<!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
<!entity p-authors SYSTEM "p-authors.sgml">
<!entity config SYSTEM "p-config.sgml">
-<!entity p-version "3.0.11">
-<!entity p-status "UNRELEASED">
+<!entity p-version "3.0.16">
+<!entity p-status "stable">
<!entity % p-authors-formal "INCLUDE"> <!-- include additional text, etc -->
-<!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
-<!entity % p-stable "IGNORE">
+<!entity % p-not-stable "IGNORE">
+<!entity % p-stable "INCLUDE">
<!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
<!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
<!entity % p-readme "IGNORE">
<!entity % p-supp-userman "IGNORE"> <!-- Omit some from supported.sgml -->
<!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
<!entity % draft "IGNORE"> <!-- WIP stuff -->
+<!entity % seealso-extra "INCLUDE"> <!-- extra stuff from seealso.sgml -->
<!entity my-app "<application>Privoxy</application>">
]>
<!--
This file belongs into
ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
- $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.86 2008/08/16 10:12:23 fabiankeil Exp $
+ $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.121 2010/02/15 15:30:13 fabiankeil Exp $
- Copyright (C) 2001-2008 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
+ Copyright (C) 2001-2010 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
See LICENSE.
========================================================================
<subscript>
<!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
<!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
- <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001 - 2008 by
+ <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001-2010 by
<ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
</subscript>
</pubdate>
-<pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.86 2008/08/16 10:12:23 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
+<pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.121 2010/02/15 15:30:13 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
<!--
<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>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
configuration files. Development of a new version is currently nearing
completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over
- earlier versions. ]]>.
+ earlier versions]]>.
</para>
<!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
</para>
<para>
Before installing <application>Privoxy</application> under Gentoo just do
- first <literal>emerge rsync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
+ first <literal>emerge --sync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
Portage tree. With <literal>emerge privoxy</literal> you install the latest
version.
</para>
<sect1 id="whatsnew">
<title>What's New in this Release</title>
<para>
- There are many improvements and new features since <application>Privoxy 3.0.8</application>, the last stable release:
+ <application>Privoxy 3.0.16</application> is a stable release.
+ The changes since 3.0.15 beta are:
</para>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
- Added SOCKS5 support (with address resolution done by
- the SOCKS5 server). Patch provided by Eric M. Hopper.
+ Added the config file option handle-as-empty-doc-returns-ok to
+ work around Firefox bug #492459, which causes Firefox to hang
+ if JavaScripts are blocked in certain situations. The option is
+ enabled in the default config file.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- The "blocked" CGI pages include a block reason that was
- provided as argument to the last-applying block action.
+ Added the config file option default-server-timeout to control the
+ assumed default server timeout. Since Privoxy no longer returns
+ an error message for connection resets on reused client connections,
+ assuming larger server timeout values appears to actually work
+ pretty well as long as connections aren't shared.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- If enable-edit-actions is disabled (the default since 3.0.7 beta)
- the show-status page hides the edit buttons and explains why.
- Previously the user would get the "this feature has been disabled"
- message after using the edit button.
+ Added optional support for FreeBSD's accf_http(9). Use the
+ configure option --enable-accept-filter to enable it.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Forbidden CONNECT requests are treated like blocks by default.
- The now-pointless treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks action
- has been removed.
+ Added fancier Privoxy icons for win32. Contributed by Jeff H.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Not enabling limit-connect now allows CONNECT requests to all ports.
- In previous versions it would only allow CONNECT requests to port 443.
- Use +limit-connect{443} if you think you need the old default behaviour.
+ In daemon mode, fd 0, 1 and 2 are bound to /dev/null.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- The CGI editor gets turned off after three edit requests with invalid
- file modification timestamps. This makes life harder for attackers
- who can leverage browser bugs to send fake Referers and intend to
- brute-force edit URLs.
+ Resolve localhost using whatever address family the operating
+ system feels like. Previous betas would try to use IPv4 as this
+ is what most users expect, but this didn't work reliable on
+ GNU/Linux systems.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Action settings for multiple patterns in the same section are
- shared in memory. As a result these sections take up less space
- (and are loaded slightly faster). Problem reported by Franz Schwartau.
+ In the action lists on CGI pages, actions and their parameters are
+ no longer separated with a space. The action file parser doesn't
+ actually allow this and will throw an invalid syntax error if actions
+ and parameters in the action files are separated. Not adding the
+ spaces means copy and pasting CGI output into the action files works.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Linear white space in HTTP headers will be normalized to single
- spaces before parsing the header's content, headers split across
- multiple lines get merged first.
+ The default keep-alive timeout has been reduced to 5 seconds to work
+ around hangs in clients that treat the proxy like any other host and
+ stop allowing any new connections if the "maximum number of
+ connections per host" is reached.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Host information is gathered outside the main thread so it's less
- likely to delay other incoming connections if the host is misconfigured.
+ Several webbug URLs that look like they are leading to images are now
+ blocked as image instead of empty documents. Doing the latter causes
+ WebKit-based clients to show a "missing image" icon which may mess up
+ the layout.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- New config option "hostname" to use a hostname other than
- the one returned by the operating system. Useful to speed-up responses
- for CGI requests on misconfigured systems. Requested by Max Khon.
+ The no-such-domain template if used if for DNS resolution
+ problems with FEATURE_IPV6_SUPPORT enabled. Previously the
+ connect-failed template was used. Reported by 'zebul666'.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- The CGI editor supports the "disable all filters of this type"
- directives "-client-header-filter", "-server-header-filter",
- "-client-header-tagger" and "-server-header-tagger".
+ Accepts quoted expiration dates even though RFC 2109 10.1.2
+ doesn't seem to allow them. Reported anonymously.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Fixed false-positives with the link-by-url filter and URLs that
- contain the pattern "/jump/".
+ Don't try to forget connections if connection sharing is disabled.
+ This wasn't a real problem but caused an unnecessary log message.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- The less-download-windows filter no longer messes
- "Content-Type: application/x-shockwave-flash" headers up.
+ The still undocumented --enable-extended-host-patterns configure
+ option has a better description.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- In the show-url-info page's "Final results" section active and
- inactive actions are listed separately. Patch provided by Lee.
+ Fixed an error message that would claim a write to the server
+ failed when actually writing to the client failed.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- The GNUmakefile supports the DESTDIR variable. Patch for
- the install target submitted by Radoslaw Zielinski.
+ Log the crunch reason before trying to write to the client.
+ The log is easier to read that way.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Embedding the content of configuration files in the show-status
- page is significantly faster now. For a largish action file (1 MB)
- a speedup of about 2450 times has been measured. This is mostly
- interesting if you are using large action files or regularly use
- Privoxy-Regression-Test while running Privoxy through Valgrind,
- for stock configuration files it doesn't really matter.
+ Several log messages about client connections also mention
+ the socket number.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- If zlib support is unavailable and there are content
- filters active but the prevent-compression action is disabled,
- the show-url-info page includes a warning that compression
- might prevent filtering.
+ handle-as-empty-document no longer depends on the image blocking
+ code being enabled.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- The show-url-info page provides an OpenSearch Description that
- allows to access the page through browser search plugins.
+ Privoxy-Log-Parser is roughly 40% faster in highlighting mode.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- The obsolete kill-popups action has been removed as the
- PCRS-based popup filters can do the same and are slightly
- less unreliable.
+ uagen, a Firefox User-Agent generator for Privoxy and Mozilla
+ browsers has been imported and is available in the tarballs
+ tools directory.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- The inspect-jpegs action has been removed.
+ The scripts in the tools directory treat unknown parameters
+ as fatal errors.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ If you missed the previous two beta versions, you may also be
+ interested in the additional changes since 3.0.12, the
+ last stable release:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Added IPv6 support. Thanks to Petr Pisar who not only provided
+ the initial patch but also helped a lot with the integration.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Added client-side keep-alive support.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The connection sharing code is only used if the connection-sharing
+ option is enabled.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The latency is taken into account when evaluating whether or not to
+ reuse a connection. This should significantly reduce the number of
+ connections problems several users reported.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The max-client-connections option has been added to restrict
+ the number of client connections below a value enforced by
+ the operating system.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ If the server doesn't specify how long the connection stays alive,
+ Privoxy errs on the safe side of caution and assumes it's only a second.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Setting keep-alive-timeout to 0 disables keep-alive support. Previously
+ Privoxy would claim to allow persistence but not reuse the connection.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Pipelined requests are less likely to be mistaken for the request
+ body of the previous request. Note that Privoxy still has no real
+ pipeline support and will either serialize pipelined requests or
+ drop them in which case the client has to resent them.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Fixed a crash on some Windows versions when header randomization
+ is enabled and the date couldn't be parsed.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Privoxy's keep-alive timeout for the current connection is reduced
+ to the one specified in the client's Keep-Alive header.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ For HTTP/1.1 requests, Privoxy implies keep-alive support by not
+ setting any Connection header instead of using 'Connection: keep-alive'.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ If the socket isn't reusable, Privoxy doesn't temporarily waste
+ a socket slot to remember the connection.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ If keep-alive support is disabled but compiled in, the client's
+ Keep-Alive header is removed.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Fixed a bug on mingw32 where downloading large files failed if
+ keep-alive support was enabled.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Fixed a bug that (at least theoretically) could cause log
+ timestamps to be occasionally off by about a second.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The configure script respects the $PATH variable when searching
+ for groups and id.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Compressed content with extra fields couldn't be decompressed
+ and would get passed to the client unfiltered. This problem
+ has only be detected through statical analysis with clang as
+ nobody seems to be using extra fields anyway.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ If the server resets the Connection after sending only the headers
+ Privoxy forwards what it got to the client. Previously Privoxy
+ would deliver an error message instead.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Error messages in case of connection timeouts use the right
+ HTTP status code.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ If spawning a child to handle a request fails, the client
+ gets an error message and Privoxy continues to listen for
+ new requests right away.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The error messages in case of server-connection timeouts or
+ prematurely closed server connections are now template-based.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ If zlib support isn't compiled in, Privoxy no longer tries to
+ filter compressed content unless explicitly asked to do so.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ In case of connections that are denied based on ACL directives,
+ the memory used for the client IP is no longer leaked.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Fixed another small memory leak if the client request times out
+ while waiting for client headers other than the request line.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The client socket is kept open until the server socket has
+ been marked as unused. This should increase the chances that
+ the still-open connection will be reused for the client's next
+ request to the same destination. Note that this only matters
+ if connection-sharing is enabled.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ A TODO list has been added to the source tarballs to give potential
+ volunteers a better idea of what the current goals are. Donations
+ are still welcome too: http://www.privoxy.org/faq/general.html#DONATE
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ In case of missing server data, no error message is send to the
+ client if the request arrived on a reused connection. The client
+ is then supposed to silently retry the request without bothering
+ the user. This should significantly reduce the frequency of the
+ "No server or forwarder data received" error message many users
+ reported.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ More reliable detection of prematurely closed client sockets
+ with keep-alive enabled.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ FEATURE_CONNECTION_KEEP_ALIVE is decoupled from
+ FEATURE_CONNECTION_SHARING and now available on
+ all platforms.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Improved handling of POST requests on reused connections.
+ Should fix problems with stalled connections after submitting
+ form data with some browser configurations.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- The send-wafer and send-vanilla-wafer actions have been removed.
- They weren't particular useful and their behaviour could be emulated
- with add-header anyway.
+ Fixed various latency calculation issues.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Privoxy-Regression-Test has been significantly improved.
+ Allows the client to pass NTLM authentication requests to a
+ forwarding proxy. This was already assumed and hinted to work
+ in 3.0.13 beta but actually didn't. Now it's confirmed to work
+ with IE, Firefox and Chrome.
+ Thanks to Francois Botha and Wan-Teh Chang
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Most sections in the default.action file contain tests for
- Privoxy-Regression-Test to verify that they are working as intended.
+ Fixed a calculation problem if receiving the server headers
+ takes more than two reads, that could cause Privoxy to terminate
+ the connection prematurely. Reported by Oliver.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Parts of Privoxy have been refactored to increase maintainability.
+ Compiles again on platforms such as OpenBSD and systems
+ using earlier glibc version that don't support AI_ADDRCONFIG.
+ Anonymously submitted in #2872591.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Building with zlib (if available) is done by default.
+ A bunch of MS VC project files and Suse and Redhat RPM spec
+ files have been removed as they were no longer maintained for
+ quite some time.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Ordinary configuration file changes no longer cause program
- termination on OS/2 if the name of the logfile hasn't been
- changed as well. This regression probably crept in with the
- logging improvements in 3.0.7. Reported by Maynard.
+ Overly long action lines are properly rejected with a proper
+ error message. Previously they would be either rejected as
+ invalid or cause a core dump through abort().
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- The img-reorder filter is less likely to mess up JavaScript code in
- img tags. Problem and solution reported by Glenn Washburn in #2014552.
+ Already timed-out connections are no longer temporarily remembered.
+ They weren't reused anyway, but wasted a socket slot.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- The source tar ball now includes Privoxy-Log-Parser,
- a syntax-highlighter for Privoxy logs. Documentation is available
- through perldoc(1), for fancy screenshots see:
- <ulink url="http://www.fabiankeil.de/sourcecode/privoxy-log-parser/"
- >http://www.fabiankeil.de/sourcecode/privoxy-log-parser/</ulink>.
+ len refers to the number of bytes actually read which might
+ differ from the ones received. Adjust log messages accordingly.
</para>
</listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The optional JavaScript on the CGI page uses encodeURIComponent()
+ instead of escape() which doesn't encode all characters that matter.
+ Anonymously reported in #2832722.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Fix gcc45 warnings in decompress_iob().
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Various log message improvements.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Privoxy-Regression-Test supports redirect tests.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Privoxy-Log-Parser can gather some connection statistics.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
</itemizedlist>
</para>
-<para>
- For a more detailed list of changes please have a look at the ChangeLog.
-</para>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- <filename>standard.action</filename> now only includes the enabled actions.
- Not all actions as before.
+ <filename>standard.action</filename> has been merged into
+ the <filename>default.action</filename> file.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
</para>
</listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The <quote>filter-client-headers</quote> and
- <quote>filter-server-headers</quote> actions that were introduced with
- <application>Privoxy 3.0.5</application> to apply content filters to
- the headers have been removed and replaced with new actions.
- See the <link
- linkend="whatsnew">What's New section</link> above.
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
-
<!--
<listitem>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- <filename>default.action</filename> (the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>)
- is used to define which <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
- content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many
- exceptions (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
- <application>Privoxy</application> to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on
- as many websites as possible.
+ <filename>match-all.action</filename> is used to define which <quote>actions</quote>
+ relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups, content modification, cookie handling
+ etc should be applied by default. It should be the first actions file loaded.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <filename>default.action</filename> defines many exceptions (both positive and negative)
+ from the default set of actions that's configured in <filename>match-all.action</filename>.
+ It should be the second actions file loaded and shouldn't be edited by the user.
</para>
<para>
Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
- preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
- <filename>default.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
- to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in
- <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can preserve them across
- upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is only for
- <application>Privoxy's</application> internal use.
+ preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
+ <filename>match-all.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
+ to define sooner or later) are best applied in <filename>user.action</filename>,
+ where you can preserve them across upgrades. The file isn't installed by all
+ installers, but you can easily create it yourself with a text editor.
</para>
<para>
There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
<sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
+
+<!--
+ XXX: similar descriptions are in the Configuration Files sections.
+ We should only describe them at one place.
+-->
<para>
The actions files are used to define what <emphasis>actions</emphasis>
<application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determines
There
are three action files included with <application>Privoxy</application> with
differing purposes:
- </para>
-
- <para>
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
- that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
- provide a base level of functionality for
- <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
- a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well as-is for most users.
- This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and <link
- linkend="installation-keepupdated">making available to users</link>.
- The user's preferences as set in <filename>standard.action</filename>,
- e.g. either <literal>Cautious</literal> (the default),
- <literal>Medium</literal>, or <literal>Advanced</literal> (see
- below).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
- preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
- has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
- thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
- </para>
+</para>
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <filename>match-all.action</filename> - is used to define which
+ <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
+ content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default.
+ It should be the first actions file loaded
+ </para>
</listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used only by the web based editor
- at <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
- http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>,
- to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
- in <filename>default.action</filename>.
- </para>
- <para>
- <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Cautious</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Medium</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Advanced</guibutton>
- </para>
- <para>
- These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no
- influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
- editor</emphasis>. A default installation should be pre-set to
- <literal>Cautious</literal> (versions prior to 3.0.5 were set to
- <literal>Medium</literal>). New users should try this for a while before
- adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
- the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
- not working as they should.
- </para>
- <para>
- The <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button allows you to turn each
- action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <guibutton>Cautious</guibutton>
- button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
- ad blocking and a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently
- there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
- <guibutton>Medium</guibutton> button sets the list to a medium level of
- other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
- <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> button sets the list to a high level of
- ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter
- three buttons over-ride any changes via with the
- <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
- lower sections of this internal page.
- </para>
- <para>
- It is not recommend to edit the <filename>standard.action</filename> file
- itself.
- </para>
- <para>
- The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
- <filename>standard.action</filename> are:
- </para>
- <para>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <filename>default.action</filename> - defines many exceptions (both
+ positive and negative) from the default set of actions that's configured
+ in <filename>match-all.action</filename>. It is a set of rules that should
+ work reasonably well as-is for most users. This file is only supposed to
+ be edited by the developers. It should be the second actions file loaded.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
+ preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
+ has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
+ thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Cautious</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Medium</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Advanced</guibutton>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no
+ influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
+ editor</emphasis>. A default installation should be pre-set to
+ <literal>Cautious</literal>. New users should try this for a while before
+ adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
+ the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
+ not working as they should.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button allows you to turn each
+ action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <guibutton>Cautious</guibutton>
+ button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
+ ad blocking and a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently
+ there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
+ <guibutton>Medium</guibutton> button sets the list to a medium level of
+ other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
+ <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> button sets the list to a high level of
+ ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter
+ three buttons over-ride any changes via with the
+ <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
+ lower sections of this internal page.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ While the actions file editor allows to enable these settings in all
+ actions files, they are only supposed to be enabled in the first one
+ to make sure you don't unintentionally overrule earlier rules.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
+ <filename>default.action</filename> are:
+ </para>
+ <para>
<table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
<tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
<colspec colname=c1>
<entry>yes</entry>
</row>
-
<row>
<entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
<entry>no</entry>
<entry>yes</entry>
</row>
-
<row>
<entry>Fast redirects</entry>
<entry>no</entry>
</table>
</para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
<para>
The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
<para>
Generally, an URL pattern has the form
- <literal><domain>/<path></literal>, where both the
- <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal> are
- optional. (This is why the special <literal>/</literal> pattern matches all
- URLs). Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g.
- <literal>http://</literal>) should <emphasis>not</emphasis> be included in
- the pattern. This is assumed already!
+ <literal><domain><port>/<path></literal>, where the
+ <literal><domain></literal>, the <literal><port></literal>
+ and the <literal><path></literal> are optional. (This is why the special
+ <literal>/</literal> pattern matches all URLs). Note that the protocol
+ portion of the URL pattern (e.g. <literal>http://</literal>) should
+ <emphasis>not</emphasis> be included in the pattern. This is assumed already!
</para>
<para>
The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of
<ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
Expressions</quote></ulink> (POSIX 1003.2).
</para>
+<para>
+ The port part of a pattern is a decimal port number preceded by a colon
+ (<literal>:</literal>). If the domain part contains a numerical IPv6 address,
+ it has to be put into angle brackets
+ (<literal><</literal>, <literal>></literal>).
+</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>:8000/</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Matches any URL pointing to TCP port 8000.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal><2001:db8::1>/</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Matches any URL with the host address <literal>2001:db8::1</literal>.
+ (Note that the real URL uses plain brackets, not angle brackets.)
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
<listitem>
<quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
one.
</para>
+ <para>
+ Headers added by this action are not modified by other actions.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</sect3>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="change-x-forwarded-for">
+<title>change-x-forwarded-for</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request in the HTTP headers.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deletes the <quote>X-Forwarded-For:</quote> HTTP header from the client request,
+ or adds a new one.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote>add</quote> to create the header (or append
+ the client's IP address to an already existing one).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ It is safe and recommended to use <literal>block</literal>.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Forwarding the source address of the request may make
+ sense in some multi-user setups but is also a privacy risk.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+change-x-forwarded-for{block}</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-filter">
<title>client-header-filter</title>
</sect3>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
-<title>hide-forwarded-for-headers</title>
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request in the HTTP headers.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deletes any existing <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> HTTP header from client requests.
- </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>
- It is safe and recommended to leave this on.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
<title>hide-from-header</title>
<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">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>
+ <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
to further customize your random range.
</para>
<para>
linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
- example <filename>default.action</filename> and <filename>user.action</filename>
- file and see how all these pieces come together:
+ 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>default.action</title>
+<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>
-Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:
+ 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># Sample default.action file <ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net></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>
+
+<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>
-Then, since this is the <filename>default.action</filename> file, the
-first section is a special section for internal use that you needn't
-change or worry about:
+ 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>
##########################################################################
# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
##########################################################################
-
{{settings}}
-for-privoxy-version=3.0</screen>
+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:
+ 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>
shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link></screen>
</para>
-<para>
- Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied
- by URL patterns to which they apply. Remember <emphasis>all actions
- are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>, so we have to explicitly
- enable the ones we want.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- The first regular section is probably the most important. It has only
- one pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
- <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the
- set of actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
- be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
- wholly overridden by later matches further down this file, or in user.action,
- but it will still be largely responsible for your overall browsing
- experience.
-</para>
-
-<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>
-##########################################################################
-# "Defaults" section:
-##########################################################################
- { \
- +<link linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</link> \
- +<link linkend="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES">filter{html-annoyances}</link> \
- +<link linkend="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">filter{refresh-tags}</link> \
- +<link linkend="FILTER-WEBBUGS">filter{webbugs}</link> \
- +<link linkend="FILTER-IE-EXPLOITS">filter{ie-exploits}</link> \
- +<link linkend="HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS">hide-forwarded-for-headers</link> \
- +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
- +<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer{forge}</link> \
- +<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link> \
- +<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> \
- +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
- }
- / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- The default behavior is now set.
- <!--
- This needs rewording, but it can wait for now.
- fk 2007-11-17
-
- Note that some actions, like not hiding
- the user agent, are part of a <quote>general policy</quote> that applies
- universally and won't get any exceptions defined later. Other choices,
- like not blocking (which is <emphasis>understandably</emphasis> the
- default!) need exceptions, i.e. we need to specify explicitly what we
- want to block in later sections.
- -->
-</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
.scan.co.uk</screen>
</para>
-<!-- No longer needed BEGIN OF COMMENTED OUT BLOCK
-
-<para>
- Then, there are sites which rely on pop-up windows (yuck!) to work.
- Since we made pop-up-killing our default above, we need to make exceptions
- now. <ulink url="http://www.mozilla.org/">Mozilla</ulink> users, who
- can turn on smart handling of unwanted pop-ups in their browsers, can
- safely choose
- -<literal><link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link></literal> above
- and hence don't need this section. Anyway, disabling an already disabled
- action doesn't hurt, so we'll define our exceptions regardless of what was
- chosen in the defaults section:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
-# These sites require pop-ups too :(
-#
-{ -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> }
-.dabs.com
-.overclockers.co.uk
-.deutsche-bank-24.de</screen>
-</para>
-
- END OF COMMENTED OUT BLOCK -->
-
<para>
The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
- action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable
- it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
+ 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>
be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
- would feed the advertisers (in terms of money <emphasis>and</emphasis>
- information). We can mark any URL as an image with the <literal><link
+ 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:
In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
- {+deanimate-gifs {last}
+ {+change-x-forwarded-for{block}
+ +deanimate-gifs {last}
+fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
+filter {refresh-tags}
+filter {img-reorder}
+filter {webbugs}
+filter {jumping-windows}
+filter {ie-exploits}
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers
+hide-from-header {block}
+hide-referrer {forge}
+session-cookies-only
-add-header
-block
+ +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
-client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
-content-type-overwrite
-crunch-client-header
-handle-as-image
-hide-accept-language
-hide-content-disposition
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers
+hide-from-header {block}
-hide-if-modified-since
+hide-referrer {forge}
{-add-header
-block
+ +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
-client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
-content-type-overwrite
-crunch-client-header
-handle-as-image
-hide-accept-language
-hide-content-disposition
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers
+hide-from-header{block}
+hide-referer{forge}
-hide-user-agent
USA
$Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
+ Revision 2.121 2010/02/15 15:30:13 fabiankeil
+ Mention the use of the no-such-domain template for DNS problems with FEATURE_IPV6_SUPPORT enabled.
+
+ Revision 2.120 2010/02/13 17:38:39 fabiankeil
+ Update entities for 3.0.16 stable.
+
+ Revision 2.119 2010/02/13 16:37:37 fabiankeil
+ Update 'What's new?' section.
+
+ Revision 2.118 2010/02/11 13:59:48 fabiankeil
+ Mention that the headers added by the add-header action aren't modified by other actions.
+
+ Revision 2.117 2010/01/11 12:56:04 fabiankeil
+ Bump copyright range as p-config.sgml's copyright line is only used in the config file.
+
+ Revision 2.116 2009/11/15 14:24:12 fabiankeil
+ Prepare to generate docs for 3.0.16 UNRELEASED.
+
+ Revision 2.115 2009/10/10 06:19:34 fabiankeil
+ Ditch a duplicated 'since'.
+
+ Revision 2.114 2009/10/10 05:51:48 fabiankeil
+ Update "What's new" section.
+
+ Revision 2.113 2009/10/10 05:48:55 fabiankeil
+ Prepare for 3.0.15 beta.
+
+ Revision 2.112 2009/07/24 12:20:30 fabiankeil
+ Remove duplicated period.
+
+ Revision 2.111 2009/07/18 18:11:11 fabiankeil
+ Don't claim that NTLM should work when there are multiple reports that it doesn't.
+
+ Revision 2.110 2009/07/18 16:25:17 fabiankeil
+ Fix trailing whitespace.
+
+ Revision 2.109 2009/07/18 16:24:39 fabiankeil
+ Bump entities for 3.0.14 beta.
+
+ Revision 2.108 2009/07/18 15:49:23 fabiankeil
+ Add most of the changes in 3.0.14 to the "What's New" section.
+
+ Revision 2.107 2009/06/12 14:30:58 fabiankeil
+ Update entities for 3.0.13 beta.
+
+ Revision 2.106 2009/06/12 11:04:13 fabiankeil
+ Import ChangeLog for 3.0.13 beta.
+
+ Revision 2.105 2009/04/17 11:32:57 fabiankeil
+ Grammar and spelling fixes.
+
+ Revision 2.104 2009/04/17 11:27:49 fabiankeil
+ Petr Pisar's privoxy-3.0.12-ipv6-3.diff.
+
+ Revision 2.103 2009/03/21 10:49:05 fabiankeil
+ Merge updated ChangeLog.
+
+ Revision 2.102 2009/03/15 19:31:36 fabiankeil
+ Update "What's New in this Release" section.
+
+ Revision 2.101 2009/02/25 19:01:56 fabiankeil
+ Fix typo.
+
+ Revision 2.100 2009/02/19 17:14:11 fabiankeil
+ - Copy the release cycle description from announce.txt into
+ the "What's New" section.
+ - Stop referring to the ChangeLog for a "complete list of changes".
+ The "What's New" section already contains the complete list.
+
+ Revision 2.99 2009/02/19 02:20:22 hal9
+ Make some links in seealso conditional. Man page is now privoxy only links.
+
+ Revision 2.98 2009/02/16 17:10:33 fabiankeil
+ Fix entry about shortened log messages. Noticed by Lee.
+
+ Revision 2.97 2009/02/14 18:01:00 fabiankeil
+ Import ChangeLog.
+
+ Revision 2.96 2009/02/14 13:14:03 fabiankeil
+ Unbreak syntax.
+
+ Revision 2.95 2009/02/14 12:51:26 fabiankeil
+ Mention match-all.action in the "Actions Files Tutorial" section.
+
+ Revision 2.94 2009/02/14 11:50:31 fabiankeil
+ Some indentation fixes.
+
+ Revision 2.93 2009/02/14 10:14:42 fabiankeil
+ Mention match-all.action in the action file descriptions.
+
+ Revision 2.92 2009/02/12 16:08:26 fabiankeil
+ Declare the code stable.
+
+ Revision 2.91 2009/01/13 16:50:35 fabiankeil
+ The standard.action file is gone.
+
+ Revision 2.90 2008/09/26 16:53:09 fabiankeil
+ Update "What's new" section.
+
+ Revision 2.89 2008/09/21 15:38:56 fabiankeil
+ Fix Portage tree sync instructions in Gentoo section.
+ Anonymously reported at ijbswa-developers@.
+
+ Revision 2.88 2008/09/21 14:42:52 fabiankeil
+ Add documentation for change-x-forwarded-for{},
+ remove documentation for hide-forwarded-for-headers.
+
+ Revision 2.87 2008/08/30 15:37:35 fabiankeil
+ Update entities.
+
Revision 2.86 2008/08/16 10:12:23 fabiankeil
Merge two sentences and move the URL to the end of the item.
projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff