<!entity history SYSTEM "history.sgml">
<!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
<!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
-<!entity p-version "2.9.15">
-<!entity p-status "beta">
-<!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
-<!entity % p-stable "IGNORE">
+<!entity p-authors SYSTEM "p-authors.sgml">
+<!entity config SYSTEM "p-config.sgml">
+<!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-stable "INCLUDE">
<!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
<!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
<!entity % p-readme "IGNORE">
-<!entity % p-config "IGNORE">
+<!entity % user-man "IGNORE">
+<!entity % config-file "IGNORE">
<!entity % p-supp-userman "IGNORE"> <!-- Omit some from supported.sgml -->
<!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
+<!entity % draft "IGNORE"> <!-- WIP stuff -->
+<!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 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9 Exp $
+ $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.31 2007/06/02 14:01:37 fabiankeil Exp $
- Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
+ Copyright (C) 2001-2007 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
See LICENSE.
========================================================================
<article id="index">
<artheader>
-<title>Privoxy User Manual</title>
+<title>Privoxy &p-version; User Manual</title>
<pubdate>
<subscript>
<!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
<!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
- <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001, 2002 by
- <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
+ <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 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9 Exp $</pubdate>
+<pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.31 2007/06/02 14:01:37 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
<!--
Hal.
-<copyright>
- <year>2001</year>
- <year>2002</year>
- <holder>Privoxy Developers</holder>
-</copyright>
-
-<legalnotice id="legalnotice">
- <para>
- text goes here ........
- </para>
-</legalnotice>
-->
]]>
<para>
- The user manual gives users information on how to install, configure and use
- <ulink
- url="http://www.privoxy.org/"><application>Privoxy</application></ulink>.
+ The <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
+
install, configure and use <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
user manual 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 <ulink url="contact.html">Contact section</ulink> on how to
+ Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> on how to
contact the developers.
</para>
<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 RPMs and Conectiva</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>
If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
- <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm;</literal>. This
+ <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
</para>
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>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian</title>
<para>
- FIXME.
+ DEBs can be installed with <literal>apt-get install privoxy</literal>,
+ and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of
+ configuration files.
</para>
</sect3>
<para>
Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
the installation process. You will find the configuration files
- in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in. We do not
- use the registry of Windows.
+ 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
untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
- things go. FIXME.
+ things go. <!-- FIXME, more info needed? -->
</para>
</sect3>
First, make sure that no previous installations of
<application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
<application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
- system. You can do this by
+ system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
+ or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
+ your startup folder.
+
</para>
<para>
</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Max OSX</title>
-<para>
- Unzip the downloaded package (you can either double-click on the file
- in the finder, or on the desktop if you downloaded it there). Then,
- double-click on the package installer icon and follow the installation
- process.
- <application>Privoxy</application> will be installed in the subdirectory
- <literal>/Applications/Privoxy.app</literal>.
- <application>Privoxy</application> will set itself up to start
- automatically on system bring-up via
- <literal>/System/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
+<sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Mac OSX</title>
+<para>
+ Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the file
+ from the finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there).
+ Then, double-click on the package installer icon named
+ <literal>Privoxy.pkg</literal>
+ and follow the installation process.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> will be installed in the folder
+ <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal>.
+ It will start automatically whenever you start up. To prevent it from
+ starting automatically, remove or rename the folder
+ <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
+</para>
+<para>
+ To start Privoxy by hand, double-click on
+ <literal>StartPrivoxy.command</literal> in the
+ <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal> folder.
+ Or, type this command in the Terminal:
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
+ </screen>
+</para>
+<para>
+ You will be prompted for the administrator password.
</para>
</sect3>
directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
remove this directory.
</para>
+</sect3>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 id="installation-tbz"><title>FreeBSD</title>
+
<para>
- Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
- <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
- <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
- startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
- <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
- TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
- <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
+ 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>
+ Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for <application>Privoxy</application> are
+ contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page,
+ but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new
+ <application>Privoxy</application> Version is added to the Portage Tree).
+</para>
+<para>
+ Before installing <application>Privoxy</application> under Gentoo just do
+ first <literal>emerge rsync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
+ Portage tree. With <literal>emerge privoxy</literal> you install the latest
+ version.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Configuration files are in <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename>, the
+ documentation is in <filename>/usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;</filename>
+ and the Log directory is in <filename>/var/log/privoxy</filename>.
</para>
</sect3>
+
</sect2>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<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
- url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.gz">the nightly CVS
+ 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: -->
&buildsource;
<!-- end boilerplate -->
+</sect2>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="installation-keepupdated"><title>Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date</title>
+<para>
+ As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions
+ of both the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link> (as a <ulink
+ url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&release_id=103670">separate
+ package</ulink>) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for
+ download.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
+ <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
+ url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
+ to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
+ to the latest <literal>default.action</literal> file we <emphasis>strongly
+ recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> and
+ <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>
+
</sect2>
+
</sect1>
<!-- ~ 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 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions
- files</quote></ulink>.
- <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 <ulink url="filter-file.html"><quote>filter file</quote></ulink> (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 file for cookie management, ad and banner
- blocking, and many other aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
- configuration is in the <ulink url="actions-file.html">actions
- files</ulink>. It is strongly recommended to become familiar with the new
- 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, please back up any configuration files. See
- the <link linkend="upgradersnote">Note to Upgraders</link> Section.
- </para>
-</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
- linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> for platform specific
+ linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
information.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
- not done this already. See the section <link linkend="startup">Starting
- <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
+ Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
+ service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
+ linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
+ linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
+ off by default.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and HTTPS
- proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of
- <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
- (<application>Junkbuster</application> and earlier versions of
- <application>Privoxy</application> used port 8000.) See the section <link
- linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
+ Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
+ not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
+ <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
+ HTTPS (SSL) <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>
+ by setting the proxy configuration for address of
+ <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
+ <emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> activate proxying for <literal>FTP</literal> or
+ any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)! It won't work!
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Flush your browser's caches, to remove any cached ad images.
+ Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
+ If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
+ you should remove any currently stored cookies too.
</para>
-</listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy. You may want to customize the
- <link linkend="actions-file"><filename>user.action</filename></link> file to
- personalize your new browsing experience. See the <link
- linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more configuration
- options, and how to further customize your installation.
+ A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
+ most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
+ configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
+ to no initial configuration is required in most cases.
</para>
+ <para>
+ See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
+ configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
+ You might also want to look at the <link
+ linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
+ introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
+ banners.
+</para>
</listitem>
-
+
<listitem>
<para>
- If you experience problems with sites that <quote>misbehave</quote>, see
- the <link linkend="actionsanat">Anatomy of an Action</link> section in the
- Appendix.
+ If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are
+ blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
+ <application>Privoxy's</application> behavior, take a look at the <link
+ linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
+ find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
+ helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
+ Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
+ Action</link></quote> has hints on how to understand and debug actions that
+ <quote>misbehave</quote>.
</para>
</listitem>
-
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ For easy access to &my-app;'s most important controls, drag the provided
+ <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklets</link> into your browser's
+ personal toolbar.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
<listitem>
<para>
Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
- Developers</link> on how to report bugs 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 control, comfort and privacy!
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
</itemizedlist>
</para>
-</sect1>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="startup">
-<title>Starting <application>Privoxy</application></title>
+
+<sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
+<title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
+<!--
+ NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
+ want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
+-->
<para>
- 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
- 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!
+ Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
+ user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
</para>
-
<para>
- With <application>Netscape</application> (and
- <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under <literal>Edit
- -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy</literal>.
- For <application>Internet Explorer</application>: <literal>Tools ->
- Internet Properties -> Connections -> LAN Setting</literal>. Then,
- check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info (Address:
- 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include if HTTPS proxy support too.
+ This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
+ you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
+ information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
+</para>
+<para>
+ First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
+ more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
+ things that were not intended. And the more likely that some things
+ may not work as intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
+ extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
+ <quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
+ configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
+ not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
+ the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
+ default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
+ habits and preferences.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
+ <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
+ the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
+ some task relating to 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>
+ arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. <link
+ linkend="actions">Actions</link>, and <link linkend="actions-file">action
+ configuration files</link>, are explained in depth below.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
+ followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
+ can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
+ wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
+ actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
+</para>
+<para>
+ When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
+ of the sections as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
+ or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
+ respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
+ pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
+ use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
+ original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
+ embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
+ or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
+ such embedded URLs. &my-app; can deal with each URL individually, so, for
+ instance, the main page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such
+ server are blocked.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: <literal><link
+ linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
+ linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
+ <literal><link
+ linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal>,and
+ <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
</para>
<para>
- 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
- <application>Privoxy</application>!
-</para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this is perhaps
+ the single most used action, and is particularly important for ad blocking.
+ This action stops any contact between your browser and any URL patterns
+ that match this action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads,
+ but also anything that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply
+ stops any communication with the remote server and sends
+ <application>Privoxy</application>'s own built-in BLOCKED page instead to
+ let you now what has happened (with some exceptions, see below).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
-<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> is typically started by specifying the
- main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
- file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
- will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
- directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
-</para>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
+ tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
+ <application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
+ for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
+ is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
+ important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
+ some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
+ <application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
+ a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
+ though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
+ an entire HTML page in most situations.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
-<sect2 id="start-redhatdebian">
-<title>RedHat, Conectiva and Debian</title>
-<para>
-We use a script. Note that RedHat does not start Privoxy upon booting per
-default. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its
-main configuration file. FIXME: Debian??
-</para>
-<para>
- <screen>
- # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
-</screen>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> -
+ sends an empty document instead of <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither
+ HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal><link
+ linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> - tells
+ <application>Privoxy</application> what to display in place of an ad image that
+ has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action somewhere in the
+ configuration, <emphasis>and</emphasis>, it must also match an
+ <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
+ </para>
+ <simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
+ replacement is obvious. This is the default.
+ </member>
+ </simplelist>
+ <simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>blank</emphasis> - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
+ This is the so-called <quote>invisible</quote> configuration option.
+ </member>
+ </simplelist>
+ <simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any image anywhere
+ of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
+ </member>
+ </simplelist>
+ </listitem>
+
+</itemizedlist>
</para>
-</sect2>
-<sect2 id="start-suse">
-<title>SuSE</title>
<para>
-We use a script. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename>
-as its main configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting
-your PC.
+ The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
+ the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
+ (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
+ is an internal page, and does not require Internet access. Select the
+ appropriate <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
+ <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
+ local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
+ meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
+ other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
+ blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
</para>
+
<para>
- <screen>
- # rcprivoxy start
-</screen>
+ A quick and simple step by step example:
</para>
-</sect2>
-<sect2 id="start-windows">
-<title>Windows</title>
<para>
-Click on the Privoxy Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is
- specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
+ <itemizedlist>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
+ <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
+ pop-up menu.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Set your browser to
+ <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
+ on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
+ </para>
+
+ <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
+ <para>
+ <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
+ <mediaobject>
+ <imageobject>
+ <imagedata fileref="files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
+ </imageobject>
+ <textobject>
+ <phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
+ </textobject>
+ </mediaobject>
+ </figure>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ You should have a section with only
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
+ <quote>Actions:</quote>.
+ If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
+ button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
+ <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
+ This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
+ in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
+ just below the list.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
+ click the <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
+ browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote>.
+ Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
+ <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
+ <quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
+ (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
+ wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
+ site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
+ the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
+ section</link>.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
+ to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
+ The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
+</para>
+<para>
+ There are also various
+ <link linkend="filter">filters</link> that can be used for ad blocking
+ (filters are a special subset of actions). These
+ fall into the <quote>advanced</quote> usage category, and are explained in
+ depth in later sections.
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+
+</sect1>
+
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect1 id="startup">
+<title>Starting Privoxy</title>
+<para>
+ Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
+ will want to configure your browser(s) to use
+ <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>. The default is
+ 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
+ used port 8000). This is the one configuration step <emphasis>that must be done
+</emphasis>!
+</para>
+<para>
+ Please note that <application>Privoxy</application> can only proxy HTTP and
+ HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
+</para>
+
+ <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
+ <para>
+ <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
+ Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings</title>
+ <mediaobject>
+ <imageobject>
+ <imagedata fileref="proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
+ </imageobject>
+ <textobject>
+ <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
+ </textobject>
+ </mediaobject>
+ </figure>
+ </para>
+
+
+<para>
+ With <application>Firefox</application>, this is typically set under:
+</para>
+
+<literallayout>
+ <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>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>
+
+</literallayout>
+
+<para>
+ For <application>Internet Explorer v.5-6</application>:
+</para>
+
+<literallayout>
+ <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Internet Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connections</guibutton> -> <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
+</literallayout>
+
+<para>
+ Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
+ (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
+ proxy support too (sometimes labeled <quote>Secure</quote>). Make sure any
+ checkboxes like <quote>Use the same proxy server for all protocols</quote> is
+ <emphasis>UNCHECKED</emphasis>. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
+</para>
+
+ <!-- image of IE Proxy configuration -->
+ <para>
+ <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
+ Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings</title>
+ <mediaobject>
+ <imageobject>
+ <imagedata fileref="proxy2.jpg" format="jpg">
+ </imageobject>
+ <textobject>
+ <phrase>[ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
+ </textobject>
+ </mediaobject>
+ </figure>
+ </para>
+
+
+<para>
+ After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
+ re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
+ any <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
+ if you want <application>Privoxy</application> to manage that. You are now
+ ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
+ <application>Privoxy</application>!
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> itself is typically started by specifying the
+ main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
+ file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
+ will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
+ directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
+</para>
+
+<sect2 id="start-redhat">
+<title>Red Hat and Fedora</title>
+<para>
+ A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use
+ the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
+ file.
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
+</screen>
+</para>
+<para>
+ Or ...
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ # service privoxy start
+</screen>
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 id="start-debian">
+<title>Debian</title>
+<para>
+ We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; upon booting per
+ default. It will use the file
+ <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
+ file.
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
+</screen>
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<!--
+ omitting 10/31/06 HB
+
+<sect2 id="start-suse">
+<title>SuSE</title>
+<para>
+We use a script. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename>
+as its main configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting
+your PC.
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ # rcprivoxy start
+</screen>
+</para>
+</sect2>
+-->
+<sect2 id="start-windows">
+<title>Windows</title>
+<para>
+Click on the &my-app; Icon to start <application>Privoxy</application>. If no configuration file is
+ specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
- automatically start 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>
<sect2 id="start-os2">
<title>OS/2</title>
<para>
-FIXME.
+ During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
+ start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
+ double-clicking on the <application>Privoxy</application> icon in the
+ <application>Privoxy</application> folder.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="start-macosx">
-<title>MAX OSX</title>
+<title>Mac OSX</title>
+<para>
+ During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
+ start automatically when the system restarts. To start &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>
-FIXME.
+ <screen>
+ /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
+ </screen>
+</para>
+<para>
+ You will be prompted for the administrator password.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="start-amigaos">
<title>AmigaOS</title>
<para>
-FIXME.
+ Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
+ <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
+ <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
+ startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
+ <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
+ TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
+ <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<sect2 id="start-gentoo">
+<title>Gentoo</title>
+<para>
+ A script is again used. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config
+ </filename> as its main configuration file.
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ /etc/init.d/privoxy start
+ </screen>
+</para>
+<para>
+ Note that <application>Privoxy</application> is not automatically started at
+ boot time by default. You can change this with the <literal>rc-update</literal>
+ command.
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ rc-update add privoxy default
+ </screen>
</para>
</sect2>
<para>
See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
- furher info.
+ further info.
</para>
must find a better place for this paragraph
</para>
<para>
- If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <ulink
- url="actions-file.html#ACTIONSFILE">read more about the actions concept</ulink>
- or even dive deep into the <ulink url="appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">Appendix
- on actions</ulink>.
+ If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <link
+ linkend="actions-file">read more about the actions concept</link>
+ or even dive deep into the <link linkend="actionsanat">Appendix
+ on actions</link>.
</para>
<para>
If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
- section <ulink url="contact.html"><quote>Contacting the
- Developers</quote></ulink> below.
+ section <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
+ Developers</quote></link> below.
</para>
-->
<emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <emphasis>--chroot</emphasis>
+
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Before changing to the user ID given in the <emphasis>--user</emphasis> option,
+ chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
+ process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
+ the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy.
+ Unix only.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
</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>
<!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
<screen>
<msgtext>
- <bridgehead renderas="sect2">Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
+ <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
<simplelist>
<member>
<member>
▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
</member>
+ <member>
+ ▪ <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/
+ &p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
+ </member>
</simplelist>
</msgtext>
</screen>
<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.
+ 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>
<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="config">
-<title>The Main Configuration File</title>
+<!-- **************************************************** -->
+<!-- Include config.sgml here -->
+<!-- This is where the entire config file is detailed. -->
+ &config;
+<!-- end include -->
-<para>
- Again, the main configuration file is named <filename>config</filename> on
- Linux/Unix/BSD and OS/2, and <filename>config.txt</filename> on Windows.
- Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list of
- values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or tabs). For
- example:
-</para>
-<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>confdir /etc/privoxy</emphasis></literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
-</para>
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-<para>
- Assigns the value <literal>/etc/privoxy</literal> to the option
- <literal>confdir</literal> and thus indicates that the configuration
- directory is named <quote>/etc/privoxy/</quote>.
-</para>
-<para>
- All options in the config file except for <literal>confdir</literal> and
- <literal>logdir</literal> are optional. Watch out in the below description
- for what happens if you leave them unset.
-</para>
-<para>
- The main config file controls all aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>'s
- operation that are not location dependent (i.e. they apply universally, no matter
- where you may be surfing).
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
+<sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<para>
+ The actions files are used to define what <emphasis>actions</emphasis>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determines
+ how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
+ transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof).
+ There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
+ Each action does something a little different.
+ These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
+ our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that
+ their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.
+</para>
+<para>
+ There
+ are three action files included with <application>Privoxy</application> with
+ differing purposes:
+ </para>
+
+ <para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
+ that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
+ provide a base level of functionality for
+ <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
+ a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well as-is for most users.
+ This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and <link
+ linkend="installation-keepupdated">making available to users</link>.
+ The user's preferences as set in <filename>standard.action</filename>,
+ e.g. either <literal>Cautious</literal> (the default),
+ <literal>Medium</literal>, or <literal>Advanced</literal> (see
+ below).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
+ preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
+ has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
+ thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used only by the web based editor
+ at <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
+ http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>,
+ to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
+ in <filename>default.action</filename>.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Cautious</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Medium</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Advanced</guibutton>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no
+ influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
+ editor</emphasis>. A default installation should be pre-set to
+ <literal>Cautious</literal> (versions prior to 3.0.5 were set to
+ <literal>Medium</literal>). New users should try this for a while before
+ adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
+ the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
+ not working as they should.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button allows you to turn each
+ action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <guibutton>Cautious</guibutton>
+ button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
+ ad blocking and a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently
+ there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
+ <guibutton>Medium</guibutton> button sets the list to a medium level of
+ other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
+ <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> button sets the list to a high level of
+ ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter
+ three buttons over-ride any changes via with the
+ <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
+ lower sections of this internal page.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is not recommend to edit the <filename>standard.action</filename> file
+ itself.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
+ <filename>standard.action</filename> are:
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
+ <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
+ <colspec colname=c1>
+ <colspec colname=c2>
+ <colspec colname=c3>
+ <colspec colname=c4>
+ <thead>
+ <row>
+ <entry>Feature</entry>
+ <entry>Cautious</entry>
+ <entry>Medium</entry>
+ <entry>Advanced</entry>
+ </row>
+ </thead>
+ <!-- <tfoot> -->
+ <!-- <row> -->
+ <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
+ <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
+ <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
+ <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
+ <!-- </row> -->
+ <!-- </tfoot> -->
+ <tbody>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</entry>
+ <entry>medium</entry>
+ <entry>high</entry>
+ <entry>high</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ </row>
+ <row>
+ <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
+ <entry>blocks only</entry>
+ <entry>blocks only</entry>
+ <entry>blocks only</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>Privacy Features</entry>
+ <entry>low</entry>
+ <entry>medium</entry>
+ <entry>medium/high</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
+ <entry>none</entry>
+ <entry>session-only</entry>
+ <entry>kill</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>Referer forging</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ </row>
+
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ </row>
+
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>HTML taming</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ <row>
+ <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>no</entry>
+ <entry>yes</entry>
+ </row>
+
+ </tbody>
+ </tgroup>
+ </table>
+ </para>
-<sect2 id="conf-log-loc">
-<title>Configuration and Log File Locations</title>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </para>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> can (and normally does) use a number of
- other files for additional configuration, help and logging.
- This section of the configuration file tells <application>Privoxy</application>
- where to find those other files.
-</para>
+ The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
+ file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
+ <filename>default.action</filename> is typically processed before
+ <filename>user.action</filename>). The content of these can all be viewed and
+ edited from <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
+ The over-riding principle when applying actions, is that the last action that
+ matches a given URL, wins. The broadest, most general rules go first
+ (defined in <filename>default.action</filename>),
+ followed by any exceptions (typically also in
+ <filename>default.action</filename>), which are then followed lastly by any
+ local preferences (typically in <emphasis>user</emphasis><filename>.action</filename>).
+ Generally, <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word.
+ </para>
<para>
- The user running Privoxy, must have read permission for all
- configuration files, and write permission to any files that would
- be modified, such as log files.
-</para>
-
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="confdir"><title>confdir</title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>The directory where the other configuration files are located</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Path name</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>/etc/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
- </para>
- <para>
- When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and
- per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of <quote>confdir</quote>.
- For now, the configuration directory structure is flat, except for
- <filename>confdir/templates</filename>, where the HTML templates for CGI
- output reside (e.g. <application>Privoxy's</application> 404 error page).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
+ An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
+ <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
+ <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
+ Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
+ sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
+ universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
+ <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
+ from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
+ exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
+ <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
+ with the advantage that is a separate file, which makes preserving your
+ personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
+ just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
+ or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
+ written to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
+ fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
+ of actions</link>.
+</para>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2>
+<title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
+<para>
+ Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
+ or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
+ techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
+ certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring
+ refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that the more
+ <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
+ actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
+ will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per
+ default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
+ regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe
+ your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
+ distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
+ things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
+ Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2>
+<title>How to Edit</title>
+<para>
+ The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
+ using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
+ The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single feature on a
+ per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults like
+ <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or <quote>Advanced</quote>.
+ Warning: the <quote>Advanced</quote> setting is more aggressive, and
+ will be more likely to cause problems for some sites. Experienced users only!
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
+ the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at
+ <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly commented with many
+ good examples.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+
+<sect2 id="actions-apply">
+<title>How Actions are Applied to Requests</title>
+<para>
+ Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
+ like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
+ be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
+ heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
+ of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
+ Below that, there is a list of URL and tag patterns, each on a separate line.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
+ compared to all URL patterns in each <quote>action file</quote>.
+ Every time it matches, the list of applicable actions for the request is
+ incrementally updated, using the heading of the section in which the
+ pattern is located. The same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ If multiple applying sections set the same action differently,
+ the last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated.
+ E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading line of <literal>{
+ +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> }</literal>,
+ then later another one with just <literal>{
+ +<link linkend="block">block</link> }</literal>, resulting
+ in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply. And there may well be
+ cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
+ might look like:
+</para>
+
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+ { +<literal>handle-as-image</literal> +<literal>block</literal> }
+ # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
+ banners.example.com
+ media.example.com/.*banners
+ .example.com/images/ads/</screen>
+ </para>
+
+<para>
+ You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by visiting <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
+ Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</link> section.
+</para>
+</sect2>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logdir"><title>logdir</title>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="af-patterns">
+<title>Patterns</title>
+<para>
+ As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
+ to determine what <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 URL pattern has the form
+ <literal><domain>/<path></literal>, where both the
+ <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal> are
+ optional. (This is why the special <literal>/</literal> pattern matches all
+ URLs). Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g.
+ <literal>http://</literal>) should <emphasis>not</emphasis> be included in
+ the pattern. This is assumed already!
+</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>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where <filename>logfile</filename> and
- <filename>jarfile</filename> are located)
+ is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
+ regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in
+ this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
+ simple <literal>example.com</literal> is different and would NOT match.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Path name</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>/var/log/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
+ <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
+ means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
+ be omitted.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="actionsfile"><title>
-actionsfile
-</title>
-<anchor id="default.action">
-<anchor id="standard.action">
-<anchor id="user.action">
-<!-- Note: slightly modified this section 04/28/02, hal. See NOTE. -->
-<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The <link linkend="actions-file">actions file(s)</link> to use
+ matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
+ on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal>, without the <literal>.action</literal> suffix</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <simplelist>
- <member>
- <msgtext><literallayout> standard # Internal purposes, no editing recommended</literallayout></msgtext>
- </member>
- <member>
- <msgtext><literallayout> default # Main actions file</literallayout></msgtext>
- </member>
- <member>
- <msgtext><literallayout> user # User customizations</literallayout></msgtext>
- </member>
- </simplelist>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term><literal>/index.html</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- No actions are taken at all. Simple neutral proxying.
+ matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
+ i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server anywhere.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
+ <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Multiple <literal>actionsfile</literal> lines are permitted, and are in fact recommended!
- </para>
- <para>
- The default values include standard.action, which is used for internal
- purposes and should be loaded, default.action, which is the
- <quote>main</quote> actions file maintained by the developers, and
- <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can make your personal additions.
- </para>
- <para>
- Actions files are where all the per site and per URL configuration is done for
- ad blocking, cookie management, privacy considerations, etc.
- There is no point in using <application>Privoxy</application> without at
- least one actions file.
+ matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
+ there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>. So its
+ a mistake.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filterfile"><title>filterfile</title>
-<anchor id="default.filter">
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
+
+<para>
+ The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
+ domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
+ For example:
+</para>
+
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The <link linkend="filter">filter</link> file to use
+ matches any domain that <emphasis>ENDS</emphasis> in
+ <literal>.example.com</literal>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>default.filter (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> default.filter.txt (Windows)</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all
- <literal>+filter{<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>}</literal>
- actions in the actions files are turned neutral.
+ matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
+ <literal>www.</literal>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
+ <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The <quote>default.filter</quote> file contains content modification rules
- that use <quote>regular expressions</quote>. These rules permit powerful
- changes on the content of Web pages, e.g., you could disable your favorite
- JavaScript annoyances, re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some
- fun replacing <quote>Microsoft</quote> with <quote>MicroSuck</quote> wherever
- it appears on a Web page.
+ matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>.
+ And, by the way, also included would be any files or documents that exist
+ within that domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly
+ speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as
+ a domain.) This might be <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
+ <literal>news.example.de</literal>, or
+ <literal>www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</literal> for instance. All these
+ cases are matched.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logfile"><title>logfile</title>
+<para>
+ Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
+ themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
+ <quote>*</quote> represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
+ equivalent to the
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
+ Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax of <quote>.*</quote>),
+ <quote>?</quote> represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
+ regular expression syntax of a simple <quote>.</quote>), and you can define
+ <quote>character classes</quote> in square brackets which is similar to
+ the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:
+</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The log file to use
+ matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
+ <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
<listitem>
- <para>logfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.log (Windows)</para>
+ <para>
+ matches all of the above, and then some.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (<literal>stderr</literal>).
+ matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
+ <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
+ <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The windows version will additionally log to the console.
- </para>
- <para>
- The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The level
- of detail and number of messages are set with the <literal>debug</literal>
- option (see below). The logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with
- <application>Privoxy</application> (e.g., it's not blocking an ad you
- think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look at it.
- </para>
- <para>
- Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to
- periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job
- (see <quote>man cron</quote>). For Red Hat, a <command>logrotate</command>
- script has been included.
- </para>
- <para>
- On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like <quote>/var/log/privoxy.*
- +1024k 644 nobody.nogroup</quote> in <filename>/etc/logfiles</filename>, with
- the effect that cron.daily will automatically archive, gzip, and empty the
- log, when it exceeds 1M size.
- </para>
- <para>
- Any log files must be writable by whatever user <application>Privoxy</application>
- is being run as (default on UNIX, user id is <quote>privoxy</quote>).
+ matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
+ <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
+ <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
+ <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
+
+<para>
+ While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax.
+</para>
+
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jarfile"><title>jarfile</title>
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
+
+<para>
+ <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 portion (after the slash), and is thus more flexible.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
+ expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
+ at <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt">http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</ulink>.
+ You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<literal>man perlre</literal>)
+ useful, which is available on-line at <ulink
+ url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
+ i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
+ for the beginning of a line).
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
+ by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
+ <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
+ only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
+ <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
+</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term><literal>.example.com/.*</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The file to store intercepted cookies in
+ Is equivalent to just <quote>.example.com</quote>, since any documents
+ within that domain are matched with or without the <quote>.*</quote>
+ regular expression. This is redundant
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term><literal>.example.com/.*/index.html</literal></term>
<listitem>
- <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
+ <para>
+ Will match any page in the domain of <quote>example.com</quote> that is
+ named <quote>index.html</quote>, and that is part of some path. For
+ example, it matches <quote>www.example.com/testing/index.html</quote> but
+ NOT <quote>www.example.com/index.html</quote> because the regular
+ expression called for at least two <quote>/'s</quote>, thus the path
+ requirement. It also would match
+ <quote>www.example.com/testing/index_html</quote>, because of the
+ special meta-character <quote>.</quote>.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html</literal></term>
<listitem>
- <para>jarfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.jar (Windows)</para>
+ <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>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Intercepted cookies are not stored at all.
+ 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>Notes:</term>
+ <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time.
+ 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>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trustfile"><title>trustfile</title>
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The trust file to use
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para><emphasis>Unset (commented out)</emphasis>. When activated: trust (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> trust.txt (Windows)</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The whole trust mechanism is turned off.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The trust mechanism is an experimental feature for building white-lists and should
- be used with care. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> recommended for the casual user.
- </para>
- <para>
- If you specify a trust file, <application>Privoxy</application> will only allow
- access to sites that are named in the trustfile.
- You can also mark sites as trusted referrers (with <literal>+</literal>), with
- the effect that access to untrusted sites will be granted, if a link from a
- trusted referrer was used.
- The link target will then be added to the <quote>trustfile</quote>.
- Possible applications include limiting Internet access for children.
- </para>
- <para>
- If you use <literal>+</literal> operator in the trust file, it may grow considerably over time.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
+<!-- ~ 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>
<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="local-set-up">
-<title>Local Set-up Documentation</title>
+<sect2 id="actions">
+<title>Actions</title>
+<para>
+ All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
+ somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
+ <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
+ <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
+ <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
+ following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
+ block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
+ previously applied.</quote>
- <para>
- If you intend to operate <application>Privoxy</application> for more users
- than just yourself, it might be a good idea to let them know how to reach
- you, what you block and why you do that, your policies, etc.
- </para>
+</para>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="user-manual"><title>user-manual</title>
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Location of the <application>Privoxy</application> User Manual.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>A fully qualified URI</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/<replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable>/user-manual/</ulink>
- will be used, where <replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable> is the <application>Privoxy</application> version.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The User Manual URI is used for help links from some of the internal CGI pages.
- The manual itself is normally packaged with the binary distributions, so you probably want
- to set this to a locally installed copy. For multi-user setups, you could provide a copy on
- a local webserver for all your users and use the corresponding URL here.
- </para>
- <para>
- Examples:
- </para>
+<para>
+ Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
+ separated by whitespace, like in
+ <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
+ followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
+ Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
+ of the actions file.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Actions fall into three categories:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
+ <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
+ </para>
<para>
- Unix, in local filesystem:
+ <screen>
+ +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
+ -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Example: <literal>+block</literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
+ Syntax:
</para>
<para>
- <screen>user-manual file:///usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;/user-manual/</screen>
+ <screen>
+ +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
+ # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
+ -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
</para>
<para>
- Any platform, on local webserver (called <quote>local-webserver</quote>):
+ Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
+ the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 }</literal>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
+ but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
+ same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
+ from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
+ that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
+ headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
</para>
<para>
- <screen>user-manual http://local-webserver/privoxy-user-manual/</screen>
+ <screen>
+ +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
+ -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
+ # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
+ <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
+ <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
</para>
- <warning>
- <para>
- If set, this option should be <emphasis>the first option in the config file</emphasis>, because
- it is used while the config file is being read.
- </para>
- </warning>
</listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trust-info-url"><title>trust-info-url</title>
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
+ taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
+ normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the
+ privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
+ files will give a good starting point).
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions
+ to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
+ in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such
+ as <filename>user.action</filename>). For multi-valued actions, the actions
+ are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are processed in
+ the order they are defined in <filename>config</filename> (the default
+ installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any given
+ URL to match more than one <quote>pattern</quote> (because of wildcards and
+ regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last
+ match wins.
+</para>
+
+<!-- start actions listing -->
+<para>
+ The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
+</para>
+
+
+<!-- ********************************************************** -->
+<!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
+<!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
+<!-- -->
+<!-- ********************************************************** -->
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
+<title>add-header</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if access to an untrusted page is denied.
- </para>
+ <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>URL</para>
+ <para>
+ Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Two example URL are provided</para>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page.
+ Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
+ It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
+ for custom headers.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
+
+<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust mechanism has been
- activated. (See <link linkend="trustfile"><emphasis>trustfile</emphasis></link> above.)
- </para>
- <para>
- If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line
- documentation about your trust policy and to specify the URL(s) here.
- Use multiple times for multiple URLs.
+ This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
+ headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
+ <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
+ one.
</para>
- <para>
- The URL(s) should be added to the trustfile as well, so users don't end up
- locked out from the information on why they were locked out in the first place!
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="admin-address"><title>admin-address</title>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
+<title>block</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- An email address to reach the proxy administrator.
- </para>
+ <para>Block ads or other unwanted content</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Email address</para>
+ <para>
+ Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
+ requests are trapped by &my-app; and the requested URL is never retrieved,
+ but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
+ the <literal><link
+ linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
+ <literal><link
+ linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>, and
+ <literal><link
+ linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> actions.
+
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>N/A</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+<varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
+ for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request
+ was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the
+ force feature enabled). The <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page adapts to the available
+ screen space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and text-only
+ if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using <application>Privoxy</application>
+ right now, you can take a look at the
+ <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
+ page</ulink>.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
+ <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
+ apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
+ <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
+ (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
+ if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is important to understand this process, in order
+ to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
+ ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
+ upon which various other features depend.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
+ action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
+ banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
+ document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
+ Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
- are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
- not be shown.
- </para>
+ <screen>{+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>
+
+
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="proxy-info-url"><title>proxy-info-url</title>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-filter">
+<title>client-header-filter</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- A URL to documentation about the local <application>Privoxy</application> setup,
- configuration or policies.
+ Rewrite or remove single client headers.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>URL</para>
+ <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>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
+ 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>
- If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
- are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
- not be shown.
- </para>
+ 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>
- This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-)
- </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>
-</sect2>
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect2 id="debugging">
-<title>Debugging</title>
-
- <para>
- These options are mainly useful when tracing a problem.
- Note that you might also want to invoke
- <application>Privoxy</application> with the <literal>--no-daemon</literal>
- command line option when debugging.
- </para>
-
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="debug"><title>debug</title>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-tagger">
+<title>client-header-tagger</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Key values that determine what information gets logged to the
- <link linkend="logfile"><emphasis>logfile</emphasis></link>.
+ Block requests based on their headers.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Integer values</para>
+ <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>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>12289 (i.e.: URLs plus informational and warning messages)</para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Nothing gets logged.
+ The name of a 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>
- The available debug levels are:
- </para>
- <para>
- <programlisting>
- debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
- debug 2 # show each connection status
- debug 4 # show I/O status
- debug 8 # show header parsing
- debug 16 # log all data into the logfile
- debug 32 # debug force feature
- debug 64 # debug regular expression filter
- debug 128 # debug fast redirects
- debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation
- debug 512 # Common Log Format
- debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups
- debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
- debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
-</programlisting>
- </para>
- <para>
- To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or use
- multiple <literal>debug</literal> lines.
- </para>
- <para>
- A debug level of 1 is informative because it will show you each request
- as it happens. <emphasis>1, 4096 and 8192 are highly recommended</emphasis>
- so that you will notice when things go wrong. The other levels are probably
- only of interest if you are hunting down a specific problem. They can produce
- a hell of an output (especially 16).
- <!-- LOL -->
+ 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>
- The reporting of <emphasis>fatal</emphasis> errors (i.e. ones which crash
- <application>Privoxy</application>) is always on and cannot be disabled.
- </para>
- <para>
- If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set <quote>debug
- 512</quote> <emphasis>ONLY</emphasis> and not enable anything else.
+ 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>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="single-threaded"><title>single-threaded</title>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="content-type-overwrite">
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<title>content-type-overwrite</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Whether to run only one server thread
+ Replaces the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para><emphasis>None</emphasis></para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
- <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
+ <para>
+ Any string.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, i.e. the ability to
- serve multiple requests simultaneously.
+ The <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header is used by the
+ browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this
+ header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of
+ displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is
+ supported by the browser.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
+ the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <quote>text/html</quote>,
+ many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
+ If it is send as <quote>application/xml</quote>, browsers with
+ XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
+ <quote>Content-Type: text/html</quote>, you can use &my-app;
+ to overwrite it with <quote>application/xml</quote> and validate
+ the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
+ If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints
+ error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared
+ as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
+ <quote>text/html</quote> and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ By default <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal> only replaces
+ <quote>Content-Type:</quote> headers that look like some kind of text.
+ If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
+ <literal><link linkend="force-text-mode">force-text-mode</link></literal>.
+ This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom
+ <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
+ It allows you to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
+ only replace the content types you aimed at.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Of course you can apply <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal>
+ to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
+ more work to get the same precision.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
+ <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- This option is only there for debug purposes and you should never
- need to use it. <emphasis>It will drastically reduce performance.</emphasis>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
+{ +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
+www.example.net/
+
+# but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
+{-content-type-overwrite}
+www.example.net/.*\.css$
+www.example.net/.*style
+</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-</sect2>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect2 id="access-control">
-<title>Access Control and Security</title>
-
- <para>
- This section of the config file controls the security-relevant aspects
- of <application>Privoxy</application>'s configuration.
- </para>
-
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="listen-address"><title>listen-address</title>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-client-header">
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<title>crunch-client-header</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- The IP address and TCP port on which <application>Privoxy</application> will
- listen for client requests.
- </para>
+ <para>Remove a client header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>[<replaceable class="parameter">IP-Address</replaceable>]:<replaceable class="parameter">Port</replaceable></para>
+ <para>
+ Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>127.0.0.1:8118</para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Bind to 127.0.0.1 (localhost), port 8118. This is suitable and recommended for
- home users who run <application>Privoxy</application> on the same machine as
- their browser.
- </para>
+ Any string.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address and port.
+ This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
+ <application>Privoxy</application> action exists.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> will remove every client header that
+ contains the string you supplied as parameter.
</para>
<para>
- If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to
- serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well, you
- will need to override the default.
+ Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
+ use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
+ they contain the same string.
</para>
<para>
- If you leave out the IP address, <application>Privoxy</application> will
- bind to all interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable
- from the Internet. In that case, consider using access control lists (ACL's)
- (see <quote>ACLs</quote> below), or a firewall.
+ <literal>crunch-client-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
+ If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
+ parts of them, you should use a
+ <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header filter</link></literal>.
</para>
+ <warning>
+ <para>
+ Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
+ </para>
+ </warning>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Example:</term>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- Suppose you are running <application>Privoxy</application> on
- a machine which has the address 192.168.0.1 on your local private network
- (192.168.0.0) and has another outside connection with a different address.
- You want it to serve requests from inside only:
- </para>
- <para>
- <programlisting>
- listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
-</programlisting>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
+{ +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
+/
+ </screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="toggle"><title>toggle</title>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-if-none-match">
+<title>crunch-if-none-match</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- Initial state of "toggle" status
- </para>
+ <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>1 or 0</para>
+ <para>
+ Deletes the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>1</para>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Act as if toggled on
- </para>
+ N/A
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- If set to 0, <application>Privoxy</application> will start in
- <quote>toggled off</quote> mode, i.e. behave like a normal, content-neutral
- proxy where all ad blocking, filtering, etc are disabled. See
- <literal>enable-remote-toggle</literal> below. This is not really useful
- anymore, since toggling is much easier via <ulink
- url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">the web interface</ulink> than via
- editing the <filename>conf</filename> file.
+ Removing the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header
+ is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
+ reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote> which
+ would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
+ replacement.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Blocking the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> header shouldn't cause any
+ caching problems, as long as the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> header
+ isn't blocked as well.
</para>
<para>
- The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the system tray
- if this option is present.
+ It is recommended to use this action together with
+ <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
+ and
+ <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Let the browser revalidate cached documents without being tracked across sessions
+{ +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
+ +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
+ +crunch-if-none-match}
+/ </screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-remote-toggle"><title>enable-remote-toggle</title>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
+<title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
+
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">web-based toggle
- feature</ulink> may be used
+ Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>0 or 1</para>
+ <para>
+ Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>1</para>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The web-based toggle feature is disabled.
+ N/A
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- When toggled off, <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal,
- content-neutral proxy, i.e. it acts as if none of the actions applied to
- any URL.
+ This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies. For
+ <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies, use
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
+ Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
</para>
<para>
- For the time being, access to the toggle feature can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
- controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
- so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
- <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
- toggle it for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>
- for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
+ It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
+ with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
+ since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
+ <literal><link linkend="filter-content-cookies">filter-content-cookies</link></literal>.
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
- support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
+ <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-edit-actions"><title>enable-edit-actions</title>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-server-header">
+<title>crunch-server-header</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions
- file editor</ulink> may be used
- </para>
+ <para>Remove a server header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>0 or 1</para>
+ <para>
+ Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>1</para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The web-based actions file editor is disabled.
- </para>
+ Any string.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- For the time being, access to the editor can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
- controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
- so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
- <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
- modify its configuration for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not
- recommended</emphasis> for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
+ This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
+ <application>Privoxy</application> action exists. <application>Privoxy</application>
+ will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
</para>
<para>
- Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
- support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
+ Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
+ use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
+ they contain the same string.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <literal>crunch-server-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
+ If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
+ parts of them, you should use a custom
+ <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
+ </para>
+ <warning>
+ <para>
+ Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
+ </para>
+ </warning>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
+{ +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
+/ </screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="acls"><title>
-ACLs: permit-access and deny-access</title>
-<anchor id="permit-acces">
-<anchor id="deny-acces">
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
+<title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Who can access what.
+ Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable>]
- [<replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable>]]
- </para>
- <para>
- Where <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable> and
- <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid
- DNS names, and <replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable> and
- <replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable> are subnet masks in CIDR notation, i.e. integer
- values from 2 to 30 representing the length (in bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole
- destination part are optional.
+ Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Don't restrict access further than implied by <literal>listen-address</literal>
+ N/A
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems
- administrators, and <emphasis>are not usually needed by individual users</emphasis>.
- For a typical home user, it will normally suffice to ensure that
- <application>Privoxy</application> only listens on the localhost
- (127.0.0.1) or internal (home) network address by means of the
- <link linkend="listen-address"><emphasis>listen-address</emphasis></link>
- option.
- </para>
- <para>
- Please see the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute
- for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security
- weaknesses.
- </para>
- <para>
- Multiple ACL lines are OK.
- If any ACLs are specified, then the <application>Privoxy</application>
- talks only to IP addresses that match at least one <literal>permit-access</literal> line
- and don't match any subsequent <literal>deny-access</literal> line. In other words, the
- last match wins, with the default being <literal>deny-access</literal>.
- </para>
- <para>
- If <application>Privoxy</application> is using a forwarder (see <literal>forward</literal> below)
- for a particular destination URL, the <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>
- that is examined is the address of the forwarder and <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the address
- of the ultimate target. This is necessary because it may be impossible for the local
- <application>Privoxy</application> to determine the IP address of the
- ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for).
- </para>
- <para>
- You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because the address lookups take
- time. All DNS names must resolve! You can <emphasis>not</emphasis> use domain patterns
- like <quote>*.org</quote> or partial domain names. If a DNS name resolves to multiple
- IP addresses, only the first one is used.
+ This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies. For
+ <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies, use
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
+ Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
</para>
<para>
- Denying access to particular sites by ACL may have undesired side effects
- if the site in question is hosted on a machine which also hosts other sites.
+ It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
+ with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
+ since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Examples:</term>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Explicitly define the default behavior if no ACL and
- <literal>listen-address</literal> are set: <quote>localhost</quote>
- is OK. The absence of a <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> implies that
- <emphasis>all</emphasis> destination addresses are OK:
- </para>
- <para>
- <screen>
- permit-access localhost
-</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- Allow any host on the same class C subnet as www.privoxy.org access to
- nothing but www.example.com:
- </para>
- <para>
- <screen>
- permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32
-</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- Allow access from any host on the 26-bit subnet 192.168.45.64 to anywhere,
- with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access www.dirty-stuff.example.com:
- </para>
- <para>
- <screen>
- permit-access 192.168.45.64/26
- deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com
-</screen>
+ <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="buffer-limit"><title>buffer-limit</title>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
+<title>deanimate-gifs</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering.
- </para>
+ <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Size in Kbytes</para>
+ <para>
+ De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>4096</para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit.
+ <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- For content filtering, i.e. the <literal>+filter</literal> and
- <literal>+deanimate-gif</literal> actions, it is necessary that
- <application>Privoxy</application> buffers the entire document body.
- This can be potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending
- data indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust -- with nasty consequences.
- Hence this option.
+ This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
+ the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
+ is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
+ frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
+ most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
+ last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
</para>
<para>
- When a document buffer size reaches the <literal>buffer-limit</literal>, it is
- flushed to the client unfiltered and no further attempt to
- filter the rest of the document is made. Remember that there may be multiple threads
- running, which might require up to <literal>buffer-limit</literal> Kbytes
- <emphasis>each</emphasis>, unless you have enabled <quote>single-threaded</quote>
- above.
+ You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
+ objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
+ a GIF.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-</sect2>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
+<title>downgrade-http-version</title>
-<sect2 id="forwarding">
-<title>Forwarding</title>
-
-<para>
- This feature allows routing of HTTP requests through a chain of
- multiple proxies.
- It can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when
- accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains
- through an anonymous public proxy (see e.g. <ulink
- url="http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm">http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm</ulink>)
- Or to use a caching proxy to speed up browsing. Or chaining to a parent
- proxy may be necessary because the machine that <application>Privoxy</application>
- runs on has no direct Internet access.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. <application>Privoxy</application>
- supports the SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A protocols.
-</para>
-
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward"><title>forward</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed.
- </para>
+ <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
- <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
- </para>
- <para>
- Where <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable> is a domain name pattern (see the
- chapter on domain matching in the <filename>default.action</filename> file),
- <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is the address of the parent HTTP proxy
- as an IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or as a valid DNS name (or <quote>.</quote> to denote
- <quote>no forwarding</quote>, and the optional
- <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer
- values from 1 to 64535
+ Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Don't use parent HTTP proxies.
+ N/A
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
+
+<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
- forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made directly to the web servers.
+ This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
+ didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
+ unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
+ out there. Not all (optional) HTTP/1.1 features are supported yet, so there
+ is a chance you might need this action.
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
+problem-host.example.com</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
+<title>fast-redirects</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
+ Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting
+ the redirection server first.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote>simple-check</quote> to just search for the string <quote>http://</quote>
+ to detect redirection URLs.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote>check-decoded-url</quote> to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching
+ for redirection URLs.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Examples:</term>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
+ <para>
+ Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
+ will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
+ parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
+ resulting from this scheme typically look like:
+ <quote>http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/</quote>.
+ </para>
<para>
- Everything goes to an example anonymizing proxy, except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle):
+ Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
+ URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
+ since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
+ to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
+ browser asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
+ the advertisers.
</para>
<para>
- <screen>
- forward .* anon-proxy.example.org:8080
- forward :443 .
-</screen>
+ This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
+ If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
+ this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
</para>
<para>
- Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for requests
- to that ISP's sites:
+ Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil.
+ Some sites offer a real service that requires this information to work.
+ For example a validation service needs to know, which document to validate.
+ <literal>fast-redirects</literal> assumes that every URL parameter that
+ looks like another URL is a redirection target, and will always redirect to
+ the last one. Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't,
+ the user gets redirected anyway.
</para>
<para>
- <screen>
- forward .*. caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000
- forward .example-isp.net .
-</screen>
+ Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter.
+ The URL:
+ <quote>http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
+ contains the redirection URL <quote>http://www.example.net/</quote>,
+ followed by another parameter. <literal>fast-redirects</literal> doesn't know that
+ and will cause a redirect to <quote>http://www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
+ Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
+ or lead to a <quote>page not found</quote> error. You can prevent this problem by
+ first using the <literal><link linkend="redirect">redirect</link></literal> action
+ to remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ To detect a redirection URL, <literal>fast-redirects</literal> only
+ looks for the string <quote>http://</quote>, either in plain text
+ (invalid but often used) or encoded as <quote>http%3a//</quote>.
+ Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the address
+ of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses cases
+ <literal>fast-redirects</literal> is fooled and the request reaches the
+ redirection server where it probably gets logged.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+ { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
+ .example.com
+
+ { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
+ another.example.com/testing</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="socks"><title>
-forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a</title>
-<anchor id="forward-socks4">
-<anchor id="forward-socks4a">
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
+<title>filter</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Specifies:</term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific requests should be routed.
- </para>
+ <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
+ do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Type of value:</term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
- <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
- <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
- </para>
- <para>
- Where <replaceable class="parameter">target_domain</replaceable> is a domain name pattern (see the
- chapter on domain matching in the <filename>default.action</filename> file),
- <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> and <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>
- are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid DNS names (<replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>
- may be <quote>.</quote> to denote <quote>no HTTP forwarding</quote>), and the optional
- <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1 to 64535
+ All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
+ this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular
+ expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents
+ are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
+ <literal>text/plain</literal> MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Default value:</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term>Effect if unset:</term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Don't use SOCKS proxies.
+ The name of a content filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>.
+ Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
+ <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
+ option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>.
+ <filename>default.filter</filename> is the collection of filters
+ supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
+ in their own file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>.
</para>
+ <para>
+ When used in its negative form,
+ and without parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> filtering is completely disabled.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
+ For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
+ in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
+ a list.
</para>
<para>
- The difference between <literal>forward-socks4</literal> and <literal>forward-socks4a</literal>
- is that in the SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the target hostname happens on the SOCKS
- server, while in SOCKS 4 it happens locally.
+ Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
+ slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
+ passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
+ since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
+ noticeable on slower connections.
</para>
<para>
- If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
- forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made (HTTP-wise) directly to the web servers, albeit through
- a SOCKS proxy.
+ <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>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Examples:</term>
- <listitem>
<para>
- From the company example.com, direct connections are made to all
- <quote>internal</quote> domains, but everything outbound goes through
- their ISP's proxy by way of example.com's corporate SOCKS 4A gateway to
- the Internet.
+ The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
+ <literal><link linkend="buffer-limit">buffer-limit</link></literal>
+ option in the main <link linkend="config">config file</link>. The
+ default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
+ data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
</para>
<para>
- <screen>
- forward-socks4a .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080
- forward .example.com .
-</screen>
+ Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
+ (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data
+ (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate
+ the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might
+ be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering
+ by defining appropriate <literal>-filter</literal> exceptions.
</para>
<para>
- A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no HTTP parent looks like this:
+ 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>
- <screen>
- forward-socks4 .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 .
-</screen>
+ If you use a &my-app; version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on
+ as much documents as possible, even those that would normally be sent compressed,
+ you must use the <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
+ action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
+ action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
+ works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
+ based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
+ standardized.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or
+ improved filters is particularly welcome!
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
+ predefined filter. There are <link linkend="predefined-filters">more
+ verbose explanations</link> of what these filters do in the <link
+ linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="advanced-forwarding-examples"><title>Advanced Forwarding Examples</title>
-
-<para>
- If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content
- only to their subscribers, you can configure multiple <application>Privoxies</application>
- which have connections to the respective ISPs to act as forwarders to each other, so that
- <emphasis>your</emphasis> users can see the internal content of all ISPs.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Assume that host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.net. And host-b has a PPP connection to
- isp-b.net. Both run <application>Privoxy</application>. Their forwarding
- configuration can look like this:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- host-a:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
- forward .*. .
- forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118
-</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- host-b:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
- forward .*. .
- forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118
-</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Now, your users can set their browser's proxy to use either
- host-a or host-b and be able to browse the internal content
- of both isp-a and isp-b.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- If you intend to chain <application>Privoxy</application> and
- <application>squid</application> locally, then chain as
- <literal>browser -> squid -> privoxy</literal> is the recommended way.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Assuming that <application>Privoxy</application> and <application>squid</application>
- run on the same box, your squid configuration could then look like this:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
- # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP)
- cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query
-
- # Define ACL for protocol FTP
- acl ftp proto FTP
-
- # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy
- always_direct allow ftp
-
- # Forward all the rest to Privoxy
- never_direct allow all</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- You would then need to change your browser's proxy settings to <application>squid</application>'s address and port.
- Squid normally uses port 3128. If unsure consult <literal>http_port</literal> in <filename>squid.conf</filename>.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file).
+ See <link linkend="PREDEFINED-FILTERS">the Predefined Filters section</link> for
+ more explanation on each:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
+ <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-js-events">
+ <screen>+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites)</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
+ <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
+ <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
+ <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-unsolicited-popups">
+ <screen>+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-all-popups">
+ <screen>+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-img-reorder">
+ <screen>+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
+ <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-banners-by-link">
+ <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
+ <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-tiny-textforms">
+ <screen>+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-jumping-windows">
+ <screen>+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
+ <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-demoronizer">
+ <screen>+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
+ <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-quicktime-kioskmode">
+ <screen>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies savable</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-fun">
+ <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
+ <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering (demo only)</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-ie-exploits">
+ <screen>+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <anchor id="filter-site-specifics">
+ <screen>+filter{site-specifics} # 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>
</sect3>
-</sect2>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect2 id="windows-gui">
-<title>Windows GUI Options</title>
-<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> has a number of options specific to the
- Windows GUI interface:
-</para>
-
-<anchor id="activity-animation">
-<para>
- If <quote>activity-animation</quote> is set to 1, the
- <application>Privoxy</application> icon will animate when
- <quote>Privoxy</quote> is active. To turn off, set to 0.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>activity-animation 1</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
-</para>
-
-<anchor id="log-messages">
-<para>
- If <quote>log-messages</quote> is set to 1,
- <application>Privoxy</application> will log messages to the console
- window:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>log-messages 1</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
-</para>
-
-<anchor id="log-buffer-size">
-<para>
- If <quote>log-buffer-size</quote> is set to 1, the size of the log buffer,
- i.e. the amount of memory used for the log messages displayed in the
- console window, will be limited to <quote>log-max-lines</quote> (see below).
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and
- eat up all your memory!
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>log-buffer-size 1</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
-</para>
-
-<anchor id="log-max-lines">
-<para>
- <application>log-max-lines</application> is the maximum number of lines held
- in the log buffer. See above.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>log-max-lines 200</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
-</para>
-
-<anchor id="log-highlight-messages">
-<para>
- If <quote>log-highlight-messages</quote> is set to 1,
- <application>Privoxy</application> will highlight portions of the log
- messages with a bold-faced font:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>log-highlight-messages 1</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
-</para>
-
-<anchor id="log-font-name">
-<para>
- The font used in the console window:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>log-font-name Comic Sans MS</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
-</para>
-
-<anchor id="log-font-size">
-<para>
- Font size used in the console window:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>log-font-size 8</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
-</para>
-
-<anchor id="show-on-task-bar">
-<para>
- <quote>show-on-task-bar</quote> controls whether or not
- <application>Privoxy</application> will appear as a button on the Task bar
- when minimized:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>show-on-task-bar 0</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
-</para>
-
-<anchor id="close-button-minimizes">
-<para>
- If <quote>close-button-minimizes</quote> is set to 1, the Windows close
- button will minimize <application>Privoxy</application> instead of closing
- the program (close with the exit option on the File menu).
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- <emphasis>close-button-minimizes 1</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
-</para>
-
-<anchor id="hide-console">
-<para>
- The <quote>hide-console</quote> option is specific to the MS-Win console
- version of <application>Privoxy</application>. If this option is used,
- <application>Privoxy</application> will disconnect from and hide the
- command console.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- #<emphasis>hide-console</emphasis>
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
-</para>
-
-</sect2>
-</sect1>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
-
-<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
- how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
- transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). There
- are three such files included with <application>Privoxy</application> (as of
- version 2.9.15), with differing purposes:
- </para>
-
- <para>
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
- that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
- provide a base level of functionality for
- <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
- a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well for users everywhere.
- This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and making
- available to users.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
- preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
- has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
- thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used by the web based editor,
- to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
- in <filename>default.action</filename>. These have increasing levels of
- aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no influence on your browsing unless
- you select them explicitly in the editor</emphasis>. It is not recommend
- to edit this file.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
-
-<para>
- The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
- file, and are processed in the order they are defined. The content of these
- can all be viewed and edited from <ulink
- url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
- <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
- <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
- Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
- sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
- universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
- <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
- from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
- exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
- <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
- with the advantage that is a separate file, which makes preserving your
- personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
- just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
- or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
- written to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
- fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
- of actions</link>.
-</para>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2>
-<title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
-<para>
- Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
- or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
- techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
- certainly a matter of personal taste. In general, it can be said that the more
- <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
- actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
- will have to make later. If, for example, you want to kill popup windows per
- default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
- regularly use and that require popups for actually useful content, like maybe
- your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
- distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
- things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
- Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
-</para>
-</sect2>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2>
-<title>How to Edit</title>
-<para>
- The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
- using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
- url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
- The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single feature on a
- per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults like
- <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or <quote>Advanced</quote>.
-</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.
-</para>
-</sect2>
-
-
-<sect2 id="actions-apply">
-<title>How Actions are Applied to URLs</title>
-<para>
- Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
- like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will be discussed later. For now
- let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a heading line (often split
- up to multiple lines for readability) which consist of a list of actions,
- separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces. Below that, there
- is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
- compared to all patterns in each action file file. Every time it matches, the list of
- applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading
- of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for
- the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not,
- the effects are aggregated (e.g. a URL might match both the
- <ulink url="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></ulink>
- and <ulink url="actions-file.html#BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></ulink> actions).
-
-</para>
-
-<para>
- You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting <ulink
- url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
- Anatomy of an Action</link>.
-</para>
-</sect2>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="af-patterns">
-<title>Patterns</title>
-<para>
- Generally, a pattern has the form <literal><domain>/<path></literal>,
- where both the <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal>
- are optional. (This is why the pattern <literal>/</literal> matches all URLs).
-</para>
-
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="force-text-mode">
+<title>force-text-mode</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
- regardless of which document on that server is requested.
- </para>
+ <para>Force <application>Privoxy</application> to treat a document as if it was in some kind of <emphasis>text</emphasis> format. </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
- be omitted.
- </para>
+ Declares a document as text, even if the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> isn't detected as such.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
- on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
+ N/A
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term><literal>/index.html</literal></term>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
- i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server.
+ As explained <literal><link linkend="filter">above</link></literal>,
+ <application>Privoxy</application> tries to only filter files that are
+ in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to
+ <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite</link></literal>.
+ <literal>force-text-mode</literal> declares a document as text,
+ without looking at the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> first.
</para>
+ <warning>
+ <para>
+ Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
+ with regular expressions can cause file damage.
+ </para>
+ </warning>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
- there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>.
+ <screen>
++force-text-mode
+ </screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
+</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
-
-<para>
- The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
- domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
- For example:
-</para>
-
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward-override">
+<title>forward-override</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- matches any domain that <emphasis>ENDS</emphasis> in
- <literal>.example.com</literal>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
- <literal>www.</literal>
- </para>
+ <para>Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>
- (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as a domain.)
- </para>
+ Overrules the forward directives in the configuration files.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-<para>
- Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
- themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: <quote>*</quote>
- stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, <quote>?</quote> stands for
- any single character, you can define character classes in square
- brackets and all of that can be freely mixed:
-</para>
-
-<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>
- matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
- <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
- </para>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- matches all of the above, and then some.
- </para>
+ <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><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
- <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
+ 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><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
- <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
- <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
- <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
+ <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>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
-
-<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl compatible regular expressions
- (through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> library) for
- matching the path.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
- expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
- at <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt">http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</ulink>.
- You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<literal>man perlre</literal>)
- useful, which is available on-line at <ulink
- url="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html">http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</ulink>.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
- i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
- for the beginning of a line).
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Please also note that matching in the path is case
- <emphasis>INSENSITIVE</emphasis> by default, but you can switch to case
- sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
- <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch:
- <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match only
- documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
- <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
-</para>
</sect3>
-</sect2>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect2 id="actions">
-<title>Actions</title>
-<para>
- All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
- somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
- <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
- <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
- <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
- following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
- block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
- previously applied.</quote>
-
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
- separated by whitespace, like in
- <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
- followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
- Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
- of the actions file.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- There are three classes of actions:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
- <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
- </para>
- <para>
- <screen>
- +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
- -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- Example: <literal>+block</literal>
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
- Syntax:
- </para>
- <para>
- <screen>
- +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
- # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
- -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
- the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
- </para>
- <para>
- Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 }</literal>
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
- but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
- same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
- from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
- that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
- headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
- </para>
- <para>
- <screen>
- +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
- -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
- # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
- <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
- <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- </itemizedlist>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
- taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
- normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the
- privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
- files will give a good starting point).
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions
- to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
- in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files). For
- multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified.
- Actions files are processed in the order they are defined in
- <filename>config</filename> (the default installation has three actions
- files). It also quite possible for any given URL pattern to match more than
- one pattern and thus more than one set of actions!
-</para>
-
-<!-- start actions listing -->
-<para>
- The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
-</para>
-
-
-<!-- ********************************************************** -->
-<!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
-<!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
-<!-- -->
-<!-- ********************************************************** -->
-
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
-<title><emphasis>add-header</emphasis></title>
-
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-empty-document">
+<title>handle-as-empty-document</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
+ <para>Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis></para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
+ This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
+ If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
+ the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote>
+ page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
+ The <emphasis>empty</emphasis> document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Multi-value.</para>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
- It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
- for custom headers.
+ N/A
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
-<varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
- headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
- <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
- one.
+ Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
+ are blocked with <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
+ And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the &my-app;
+ BLOCKED message in frames.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The content type for the empty document can be specified with
+ <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{}</link></literal>,
+ but usually this isn't necessary.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
+# but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
+{+block +handle-as-empty-document}
+example.org/.*\.js$
+ </screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
-<title><emphasis>block</emphasis></title>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
+<title>handle-as-image</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Block ads or other obnoxious content</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>
<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.
+ This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
+ If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
+ the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
+ page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
+ linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
+ client as a substitute for the blocked content.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
<para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
<varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>N/A</para>
+ <para>
+ N/A
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-<varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
- for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request
- was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the
- force feature enabled). The <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page adapts to the available
- screen space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and text-only
- if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using <application>Privoxy</application>
- right now, you can take a look at the
- <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
- page</ulink>.
- </para>
- <para>
- A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
- <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
- apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
- <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
- (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
- if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
- </para>
- <para>
- It is important to understand this process, in order
- to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
- ads and other unwanted content.
+ The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
+ It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
+ be left intact.
</para>
<para>
- The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
- action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
- banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
- document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
- Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
+ Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
+ reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
+ frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
+ Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
+ ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>{+block} # Block and replace with "blocked" page
-.nasty-stuff.example.com
+ <para>
+ <screen># Generic image extensions:
+#
+{+handle-as-image}
+/.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
-{+block +handle-as-image} # Block and replace with image
-.ad.doubleclick.net
-.ads.r.us</screen>
- </para>
+# These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
+# blocked as images:
+#
+{+block +handle-as-image}
+some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash
+
+# Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
+ad.doubleclick.net
+</screen>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
-
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
-<title><emphasis>crunch-incoming-cookies</emphasis></title>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-accept-language">
+<title>hide-accept-language</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system
- </para>
+ <para>Pretend to use different language settings.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
+ Deletes or replaces the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> HTTP header in client requests.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Type:</term>
<!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- N/A
- </para>
+ Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies. For
- <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies, use
- <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
- Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
+ Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
+ foreign User-Agent set with
+ <literal><link linkend="hide-user-agent">hide-user-agent</link></literal>
+ more believable.
</para>
<para>
- It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
- with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
- since it would prevent the session cookies from being set.
+ However some sites with content in different languages check the
+ <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> to decide which one to take by default.
+ Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
+ changing the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header first.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
+ <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header to languages you understand,
+ or to languages that aren't wide spread.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Before setting the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header
+ to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to
+ make your requests unique and thus easier to trace.
+ If you don't plan to change this header frequently,
+ you should stick to a common language.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
+{+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
++hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
+}
+/ </screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
-<title><emphasis>crunch-outgoing-cookies</emphasis></title>
-
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-content-disposition">
+<title>hide-content-disposition</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system
- </para>
+ <para>Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
+ Deletes or replaces the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header set by some servers.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Type:</term>
<!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- N/A
- </para>
+ Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies. For
- <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies, use
- <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
- Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
+ Some servers set the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header for
+ documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
+ The <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header contains the file name
+ the browser is supposed to use by default.
</para>
<para>
- It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
- with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
- since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
+ In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
+ <emphasis>just view</emphasis> the document, without downloading it first,
+ even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Removing the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header helps
+ to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
+ <quote>Content-Type:</quote> header, before they decide if they can
+ display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have
+ to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
+ download menus.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion
+ to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set
+ it up.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
+{ -filter \
+ +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
+ +hide-content-disposition{block} }
+ .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
</variablelist>
</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
-<title><emphasis>deanimate-gifs</emphasis></title>
-
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-if-modified-since">
+<title>hide-if-modified-since</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
+ <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
+ Deletes the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> HTTP client header or modifies its value.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
<para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
- </para>
+ Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
- the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
- is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
- frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
- most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
- last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
+ Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
+ reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the
+ browser to use a cached copy of the page.
</para>
<para>
- You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
- objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
- a GIF.
+ 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 too high.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
+ <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
+ handle the greater changes.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is also recommended to use this action together with
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
- </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="downgrade-http-version">
-<title><emphasis>downgrade-http-version</emphasis></title>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
+<title>hide-forwarded-for-headers</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
+ <para>Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
+ Deletes any existing <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> HTTP header from client requests,
+ and prevents adding a new one.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
<para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-<varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
- didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
- unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
- out there. Not all (optional) HTTP/1.1 features are supported yet, so there
- is a chance you might need this action.
+ It is fairly safe to leave this on.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This action is scheduled for improvement: It should be able to generate forged
+ <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> headers using random IP addresses from a specified network,
+ to make successive requests from the same client look like requests from a pool of different
+ users sharing the same proxy.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
-problem-host.example.com</screen>
- </para>
+ <screen>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</screen>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
</variablelist>
</sect3>
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
-<title><emphasis>fast-redirects</emphasis></title>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
+<title>hide-from-header</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links</para>
+ <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Cut off all but the last valid URL from requests.
+ Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
+ specified string.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- N/A
+ Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
- will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
- parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
- resulting from this scheme typically look like:
- <emphasis>http://some.place/click-tracker.cgi?target=http://some.where.else</emphasis>.
- </para>
<para>
- Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
- URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
- since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
- to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
- browser ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
- the advertisers.
+ The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
+ (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
+ action).
</para>
<para>
- This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
- It is likely to break some sites. You should expect to need possibly
- many exceptions to this action, if it is enabled by default in
- <filename>default.action</filename>. Some sites just don't work without
- it.
+ Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
+ server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
+ is actually used by a real person.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
+ <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>{+fast-redirects}</screen>
- </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
+ <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
</variablelist>
</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
-<title><emphasis>filter</emphasis></title>
-
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
+<title>hide-referrer</title>
+<anchor id="hide-referer">
<variablelist>
<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>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Text documents, including HTML and JavaScript, to which this action applies, are filtered on-the-fly
- through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
+ Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
+ or replaces it with a forged one.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
<para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
<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
- <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
- option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>)
- </para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para><quote>conditional-block</quote> to delete the header completely if the host has changed.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header unconditionally.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- For your convenience, there are a bunch of pre-defined filters available
- in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the example below for
- a list.
+ <literal>conditional-block</literal> is the only parameter,
+ that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the
+ referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or
+ typed in the address directly.
</para>
<para>
- This is potentially a very powerful feature! But <quote>rolling your own</quote>
- filters requires a knowledge of regular expressions and HTML.
+ Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
+ allows the server owner to see the visitor's <quote>click path</quote>,
+ but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing
+ other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't
+ a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between
+ different requests.
</para>
<para>
- Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
- slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
- passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
- since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
- noticeable on slower connections.
+ Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
+ failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
+ requests, in an attempt to prevent their valuable content from being
+ embedded or linked to elsewhere.
</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>
- action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
+ Both <literal>conditional-block</literal> and <literal>forge</literal>
+ will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page
+ are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
+ <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
+ substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
+ correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
+ requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- Filtering can achieve some of the effects as the
- <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
- action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners.
+ <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
+ <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
+<title>hide-user-agent</title>
+
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or improved filters is particularly
- welcome!
+ Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
+ in client requests with the specified value.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file):</term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
- <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
- <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
- <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size (<emphasis>very</emphasis> efficient!)</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
- <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come sneaking in the HTML or JS content</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-popups">
- <screen>+filter{popups} # Kill all popups in JS and HTML</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
- <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-fun">
- <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
- <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
- <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)</screen>
+ Any user-defined string.
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <warning>
+ <para>
+ This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at this header in
+ order to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
+ way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the right thing to do: good web sites
+ work browser-independently).
+ <!--
+ <ulink url="http://www.javascriptkit.com/javaindex.shtml">smart way to do
+ that</ulink>!).
+ -->
+ </para>
+ </warning>
<para>
- <anchor id="filter-nimda">
- <screen>+filter{nimda} # Remove Nimda (virus) code.</screen>
+ Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
+ browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
+ <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
+ setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
+ the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
+ OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
+ sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
+ reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
+ let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
+ <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
+ (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
</para>
<para>
- <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
- <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects</screen>
+ This action is scheduled for improvement.
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
- <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez"</screen>
+ <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
-<title><emphasis>handle-as-image</emphasis></title>
-
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="inspect-jpegs">
+<title>inspect-jpegs</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis>)</para>
+ <para>To protect against the MS buffer over-run in JPEG processing</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
- If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
- the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
- page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
- linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
- client as a substitute for the blocked content.
+ Protect against a known exploit
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
- It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
- be left intact.
- </para>
- <para>
- Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
- <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
- reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
- </para>
- <para>
- Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (inline) ad
- frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
- Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
- ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
+ 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 (sections):</term>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- <screen># Generic image extensions:
-#
-{+handle-as-image}
-/.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
-
-# These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
-# blocked as images:
-#
-{+block +handle-as-image}
-some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash
-
-# Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
-ad.doubleclick.net
-</screen>
- </para>
+ <para><screen>+inspect-jpegs</screen></para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
+
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
-<title><emphasis>hide-forwarded-for-headers</emphasis></title>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="kill-popups">
+<title>kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"></title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request</para>
+ <para>Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows (deprecated)</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Deletes any existing <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> HTTP header from client requests,
- and prevents adding a new one.
+ While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens
+ pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- It is fairly safe to leave this on.
+ This action is basically a built-in, hardwired special-purpose filter
+ action, but there are important differences: For <literal>kill-popups</literal>,
+ the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while
+ downloading. But <literal>kill-popups</literal> doesn't catch as many pop-ups as
+ <literal><link
+ linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>all-popups</replaceable>}</link></literal>
+ does and is not as smart as <literal><link
+ linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>unsolicited-popups</replaceable>}</link>
+ </literal>is.
</para>
<para>
- This action is scheduled for improvement: It should be able to generate forged
- <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> headers using random IP addresses from a specified network,
- to make successive requests from the same client look like requests from a pool of different
- users sharing the same proxy.
+ Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you
+ can use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make
+ sense to combine it with any <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action,
+ since as soon as one <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> applies,
+ the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the advantage of
+ the <literal>kill-popups</literal> action over its filter equivalent.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ 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 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
+ <emphasis>really nasty</emphasis> windows that appear when you close an other
+ one), you might want to use
+ <literal><link
+ linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>js-annoyances</replaceable>}</literal>
+ instead.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This action is most appropriate for browsers that don't have any controls
+ for unwanted pop-ups. Not recommended for general usage.
+ </para>
+
+ <!--
+ <para>
+ An alternate spelling is <literal>+kill-popup</literal>, which is
+ interchangeable.
</para>
+ -->
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</screen>
- </para>
+ <para><screen>+kill-popups</screen></para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
-<title><emphasis>hide-from-header</emphasis></title>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
+<title>limit-connect</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
+ <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
- specified string.
+ Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
+ A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
+ defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
- (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
- action).
- </para>
- <para>
- Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
- server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
- is actually used by a real person.
+ By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
+ <application>Privoxy</application> only allows HTTP CONNECT
+ requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
+ <literal>limit-connect</literal> if more fine-grained control is desired
+ for some or all destinations.
</para>
<para>
- This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
- <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
- </para>
+ The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
+ (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
+ the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
+ short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
+ This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be
+ abused as TCP relays very easily.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
+ the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent &my-app;'s
+ filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
+ 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>
+ as well, to be able to quickly create exceptions.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <term>Example usages:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
- <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
+ <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
+ <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
+ <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
+ <para>
+ <screen>+limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
++limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
++limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
++limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
++limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
-
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
-<title><emphasis>hide-referrer</emphasis></title>
-<anchor id="hide-referer">
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
+<title>prevent-compression</title>
+
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
+ <para>
+ Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
+ passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
- or replaces it with a forged one.
+ Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Type:</term>
<!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header completely.</para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
+ <para>
+ N/A
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <quote>forge</quote> is the preferred option here, since some servers will
- not send images back otherwise, in an attempt to prevent their valuable
- content from being embedded elsewhere (and hence, without being surrounded
- by <emphasis>their</emphasis> banners).
+ More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
+ is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the <literal><link
+ linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>, <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
+ 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>
+ Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should only
+ enable this action if you really need it. As of &my-app; 3.0.7 it's disabled in all
+ predefined action settings.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
+ documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an empty document body,
+ some IIS versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable
+ <literal>prevent-compression</literal> per default, you might want to add
+ exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
</para>
- <para>
- <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
- <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
- substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
- correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
- requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
- </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
- <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
+ <screen>
+# Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
+#
+{ +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
+# Match only these sites
+ .google.
+ sourceforge.net
+ sf.net
+
+# Or instead, we could set a universal default:
+#
+{ +prevent-compression }
+ / # Match all sites
+
+# Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites:
+#
+{ -prevent-compression }
+.compusa.com/</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
</variablelist>
</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
-<title><emphasis>hide-user-agent</emphasis></title>
-
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="overwrite-last-modified">
+<title>overwrite-last-modified</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
+ <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
- in client requests with the specified value.
+ Deletes the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> HTTP server header or modifies its value.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Any user-defined string.
- </para>
+ One of the keywords: <quote>block</quote>, <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote>
+ and <quote>randomize</quote>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
- <warning>
- <para>
- This breaks many web sites that depend on looking at this header in order
- to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
- way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> a <ulink
- url="http://www.javascriptkit.com/javaindex.shtml">smart way to do
- that</ulink>!).
- </para>
- </warning>
<para>
- Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
- browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
- <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
- setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
- the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
- OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
- sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
- reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
- let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
- <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
- (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
+ Removing the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header is useful for filter
+ testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
+ code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
+ version of the page.
</para>
<para>
- This action is scheduled for improvement.
+ The <quote>randomize</quote> option overwrites the value of the
+ <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with a randomly chosen time
+ between the original value and the current time. In theory the server
+ could send each document with a different <quote>Last-Modified:</quote>
+ header to track visits without using cookies. <quote>Randomize</quote>
+ makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote> overwrites the value of the
+ <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with the current time. You could use
+ this option together with
+ <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>
+ to further customize your random range.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The preferred parameter here is <quote>randomize</quote>. It is safe
+ to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct.
+ If the server sets the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header to the time
+ of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same.
+ Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with
+ <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>,
+ just to be sure.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is also recommended to use this action together with
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
+ <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>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="kill-popups">
-<title><emphasis>kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"></emphasis></title>
-
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="redirect">
+<title>redirect</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows</para>
+ <para>
+ Redirect requests to other sites.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens
- pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly.
+ Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
+ to another location and the browser should get it from there.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Type:</term>
<!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
+ <para>Parameterized</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- N/A
+ An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- This action is easily confused with the built-in, hardwired <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
- action, but there are important differences: For <literal>kill-popups</literal>,
- the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while
- downloading. But <literal>kill-popups</literal> doesn't catch as many pop-ups as
- <literal><link
- linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>popups</replaceable>}</literal>
- does.
- </para>
- <para>
- Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you
- can use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make
- sense to combine it with any <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action,
- since as soon as one <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> applies,
- the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the advantage of
- the <literal>kill-popups</literal> action over it's filter equivalent.
+ 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>
- Killing all pop-ups is a dangerous business. Many shops and banks rely on
- pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and killing only the unwanted pop-ups
- would require artificial intelligence in <application>Privoxy</application>.
- If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those
- <emphasis>really nasty</emphasis> windows that appear when you close an other
- one), you might want to use
- <literal><link
- linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>js-annoyances</replaceable>}</literal>
- instead.
+ 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>
- An alternate spelling is <literal>+kill-popup</literal>, which is
- interchangeable.
+ 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 usage:</term>
+ <term>Example usages:</term>
<listitem>
- <para><screen>+kill-popups</screen></para>
+ <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="limit-connect">
-<title><emphasis>limit-connect</emphasis></title>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-vanilla-wafer">
+<title>send-vanilla-wafer</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay</para>
+ <para>
+ Feed log analysis scripts with useless data.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
+ 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>
<term>Type:</term>
<!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
- defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
+ N/A
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
- <application>Privoxy</application> only allows HTTP CONNECT
- requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
- <literal>limit-connect</literal> if more fine-grained control is desired
- for some or all destinations.
+ The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you.
</para>
<para>
- The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
- (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
- the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
- short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
- This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be
- abused as TCP relays very easily.
- </para>
- <para>
- If you don't know what any of this means, there probably is no reason to
- change this one, since the default is already very restrictive.
- </para>
+ This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Example usages:</term>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
<listitem>
- <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
- <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
- <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
- <para>
- <screen>+limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
-+limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
-+limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
-+limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK (gaping security hole!)</screen>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+send-vanilla-wafer</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+
</variablelist>
</sect3>
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
-<title><emphasis>prevent-compression</emphasis></title>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-wafer">
+<title>send-wafer</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
- passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s
+ Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Adds a header to the request that asks for uncompressed transfer.
+ Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Type:</term>
<!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- N/A
+ 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>
- More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
- is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the <literal><link
- linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>, <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
- and <literal><link linkend="kill-popups">kill-popups</link></literal> actions to work,
- <application>Privoxy</application> needs access to the uncompressed data.
- Unfortunately, <application>Privoxy</application> can't yet(!) uncompress, filter, and
- re-compress the content on the fly. So if you want to ensure that all websites, including
- those that normally compress, can be filtered, you need to use this action.
- </para>
- <para>
- This will slow down transfers from those websites, though. If you use any of the above-mentioned
- actions, you will typically want to use <literal>prevent-compression</literal> in conjunction
- with them.
+ Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request,
+ resulting in multiple cookies being sent.
</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.
+ This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
<varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <screen># Set default:
-#
-{+prevent-compression}
-/ # Match all sites
-
-# Make exceptions for ill sites:
-#
-{-prevent-compression}
-www.debianhelp.org
-www.pclinuxonline.com</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><emphasis>send-vanilla-wafer</emphasis></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><emphasis>send-wafer</emphasis></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>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
-<title><emphasis>session-cookies-only</emphasis></title>
+<title>session-cookies-only</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
+ Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current
+ browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> server headers.
- Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and forget them in between sessions.
+ Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote>
+ server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
+ forget them in between sessions.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
</para>
+ <para>
+ This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
+ previously by the browser before starting <application>Privoxy</application>.
+ These would have to be removed manually.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> also uses
+ the <link linkend="filter-content-cookies">content-cookies filter</link>
+ to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
+ <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
-<title><emphasis>set-image-blocker</emphasis></title>
+<title>set-image-blocker</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<para>
<quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
- to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem (via <quote>file:///</quote> URL).
+ to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via <quote>file:///</quote> URL.
+ (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
</para>
<para>
A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
<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>
</sect3>
+<!-- ~~~~~ 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>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Block forbidden connects with an easy to find error message.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ If this action is enabled, <application>Privoxy</application> no longer
+ makes a difference between forbidden connects and ordinary blocks.
+ </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>
+ By default <application>Privoxy</application> answers
+ <link linkend="limit-connect">forbidden <quote>Connect</quote> requests</link>
+ with a short error message inside the headers. If the browser doesn't display
+ headers (most don't), you just see an empty page.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ With this action enabled, <application>Privoxy</application> displays
+ the message that is used for ordinary blocks instead. If you decide
+ to make an exception for the page in question, you can do so by
+ following the <quote>See why</quote> link.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ 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> 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>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3>
<title>Summary</title>
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>
# These aliases just save typing later:
# (Note that some already use other aliases!)
#
- +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
- mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
+ +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
+ 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 = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
- shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups
+ 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{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>Sample Actions Files</title>
+<title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
<para>
The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
<sect3><title>default.action</title>
<para>
-Every config file should start with a short comment stating it's purpose:
+Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:
</para>
<para>
- <screen># Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org></screen>
+ <screen># Sample default.action file <ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net></screen>
</para>
<para>
##########################################################################
{{alias}}
-# These aliases just save typing later:
-# (Note that some already use other aliases!)
-#
-+crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
--crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
-block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
-mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
+ # These aliases just save typing later:
+ # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
+ #
+ +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
+ -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
+ +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
+ mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
-# These aliases define combinations of actions
-# that are useful for certain types of sites:
-#
-fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
-shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups</screen>
+ # 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>
+ shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></screen>
</para>
<para>
<para>
The first regular section is probably the most important. It has only
one pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
- <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs.</link>. Therefore, the
+ <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the
set of actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
wholly overridden by later matches further down this file, or in user.action,
<para>
Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
no real need to disable any actions here, but we will do that nonetheless,
- to have a complete listing for your reference. (Remember: A <quote>+</quote>
+ to have a complete listing for your reference. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
multiple lines with line continuation.
##########################################################################
{ \
-<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="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-JS-ANNOYANCES">filter{js-annoyances}</link> \
-<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link> \
- +<link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> \
+ +<link linkend="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">filter{refresh-tags}</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-BANNERS-BY-LINK">filter{banners-by-link}</link> \
+<link linkend="FILTER-WEBBUGS">filter{webbugs}</link> \
- -<link linkend="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">filter{refresh-tags}</link> \
- -<link linkend="FILTER-FUN">filter{fun}</link> \
- +<link linkend="FILTER-NIMDA">filter{nimda}</link> \
- +<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">filter{banners-by-size}</link> \
+ -<link linkend="FILTER-TINY-TEXTFORMS">filter{tiny-textforms}</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-QUICKTIME-KIOSKMODE">filter{quicktime-kioskmode}</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>
like not blocking (which is <emphasis>understandably</emphasis> the
default!) need exceptions, i.e. we need to specify explicitly what we
want to block in later sections.
- We will also want to make exceptions from our general pop-up-killing,
- and use our defined aliases for that.
</para>
<para>
#
{ fragile }
.office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
-.windowsupdate.microsoft.com</screen>
+.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
+mail.google.com</screen>
</para>
<para>
.scan.co.uk</screen>
</para>
+<!-- No longer needed BEGIN OF COMMENTED OUT BLOCK
+
<para>
Then, there are sites which rely on pop-up windows (yuck!) to work.
Since we made pop-up-killing our default above, we need to make exceptions
now. <ulink url="http://www.mozilla.org/">Mozilla</ulink> users, who
can turn on smart handling of unwanted pop-ups in their browsers, can
safely choose
- -<literal><link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link></literal> (and
+ -<literal><link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link></literal> (and
-<literal><link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></literal>) above
and hence don't need this section. Anyway, disabling an already disabled
action doesn't hurt, so we'll define our exceptions regardless of what was
<screen>
# These sites require pop-ups too :(
#
-{ -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> }
+{ -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> }
.dabs.com
.overclockers.co.uk
.deutsche-bank-24.de</screen>
</para>
+ END OF COMMENTED OUT BLOCK -->
+
<para>
The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable
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.
+adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
+adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
-.edu # Universities
+.edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
.*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
# By path:
# 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>
<sect3><title>user.action</title>
<para>
- So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
- which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
- you'd maybe want to be more specific and have customized rules that
- are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
- be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
- be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
- actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
- defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
- <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
- <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
- <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
- to install updated versions from time to time.
+ So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
+ which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
+ you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
+ are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
+ be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
+ be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
+ actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
+ defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
+ <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
+ <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
+ <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
+ to install updated versions from time to time.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
+ <filename>user.action</filename>:
+</para>
+
+
+<!-- brief sample user.action here -->
+
+<para>
+ <screen>
+# My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com></screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
+ file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
+ <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <screen>
+# Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
+# (Re-)define aliases for this file:
+#
+{{alias}}
+#
+# These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
+# be self explanatory.
+#
++crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+-crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
+ allow-popups = -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
++block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
+-block-as-image = -block
+
+# These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
+# certain types of sites:
+#
+fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
+shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
+
+# Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
+#
+allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
+
+# Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
+# MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
+handle-as-text = -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> +-<link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{text/plain}</link> +-<link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION">hide-content-disposition</link></screen>
+
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
+ you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
+ to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
+ <literal>allow-all-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
+ that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
+ processing of cookies to make them only temporary.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <screen>
+{ allow-all-cookies }
+ sourceforge.net
+ .yahoo.com
+ .msdn.microsoft.com
+ .redhat.com</screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <screen>
+{ -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
+ .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <screen>
+# Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
+# erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
+#
+.tldp.org
+/(.*/)?selfhtml/
+
+# And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
+# so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
+#
+stupid-server.example.com/</screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Example of a simple <link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> action. Say you've
+ seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of.
+ You have right-clicked the image, selected <quote>copy image location</quote>
+ and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a
+ <literal>{ +block }</literal> section. Note that <literal>{ +handle-as-image
+ }</literal> need not be specified, since all URLs ending in
+ <literal>.gif</literal> will be tagged as images by the general rules as set
+ in default.action anyway:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <screen>
+{ +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
+ www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
+ another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner
+ farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which
+ makes it impossible for <application>Privoxy</application> to guess
+ the file type just by looking at the URL.
+ You can use the <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above for
+ these cases.
+ Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an
+ image are typically rendered as a <quote>broken image</quote> icon by the
+ browser. Use cautiously.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <screen>
+{ +block-as-image }
+ .doubleclick.net
+ .fastclick.net
+ /Realmedia/ads/
+ ar.atwola.com/</screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
+ but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
+ were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
+ you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
+ -- <emphasis>whoa!</emphasis> -- it worked. The <literal>fragile</literal>
+ aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also,
+ good for testing purposes to see if it is <application>Privoxy</application>
+ that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular sites
+ that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+<screen>
+{ fragile }
+ .forbes.com
+ webmail.example.com
+ .mybank.com</screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
+ but it is disabled in the distributed actions file. (My colleagues on the team just
+ don't have a sense of humour, that's why! ;-). So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
+ update-safe config, once and for all:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+<screen>
+{ +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
+ / # For ALL sites!</screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
+ to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
+ really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
+ <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
+ won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are
+ funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
+ to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
+ sites that you feel provide value to you:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+<screen>
+{ allow-ads }
+ .sourceforge.net
+ .slashdot.org
+ .osdn.net</screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Note that <literal>allow-ads</literal> has been aliased to
+ <literal>-<link linkend="block">block</link></literal>,
+ <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-size">filter{banners-by-size}</link></literal>, and
+ <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-link">filter{banners-by-link}</link></literal> above.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type <literal>
+ application/x-sh</literal> which typically would open a download type
+ dialog. In my case, I want to look at the shell script, and then I can save
+ it should I choose to.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+<screen>
+{ handle-as-text }
+ /.*\.sh$</screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <filename>user.action</filename> is generally the best place to define
+ exceptions and additions to the default policies of
+ <filename>default.action</filename>. Some actions are safe to have their
+ default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
+ <quote>blank</quote> image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for
+ <emphasis>ALL</emphasis> sites. <quote>/</quote> of course matches all URL
+ paths and patterns:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+<screen>
+{ +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
+/ # ALL sites</screen>
+</para>
+
+</sect3>
+</sect2>
+
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+
+</sect1>
+
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+
+<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
+
+<sect1 id="filter-file">
+<title>Filter Files</title>
+
+<para>
+ On-the-fly text substitutions need
+ to be defined in a <quote>filter file</quote>. Once defined, they
+ can then be invoked as an <quote>action</quote>.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ &my-app; supports three different filter actions:
+ <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> to
+ rewrite the content that is send to the client,
+ <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header-filter</link></literal>
+ to rewrite headers that are send by the client, and
+ <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header-filter</link></literal>
+ to rewrite headers that are send by the server, 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>
+ 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>
+ 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.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ 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 first be familiar with HTML syntax,
+ and, of course, regular expressions.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
+ filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
+ here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with one of the
+ <emphasis>keywords</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>,
+ <literal>CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER:</literal> or <literal>SERVER-HEADER-FILTER:</literal>
+ followed by the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
+ <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
+ come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
+ text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
+ should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
+ comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
+ user interface</ulink>.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
+ in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
+ +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
+ in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Filter definitions start with a header line that contains the filter
+ type, the filter name and the filter description.
+ A content filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
+ like this:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that
+ define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified
+ in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
+ <literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
+ will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
+ PCRS documentation for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most
+ notably, the non-standard option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported,
+ which turns the default to ungreedy matching.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ If you are new to
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
+ Expressions</quote></ulink>, you might want to take a look at
+ the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
+ see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl
+ manual</ulink> for
+ <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlop.html">the
+ <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
+ url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
+ expressions</ulink> in general.
+ The below examples might also help to get you started.
+</para>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
+
+<sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
+<para>
+ Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> content filter. We have already defined
+ the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
+ <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
+ needed:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
+ of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
+ care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
+ we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Our complete filter now looks like this:
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
+s/foo/bar/g</screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
+ a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
+ abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
+</para>
+
+
+<para>
+ <screen>
+FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
+
+# Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
+#
+s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
+ <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
+ the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
+ by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
+ enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
+ means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
+ matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
+ it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
+ matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
+ be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
+ special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
+ Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
+ the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
+ in the page (and appear in that order).
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
+ is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
+ means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
+ tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
+ <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
</para>
<para>
- So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
- <filename>user.action</filename>:
+ This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
+ The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
+ remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
+ the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
+ that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
+ text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
+ of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
+ only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
+ tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
+ multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
+ substitution is global.
</para>
+<para>
+ So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
+ <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
+ (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
+ <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
+ that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
+</para>
-<!-- brief sample user.action here -->
+<para>
+ Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
+ lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
+ easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
+ <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
+ the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
+ This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
+ (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
+ Business!"</literal>.
+</para>
<para>
- <screen>
-# My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com></screen>
+ The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
+ <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
+ <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
+ since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
+ string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
+ information anymore.
</para>
<para>
- As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
- file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
- <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
+ We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
+ this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
</para>
<para>
<screen>
-# (Re-)define aliases for this file:
+# The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
#
-{{alias}}
--crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
-mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
-fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
-shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups</screen>
+s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
</para>
<para>
- Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
- you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
- to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
- <literal>mercy-for-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
- that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and
- processing of cookies to make them temporary.
+ <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
+ carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
+ or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
+ makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
+ option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
+ <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>. Finally, <literal>\1</literal> is
+ a back-reference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
+ with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
+ a back-reference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
+ strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
+ (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
+ real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
+ descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
+ you move your mouse over links.
</para>
<para>
<screen>
-{ mercy-for-cookies }
-sunsolve.sun.com
-slashdot.org
-.yahoo.com
-.msdn.microsoft.com
-.redhat.com</screen>
+# Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
+#
+s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Including the
+ <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
+ event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
+ When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
+ This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
+ <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
+ Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
+ case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee
+ a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use <literal>[^>]*</literal>
+ instead of <literal>.*</literal> to prevent the match from exceeding the
+ <body> tag if it doesn't contain <quote>OnUnload</quote>, but the page's
+ content does.
</para>
<para>
- Your bank needs popups and is allergic to some filter, but you don't
- know which, so you disable them all:
+ The last example is from the fun department:
</para>
<para>
<screen>
-{ -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> }
-.your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
+FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
+
+# Spice the daily news:
+#
+s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
</para>
<para>
- While browsing the web with <application>Privoxy</application> you
- noticed some ads that sneaked through, but you were too lazy to
- report them through our fine and easy <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>
- system, so you have added them here:
+ Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
+ in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
+ <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
+ in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while
+ still replacing the word everywhere else.
</para>
<para>
<screen>
-{ +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
-www.a-popular-site.com/some/unobvious/path
-another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
+# Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
+#
+s* industry[ -]leading \
+| cutting[ -]edge \
+| customer[ -]focused \
+| market[ -]driven \
+| award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
+| high[ -]performance \
+| solutions[ -]based \
+| unmatched \
+| unparalleled \
+| unrivalled \
+*<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
+*igx</screen>
</para>
<para>
- Note that, assuming the banners in the above example have regular image
- extensions (most do),
- <literal>+<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link></literal>
- need not be specified, since all URLs ending in these extensions will
- already have been tagged as images in the relevant section of
- <filename>default.action</filename> by now.
+ The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
+ e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
</para>
<para>
- Then you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
- but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
- were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
- you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
- -- whoa! -- it worked:
+ You get the idea?
+</para>
+</sect2>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
+
+<sect2 id="predefined-filters"><title>The Pre-defined Filters</title>
+
+<!--
+
+ Note each filter is also listed in the +filter action section above. Please
+ keep these listings in sync.
+
+-->
+
+<para>
+The distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file contains a selection of
+pre-defined filters for your convenience:
</para>
-<para>
-<screen>
-{ fragile }
-.forbes.com</screen>
-</para>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>js-annoyances</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.
+ To that end, it
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
+ with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the <literal><link
+ linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal> action on the content level.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ removes the bindings to the DOM's
+ <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">unload
+ event</ulink> which we feel has no right to exist and is responsible for most <quote>exit consoles</quote>, i.e.
+ nasty windows that pop up when you close another one.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being
+ full-screen, non-resizeable, without location, status or menu bar etc.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that
+ rely heavily on JavaScript.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>js-events</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event bindings, which
+ means that scripts can not react to user actions such as mouse movements or clicks, window
+ resizing etc, anymore. Use with caution!
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ We <emphasis>strongly discourage</emphasis> using this filter as a default since it breaks
+ many legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should you really
+ need to go there).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+<varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>html-annoyances</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The <literal>BLINK</literal> and <literal>MARQUEE</literal> tags
+ are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser windows will be created as
+ resizeable (as of course they should be!), and will have location,
+ scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>content-cookies</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialog, where they can be intercepted
+ by the
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>
+ and <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>
+ actions. But web sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript
+ to sneak cookies to the browser on the content level.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This filter disables most HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets
+ cookies. It cannot detect all clever uses of these types of code, so it
+ should not be relied on as an absolute fix. Use it wherever you would also
+ use the cookie crunch actions.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>refresh tags</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
+ that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
+ for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
+ annoying.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>unsolicited-popups</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This filter attempts to prevent only <quote>unsolicited</quote> pop-up
+ windows from opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user
+ has explicitly chosen to open. It was added in version 3.0.1,
+ as an improvement over earlier such filters.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
+ function to a dummy function, <literal>PrivoxyWindowOpen()</literal>,
+ during the loading and rendering phase of each HTML page access, and
+ restoring the function afterward.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This is recommended only for browsers that cannot perform this function
+ reliably themselves. And be aware that some sites require such windows
+ in order to function normally. Use with caution.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>all-popups</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Attempt to prevent <emphasis>all</emphasis> pop-up windows from opening.
+ Note this should be used with even more discretion than the above, since
+ it is more likely to break some sites that require pop-ups for normal
+ usage. Use with caution.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>img-reorder</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the
+ <literal>banners-by-size</literal> and <literal>banners-by-link</literal>
+ (see below) filters more effective and should be enabled together with them.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>banners-by-size</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are. Fortunately
+ for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain standardized
+ sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad stripping purposes.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not ads,
+ but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Recommended only for those who require extreme ad blocking. The default
+ block rules should catch 95+% of all ads <emphasis>without</emphasis> this filter enabled.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>banners-by-link</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if
+ their URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently
+ not of much value and is not recommended for use by default.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>webbugs</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that
+ are used to track users across websites, and collect information on them.
+ As an HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the
+ browser to contact a third-party site, disclosing the tracking information
+ through the requested URL and/or cookies for that third-party domain, without
+ the user ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party site.
+ HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email addresses.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This filter removes the HTML code that loads such <quote>webbugs</quote>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>tiny-textforms</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas (those
+ multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in them.
+ It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such boxes are
+ a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>jumping-windows</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This filter
+ neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might not display
+ or behave as intended when using this filter. Use with caution.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>frameset-borders</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view their
+ web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution etc,
+ because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame sizes,
+ yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they be too
+ small to show their whole content.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to sites
+ which need it.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>demoronizer</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions (read:
+ violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This can cause those
+ HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant platforms.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents.
+ It is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of
+ all documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly
+ worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if weird garbage characters
+ sometimes appear on some pages, or user agents that don't correct for this on
+ the fly.
+<!--
+ My version of Mozilla (ancient) shows litte square boxes for quote
+ characters, and apostrophes on moronized pages. So many pages have this, I
+ can read them fine now. HB 08/27/06
+-->
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>shockwave-flash</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips code
+ out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>quicktime-kioskmode</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
+ prevents saving, is disabled.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>fun</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
+ Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>crude-parental</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ A demonstration-only filter that shows how <application>Privoxy</application>
+ can be used to delete web content on a keyword basis.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>ie-exploits</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ An experimental collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
+ code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug, and
+ would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>site-specifics</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't apply
+ anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be applied
+ to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
+ <filename>default.action</filename> file does. Users shouldn't need to change
+ anything regarding this filter.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <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>
-<para>
- You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
- but it is disabled in the distributed actions file. (My colleagues on the team just
- don't have a sense of humour, that's why! ;-). So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
- update-safe config, once and for all:
-</para>
+ <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>
-<para>
-<screen>
-{ +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
-/ # For ALL sites!</screen>
-</para>
+ <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>
-<para>
- Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
- to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
- really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
- <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
- won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
- But you're the boss.
-</para>
+ <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>
-</sect3>
-</sect2>
+ <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>
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
+<!--
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis> </emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+-->
+</variablelist>
+</sect2>
</sect1>
<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="filter-file">
-<title>The Filter File</title>
-<para>
- Any web page can be dynamically modified with the filter file. This
- modification can be removal, or re-writing, of any web page content,
- including tags and non-visible content. The default filter file is
- oddly enough <filename>default.filter</filename>, located in the config
- directory.
-</para>
-<para>
- This is potentially a very powerful feature, and requires knowledge of both
- <quote>regular expression</quote> and HTML in order create custom
- filters. But, there are a number of useful filters included with
- <application>Privoxy</application> for many common situations.
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect1 id="templates">
+<title>Privoxy's Template Files</title>
<para>
- The included example file is divided into sections. Each section begins
- with the <literal>FILTER</literal> keyword, followed by the identifier
- for that section, e.g. <quote>FILTER: webbugs</quote>. Each section performs
- a similar type of filtering, such as <quote>html-annoyances</quote>.
+ All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
+ <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
+ error page</ulink>, the <ulink
+ url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
+ page</ulink>
+ and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
+ user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
+ (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
+ intended.)
</para>
<para>
- This file uses regular expressions to alter or remove any string in the
- target page. The expressions can only operate on one line at a time. Some
- examples from the included default <filename>default.filter</filename>:
+ These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
+ directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On Unixish platforms,
+ this is typically
+ <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
</para>
<para>
- Stop web pages from displaying annoying messages in the status bar by
- deleting such references:
+ The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
+ or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. You can
+ edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want to customize them.
+ (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual user</emphasis>). Note that
+ just like in configuration files, lines starting with <literal>#</literal> are
+ ignored when the templates are filled in.
</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- FILTER: html-annoyances
-
- # New browser windows should be resizeable and have a location and status
- # bar. Make it so.
- #
- s/resizable="?(no|0)"?/resizable=1/ig s/noresize/yesresize/ig
- s/location="?(no|0)"?/location=1/ig s/status="?(no|0)"?/status=1/ig
- s/scrolling="?(no|0|Auto)"?/scrolling=1/ig
- s/menubar="?(no|0)"?/menubar=1/ig
-
- # The <BLINK> tag was a crime!
- #
- s*<blink>|</blink>**ig
-
- # Is this evil?
- #
- #s/framespacing="?(no|0)"?//ig
- #s/margin(height|width)=[0-9]*//gi
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
+ The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
+ find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
+ in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
+ always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
+ code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
</para>
<para>
- Just for kicks, replace any occurrence of <quote>Microsoft</quote> with
- <quote>MicroSuck</quote>, and have a little fun with topical buzzwords:
+ A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
+ blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
+ for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
+ our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
+ is in an alpha or beta development stage:
</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- FILTER: fun
-
- s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/ig
+ <screen>
+<!-- @if-unstable-start -->
- # Buzzword Bingo:
- #
- s/industry-leading|cutting-edge|award-winning/<font color=red><b>BINGO!</b></font>/ig
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
-</para>
+ ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
-<para>
- Kill those pesky little web-bugs:
+<!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
</para>
<para>
- <literal>
- <msgtext>
- <literallayout>
- # webbugs: Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)
- FILTER: webbugs
-
- s/<img\s+[^>]*?(width|height)\s*=\s*['"]?1\D[^>]*?(width|height)\s*=\s*['"]?1(\D[^>]*?)?>/<!-- Squished WebBug -->/sig
- </literallayout>
- </msgtext>
- </literal>
+ If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
+ <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
+ will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
</para>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2>
-<title>The <emphasis>+filter</emphasis> Action</title>
<para>
- Filters are enabled with the <link
- linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action from within
- one of the actions files. <quote>+filter</quote> requires one parameter, which
- should match one of the section identifiers in the filter file itself. Example:
+ <screen><!-- --></screen>
</para>
-<screen>
- +filter{html-annoyances}
-</screen>
-
<para>
- This would activate that particular filter. Similarly, <quote>+filter</quote>
- can be turned off for selected sites as:
- <quote>-filter{<replaceable>html-annoyances</replaceable>}</quote>. Remember
- too, all actions are off by default, unless they are explicitly enabled in one
- of the actions files.
+ There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
+ mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
+ templates ;-)
</para>
-</sect2>
-
-</sect1>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect1 id="templates">
-<title>Templates</title>
-<para>
- When <application>Privoxy</application> displays one of its internal
- pages, such as a <ulink url="http://bogus_404_page.com">404 Not Found error page</ulink>
- (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for link to work as
- intended), it uses the appropriate template. On Linux, BSD, and Unix, these
- are located in <filename>/etc/privoxy/templates</filename> by default. These
- may be customized, if desired. <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> is used to
- control the HTML attributes (fonts, etc).
-</para>
<para>
- The default
- <ulink
- url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html">Blocked
- </ulink> (<application>Privoxy</application> needs to be running for page to
- display) banner page with the bright red top banner, is called just
- <quote><filename>blocked</filename></quote>. This may be customized or
- replaced with something else if desired (not recommended for the casual
- user).
+ All templates refer to a style located at
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
+ This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
+ and the source for it can be found and edited in the
+ <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
</para>
</sect1>
<!-- ~~~~~ 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;
&history;
<!-- end history -->
</sect2>
+
+<sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
+<!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
+ &p-authors;
+<!-- end authors -->
+</sect2>
+
</sect1>
<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
<sect2 id="regex">
<title>Regular Expressions</title>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> can use <quote>regular expressions</quote>
- in various config files. Assuming support for <quote>pcre</quote> (Perl
- Compatible Regular Expressions) is compiled in, which is the default. Such
- configuration directives do not require regular expressions, but they can be
- used to increase flexibility by matching a pattern with wild-cards against
- URLs.
+ <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
+ expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
+ files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
+ through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
+<!--
+ dead 08/27/06
+ <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
+-->
+ <application>PCRS</application> libraries.
</para>
<para>
If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
- introduction only. A full explanation would require a book ;-)
+ introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
+ url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
</para>
<para>
- <quote>Regular expressions</quote> is a way of matching one character
- expression against another to see if it matches or not. One of the
- <quote>expressions</quote> is a literal string of readable characters
- (letter, numbers, etc), and the other is a complex string of literal
- characters combined with wild-cards, and other special characters, called
- meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have special meanings and
- are used to build the complex pattern to be matched against. Perl Compatible
- Regular Expressions is an enhanced form of the regular expression language
- with backward compatibility.
+ Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
+ run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
+ match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
+ strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
+ characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
+ special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
+ Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
+ <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
</para>
<para>
<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>
</member>
</simplelist></para>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>s/string1/string2/g</emphasis> - This is used to rewrite strings of text.
- <quote>string1</quote> is replaced by <quote>string2</quote> in this
- example. There must of course be a match on <quote>string1</quote> first.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
-
<para>
These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
<application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
</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
in the expression anywhere).
</para>
-<para>
- <emphasis><literal>s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/i</literal></emphasis> - This is
- a substitution. <quote>MicroSuck</quote> will replace any occurrence of
- <quote>microsoft</quote>. The <quote>i</quote> at the end of the expression
- means ignore case. The <quote>(?!.com)</quote> means
- the match should fail if <quote>microsoft</quote> is followed by
- <quote>.com</quote>. In other words, this acts like a <quote>NOT</quote>
- modifier. In case this is a hyperlink, we don't want to break it ;-).
-</para>
-
<para>
We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
<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>
+ For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications
+ in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
+ in this manual.
+</para>
</sect2>
<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
<!-- ~~~~~ 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
</para>
</blockquote>
<para>
- Alternately, this may be reached at <ulink
- url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>, but this
- variation may not work as reliably as the above in some configurations.
+ There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
+ doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
+ sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
</para>
</listitem>
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','Feedback','screenx='+w+',width='+w+',height='+h+',scrollbars=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Submit Filter Feedback</ulink>
+ <ulink url="javascript:w=Math.floor(screen.width/2);h=Math.floor(screen.height*0.9);void(window.open('http://www.privoxy.org/actions/index.php?url='+escape(location.href),'Feedback','screenx='+w+',width='+w+',height='+h+',scrollbars=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Submit Actions File Feedback</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
</para>
</listitem>
-
</itemizedlist>
</para>
-
-
<para>
- Credit: The site which gave me the general idea for these bookmarklets is
- <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
+ Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
+ <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com/">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
have more information about bookmarklets.
</para>
<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>
<para>
First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
- filtered as deterimed by the
+ filtered as determined by the
<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
</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
- <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>
- and <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>filters</quote></link>
+ <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
<emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
- <quote>regular expressions</quote> whose consequences are not always
- so obvious.
+ <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
+ always so obvious.
</para>
<para>
One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
- and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!).
+ and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
+ logs is a good idea too.
+</para>
+<para>
+ 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>
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>
<screen>
Matches for http://google.com:
---- File standard ---
-(no matches in this file)
-
---- File default ---
-
-{ -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects
- -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental}
- +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies}
- +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size}
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge}
- -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect
- +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-incoming-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer }
+ In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
+
+ {-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
{ -fast-redirects }
.google.com
---- File user ---
+In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
(no matches in this file)
</screen>
</para>
<para>
- This tells us how we have defined our
+ 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>
<screen>
Final results:
- -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version -fast-redirects
- -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental}
- +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies}
- +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size}
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge}
- -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect
- +prevent-compression -session-cookies-only -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-incoming-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer
-</screen>
+
+ -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 </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>.
- This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm...
+ 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/:
-
- { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects
- +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{kill-popups}
- +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal}
- +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block}
- +hide-referer{forge} -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{blank}
- +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -crunch-incoming-cookies
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies +kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer }
+ Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
+
+ In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
+
+ {-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
+ -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-referer{forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -inspect-jpegs
+ -kill-popups
+ -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{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. 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 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
+<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)
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.43 2005/05/23 09:59:10 hal9
+ Fix typo 'loose'
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.42 2004/12/04 14:39:57 hal9
+ Fix two minor typos per bug SF report.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.41 2004/03/23 12:58:42 oes
+ Fixed an inaccuracy
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.40 2004/02/27 12:48:49 hal9
+ Add comment re: redirecting to local file system for set-image-blocker may
+ is dependent on browser.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.39 2004/01/30 22:31:40 oes
+ Added a hint re bookmarklets to Quickstart section
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.38 2004/01/30 16:47:51 oes
+ Some minor clarifications
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.37 2004/01/29 22:36:11 hal9
+ Updates for no longer filtering text/plain, and demoronizer default settings,
+ and copyright notice dates.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.36 2003/12/10 02:26:26 hal9
+ Changed the demoronizer filter description.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.35 2003/11/06 13:36:37 oes
+ Updated link to nightly CVS tarball
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.34 2003/06/26 23:50:16 hal9
+ Add a small bit on filtering and problems re: source code being corrupted.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.33 2003/05/08 18:17:33 roro
+ Use apt-get instead of dpkg to install Debian package, which is more
+ solid, uses the correct and most recent Debian version automatically.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.32 2003/04/11 03:13:57 hal9
+ Add small note about only one filterfile (as opposed to multiple actions
+ files).
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.31 2003/03/26 02:03:43 oes
+ Updated hard-coded copyright dates
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.30 2003/03/24 12:58:56 hal9
+ Add new section on Predefined Filters.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.29 2003/03/20 02:45:29 hal9
+ More problems with \-\-chroot causing markup problems :(
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.28 2003/03/19 00:35:24 hal9
+ Manual edit of revision log because 'chroot' (even inside a comment) was
+ causing Docbook to hang here (due to double hyphen and the processor thinking
+ it was a comment).
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.27 2003/03/18 19:37:14 oes
+ s/Advanced|Radical/Adventuresome/g to avoid complaints re fun filter
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.26 2003/03/17 16:50:53 oes
+ Added documentation for new chroot option
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.25 2003/03/15 18:36:55 oes
+ Adapted to the new filters
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.24 2002/11/17 06:41:06 hal9
+ Move default profiles table from FAQ to U-M, and other minor related changes.
+ Add faq on cookies.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.23 2002/10/21 02:32:01 hal9
+ Updates to the user.action examples section. A few new ones.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.22 2002/10/12 00:51:53 hal9
+ Add demoronizer to filter section.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 hal9
+ s/Advanced/Radical/ and added very brief note.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.20 2002/10/10 03:49:21 hal9
+ Add notes to session-cookies-only and Quickstart about pre-existing
+ cookies. Also, note content-cookies work differently.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9
+ More explanation on Privoxy patterns, more on content-cookies and SSL.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9
+ Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match
+ CGIs.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9
+ Spell checked (only one typo this time!).
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt
+ Update to Mac OSX startup script name
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.15 2002/08/07 17:32:11 oes
+ Converted some internal links from ulink to link for PDF creation; no content changed
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes
+ Nits re: actions file download
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff
+ Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff
+ Added 2 Gentoo sections
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.11 2002/07/26 15:20:31 oes
+ - Added version info to title
+ - Added info on new filters
+ - Revised parts of the filter file tutorial
+ - Added info on where to get updated actions files
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
+ Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt
+
+ Updated Mac OSX sections due to installation location change
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.8 2002/06/09 16:36:32 hal9
+ Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9
+ Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9
+ Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.5 2002/05/29 02:01:02 hal9
+ This is break out of the entire config section from u-m, so it can
+ eventually be used to generate the comments, etc in the main config file
+ so that these are in sync with each other.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
+ Ooops missed something from David.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9
+ Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and OSX startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat).
+ That's a wrap, I think.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9
+ Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section.
+
+ Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
+ -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
+
+ Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9
+ Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton.
+ Minor corrections/clarifications here and there.
+
+ Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
+ Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
+
+ Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes
+ - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the
+ <literal><link> style.
+ - Small fixes in the actions chapter
+ - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking
+ - Removed <emphasis> from <title>s since the new doc CSS
+ renders them red (bad in TOC).
+
+ Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
+ Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
+
+ Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
+ Added Security hint
+
+ Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
+ -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
+ -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
+
+ Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
+ - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
+ - Small changes to Regex appendix
+ - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
+
+ Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
+ Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
+
+ Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
+ Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
+
+ Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
+ More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
+
+ Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
+ Extended and further commented the example actions files
+
Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
clarification.
projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff