
+ <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link> section.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Requests can't be blocked and redirected at the same time,
+ applying this action together with
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
+ is a configuration error. Currently the request is blocked
+ and an error message logged, the behavior may change in the
+ future and result in Privoxy rejecting the action file.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This action can be combined with
+ <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</link></literal>
+ to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Use this action carefully, make sure not to create redirection loops
+ and be aware that using your own redirects might make it
+ possible to fingerprint your requests.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ In case of problems with your redirects, or simply to watch
+ them working, enable <link linkend="DEBUG">debug 128</link>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usages:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
+{ +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
+ example.com/stylesheet\.css
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+# Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
+# (relies on the browser to accept and forward invalid URLs to &my-app;)
+{ +redirect{https://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
+ a
-<sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
-<!-- Include history.sgml: -->
- &history;
-<!-- end history -->
-</sect2>
+# Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles
+# (Note the $ at the end of the URL pattern to make sure
+# the request for the rewritten URL isn't redirected as well)
+{+redirect{s@$@&mode=expanded@}}
+undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$
-<sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
-<!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
- &p-authors;
-<!-- end authors -->
-</sect2>
+# Redirect Google search requests to MSN
+{+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/search\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=$1@}}
+.google.com/search
-</sect1>
+# Redirect MSN search requests to Yahoo
+{+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/results\.aspx\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=$1@}}
+search.msn.com//results\.aspx\?q=
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+# Redirect http://example.com/&bla=fasel&toChange=foo (and any other value but "bar")
+# to http://example.com/&bla=fasel&toChange=bar
+#
+# The URL pattern makes sure that the following request isn't redirected again.
+{+redirect{s@toChange=[^&]+@toChange=bar@}}
+example.com/.*toChange=(?!bar)
+# Add a shortcut to look up illumos bugs
+{+redirect{s@^http://i([0-9]+)/.*@https://www.illumos.org/issues/$1@}}
+# Redirected URL = http://i4974/
+# Redirect Destination = https://www.illumos.org/issues/4974
+i[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]*/
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
-<!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
- &seealso;
-<!-- end seealso -->
-</sect1>
+# Redirect remote requests for this manual
+# to the local version delivered by Privoxy
+{+redirect{s@^http://www@http://config@}}
+www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-filter">
+<title>server-header-filter</title>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Rewrite or remove single server headers.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="regex">
-<title>Regular Expressions</title>
-<para>
- <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
-<!--
- dead 08/27/06
- <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
--->
- <application>PCRS</application> libraries.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ All server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly
+ through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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 <ulink
- url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- 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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the
+ <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
- characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
- <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
- character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
- more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
- characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
- <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
- matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Server-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
+ all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
+ you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
+ You can do that by using tags though.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
+ and use their output as input.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
+ to learn which server-header filters are available by default, and how to
+ create your own.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
- powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
- building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
- and then some examples:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+{+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}}
+example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
- <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
+{+server-header-filter{xml-to-html}}
+example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not
+ </screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
- times. Either/or.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
- times.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
- times.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-tagger">
+<title>server-header-tagger</title>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
- the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
- special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
- not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
- sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
- meta-character meaning of any single character).
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>[ ]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
- any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
- matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
- this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
+ the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
+ tag.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>( )</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
- or multiple sub-expressions.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
- <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
- sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
- <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
- and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
- example</quote>, and nothing else.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the
+ <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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
- list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
- be more illuminating:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
+ and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
+ the original.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Server-header taggers are executed before all other header actions
+ that modify server headers. Their tags can be used to control
+ all of the other server-header actions, the content filters
+ and the crunch actions (<link linkend="redirect">redirect</link>
+ and <link linkend="block">block</link>).
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header taggers
+ doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the server's log file.
+ </para>
-<para>
- <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
- that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
- denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
- So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
- (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
- <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
- <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
- a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
- directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
- any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
- might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
- <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
- <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
- possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
- somewhere.
-</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- And now something a little more complex:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+# Tag every request with the content type declared by the server
+{+server-header-tagger{content-type}}
+/
-<para>
- <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
- We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
- building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
- <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
- it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
- match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
- the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
- interesting part.
-</para>
+# If the response has a tag starting with 'image/' enable an external
+# filter that only applies to images.
+#
+# Note that the filter is not available by default, it's just a
+# <literal><link linkend="external-filter-syntax">silly example</link></literal>.
+{+external-filter{rotate-image} +force-text-mode}
+TAG:^image/
+ </screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
- literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
- can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
- <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
- individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
- <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
- means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
- <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
- <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
- attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
- similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
- or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
- <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
- <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
- <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
- changing our regular expression to:
- <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
- either spelling.
-</para>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
- another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
- <quote>[ ]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
- shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
- saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
- means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
- expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
- one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
- This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
- either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
- side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
- since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
- can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
- match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
- string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
- (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
- with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
- <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
- include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
- <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
- <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
- <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
- <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
- <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
- in the expression anywhere).
-</para>
-<para>
- We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
- can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
- configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
- installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
- expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
- your own :/
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
+<title>session-cookies-only</title>
-<para>
- More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
- <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>
-</para>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current
+ browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ 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>
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+<varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ N/A
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2>
-<title>Privoxy's Internal Pages</title>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ 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>
+ 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>
+ 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>
+ <para>
+ 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>
+ 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>
+ <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>
-<para>
- Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
- web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
- trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
- <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
- configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
- rules and other configuration options, and even turn
- <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
- a web browser.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-</para>
-<para>
- The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
- to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
- <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
- not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
- necessary either.
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
+<title>set-image-blocker</title>
-<para>
- <itemizedlist>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Privoxy main page:
- </para>
- <blockquote>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
+ 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>
- </blockquote>
- <para>
- 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>
+ </varlistentry>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
- editing of actions files:
- </para>
- <blockquote>
+ <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.
+ (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
+ </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>
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
+ 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>
- </blockquote>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Show the source code version numbers:
- </para>
- <blockquote>
<para>
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
+ 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>
- </blockquote>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Show the browser's request headers:
- </para>
- <blockquote>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
+ Built-in pattern:
</para>
- </blockquote>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
- </para>
- <blockquote>
<para>
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
+ <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
</para>
- </blockquote>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Toggle Privoxy on or off. This feature can be turned off/on in the main
- <filename>config</filename> file. When toggled <quote>off</quote>, <quote>Privoxy</quote>
- continues to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking
- place:
- </para>
- <blockquote>
<para>
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
+ Redirect to the BSD daemon:
</para>
- </blockquote>
- <para>
- Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
- </para>
- <blockquote>
<para>
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
+ <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
</para>
- </blockquote>
- <blockquote>
<para>
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
+ Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
</para>
- </blockquote>
- </listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 id="summary">
+<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>
+</sect2>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="aliases">
+<title>Aliases</title>
+<para>
+ 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>
+ 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>
+ 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>
+ 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.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Now let's define some aliases...
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ # 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}}
+
+ # These aliases just save typing later:
+ # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
+ #
+ +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
+ -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
+ +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
+ allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
+
+ # These aliases define combinations of actions
+ # that are useful for certain types of sites:
+ #
+ fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link>
- </itemizedlist>
+ shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link>
+
+ # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
+ #
+ c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
+ c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ ...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>
<para>
- These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
+ <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
+ # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com
+ mail.google.com
+
+ # Shopping sites:
+ # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
+ #
+ {shop}
+ .quietpc.com
+ .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+ mybank.example.com
+ # These shops require pop-ups:
+ #
+ {-filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
+ .dabs.com
+ .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
</para>
-<sect3 id="bookmarklets">
-<title>Bookmarklets</title>
<para>
- Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
- <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
- special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
- equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
- JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
- clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
+ Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are typically used for
+ <quote>problem</quote> sites that require more than one action to be disabled
+ in order to function properly.
</para>
+</sect2>
+<!--
+hal stop here
+-->
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="act-examples">
+<title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
<para>
- To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
- (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
- the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
- Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
- you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
- Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
+ 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>match-all.action</filename>, <filename>default.action</filename>
+ and <filename>user.action</filename> file and see how all these pieces come together:
</para>
+<sect3 id="match-all">
+<title>match-all.action</title>
<para>
- <itemizedlist>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <ulink
- url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=enabled','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Enable</ulink>
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <ulink
- url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=disabled','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Disable</ulink>
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <ulink
- url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=toggle','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Toggle Privoxy</ulink> (Toggles between enabled and disabled)
- </para>
- </listitem>
+ Remember <emphasis>all actions are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>,
+ so we have to explicitly enable the ones we want.
+</para>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <ulink
- url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y','ijbstatus','width=250,height=2,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy- View Status</ulink>
- </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/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>
+ While the <filename>match-all.action</filename> file only contains a
+ single section, it is probably the most important one. 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 other actions files like <filename>default.action</filename>
+ and <filename>user.action</filename>, but it will still be largely responsible
+ for your overall browsing experience.
</para>
<para>
- 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.
+ Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
+ no need to disable any actions here. (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>
+ <screen>
+{ \
+ +<link linkend="CHANGE-X-FORWARDED-FOR">change-x-forwarded-for{block}</link> \
+ +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
+ +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
+}
+/ # Match all URLs
+ </screen>
+</para>
+<para>
+ The default behavior is now set.
+</para>
</sect3>
-</sect2>
-
+<sect3 id="default-action">
+<title>default.action</title>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="chain">
-<title>Chain of Events</title>
<para>
- Let's take a quick look at how some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
- core features are triggered, and the ensuing sequence of events when a web
- page is requested by your browser:
+ If you aren't a developer, there's no need for you to edit the
+ <filename>default.action</filename> file. It is maintained by
+ the &my-app; developers and if you disagree with some of the
+ sections, you should overrule them in your <filename>user.action</filename>.
</para>
<para>
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
- the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
- relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
- tests:
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
- pages (e.g <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
- 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.
- <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
- and
- <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT"><quote>+handle-as-empty-document</quote></link>
- are then checked, and if there is no match, an
- HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back to the browser. Otherwise, if
- it does match, an image is returned for the former, and an empty text
- document for the latter. The type of image would depend 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>
- <para>
- Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
- <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- 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. <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>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web
- page).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <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 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 any <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
- 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> and any other filter files) are
- processed against the buffered content. Filters are applied in the order
- they are specified in one of the filter files. Animated GIFs, if present,
- are reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
- setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
- <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
- </para>
- <para>
- If neither a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
- 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>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it
- reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
- source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
- frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a
- separate request (this is easily viewable in <application>Privoxy's</application>
- logs). And each such request is in turn processed just as above. Note that a
- complex web page will have many, many such embedded URLs. If these
- secondary requests are to a different server, then quite possibly a very
- differing set of actions is triggered.
- </para>
- </listitem>
+ Understanding the <filename>default.action</filename> file can
+ help you with your <filename>user.action</filename>, though.
+</para>
- </itemizedlist>
+<para>
+ The first section in this file is a special section for internal use
+ that prevents older &my-app; versions from reading the file:
</para>
+
<para>
- NOTE: This is somewhat of a simplistic overview of what happens with each URL
- request. For the sake of brevity and simplicity, we have focused on
- <application>Privoxy's</application> core features only.
+ <screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
+##########################################################################
+{{settings}}
+for-privoxy-version=3.0.11</screen>
</para>
-</sect2>
+<para>
+ 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>
+ <screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Aliases
+##########################################################################
+{{alias}}
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="actionsanat">
-<title>Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</title>
+ # These aliases just save typing later:
+ # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
+ #
+ +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
+ -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
+ +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
+ mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
-<para>
- The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
- <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
- <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
- always so obvious.
+ # These aliases define combinations of actions
+ # that are useful for certain types of sites:
+ #
+ fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link>
+ shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link></screen>
</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!). Looking at the
- logs is a good idea too. (Note that both the toggle feature and logging are
- enabled via <filename>config</filename> file settings, and may need to be
- turned <quote>on</quote>.)
+ 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>
+
<para>
- Another easy troubleshooting step to try is if you have done any
- customization of your installation, revert back to the installed
- defaults and see if that helps. There are times the developers get complaints
- about one thing or another, and the problem is more related to a customized
- configuration issue.
+ <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
+mail.google.com</screen>
</para>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
- page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
- are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
+ 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>
<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 <link
- linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
- one of the filter files 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
- such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
- you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
- -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
- will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
- Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
- URL.
+ <screen>
+# Shopping sites:
+#
+{ shop }
+.quietpc.com
+.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+.jungle.com
+.scan.co.uk</screen>
</para>
<para>
- Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
- and look at it one section at a time in a sample configuration (your real
- configuration may vary):
+ The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
+ action, which may have been enabled in <filename>match-all.action</filename>,
+ breaks some sites. So disable it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
</para>
<para>
<screen>
- Matches for http://www.google.com:
+{ -<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>
- In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
+<para>
+ 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 information about you. 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>
- {+change-x-forwarded-for{block}
- +deanimate-gifs {last}
- +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
- +filter {refresh-tags}
- +filter {img-reorder}
- +filter {banners-by-size}
- +filter {webbugs}
- +filter {jumping-windows}
- +filter {ie-exploits}
- +hide-from-header {block}
- +hide-referrer {forge}
- +session-cookies-only
- +set-image-blocker {pattern}
-/
+<para>
+ <screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Images:
+##########################################################################
- { -session-cookies-only }
- .google.com
+# 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>
- { -fast-redirects }
- .google.com
+<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>
-In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
-(no matches in this file)
-</screen>
+<para>
+ <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
+.qkimg.net</screen>
</para>
<para>
- This is telling us how we have defined our
- <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
- which ones match for our test case, <quote>google.com</quote>.
- Displayed is all the actions that are available to us. Remember,
- the <literal>+</literal> sign denotes <quote>on</quote>. <literal>-</literal>
- denotes <quote>off</quote>. So some are <quote>on</quote> here, but many
- are <quote>off</quote>. Each example we try may provide a slightly different
- end result, depending on our configuration directives.
+ One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
+ is to block banners. Many of these can be <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>
- The first listing
- is for our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line
- listing, is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default
- settings. If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the
- section just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This
- will apply to all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end
- of the listing -- <quote> / </quote>.
+ First comes many 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>
<para>
- But we have defined additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
- rules, and then we 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 <link
- linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
- (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google, at
- least that is how it is in this example. The second turns
- <emphasis>off</emphasis> any <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
- <quote>www.google.com</quote> or <quote>mail.google.com</quote>. But it would not
- match <quote>www.google.de</quote>! So, apparently, we have these two actions
- defined as exceptions to the general rules at the top somewhere in the lower
- part of our <filename>default.action</filename> file, and
- <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter sections.
+ <screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Block these fine banners:
+##########################################################################
+{ <link linkend="BLOCK">+block{Banner ads.}</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>
- Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
- So there is nothing google-specific that we might have added to our own, local
- configuration. If there was, those actions would over-rule any actions from
- previously processed files, such as <filename>default.action</filename>.
- <filename>user.action</filename> typically has the last word. This is the
- best place to put hard and fast exceptions,
+ It's quite remarkable 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>
-
<para>
- And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
- <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
- to <quote>google.com</quote>:
-
+ 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>
+ 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>
<para>
<screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
+##########################################################################
- Final results:
+# By domain:
+#
+{ -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
+adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
+adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
+adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
+ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
+.edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
+.*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
- -add-header
- -block
- +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
- -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
- -content-type-overwrite
- -crunch-client-header
- -crunch-if-none-match
- -crunch-incoming-cookies
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-server-header
- +deanimate-gifs {last}
- -downgrade-http-version
- -fast-redirects
- -filter {js-events}
- -filter {content-cookies}
- -filter {all-popups}
- -filter {banners-by-link}
- -filter {tiny-textforms}
- -filter {frameset-borders}
- -filter {demoronizer}
- -filter {shockwave-flash}
- -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
- -filter {fun}
- -filter {crude-parental}
- -filter {site-specifics}
- -filter {js-annoyances}
- -filter {html-annoyances}
- +filter {refresh-tags}
- -filter {unsolicited-popups}
- +filter {img-reorder}
- +filter {banners-by-size}
- +filter {webbugs}
- +filter {jumping-windows}
- +filter {ie-exploits}
- -filter {google}
- -filter {yahoo}
- -filter {msn}
- -filter {blogspot}
- -filter {no-ping}
- -force-text-mode
- -handle-as-empty-document
- -handle-as-image
- -hide-accept-language
- -hide-content-disposition
- +hide-from-header {block}
- -hide-if-modified-since
- +hide-referrer {forge}
- -hide-user-agent
- -limit-connect
- -overwrite-last-modified
- -prevent-compression
- -redirect
- -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
- -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
- -session-cookies-only
- +set-image-blocker {pattern} </screen>
+# By path:
+#
+/.*loads/
+
+# Site-specific:
+#
+www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
+www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
</para>
<para>
- Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
- <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>,
- which are activated specifically for this site in our configuration,
- and thus show in the <quote>Final Results</quote>.
+ 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>
- Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
+ <screen>
+# Don't filter code!
+#
+{ -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
+/(.*/)?cvs
+bugzilla.
+developer.
+wiki.
+.sourceforge.net</screen>
</para>
<para>
- <screen>
+ The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course much more
+ comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
+</para>
- { +block{Domains starts with "ad"} }
- ad*.
+</sect3>
- { +block{Domain contains "ad"} }
- .ad.
+<sect3 id="user-action"><title>user.action</title>
- { +block{Doubleclick banner server} +handle-as-image }
- .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
-</screen>
+<para>
+ 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>
<para>
- We'll just show the interesting part here - the explicit matches. It is
- matched three different times. Two <quote>+block{}</quote> sections,
- and a <quote>+block{} +handle-as-image</quote>,
- which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
- <quote>+block-as-image</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.)
+ So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
+ <filename>user.action</filename>:
</para>
+
+<!-- brief sample user.action here -->
+
<para>
- Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
- image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
- 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 <link
- linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block{}</quote></link>
- <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
- <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
- The custom alias <quote><literal>+block-as-image</literal></quote> just
- simplifies the process and make it more readable.
+ <screen>
+# My user.action file. <fred@example.com></screen>
</para>
<para>
- One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
- This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
+ 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>
<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{all-popups}
++block-as-image = +block{Blocked as image.} +handle-as-image
+-block-as-image = -block
- Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
+# These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
+# certain types of sites:
+#
+fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer
+shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
- In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
+# Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
+#
+allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
- {-add-header
- -block
- +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
- -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
- -content-type-overwrite
- -crunch-client-header
- -crunch-if-none-match
- -crunch-incoming-cookies
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-server-header
- +deanimate-gifs
- -downgrade-http-version
- +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
- -filter {js-events}
- -filter {content-cookies}
- -filter {all-popups}
- -filter {banners-by-link}
- -filter {tiny-textforms}
- -filter {frameset-borders}
- -filter {demoronizer}
- -filter {shockwave-flash}
- -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
- -filter {fun}
- -filter {crude-parental}
- -filter {site-specifics}
- -filter {js-annoyances}
- -filter {html-annoyances}
- +filter {refresh-tags}
- -filter {unsolicited-popups}
- +filter {img-reorder}
- +filter {banners-by-size}
- +filter {webbugs}
- +filter {jumping-windows}
- +filter {ie-exploits}
- -filter {google}
- -filter {yahoo}
- -filter {msn}
- -filter {blogspot}
- -filter {no-ping}
- -force-text-mode
- -handle-as-empty-document
- -handle-as-image
- -hide-accept-language
- -hide-content-disposition
- +hide-from-header{block}
- +hide-referer{forge}
- -hide-user-agent
- -overwrite-last-modified
- +prevent-compression
- -redirect
- -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
- -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
- +session-cookies-only
- +set-image-blocker{blank} }
- /
+# Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
+# MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
+handle-as-text = -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> +-<link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{text/plain}</link> +-<link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION">hide-content-disposition</link></screen>
- { +block{Path contains "ads".} +handle-as-image }
- /ads
-</screen>
</para>
<para>
- Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote> in our
- configuration! But we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the
- blank page. It is actually triggering two different actions here, and
- the effects are aggregated so that the URL is blocked, and &my-app; is told
- to treat the block as if it were an image. But this is, of course, all wrong.
- We could now add a new action below this (or better in our own
- <filename>user.action</filename> file) that explicitly
- <emphasis>un</emphasis> blocks (
- <link linkend="BLOCK"><quote>{-block}</quote></link>) paths with
- <quote>adsl</quote> in them (remember, last match in the configuration
- wins). There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
+ 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>
<para>
<screen>
+{ allow-all-cookies }
+ sourceforge.net
+ .yahoo.com
+ .msdn.microsoft.com
+ .redhat.com</screen>
+</para>
- { -block }
- /adsl
-</screen>
+<para>
+ Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:
</para>
<para>
- Now the page displays ;-)
- Remember to flush your browser's caches when making these kinds of changes to
- your configuration to insure that you get a freshly delivered page! Or, try
- using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
+ <screen>
+{ -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
+ .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
</para>
<para>
- But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
- we did with:
+ Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
</para>
<para>
<screen>
+# Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
+# erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
+#
+.tldp.org
+/(.*/)?selfhtml/
- { +block{Path starts with "ads".} +handle-as-image }
- /ads
-</screen>
+# And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
+# so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
+#
+stupid-server.example.com/</screen>
</para>
<para>
- That actually was very helpful and pointed us quickly to where the problem
- was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
- rules in the first section of <filename>default.action</filename> 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
- <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> actions.
- These tend to be harder to troubleshoot.
- Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off
- <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>:
+ 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>
<screen>
-
- { shop }
- .quietpc.com
- .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
- .jungle.com
- .scan.co.uk
- .forbes.com
-</screen>
+{ +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link>{Nasty ads.} }
+ www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
+ another.example.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
</para>
<para>
- <quote><literal>{ shop }</literal></quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
- <quote><literal>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</literal></quote>.
- Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
-
+ The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner
+ farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which
+ makes it impossible for <application>Privoxy</application> to guess
+ the file type just by looking at the URL.
+ You can use the <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above for
+ these cases.
+ Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an
+ image are typically rendered as a <quote>broken image</quote> icon by the
+ browser. Use cautiously.
</para>
<para>
<screen>
-
- { -filter }
- # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
- .forbes.com
- developer.ibm.com
- localhost
-</screen>
+{ +block-as-image }
+ .doubleclick.net
+ .fastclick.net
+ /Realmedia/ads/
+ ar.atwola.com/</screen>
</para>
<para>
- This would turn off all filtering for these sites. This is best
- put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
- exceptions. Note that when a simple domain pattern is used by itself (without
- the subsequent path portion), all sub-pages within that domain are included
- automatically in the scope of the action.
+ 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. We later find other regular sites
+ that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:
</para>
<para>
- Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
-<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"><quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote></link>
- rule, which assumes
- that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well
- <emphasis>most of the time</emphasis> since these tend to be standardized).
+<screen>
+{ fragile }
+ .forbes.com
+ webmail.example.com
+ .mybank.com</screen>
</para>
<para>
- <quote><literal>{ fragile }</literal></quote> is an alias that disables most
- actions that are the most likely to cause trouble. This can be used as a
- last resort for problem sites.
+ You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
+ but it is disabled in the distributed actions file.
+ So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
+ update-safe config, once and for all:
</para>
-<para>
- <screen>
- { fragile }
- # Handle with care: easy to break
- mail.google.
- mybank.example.com</screen>
+<para>
+<screen>
+{ +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
+ / # For ALL sites!</screen>
</para>
-
<para>
- <emphasis>Remember to flush caches!</emphasis> Note that the
- <literal>mail.google</literal> reference lacks the TLD portion (e.g.
- <quote>.com</quote>). This will effectively match any TLD with
- <literal>google</literal> in it, such as <literal>mail.google.de.</literal>,
- just as an example.
+ 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>
+
<para>
- If this still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining
- actions one by one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
+ 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>
-</sect2>
-
-</sect1>
-
- <!--
-
- This program is free software; you can redistribute it
- and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
- Public License as published by the Free Software
- Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
- your option) any later version.
-
- This program is distributed in the hope that it will
- be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
- implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
- PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
- License for more details.
-
- The GNU General Public License should be included with
- this file. If not, you can view it at
- http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
- or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
- 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301,
- USA
-
- $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
- Revision 2.152 2012/10/29 12:02:55 fabiankeil
- Clarify that the destination-change detection works for intercepted requests as well
-
- For some values of "clarify".
-
- Revision 2.151 2012/10/21 12:31:59 fabiankeil
- In the redirect{} section, refer pcrs newbies to the 'filter file' section
-
- Revision 2.150 2012/09/26 15:20:54 fabiankeil
- Spell 'refresh-tags' correctly
-
- Reported by Don in #3571927.
-
- Revision 2.149 2012/04/22 12:15:53 fabiankeil
- Use another client-header-tagger{} example: disable filtering for range requests
-
- Revision 2.148 2012/03/18 15:41:49 fabiankeil
- Bump entities to 3.0.20 UNRELEASED
-
- Revision 2.147 2012/03/11 19:03:42 diem
- Updated user manual to refer to both packaged and source install options for OS X
-
- Revision 2.146 2011/12/26 17:05:40 fabiankeil
- Bump entities for 3.0.19
-
- Revision 2.145 2011/12/26 17:04:19 fabiankeil
- Import ChangeLog entries for 3.0.19, keeping the ones for 3.0.18 for now
-
- Revision 2.144 2011/12/26 17:01:29 fabiankeil
- Try to be less misleading in the downgrade-http-version description
-
- Revision 2.143 2011/11/20 17:16:36 fabiankeil
- Last minute ChangeLog changes that didn't make it into the tarball
-
- Revision 2.142 2011/11/20 12:43:38 fabiankeil
- Update ChangeLog. Once more, with feeling.
-
- Revision 2.141 2011/11/20 12:41:22 fabiankeil
- Document the +fast-redirects{} HTTP response splitting fix
-
- Revision 2.140 2011/11/19 15:18:02 fabiankeil
- Update ChangeLog
-
- Revision 2.139 2011/11/18 16:49:29 fabiankeil
- Update ChangeLog
-
- Revision 2.138 2011/11/13 17:03:54 fabiankeil
- Bump entities for 3.0.18 stable
-
- Revision 2.137 2011/11/13 17:02:59 fabiankeil
- Import the first ChangeLog draft for 3.0.18 stable
-
- Revision 2.136 2011/10/14 16:53:10 fabiankeil
- Clarify the effect of compiling Privoxy with zlib support
-
- Suggested by dg1727 in #3423782.
-
- zlib support has been available for years now,
- so drop the reference to Privoxy 3.0.7
-
- Revision 2.135 2011/09/04 11:10:12 fabiankeil
- Ditch trailing whitespace
-
- Revision 2.134 2011/08/18 11:45:02 fabiankeil
- Don't use unspecified MSN sites as examples for User-Agent-based descrimination
-
- Without knowing the URLs, nobody can easily verify it and it could
- be mistaken as FUD. I also assume that it's no longer an issue anyway.
-
- Revision 2.133 2011/08/18 11:42:50 fabiankeil
- Bump some more documentation copyright ranges.
-
- Revision 2.132 2011/08/17 10:40:07 fabiankeil
- Update the entities.
-
- This commit is chronological out of order.
-
- Revision 2.131 2011/04/19 13:14:10 fabiankeil
- Fix spelling errors in the documentation. Found with codespell.
-
- Revision 2.130 2010/12/01 19:28:28 fabiankeil
- Hopefully unbreak the dok target when using some kind of jade.
-
- Reported by Lee.
-
- Revision 2.129 2010/11/13 20:17:11 fabiankeil
- Merge ChangeLog updates
-
- Revision 2.128 2010/11/10 22:00:13 fabiankeil
- Update the first paragraph of the 'What's New' section.
-
- Revision 2.127 2010/11/10 21:48:54 fabiankeil
- Update the "What's New" section.
-
- Revision 2.126 2010/11/06 12:55:48 fabiankeil
- Set p-version to 3.0.17
-
- Revision 2.125 2010/09/03 17:39:37 fabiankeil
- Slightly improve the explanation of why filtering may appear slower than it is.
-
- Revision 2.124 2010/05/01 18:21:30 fabiankeil
- Explicitly mention how to match any URL.
-
- Revision 2.123 2010/02/19 16:00:38 fabiankeil
- Even more fixes.
-
- Revision 2.122 2010/02/19 15:22:47 fabiankeil
- Add missing word.
-
- Revision 2.121 2010/02/15 15:30:13 fabiankeil
- Mention the use of the no-such-domain template for DNS problems with FEATURE_IPV6_SUPPORT enabled.
-
- Revision 2.120 2010/02/13 17:38:39 fabiankeil
- Update entities for 3.0.16 stable.
-
- Revision 2.119 2010/02/13 16:37:37 fabiankeil
- Update 'What's new?' section.
-
- Revision 2.118 2010/02/11 13:59:48 fabiankeil
- Mention that the headers added by the add-header action aren't modified by other actions.
-
- Revision 2.117 2010/01/11 12:56:04 fabiankeil
- Bump copyright range as p-config.sgml's copyright line is only used in the config file.
-
- Revision 2.116 2009/11/15 14:24:12 fabiankeil
- Prepare to generate docs for 3.0.16 UNRELEASED.
-
- Revision 2.115 2009/10/10 06:19:34 fabiankeil
- Ditch a duplicated 'since'.
-
- Revision 2.114 2009/10/10 05:51:48 fabiankeil
- Update "What's new" section.
-
- Revision 2.113 2009/10/10 05:48:55 fabiankeil
- Prepare for 3.0.15 beta.
-
- Revision 2.112 2009/07/24 12:20:30 fabiankeil
- Remove duplicated period.
-
- Revision 2.111 2009/07/18 18:11:11 fabiankeil
- Don't claim that NTLM should work when there are multiple reports that it doesn't.
-
- Revision 2.110 2009/07/18 16:25:17 fabiankeil
- Fix trailing whitespace.
-
- Revision 2.109 2009/07/18 16:24:39 fabiankeil
- Bump entities for 3.0.14 beta.
-
- Revision 2.108 2009/07/18 15:49:23 fabiankeil
- Add most of the changes in 3.0.14 to the "What's New" section.
-
- Revision 2.107 2009/06/12 14:30:58 fabiankeil
- Update entities for 3.0.13 beta.
-
- Revision 2.106 2009/06/12 11:04:13 fabiankeil
- Import ChangeLog for 3.0.13 beta.
-
- Revision 2.105 2009/04/17 11:32:57 fabiankeil
- Grammar and spelling fixes.
-
- Revision 2.104 2009/04/17 11:27:49 fabiankeil
- Petr Pisar's privoxy-3.0.12-ipv6-3.diff.
-
- Revision 2.103 2009/03/21 10:49:05 fabiankeil
- Merge updated ChangeLog.
-
- Revision 2.102 2009/03/15 19:31:36 fabiankeil
- Update "What's New in this Release" section.
-
- Revision 2.101 2009/02/25 19:01:56 fabiankeil
- Fix typo.
-
- Revision 2.100 2009/02/19 17:14:11 fabiankeil
- - Copy the release cycle description from announce.txt into
- the "What's New" section.
- - Stop referring to the ChangeLog for a "complete list of changes".
- The "What's New" section already contains the complete list.
-
- Revision 2.99 2009/02/19 02:20:22 hal9
- Make some links in seealso conditional. Man page is now privoxy only links.
-
- Revision 2.98 2009/02/16 17:10:33 fabiankeil
- Fix entry about shortened log messages. Noticed by Lee.
+<para>
+<screen>
+{ allow-ads }
+ .sourceforge.net
+ .slashdot.org
+ .osdn.net</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 2.97 2009/02/14 18:01:00 fabiankeil
- Import ChangeLog.
+<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>
- Revision 2.96 2009/02/14 13:14:03 fabiankeil
- Unbreak syntax.
+<para>
+ Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type <literal>
+ application/x-sh</literal> which typically would open a download type
+ dialog. In my case, I want to look at the shell script, and then I can save
+ it should I choose to.
+</para>
- Revision 2.95 2009/02/14 12:51:26 fabiankeil
- Mention match-all.action in the "Actions Files Tutorial" section.
+<para>
+<screen>
+{ handle-as-text }
+ /.*\.sh$</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 2.94 2009/02/14 11:50:31 fabiankeil
- Some indentation fixes.
+<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>
- Revision 2.93 2009/02/14 10:14:42 fabiankeil
- Mention match-all.action in the action file descriptions.
+<para>
+<screen>
+{ +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
+/ # ALL sites</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 2.92 2009/02/12 16:08:26 fabiankeil
- Declare the code stable.
+</sect3>
+</sect2>
- Revision 2.91 2009/01/13 16:50:35 fabiankeil
- The standard.action file is gone.
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- Revision 2.90 2008/09/26 16:53:09 fabiankeil
- Update "What's new" section.
+</sect1>
- Revision 2.89 2008/09/21 15:38:56 fabiankeil
- Fix Portage tree sync instructions in Gentoo section.
- Anonymously reported at ijbswa-developers@.
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- Revision 2.88 2008/09/21 14:42:52 fabiankeil
- Add documentation for change-x-forwarded-for{},
- remove documentation for hide-forwarded-for-headers.
+<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
- Revision 2.87 2008/08/30 15:37:35 fabiankeil
- Update entities.
+<sect1 id="filter-file">
+<title>Filter Files</title>
- Revision 2.86 2008/08/16 10:12:23 fabiankeil
- Merge two sentences and move the URL to the end of the item.
+<para>
+ On-the-fly text substitutions need
+ to be defined in a <quote>filter file</quote>. Once defined, they
+ can then be invoked as an <quote>action</quote>.
+</para>
- Revision 2.85 2008/08/16 10:04:59 fabiankeil
- Some more syntax fixes. This version actually builds.
+<para>
+ &my-app; supports three different pcrs-based filter actions:
+ <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> to
+ rewrite the content that is send to the client,
+ <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header-filter</link></literal>
+ to rewrite headers that are send by the client, and
+ <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header-filter</link></literal>
+ to rewrite headers that are send by the server.
+</para>
- Revision 2.84 2008/08/16 09:42:45 fabiankeil
- Turns out building docs works better if the syntax is valid.
+<para>
+ &my-app; also supports two tagger actions:
+ <literal><link linkend="client-header-tagger">client-header-tagger</link></literal>
+ and
+ <literal><link linkend="server-header-tagger">server-header-tagger</link></literal>.
+ Taggers and filters use the same syntax in the filter files, the difference
+ is that taggers don't modify the text they are filtering, but use a rewritten
+ version of the filtered text as tag. The tags can then be used to change the
+ applying actions through sections with <link linkend="tag-pattern">tag-patterns</link>.
+</para>
- Revision 2.83 2008/08/16 09:32:02 fabiankeil
- Mention changes since 3.0.9 beta.
+<para>
+ Finally &my-app; supports the
+ <literal><link linkend="external-filter">external-filter</link></literal> action
+ to enable <literal><link linkend="external-filter-syntax">external filters</link></literal>
+ written in proper programming languages.
+</para>
- Revision 2.82 2008/08/16 09:00:52 fabiankeil
- Fix example URL pattern (once more with feeling).
- Revision 2.81 2008/08/16 08:51:28 fabiankeil
- Update version-related entities.
+<para>
+ Multiple filter files can be defined through the <literal> <link
+ linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config directive. The filters
+ as supplied by the developers are located in
+ <filename>default.filter</filename>. It is recommended that any locally
+ defined or modified filters go in a separately defined file such as
+ <filename>user.filter</filename>.
+ </para>
- Revision 2.80 2008/07/18 16:54:30 fabiankeil
- Remove erroneous whitespace in documentation link.
- Reported by John Chronister in #2021611.
+<para>
+ Common tasks for content filters 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.
+</para>
- Revision 2.79 2008/06/27 18:00:53 markm68k
- remove outdated startup information for mac os x
+<para>
+ Enabled content filters are applied to any content whose
+ <quote>Content Type</quote> header is recognised as a sign
+ of text-based content, with the exception of <literal>text/plain</literal>.
+ Use the <link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> action
+ to also filter other content.
+</para>
- Revision 2.78 2008/06/21 17:03:03 fabiankeil
- Fix typo.
+<para>
+ Substitutions are made at the source level, so if you want to <quote>roll
+ your own</quote> filters, you should first be familiar with HTML syntax,
+ and, of course, regular expressions.
+</para>
- Revision 2.77 2008/06/14 13:45:22 fabiankeil
- Re-add a colon I unintentionally removed a few revisions ago.
+<para>
+ 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 one of the
+ <emphasis>keywords</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>,
+ <literal>CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER:</literal> or <literal>SERVER-HEADER-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>
- Revision 2.76 2008/06/14 13:21:28 fabiankeil
- Prepare for the upcoming 3.0.9 beta release.
+<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>
- Revision 2.75 2008/06/13 16:06:48 fabiankeil
- Update the "What's New in this Release" section with
- the ChangeLog entries changelog2doc.pl could handle.
+<para>
+ Filter definitions start with a header line that contains the filter
+ type, the filter name and the filter description.
+ A content filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
+ like this:
+</para>
- Revision 2.74 2008/05/26 15:55:46 fabiankeil
- - Update "default profiles" table.
- - Add some more pcrs redirect examples and note that
- enabling debug 128 helps to get redirects working.
+<para>
+ <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 2.73 2008/05/23 14:43:18 fabiankeil
- Remove previously out-commented block that caused syntax problems.
+<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
+ PCRS documentation for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour.
+</para>
- Revision 2.72 2008/05/12 10:26:14 fabiankeil
- Synchronize content filter descriptions with the ones in default.filter.
+<para>
+ Most notably, the non-standard option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported,
+ which turns the default to ungreedy matching (add <literal>?</literal> to
+ quantifiers to turn them greedy again).
+</para>
- Revision 2.71 2008/04/10 17:37:16 fabiankeil
- Actually we use "modern" POSIX 1003.2 regular
- expressions in path patterns, not PCRE.
+<para>
+ The non-standard option letter <literal>D</literal> (dynamic) allows
+ to use the variables $host, $origin (the IP address the request came from),
+ $path, $url and $listen-address (the address on which Privoxy accepted the
+ client request. Example: 127.0.0.1:8118).
+ They will be replaced with the value they refer to before the filter
+ is executed.
+</para>
- Revision 2.70 2008/04/10 15:59:12 fabiankeil
- Add another section to the client-header-tagger example that shows
- how to actually change the action settings once the tag is created.
+<para>
+ Note that '$' is a bad choice for a delimiter in a dynamic filter as you
+ might end up with unintended variables if you use a variable name
+ directly after the delimiter. Variables will be resolved without
+ escaping anything, therefore you also have to be careful not to chose
+ delimiters that appear in the replacement text. For example '<' should
+ be save, while '?' will sooner or later cause conflicts with $url.
+</para>
- Revision 2.69 2008/03/29 12:14:25 fabiankeil
- Remove send-wafer and send-vanilla-wafer actions.
+<para>
+ The non-standard option letter <literal>T</literal> (trivial) prevents
+ parsing for backreferences in the substitute. Use it if you want to include
+ text like '$&' in your substitute without quoting.
+</para>
- Revision 2.68 2008/03/28 15:13:43 fabiankeil
- Remove inspect-jpegs action.
+<para>
+ If you are new to
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
+ Expressions</quote></ulink>, you might want to take a look at
+ the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
+ see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl
+ manual</ulink> for
+ <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlop.html">the
+ <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
+ url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
+ expressions</ulink> in general.
+ The below examples might also help to get you started.
+</para>
- Revision 2.67 2008/03/27 18:31:21 fabiankeil
- Remove kill-popups action.
- Revision 2.66 2008/03/06 16:33:47 fabiankeil
- If limit-connect isn't used, don't limit CONNECT requests to port 443.
+<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
- Revision 2.65 2008/03/04 18:30:40 fabiankeil
- Remove the treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks action. We now
- use the "blocked" page for forbidden CONNECT requests by default.
+<sect2 id="filter-file-tut"><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
+<para>
+ Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> content 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>
- Revision 2.64 2008/03/01 14:10:28 fabiankeil
- Use new block syntax. Still needs some polishing.
+<para>
+ <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 2.63 2008/02/22 05:50:37 markm68k
- fix merge problem
+<para>
+ 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>
- Revision 2.62 2008/02/11 11:52:23 hal9
- Fix entity ... s/&/&
+<para>
+ <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 2.61 2008/02/11 03:41:47 markm68k
- more updates for mac os x
+<para>
+ Our complete filter now looks like this:
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
+s/foo/bar/g</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 2.60 2008/02/11 03:40:25 markm68k
- more updates for mac os x
+<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>
- Revision 2.59 2008/02/11 00:52:34 markm68k
- reflect new changes for mac os x
- Revision 2.58 2008/02/03 21:37:40 hal9
- Apply patch from Mark: s/OSX/OS X/
+<para>
+ <screen>
+FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
- Revision 2.57 2008/02/03 19:10:14 fabiankeil
- Mention forward-socks5.
+# 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>
- Revision 2.56 2008/01/31 19:11:35 fabiankeil
- Let the +client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation} example apply
- to all requests as "tainted" Referers aren't limited to exit TLDs.
+<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>
- Revision 2.55 2008/01/19 21:26:37 hal9
- Add IE7 to configuration section per Gerry.
+<para>
+ 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>
- Revision 2.54 2008/01/19 17:52:39 hal9
- Re-commit to fix various minor issues for new release.
+<para>
+ 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>
- Revision 2.53 2008/01/19 15:03:05 hal9
- Doc sources tagged for 3.0.8 release.
+<para>
+ 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>
- Revision 2.52 2008/01/17 01:49:51 hal9
- Change copyright notice for docs s/2007/2008/. All these will be rebuilt soon
- enough.
+<para>
+ 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>
- Revision 2.51 2007/12/23 16:48:24 fabiankeil
- Use more precise example descriptions for the mysterious domain patterns.
+<para>
+ 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>
- Revision 2.50 2007/12/08 12:44:36 fabiankeil
- - Remove already commented out pre-3.0.7 changes.
- - Update the "new log defaults" paragraph.
+<para>
+ 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>
- Revision 2.49 2007/12/06 18:21:55 fabiankeil
- Update hide-forwarded-for-headers description.
+<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>
- Revision 2.48 2007/11/24 19:07:17 fabiankeil
- - Mention request rewriting.
- - Enable the conditional-forge paragraph.
- - Minor rewordings.
+<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>
- Revision 2.47 2007/11/18 14:59:47 fabiankeil
- A few "Note to Upgraders" updates.
+<para>
+ <screen>
+# The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
+#
+s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 2.46 2007/11/17 17:24:44 fabiankeil
- - Use new action defaults.
- - Minor fixes and rewordings.
+<para>
+ <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 back-reference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
+ with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
+ a back-reference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
+</para>
- Revision 2.45 2007/11/16 11:48:46 hal9
- Fix one typo, and add a couple of small refinements.
+<para>
+ 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>
- Revision 2.44 2007/11/15 03:30:20 hal9
- Results of spell check.
+<para>
+ <screen>
+# Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
+#
+s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 2.43 2007/11/14 18:45:39 fabiankeil
- - Mention some more contributors in the "New in this Release" list.
- - Minor rewordings.
+<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>
- Revision 2.42 2007/11/12 03:32:40 hal9
- Updates for "What's New" and "Notes to Upgraders". Various other changes in
- preparation for new release. User Manual is almost ready.
+<para>
+ The last example is from the fun department:
+</para>
- Revision 2.41 2007/11/11 16:32:11 hal9
- This is primarily syncing What's New and Note to Upgraders sections with the many
- new features and changes (gleaned from memory but mostly from ChangeLog).
+<para>
+ <screen>
+FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
- Revision 2.40 2007/11/10 17:10:59 fabiankeil
- In the first third of the file, mention several times that
- the action editor is disabled by default in 3.0.7 beta and later.
+# Spice the daily news:
+#
+s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 2.39 2007/11/05 02:34:49 hal9
- Various changes in preparation for the upcoming release. Much yet to be done.
+<para>
+ 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>
- Revision 2.38 2007/09/22 16:01:42 fabiankeil
- Update embedded show-url-info output.
+<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>
- Revision 2.37 2007/08/27 16:09:55 fabiankeil
- Fix pre-chroot-nslookup description which I failed to
- copy and paste properly. Reported by Stephen Gildea.
+<para>
+ 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>
- Revision 2.36 2007/08/26 16:47:14 fabiankeil
- Add Stephen Gildea's pre-chroot-nslookup patch [#1276666],
- extensive comments moved to user manual.
+<para>
+ You get the idea?
+</para>
+</sect2>
- Revision 2.35 2007/08/26 14:59:49 fabiankeil
- Minor rewordings and fixes.
+<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
- Revision 2.34 2007/08/05 15:19:50 fabiankeil
- - Don't claim HTTP/1.1 compliance.
- - Use $ in some of the path pattern examples.
- - Use a hide-user-agent example argument without
- leading and trailing space.
- - Make it clear that the cookie actions work with
- HTTP cookies only.
- - Rephrase the inspect-jpegs text to underline
- that it's only meant to protect against a single
- exploit.
+<sect2 id="predefined-filters"><title>The Pre-defined Filters</title>
- Revision 2.33 2007/07/27 10:57:35 hal9
- Add references for user-agent strings for hide-user-agenet
+<!--
- Revision 2.32 2007/06/07 12:36:22 fabiankeil
- Apply Roland's 29_usermanual.dpatch to fix a bunch
- of syntax errors I collected over the last months.
+ Note each filter is also listed in the +filter action section above. Please
+ keep these listings in sync.
- Revision 2.31 2007/06/02 14:01:37 fabiankeil
- Start to document forward-override{}.
+-->
- Revision 2.30 2007/04/25 15:10:36 fabiankeil
- - Describe installation for FreeBSD.
- - Start to document taggers and tag patterns.
- - Don't confuse devils and daemons.
+<para>
+The distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file contains a selection of
+pre-defined filters for your convenience:
+</para>
- Revision 2.29 2007/04/05 11:47:51 fabiankeil
- Some updates regarding header filtering,
- handling of compressed content and redirect's
- support for pcrs commands.
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>js-annoyances</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.
+ To that end, it
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
+ with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the <literal><link
+ linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal> action on the content level.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ removes the bindings to the DOM's
+ <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">unload
+ event</ulink> which we feel has no right to exist and is responsible for most <quote>exit consoles</quote>, i.e.
+ nasty windows that pop up when you close another one.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being
+ full-screen, non-resizeable, without location, status or menu bar etc.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that
+ rely heavily on JavaScript.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.28 2006/12/10 23:42:48 hal9
- Fix various typos reported by Adam P. Thanks.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>js-events</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event bindings, which
+ means that scripts can not react to user actions such as mouse movements or clicks, window
+ resizing etc, anymore. Use with caution!
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ We <emphasis>strongly discourage</emphasis> using this filter as a default since it breaks
+ many legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should you really
+ need to go there).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.27 2006/11/14 01:57:47 hal9
- Dump all docs prior to 3.0.6 release. Various minor changes to faq and user
- manual.
+<varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>html-annoyances</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The <literal>BLINK</literal> and <literal>MARQUEE</literal> tags
+ are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser windows will be created as
+ resizeable (as of course they should be!), and will have location,
+ scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.26 2006/10/24 11:16:44 hal9
- Add new filters.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>content-cookies</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialog, where they can be intercepted
+ by the
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>
+ and <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>
+ actions. But web sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript
+ to sneak cookies to the browser on the content level.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This filter disables most HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets
+ cookies. It cannot detect all clever uses of these types of code, so it
+ should not be relied on as an absolute fix. Use it wherever you would also
+ use the cookie crunch actions.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.25 2006/10/18 10:50:33 hal9
- Add note that since filters are off in Cautious, compression is ON. Turn off
- compression to make filters work on all sites.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>refresh-tags</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
+ that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
+ for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
+ annoying.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.24 2006/10/03 11:13:54 hal9
- More references to the new filters. Include html this time around.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>unsolicited-popups</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This filter attempts to prevent only <quote>unsolicited</quote> pop-up
+ windows from opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user
+ has explicitly chosen to open. It was added in version 3.0.1,
+ as an improvement over earlier such filters.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
+ function to a dummy function, <literal>PrivoxyWindowOpen()</literal>,
+ during the loading and rendering phase of each HTML page access, and
+ restoring the function afterward.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This is recommended only for browsers that cannot perform this function
+ reliably themselves. And be aware that some sites require such windows
+ in order to function normally. Use with caution.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.23 2006/10/02 22:43:53 hal9
- Contains new filter definitions from Fabian, and few other miscellaneous
- touch-ups.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>all-popups</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Attempt to prevent <emphasis>all</emphasis> pop-up windows from opening.
+ Note this should be used with even more discretion than the above, since
+ it is more likely to break some sites that require pop-ups for normal
+ usage. Use with caution.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.22 2006/09/22 01:27:55 hal9
- Final commit of probably various minor changes here and there. Unless
- something changes this should be ready for pending release.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>img-reorder</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the
+ <literal>banners-by-size</literal> and <literal>banners-by-link</literal>
+ (see below) filters more effective and should be enabled together with them.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.21 2006/09/20 03:21:36 david__schmidt
- Just the tiniest tweak. Wafer thin!
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>banners-by-size</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are. Fortunately
+ for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain standardized
+ sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad stripping purposes.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not ads,
+ but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Recommended only for those who require extreme ad blocking. The default
+ block rules should catch 95+% of all ads <emphasis>without</emphasis> this filter enabled.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.20 2006/09/10 14:53:54 hal9
- Results of spell check. User manual has some updates to standard.actions file
- info.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>banners-by-link</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if
+ their URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently
+ not of much value and is not recommended for use by default.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.19 2006/09/08 12:19:02 fabiankeil
- Adjust hide-if-modified-since example values
- to reflect the recent changes.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>webbugs</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that
+ are used to track users across websites, and collect information on them.
+ As an HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the
+ browser to contact a third-party site, disclosing the tracking information
+ through the requested URL and/or cookies for that third-party domain, without
+ the user ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party site.
+ HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email addresses.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This filter removes the HTML code that loads such <quote>webbugs</quote>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.18 2006/09/08 02:38:57 hal9
- Various changes:
- -Fix a number of broken links.
- -Migrate the new Windows service command line options, and reference as
- needed.
- -Rebuild so that can be used with the new "user-manual" config capabilities.
- -Etc.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>tiny-textforms</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas (those
+ multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in them.
+ It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such boxes are
+ a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.17 2006/09/05 13:25:12 david__schmidt
- Add Windows service invocation stuff (duplicated) in FAQ and in user manual under Windows startup. One probably ought to reference the other.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>jumping-windows</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This filter
+ neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might not display
+ or behave as intended when using this filter. Use with caution.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.16 2006/09/02 12:49:37 hal9
- Various small updates for new actions, filterfiles, etc.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>frameset-borders</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view their
+ web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution etc,
+ because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame sizes,
+ yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they be too
+ small to show their whole content.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to sites
+ which need it.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.15 2006/08/30 11:15:22 hal9
- More work on the new actions, especially filter-*-headers, and What's New
- section. User Manual is close to final form for 3.0.4 release. Some tinkering
- and proof reading left to do.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>demoronizer</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions (read:
+ violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This can cause those
+ HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant platforms.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents.
+ It is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of
+ all documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly
+ worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if weird garbage characters
+ sometimes appear on some pages, or user agents that don't correct for this on
+ the fly.
+<!--
+ My version of Mozilla (ancient) shows litte square boxes for quote
+ characters, and apostrophes on moronized pages. So many pages have this, I
+ can read them fine now. HB 08/27/06
+-->
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.14 2006/08/29 10:59:36 hal9
- Add a "Whats New in this release" Section. Further work on multiple filter
- files, and assorted other minor changes.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>shockwave-flash</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips code
+ out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.13 2006/08/22 11:04:59 hal9
- Silence warnings and errors. This should build now. New filters were only
- stubbed in. More to be done.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>quicktime-kioskmode</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
+ prevents saving, is disabled.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.12 2006/08/14 08:40:39 fabiankeil
- Documented new actions that were part of
- the "minor Privoxy improvements".
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>fun</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
+ Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.11 2006/07/18 14:48:51 david__schmidt
- Reorganizing the repository: swapping out what was HEAD (the old 3.1 branch)
- with what was really the latest development (the v_3_0_branch branch)
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>crude-parental</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ A demonstration-only filter that shows how <application>Privoxy</application>
+ can be used to delete web content on a keyword basis.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 1.123.2.43 2005/05/23 09:59:10 hal9
- Fix typo 'loose'
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>ie-exploits</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ An experimental collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
+ code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug, and
+ would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 1.123.2.42 2004/12/04 14:39:57 hal9
- Fix two minor typos per bug SF report.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>site-specifics</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't apply
+ anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be applied
+ to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
+ <filename>default.action</filename> file does. Users shouldn't need to change
+ anything regarding this filter.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 1.123.2.41 2004/03/23 12:58:42 oes
- Fixed an inaccuracy
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>google</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ A CSS based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation
+ and the toolbar advertisement.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 1.123.2.40 2004/02/27 12:48:49 hal9
- Add comment re: redirecting to local file system for set-image-blocker may
- is dependent on browser.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>yahoo</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Another CSS based block, this time for Yahoo text ads. And removes
+ a width limitation as well.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 1.123.2.39 2004/01/30 22:31:40 oes
- Added a hint re bookmarklets to Quickstart section
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>msn</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Another CSS based block, this time for MSN text ads. And removes
+ tracking URLs, as well as a width limitation.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 1.123.2.38 2004/01/30 16:47:51 oes
- Some minor clarifications
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>blogspot</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this one!
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This filter also intentionally removes some navigation stuff and sets the
+ page width to 100%. As a result, some rounded <quote>corners</quote> would
+ appear to early or not at all and as fixing this would require a browser
+ that understands background-size (CSS3), they are removed instead.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 1.123.2.37 2004/01/29 22:36:11 hal9
- Updates for no longer filtering text/plain, and demoronizer default settings,
- and copyright notice dates.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>xml-to-html</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from xml to html.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 1.123.2.36 2003/12/10 02:26:26 hal9
- Changed the demoronizer filter description.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>html-to-xml</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from html to xml.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 1.123.2.35 2003/11/06 13:36:37 oes
- Updated link to nightly CVS tarball
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>no-ping</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Removes the non-standard <literal>ping</literal> attribute from
+ anchor and area HTML tags.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 1.123.2.34 2003/06/26 23:50:16 hal9
- Add a small bit on filtering and problems re: source code being corrupted.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>hide-tor-exit-notation</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Client-header filter to remove the <command>Tor</command> exit node notation
+ found in Host and Referer headers.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ If &my-app; and <command>Tor</command> are chained and &my-app;
+ is configured to use socks4a, one can use <quote>http://www.example.org.foobar.exit/</quote>
+ to access the host <quote>www.example.org</quote> through the
+ <command>Tor</command> exit node <quote>foobar</quote>.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ As the HTTP client isn't aware of this notation, it treats the
+ whole string <quote>www.example.org.foobar.exit</quote> as host and uses it
+ for the <quote>Host</quote> and <quote>Referer</quote> headers. From the
+ server's point of view the resulting headers are invalid and can cause problems.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ An invalid <quote>Referer</quote> header can trigger <quote>hot-linking</quote>
+ protections, an invalid <quote>Host</quote> header will make it impossible for
+ the server to find the right vhost (several domains hosted on the same IP address).
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This client-header filter removes the <quote>foo.exit</quote> part in those headers
+ to prevent the mentioned problems. Note that it only modifies
+ the HTTP headers, it doesn't make it impossible for the server
+ to detect your <command>Tor</command> exit node based on the IP address
+ the request is coming from.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 1.123.2.33 2003/05/08 18:17:33 roro
- Use apt-get instead of dpkg to install Debian package, which is more
- solid, uses the correct and most recent Debian version automatically.
+<!--
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis> </emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+-->
+</variablelist>
- Revision 1.123.2.32 2003/04/11 03:13:57 hal9
- Add small note about only one filterfile (as opposed to multiple actions
- files).
+</sect2>
- Revision 1.123.2.31 2003/03/26 02:03:43 oes
- Updated hard-coded copyright dates
+<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="external-filter-syntax"><title>External filter syntax</title>
+<para>
+ External filters are scripts or programs that can modify the content in
+ case common <literal><link linkend="filter">filters</link></literal>
+ aren't powerful enough.
+</para>
+<para>
+ External filters can be written in any language the platform &my-app; runs
+ on supports.
+</para>
+<para>
+ They are controlled with the
+ <literal><link linkend="external-filter">external-filter</link></literal> action
+ and have to be defined in the <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
+ first.
+</para>
+<para>
+ The header looks like any other filter, but instead of pcrs jobs, external
+ filters contain a single job which can be a program or a shell script (which
+ may call other scripts or programs).
+</para>
+<para>
+ External filters read the content from STDIN and write the rewritten
+ content to STDOUT.
+ The environment variables PRIVOXY_URL, PRIVOXY_PATH, PRIVOXY_HOST,
+ PRIVOXY_ORIGIN, PRIVOXY_LISTEN_ADDRESS can be used to get some details
+ about the client request.
+</para>
+<para>
+ &my-app; will temporary store the content to filter in the
+ <literal><link linkend="temporary-directory">temporary-directory</link></literal>.
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+EXTERNAL-FILTER: cat Pointless example filter that doesn't actually modify the content
+/bin/cat
- Revision 1.123.2.30 2003/03/24 12:58:56 hal9
- Add new section on Predefined Filters.
+# Incorrect reimplementation of the filter above in POSIX shell.
+#
+# Note that it's a single job that spans multiple lines, the line
+# breaks are not passed to the shell, thus the semicolons are required.
+#
+# If the script isn't trivial, it is recommended to put it into an external file.
+#
+# In general, writing external filters entirely in POSIX shell is not
+# considered a good idea.
+EXTERNAL-FILTER: cat2 Pointless example filter that despite its name may actually modify the content
+while read line; \
+do \
+ echo "$line"; \
+done
+
+EXTERNAL-FILTER: rotate-image Rotate an image by 180 degree. Test filter with limited value.
+/usr/local/bin/convert - -rotate 180 -
+
+EXTERNAL-FILTER: citation-needed Adds a "[citation needed]" tag to an image. The coordinates may need adjustment.
+/usr/local/bin/convert - -pointsize 16 -fill white -annotate +17+418 "[citation needed]" -
+</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.123.2.29 2003/03/20 02:45:29 hal9
- More problems with \-\-chroot causing markup problems :(
+<warning>
+ <para>
+ Currently external filters are executed with &my-app;'s privileges!
+ Only use external filters you understand and trust.
+ </para>
+</warning>
+<para>
+ External filters are experimental and the syntax may change in the future.
+</para>
+</sect2>
- Revision 1.123.2.28 2003/03/19 00:35:24 hal9
- Manual edit of revision log because 'chroot' (even inside a comment) was
- causing Docbook to hang here (due to double hyphen and the processor thinking
- it was a comment).
+</sect1>
- Revision 1.123.2.27 2003/03/18 19:37:14 oes
- s/Advanced|Radical/Adventuresome/g to avoid complaints re fun filter
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- Revision 1.123.2.26 2003/03/17 16:50:53 oes
- Added documentation for new chroot option
- Revision 1.123.2.25 2003/03/15 18:36:55 oes
- Adapted to the new filters
- Revision 1.123.2.24 2002/11/17 06:41:06 hal9
- Move default profiles table from FAQ to U-M, and other minor related changes.
- Add faq on cookies.
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
- Revision 1.123.2.23 2002/10/21 02:32:01 hal9
- Updates to the user.action examples section. A few new ones.
+<sect1 id="templates">
+<title>Privoxy's Template Files</title>
+<para>
+ 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>
- Revision 1.123.2.22 2002/10/12 00:51:53 hal9
- Add demoronizer to filter section.
+<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>
- Revision 1.123.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 hal9
- s/Advanced/Radical/ and added very brief note.
+<para>
+ The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
+ or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. It
+ is possible to edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want
+ to customize them. (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual
+ user</emphasis>). Should you create your own custom templates, you should use
+ the <filename>config</filename> setting <link linkend="templdir">templdir</link>
+ to specify an alternate location, so your templates do not get overwritten
+ during upgrades.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Note that just like in configuration files, lines starting
+ with <literal>#</literal> are ignored when the templates are filled in.
+</para>
- Revision 1.123.2.20 2002/10/10 03:49:21 hal9
- Add notes to session-cookies-only and Quickstart about pre-existing
- cookies. Also, note content-cookies work differently.
+<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>
- Revision 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9
- More explanation on Privoxy patterns, more on content-cookies and SSL.
+<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>
+ is in an alpha or beta development stage:
+</para>
- Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9
- Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match
- CGIs.
+<para>
+ <screen>
+<!-- @if-unstable-start -->
- Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9
- Spell checked (only one typo this time!).
+ ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
- Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt
- Update to Mac OS X startup script name
+<!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
+</para>
- 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
+<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>
- Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes
- Nits re: actions file download
+<para>
+ <screen><!-- --></screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff
- Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections
+<para>
+ 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>
- Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff
- Added 2 Gentoo sections
+<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>
- 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
+</sect1>
- Revision 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
- Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt
- Updated Mac OS X 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.
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
- Revision 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9
- Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy.
+<sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
+Requests</title>
- Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9
- Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs.
+<!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
+ &contacting;
+<!-- end boilerplate -->
- 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.
+</sect1>
- Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
- Ooops missed something from David.
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9
- Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and Mac OS X 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.
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
- Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
- -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
+<!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
+ ©right;
+<!-- end copyright -->
- 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.
+<para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> is free software; you can
+ redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the
+ <citetitle>GNU General Public License</citetitle>, version 2,
+ as published by the Free Software Foundation and included in
+ the next section.
+</para>
- Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
- Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="license"><title>License</title>
+<para>
+ <screen><![ RCDATA [ &GPLv2; ]]></screen>
+</para>
- 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).
+</sect2>
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- 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
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
- Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
- -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
- -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
+<sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
+<!-- Include history.sgml: -->
+ &history;
+<!-- end history -->
+</sect2>
- 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
+<sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
+<!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
+ &p-authors;
+<!-- end authors -->
+</sect2>
- Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
- Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
+</sect1>
- Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
- Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- 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
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
+<!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
+ &seealso;
+<!-- end seealso -->
+</sect1>
- 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
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
- 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
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="regex">
+<title>Regular Expressions</title>
+<para>
+ <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
+<!--
+ dead 08/27/06
+ <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
+-->
+ <application>PCRS</application> libraries.
+</para>
- 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.
+<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 <ulink
+ url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
+</para>
- 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).
+<para>
+ 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>
- Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
- Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
+<para>
+ To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
+ characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
+ <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
+ character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
+ more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
+ characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
+ <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
+ matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
+</para>
- Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
- bumped version
+<para>
+ Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
+ powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
+ building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
+ and then some examples:
+</para>
- 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.
+<para><simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
+ <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
+ </member>
+</simplelist></para>
- Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
- Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
+<para><simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
+ times. Either/or.
+ </member>
+</simplelist></para>
- 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.
+<para><simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
+ times.
+ </member>
+</simplelist></para>
- Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
- Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
+<para><simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
+ times.
+ </member>
+</simplelist></para>
- Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
- more structure in starting section
+<para><simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
+ the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
+ special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
+ not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
+ sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
+ meta-character meaning of any single character).
+ </member>
+</simplelist></para>
- Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
- This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
- will probably break links elsewhere :(
+<para><simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>[ ]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
+ any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
+ matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
+ this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
+ </member>
+</simplelist></para>
- Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
- -Rewrite of Actions File example.
- -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
+<para><simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>( )</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
+ or multiple sub-expressions.
+ </member>
+</simplelist></para>
- Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
- -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
- -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
+<para><simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
+ <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
+ sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
+ <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
+ and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
+ example</quote>, and nothing else.
+ </member>
+</simplelist></para>
- Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
- bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
+<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
+ list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
+ be more illuminating:
+</para>
- Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
- -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
- -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
+<para>
+ <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
+ that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
+ denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
+ So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
+ (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
+ <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
+ <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
+ a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
+ directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
+ any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
+ might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
+ <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
+ <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
+ possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
+ somewhere.
+</para>
- Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
- More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
- Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
+<para>
+ And now something a little more complex:
+</para>
- Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
- Add 'Chain of Events' section.
+<para>
+ <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
+ We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
+ building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
+ <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
+ it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
+ match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
+ the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
+ interesting part.
+</para>
- Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
- Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
+<para>
+ Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
+ literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
+ can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
+ <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
+ individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
+ <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
+ means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
+ <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
+ <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
+ attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
+ similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
+ or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
+ <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
+ <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
+ <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
+ changing our regular expression to:
+ <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
+ either spelling.
+</para>
- Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
- Added hint for startup on Red Hat
+<para>
+ <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
+ another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
+ <quote>[ ]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
+ shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
+ saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
+ means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
+ expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
+ one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
+ This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
+ either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
+ side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
+ since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
+ can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
+ match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
+ string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
+ (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
+ with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
+ <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
+ include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
+ <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
+ <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
+ <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
+ <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
+ <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
+ in the expression anywhere).
+</para>
- Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
- Add AmigaOS install stuff.
+<para>
+ We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
+ can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
+ configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
+ installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
+ expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
+ your own :/
+</para>
- Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
- Updated Mac OS X installation section
- Added a few English tweaks here an there
+<para>
+ More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
+ <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>
+</para>
- Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
- Re-write actions section.
+<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>
- Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
- Fix ugly typo (mine).
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
- Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
- Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
- Added RPM install detail
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="internal-pages">
+<title>Privoxy's Internal Pages</title>
- Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
- Cosmetics
+<para>
+ Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
+ web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
+ trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
+ <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
+ configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
+ rules and other configuration options, and even turn
+ <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
+ a web browser.
- Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
- Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
+</para>
- Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
- Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
+<para>
+ The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
+ to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
+ <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
+ not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
+ necessary either.
+</para>
- Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
- Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
- Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
- Proofreading part 2
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Privoxy main page:
+ </para>
+ <blockquote>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </blockquote>
+ <para>
+ 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>
- Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
- Proofreading, part one
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
+ editing of actions files:
+ </para>
+ <blockquote>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </blockquote>
+ </listitem>
- Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
- -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
- -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Show the source code version numbers:
+ </para>
+ <blockquote>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </blockquote>
+ </listitem>
- Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
- Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Show the browser's request headers:
+ </para>
+ <blockquote>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </blockquote>
+ </listitem>
- Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
- Add small section on submitting actions.
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
+ </para>
+ <blockquote>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </blockquote>
+ </listitem>
- Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
- generated
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Toggle Privoxy on or off. This feature can be turned off/on in the main
+ <filename>config</filename> file. When toggled <quote>off</quote>, <quote>Privoxy</quote>
+ continues to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking
+ place:
+ </para>
+ <blockquote>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </blockquote>
+ <para>
+ Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
+ </para>
+ <blockquote>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </blockquote>
+ <blockquote>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </blockquote>
+ </listitem>
- Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
- Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
- Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
- Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
+</sect2>
- Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
- ?
- Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
- -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
- -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
- -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
- -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="chain">
+<title>Chain of Events</title>
+<para>
+ Let's take a quick look at how some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ core features are triggered, and the ensuing sequence of events when a web
+ page is requested by your browser:
+</para>
- Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
- consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
+ the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
+ relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
+ tests:
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
+ pages (e.g <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
+ 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.
+ <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
+ and
+ <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT"><quote>+handle-as-empty-document</quote></link>
+ are then checked, and if there is no match, an
+ HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back to the browser. Otherwise, if
+ it does match, an image is returned for the former, and an empty text
+ document for the latter. The type of image would depend 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>
+ <para>
+ Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
+ <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ 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. <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>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web
+ page).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <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 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 any <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
+ 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> and any other filter files) are
+ processed against the buffered content. Filters are applied in the order
+ they are specified in one of the filter files. Animated GIFs, if present,
+ are reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
+ setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
+ <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ If neither a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
+ 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>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it
+ reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
+ source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
+ frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a
+ separate request (this is easily viewable in <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ logs). And each such request is in turn processed just as above. Note that a
+ complex web page will have many, many such embedded URLs. If these
+ secondary requests are to a different server, then quite possibly a very
+ differing set of actions is triggered.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
- Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
- more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
+<para>
+ NOTE: This is somewhat of a simplistic overview of what happens with each URL
+ request. For the sake of brevity and simplicity, we have focused on
+ <application>Privoxy's</application> core features only.
+</para>
- Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
- Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
- based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
- definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
- eventually be set by Makefile.
- More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
+</sect2>
- Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
- enhance squid section due to user suggestion
- Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
- A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="actionsanat">
+<title>Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</title>
- Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
- Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
+<para>
+ The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
+ <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
+ <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
+ always so obvious.
+</para>
- Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
- - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
- - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
- - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
+<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 (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
+ logs is a good idea too. (Note that both the toggle feature and logging are
+ enabled via <filename>config</filename> file settings, and may need to be
+ turned <quote>on</quote>.)
+</para>
+<para>
+ Another easy troubleshooting step to try is if you have done any
+ customization of your installation, revert back to the installed
+ defaults and see if that helps. There are times the developers get complaints
+ about one thing or another, and the problem is more related to a customized
+ configuration issue.
+</para>
- Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
- Minor update.
+<para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
+ page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
+ are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
+</para>
- Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
- Added more to Anatomy section.
+<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 <link
+ linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
+ one of the filter files 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
+ such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
+ you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
+ -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
+ will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
+ Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
+ URL.
+</para>
- Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
- Touch up intro for new name.
+<para>
+ Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
+ and look at it one section at a time in a sample configuration (your real
+ configuration may vary):
+</para>
- Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
- we have a new homepage!
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ Matches for http://www.google.com:
- Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
- A few minor catch ups with name change.
+ In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
- Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
- configure needs to be generated.
+ {+change-x-forwarded-for{block}
+ +deanimate-gifs {last}
+ +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
+ +filter {refresh-tags}
+ +filter {img-reorder}
+ +filter {banners-by-size}
+ +filter {webbugs}
+ +filter {jumping-windows}
+ +filter {ie-exploits}
+ +hide-from-header {block}
+ +hide-referrer {forge}
+ +session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker {pattern}
+/
- Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
- we are too lazy to make a block-built
- privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
+ { -session-cookies-only }
+ .google.com
- Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
- name change related issue.
+ { -fast-redirects }
+ .google.com
- Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
- name change. changed filenames.
+In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
+(no matches in this file)
+</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
- name change
+<para>
+ This is telling us how we have defined our
+ <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
+ which ones match for our test case, <quote>google.com</quote>.
+ Displayed is all the actions that are available to us. Remember,
+ the <literal>+</literal> sign denotes <quote>on</quote>. <literal>-</literal>
+ denotes <quote>off</quote>. So some are <quote>on</quote> here, but many
+ are <quote>off</quote>. Each example we try may provide a slightly different
+ end result, depending on our configuration directives.
+</para>
+<para>
+ The first listing
+ is for our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line
+ listing, is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default
+ settings. If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the
+ section just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This
+ will apply to all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end
+ of the listing -- <quote> / </quote>.
+</para>
- Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
- renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
- fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
- "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
- comments and remarks to history untouched.
+<para>
+ But we have defined additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
+ rules, and then we 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 <link
+ linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
+ (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google, at
+ least that is how it is in this example. The second turns
+ <emphasis>off</emphasis> any <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
+ <quote>www.google.com</quote> or <quote>mail.google.com</quote>. But it would not
+ match <quote>www.google.de</quote>! So, apparently, we have these two actions
+ defined as exceptions to the general rules at the top somewhere in the lower
+ part of our <filename>default.action</filename> file, and
+ <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter sections.
+</para>
- Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
- Touch up.
+<para>
+ Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
+ So there is nothing google-specific that we might have added to our own, local
+ configuration. If there was, those actions would over-rule any actions from
+ previously processed files, such as <filename>default.action</filename>.
+ <filename>user.action</filename> typically has the last word. This is the
+ best place to put hard and fast exceptions,
+</para>
- Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
- New section in Appendix.
+<para>
+ And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
+ <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
+ to <quote>google.com</quote>:
- Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
- Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
+</para>
- Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
- correct feedback channels
+<para>
+ <screen>
- Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
- Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
+ Final results:
- Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
- more distros
+ -add-header
+ -block
+ +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
+ -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
+ -content-type-overwrite
+ -crunch-client-header
+ -crunch-if-none-match
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-server-header
+ +deanimate-gifs {last}
+ -downgrade-http-version
+ -fast-redirects
+ -filter {js-events}
+ -filter {content-cookies}
+ -filter {all-popups}
+ -filter {banners-by-link}
+ -filter {tiny-textforms}
+ -filter {frameset-borders}
+ -filter {demoronizer}
+ -filter {shockwave-flash}
+ -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
+ -filter {fun}
+ -filter {crude-parental}
+ -filter {site-specifics}
+ -filter {js-annoyances}
+ -filter {html-annoyances}
+ +filter {refresh-tags}
+ -filter {unsolicited-popups}
+ +filter {img-reorder}
+ +filter {banners-by-size}
+ +filter {webbugs}
+ +filter {jumping-windows}
+ +filter {ie-exploits}
+ -filter {google}
+ -filter {yahoo}
+ -filter {msn}
+ -filter {blogspot}
+ -filter {no-ping}
+ -force-text-mode
+ -handle-as-empty-document
+ -handle-as-image
+ -hide-accept-language
+ -hide-content-disposition
+ +hide-from-header {block}
+ -hide-if-modified-since
+ +hide-referrer {forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -limit-connect
+ -overwrite-last-modified
+ -prevent-compression
+ -redirect
+ -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
+ -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
+ -session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker {pattern} </screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
- New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
+<para>
+ Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
+ <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>,
+ which are activated specifically for this site in our configuration,
+ and thus show in the <quote>Final Results</quote>.
+</para>
- Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
- Added imageblock{pattern}.
+<para>
+ Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
+</para>
- Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
- looks better
+<para>
+ <screen>
- Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
- Fix a few markup problems for jade.
+ { +block{Domains starts with "ad"} }
+ ad*.
- Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
- provide correct feedback channels
+ { +block{Domain contains "ad"} }
+ .ad.
- Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
- Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
+ { +block{Doubleclick banner server} +handle-as-image }
+ .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
+</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
- Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
+<para>
+ We'll just show the interesting part here - the explicit matches. It is
+ matched three different times. Two <quote>+block{}</quote> sections,
+ and a <quote>+block{} +handle-as-image</quote>,
+ which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
+ <quote>+block-as-image</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>
- Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
- jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
+<para>
+ Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
+ image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
+ 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 <link
+ linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block{}</quote></link>
+ <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
+ <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
+ The custom alias <quote><literal>+block-as-image</literal></quote> just
+ simplifies the process and make it more readable.
+</para>
- Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
- Add new - - user option.
+<para>
+ One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
+ This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
+</para>
- Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
- Added section on command line options.
+<para>
+ <screen>
- Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
- Changed default port to 8118
+ Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
- Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
- Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
+ In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
- Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
- AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
- AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
- command line.
+ {-add-header
+ -block
+ +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
+ -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
+ -content-type-overwrite
+ -crunch-client-header
+ -crunch-if-none-match
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-server-header
+ +deanimate-gifs
+ -downgrade-http-version
+ +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
+ -filter {js-events}
+ -filter {content-cookies}
+ -filter {all-popups}
+ -filter {banners-by-link}
+ -filter {tiny-textforms}
+ -filter {frameset-borders}
+ -filter {demoronizer}
+ -filter {shockwave-flash}
+ -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
+ -filter {fun}
+ -filter {crude-parental}
+ -filter {site-specifics}
+ -filter {js-annoyances}
+ -filter {html-annoyances}
+ +filter {refresh-tags}
+ -filter {unsolicited-popups}
+ +filter {img-reorder}
+ +filter {banners-by-size}
+ +filter {webbugs}
+ +filter {jumping-windows}
+ +filter {ie-exploits}
+ -filter {google}
+ -filter {yahoo}
+ -filter {msn}
+ -filter {blogspot}
+ -filter {no-ping}
+ -force-text-mode
+ -handle-as-empty-document
+ -handle-as-image
+ -hide-accept-language
+ -hide-content-disposition
+ +hide-from-header{block}
+ +hide-referer{forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -overwrite-last-modified
+ +prevent-compression
+ -redirect
+ -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
+ -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
+ +session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker{blank} }
+ /
- Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
- Just tweaking
+ { +block{Path contains "ads".} +handle-as-image }
+ /ads
+</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
- Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
+<para>
+ Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote> in our
+ configuration! But we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the
+ blank page. It is actually triggering two different actions here, and
+ the effects are aggregated so that the URL is blocked, and &my-app; is told
+ to treat the block as if it were an image. But this is, of course, all wrong.
+ We could now add a new action below this (or better in our own
+ <filename>user.action</filename> file) that explicitly
+ <emphasis>un</emphasis> blocks (
+ <link linkend="BLOCK"><quote>{-block}</quote></link>) paths with
+ <quote>adsl</quote> in them (remember, last match in the configuration
+ wins). There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
+</para>
- Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
- Update OS/2 build section
+<para>
+ <screen>
- Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
- Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
- will work - no other changes are needed.
+ { -block }
+ /adsl
+</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
- Added a very short section on Templates
+<para>
+ Now the page displays ;-)
+ Remember to flush your browser's caches when making these kinds of changes to
+ your configuration to insure that you get a freshly delivered page! Or, try
+ using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
+</para>
- Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
- Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
+<para>
+ But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
+ we did with:
+</para>
- Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
- Touch ups for *.action files.
+<para>
+ <screen>
- Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
- Fix typo.
+ { +block{Path starts with "ads".} +handle-as-image }
+ /ads
+</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
- Updates for recent changes.
+<para>
+ That actually was very helpful and pointed us quickly to where the problem
+ was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
+ rules in the first section of <filename>default.action</filename> 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
+ <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> actions.
+ These tend to be harder to troubleshoot.
+ Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off
+ <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>:
+</para>
- Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
- Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
+<para>
+ <screen>
- Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
- Correct 2 minor errors
+ { shop }
+ .quietpc.com
+ .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+ .jungle.com
+ .scan.co.uk
+ .forbes.com
+</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
- *** empty log message ***
+<para>
+ <quote><literal>{ shop }</literal></quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
+ <quote><literal>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</literal></quote>.
+ Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
- Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
- Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
+</para>
- Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
- wrong url in documentation
+<para>
+ <screen>
- Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
- Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
+ { -filter }
+ # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
+ .forbes.com
+ developer.ibm.com
+ localhost
+</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
- Very minor changes.
+<para>
+ This would turn off all filtering for these sites. This is best
+ put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
+ exceptions. Note that when a simple domain pattern is used by itself (without
+ the subsequent path portion), all sub-pages within that domain are included
+ automatically in the scope of the action.
+</para>
- Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
- Ditto :/
+<para>
+ Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
+<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"><quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote></link>
+ rule, which assumes
+ that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well
+ <emphasis>most of the time</emphasis> since these tend to be standardized).
+</para>
- Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
- Ditto.
+<para>
+ <quote><literal>{ fragile }</literal></quote> is an alias that disables most
+ actions that are the most likely to cause trouble. This can be used as a
+ last resort for problem sites.
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
- Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
- A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
+ { fragile }
+ # Handle with care: easy to break
+ mail.google.
+ mybank.example.com</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
- Some additions, and re-arranging.
- Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
- Diddling.
+<para>
+ <emphasis>Remember to flush caches!</emphasis> Note that the
+ <literal>mail.google</literal> reference lacks the TLD portion (e.g.
+ <quote>.com</quote>). This will effectively match any TLD with
+ <literal>google</literal> in it, such as <literal>mail.google.de.</literal>,
+ just as an example.
+</para>
+<para>
+ If this still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining
+ actions one by one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
+</para>
- Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
- Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
+</sect2>
- Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
- cosmetics
+</sect1>
- Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
- source files for junkbuster documentation
+ <!--
- Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
- first proposal of a structure.
+ This program is free software; you can redistribute it
+ and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
+ Public License as published by the Free Software
+ Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
+ your option) any later version.
- Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
- docs should have an author.
+ This program is distributed in the hope that it will
+ be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
+ implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
+ PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
+ License for more details.
- Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
- first import of project's documentation for the webserver.
+ The GNU General Public License should be included with
+ this file. If not, you can view it at
+ http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
+ or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+ 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301,
+ USA
-->
projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff