<!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
<!entity p-authors SYSTEM "p-authors.sgml">
<!entity config SYSTEM "p-config.sgml">
-<!entity p-version "3.0.3">
+<!entity p-version "3.0.7">
<!entity p-status "stable">
<!entity % p-authors-formal "INCLUDE"> <!-- include additional text, etc -->
<!entity % p-not-stable "IGNORE">
<!entity % p-supp-userman "IGNORE"> <!-- Omit some from supported.sgml -->
<!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
<!entity % draft "IGNORE"> <!-- WIP stuff -->
+<!entity my-app "<application>Privoxy</application>">
]>
<!--
File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
This file belongs into
ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
- $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.11 2006/07/18 14:48:51 david__schmidt Exp $
+ $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.31 2007/06/02 14:01:37 fabiankeil Exp $
- Copyright (C) 2001- 2003 Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
+ Copyright (C) 2001-2007 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 - 2004 by
+ <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001 - 2007 by
<ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
</subscript>
</pubdate>
-<pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.11 2006/07/18 14:48:51 david__schmidt Exp $</pubdate>
+<pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.31 2007/06/02 14:01:37 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
<!--
]]>
<para>
- The <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
+ The <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
install, configure and use <ulink
- url="http://www.privoxy.org/"><application>Privoxy</application></ulink>.
+ url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>.
</para>
<!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
<!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
<para>
- You can find the latest version of the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> at <ulink
+ 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>.
Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> on how to
contact the developers.
<application>Privoxy</application>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
- configuration files. Development of version 3.0 is currently nearing
- completion, and includes many significant changes and enhancements over
- earlier versions. The target release date for
- stable v3.0 is <quote>soon</quote> ;-)]]>.
+ configuration files. Development of a new version is currently nearing
+ completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over
+ earlier versions. ]]>.
</para>
<!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
<para>
- In addition to <application>Internet Junkbuster's</application> traditional
- features of ad and banner blocking and cookie management,
- <application>Privoxy</application> provides new features<![%p-not-stable;[,
- some of them currently under development]]>:
+ 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]]>,
+ that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
</para>
<!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
&newfeatures;
</para>
<para>
- Note: If you have a previous <application>Junkbuster</application> or
- <application>Privoxy</application> installation on your system, you
- will need to remove it. On some platforms, this may be done for you as part
- of their installation procedure. (See below for your platform). In any case
- <emphasis>be sure to backup your old configuration if it is valuable to
- you.</emphasis> See the <link linkend="upgradersnote">note to
- upgraders</link> section below.
+ 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 ~~~~~ -->
How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
</para>
+<!-- XXX: The installation sections should be sorted -->
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat, SuSE and Conectiva RPMs</title>
+<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>,
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. Note that SuSE will
-automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
+ <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods.
</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, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
+ automatically
if found, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
</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 Privoxy in.
+ in the same directory as you installed <application>Privoxy</application> in.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Version 3.0.4 introduced full <application>Windows</application> service
+ functionality. On Windows only, the <application>Privoxy</application>
+ program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
+ <application>Privoxy</application> as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>.
+</para>
+ <variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Arguments:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <replaceable class="parameter">--install</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <replaceable class="parameter">--uninstall</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ </variablelist>
+ <para>
+ After invoking <application>Privoxy</application> with
+ <command>--install</command>, you will need to bring up the
+ <application>Windows</application> service console to assign the user you
+ want <application>Privoxy</application> to run under, and whether or not you
+ want it to run whenever the system starts. You can start the
+ <application>Windows</application> services console with the following
+ 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
+ write to its log and configuration files.
</para>
+
</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX</title>
+<sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris, NetBSD, HP-UX</title>
<para>
Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
</para>
</sect3>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 id="installation-tbz"><title>FreeBSD</title>
+
+<para>
+ Privoxy is part of FreeBSD's Ports Collection, you can build and install
+ it with <literal>cd /usr/ports/www/privoxy; make install clean</literal>.
+</para>
+<para>
+ If you don't use the ports, you can fetch and install
+ the package with <literal>pkg_add -r privoxy</literal>.
+</para>
+<para>
+ The port skeleton and the package can also be downloaded from the
+ <ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">File Release
+ Page</ulink>, but if you're interested in stable releases only you don't
+ gain anything by using them.
+</para>
+</sect3>
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 id="installattion-gentoo"><title>Gentoo</title>
<para>
<para>
The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
- is to download the source tarball from our <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/">project
+ 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>
If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
- CVS repository</ulink> or simply download <ulink
+ 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>
+-->
</para>
<!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
<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> for your
- customization of <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
+ 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.
</para>
<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="upgradersnote">
-<title>Note to Upgraders</title>
-<para>
- There are very significant changes from earlier
- <application>Junkbuster</application> versions to the current
- <application>Privoxy</application>. The number, names, syntax, and
- purposes of configuration files have substantially changed.
- <application>Junkbuster 2.0.x</application> configuration
- files will not migrate, <application>Junkbuster 2.9.x</application>
- and <application>Privoxy</application> configurations will need to be
- ported. The functionalities of the old <filename>blockfile</filename>,
- <filename>cookiefile</filename> and <filename>imagelist</filename>
- are now combined into the <link linkend="actions-file"><quote>actions
- files</quote></link>.
- <filename>default.action</filename>, is the main actions file. Local
- exceptions should best be put into <filename>user.action</filename>.
-</para>
+<sect1 id="whatsnew">
+<title>What's New in this Release</title>
<para>
- A <link linkend="filter-file"><quote>filter file</quote></link> (typically
- <filename>default.filter</filename>) is new as of <application>Privoxy
- 2.9.x</application>, and provides some of the new sophistication (explained
- below). <filename>config</filename> is much the same as before.
+ There are many improvements and new features since <application>Privoxy 3.0.6</application>, the last stable release:
</para>
+
<para>
- If upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will have to use the new config
- files, and possibly adapt any personal rules from your older files.
- When porting personal rules over from the old <filename>blockfile</filename>
- to the new actions files, please note that even the pattern syntax has
- changed. If upgrading from 2.9.x development versions, it is still
- recommended to use the new configuration files.
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Header filtering can be done with dedicated header filters now. As a result
+ the actions <quote>filter-client-headers</quote> and <quote>filter-server-headers</quote>
+ that were introduced with <application>Privoxy 3.0.5</application> to apply
+ the content filters to the headers as, well have been removed again.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+<!-- pre-3.0.6 changes:
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ There are a number of new <link linkend="actions-file">actions</link>:
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite</link></literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-client-header">crunch-client-header</link></literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-server-header">crunch-server-header</link></literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="filter-client-headers">filter-client-headers</link></literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="filter-server-headers">filter-server-headers</link></literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="force-text-mode">force-text-mode</link></literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="hide-accept-language">hide-accept-language</link></literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="hide-content-disposition">hide-content-disposition</link></literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="inspect-jpegs">inspect-jpegs</link></literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="redirect">redirect</link></literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks">treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</link></literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ In addition, <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects</link></literal>
+ has been significantly improved with enhanced syntax.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ And <literal><link linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal>
+ has a new option, <literal>conditional block</literal>.
+ </para>
+
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <application>MS-Windows</application> versions can now be
+ <link
+ linkend="installation-pack-win">installed and
+ started as a <emphasis>Windows service</emphasis></link>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <filename>config</filename> has two new options:
+ <link
+ linkend="enable-remote-http-toggle">enable-remote-http-toggle</link>,
+ and <link
+ linkend="forwarded-connect-retries">forwarded-connect-retries</link>.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ And there is improved handling of the <link
+ linkend="user-manual">user-manual</link>
+ option, for placing documentation and help files on the local system.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ There are six new <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Actions files problems and suggestions are now being directed to:
+ <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288">http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288</ulink>.
+ Please use this to report such configuration related problems as missed
+ ads, sites that don't function properly due to one action or another,
+ innocent images being blocked, etc.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ In addition, there are numerous bug fixes and significant enhancements,
+ including error pages should no longer be cached if the problem is fixed,
+ much better DNS error handling, various logging improvements, and
+ configuration updates for better ad blocking and junk elimination.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+-->
+
+ </itemizedlist>
</para>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+
+<sect2 id="upgradersnote">
+<title>Note to Upgraders</title>
+
<para>
- A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading:
+ A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
+ versions of <application>Privoxy</application>:
</para>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
- <para>
- The default listening port is now 8118 due to a conflict with another
- service (NAS).
+ <para>
+ Some installers may remove earlier versions completely, including
+ configuration files. Save any important configuration files!
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Some installers may remove earlier versions completely. Save any
- important configuration files!
+ On the other hand, other installers may not overwrite any existing configuration
+ files, thinking you will want to do that. You may want to manually check
+ your saved files against the newer versions to see if the improvements have
+ merit, or whether there are new options that you may want to consider.
+ There are a number of new features, but most won't be available unless
+ these features are incorporated into your configuration somehow.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
- <para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> is controllable with a web browser
- at the special URL: <ulink
- url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
- (Shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>). Many
- aspects of configuration can be done here, including temporarily disabling
- <application>Privoxy</application>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
+ <para>
+ See the full documentation on
+ <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects</link></literal>
+ which has changed syntax, and will require adjustments to local configs,
+ such as <filename>user.action</filename>. You must reference the new
+ syntax:
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+ { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
+ .example.com
+ mybank.com
+ .google.</screen>
+</para>
+
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The <filename>jarfile</filename>,
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookie</ulink> logger, is off by default now.
+ </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>
- The primary configuration files for cookie management, ad and banner
- blocking, and many other aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
- configuration are the <link linkend="actions-file">actions
- files</link>. It is strongly recommended to become familiar with the new
- actions concept below, before modifying these files. Locally defined rules
- should go into <filename>user.action</filename>.
+ 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>
+
+
<listitem>
<para>
<!-- I think it is best to keep this somewhat vague, in case -->
</para>
</listitem>
+
</itemizedlist>
</para>
+</sect2>
</sect1>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using <application>Privoxy</application></title>
+<sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using Privoxy</title>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- If upgrading, from versions before 2.9.16, please back up any configuration
- files. See the <link linkend="upgradersnote">Note to Upgraders</link> Section.
- </para>
-</listitem>
-
<listitem>
<para>
Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
<listitem>
<para>
Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
- HTTPS (SSL) proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of
+ 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>.
- (<application>Junkbuster</application> and earlier versions of
- <application>Privoxy</application> used port 8000.) See the section <link
- linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link> below
- for more details on this.
+ <emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> activate proxying for <literal>FTP</literal> or
+ any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)! It won't work!
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
- If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage cookies, you should
- remove any currently stored cookies too.
+ 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>
<para>
See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
- <![%draft;[ You might also want to look at the <link
+ You might also want to look at the <link
linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
- banners.]]>
+ banners.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- If you experience ads that slipped through, innocent images that are
+ If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are
blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
- <application>Privoxy's</application> behaviour, take a look at the <link
+ <application>Privoxy's</application> behavior, take a look at the <link
linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
- Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Anatomy of an
- Action</link></quote> has hints how to debug actions that
+ Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
+ Action</link></quote> has hints on how to understand and debug actions that
<quote>misbehave</quote>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- For easy access to Privoxy's most important controls, drag the provided
+ 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>
<para>
Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
- Developers</link> on how to report bugs or problems with websites or to get
+ Developers</link> on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get
help.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Now enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy!
+ Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
</para>
</listitem>
<para>
First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
- things that were not intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
+ 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
Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
<quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
- some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
+ some task relating to WWW transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
<application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
<application>actions</application> in <application>Privoxy's</application>
original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
- such embedded URLs.
+ such embedded URLs. &my-app; can deal with each URL individually, so, for
+ instance, the main page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such
+ server are blocked.
</para>
<para>
- The actions we need to know about for ad blocking are: <literal><link
+ 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>, and
+ 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>
<listitem>
<para>
- <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this action stops
- any contact between your browser and any URL patterns that match this
- action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads, but also anything
- that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply stops any
- communication with the remote server and sends <application>Privoxy</application>'s
- own built-in BLOCKED page instead to let you now what has happened.
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this is perhaps
+ the single most used action, and is particularly important for ad blocking.
+ This action stops any contact between your browser and any URL patterns
+ that match this action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads,
+ but also anything that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply
+ stops any communication with the remote server and sends
+ <application>Privoxy</application>'s own built-in BLOCKED page instead to
+ let you now what has happened (with some exceptions, see below).
</para>
</listitem>
</para>
</listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> -
+ sends an empty document instead of <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither
+ HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
<listitem>
<para>
<literal><link
<figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="../images/files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
+ <imagedata fileref="files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
</imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
</para>
+<para>
+ There are also various
+ <link linkend="filter">filters</link> that can be used for ad blocking
+ (filters are a special subset of actions). These
+ fall into the <quote>advanced</quote> usage category, and are explained in
+ depth in later sections.
+</para>
</sect2>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect1 id="startup">
-<title>Starting <application>Privoxy</application></title>
+<title>Starting Privoxy</title>
<para>
Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
will want to configure your browser(s) to use
- <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is
+ <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 that must be done!
+ 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
<!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
<para>
- <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration (Mozilla)</title>
+ <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
+ Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings</title>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
- <imagedata fileref="../images/proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
+ <imagedata fileref="proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
</imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
</figure>
</para>
+
+<para>
+ With <application>Firefox</application>, this is typically set under:
+</para>
+
+<literallayout>
+ <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>General</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connection Settings</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Manual Proxy Configuration</guibutton>
+
+</literallayout>
+
+<para>
+ Or optionally on some platforms:
+</para>
+
+<literallayout>
+ <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>General</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connection Settings</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Manual Proxy Configuration</guibutton>
+
+</literallayout>
+
+
<para>
With <application>Netscape</application> (and
<application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
</para>
-
+
+
<literallayout>
<!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
<!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
- <guibutton>Edit</guibutton>
- |_
- <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton>
- |_
- <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton>
- |_
- <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton>
- |_
- <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
+ <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton> -> <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
+
</literallayout>
<para>
- For <application>Internet Explorer</application>:
+ For <application>Internet Explorer v.5-6</application>:
</para>
<literallayout>
-<!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
-<!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
- <guibutton>Tools</guibutton>
- |_
- <guibutton>Internet Properties</guibutton>
- |_
- <guibutton>Connections</guibutton>
- |_
- <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
+ <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Internet Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connections</guibutton> -> <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
</literallayout>
<para>
Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
(Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
- proxy support too.
+ proxy support too (sometimes labeled <quote>Secure</quote>). Make sure any
+ checkboxes like <quote>Use the same proxy server for all protocols</quote> is
+ <emphasis>UNCHECKED</emphasis>. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
</para>
+ <!-- image of IE Proxy configuration -->
+ <para>
+ <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
+ Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings</title>
+ <mediaobject>
+ <imageobject>
+ <imagedata fileref="proxy2.jpg" format="jpg">
+ </imageobject>
+ <textobject>
+ <phrase>[ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
+ </textobject>
+ </mediaobject>
+ </figure>
+ </para>
+
+
<para>
After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
- re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. You
- are now ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
+ re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
+ any <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
+ if you want <application>Privoxy</application> to manage that. You are now
+ ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
<application>Privoxy</application>!
</para>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> is typically started by specifying the
+ <application>Privoxy</application> itself is typically started by specifying the
main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
</para>
<sect2 id="start-redhat">
-<title>Red Hat and Conectiva</title>
+<title>Red Hat and Fedora</title>
<para>
- We use a script. Note that Red Hat does not start Privoxy upon booting per
- default. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as
- its main configuration file.
+ A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use
+ the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
+ file.
</para>
<para>
<screen>
# /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
</screen>
</para>
+<para>
+ Or ...
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ # service privoxy start
+</screen>
+</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="start-debian">
<title>Debian</title>
<para>
- We use a script. Note that Debian starts Privoxy upon booting per
+ 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>
</sect2>
+<!--
+ omitting 10/31/06 HB
+
<sect2 id="start-suse">
<title>SuSE</title>
<para>
</screen>
</para>
</sect2>
-
+-->
<sect2 id="start-windows">
<title>Windows</title>
<para>
-Click on the Privoxy Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is
+Click on the &my-app; Icon to start <application>Privoxy</application>. If no configuration file is
specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
- automatically start Privoxy upon booting you PC.
+ automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option
+ when installing.
+</para>
+<para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> can run with full Windows service functionality.
+ On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments
+ to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
+ <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Windows Installation
+ instructions</link> for details.
</para>
</sect2>
<title>Mac OSX</title>
<para>
During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
- start automatically when the system restarts. To start Privoxy by hand,
+ start automatically when the system restarts. To start &my-app; manually,
double-click on the <literal>StartPrivoxy.command</literal> icon in the
<literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal> folder. Or, type this command
in the Terminal:
</para>
<para>
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 Privoxy
+ chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
- the impact of possible vulnerabilities in Privoxy to the files contained in that hierarchy.
+ the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy.
Unix only.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
+<para>
+ On <application>MS Windows</application> only there are two additional
+ command-line options to allow <application>Privoxy</application> to install and
+ run as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>. See the
+<link linkend="installation-pack-win">Window Installation section</link>
+for details.
+</para>
+
</sect2>
</sect1>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="configuration"><title><application>Privoxy</application> Configuration</title>
+<sect1 id="configuration"><title>Privoxy Configuration</title>
<para>
All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect2>
-<title>Controlling <application>Privoxy</application> with Your Web Browser</title>
+<title>Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser</title>
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
</member>
<member>
- ▪ <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/&p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
+ ▪ <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/
+ &p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
</member>
</simplelist>
</msgtext>
<filename>default.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in
<filename>user.action</filename>, where you can preserve them across
- upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is for
+ upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is only for
<application>Privoxy's</application> internal use.
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
- <filename>default.filter</filename> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
+ <quote>Filter files</quote> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
- whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files. Only one filter
- file may be defined.
+ whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
+ <filename>default.filter</filename> includes various filters made
+ available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
+ others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
+ filter files in <filename>config</filename> as you can with
+ actions files. We suggest <filename>user.filter</filename> for any
+ locally defined filters or customizations.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
+<para>
+ The syntax of all configuration files has remained the same throughout the
+ 3.x series. There have been enhancements, but no changes that would preclude
+ the use of any configuration file from one version to the next. (There is
+ one exception: <link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">+fast-redirects</link> which
+ has enhanced syntax and will require updating any local configs from earlier
+ versions.)
+</para>
+
<para>
All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
- out" that line.
+ out" that line. Blank lines are ignored.
</para>
<para>
- The actions files and <filename>default.filter</filename>
+ The actions files and filter files
can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
maximum flexibility.
</para>
<sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
<para>
- The actions files are used to define what actions
- <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determine
+ The actions files are used to define what <emphasis>actions</emphasis>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determines
how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
- transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). There
- are three such files included with <application>Privoxy</application>
- with differing purposes:
+ transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof).
+ There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
+ Each action does something a little different.
+ These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
+ our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that
+ their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.
+</para>
+<para>
+ There
+ are three action files included with <application>Privoxy</application> with
+ differing purposes:
</para>
<para>
that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
provide a base level of functionality for
<application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
- a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well for users everywhere.
+ 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>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used by the web based editor,
+ <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>. These have increasing levels of
- aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no influence on your browsing unless
- you select them explicitly in the editor</emphasis>. It is not recommend
- to edit this file.
+ 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
<entry>Feature</entry>
<entry>Cautious</entry>
<entry>Medium</entry>
- <entry>Adventuresome</entry>
+ <entry>Advanced</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<!-- <tfoot> -->
<tbody>
<row>
- <entry>Ad-blocking by URL</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</entry>
+ <entry>medium</entry>
+ <entry>high</entry>
+ <entry>high</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
<entry>yes</entry>
<entry>yes</entry>
</row>
<row>
- <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
+ <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
<entry>no</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
<entry>yes</entry>
</row>
-
<row>
- <entry>Referer forging</entry>
- <entry>no</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
+ <entry>blocks only</entry>
+ <entry>blocks only</entry>
+ <entry>blocks only</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>Privacy Features</entry>
+ <entry>low</entry>
+ <entry>medium</entry>
+ <entry>medium/high</entry>
</row>
<row>
</row>
<row>
- <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
- <entry>unsolicited</entry>
- <entry>unsolicited</entry>
- <entry>all</entry>
- </row>
-
- <row>
- <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
- <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>Referer forging</entry>
<entry>no</entry>
<entry>yes</entry>
- </row>
-
- <row>
- <entry>HTML taming</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
<entry>yes</entry>
</row>
+
<row>
- <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
<entry>yes</entry>
<entry>yes</entry>
</row>
+
<row>
- <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
- <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
<entry>yes</entry>
</row>
<row>
- <entry>Fun text replacements</entry>
+ <entry>HTML taming</entry>
<entry>no</entry>
<entry>no</entry>
<entry>yes</entry>
</row>
<row>
- <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
+ <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
<entry>no</entry>
<entry>no</entry>
<entry>yes</entry>
</row>
<row>
- <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
- <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
<entry>no</entry>
<entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
</row>
<row>
- <entry>Demoronizer</entry>
+ <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
<entry>no</entry>
<entry>no</entry>
<entry>yes</entry>
</row>
-
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<para>
The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
- <filename>default.action</filename> is typically process before
+ <filename>default.action</filename> is typically processed before
<filename>user.action</filename>). The content of these can all be viewed and
edited from <ulink
url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
-</para>
+ The over-riding principle when applying actions, is that the last action that
+ matches a given URL, wins. The broadest, most general rules go first
+ (defined in <filename>default.action</filename>),
+ followed by any exceptions (typically also in
+ <filename>default.action</filename>), which are then followed lastly by any
+ local preferences (typically in <emphasis>user</emphasis><filename>.action</filename>).
+ Generally, <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word.
+ </para>
<para>
An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
- certainly a matter of personal taste. In general, it can be said that the more
+ certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring
+ refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that the more
<quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per
default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
- regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful puposes, like maybe
+ regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe
your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
</para>
url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single feature on a
per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults like
- <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or <quote>Adventuresome</quote>.
- Warning: the <quote>Adventuresome</quote> setting is not only more aggressive,
- but includes settings that are fun and subversive, and which some may find of
- dubious merit!
+ <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or <quote>Advanced</quote>.
+ Warning: the <quote>Advanced</quote> setting is more aggressive, and
+ will be more likely to cause problems for some sites. Experienced users only!
</para>
<para>
If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
- the actions files. Look at <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly
- commented.
+ the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at
+ <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly commented with many
+ good examples.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="actions-apply">
-<title>How Actions are Applied to URLs</title>
+<title>How Actions are Applied to Requests</title>
<para>
Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
- Below that, there is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line.
+ Below that, there is a list of URL and tag patterns, each on a separate line.
</para>
<para>
To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
- compared to all patterns in each <quote>action file</quote> file. Every time it matches, the list of
- applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading
- of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for
- the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not,
- the effects are aggregated. E.g. a URL might match a regular section with
- a heading line of <literal>{
+ compared to all URL patterns in each <quote>action file</quote>.
+ Every time it matches, the list of applicable actions for the request is
+ incrementally updated, using the heading of the section in which the
+ pattern is located. The same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ If multiple applying sections set the same action differently,
+ the last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated.
+ E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading line of <literal>{
+<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> }</literal>,
then later another one with just <literal>{
+<link linkend="block">block</link> }</literal>, resulting
- in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply.
+ 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</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 any given URL by visiting <ulink
+ You can trace this process for
URL patterns and any given URL by visiting <ulink
url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
</para>
<para>
- More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
- Anatomy of an Action</link>.
+ Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
+ Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</link> section.
</para>
</sect2>
<title>Patterns</title>
<para>
As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
- to determine what actions might apply to which sites and pages your browser
- attempts to access. These <quote>patterns</quote> use wild card type
- <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> matching to achieve a high degree of
+ to determine what <emphasis>actions</emphasis> might apply to which sites and
+ pages your browser attempts to access. These <quote>patterns</quote> use wild
+ card type <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> matching to achieve a high degree of
flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
against many similar patterns.
</para>
<para>
- Generally, a <application>Privoxy</application> pattern has the form
+ Generally, a 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
<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 a more flexible
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
+ Expressions (PCRE)</quote></ulink> based syntax.
+</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<listitem>
<para>
is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
- regardless of which document on that server is requested.
+ regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in
+ this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
+ simple <literal>example.com</literal> is different and would NOT match.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<listitem>
<para>
matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
- i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server.
+ i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server anywhere.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<listitem>
<para>
matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
- there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>.
+ there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>. So its
+ a mistake.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>
- (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as a domain.)
+ matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>.
+ And, by the way, also included would be any files or documents that exist
+ within that domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly
+ speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as
+ a domain.) This might be <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
+ <literal>news.example.de</literal>, or
+ <literal>www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</literal> for instance. All these
+ cases are matched.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<para>
Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
- themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: <quote>*</quote>
- stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, <quote>?</quote> stands for
- any single character, you can define character classes in square
- brackets and all of that can be freely mixed:
+ themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
+ <quote>*</quote> represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
+ equivalent to the
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
+ Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax of <quote>.*</quote>),
+ <quote>?</quote> represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
+ regular expression syntax of a simple <quote>.</quote>), and you can define
+ <quote>character classes</quote> in square brackets which is similar to
+ the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:
</para>
<variablelist>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
+<para>
+ While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax.
+</para>
+
</sect3>
<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
<sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl compatible regular expressions
+ <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl compatible (PCRE)
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
+ Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax
(through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> library) for
- matching the path.
+ matching the path portion (after the slash), and is thus more flexible.
</para>
<para>
at <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt">http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</ulink>.
You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<literal>man perlre</literal>)
useful, which is available on-line at <ulink
- url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>.
+ url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>.
</para>
<para>
only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
<emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
</para>
+
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>.example.com/.*</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Is equivalent to just <quote>.example.com</quote>, since any documents
+ within that domain are matched with or without the <quote>.*</quote>
+ regular expression. This is redundant
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>.example.com/.*/index.html</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Will match any page in the domain of <quote>example.com</quote> that is
+ named <quote>index.html</quote>, and that is part of some path. For
+ example, it matches <quote>www.example.com/testing/index.html</quote> but
+ NOT <quote>www.example.com/index.html</quote> because the regular
+ expression called for at least two <quote>/'s</quote>, thus the path
+ requirement. It also would match
+ <quote>www.example.com/testing/index_html</quote>, because of the
+ special meta-character <quote>.</quote>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page
+ named <quote>index.html</quote> regardless of path which in this case can
+ have one or more <quote>/'s</quote>. And this one must contain exactly
+ <quote>.html</quote> (but does not have to end with that!).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This regular expression will match any path of <quote>example.com</quote>
+ that contains any of the words <quote>ads</quote>, <quote>banner</quote>,
+ <quote>banners</quote> (because of the <quote>?</quote>) or <quote>junk</quote>.
+ The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</literal></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
+ <quote>.jpg</quote>, <quote>.jpeg</quote>, <quote>.gif</quote> or <quote>.png</quote>. So this
+ one is limited to common image formats.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+<para>
+ There are many, many good examples to be found in <filename>default.action</filename>,
+ and more tutorials below in <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>.
+</para>
+
+</sect3>
+
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 id="tag-pattern"><title>The Tag Pattern</title>
+
+<para>
+ Tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the
+ request's tags. Tags can be created with either the
+ <link linkend="CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER">client-header-tagger</link>
+ or the <link linkend="SERVER-HEADER-FILTER">server-header-tagger</link> action.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Tag patterns have to start with <quote>TAG:</quote>, so &my-app;
+ can tell them apart from URL patterns. Everything after the colon
+ including white space, is interpreted as a regular expression with
+ path patterns syntax, except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored
+ automatically (Privoxy doesn't silently add a <quote>^</quote>,
+ you have to do it yourself if you need it).
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ To match all requests that are tagged with <quote>foo</quote>
+ your pattern line should be <quote>TAG:^foo$</quote>,
+ <quote>TAG:foo</quote> would work as well, but it would also
+ match requests whose tags contain <quote>foo</quote> somewhere.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Sections can contain URL and tag patterns at the same time,
+ but tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus
+ always overrule them, even if they are located before the URL patterns.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Once a new tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's matched by one
+ of the tag patterns and updates the action settings accordingly. As a result
+ tags can be used to activate other tagger actions, as long as these other
+ taggers look for headers that haven't already be parsed.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ For example you could tag client requests which use the POST method,
+ use this tag to activate another tagger that adds a tag if cookies
+ are send, and then block based on the cookie tag. However if you'd
+ reverse the position of the described taggers, and activated the method
+ tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method tags would be created.
+ The method tagger would look for the request line, but at the time
+ the cookie tag is created the request line has already been parsed.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of
+ indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't
+ make too much sense.
+</para>
+
</sect3>
</sect2>
</para>
<para>
- There are three classes of actions:
+ Actions fall into three categories:
</para>
<para>
<para>
Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions
to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
- in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files). For
- multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified.
- Actions files are processed in the order they are defined in
- <filename>config</filename> (the default installation has three actions
- files). It also quite possible for any given URL pattern to match more than
- one pattern and thus more than one set of actions!
+ in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such
+ as <filename>user.action</filename>). For multi-valued actions, the actions
+ are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are processed in
+ the order they are defined in <filename>config</filename> (the default
+ installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any given
+ URL to match more than one <quote>pattern</quote> (because of wildcards and
+ regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last
+ match wins.
</para>
<!-- start actions listing -->
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Block ads or other obnoxious content</para>
+ <para>Block ads or other unwanted content</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the requests are not
- forwarded to the remote server, but answered locally with a substitute page or image,
- as determined by the <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>
- and <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> actions.
+ Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
+ requests are trapped by &my-app; and the requested URL is never retrieved,
+ but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
+ the <literal><link
+ linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
+ <literal><link
+ linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>, and
+ <literal><link
+ linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> actions.
+
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<para>
It is important to understand this process, in order
to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
- ads and other unwanted content.
+ ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
+ upon which various other features depend.
</para>
<para>
The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
<term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <screen>{+block} # Block and replace with "blocked" page
-.nasty-stuff.example.com
+ <screen>{+block}
+# Block and replace with "blocked" page
+ .nasty-stuff.example.com
+
+{+block +handle-as-image}
+# Block and replace with image
+ .ad.doubleclick.net
+ .ads.r.us/banners/
+
+{+block +handle-as-empty-document}
+# Block and then ignore
+ adserver.exampleclick.net/.*\.js$</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-{+block +handle-as-image} # Block and replace with image
-.ad.doubleclick.net
-.ads.r.us</screen>
+
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-filter">
+<title>client-header-filter</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Rewrite or remove single client headers.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
+ the specified regular expression based substitutions.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the
+ <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
+ all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
+ you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
+ You can do that by using tags though.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
+ and use their output as input.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
+ to learn which client-header filters are available by default, and how to
+ create your own.
+ </para>
+
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+{+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
+.exit/
+ </screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-tagger">
+<title>client-header-tagger</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Block requests based on their headers.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
+ the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
+ tag.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the
+ <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
+ and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
+ the original.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed
+ and their tags can be used to control every other action.
+ </para>
+
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+# Tag every request with the User-Agent header
+{+client-header-filter{user-agent}}
+/
+ </screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="content-type-overwrite">
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<title>content-type-overwrite</title>
<variablelist>
</para>
<para>
If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
- <quote>Content-Type: text/html</quote>, you can use Privoxy
+ <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.
This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
</para>
<para>
- Most of the time it's easier to enable
- <literal><link linkend="filter-server-headers">filter-server-headers</link></literal>
- and replace this action with a custom regular expression. It allows you
- to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
+ Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom
+ <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
+ It allows you to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
only replace the content types you aimed at.
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
<screen># Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
-{+content-type-overwrite {application/xml}}
+{ +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
www.example.net/
+
# but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
{-content-type-overwrite}
-www.example.net/*.\.css$
-www.example.net/*.style
+www.example.net/.*\.css$
+www.example.net/.*style
</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-client-header">
-<title>crunch-server-header</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<title>crunch-client-header</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Deletes every header send by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
+ Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<para>
<literal>crunch-client-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
- parts of them, you should enable
- <literal><link linkend="filter-client-headers">filter-client-headers</link></literal>
- and create your own filter.
+ parts of them, you should use a
+ <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header filter</link></literal>.
</para>
- <para>
<warning>
- Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
+ <para>
+ Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
+ </para>
</warning>
- </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<listitem>
<para>
<screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
-{+crunch-client-header {Privacy-Violation:}}
+{ +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
/
</screen>
</para>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-if-none-match">
<title>crunch-if-none-match</title>
-
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
<screen># Let the browser revalidate cached documents without being tracked across sessions
-{+hide-if-modified-since {-1} \
-+overwrite-last-modified {randomize} \
-+crunch-if-none-match}
+{ +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
+ +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
+ +crunch-if-none-match}
/ </screen>
</para>
</listitem>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-server-header">
<title>crunch-server-header</title>
-
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Deletes every header send by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
+ Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<para>
<literal>crunch-server-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
- parts of them, you should enable
- <literal><link linkend="filter-server-headers">filter-server-headers</link></literal>
- and create your own filter.
+ parts of them, you should use a custom
+ <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
</para>
- <para>
<warning>
+ <para>
Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
+ </para>
</warning>
- </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<listitem>
<para>
<screen># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
-{+crunch-server-header {no-cache}}
+{ +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
/ </screen>
</para>
</listitem>
followed by another parameter. <literal>fast-redirects</literal> doesn't know that
and will cause a redirect to <quote>http://www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
- or lead to a <quote>page not found</quote> error. It is possible to fix these redirected
- requests with <literal><link linkend="filter-client-headers">filter-client-headers</link></literal>
- but it requires a little effort.
+ or lead to a <quote>page not found</quote> error. You can prevent this problem by
+ first using the <literal><link linkend="redirect">redirect</link></literal> action
+ to remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort.
</para>
<para>
To detect a redirection URL, <literal>fast-redirects</literal> only
<term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <screen>+fast-redirects{simple-check}</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <screen>+fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</screen>
+ <screen>
+ { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
+ .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), do fun text replacements, etc.</para>
+ <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
+ do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- All files of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which this
- action applies, are filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular expression
- based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents
+ All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
+ this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular
+ expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents
are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
- <literal>text/plain</literal> MIME type for all files whose type they
- don't know.)
+ <literal>text/plain</literal> MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The name of a filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>
- (typically <filename>default.filter</filename>, set by the
+ The name of a content filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>.
+ Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
<literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
- option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>). When used in its negative form,
- and without parameters, filtering is completely disabled.
+ option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>.
+ <filename>default.filter</filename> is the collection of filters
+ supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
+ in their own file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>.
</para>
+ <para>
+ When used in its negative form,
+ and without parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> filtering is completely disabled.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
noticeable on slower connections.
</para>
<para>
- This is very powerful feature, but <quote>rolling your own</quote>
- filters requires a knowledge of regular expressions and HTML.
+ <quote>Rolling your own</quote>
+ filters requires a knowledge of
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
+ Expressions</quote></ulink> and
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"><quote>HTML</quote></ulink>.
+ This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
+ Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent
+ <quote>action</quote> is not available.
</para>
<para>
The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
</para>
<para>
- Inadequate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
+ Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
(Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data
(from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate
the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might
be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering
- by defining appropriate <literal>-filter</literal> sections.
+ 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.
</para>
<para>
- At this time, <application>Privoxy</application> cannot (yet!) uncompress compressed
- documents. If you want filtering to work on all documents, even those that
- would normally be sent compressed, use the
- <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
+ If you use a &my-app; version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on
+ as much documents as possible, even those that would normally be sent compressed,
+ you must use the <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
</para>
<para>
- 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
</para>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-unsolicited-popups">
- <screen>+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows</screen>
+ <screen>+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
</para>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-all-popups">
- <screen>+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML</screen>
+ <screen>+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
</para>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-img-reorder">
</para>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
- <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizable</screen>
+ <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable</screen>
</para>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-demoronizer">
</para>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-quicktime-kioskmode">
- <screen>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies saveable</screen>
+ <screen>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies savable</screen>
</para>
<para>
<anchor id="filter-fun">
<anchor id="filter-ie-exploits">
<screen>+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits</screen>
</para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-site-specifics">
+ <screen>+filter{site-specifics} # Custom filters for specific site related problems</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-google">
+ <screen>+filter{google} # Removes text ads and other Google specific improvements</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-yahoo">
+ <screen>+filter{yahoo} # Removes text ads and other Yahoo specific improvements</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-msn">
+ <screen>+filter{msn} # Removes text ads and other MSN specific improvements</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-blogspot">
+ <screen>+filter{blogspot} # Cleans up Blogspot blogs</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-no-ping">
+ <screen>+filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes from anchor and area tags</screen>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="force-text-mode">
<title>force-text-mode</title>
-
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Force <application>Privoxy</application> to treat a document as if it was in some kind of text format.</emphasis></para>
+ <para>Force <application>Privoxy</application> to treat a document as if it was in some kind of <emphasis>text</emphasis> format. </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<warning>
<para>
Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
- with regular expressions can cause file damages.
+ with regular expressions can cause file damage.
</para>
</warning>
</listitem>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-empty-document">
-<title>handle-as-empty-document</title>
-
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward-override">
+<title>forward-override</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>
+ <para>Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin</para>
</listitem>
</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>
+ Overrules the forward directives in the configuration files.
+ </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.
+ </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.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This action takes parameters similar to the <!-- I hope this link actual works -->
+ <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.
+{+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 <q>empty</q> document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
+ The <emphasis>empty</emphasis> document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
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
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by imagee <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis>)</para>
+ <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>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-accept-language">
<title>hide-accept-language</title>
-
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<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 widely spread.
+ or to languages that aren't wide spread.
</para>
<para>
Before setting the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-content-disposition">
<title>hide-content-disposition</title>
-
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Some servers set the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header for
- documents they assume you want to safe locally before viewing them.
+ 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 browser that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
+ 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 browser additionally check the
- <quote>Content-Type:</quote> header, before they decide if the can
- display a document without saving it first. In these cases you have
+ 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>
<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>
+{ -filter \
+ +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
+ +hide-content-disposition{block} }
+ .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-if-modified-since">
<title>hide-if-modified-since</title>
-
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
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 substract a random amount of time to/from the headers value.
- You specify a range of hours were the random factor should be chosen from and
+ 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
sure it isn't used as a cookie replacement, but you will run into
- caching problems if the random range is to high.
+ 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
<listitem>
<para>
<screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
-{+hide-if-modified-since {-1}\
-+overwrite-last-modified {randomize}\
-+crunch-if-none-match}
+{ +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
+ +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
+ +crunch-if-none-match}
/</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
<title>hide-forwarded-for-headers</title>
-
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
</sect3>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="inspect-jpegs">
+<title>inspect-jpegs</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>To protect against the MS buffer over-run in JPEG processing</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Protect against a known exploit
+ </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>
+ See Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-028. JPEG images are one of the most
+ common image types found across the Internet. The exploit as described can
+ allow execution of code on the target system, giving an attacker access
+ to the system in question by merely planting an altered JPEG image, which
+ would have no obvious indications of what lurks inside. This action
+ prevents unwanted intrusion.
+ </para>
+
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para><screen>+inspect-jpegs</screen></para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+
+
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="kill-popups">
<title>kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"></title>
Killing all pop-ups unconditionally is problematic. Many shops and banks rely on
pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and the <literal><link
linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>unsolicited-popups</replaceable>}</link>
- </literal> does a fairly good job of catching only the unwanted ones.
+ </literal> does a better job of catching only the unwanted ones.
</para>
<para>
If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those
linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>js-annoyances</replaceable>}</literal>
instead.
</para>
+ <para>
+ This action is most appropriate for browsers that don't have any controls
+ for unwanted pop-ups. Not recommended for general usage.
+ </para>
<!--
<para>
</para>
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application> relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
- the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent Privoxy's
+ 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.
If you plan to disable SSL by default, consider enabling
<literal><link linkend="treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks ">treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</link></literal>
+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 traffic is allowed</screen>
++limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<listitem>
<para>
More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
- is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the <literal><link
+ is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the <literal><link
linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>, <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
- and <literal><link linkend="kill-popups">kill-popups</link></literal> actions to work,
- <application>Privoxy</application> needs access to the uncompressed data.
- Unfortunately, <application>Privoxy</application> can't yet(!) uncompress, filter, and
- re-compress the content on the fly. So if you want to ensure that all websites, including
- those that normally compress, can be filtered, you need to use this action.
+ and <literal><link linkend="kill-popups">kill-popups</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>
- This will slow down transfers from those websites, though. If you use any of the above-mentioned
- actions, you will typically want to use <literal>prevent-compression</literal> in conjunction
- with them.
+ 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 (they send an empty document body). If you use <literal>prevent-compression</literal>
- per default, you'll have to add exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
+ 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>
<term>Example usage (sections):</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <screen># Set default:
+ <screen>
+# Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
#
-{+prevent-compression}
-/ # Match all sites
+{ +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
+# Match only these sites
+ .google.
+ sourceforge.net
+ sf.net
-# Make exceptions for ill sites:
+# Or instead, we could set a universal default:
#
-{-prevent-compression}
-www.debianhelp.org
-www.pclinuxonline.com</screen>
+{ +prevent-compression }
+ / # Match all sites
+
+# Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites:
+#
+{ -prevent-compression }
+.compusa.com/</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="overwrite-last-modified">
<title>overwrite-last-modified</title>
-
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
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.
+ 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>
+ </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@$@&mode=expanded@}}
+undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-vanilla-wafer">
+<title>send-vanilla-wafer</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Feed log analysis scripts with useless data.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any copyright
+ on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track you.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ N/A
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you.
</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>.
+ This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
-{+hide-if-modified-since {-1}\
-+overwrite-last-modified {randomize}\
-+crunch-if-none-match}
-/</screen>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+send-vanilla-wafer</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
</variablelist>
</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="redirect">
-<title>redirect</title>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-wafer">
+<title>send-wafer</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Redirect requests to other sites.
+ Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
- to another location and the browser should get it from there.
+ Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Type:</term>
<!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Parameterized</para>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Any URL.
+ A string of the form <quote><replaceable class="option">name</replaceable>=<replaceable
+ class="parameter">value</replaceable></quote>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- This action is useful to replace whole documents with your own
- ones. For that to work, they have to be available on another server.
- </para>
- <para>
- You can do the same by combining the actions
- <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>,
- <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> and
- <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{URL}</link></literal>.
- It doesn't sound right for non-image documents, and that's why this action
- was created.
+ Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request,
+ resulting in multiple cookies being sent.
</para>
<para>
- This action will be ignored if you use it together with
- <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>.
+ This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <screen># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
-{+redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css}}
-example.com/stylesheet.css</screen>
+ <screen>{+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
+my-internal-testing-server.void</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
</variablelist>
</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-vanilla-wafer">
-<title>send-vanilla-wafer</title>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-filter">
+<title>server-header-filter</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Feed log analysis scripts with useless data.
+ Rewrite or remove single server headers.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any copyright
- on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track you.
+ 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 -->
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- N/A
+ The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the
+ <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you.
+ 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>
- This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
+ 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:</term>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>+send-vanilla-wafer</screen>
- </para>
+ <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>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-wafer">
-<title>send-wafer</title>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-tagger">
+<title>server-header-tagger</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data.
+ Disable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request.
+ 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 -->
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Multi-value.</para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- A string of the form <quote><replaceable class="option">name</replaceable>=<replaceable
- class="parameter">value</replaceable></quote>.
+ The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the
+ <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request,
- resulting in multiple cookies being sent.
+ 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>
- This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
+ 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>
+ <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>
+
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>{+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
-my-internal-testing-server.void</screen>
- </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+# Tag every request with the declared content type
+{+client-header-filter{content-type}}
+/
+ </screen>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
</variablelist>
</sect3>
<screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
</para>
<para>
- Redirect to the BSD devil:
+ Redirect to the BSD daemon:
</para>
<para>
<screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks">
<title>treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</title>
-
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
For <quote>Connect</quote> requests the clients tell
<application>Privoxy</application> which host they are interested
in, but not which document they plan to get later. As a result, the
- <quote>Go there anyway</quote> link becomes rather useless:
- it lets the client request the home page of the forbidden host
- through unencrypted HTTP, still using the port of the last request.
- </para>
- <para>
- If you previously configured <application>Privoxy</application> to do the
- request through a SSL tunnel, everything will work. Most likely you haven't
- and the server will responds with an error message because it is expecting
- HTTPS.
+ <quote>Go there anyway</quote> wouldn't work and is therefore suppressed.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
<screen>+treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</screen>
</para>
them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
with it.
- This is likely to change in future versions of <application>Privoxy</application>.
</para>
<para>
#
+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 +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>
+ +block-as-image = +block +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="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link>
+ 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="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> -<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link>
+
shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link>
# Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
{fragile}
.office.microsoft.com
.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
- .nytimes.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
- .scan.co.uk
+ mybank.example.com
# These shops require pop-ups:
#
- {shop -kill-popups -filter{all-popups}}
+ {-kill-popups -filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
.dabs.com
.overclockers.co.uk</screen>
</para>
<para>
- Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are often used for
- <quote>problem</quote> sites that require some actions to be disabled
+ 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>
<para>
- <screen># Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org></screen>
+ <screen># Sample default.action file <ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net></screen>
</para>
<para>
#
+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 +handle-as-image
+ +block-as-image = +block +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
##########################################################################
{ \
-<link linkend="ADD-HEADER">add-header</link> \
+ -<link linkend="CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER">client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}</link> \
-<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> \
+ -<link linkend="CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE">content-type-overwrite</link> \
+ -<link linkend="CRUNCH-CLIENT-HEADER">crunch-client-header</link> \
+ -<link linkend="CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH">crunch-if-none-match</link> \
-<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> \
+ -<link linkend="CRUNCH-SERVER-HEADER">crunch-server-header</link> \
-<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link> \
+<link linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</link> \
-<link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION">downgrade-http-version</link> \
- +<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> \
- +<link linkend="FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES">filter{js-annoyances}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES">filter{js-annoyances}</link> \
-<link linkend="FILTER-JS-EVENTS">filter{js-events}</link> \
+<link linkend="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES">filter{html-annoyances}</link> \
-<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link> \
+<link linkend="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">filter{refresh-tags}</link> \
- +<link linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{unsolicited-popups}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{unsolicited-popups}</link> \
-<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link> \
- +<link linkend="FILTER-IMG-REORDER">filter{img-reorder}</link> \
- +<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">filter{banners-by-size}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FILTER-IMG-REORDER">filter{img-reorder}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">filter{banners-by-size}</link> \
-<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK">filter{banners-by-link}</link> \
+<link linkend="FILTER-WEBBUGS">filter{webbugs}</link> \
-<link linkend="FILTER-TINY-TEXTFORMS">filter{tiny-textforms}</link> \
- +<link linkend="FILTER-JUMPING-WINDOWS">filter{jumping-windows}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FILTER-JUMPING-WINDOWS">filter{jumping-windows}</link> \
-<link linkend="FILTER-FRAMESET-BORDERS">filter{frameset-borders}</link> \
-<link linkend="FILTER-DEMORONIZER">filter{demoronizer}</link> \
-<link linkend="FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH">filter{shockwave-flash}</link> \
-<link linkend="FILTER-FUN">filter{fun}</link> \
-<link linkend="FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL">filter{crude-parental}</link> \
+<link linkend="FILTER-IE-EXPLOITS">filter{ie-exploits}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FILTER-GOOGLE">filter{google}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FILTER-YAHOO">filter{yahoo}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FILTER-MSN">filter{msn}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FILTER-BLOGSPOT">filter{blogspot}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FILTER-NO-PING">filter{no-ping}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> \
+ -<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT">handle-as-empty-document</link> \
-<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> \
+ -<link linkend="HIDE-ACCEPT-LANGUAGE">hide-accept-language</link> \
+ -<link linkend="HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION">hide-content-disposition</link> \
+ -<link linkend="HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE">hide-if-modified-since</link> \
+<link linkend="HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS">hide-forwarded-for-headers</link> \
+<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
+<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer{forge}</link> \
-<link linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT">hide-user-agent</link> \
+ -<link linkend="INSPECT-JPEGS">inspect-jpegs</link> \
-<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> \
-<link linkend="LIMIT-CONNECT">limit-connect</link> \
+<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link> \
+ -<link linkend="OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED">overwrite-last-modified</link> \
+ -<link linkend="REDIRECT">redirect</link> \
-<link linkend="SEND-VANILLA-WAFER">send-vanilla-wafer</link> \
-<link linkend="SEND-WAFER">send-wafer</link> \
+ -<link linkend="SERVER-HEADER-FILTER">server-header-filter{xml-to-html}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="SERVER-HEADER-FILTER">server-header-filter{html-to-xml}</link> \
+<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> \
+<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="TREAT-FORBIDDEN-CONNECTS-LIKE-BLOCKS">treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</link> \
}
/ # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.</screen>
</para>
#
{ fragile }
.office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
-.windowsupdate.microsoft.com</screen>
+.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
+mail.google.com</screen>
</para>
<para>
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
+ <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
<screen>
# Known ad generators:
#
-{ block-as-image }
+{ +block-as-image }
ar.atwola.com
.ad.doubleclick.net
.ad.*.doubleclick.net
.a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
.a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
bs*.gsanet.com
-bs*.einets.com
.qkimg.net</screen>
</para>
<para>
One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
- is to block banners. A huge bunch of them are already <quote>blocked</quote>
+ 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
<literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
</para>
<para>
- First comes a bunch of generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
+ 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>
- You wouldn't believe how many advertisers actually call their banner
+ 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.
{ -<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)
# Don't filter code!
#
{ -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
-/.*cvs
+/(.*/)?cvs
+bugzilla.
+developer.
+wiki.
.sourceforge.net</screen>
</para>
<para>
- The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course more
+ The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course much more
comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
</para>
# Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
#
-allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}</screen>
+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>
<para>
<screen>
{ allow-all-cookies }
-sourceforge.net
-sunsolve.sun.com
-.slashdot.org
-.yahoo.com
-.msdn.microsoft.com
-.redhat.com</screen>
+ sourceforge.net
+ .yahoo.com
+ .msdn.microsoft.com
+ .redhat.com</screen>
</para>
<para>
<para>
<screen>
{ -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
-.your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
+ .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
</para>
<para>
<para>
<screen>
{ +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
-www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.gif
-another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
+ www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
+ another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
</para>
<para>
<para>
<screen>
{ +block-as-image }
-.doubleclick.net
-/Realmedia/ads/
-ar.atwola.com/</screen>
+ .doubleclick.net
+ .fastclick.net
+ /Realmedia/ads/
+ ar.atwola.com/</screen>
</para>
<para>
-- <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.
+ 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</screen>
+ .forbes.com
+ webmail.example.com
+ .mybank.com</screen>
</para>
<para>
<para>
<screen>
{ +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
-/ # For ALL sites!</screen>
+ / # For ALL sites!</screen>
</para>
<para>
<para>
<screen>
{ allow-ads }
-.sourceforge.net
-.slashdot.org
-.osdn.net</screen>
+ .sourceforge.net
+ .slashdot.org
+ .osdn.net</screen>
</para>
<para>
<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
<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
<sect1 id="filter-file">
-<title>The Filter File</title>
+<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, and
+</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 differnce
+ 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>
- All text substitutions that can be invoked through the
- <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action
- must first be defined in the filter file, which is typically
- called <filename>default.filter</filename> and which can be
- selected through the <literal>
- <link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config
- option.
+ Multiple filter files can be defined through the <literal> <link
+ linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config directive. The filters
+ as supplied by the developers will be found 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>
- Typical reasons for doing such substitutions are to eliminate
- common annoyances in HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
+ Command 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. The possibilities are endless.
+ or just to have fun.
</para>
<para>
- Filtering works on any text-based document type, including
+ Content filtering works on any text-based document type, including
HTML, JavaScript, CSS etc. (all <literal>text/*</literal>
MIME types, <emphasis>except</emphasis> <literal>text/plain</literal>).
Substitutions are made at the source level, so if you want to <quote>roll
- your own</quote> filters, you should be familiar with HTML syntax.
+ 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 the
- <emphasis>keyword</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>, followed by
- the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
+ 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
</para>
<para>
- A filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
+ 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>
in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
<literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
- <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/pcrs.3.html">PCRS man page</ulink>
- for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most notably, the non-standard
- option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported, which turns the default
- to ungreedy matching.
+ 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 regular expressions, you might want to take a look at
+ 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.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perl.html">Perl
+ see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl
manual</ulink> for
- <ulink url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perlop.html#s-PATTERN-REPLACEMENT-egimosx">the
+ <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlop.html">the
<literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
- url="http://perldoc.com/perl5.6.1/pod/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
+ 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>
<sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
<para>
- Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> filter. We have already defined
+ 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:
makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
<emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>. Finally, <literal>\1</literal> is
- a backreference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
+ 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 backreference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
+ a back-reference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
</para>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being
- full-screen, non-resizable, without location, status or menu bar etc.
+ full-screen, non-resizeable, without location, status or menu bar etc.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
+ <para>
+ Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that
+ rely heavily on JavaScript.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<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.
+ resizing etc, anymore. Use with caution!
</para>
<para>
We <emphasis>strongly discourage</emphasis> using this filter as a default since it breaks
<para>
The <literal>BLINK</literal> and <literal>MARQUEE</literal> tags
are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser windows will be created as
- resizable (as of course they should be!), and will have location,
+ resizeable (as of course they should be!), and will have location,
scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
</para>
</listitem>
<term><emphasis>content-cookies</emphasis></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialogue, where they can be intercepted
+ 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>
to sneak cookies to the browser on the content level.
</para>
<para>
- This filter disables HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets cookies. Use
- it wherever you would also use the cookie crunch actions.
+ 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>
</para>
<para>
Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
- function to a dummy function during the loading and rendering phase of each
- HTML page access, and restoring the function afterwards.
+ 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>
<listitem>
<para>
Attempt to prevent <emphasis>all</emphasis> pop-up windows from opening.
- Note this should be used with more discretion than the above, since it is
- more likely to break some sites that require pop-ups for normal usage. Use
- with caution.
+ 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>
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>
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 use ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party site.
+ 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>
<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.
+ or behave as intended when using this filter. Use with caution.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<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 causes those
+ 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 wierd garbage characters
- sometimes appear on some pages.
+ 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>
<term><emphasis>ie-exploits</emphasis></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- A collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
+ An experimental collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
</para>
<para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+ <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>
+
+ <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>
+
+ <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>
+
+ <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>
+
+ <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>
+
+ <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>
+
+ <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>
+
+ <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>
+
<!--
<varlistentry>
<term><emphasis> </emphasis></term>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect1 id="templates">
-<title>Templates</title>
+<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>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="copyright"><title><application>Privoxy</application> Copyright, License and History</title>
+<sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
<!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
©right;
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>
<para>
<para><simplelist>
<member>
- <emphasis>[]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
+ <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>.
<para><simplelist>
<member>
- <emphasis>()</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
+ <emphasis>( )</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
or multiple sub-expressions.
</member>
</simplelist></para>
</para>
<para>
- A now something a little more complex:
+ And now something a little more complex:
</para>
<para>
<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
+ <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
<para>
More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
- <ulink url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>
+ <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>
</para>
<para>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect2>
-<title><application>Privoxy</application>'s Internal Pages</title>
+<title>Privoxy's Internal Pages</title>
<para>
Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y','ijbstatus','width=250,height=2,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy- View Status</ulink>
</para>
</listitem>
-
+<!--
<listitem>
<para>
<ulink url="javascript:w=Math.floor(screen.width/2);h=Math.floor(screen.height*0.9);void(window.open('http://www.privoxy.org/actions/index.php?url='+escape(location.href),'Feedback','screenx='+w+',width='+w+',height='+h+',scrollbars=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Submit Actions File Feedback</ulink>
</para>
</listitem>
+ -->
<listitem>
<para>
<ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
<sect2 id="chain">
<title>Chain of Events</title>
<para>
- Let's take a quick look at the basic sequence of events when a web page is
- requested by your browser and <application>Privoxy</application> is on duty:
+ 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>
<listitem>
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
- pages (e.g http://p.p/) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
+ pages (e.g <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
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>
- is then checked and if it does not match, an
- HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back. Otherwise, if it does match,
- an image is returned. The type of image depends on the setting of <link
- linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</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>
<listitem>
<para>
- Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web page and related
- data).
+ Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web
+ page).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- If a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
+ 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>) are processed against the buffered
- content. Filters are applied in the order they are specified in the
- <filename>default.filter</filename> file. Animated GIFs, if present, are
- reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
+ <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 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
+ 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
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- As the browser receives the now (probably filtered) page content, it
+ 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 new
- request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a
- complex web page may have many such embedded URLs.
+ 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>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect2 id="actionsanat">
-<title>Anatomy of an Action</title>
+<title>Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</title>
<para>
The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
logs is a good idea too.
</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>
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
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
- the <filename>default.filter</filename> file since this is handled very
+ 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
<para>
Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
- and look at it one section at a time:
+ and look at it one section at a time in a sample configuration (your real
+ configuration may vary):
</para>
<para>
In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
-{-add-header
- -block
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-incoming-cookies
- +deanimate-gifs{last}
- -downgrade-http-version
- +fast-redirects
- -filter{popups}
- -filter{fun}
- -filter{shockwave-flash}
- -filter{crude-parental}
- +filter{html-annoyances}
- +filter{js-annoyances}
- +filter{content-cookies}
- +filter{webbugs}
- +filter{refresh-tags}
- +filter{nimda}
- +filter{banners-by-size}
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers
- +hide-from-header{block}
- +hide-referer{forge}
- -hide-user-agent
- -handle-as-image
- -kill-popups
- -limit-connect
- +prevent-compression
- -send-vanilla-wafer
- -send-wafer
- +session-cookies-only
- +set-image-blocker{pattern} }
+ {-add-header
+ -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 {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-forwarded-for-headers
+ +hide-from-header {block}
+ -hide-if-modified-since
+ +hide-referrer {forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -inspect-jpegs
+ -kill-popups
+ -limit-connect
+ -overwrite-last-modified
+ +prevent-compression
+ -redirect
+ -send-vanilla-wafer
+ -send-wafer
+ -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
+ -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
+ +session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker {pattern}
+ -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks }
/
-
+
{ -session-cookies-only }
.google.com
</para>
<para>
- This tells us how we have defined our
+ This is telling us how we have defined our
<link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
- which ones match for our example, <quote>google.com</quote>. The first listing
- is any matches for the <filename>standard.action</filename> file. No hits at
- all here on <quote>standard</quote>. Then next is <quote>default</quote>, or
- 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>
-
-<para>
- But we can define additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
- rules, and then list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions would
- apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit matches for
- <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous cookie setting,
- which was for <link
+ 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>
+
+<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. The
- second turns <emphasis>off</emphasis> any
- <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>. So, apparently, we have these two actions
- defined somewhere in the lower part of our <filename>default.action</filename>
- file, and <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter
- sections.
+ <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>
<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>
<para>
Final results:
- -add-header
- -block
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-incoming-cookies
- +deanimate-gifs{last}
- -downgrade-http-version
- -fast-redirects
- -filter{popups}
- -filter{fun}
- -filter{shockwave-flash}
- -filter{crude-parental}
- +filter{html-annoyances}
- +filter{js-annoyances}
- +filter{content-cookies}
- +filter{webbugs}
- +filter{refresh-tags}
- +filter{nimda}
- +filter{banners-by-size}
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers
- +hide-from-header{block}
- +hide-referer{forge}
- -hide-user-agent
- -handle-as-image
- -kill-popups
- -limit-connect
- +prevent-compression
- -send-vanilla-wafer
+ -add-header
+ -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 {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-forwarded-for-headers
+ +hide-from-header {block}
+ -hide-if-modified-since
+ +hide-referrer {forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -inspect-jpegs
+ -kill-popups
+ -limit-connect
+ -overwrite-last-modified
+ +prevent-compression
+ -redirect
+ -send-vanilla-wafer
-send-wafer
- -session-cookies-only
- +set-image-blocker{pattern}
-</screen>
+ -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
+ -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
+ -session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker {pattern}
+ -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks </screen>
</para>
<para>
Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
- <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>.
+ <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>
<para>
<para>
<screen>
- { +block +handle-as-image }
- .ad.doubleclick.net
-
- { +block +handle-as-image }
+ { +block }
ad*.
+ { +block }
+ .ad.
+
{ +block +handle-as-image }
- .doubleclick.net
+ .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
</screen>
</para>
<para>
- We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is
- matched three different times. Each as an <quote>+block +handle-as-image</quote>,
+ 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>+imageblock</quote>. (<link
+ <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.)
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>+imageblock</quote> just simplifies the process and make
- it more readable.
+ <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>
<para>
- One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
+ 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>
<para>
<screen>
- Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
+ Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
{-add-header
- -block
- -crunch-incoming-cookies
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -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
- +filter{html-annoyances}
- +filter{js-annoyances}
- +filter{kill-popups}
- +filter{webbugs}
- +filter{nimda}
- +filter{banners-by-size}
- +filter{hal}
- +filter{fun}
+ +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-forwarded-for-headers
+hide-from-header{block}
+hide-referer{forge}
-hide-user-agent
- -handle-as-image
- +kill-popups
+ -inspect-jpegs
+ -kill-popups
+ -overwrite-last-modified
+prevent-compression
+ -redirect
-send-vanilla-wafer
- -send-wafer
+ -send-wafer
+ -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
+ -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
+session-cookies-only
- +set-image-blocker{blank} }
+ +set-image-blocker{blank}
+ -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks }
/
{ +block +handle-as-image }
</para>
<para>
- Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote>! But
- we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the blank page. We could
- now add a new action below this that explicitly does <emphasis>not</emphasis>
- block (<quote>{-block}</quote>) paths with <quote>adsl</quote>. There are
- various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
+ 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>
<para>
</para>
<para>
- Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when
- making such changes. Or, try using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
+ 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>
<para>
</para>
<para>
- That actually was very telling and pointed us quickly to where the problem
+ 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 is causing the problem. This would require some
- guesswork, and maybe a little trial and error to isolate the offending rule.
- One likely cause would be one of the <quote>{+filter}</quote> actions. These
- tend to be harder to troubleshoot. Try adding the URL for the site to one of
- aliases that turn off <quote>+filter</quote>:
+ 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>
<para>
<screen>
- {shop}
+ { shop }
.quietpc.com
.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
.jungle.com
</para>
<para>
- <quote>{shop}</quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
- <quote>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</quote>.
+ <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>
<para>
<screen>
- {-filter}
+ { -filter }
+ # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
.forbes.com
+ developer.ibm.com
+ localhost
</screen>
</para>
<para>
- This would turn off all filtering for that site. This would probably be most
- appropriately put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
- exceptions.
+ 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>
<para>
Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
- <quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote> rule, which assumes
- that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well most of the time
- since these tend to be standardized).
+<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>
+
+<para>
+ <quote><literal>{ fragile }</literal></quote> is an alias that disables most
+ actions that are the most likely to cause trouble. This can be used as a
+ last resort for problem sites.
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+
+ { fragile }
+ # Handle with care: easy to break
+ mail.google.
+ mybank.example.com</screen>
</para>
+
<para>
- <quote>{fragile}</quote> is an alias that disables most actions. This can be
- used as a last resort for problem sites. Remember to flush caches! 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.
+ <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>
</sect2>
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., 59
- Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
+ or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+ 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301,
+ USA
$Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
+ Revision 2.31 2007/06/02 14:01:37 fabiankeil
+ Start to document forward-override{}.
+
+ Revision 2.30 2007/04/25 15:10:36 fabiankeil
+ - Describe installation for FreeBSD.
+ - Start to document taggers and tag patterns.
+ - Don't confuse devils and daemons.
+
+ 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.
+
+ Revision 2.28 2006/12/10 23:42:48 hal9
+ Fix various typos reported by Adam P. Thanks.
+
+ 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.
+
+ 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.
+
+ 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.
+
+ 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.
+
+ Revision 2.21 2006/09/20 03:21:36 david__schmidt
+ Just the tiniest tweak. Wafer thin!
+
+ Revision 2.20 2006/09/10 14:53:54 hal9
+ Results of spell check. User manual has some updates to standard.actions file
+ info.
+
+ Revision 2.19 2006/09/08 12:19:02 fabiankeil
+ Adjust hide-if-modified-since example values
+ to reflect the recent changes.
+
+ 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.
+
+ 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.
+
+ Revision 2.16 2006/09/02 12:49:37 hal9
+ Various small updates for new actions, filterfiles, etc.
+
+ 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.
+
+ 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.
+
+ 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.
+
+ Revision 2.12 2006/08/14 08:40:39 fabiankeil
+ Documented new actions that were part of
+ the "minor Privoxy improvements".
+
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)
projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff