<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN" [
-<!entity % dummy "IGNORE">
+<!entity % dummy "IGNORE">
<!entity supported SYSTEM "supported.sgml">
<!entity newfeatures SYSTEM "newfeatures.sgml">
<!entity p-intro SYSTEM "privoxy.sgml">
<!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 "3.0.17">
-<!entity p-status "stable">
+<!entity changelog SYSTEM "changelog.sgml">
+<!entity p-version "3.0.27">
+<!entity p-status "UNRELEASED">
<!entity % p-authors-formal "INCLUDE"> <!-- include additional text, etc -->
-<!entity % p-not-stable "IGNORE">
-<!entity % p-stable "INCLUDE">
+<!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
+<!entity % p-stable "IGNORE">
<!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
<!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
<!entity % p-readme "IGNORE">
<!entity my-app "<application>Privoxy</application>">
]>
<!--
- File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
+ File : doc/source/user-manual.sgml
Purpose : user manual
- This file belongs into
- ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
- $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.128 2010/11/10 22:00:13 fabiankeil Exp $
-
- Copyright (C) 2001-2010 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
+ Copyright (C) 2001-2018 Privoxy Developers https://www.privoxy.org/
See LICENSE.
========================================================================
- NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
+ NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
========================================================================
<subscript>
<!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
<!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
- <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001-2010 by
- <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
+ <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001-2018 by
+ <ulink url="https://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
</subscript>
</pubdate>
-<pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.128 2010/11/10 22:00:13 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
-
<!--
Note: the following should generate a separate page, and a live link to it,
<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
<![%p-not-stable;[
<para>
Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
- documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
+ documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
- not many!
+ not many!
</para>
]]>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
<para>
- In addition to the core
- features of ad blocking and
+ In addition to the core
+ features of ad blocking and
<ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookie</ulink> management,
<application>Privoxy</application> provides many supplemental
- features<![%p-not-stable;[, some of them currently under development]]>,
+ features<![%p-not-stable;[, some of them currently under development]]>,
that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
</para>
<!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
<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>
<para>
- Note:
- On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if
+ Note:
+ On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if
found. (See below for your platform). In any case <emphasis>be sure to backup
your old configuration if it is valuable to you.</emphasis> See the <link
linkend="upgradersnote">note to upgraders</link> section below.
</para>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
<para>
How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
<!-- 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>
DEBs can be installed with <literal>apt-get install privoxy</literal>,
- and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of
+ and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of
configuration files.
</para>
</sect3>
<para>
Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
the installation process. You will find the configuration files
- in the same directory as you installed <application>Privoxy</application> in.
+ in the same directory as you installed <application>Privoxy</application> in.
</para>
<para>
Version 3.0.5 beta introduced full <application>Windows</application> service
command: <command>services.msc</command>. If you do not take the manual step
of modifying <application>Privoxy's</application> service settings, it will
not start. Note too that you will need to give Privoxy a user account that
- actually exists, or it will not be permitted to
+ actually exists, or it will not be permitted to
write to its log and configuration files.
</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>
<para>
First, make sure that no previous installations of
- <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
+ <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
<application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
your startup folder.
-
</para>
<para>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Mac OS X</title>
<para>
- Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the zip file
- icon from the Finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there).
- Then, double-click on the package installer icon and follow the
- installation process.
+ Installation instructions for the OS X platform depend upon whether
+ 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>
- The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful
- installation (in addition to every time your computer starts up). To
- prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your
- computer starts up, remove or rename the folder named
- <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
+ The downloaded file will either be a .pkg (for OS X 10.5 upwards) or a bzipped
+ .mpkg file (for OS X 10.4). The former can be double-clicked as is and the
+ installation will start; double-clicking the latter will unzip the .mpkg file
+ which can then be double-clicked to commence the installation.
</para>
<para>
- To manually start or stop the privoxy service, use the Privoxy Utility
- for Mac OS X. This application controls the privoxy service (e.g.
- starting and stopping the service as well as uninstalling the software).
+ 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>
-</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.
+ 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>
+<para>
+ To uninstall, run /Applications/Privoxy/uninstall.command as sudo from an
+ administrator account.
</para>
</sect3>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 id="installation-tbz"><title>FreeBSD</title>
-
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="OS-X-install-from-source">
+<title>Installation from source</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>.
+ To build and install the Privoxy source code on OS X you will need to obtain
+ the macsetup module from the Privoxy Sourceforge CVS repository (refer to
+ Sourceforge help for details of how to set up a CVS client to have read-only
+ access to the repository). This module contains scripts that leverage the usual
+ open-source tools (available as part of Apple's free of charge Xcode
+ distribution or via the usual open-source software package managers for OS X
+ (MacPorts, Homebrew, Fink etc.) to build and then install the privoxy binary
+ and associated files. The macsetup module's README file contains complete
+ instructions for its use.
</para>
<para>
- If you don't use the ports, you can fetch and install
- the package with <literal>pkg_add -r privoxy</literal>.
+ 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>
- 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.
+ 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>
-</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).
+ To manually start or stop the privoxy service, use the Privoxy Utility
+ for Mac OS X (also part of the macsetup module). This application can start
+ and stop the privoxy service and display its log and configuration files.
</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.
+ To uninstall, run the macsetup module's uninstall.sh as sudo from an
+ administrator account.
</para>
+</sect3>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 id="installation-freebsd"><title>FreeBSD</title>
+
<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>.
+ 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>
</sect3>
<sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
<para>
- The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
- is to download the source tarball from our
- <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&package_id=10571">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
- CVS repository</ulink>.
-<!--
- deprecated...out of business.
- or simply download <ulink
- url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.bz2">the nightly CVS
- tarball.</ulink>
--->
+ The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> source
+ code is to download the source tarball from our
+ <ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/files/Sources/">
+ project download page</ulink>,
+ or you can get the up-to-the-minute, possibly unstable, development version from
+ <ulink url="https://www.privoxy.org/">https://www.privoxy.org/</ulink>.
</para>
<!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
&buildsource;
<!-- end boilerplate -->
+
+ <sect3 id="WINBUILD-CYGWIN"><title>Windows</title>
+
+ <sect4 id="WINBUILD-SETUP"><title>Setup</title>
+ <para>
+ Install the Cygwin utilities needed to build <application>Privoxy</application>.
+ If you have a 64 bit CPU (which most people do by now), get the
+ Cygwin setup-x86_64.exe program <ulink url="https://cygwin.com/setup-x86_64.exe">here</ulink>
+ (the .sig file is <ulink url="https://cygwin.com/setup-x86_64.exe.sig">here</ulink>).
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Run the setup program and from View / Category select:
+ </para>
+ <screen>
+ Devel
+ autoconf 2.5
+ automake 1.15
+ binutils
+ cmake
+ gcc-core
+ gcc-g++
+ git
+ make
+ mingw64-i686-gcc-core
+ mingw64-i686-zlib
+ Editors
+ vim
+ Libs
+ libxslt: GNOME XSLT library (runtime)
+ Net
+ curl
+ openssh
+ Text
+ docbook-dssl
+ docbook-sgml31
+ docbook-utils
+ openjade
+ Utils
+ gnupg
+ Web
+ w3m
+</screen>
+
+ <para>
+ If you haven't already downloaded the Privoxy source code, get it now:
+ </para>
+ <screen>
+ mkdir <root-dir>
+ cd <root-dir>
+ git clone https://www.privoxy.org/git/privoxy.git
+</screen>
+
+ <para>
+ Get the source code (.zip or .tar.gz) for tidy from
+ <ulink url="https://github.com/htacg/tidy-html5/releases">
+ https://github.com/htacg/tidy-html5/releases</ulink>,
+ unzip into <root-dir> and build the software:
+ </para>
+ <screen>
+ cd <root-dir>
+ cd tidy-html5-x.y.z/build/cmake
+ cmake ../.. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DBUILD_SHARED_LIB:BOOL=OFF -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local
+ make && make install
+</screen>
+
+ <para>
+ If you want to be able to make a Windows release package, get the NSIS .zip file from
+ <!-- FIXME: which version(s) are known to work? -->
+ <ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/projects/nsis/files/NSIS%203/">
+ https://sourceforge.net/projects/nsis/files/NSIS%203/</ulink>
+ and extract the NSIS directory to <literal>privoxy/windows</literal>.
+ Then edit the windows/GNUmakefile to set the location of the NSIS executable - eg:
+ </para>
+ <screen>
+# Path to NSIS
+MAKENSIS = ./nsis/makensis.exe
+</screen>
+
+ </sect4>
+
+ <sect4 id="WINBUILD-BUILD"><title>Build</title>
+
+ <para>
+ To build just the Privoxy executable and not the whole installation package, do:
+ </para>
+ <programlisting>
+ cd <root-dir>/privoxy
+ ./windows/MYconfigure && make
+</programlisting>
+
+ <para>
+ Privoxy uses the <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_build_system">GNU Autotools</ulink>
+ for building software, so the process is:
+ </para>
+ <programlisting>
+ $ autoheader # creates config.h.in
+ $ autoconf # uses config.h.in to create the configure shell script
+ $ ./configure [options] # creates GNUmakefile
+ $ make [options] # builds the program
+</programlisting>
+
+ <para>
+ The usual <literal>configure</literal> options for building a native Windows application under cygwin are
+ </para>
+
+ <literallayout class="Monospaced">
+ --host=i686-w64-mingw32
+ --enable-mingw32
+ --enable-zlib
+ --enable-static-linking
+ --disable-pthread
+ --disable-dynamic-pcre
+</literallayout>
+
+ <para>
+ You can set the <literal>CFLAGS</literal> and <literal>LDFLAGS</literal> envars before
+ running <literal>configure</literal> to set compiler and linker flags. For example:
+ </para>
+
+ <programlisting>
+ $ export CFLAGS="-O2" # set gcc optimization level
+ $ export LDFLAGS="-Wl,--nxcompat" # Enable DEP
+ $ ./configure --host=i686-w64-mingw32 --enable-mingw32 --enable-zlib \
+ > --enable-static-linking --disable-pthread --disable-dynamic-pcre
+ $ make # build Privoxy
+</programlisting>
+
+ <para>
+ See the <ulink url="../developer-manual/newrelease.html#NEWRELEASE-WINDOWS">Developer's Manual</ulink>
+ for building a Windows release package.
+ </para>
+
+ </sect4>
+ </sect3>
</sect2>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ 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>
In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
to the latest <literal>default.action</literal> file we <emphasis>strongly
- recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> and
+ recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> and
<literal>user.filter</literal> for your local
customizations of <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
linkend="actions-file">Chapter on actions files</link> for details.
<!-- ~~~~~ 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 3.0.17</application> is a stable release.
- The changes since 3.0.16 stable are:
+ A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
+ versions of <application>Privoxy</application>:
</para>
-<para>
<itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Fixed last-chunk-detection for responses where the content was small
- enough to be read with the body, causing Privoxy to wait for the
- end of the content until the server closed the connection or the
- request timed out. Reported by "Karsten" in #3028326.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Responses with status code 204 weren't properly detected as body-less
- like RFC2616 mandates. Like the previous bug, this caused Privoxy to
- wait for the end of the content until the server closed the connection
- or the request timed out. Fixes #3022042 and #3025553, reported by a
- user with no visible name. Most likely also fixes a bunch of other
- AJAX-related problem reports that got closed in the past due to
- insufficient information and lack of feedback.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Fixed an ACL bug that made it impossible to build a blacklist.
- Usually the ACL directives are used in a whitelist, which worked
- as expected, but blacklisting is still useful for public proxies
- where one only needs to deny known abusers access.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Added LOG_LEVEL_RECEIVED to log the not-yet-parsed data read from the
- network. This should make debugging various parsing issues a lot easier.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The IPv6 code is enabled by default on Windows versions that support it.
- Patch submitted by oCameLo in #2942729.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In mingw32 versions, the user.filter file is reachable through the
- GUI, just like default.filter is. Feature request 3040263.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Added the configure option --enable-large-file-support to set a few
- defines that are required by platforms like GNU/Linux to support files
- larger then 2GB. Mainly interesting for users without proper logfile
- management.
- </para>
+
+ <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>
- Logging with "debug 16" no longer stops at the first nul byte which is
- pretty useless. Non-printable characters are replaced with their hex value
- so the result can't span multiple lines making parsing them harder then
- necessary.
+ 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>
- Privoxy logs when reading an action, filter or trust file.
+ 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>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
+ <screen>
+ { +<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{google} +<link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link> }
+ .google.</screen>
<para>
- Fixed incorrect regression test markup which caused a test in
- 3.0.16 to fail while Privoxy itself was working correctly.
- While Privoxy accepts hide-referer, too, the action name is actually
- hide-referrer which is also the name used one the final results page,
- where the test expected the alias.
+ 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>
- CGI interface improvements:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In finish_http_response(), continue to add the 'Connection: close'
- header if the client connection will not be kept alive.
- Anonymously pointed out in #2987454.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Apostrophes in block messages no longer cause parse errors
- when the blocked page is viewed with JavaScript enabled.
- Reported by dg1727 in #3062296.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Fix a bunch of anchors that used underscores instead of dashes.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Allow to keep the client connection alive after crunching the previous request.
- Already opened server connections can be kept alive, too.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In cgi_show_url_info(), don't forget to prefix URLs that only contain
- http:// or https:// in the path. Fixes #2975765 reported by Adam Piggott.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Show the 404 CGI page if cgi_send_user_manual() is called while
- local user manual delivery is disabled.
- </para>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
+ <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>
- Action file improvements:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Enable user.filter by default. Suggested by David White in #3001830.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Block .sitestat.com/. Reported by johnd16 in #3002725.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Block .atemda.com/. Reported by johnd16 in #3002723.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Block js.adlink.net/. Reported by johnd16 in #3002720.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Block .analytics.yahoo.com/. Reported by johnd16 in #3002713.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Block sb.scorecardresearch.com, too. Reported by dg1727 in #2992652.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Fix problems noticed on Yahoo mail and news pages.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Remove the too broad yahoo section, only keeping the
- fast-redirects exception as discussed on ijbswa-devel@.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Don't block adesklets.sourceforge.net. Reported in #2974204.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Block chartbeat ping tracking. Reported in #2975895.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Tag CSS and image requests with cautious and medium settings, too.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Don't handle view.atdmt.com as image. It's used for click-throughs
- so users should be able to "go there anyway".
- Reported by Adam Piggott in #2975927.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Also let the refresh-tags filter remove invalid refresh tags where
- the 'url=' part is missing. Anonymously reported in #2986382.
- While at it, update the description to mention the fact that only
- refresh tags with refresh times above 9 seconds are covered.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- javascript needs to be blocked with +handle-as-empty-document to
- work around Firefox bug 492459. So move .js blockers from
- +block{Might be a web-bug.} -handle-as-empty-document to
- +block{Might be a web-bug.} +handle-as-empty-document.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- ijbswa-Feature Requests-3006719 - Block 160x578 Banners.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Block another omniture tracking domain.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Added a range-requests tagger.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Added two sections to get Flickr's Ajax interface working with
- default pre-settings. If you change the configuration to block
- cookies by default, you'll need additional exceptions.
- Reported by Mathias Homann in #3101419 and by Patrick on ijbswa-users@.
- </para>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Documentation improvements:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Explicitly mention how to match all URLs.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Consistently recommend socks5 in the Tor FAQ entry and mention
- its advantage compared to socks4a. Reported by David in #2960129.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Slightly improve the explanation of why filtering may appear
- slower than it is.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Grammar fixes for the ACL section.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Fixed a link to the 'intercepting' entry and add another one.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Rename the 'Other' section to 'Mailing Lists' and reword it
- to make it clear that nobody is forced to use the trackers
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Note that 'anonymously' posting on the trackers may not always
- be possible.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Suggest to enable debug 32768 when suspecting parsing problems.
- </para>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Privoxy-Log-Parser improvements:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Gather statistics for ressources, methods, and HTTP versions
- used by the client.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Also gather statistics for blocked and redirected requests.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Provide the percentage of keep-alive offers the client accepted.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Add a --url-statistics-threshold option.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Add a --host-statistics-threshold option to also gather
- statistics about how many request where made per host.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Fix a bug in handle_loglevel_header() where a 'scan: ' got lost.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Add a --shorten-thread-ids option to replace the thread id with
- a decimal number.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Accept and ignore: Looks like we got the last chunk together
- with the server headers. We better stop reading.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Accept and ignore: Continue hack in da house.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Accept and higlight: Rejecting connection from 10.0.0.2.
- Maximum number of connections reached.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Accept and highlight: Loading actions file: /usr/local/etc/privoxy/default.action
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Accept and highlight: Loading filter file: /usr/local/etc/privoxy/default.filter
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Accept and highlight: Killed all-caps Host header line: HOST: bestproxydb.com
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Accept and highlight: Reducing expected bytes to 0. Marking
- the server socket tainted after throwing 4 bytes away.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Accept: Merged multiple header lines to: 'X-FORWARDED-PROTO: http X-HOST: 127.0.0.1'
- </para>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Code cleanups:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Remove the next member from the client_state struct. Only the main
- thread needs access to all client states so give it its own struct.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Garbage-collect request_contains_null_bytes().
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Ditch redundant code in unload_configfile().
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Ditch LogGetURLUnderCursor() which doesn't seem to be used anywhere.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In write_socket(), remove the write-only variable write_len in
- an ifdef __OS2__ block. Spotted by cppcheck.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In connect_to(), don't declare the variable 'flags' on OS/2 where
- it isn't used. Spotted by cppcheck.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Limit the scope of various variables. Spotted by cppcheck.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In add_to_iob(), turn an interestingly looking for loop into a
- boring while loop.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Code cleanup in preparation for external filters.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In listen_loop(), mention the socket on which we accepted the
- connection, not just the source IP address.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In write_socket(), also log the socket we're writing to.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In log_error(), assert that escaped characters get logged
- completely or not at all.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In log_error(), assert that ival and sval have reasonable values.
- There's no reason not to abort() if they don't.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Remove an incorrect cgi_error_unknown() call in a
- cannnot-happen-situation in send_crunch_response().
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Clean up white-space in http_response definition and
- move the crunch_reason to the beginning.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Turn http_response.reason into an enum and rename it
- to http_response.crunch_reason.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Silence a 'gcc (Debian 4.3.2-1.1) 4.3.2' warning on i686 GNU/Linux.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Fix white-space in a log message in remove_chunked_transfer_coding().
- While at it, add a note that the message doesn't seem to
- be entirely correct and should be improved later on.
- </para>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- GNUmakefile improvements:
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Use $(SSH) instead of ssh, so one only needs to specify a username once.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Removed references to the action feedback thingy that hasn't been
- working for years.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Consistently use shell.sourceforge.net instead of shell.sf.net so
- one doesn't need to check server fingerprints twice.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Removed GNUisms in the webserver and webactions targets so they
- work with standard tar.
- </para>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
- </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>
-<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>
+ Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
+ linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
+ information.
+ </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
+ linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
off by default.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
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
+ <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>
<listitem>
<para>
Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
- If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage
+ 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>
<listitem>
<para>
- A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
+ 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
+ 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.
introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
banners.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
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>
<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.
+ help.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </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
+ 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
+ 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
+<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
+ 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
+ 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
+ <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
</para>
<para>
Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
- followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
+ 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>
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>,
+ 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
+ <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,
<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>
<listitem>
<para>
- <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
+ <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
+ 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>
<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
+ <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>
<listitem>
<para>
</para>
<simplelist>
<member>
- <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
+ <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
replacement is obvious. This is the default.
</member>
</simplelist>
of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
</member>
</simplelist>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
</itemizedlist>
-</para>
<para>
Advanced users will eventually want to explore &my-app;
- <literal><link linkend="filter">filters</link></literal> as well. Filters
+ <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
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
+ (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
is an internal page, and does not require Internet access.
</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
+ Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
<quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
- pop-up menu.
+ pop-up menu.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Set your browser to
+ Set your browser to
<ulink
url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
+ 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>
+ </imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
</textobject>
</mediaobject>
</figure>
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
+ </listitem>
+
<listitem>
<para>
You should have a section with only
- <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
+ <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
+ 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>
<listitem>
<para>
Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
<quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
<quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </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>
-
+ </listitem>
+
</itemizedlist>
-</para>
<para>
- This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
+ 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
+ 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>
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
+ 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.
+ depth in later sections.
</para>
</sect2>
<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)
+ <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
+ 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>
+ </imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
</textobject>
</mediaobject>
</figure>
- </para>
-
-<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>
+<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>
+<para>
With <application>Netscape</application> (and
<application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
</para>
<!-- 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>:
+ For <application>Internet Explorer v.5-7</application>:
</para>
<literallayout>
</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>
+ </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
+ 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
directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
</para>
-<sect2 id="start-redhat">
-<title>Red Hat and Fedora</title>
+<sect2 id="start-debian">
+<title>Debian</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
+ 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/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
+ # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
</screen>
-</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 id="start-freebsd">
+<title>FreeBSD and ElectroBSD</title>
<para>
- Or ...
+ 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>
- <screen>
- # service privoxy start
-</screen>
+ If you installed <application>Privoxy</application> into a jail, the
+ paths above are relative to the jail root.
</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.
+ To start <application>Privoxy</application> manually, run:
</para>
-<para>
<screen>
- # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
+ # service privoxy onestart
</screen>
-</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="start-windows">
<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
+ 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>
+<title>Generic instructions for Unix derivates (Solaris, NetBSD, HP-UX etc.)</title>
<para>
Example Unix startup command:
</para>
-<para>
<screen>
- # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
+ # /usr/sbin/privoxy --user privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
</screen>
+<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-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.
+ 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>
- The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful
- installation. In addition, the privoxy service will automatically
- start every time your computer starts up.
+ 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 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).
+ 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>
-<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>
<!--
<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.
+ such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
</para>
<para>
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).
+ popups (explained below).
</para>
<para>
</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
+ 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>.
+ (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
+ 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 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
+ Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
section <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
- Developers</quote></link> below.
+ Developers</quote></link> below.
</para>
-->
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>
Print version info and exit. Unix only.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<emphasis>--help</emphasis>
<para>
Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
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>
<listitem>
<para>
<emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
<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>
<listitem>
<para>
<emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
<emphasis>--chroot</emphasis>
</para>
<para>
- Before changing to the user ID given in the <emphasis>--user</emphasis> option,
+ 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
+ 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>
<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
+ 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>
<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,
+ 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>
+ </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>
+ 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>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect1 id="configuration"><title>Privoxy Configuration</title>
<para>
- All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
+ 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
+ Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
also be controlled easily with a web browser.
</para>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2>
+<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
+ <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>),
+ (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>
+<screen><!-- want the background color that goes with 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://www.privoxy.org/&p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
+ url="https://www.privoxy.org/&p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
</member>
</simplelist>
</msgtext>
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.
+ 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
+ <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
+ 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.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy.
</para>
<para>
<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
+ <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows and OS/2
+ 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
+ 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 Linux, Unix, BSD, and OS/2, and <filename>config.txt</filename>
on Windows. This is a required file.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
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
+ 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>
+ <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.
+ various actions files.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
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
+ 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>
+ </listitem>
</itemizedlist>
-</para>
<para>
The syntax of the configuration and filter files may change between different
</para>
<para>
- The actions files and filter files
+ The actions files and filter files
can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
- maximum flexibility.
+ 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
+ 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
<![%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
+ 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>
]]>
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).
+ 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
+ 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>
<para>
- There
+ There
are three action files included with <application>Privoxy</application> with
differing purposes:
</para>
-<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default.
It should be the first actions file loaded
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<filename>default.action</filename> - defines many exceptions (both
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>
<listitem>
<para>
- <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
+ <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
+ has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guibutton>Edit</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Cautious</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Medium</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Advanced</guibutton>
<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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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
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>
<entry>blocks only</entry>
<entry>blocks only</entry>
</row>
-
+
<row>
<entry>Privacy Features</entry>
<entry>low</entry>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
- </para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
</itemizedlist>
-</para>
<para>
- The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
+ 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
(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>).
+ local preferences (typically in <emphasis>user</emphasis><filename>.action</filename>).
Generally, <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word.
</para>
<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
+ 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
personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
</para>
-<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
</para>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2>
+<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
+ 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
</sect2>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2>
+<sect2 id="how-to-edit">
<title>How to Edit</title>
<para>
The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
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!
+ 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
+ <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly commented with many
good examples.
</para>
</sect2>
<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>{
+ 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
+ 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
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect2 id="af-patterns">
<title>Patterns</title>
-<para>
+<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
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>
+ <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 domain and path parts of
- the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
- while the path part uses more flexible
+ 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 domain part contains a numerical IPv6 address,
+ (<literal>:</literal>). If the host part contains a numerical IPv6 address,
it has to be put into angle brackets
(<literal><</literal>, <literal>></literal>).
</para>
<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>,
+ 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
+ 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>
<term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
+ means exactly the same. For host-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
be omitted.
</para>
</listitem>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>10.0.0.1/</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <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><literal><2001:db8::1>/</literal></term>
<listitem>
<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
+ there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>. So its
a mistake.
</para>
</listitem>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
+<sect3 id="host-pattern"><title>The Host 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.
+ 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>
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.
+ cases are matched.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
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
+ 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
+ <quote>character classes</quote> in square brackets which is similar to
the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:
</para>
<term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
+ matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
<quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
- <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
+ <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
</para>
</listitem>
</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>
+ 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>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
+<sect3 id="path-pattern"><title>The Path Pattern</title>
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>modern</quote> POSIX 1003.2
<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
+ 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
+ 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.
<term><literal>.example.com/.*</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Is equivalent to just <quote>.example.com</quote>, since any documents
+ 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>
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
+ 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>
<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!).
+ 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> (and end with that!).
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<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>,
+ 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.
+ The path has to contain at least two slashes (including the one at the beginning).
</para>
</listitem>
</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
+ 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>
</variablelist>
<para>
- There are many, many good examples to be found in <filename>default.action</filename>,
+ 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>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 id="tag-pattern"><title>The Tag Pattern</title>
+<sect3 id="tag-pattern"><title>The Request 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>
+ 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>
<para>
- Tag patterns have to start with <quote>TAG:</quote>, so &my-app;
- can tell them apart from URL patterns. Everything after the colon
+ 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>,
</para>
<para>
- Sections can contain URL and tag patterns at the same time,
- but tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus
+ 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 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
+ 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>
</sect3>
-</sect2>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 id="negative-tag-patterns"><title>The Negative Request Tag Patterns</title>
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+<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>
+</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 id="client-tag-pattern"><title>The Client Tag Pattern</title>
-<sect2 id="actions">
-<title>Actions</title>
+<!-- XXX: This section contains duplicates content from the
+ client-specific-tag documentation. -->
+
+<warning>
<para>
- All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
+ 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>
+
+ <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>
+
+</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.
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>
+<para>
Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
- separated by whitespace, like in
+ 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.
+ of the actions file.
</para>
-<para>
+<para>
Actions fall into three categories:
</para>
-<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
- <para>
+ <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>
+ <para>
Example: <literal>+handle-as-image</literal>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
- <para>
+ <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>
+ <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>
+ <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
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>
+ <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
<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
+ 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
<para>Multi-value.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
</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
+ 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>
<varlistentry>
<term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
- </para>
+ <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>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
the <literal><link
linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
<literal><link
- linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>, and
+ 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>
<para>A block reason that should be given to the user.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
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>
+ <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
+ 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
+ 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>
<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{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{Layered ads.} +handle-as-empty-document}
# Block and then ignore
adserver.example.net/.*\.js$</screen>
- </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</itemizedlist>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<varlistentry>
<term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
<screen>+change-x-forwarded-for{block}</screen>
- </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<term>Type:</term>
<!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
and use their output as input.
</para>
<para>
- If the request URL gets changed, &my-app; will detect that and use the new
+ 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>
<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>
+</screen>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<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.
+ tag.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Type:</term>
<!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<varlistentry>
<term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
<screen>
# Tag every request with the User-Agent header
{+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/
TAG:^User-Agent: Ubuntu APT-HTTP/
TAG:^User-Agent: MPlayer/
- </screen>
- </para>
+</screen>
+
+ <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>
+
+ <screen>
+# Tag all requests with the client IP address
+#
+# (Technically the client IP address isn't included in the
+# client headers but client-header taggers can set it anyway.
+# For details see the tagger in default.filter)
+{+client-header-tagger{client-ip-address}}
+/
+
+# Change forwarding settings for requests coming from address 10.0.0.1
+{+forward-override{forward-socks5 127.0.1.2:2222 .}}
+TAG:^IP-ADDRESS: 10\.0\.0\.1$
+</screen>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Any string.
- </para>
+ Any string.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
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.
+ supported by the browser.
</para>
<para>
The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
<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.
+ 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.
+ <quote>text/html</quote> and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
</para>
<para>
By default <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal> only replaces
<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.
+ 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/
www.example.net/.*\.css$
www.example.net/.*style
</screen>
- </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<listitem>
<para>
Any string.
- </para>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<varlistentry>
<term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- <screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
+ <screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
{ +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
/
- </screen>
- </para>
+</screen>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<listitem>
<para>
N/A
- </para>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<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>
+/
+</screen>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<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 set. See also
+ 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>
<term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
<screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
- </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<listitem>
<para>
Any string.
- </para>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<varlistentry>
<term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
<screen># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
{ +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
-/ </screen>
- </para>
+/
+</screen>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<varlistentry>
<term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
<screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
- </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<varlistentry>
<term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
<screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
- </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<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. Not all HTTP/1.1 features and requirements are supported yet,
- so there is a chance you might need this action.
+ 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>
<varlistentry>
<term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
<screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
problem-host.example.com</screen>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="external-filter">
+<title>external-filter</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Modify content using a programming language of your choice.</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 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>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <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>
+
+ <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>
+
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <screen>+external-filter{fancy-filter}</screen>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
+ <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
<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:
+ this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
</para>
<para>
Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil.
<varlistentry>
<term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
<screen>
{ +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
- one.example.com
+ one.example.com
{ +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
another.example.com/testing</screen>
- </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
+ <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Type:</term>
<!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<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
+ 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
+ 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>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
+ 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>
<para>
<quote>Rolling your own</quote>
- filters requires a knowledge of
+ filters requires a knowledge of
<ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
- Expressions</quote></ulink> and
+ 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.
+ 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
+ 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
+ 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.
+ data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
</para>
<para>
Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
by defining appropriate <literal>-filter</literal> exceptions.
</para>
<para>
- Compressed content can't be filtered either, unless &my-app;
- is compiled with zlib support (requires at least &my-app; 3.0.7),
- in which case &my-app; will decompress the content before filtering
- it.
+ 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
action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
</para>
<para>
- Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
+ 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
+ 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>
<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
+ 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>
+ <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.</screen>
<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>
+ <screen>+filter{js-events} # Kill JavaScript event bindings and timers (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites).</screen>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
- <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</screen>
</para>
+ <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</screen>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
- <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content.</screen>
</para>
+ <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content.</screen>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
- <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups).</screen>
</para>
+ <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags if refresh time is larger than 9 seconds.</screen>
<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>
+ <screen>+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows.</screen>
<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>
+ <screen>+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML.</screen>
<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>
+ <screen>+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective.</screen>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
- <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size.</screen>
</para>
+ <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size.</screen>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-banners-by-link">
- <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers.</screen>
</para>
+ <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers.</screen>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-webbugs">
- <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking).</screen>
</para>
+ <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking).</screen>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-tiny-textforms">
- <screen>+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap.</screen>
</para>
+ <screen>+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap.</screen>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-jumping-windows">
- <screen>+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves.</screen>
</para>
+ <screen>+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves.</screen>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
+ </para>
<screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizable.</screen>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-iframes">
</para>
+ <screen>+filter{iframes} # Removes all detected iframes. Should only be enabled for individual sites.</screen>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-demoronizer">
- <screen>+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets.</screen>
</para>
+ <screen>+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets.</screen>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
- <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects.</screen>
</para>
+ <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects.</screen>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-quicktime-kioskmode">
- <screen>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies saveable.</screen>
</para>
+ <screen>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies saveable.</screen>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-fun">
- <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
</para>
+ <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
- <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering. Note that this filter doesn't work reliably.</screen>
</para>
+ <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering. Note that this filter doesn't work reliably.</screen>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-ie-exploits">
- <screen>+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits.</screen>
</para>
+ <screen>+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits.</screen>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-site-specifics">
- <screen>+filter{site-specifics} # Cure for site-specific problems. Don't apply generally!</screen>
</para>
+ <screen>+filter{site-specifics} # Cure for site-specific problems. Don't apply generally!</screen>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-no-ping">
- <screen>+filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes in <a> and <area> tags.</screen>
</para>
+ <screen>+filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes in <a> and <area> tags.</screen>
<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>
+ <screen>+filter{google} # CSS-based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation and the toolbar advertisement.</screen>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-yahoo">
- <screen>+filter{yahoo} # CSS-based block for Yahoo text ads. Also removes a width limitation.</screen>
</para>
+ <screen>+filter{yahoo} # CSS-based block for Yahoo text ads. Also removes a width limitation.</screen>
<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>
+ <screen>+filter{msn} # CSS-based block for MSN text ads. Also removes tracking URLs and a width limitation.</screen>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-blogspot">
- <screen>+filter{blogspot} # Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this.</screen>
</para>
+ <screen>+filter{blogspot} # Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this.</screen>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<listitem>
<para>
Declares a document as text, even if the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> isn't detected as such.
- </para>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<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>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ 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>
-
- <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>
-
- <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>
-
- <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>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ 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>
-
- <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>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <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>
-
- <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>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </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.
- </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>
-
- <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>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ 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>
-
- <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>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <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>
-
- <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>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ 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>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deletes or replaces the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header set by some servers.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <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 any user defined value.
- </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.
- </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>
-
- <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>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ 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>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deletes the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> HTTP client header or modifies its value.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <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>
-
- <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>
-
- <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>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
-<title>hide-from-header</title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
- specified string.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <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 any user defined value.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <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>
-
- <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>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ 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>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</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>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</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>.)
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <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>
- Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
- in client requests with the specified value.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Any user-defined string.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <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>
- Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
- browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
- <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
- setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
- the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
- OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
- sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
- reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
- let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
- <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
- (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
- </para>
- <para>
- 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>
- <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>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
- defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- 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>Example usages:</term>
- <listitem>
- <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
- <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
- <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
- <para>
- <screen>+limit-connect{443} # 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="prevent-compression">
-<title>prevent-compression</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>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <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>
-
- <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>
-
- <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
-
-# 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>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>Last-Modified:</quote> HTTP server header or modifies its value.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- One of the keywords: <quote>block</quote>, <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote>
- and <quote>randomize</quote>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </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.
- </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>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <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>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</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>
-
- <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>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </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>
- 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.
- </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
-
-# 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
-
-# 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=
-
-# 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 ~~~~~ -->
-<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>
-
- <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>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <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>
-
- <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>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (section):</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>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-tagger">
-<title>server-header-tagger</title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <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>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <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>
-
- <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>
-
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <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}}
-/
- </screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
-<title>session-cookies-only</title>
-
-<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>
-
- <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>
-
-<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>
-
- <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>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
-<title>set-image-blocker</title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
- <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
- linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
- apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
- <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
- sent as a replacement.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
- decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
- completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
- images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
- has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
- send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
- to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via <quote>file:///</quote> URL.
- (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>
- The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
- class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
- either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
- </para>
- <para>
- There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
- used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
- Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Built-in pattern:
- </para>
- <para>
- <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- Redirect to the BSD daemon:
- </para>
- <para>
- <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
- </para>
- <para>
- <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3>
-<title>Summary</title>
-<para>
- 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>
-
- 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>
- <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>
-
-<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>
-<!--
-hal stop here
--->
-<!-- ~~~~~ 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>
-
-<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>
-
-<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>
- 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>
-
-<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>
-
-<para>
- Understanding the <filename>default.action</filename> file can
- help you with your <filename>user.action</filename>, though.
-</para>
-
-<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>
- <screen>
-##########################################################################
-# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
-##########################################################################
-{{settings}}
-for-privoxy-version=3.0.11</screen>
-</para>
-
-<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}}
-
- # 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>
-
- # 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>
- 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>
- <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>
- 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>
- <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>
-
-<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>
-
-<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>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
-##########################################################################
-# Images:
-##########################################################################
-
-# Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
-# blocked further down this file:
-#
-{ +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
-/.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
- generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
- request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
- mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
- <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
- course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
- +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
- Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
- <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
- action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
- <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
- action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <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>
- 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>
-
-<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)?)/
-
-# Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
-#
-.hitbox.com</screen>
-</para>
-
-<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>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
-##########################################################################
-# Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
-##########################################################################
-
-# By domain:
-#
-{ -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
-adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
-adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
-adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
-ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
-.edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
-.*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
-
-# By path:
-#
-/.*loads/
-
-# Site-specific:
-#
-www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
-www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
-</para>
-
-<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>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
-# Don't filter code!
-#
-{ -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
-/(.*/)?cvs
-bugzilla.
-developer.
-wiki.
-.sourceforge.net</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course much more
- comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
-</para>
-
-</sect3>
-
-<sect3><title>user.action</title>
-
-<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>
- 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>
- <screen>
-# My user.action file. <fred@example.com></screen>
-</para>
-
-<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>
-
-<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
-
-# 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
-
-# Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
-#
-allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
-
-# 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>
-
-</para>
-
-<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>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
-{ allow-all-cookies }
- sourceforge.net
- .yahoo.com
- .msdn.microsoft.com
- .redhat.com</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
-{ -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
- .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- 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/
-
-# 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>
- 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>
-{ +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link>{Nasty ads.} }
- www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
- another.example.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
-</para>
-
-<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>
-
-<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>
-
-<para>
-<screen>
-{ fragile }
- .forbes.com
- webmail.example.com
- .mybank.com</screen>
-</para>
-
-<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>
-
-<para>
-<screen>
-{ +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
- / # For ALL sites!</screen>
-</para>
-
-<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>
-
-<para>
- You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are
- funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
- to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
- sites that you feel provide value to you:
-</para>
-
-<para>
-<screen>
-{ allow-ads }
- .sourceforge.net
- .slashdot.org
- .osdn.net</screen>
-</para>
-
-<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>
-
-<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>
-
-<para>
-<screen>
-{ handle-as-text }
- /.*\.sh$</screen>
-</para>
-
-<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>
-
-<para>
-<screen>
-{ +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
-/ # ALL sites</screen>
-</para>
-
-</sect3>
-</sect2>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-</sect1>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect1 id="filter-file">
-<title>Filter Files</title>
-
-<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>
-
-<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>
-
-<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>
-
-
-<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>
-
-<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>
-
-<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>
-
-<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>
-
-<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>
-
-<para>
- Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
- in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
- +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
- in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- 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>
-
-<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>
-
-<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>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
-
-<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>
+ <warning>
+ <para>
+ Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
+ with regular expressions can cause file damage.
+ </para>
+ </warning>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <screen>
++force-text-mode
+</screen>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<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>
-<para>
- <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ 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>
-<para>
- Our complete filter now looks like this:
-</para>
-<para>
- <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
-s/foo/bar/g</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file.
+ </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>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</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>
+ <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>
- <screen>
-FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
+ <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>
-# Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <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.
#
-s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
- <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
- the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
- by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
-</para>
+# This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing,
+# without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates
+# or downloads of bigger files like ISOs.
+#
+# Note that HTTP headers are easy to fake and therefore their
+# values are as (un)trustworthy as your clients and users.
+{+forward-override{forward-socks5 10.0.0.2:2222 .} \
+ -hide-if-modified-since \
+ -overwrite-last-modified \
+}
+TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$
+</screen>
+ </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="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>
- 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>
+ 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>
- 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>Boolean.</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>
+ N/A
+ </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>$2</literal>.
- This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
- (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
- Business!"</literal>.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
+ are blocked with <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
+ And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the &my-app;
+ BLOCKED message in frames.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The content type for the empty document can be specified with
+ <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{}</link></literal>,
+ but usually this isn't necessary.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
- <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
- <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
- since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
- string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
- information anymore.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <screen># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
+# but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
+{+block{Blocked JavaScript} +handle-as-empty-document}
+example.org/.*\.js$
+</screen>
+ </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="handle-as-image">
+<title>handle-as-image</title>
-<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>
+<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>
- 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>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>
- <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>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Boolean.</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>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ N/A
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- The last example is from the fun department:
-</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>
-FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <screen># Generic image extensions:
+#
+{+handle-as-image}
+/.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
-# Spice the daily news:
+# These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
+# blocked as images:
#
-s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
-</para>
+{+block{Nasty banners.} +handle-as-image}
+nasty-banner-server.example.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash
+</screen>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<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>
-<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>
+<!-- ~~~~~ 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 <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>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deletes or replaces the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> HTTP header in client requests.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- You get the idea?
-</para>
-</sect2>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <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>
-<sect2 id="predefined-filters"><title>The Pre-defined Filters</title>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <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>
+ </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-content-disposition">
+<title>hide-content-disposition</title>
+<!--
+new action
-->
-
-<para>
-The distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file contains a selection of
-pre-defined filters for your convenience:
-</para>
-
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>js-annoyances</emphasis></term>
+ <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>
<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>
+ Deletes or replaces the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header set by some servers.
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that
- rely heavily on JavaScript.
+ Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
</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!
+ 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>
- 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).
+ 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>
-<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>html-annoyances</emphasis></term>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <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>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ 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>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
+ Deletes the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> HTTP client header or modifies its value.
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
<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.
+ Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>content-cookies</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Notes:</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.
+ 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>
- 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.
+ 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>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <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>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
+<title>hide-from-header</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
+ specified string.
</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.
+ Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>unsolicited-popups</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Notes:</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.
+ 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>
- 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.
+ 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 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.
+ This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
+ <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>all-popups</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Example usage:</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>
+ <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen>
+ <para>or</para>
+ <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
+<title>hide-referrer</title>
+<anchor id="hide-referer">
+<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>img-reorder</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Typical use:</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>
+ <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>banners-by-size</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Effect:</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.
+ Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
+ or replaces it with a forged one.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>banners-by-link</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<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>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>webbugs</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Parameter:</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>
+ <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>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>tiny-textforms</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Notes:</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.
+ <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>
- It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
+ 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>.)
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>jumping-windows</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Example usage:</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>
+ <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen>
+ <para>or</para>
+ <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
+<title>hide-user-agent</title>
+<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>frameset-borders</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Typical use:</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>
+ <para>Try to conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>demoronizer</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Effect:</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
--->
+ Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
+ in client requests with the specified value.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>shockwave-flash</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<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>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>quicktime-kioskmode</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
- prevents saving, is disabled.
+ Any user-defined string.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>fun</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>
- Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
- Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
+ 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>
+ 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>
+ <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
+<title>limit-connect</title>
+
+<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>crude-parental</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Typical use:</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>
+ <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>ie-exploits</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Effect:</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.
+ Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>site-specifics</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<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>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>google</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- A CSS based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation
- and the toolbar advertisement.
+ 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>yahoo</emphasis></term>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Another CSS based block, this time for Yahoo text ads. And removes
- a width limitation as well.
+ 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>msn</emphasis></term>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usages:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- Another CSS based block, this time for MSN text ads. And removes
- tracking URLs, as well as a width limitation.
- </para>
+ <!-- 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 -->
+ <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>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-cookie-lifetime">
+<title>limit-cookie-lifetime</title>
+
+<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>blogspot</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Typical use:</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>
+ <para>Limit the lifetime of HTTP cookies to a couple of minutes or hours.</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.
+ Overwrites the expires field in Set-Cookie server headers if it's above the specified limit.
</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.
+ The lifetime limit in minutes, or 0.
</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.
+ 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>
- 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>.
+ Cookies with a lifetime below the limit are not modified.
+ The lifetime of session cookies is set to the specified limit.
</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.
+ The effect of this action depends on the server.
</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).
+ 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>
<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.
+ 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> </emphasis></term>
+ <term>Example usages:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- </para>
- <para>
- </para>
+ <screen>+limit-cookie-lifetime{60}</screen>
</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 ~ -->
-
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
-Requests</title>
-
-<!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
- &contacting;
-<!-- end boilerplate -->
-
-</sect1>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
-
-<!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
- ©right;
-<!-- end copyright -->
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2><title>License</title>
-<!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
- &license;
-<!-- end copyright -->
-</sect2>
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
+</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
+<title>prevent-compression</title>
-<sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
-<!-- Include history.sgml: -->
- &history;
-<!-- end history -->
-</sect2>
+<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>
-<sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
-<!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
- &p-authors;
-<!-- end authors -->
-</sect2>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-</sect1>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ N/A
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <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>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
-<!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
- &seealso;
-<!-- end seealso -->
-</sect1>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <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>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ 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.
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="overwrite-last-modified">
+<title>overwrite-last-modified</title>
+<!--
+new action
-->
- <application>PCRS</application> libraries.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
- expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
- introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
- url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
-</para>
-
-<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>
-
-<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>
-
-<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>
-
-<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>
-
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
- times. Either/or.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
- times.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deletes the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> HTTP server header or modifies its value.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
- times.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ One of the keywords: <quote>block</quote>, <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote>
+ and <quote>randomize</quote>
+ </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>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.
+ </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>.
+ </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>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
+{ +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
+ +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
+ +crunch-if-none-match}
+/</screen>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<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>
-<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>
+<!-- ~~~~~ 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>
-<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>
+ <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>
-<para>
- And now something a little more complex:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
+ </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>
+ <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>
-<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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usages:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <screen># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
+{ +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
+ example.com/stylesheet\.css
-<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>
+# 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
-<para>
- More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
- <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>
-</para>
+# 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@$@&mode=expanded@}}
+undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$
-<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>
+# Redirect Google search requests to MSN
+{+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/search\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=$1@}}
+.google.com/search
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+# 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=
+# 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)
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2>
-<title>Privoxy's Internal Pages</title>
+# 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]*/
-<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.
+# 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>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-</para>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<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>
-<para>
- <itemizedlist>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-filter">
+<title>server-header-filter</title>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Privoxy main page:
- </para>
- <blockquote>
- <para>
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Rewrite or remove single server headers.
</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>
- <para>
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
- </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>
- </para>
- </blockquote>
- </listitem>
-
- <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>
+ <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>
- </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>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <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>
- </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>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <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>
- </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>
+ Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
+ and use their output as input.
</para>
- </blockquote>
- <blockquote>
- <para>
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
+ <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>
- </blockquote>
</listitem>
-
- </itemizedlist>
-</para>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <screen>
+{+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}}
+example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html
-</para>
+{+server-header-filter{xml-to-html}}
+example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not
+</screen>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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).
-</para>
-<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.
-</para>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- <itemizedlist>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-tagger">
+<title>server-header-tagger</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<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>
+ Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<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>
+ 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>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<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)
+ The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the
+ <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<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>
+ 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>
- </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>
+ 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>
- </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>
+ 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>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
-</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.
-</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <screen>
+# Tag every request with the content type declared by the server
+{+server-header-tagger{content-type}}
+/
+# 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>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
</sect3>
-</sect2>
-
<!-- ~~~~~ 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>
-
-<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>
-
- </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>
-
-</sect2>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
+<title>session-cookies-only</title>
+<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>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="actionsanat">
-<title>Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</title>
+ <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>
-<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>
+<varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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>.)
-</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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ N/A
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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>
+ <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>
- 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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<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>
-<para>
- <screen>
- Matches for http://www.google.com:
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
+<title>set-image-blocker</title>
- In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- {+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}
-/
-
- { -session-cookies-only }
- .google.com
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
+ linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
+ apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
+ <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
+ sent as a replacement.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- { -fast-redirects }
- .google.com
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
-(no matches in this file)
-</screen>
-</para>
+ <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>
-<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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
+ class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
+ either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
+ used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
+ Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Built-in pattern:
+ </para>
+ <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
+ <para>
+ Redirect to the BSD daemon:
+ </para>
+ <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
+ <para>
+ Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
+ </para>
+ <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 id="summary">
+<title>Summary</title>
<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,
+ 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>
- 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>:
-
+ Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
+ as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
+ These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
+ Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
+ <quote>=</quote>,
+ <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
+ recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
+ <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
+ Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
+ <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
+ expanded.
</para>
-
<para>
- <screen>
-
- Final results:
-
- -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>
+ 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>
- 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>.
+ 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>
- Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
+ 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>
- <screen>
+ Now let's define some aliases...
+</para>
- { +block{Domains starts with "ad"} }
- ad*.
+ <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}}
- { +block{Domain contains "ad"} }
- .ad.
+ # 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>
- { +block{Doubleclick banner server} +handle-as-image }
- .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
-</screen>
-</para>
+ # 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>
-<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>
+ shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link>
-<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>
+ # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
+ #
+ c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
+ c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
<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 ...
+ ...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>
<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
- Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
+ # Shopping sites:
+ # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
+ #
+ {shop}
+ .quietpc.com
+ .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+ mybank.example.com
- In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
+ # These shops require pop-ups:
+ #
+ {-filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
+ .dabs.com
+ .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
- {-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} }
- /
+<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>
+<!--
+hal stop here
+-->
+<!-- ~~~~~ 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>
- { +block{Path contains "ads".} +handle-as-image }
- /ads
-</screen>
+<sect3 id="match-all">
+<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>
<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:
+ 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>
- <screen>
+ 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>
- { -block }
- /adsl
+ <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>
+ The default behavior is now set.
</para>
+</sect3>
+
+<sect3 id="default-action">
+<title>default.action</title>
<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>.
+ 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>
- But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
- we did with:
+ Understanding the <filename>default.action</filename> file can
+ help you with your <filename>user.action</filename>, though.
</para>
<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>
+
<screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
+##########################################################################
+{{settings}}
+for-privoxy-version=3.0.11</screen>
- { +block{Path starts with "ads".} +handle-as-image }
- /ads
-</screen>
+<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>
+ <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>
+
+ # 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>
- 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>:
+ 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 use
+ our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
+ of actions explicitly:
</para>
-<para>
<screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
+##########################################################################
- { shop }
- .quietpc.com
- .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
- .jungle.com
- .scan.co.uk
- .forbes.com
-</screen>
-</para>
+# "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>
- <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:
-
+ 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>
<screen>
+# Shopping sites:
+#
+{ shop }
+.quietpc.com
+.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+.jungle.com
+.scan.co.uk</screen>
- { -filter }
- # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
- .forbes.com
- developer.ibm.com
- localhost
-</screen>
+<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>
+ <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>
- 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.
+ 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>
+ <screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Images:
+##########################################################################
+
+# 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>
- 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).
+ 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>
+ <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>
- <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>
+ 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>
+
<screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Block these fine banners:
+##########################################################################
+{ <link linkend="BLOCK">+block{Banner ads.}</link> }
- { fragile }
- # Handle with care: easy to break
- mail.google.
- mybank.example.com</screen>
+# 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>
+ 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 literally <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>
- <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.
+ Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
+ <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
+ so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
+ URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
+ action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
+ general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
+ <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
+ <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
+ applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
+ with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
</para>
-</sect2>
-
-</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 2.128 2010/11/10 22:00:13 fabiankeil
- Update the first paragraph of the 'What's New' section.
+ <screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
+##########################################################################
- Revision 2.127 2010/11/10 21:48:54 fabiankeil
- Update the "What's New" section.
+# 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)
- Revision 2.126 2010/11/06 12:55:48 fabiankeil
- Set p-version to 3.0.17
+# By path:
+#
+/.*loads/
- Revision 2.125 2010/09/03 17:39:37 fabiankeil
- Slightly improve the explanation of why filtering may appear slower than it is.
+# Site-specific:
+#
+www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
+www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
- Revision 2.124 2010/05/01 18:21:30 fabiankeil
- Explicitly mention how to match any URL.
+<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>
- Revision 2.123 2010/02/19 16:00:38 fabiankeil
- Even more fixes.
+ <screen>
+# Don't filter code!
+#
+{ -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
+/(.*/)?cvs
+bugzilla.
+developer.
+wiki.
+.sourceforge.net</screen>
- Revision 2.122 2010/02/19 15:22:47 fabiankeil
- Add missing word.
+<para>
+ The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course much more
+ comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
+</para>
- 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.
+</sect3>
- Revision 2.120 2010/02/13 17:38:39 fabiankeil
- Update entities for 3.0.16 stable.
+<sect3 id="user-action"><title>user.action</title>
- Revision 2.119 2010/02/13 16:37:37 fabiankeil
- Update 'What's new?' section.
+<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>
- 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.
+<para>
+ So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
+ <filename>user.action</filename>:
+</para>
- 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.
+<!-- brief sample user.action here -->
- Revision 2.115 2009/10/10 06:19:34 fabiankeil
- Ditch a duplicated 'since'.
+ <screen>
+# My user.action file. <fred@example.com></screen>
- Revision 2.114 2009/10/10 05:51:48 fabiankeil
- Update "What's new" section.
+<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>
- Revision 2.113 2009/10/10 05:48:55 fabiankeil
- Prepare for 3.0.15 beta.
+ <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
- Revision 2.112 2009/07/24 12:20:30 fabiankeil
- Remove duplicated period.
+# 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
- 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.
+# Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
+#
+allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
- Revision 2.110 2009/07/18 16:25:17 fabiankeil
- Fix trailing whitespace.
+# 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>
- Revision 2.109 2009/07/18 16:24:39 fabiankeil
- Bump entities for 3.0.14 beta.
+<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>
- 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.
+ <screen>
+{ allow-all-cookies }
+ sourceforge.net
+ .yahoo.com
+ .msdn.microsoft.com
+ .redhat.com</screen>
- Revision 2.107 2009/06/12 14:30:58 fabiankeil
- Update entities for 3.0.13 beta.
+<para>
+ Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:
+</para>
- Revision 2.106 2009/06/12 11:04:13 fabiankeil
- Import ChangeLog for 3.0.13 beta.
+ <screen>
+{ -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
+ .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
- Revision 2.105 2009/04/17 11:32:57 fabiankeil
- Grammar and spelling fixes.
+<para>
+ Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
+</para>
- Revision 2.104 2009/04/17 11:27:49 fabiankeil
- Petr Pisar's privoxy-3.0.12-ipv6-3.diff.
+ <screen>
+# Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
+# erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
+#
+.tldp.org
+/(.*/)?selfhtml/
- Revision 2.103 2009/03/21 10:49:05 fabiankeil
- Merge updated ChangeLog.
+# 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>
- Revision 2.102 2009/03/15 19:31:36 fabiankeil
- Update "What's New in this Release" section.
+<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>
- Revision 2.101 2009/02/25 19:01:56 fabiankeil
- Fix typo.
+ <screen>
+{ +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link>{Nasty ads.} }
+ www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
+ another.example.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
- 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.
+<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>
- Revision 2.99 2009/02/19 02:20:22 hal9
- Make some links in seealso conditional. Man page is now privoxy only links.
+ <screen>
+{ +block-as-image }
+ .doubleclick.net
+ .fastclick.net
+ /Realmedia/ads/
+ ar.atwola.com/</screen>
- Revision 2.98 2009/02/16 17:10:33 fabiankeil
- Fix entry about shortened log messages. Noticed by Lee.
+<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>
- Revision 2.97 2009/02/14 18:01:00 fabiankeil
- Import ChangeLog.
+<screen>
+{ fragile }
+ .forbes.com
+ webmail.example.com
+ .mybank.com</screen>
- Revision 2.96 2009/02/14 13:14:03 fabiankeil
- Unbreak syntax.
+<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>
- Revision 2.95 2009/02/14 12:51:26 fabiankeil
- Mention match-all.action in the "Actions Files Tutorial" section.
+<screen>
+{ +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
+ / # For ALL sites!</screen>
- Revision 2.94 2009/02/14 11:50:31 fabiankeil
- Some indentation fixes.
+<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>
- Revision 2.93 2009/02/14 10:14:42 fabiankeil
- Mention match-all.action in the action file descriptions.
+<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>
- Revision 2.92 2009/02/12 16:08:26 fabiankeil
- Declare the code stable.
+<screen>
+{ allow-ads }
+ .sourceforge.net
+ .slashdot.org
+ .osdn.net</screen>
- Revision 2.91 2009/01/13 16:50:35 fabiankeil
- The standard.action file is gone.
+<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 2.90 2008/09/26 16:53:09 fabiankeil
- Update "What's new" section.
+<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 2.89 2008/09/21 15:38:56 fabiankeil
- Fix Portage tree sync instructions in Gentoo section.
- Anonymously reported at ijbswa-developers@.
+<screen>
+{ handle-as-text }
+ /.*\.sh$</screen>
- Revision 2.88 2008/09/21 14:42:52 fabiankeil
- Add documentation for change-x-forwarded-for{},
- remove documentation for hide-forwarded-for-headers.
+<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 2.87 2008/08/30 15:37:35 fabiankeil
- Update entities.
+<screen>
+{ +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
+/ # ALL sites</screen>
- Revision 2.86 2008/08/16 10:12:23 fabiankeil
- Merge two sentences and move the URL to the end of the item.
+</sect3>
+</sect2>
- Revision 2.85 2008/08/16 10:04:59 fabiankeil
- Some more syntax fixes. This version actually builds.
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- Revision 2.84 2008/08/16 09:42:45 fabiankeil
- Turns out building docs works better if the syntax is valid.
+</sect1>
- Revision 2.83 2008/08/16 09:32:02 fabiankeil
- Mention changes since 3.0.9 beta.
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- Revision 2.82 2008/08/16 09:00:52 fabiankeil
- Fix example URL pattern (once more with feeling).
+<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
- Revision 2.81 2008/08/16 08:51:28 fabiankeil
- Update version-related entities.
+<sect1 id="filter-file">
+<title>Filter Files</title>
- Revision 2.80 2008/07/18 16:54:30 fabiankeil
- Remove erroneous whitespace in documentation link.
- Reported by John Chronister in #2021611.
+<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 2.79 2008/06/27 18:00:53 markm68k
- remove outdated startup information for mac os x
+<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 2.78 2008/06/21 17:03:03 fabiankeil
- Fix typo.
+<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 2.77 2008/06/14 13:45:22 fabiankeil
- Re-add a colon I unintentionally removed a few revisions ago.
+<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 2.76 2008/06/14 13:21:28 fabiankeil
- Prepare for the upcoming 3.0.9 beta release.
- 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>
+ 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 2.74 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>
+ 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 2.73 2008/05/23 14:43:18 fabiankeil
- Remove previously out-commented block that caused syntax problems.
+<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 2.72 2008/05/12 10:26:14 fabiankeil
- Synchronize content filter descriptions with the ones in default.filter.
+<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 2.71 2008/04/10 17:37:16 fabiankeil
- Actually we use "modern" POSIX 1003.2 regular
- expressions in path patterns, not PCRE.
+<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 2.70 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>
+ 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 2.69 2008/03/29 12:14:25 fabiankeil
- Remove send-wafer and send-vanilla-wafer actions.
+<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 2.68 2008/03/28 15:13:43 fabiankeil
- Remove inspect-jpegs action.
+ <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
- Revision 2.67 2008/03/27 18:31:21 fabiankeil
- Remove kill-popups action.
+<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 2.66 2008/03/06 16:33:47 fabiankeil
- If limit-connect isn't used, don't limit CONNECT requests to port 443.
+<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 2.65 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.
+<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 $listen-address (the address on which Privoxy accepted the
+ client request. Example: 127.0.0.1:8118).
+ They will be replaced with the value they refer to before the filter
+ is executed.
+</para>
- Revision 2.64 2008/03/01 14:10:28 fabiankeil
- Use new block syntax. Still needs some polishing.
+<para>
+ Note that '$' 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 $url.
+</para>
- Revision 2.63 2008/02/22 05:50:37 markm68k
- fix merge problem
+<para>
+ The non-standard option letter <literal>T</literal> (trivial) prevents
+ parsing for backreferences in the substitute. Use it if you want to include
+ text like '$&' in your substitute without quoting.
+</para>
- Revision 2.62 2008/02/11 11:52:23 hal9
- Fix entity ... s/&/&
+<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 2.61 2008/02/11 03:41:47 markm68k
- more updates for mac os x
- Revision 2.60 2008/02/11 03:40:25 markm68k
- more updates for mac os x
+<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
- Revision 2.59 2008/02/11 00:52:34 markm68k
- reflect new changes for mac os x
+<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 2.58 2008/02/03 21:37:40 hal9
- Apply patch from Mark: s/OSX/OS X/
+ <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
- Revision 2.57 2008/02/03 19:10:14 fabiankeil
- Mention forward-socks5.
+<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 2.56 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.
+ <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
- Revision 2.55 2008/01/19 21:26:37 hal9
- Add IE7 to configuration section per Gerry.
+<para>
+ Our complete filter now looks like this:
+</para>
- Revision 2.54 2008/01/19 17:52:39 hal9
- Re-commit to fix various minor issues for new release.
+ <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
+s/foo/bar/g</screen>
- Revision 2.53 2008/01/19 15:03:05 hal9
- Doc sources tagged for 3.0.8 release.
+<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 2.52 2008/01/17 01:49:51 hal9
- Change copyright notice for docs s/2007/2008/. All these will be rebuilt soon
- enough.
- Revision 2.51 2007/12/23 16:48:24 fabiankeil
- Use more precise example descriptions for the mysterious domain patterns.
+ <screen>
+FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
- 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.
+# 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>
- Revision 2.49 2007/12/06 18:21:55 fabiankeil
- Update hide-forwarded-for-headers description.
+<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 2.48 2007/11/24 19:07:17 fabiankeil
- - Mention request rewriting.
- - Enable the conditional-forge paragraph.
- - Minor rewordings.
+<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 2.47 2007/11/18 14:59:47 fabiankeil
- A few "Note to Upgraders" updates.
+<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 2.46 2007/11/17 17:24:44 fabiankeil
- - Use new action defaults.
- - Minor fixes and rewordings.
+<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 2.45 2007/11/16 11:48:46 hal9
- Fix one typo, and add a couple of small refinements.
+<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 2.44 2007/11/15 03:30:20 hal9
- Results of spell check.
+<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 2.43 2007/11/14 18:45:39 fabiankeil
- - Mention some more contributors in the "New in this Release" list.
- - Minor rewordings.
+<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 2.42 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 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 2.41 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>
+ 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 2.40 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.
+ <screen>
+# The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
+#
+s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
- Revision 2.39 2007/11/05 02:34:49 hal9
- Various changes in preparation for the upcoming release. Much yet to be done.
+<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 2.38 2007/09/22 16:01:42 fabiankeil
- Update embedded show-url-info output.
+<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 2.37 2007/08/27 16:09:55 fabiankeil
- Fix pre-chroot-nslookup description which I failed to
- copy and paste properly. Reported by Stephen Gildea.
+ <screen>
+# Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
+#
+s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
- 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>
+ 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 2.35 2007/08/26 14:59:49 fabiankeil
- Minor rewordings and fixes.
+<para>
+ The last example is from the fun department:
+</para>
- 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.
+ <screen>
+FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
- Revision 2.33 2007/07/27 10:57:35 hal9
- Add references for user-agent strings for hide-user-agenet
+# Spice the daily news:
+#
+s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
- 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.
+<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 2.31 2007/06/02 14:01:37 fabiankeil
- Start to document forward-override{}.
+ <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>
- 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 <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 2.29 2007/04/05 11:47:51 fabiankeil
- Some updates regarding header filtering,
- handling of compressed content and redirect's
- support for pcrs commands.
+<para>
+ You get the idea?
+</para>
+</sect2>
- Revision 2.28 2006/12/10 23:42:48 hal9
- Fix various typos reported by Adam P. Thanks.
+<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
- 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.
+<sect2 id="predefined-filters"><title>The Pre-defined Filters</title>
- Revision 2.26 2006/10/24 11:16:44 hal9
- Add new filters.
+<!--
- 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.
+ Note each filter is also listed in the +filter action section above. Please
+ keep these listings in sync.
- Revision 2.24 2006/10/03 11:13:54 hal9
- More references to the new filters. Include html this time around.
+-->
- Revision 2.23 2006/10/02 22:43:53 hal9
- Contains new filter definitions from Fabian, and few other miscellaneous
- touch-ups.
+<para>
+The distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file contains a selection of
+pre-defined filters for your convenience:
+</para>
- 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.
+<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
+ </para>
+ <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>
+ Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that
+ rely heavily on JavaScript.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.21 2006/09/20 03:21:36 david__schmidt
- Just the tiniest tweak. Wafer thin!
+ <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 2.20 2006/09/10 14:53:54 hal9
- Results of spell check. User manual has some updates to standard.actions file
- info.
+<varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>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 2.19 2006/09/08 12:19:02 fabiankeil
- Adjust hide-if-modified-since example values
- to reflect the recent changes.
+ <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 2.18 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>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 2.17 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>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 2.16 2006/09/02 12:49:37 hal9
- Various small updates for new actions, filterfiles, etc.
+ <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 2.15 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>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 2.14 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>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 2.13 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>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 2.12 2006/08/14 08:40:39 fabiankeil
- Documented new actions that were part of
- the "minor Privoxy improvements".
+ <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 2.11 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>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 1.123.2.43 2005/05/23 09:59:10 hal9
- Fix typo 'loose'
+ <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 1.123.2.42 2004/12/04 14:39:57 hal9
- Fix two minor typos per bug SF report.
+ <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 1.123.2.41 2004/03/23 12:58:42 oes
- Fixed an inaccuracy
+ <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 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>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 1.123.2.39 2004/01/30 22:31:40 oes
- Added a hint re bookmarklets to Quickstart section
+ <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 1.123.2.38 2004/01/30 16:47:51 oes
- Some minor clarifications
+ <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 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>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 1.123.2.36 2003/12/10 02:26:26 hal9
- Changed the demoronizer filter description.
+ <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 1.123.2.35 2003/11/06 13:36:37 oes
- Updated link to nightly CVS tarball
+ <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 1.123.2.34 2003/06/26 23:50:16 hal9
- Add a small bit on filtering and problems re: source code being corrupted.
+ <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 1.123.2.33 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>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 1.123.2.32 2003/04/11 03:13:57 hal9
- Add small note about only one filterfile (as opposed to multiple actions
- files).
+ <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 1.123.2.31 2003/03/26 02:03:43 oes
- Updated hard-coded copyright dates
+ <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 1.123.2.30 2003/03/24 12:58:56 hal9
- Add new section on Predefined Filters.
+ <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 1.123.2.29 2003/03/20 02:45:29 hal9
- More problems with \-\-chroot causing markup problems :(
+ <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 1.123.2.28 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).
+ <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 1.123.2.27 2003/03/18 19:37:14 oes
- s/Advanced|Radical/Adventuresome/g to avoid complaints re fun filter
+ <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 1.123.2.26 2003/03/17 16:50:53 oes
- Added documentation for new chroot option
+<!--
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis> </emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+-->
+</variablelist>
- Revision 1.123.2.25 2003/03/15 18:36:55 oes
- Adapted to the new filters
+</sect2>
- 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 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>
- Revision 1.123.2.23 2002/10/21 02:32:01 hal9
- Updates to the user.action examples section. A few new ones.
+ <screen>
+EXTERNAL-FILTER: cat Pointless example filter that doesn't actually modify the content
+/bin/cat
- Revision 1.123.2.22 2002/10/12 00:51:53 hal9
- Add demoronizer to filter section.
+# 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>
- Revision 1.123.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 hal9
- s/Advanced/Radical/ and added very brief note.
+<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 1.123.2.20 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.
+</sect1>
- Revision 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9
- More explanation on Privoxy patterns, more on content-cookies and SSL.
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9
- Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match
- CGIs.
- Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9
- Spell checked (only one typo this time!).
- Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt
- Update to Mac OS X startup script name
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
- 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
+<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 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes
- Nits re: actions file download
+<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 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff
- Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections
+<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 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff
- Added 2 Gentoo sections
+<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 1.123.2.11 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
+<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 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
- Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
+ <screen>
+<!-- @if-unstable-start -->
- Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt
+ ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
- Updated Mac OS X sections due to installation location change
+<!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
- Revision 1.123.2.8 2002/06/09 16:36:32 hal9
- Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
+<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 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9
- Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy.
+ <screen><!-- --></screen>
- Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9
- Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs.
+<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 1.123.2.5 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.
+<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 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
- Ooops missed something from David.
+</sect1>
- 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.
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9
- Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section.
- Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
- -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
- Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9
- Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton.
- Minor corrections/clarifications here and there.
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
- Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
- Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
+<sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
+Requests</title>
- 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).
+<!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
+ &contacting;
+<!-- end boilerplate -->
- Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
- Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
+</sect1>
- Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
- Added Security hint
+<!-- ~ End 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
- 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
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
- Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
- Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
+<!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
+ ©right;
+<!-- end copyright -->
- Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
- Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
+<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 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
- More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="license"><title>License</title>
- Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
- Extended and further commented the example actions files
+ <screen><![ RCDATA [ &GPLv2; ]]></screen>
- Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
- Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
- clarification.
+</sect2>
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- 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 ~~~~~ -->
- 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
+<sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
+<!-- Include history.sgml: -->
+ &history;
+<!-- end history -->
+</sect2>
- Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
- Completed proofreading the actions chapter
+<sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
+<!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
+ &p-authors;
+<!-- end authors -->
+</sect2>
- 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.
+</sect1>
- 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).
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
- Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
- Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
- bumped version
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
+<!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
+ &seealso;
+<!-- end seealso -->
+</sect1>
- Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
- -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
- -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
- Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
- Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
- Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
- Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
- Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
- Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
- Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
- Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
- more structure in starting section
+<!-- ~~~~~ 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 1.98 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>
+ 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 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
- -Rewrite of Actions File example.
- -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
+<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 1.96 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>
+ 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 1.95 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>
+ 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 1.94 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.
+<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>
- 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.
+<simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
+ times. Either/or.
+ </member>
+</simplelist>
- Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
- Add 'Chain of Events' section.
+<simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
+ times.
+ </member>
+</simplelist>
- Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
- Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
+<simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
+ times.
+ </member>
+</simplelist>
- Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
- Added hint for startup on Red Hat
+<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>
- Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
- Add AmigaOS install stuff.
+<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>
- 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
+<simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>( )</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
+ or multiple sub-expressions.
+ </member>
+</simplelist>
- Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
- Re-write actions section.
+<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>
- Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
- Fix ugly typo (mine).
+<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 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
- Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
+<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 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
- Added RPM install detail
+<para>
+ And now something a little more complex:
+</para>
- Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
- Cosmetics
+<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 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
- Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
+<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 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
- Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
+<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 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
- Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
+<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 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
- Proofreading part 2
+<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 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
- Proofreading, part one
+<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 1.76 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.
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
- Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
- Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
- Add small section on submitting actions.
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="internal-pages">
+<title>Privoxy's Internal Pages</title>
- Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
- generated
+<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.
+</para>
- Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
- Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
+<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 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
- Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
+ <itemizedlist>
- Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
- ?
+ <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 1.69 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.
+ <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 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
- consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
+ <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 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
- more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
+ <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 1.66 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.
+ <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 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
- enhance squid section due to user suggestion
+ <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 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
- A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
+ </itemizedlist>
- Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
- Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
+</sect2>
- 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.
- Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
- Minor update.
+<!-- ~~~~~ 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 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
- Added more to Anatomy section.
+ <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 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
- Touch up intro for new name.
+ </itemizedlist>
- Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
- we have a new homepage!
+<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 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
- A few minor catch ups with name change.
+</sect2>
- Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
- configure needs to be generated.
- 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.
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="actionsanat">
+<title>Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</title>
- Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
- name change related issue.
+<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 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
- name change. changed filenames.
+<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 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
- name change
+<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 1.51 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>
+ 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 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
- Touch up.
+<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 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
- New section in Appendix.
+ <screen>
+ Matches for http://www.google.com:
- Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
- Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
+ In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
- Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
- correct feedback channels
+ {+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 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
- Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
+ { -session-cookies-only }
+ .google.com
- Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
- more distros
+ { -fast-redirects }
+ .google.com
- Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
- New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
+In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
+(no matches in this file)
+</screen>
- Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
- Added imageblock{pattern}.
+<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 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
- looks better
+<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 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
- Fix a few markup problems for jade.
+<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 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
- provide correct feedback channels
+<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>:
+</para>
- Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
- Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
+ <screen>
+ Final results:
- Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
- Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
+ -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>
- Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
- jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
+<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 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
- Add new - - user option.
+<para>
+ Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
+</para>
- Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
- Added section on command line options.
+ <screen>
+ { +block{Domains starts with "ad"} }
+ ad*.
- Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
- Changed default port to 8118
+ { +block{Domain contains "ad"} }
+ .ad.
- Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
- Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
+ { +block{Doubleclick banner server} +handle-as-image }
+ .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
+</screen>
- 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.
+<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 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
- Just tweaking
+<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 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
- Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
+<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 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
- Update OS/2 build section
+ <screen>
+ Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
- 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.
+ In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
- Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
- Added a very short section on Templates
+ {-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 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
- Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
+ { +block{Path contains "ads".} +handle-as-image }
+ /ads
+</screen>
- Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
- Touch ups for *.action files.
+<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 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
- Fix typo.
+ <screen>
+ { -block }
+ /adsl
+</screen>
- Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
- Updates for recent changes.
+<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 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
- Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
+<para>
+ But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
+ we did with:
+</para>
- Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
- Correct 2 minor errors
+ <screen>
+ { +block{Path starts with "ads".} +handle-as-image }
+ /ads
+</screen>
- Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
- *** empty log message ***
+<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 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
- Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
+ <screen>
+ { shop }
+ .quietpc.com
+ .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+ .jungle.com
+ .scan.co.uk
+ .forbes.com
+</screen>
- Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
- wrong url in documentation
+<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:
+</para>
- Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
- Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
+ <screen>
+ { -filter }
+ # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
+ .forbes.com
+ developer.ibm.com
+ localhost
+</screen>
- 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>
- Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
- A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
+ <screen>
+ { fragile }
+ # Handle with care: easy to break
+ mail.google.
+ mybank.example.com</screen>
- 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