<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN" [
-<!entity % dummy "IGNORE">
+<!entity % dummy "IGNORE">
<!entity supported SYSTEM "supported.sgml">
<!entity newfeatures SYSTEM "newfeatures.sgml">
<!entity p-intro SYSTEM "privoxy.sgml">
<!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
<!entity p-authors SYSTEM "p-authors.sgml">
<!entity config SYSTEM "p-config.sgml">
-<!entity p-version "3.0.17">
-<!entity p-status "stable">
+<!entity p-version "3.0.20">
+<!entity p-status "beta">
<!entity % p-authors-formal "INCLUDE"> <!-- include additional text, etc -->
-<!entity % p-not-stable "IGNORE">
-<!entity % p-stable "INCLUDE">
+<!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
+<!entity % p-stable "IGNORE">
<!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
<!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
<!entity % p-readme "IGNORE">
This file belongs into
ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
- $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.126 2010/11/06 12:55:48 fabiankeil Exp $
+ $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.159 2013/01/09 15:03:06 fabiankeil Exp $
- Copyright (C) 2001-2010 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
+ Copyright (C) 2001-2013 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
See LICENSE.
========================================================================
- NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
+ NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
========================================================================
<subscript>
<!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
<!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
- <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001-2010 by
+ <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001-2013 by
<ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
</subscript>
</pubdate>
-<pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.126 2010/11/06 12:55:48 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
+<pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.159 2013/01/09 15:03:06 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
<!--
<![%p-not-stable;[
<para>
Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
- documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
+ documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
- not many!
+ not many!
</para>
]]>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
<para>
- In addition to the core
- features of ad blocking and
+ In addition to the core
+ features of ad blocking and
<ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookie</ulink> management,
<application>Privoxy</application> provides many supplemental
- features<![%p-not-stable;[, some of them currently under development]]>,
+ features<![%p-not-stable;[, some of them currently under development]]>,
that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
</para>
<!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
</para>
<para>
- Note:
- On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if
+ Note:
+ On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if
found. (See below for your platform). In any case <emphasis>be sure to backup
your old configuration if it is valuable to you.</emphasis> See the <link
linkend="upgradersnote">note to upgraders</link> section below.
</para>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
<para>
How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
<para>
RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
- and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
+ and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
of configuration files.
</para>
Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
<emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
- <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods.
+ <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods.
</para>
<para>
- If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
- <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
- will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
+ If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
+ <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
+ will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
</para>
<para>
<sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian and Ubuntu</title>
<para>
DEBs can be installed with <literal>apt-get install privoxy</literal>,
- and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of
+ and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of
configuration files.
</para>
</sect3>
<para>
Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
the installation process. You will find the configuration files
- in the same directory as you installed <application>Privoxy</application> in.
+ in the same directory as you installed <application>Privoxy</application> in.
</para>
<para>
Version 3.0.5 beta introduced full <application>Windows</application> service
command: <command>services.msc</command>. If you do not take the manual step
of modifying <application>Privoxy's</application> service settings, it will
not start. Note too that you will need to give Privoxy a user account that
- actually exists, or it will not be permitted to
+ actually exists, or it will not be permitted to
write to its log and configuration files.
</para>
<para>
First, make sure that no previous installations of
- <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
+ <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
<application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Mac OS X</title>
<para>
- Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the zip file
- icon from the Finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there).
- Then, double-click on the package installer icon and follow the
- installation process.
+ Installation instructions for the OS X platform depend upon whether
+ you downloaded a ready-built installation package (.pkg or .mpkg) or have
+ downloaded the source code.
+</para>
+</sect3>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="OS-X-install-from-package">
+<title>Installation from ready-built package</title>
+<para>
+ The downloaded file will either be a .pkg (for OS X 10.5 upwards) or a bzipped
+ .mpkg file (for OS X 10.4). The former can be double-clicked as is and the
+ installation will start; double-clicking the latter will unzip the .mpkg file
+ which can then be double-clicked to commence the installation.
+</para>
+<para>
+ The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful installation
+ (and thereafter every time your computer starts up) however you will need to
+ configure your web browser(s) to use it. To do so, configure them to use a
+ proxy for HTTP and HTTPS at the address 127.0.0.1:8118.
+</para>
+<para>
+ To prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your computer
+ starts up, remove or rename the file <literal>/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.ijbswa.privoxy.plist</literal>
+ (on OS X 10.5 and higher) or the folder named
+ <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal> (on OS X 10.4 'Tiger').
+</para>
+<para>
+ To manually start or stop the privoxy service, use the scripts startPrivoxy.sh
+ and stopPrivoxy.sh supplied in /Applications/Privoxy. They must be run from an
+ administrator account, using sudo.
+</para>
+<para>
+ To uninstall, run /Applications/Privoxy/uninstall.command as sudo from an
+ administrator account.
+</para>
+</sect3>
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="OS-X-install-from-source">
+<title>Installation from source</title>
+<para>
+ To build and install the Privoxy source code on OS X you will need to obtain
+ the macsetup module from the Privoxy Sourceforge CVS repository (refer to
+ Sourceforge help for details of how to set up a CVS client to have read-only
+ access to the repository). This module contains scripts that leverage the usual
+ open-source tools (available as part of Apple's free of charge Xcode
+ distribution or via the usual open-source software package managers for OS X
+ (MacPorts, Homebrew, Fink etc.) to build and then install the privoxy binary
+ and associated files. The macsetup module's README file contains complete
+ instructions for its use.
+</para>
+<para>
+ The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful installation
+ (and thereafter every time your computer starts up) however you will need to
+ configure your web browser(s) to use it. To do so, configure them to use a
+ proxy for HTTP and HTTPS at the address 127.0.0.1:8118.
</para>
<para>
- The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful
- installation (in addition to every time your computer starts up). To
- prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your
- computer starts up, remove or rename the folder named
- <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
+ To prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your computer
+ starts up, remove or rename the file <literal>/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.ijbswa.privoxy.plist</literal>
+ (on OS X 10.5 and higher) or the folder named
+ <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal> (on OS X 10.4 'Tiger').
</para>
<para>
To manually start or stop the privoxy service, use the Privoxy Utility
- for Mac OS X. This application controls the privoxy service (e.g.
- starting and stopping the service as well as uninstalling the software).
+ for Mac OS X (also part of the macsetup module). This application can start
+ and stop the privoxy service and display its log and configuration files.
+</para>
+<para>
+ To uninstall, run the macsetup module's uninstall.sh as sudo from an
+ administrator account.
</para>
</sect3>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
<para>
- Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
+ Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
- directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
+ directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
remove this directory.
</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
+ Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for <application>Privoxy</application> are
+ contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page,
+ but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new
<application>Privoxy</application> Version is added to the Portage Tree).
</para>
<para>
- Before installing <application>Privoxy</application> under Gentoo just do
- first <literal>emerge --sync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
- Portage tree. With <literal>emerge privoxy</literal> you install the latest
+ Before installing <application>Privoxy</application> under Gentoo just do
+ first <literal>emerge --sync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
+ Portage tree. With <literal>emerge privoxy</literal> you install the latest
version.
</para>
<para>
- Configuration files are in <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename>, the
+ 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>
<para>
The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
- is to download the source tarball from our
+ 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>.
-<!--
+ CVS repository</ulink>.
+<!--
deprecated...out of business.
or simply download <ulink
url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.bz2">the nightly CVS
<!-- end boilerplate -->
</sect2>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect2 id="installation-keepupdated"><title>Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date</title>
-<para>
- As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions
- of both the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link> (as a <ulink
- url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&release_id=103670">separate
- package</ulink>) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for
- download.
-</para>
<para>
If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
<para>
In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
to the latest <literal>default.action</literal> file we <emphasis>strongly
- recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> and
+ recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> and
<literal>user.filter</literal> for your local
customizations of <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
linkend="actions-file">Chapter on actions files</link> for details.
<sect1 id="whatsnew">
<title>What's New in this Release</title>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy 3.0.16</application> is a stable release.
- The changes since 3.0.15 beta are:
+ <application>Privoxy 3.0.19</application> is a stable release.
+ The changes since 3.0.18 stable are:
</para>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
- Fixed last-chunk-detection for responses where the content was small
- enough to be read with the body, causing Privoxy to wait for the
- end of the content until the server closed the connection.
- Reported by "Karsten" in #3028326.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Responses with status code 204 weren't properly detected as body-less
- like RFC2616 mandates. Like the previous bug, this caused Privoxy
- to wait for the end of the content until the server closed the connection.
- Fixes #3022042 and #3025553, reported by a user with no visible name.
- Most likely also fixes a bunch of other AJAX-related problem reports
- that got closed in the past due to insufficient information and lack
- of feedback.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Fixed an ACL bug that made it impossible to build a blacklist.
- Usually the ACL directives are used in a whitelist, which worked
- as expected, but blacklisting is still useful for public proxies
- where one only needs to deny known abusers access.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Added LOG_LEVEL_RECEIVED to log the not-yet-parsed data read from the
- network. This should make debugging various parsing issues a lot easier.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The IPv6 code is enabled by default on Windows versions that support it.
- Patch submitted by oCameLo in #2942729.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In mingw32 versions, the user.filter file is reachable through the
- GUI, just like default.filter is. Feature request 3040263.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Added the configure option --enable-large-file-support to set a few
- defines that are required by platforms like GNU/Linux to support files
- larger then 2GB. Mainly interesting for users without proper logfile
- management.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Logging with "debug 16" no longer stops at the first nul byte which is
- pretty useless. Non-printable characters are replaced with their hex value
- so the result can't span multiple lines making parsing them harder then
- necessary.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Privoxy logs when reading an action, filter or trust file.
+ Bug fixes:
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Prevent a segmentation fault when de-chunking buffered content.
+ It could be triggered by malicious web servers if Privoxy was
+ configured to filter the content and running on a platform
+ where SIZE_T_MAX isn't larger than UINT_MAX, which probably
+ includes most 32-bit systems. On those platforms, all Privoxy
+ versions before 3.0.19 appear to be affected.
+ To be on the safe side, this bug should be presumed to allow
+ code execution as proving that it doesn't seems unrealistic.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Do not expect a response from the SOCKS4/4A server until it
+ got something to respond to. This regression was introduced
+ in 3.0.18 and prevented the SOCKS4/4A negotiation from working.
+ Reported by qqqqqw in #3459781.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Fixed incorrect regression test markup which caused a test in
- 3.0.16 to fail while Privoxy itself was working correctly.
- While Privoxy accepts hide-referer, too, the action name is actually
- hide-referrer which is also the name used one the final results page,
- where the test expected the alias.
+ General improvements:
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Fix an off-by-one in an error message about connect failures.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Use a GNUMakefile variable for the webserver root directory and
+ update the path. Sourceforge changed it which broke various
+ web-related targets.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Update the CODE_STATUS description.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ The following changes were made between 3.0.17 and 3.0.18:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
- CGI interface improvements:
+ Bug fixes:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
- In finish_http_response(), continue to add the 'Connection: close'
- header if the client connection will not be kept alive.
- Anonymously pointed out in #2987454.
+ If a generated redirect URL contains characters RFC 3986 doesn't
+ permit, they are (re)encoded. Not doing this makes Privoxy versions
+ from 3.0.5 to 3.0.17 susceptible to HTTP response splitting (CWE-113)
+ attacks if the +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} action is used.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Fix a logic bug that could cause Privoxy to reuse a server
+ socket after it got tainted by a server-header-tagger-induced
+ block that was triggered before the whole server response had
+ been read. If keep-alive was enabled and the request following
+ the blocked one was to the same host and using the same forwarding
+ settings, Privoxy would send it on the tainted server socket.
+ While the server would simply treat it as a pipelined request,
+ Privoxy would later on fail to properly parse the server's
+ response as it would try to parse the unread data from the
+ first response as server headers for the second one.
+ Regression introduced in 3.0.17.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ When implying keep-alive in client_connection(), remember that
+ the client didn't. Fixes a regression introduced in 3.0.13 that
+ would cause Privoxy to wait for additional client requests after
+ receiving a HTTP/1.1 request with "Connection: close" set
+ and connection sharing enabled.
+ With clients which terminates the client connection after detecting
+ that the whole body has been received it doesn't really matter,
+ but with clients that don't the connection would be kept open until
+ it timed out.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Fix a subtle race condition between prepare_csp_for_next_request()
+ and sweep(). A thread preparing itself for the next client request
+ could briefly appear to be inactive.
+ If all other threads were already using more recent files,
+ the thread could get its files swept away under its feet.
+ So far this has only been reproduced while stress testing in
+ valgrind while touching action files in a loop. It's unlikely
+ to have caused any actual problems in the real world.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Disable filters if SDCH compression is used unless filtering is forced.
+ If SDCH was combined with a supported compression algorithm, Privoxy
+ previously could try to decompress it and ditch the Content-Encoding
+ header even though the SDCH compression wasn't dealt with.
+ Reported by zebul666 in #3225863.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Make a copy of the --user value and only mess with that when splitting
+ user and group. On some operating systems modifying the value directly
+ is reflected in the output of ps and friends and can be misleading.
+ Reported by zepard in #3292710.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ If forwarded-connect-retries is set, only retry if Privoxy is actually
+ forwarding the request. Previously direct connections would be retried
+ as well.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Fixed a small memory leak when retrying connections with IPv6
+ support enabled.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Apostrophes in block messages no longer cause parse errors
- when the blocked page is viewed with JavaScript enabled.
- Reported by dg1727 in #3062296.
+ Remove an incorrect assertion in compile_dynamic_pcrs_job_list()
+ It could be triggered by a pcrs job with an invalid pcre
+ pattern (for example one that contains a lone quantifier).
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Fix a bunch of anchors that used underscores instead of dashes.
+ If the --user argument user[.group] contains a dot, always bail out
+ if no group has been specified. Previously the intended, but undocumented
+ (and apparently untested), behaviour was to try interpreting the whole
+ argument as user name, but the detection was flawed and checked for '0'
+ instead of '\0', thus merely preventing group names beginning with a zero.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Allow to keep the client connection alive after crunching the previous request.
- Already opened server connections can be kept alive, too.
+ In html_code_map[], use a numeric character reference instead of '
+ which wasn't standardized before XHTML 1.0.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- In cgi_show_url_info(), don't forget to prefix URLs that only contain http:// or https:// in the path.
- Fixes #2975765 reported by Adam Piggott.
+ Fix an invalid free when compiled with FEATURE_GRACEFUL_TERMINATION
+ and shut down through http://config.privoxy.org/die
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Show the 404 CGI page if cgi_send_user_manual() is called while
- local user manual delivery is disabled.
+ In get_actions(), fix the "temporary" backwards compatibility hack
+ to accept block actions without reason.
+ It also covered other actions that should be rejected as invalid.
+ Reported by Billy Crook.
</para>
+ </listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Action file improvements:
+ General improvements:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
- Enable user.filter by default. Suggested by David White in #3001830.
+ Privoxy can (re)compress buffered content before delivering
+ it to the client. Disabled by default as most users wouldn't
+ benefit from it.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Block .sitestat.com/. Reported by johnd16 in #3002725.
+ The +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} action checks URL
+ segments separately. If there are other parameters behind
+ the redirect URL, this makes it unnecessary to cut them off
+ by additionally using a +redirect{} pcrs command.
+ Initial patch submitted by Jamie Zawinski in #3429848.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Block .atemda.com/. Reported by johnd16 in #3002723.
+ When loading action sections, verify that the referenced filters
+ exist. Currently missing filters only result in an error message,
+ but eventually the severity will be upgraded to fatal.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Block js.adlink.net/. Reported by johnd16 in #3002720.
+ Allow to bind to multiple separate addresses.
+ Patch set submitted by Petr Pisar in #3354485.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Block .analytics.yahoo.com/. Reported by johnd16 in #3002713.
+ Set socket_error to errno if connecting fails in rfc2553_connect_to().
+ Previously rejected direct connections could be incorrectly reported
+ as DNS issues if Privoxy was compiled with IPv6 support.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Block sb.scorecardresearch.com, too. Reported by dg1727 in #2992652.
+ Adjust url_code_map[] so spaces are replaced with %20 instead of '+'
+ While '+' can be used by client's submitting form data, this is not
+ actually what Privoxy is using the lookups for. This is more of a
+ cosmetic issue and doesn't fix any known problems.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Fix problems noticed on Yahoo mail and news pages.
+ When compiled without FEATURE_FAST_REDIRECTS, do not silently
+ ignore +fast-redirect{} directives
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Remove the too broad yahoo section, only keeping the
- fast-redirects exception as discussed on ijbswa-devel@.
+ Added a workaround for GNU libc's strptime() reporting negative
+ year values when the parsed year is only specified with two digits.
+ On affected systems cookies with such a date would not be turned
+ into session cookies by the +session-cookies-only action.
+ Reported by Vaeinoe in #3403560
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Don't block adesklets.sourceforge.net. Reported in #2974204.
+ Fixed bind failures with certain GNU libc versions if no non-loopback
+ IP address has been configured on the system. This is mainly an issue
+ if the system is using DHCP and Privoxy is started before the network
+ is completely configured.
+ Reported by Raphael Marichez in #3349356.
+ Additional insight from Petr Pisar.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Block chartbeat ping tracking. Reported in #2975895.
+ Privoxy log messages now use the ISO 8601 date format %Y-%m-%d.
+ It's only slightly longer than the old format, but contains
+ the full date including the year and allows sorting by date
+ (when grepping in multiple log files) without hassle.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Tag CSS and image requests with cautious and medium settings, too.
+ In get_last_url(), do not bother trying to decode URLs that do
+ not contain at least one '%' sign. It reduces the log noise and
+ a number of unnecessary memory allocations.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Don't handle view.atdmt.com as image. It's used for click-throughs
- so users should be able to "go there anyway".
- Reported by Adam Piggott in #2975927.
+ In case of SOCKS5 failures, dump the socks response in the log message.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Also let the refresh-tags filter remove invalid refresh tags where
- the 'url=' part is missing. Anonymously reported in #2986382.
- While at it, update the description to mention the fact that only
- refresh tags with refresh times above 9 seconds are covered.
+ Simplify the signal setup in main().
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- javascript needs to be blocked with +handle-as-empty-document to
- work around Firefox bug 492459. So move .js blockers from
- +block{Might be a web-bug.} -handle-as-empty-document
- to
- +block{Might be a web-bug.} +handle-as-empty-document
+ Streamline socks5_connect() slightly.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- ijbswa-Feature Requests-3006719 - Block 160x578 Banners.
+ In socks5_connect(), require a complete socks response from the server.
+ Previously Privoxy didn't care how much data the server response
+ contained as long as the first two bytes contained the expected
+ values. While at it, shrink the buffer size so Privoxy can't read
+ more than a whole socks response.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Block another omniture tracking domain
+ In chat(), do not bother to generate a client request in case of
+ direct CONNECT requests. It will not be used anyway.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Added a range-requests tagger.
+ Reduce server_last_modified()'s stack size.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Added two sections to get Flickr's Ajax interface working with
- default pre-settings. If you change the configuration to block
- cookies by default, you'll need additional exceptions.
- Reported by Mathias Homann in #3101419 and by Patrick on ijbswa-users@
+ Shorten get_http_time() by using strftime().
</para>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Documentation improvements:
- <itemizedlist>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Explicitly mention how to match all URLs.
+ Constify the known_http_methods pointers in unknown_method().
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Consistently recommend socks5 in the Tor FAQ entry and mention
- its advantage compared to socks4a. Reported by David in #2960129.
+ Constify the time_formats pointers in parse_header_time().
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Slightly improve the explanation of why filtering may appear
- slower than it is.
+ Constify the formerly_valid_actions pointers in action_used_to_be_valid().
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Grammar fixes for the ACL section.
+ Introduce a GNUMakefile MAN_PAGE variable that defaults to privoxy.1.
+ The Debian package uses section 8 for the man page and this
+ should simplify the patch.
</para>
- </itemizedlist>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Privoxy-Log-Parser improvements:
- <itemizedlist>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deduplicate the INADDR_NONE definition for Solaris by moving it to jbsockets.h
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ In block_url(), ditch the obsolete workaround for ancient Netscape versions
+ that supposedly couldn't properly deal with status code 403.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Remove a useless NULL pointer check in load_trustfile().
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Remove two useless NULL pointer checks in load_one_re_filterfile().
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Change url_code_map[] from an array of pointers to an array of arrays
+ It removes an unnecessary layer of indirection and on 64bit system reduces
+ the size of the binary a bit.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Fix various typos. Fixes taken from Debian's 29_typos.dpatch by Roland Rosenfeld.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Add a dok-tidy GNUMakefile target to clean up the messy HTML
+ generated by the other dok targets.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ GNUisms in the GNUMakefile have been removed.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Change the HTTP version in static responses to 1.1
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Synced config.sub and config.guess with upstream
+ 2011-11-11/386c7218162c145f5f9e1ff7f558a3fbb66c37c5.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Add a dedicated function to parse the values of toggles. Reduces duplicated
+ code in load_config() and provides better error handling. Invalid or missing
+ toggle values are now a fatal error instead of being silently ignored.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Terminate HTML lines in static error messages with \n instead of \r\n.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Simplify cgi_error_unknown() a bit.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ In LogPutString(), don't bother looking at pszText when not
+ actually logging anything.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Change ssplit()'s fourth parameter from int to size_t.
+ Fixes a clang complaint.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Also gather statistics for blocked and redirected requests.
+ Add a warning that the statistics currently can't be trusted.
+ Mention Privoxy-Log-Parser's --statistics option as
+ an alternative for the time being.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Provide the percentage of keep-alive offers the client accepted.
+ In rfc2553_connect_to(), start setting cgi->error_message on error.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add a --url-statistics-threshold option.
+ Change the expected status code returned for http://p.p/die depending
+ on whether or not FEATURE_GRACEFUL_TERMINATION is available.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Also gather statistics for ressources, methods, and HTTP versions
- used by the client.
+ In cgi_die(), mark the client connection for closing.
+ If the client will fetch the style sheet through another connection
+ it gets the main thread out of the accept() state and should thus
+ trigger the actual shutdown.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add a --host-statistics-threshold option to also gather
- statistics about how many request where made per host.
+ Add a proper CGI message for cgi_die().
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Fix a bug in handle_loglevel_header() where a 'scan: ' got lost.
+ Don't enforce a logical line length limit in read_config_line().
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Add a --shorten-thread-ids option to replace the thread id with
- a decimal number.
+ Slightly refactor server_last_modified() to remove useless gmtime*() calls.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Accept and ignore: Looks like we got the last chunk together
- with the server headers. We better stop reading.
+ In get_content_type(), also recognize '.jpeg' as JPEG extension.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Accept and ignore: Continue hack in da house.
+ Add '.png' to the list of recognized file extensions in get_content_type().
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Accept and higlight: Rejecting connection from 10.0.0.2.
- Maximum number of connections reached.
+ In block_url(), consistently use the block reason "Request blocked by Privoxy"
+ In two places the reason was "Request for blocked URL" which hides the
+ fact that the request got blocked by Privoxy and isn't necessarily
+ correct as the block may be due to tags.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Accept and highlight: Loading actions file: /usr/local/etc/privoxy/default.action
+ In listen_loop(), reload the configuration files after accepting
+ a new connection instead of before.
+ Previously the first connection that arrived after a configuration
+ change would still be handled with the old configuration.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Accept and highlight: Loading filter file: /usr/local/etc/privoxy/default.filter
+ In chat()'s receive-data loop, skip a client socket check if
+ the socket will be written to right away anyway. This can
+ increase the transfer speed for unfiltered content on fast
+ network connections.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Accept and highlight: Killed all-caps Host header line: HOST: bestproxydb.com
+ The socket timeout is used for SOCKS negotiations as well which
+ previously couldn't timeout.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Accept and highlight: Reducing expected bytes to 0. Marking
- the server socket tainted after throwing 4 bytes away.
+ Don't keep the client connection alive if any configuration file
+ changed since the time the connection came in. This is closer to
+ Privoxy's behaviour before keep-alive support for client connection
+ has been added and also less confusing in general.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Accept: Merged multiple header lines to: 'X-FORWARDED-PROTO: http X-HOST: 127.0.0.1'
+ Treat all Content-Type header values containing the pattern
+ 'script' as a sign of text. Reported by pribog in #3134970.
</para>
+ </listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Code cleanups:
+ Action file improvements:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
- Remove the next member from the client_state struct. Only the main
- thread needs access to all client states so give it its own struct.
+ Moved the site-specific block pattern section below the one for the
+ generic patterns so for requests that are matched in both, the block
+ reason for the domain is shown which is usually more useful than showing
+ the one for the generic pattern.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Remove -prevent-compression from the fragile alias. It's no longer
+ used anywhere by default and isn't known to break stuff anyway.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Add a (disabled) section to block various Facebook tracking URLs.
+ Reported by Dan Stahlke in #3421764.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Add a (disabled) section to rewrite and redirect click-tracking
+ URLs used on news.google.com.
+ Reported by Dan Stahlke in #3421755.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Garbage-collect request_contains_null_bytes().
+ Unblock linuxcounter.net/.
+ Reported by Dan Stahlke in #3422612.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Ditch redundant code in unload_configfile().
+ Block 'www91.intel.com/' which is used by Omniture.
+ Reported by Adam Piggott in #3167370.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Ditch LogGetURLUnderCursor() which doesn't seem to be used anywhere.
+ Disable the handle-as-empty-doc-returns-ok option and mark it as deprecated.
+ Reminded by tceverling in #2790091.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- In write_socket(), remove the write-only variable write_len in
- an ifdef __OS2__ block. Spotted by cppcheck.
+ Add ".ivwbox.de/" to the "Cross-site user tracking" section.
+ Reported by Nettozahler in #3172525.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- In connect_to(), don't declare the variable 'flags' on OS/2 where
- it isn't used. Spotted by cppcheck.
+ Unblock and fast-redirect ".awin1.com/.*=http://".
+ Reported by Adam Piggott in #3170921.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Limit the scope of various variables. Spotted by cppcheck.
+ Block "b.collective-media.net/".
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- In add_to_iob(), turn an interestingly looking for loop into a
- boring while loop.
+ Widen the Debian popcon exception to "qa.debian.org/popcon".
+ Seen in Debian's 05_default_action.dpatch by Roland Rosenfeld.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Code cleanup in preparation for external filters.
+ Block ".gemius.pl/" which only seems to be used for user tracking.
+ Reported by johnd16 in #3002731. Additional input from Lee and movax.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- In listen_loop(), mention the socket on which we accepted the
- connection, not just the source IP address.
+ Disable banners-by-size filters for '.thinkgeek.com/'.
+ The filter only seems to catch pictures of the inventory.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- In write_socket(), also log the socket we're writing to.
+ Block requests for 'go.idmnet.bbelements.com/please/showit/'.
+ Reported by kacperdominik in #3372959.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- In log_error(), assert that escaped characters get logged
- completely or not at all.
+ Unblock adainitiative.org/.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- In log_error(), assert that ival and sval have reasonable values.
- There's no reason not to abort() if they don't.
+ Add a fast-redirects exception for '.googleusercontent.com/.*=cache'.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Remove an incorrect cgi_error_unknown() call in a
- cannnot-happen-situation in send_crunch_response().
+ Add a fast-redirects exception for webcache.googleusercontent.com/.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Clean up white-space in http_response definition and
- move the crunch_reason to the beginning.
+ Unblock http://adassier.wordpress.com/ and http://adassier.files.wordpress.com/.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Filter file improvements:
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Let the yahoo filter hide '.ads'.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Turn http_response.reason into an enum and rename it
- to http_response.crunch_reason.
+ Let the msn filter hide overlay ads for Facebook 'likes' in search
+ results and elements with the id 's_notf_div'. They only seem to be
+ used to advertise site 'enhancements'.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Silence a 'gcc (Debian 4.3.2-1.1) 4.3.2' warning on i686 GNU/Linux.
+ Let the js-events filter additionally disarm setInterval().
+ Suggested by dg1727 in #3423775.
</para>
+ </listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- GNUmakefile improvements:
+ Documentation improvements:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
- Use $(SSH) instead of ssh, so one only needs to specify a username once.
+ Clarify the effect of compiling Privoxy with zlib support.
+ Suggested by dg1727 in #3423782.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Removed references to the action feedback thingy that hasn't been
- working for years.
+ Point out that the SourceForge messaging system works like a black
+ hole and should thus not be used to contact individual developers.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Consistently use shell.sourceforge.net instead of shell.sf.net so
- one doesn't need to check server fingerprints twice.
+ Mention some of the problems one can experience when not explicitly
+ configuring an IP addresses as listen address.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Removed GNUisms in the webserver and webactions targets so they
- work with standard tar.
+ Explicitly mention that hostnames can be used instead of IP addresses
+ for the listen-address, that only the first address returned will be
+ used and what happens if the address is invalid.
+ Requested by Calestyo in #3302213.
</para>
+ </listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
-</para>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect2 id="upgradersnote">
-<title>Note to Upgraders</title>
-
-<para>
- A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
- versions of <application>Privoxy</application>:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <itemizedlist>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The recommended way to upgrade &my-app; is to backup your old
- configuration files, install the new ones, verify that &my-app;
- is working correctly and finally merge back your changes using
- <application>diff</application> and maybe <application>patch</application>.
- </para>
- <para>
- There are a number of new features in each &my-app; release and
- most of them have to be explicitly enabled in the configuration
- files. Old configuration files obviously don't do that and due
- to syntax changes using old configuration files with a new
- &my-app; isn't always possible anyway.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Note that some installers remove earlier versions completely,
- including configuration files, therefore you should really save
- any important configuration files!
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- On the other hand, other installers don't overwrite existing configuration
- files, thinking you will want to do that yourself.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <filename>standard.action</filename> has been merged into
- the <filename>default.action</filename> file.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- In the default configuration only fatal errors are logged now.
- You can change that in the <link linkend="DEBUG">debug section</link>
- of the configuration file. You may also want to enable more verbose
- logging until you verified that the new &my-app; version is working
- as expected.
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Three other config file settings are now off by default:
- <link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link>,
- <link linkend="enable-remote-http-toggle">enable-remote-http-toggle</link>,
- and <link linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link>.
- If you use or want these, you will need to explicitly enable them, and
- be aware of the security issues involved.
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
-<!--
- <listitem>
- <para>
- What constitutes a <quote>default</quote> configuration has changed,
- and you may want to review which actions are <quote>on</quote> by
- default. This is primarily a matter of emphasis, but some features
- you may have been used to, may now be <quote>off</quote> by default.
- There are also a number of new actions and filters you may want to
- consider, most of which are not fully incorporated into the default
- settings as yet (see above).
- </para>
- </listitem>
--->
-<!--
<listitem>
<para>
- The default actions setting is now <literal>Cautious</literal>. Previous
- releases had a default setting of <literal>Medium</literal>. Experienced
- users may want to adjust this, as it is fairly conservative by &my-app;
- standards and past practices. See <ulink
- url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
- http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>. New users
- should try the default settings for a while before turning up the volume.
+ Log message improvements:
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ If only the server connection is kept alive, do not pretend to
+ wait for a new client request.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Remove a superfluous log message in forget_connection().
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ In chat(), properly report missing server responses as such
+ instead of calling them empty.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ In forwarded_connect(), fix a log message nobody should ever see.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Fix a log message in socks5_connect(), a failed write operation
+ was logged as failed read operation.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Let load_one_actions_file() properly complain about a missing
+ '{' at the beginning of the file.
+ Simply stating that a line is invalid isn't particularly helpful.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Do not claim to listen on a socket until Privoxy actually does.
+ Patch submitted by Petr Pisar #3354485
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Prevent a duplicated LOG_LEVEL_CLF message when sending out
+ the "no-server-data" response.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Also log the client socket when dropping a connection.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Include the destination host in the 'Request ... marked for
+ blocking. limit-connect{...} doesn't allow CONNECT ...' message
+ Patch submitted by Saperski in #3296250.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Prevent a duplicated log message if none of the resolved IP
+ addresses were reachable.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ In connect_to(), do not pretend to retry if forwarded-connect-retries
+ is zero or unset.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ When a specified user or group can't be found, put the name in
+ single-quotes when logging it.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ In rfc2553_connect_to(), explain getnameinfo() errors better.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Remove a useless log message in chat().
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ When retrying to connect, also log the maximum number of connection
+ attempts.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Rephrase a log message in compile_dynamic_pcrs_job_list().
+ Divide the error code and its meaning with a colon. Call the pcrs
+ job dynamic and not the filter. Filters may contain dynamic and
+ non-dynamic pcrs jobs at the same time. Only mention the name of
+ the filter or tagger, but don't claim it's a filter when it could
+ be a tagger.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ In a fatal error message in load_one_actions_file(), cover both
+ URL and TAG patterns.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ In pcrs_strerror(), properly report unknown positive error code
+ values as such. Previously they were handled like 0 (no error).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ In compile_dynamic_pcrs_job_list(), also log the actual error code as
+ pcrs_strerror() doesn't handle all errors reported by pcre.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Don't bother trying to continue chatting if the client didn't ask for it.
+ Reduces log noise a bit.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Make two fatal error message in load_one_actions_file() more descriptive.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ In cgi_send_user_manual(), log when rejecting a file name due to '/' or '..'.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ In load_file(), log a message if opening a file failed.
+ The CGI error message alone isn't too helpful.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ In connection_destination_matches(), improve two log messages
+ to help understand why the destinations don't match.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Rephrase a log message in serve(). Client request arrival
+ should be differentiated from closed client connections now.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ In serve(), log if a client connection isn't reused due to a
+ configuration file change.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Let mark_server_socket_tainted() always mark the server socket tainted,
+ just don't talk about it in cases where it has no effect. It doesn't change
+ Privoxy's behaviour, but makes understanding the log file easier.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
-
<listitem>
<para>
- 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>).
+ configure:
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Added a --disable-ipv6-support switch for platforms where support
+ is detected but doesn't actually work.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Do not check for the existence of strerror() and memmove() twice
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Remove a useless test for setpgrp(2). Privoxy doesn't need it and
+ it can cause problems when cross-compiling.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Rename the --disable-acl-files switch to --disable-acl-support.
+ Since about 2001, ACL directives are specified in the standard
+ config file.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Update the URL of the 'Removing outdated PCRE version after the
+ next stable release' posting. The old URL stopped working after
+ one of SF's recent site "optimizations". Reported by Han Liu.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
</para>
-
</listitem>
-
<listitem>
- <para>
- 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>
+ <para>
+ Privoxy-Regression-Test:
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Added --shuffle-tests option to increase the chances of detection race conditions.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Added a --local-test-file option that allows to use Privoxy-Regression-Test without Privoxy.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Added tests for missing socks4 and socks4a forwarders.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The --privoxy-address option now works with IPv6 addresses containing brackets, too.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Perform limited sanity checks for parameters that are supposed to have numerical values.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Added a --sleep-time option to specify a number of seconds to
+ sleep between tests, defaults to 0.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Disable the range-requests tagger for tests that break if it's enabled.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Log messages use the ISO 8601 date format %Y-%m-%d.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Fix spelling in two error messages.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ In the --help output, include a list of supported tests and their default levels.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Adjust the tests to properly deal with FEATURE_TOGGLE being disabled.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </para>
</listitem>
-
-
<listitem>
- <para>
- Some installers may not automatically start
- <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
- </para>
- </listitem>
--->
-
- </itemizedlist>
-</para>
-
-</sect2>
-</sect1>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using Privoxy</title>
-<para>
- <itemizedlist>
-
+ <para>
+ Privoxy-Log-Parser:
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Perform limited sanity checks for command line parameters that
+ are supposed to have numerical values.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Implement a --unbreak-lines-only option to try to revert MUA breakage.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Accept and highlight: Added header: Content-Encoding: deflate
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Accept and highlight: Compressed content from 29258 to 8630 bytes.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Accept and highlight: Client request arrived in time on socket 21.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Highlight: Didn't receive data in time: a.fsdn.com:443
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Accept log messages with ISO 8601 time stamps, too.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ uagen:
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Bump generated Firefox version to 8.0.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Only randomize the release date if the new --randomize-release-date
+ option is enabled. Firefox versions after 4 use a fixed date string
+ without meaning.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+
+<sect2 id="upgradersnote">
+<title>Note to Upgraders</title>
+
+<para>
+ A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
+ versions of <application>Privoxy</application>:
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The recommended way to upgrade &my-app; is to backup your old
+ configuration files, install the new ones, verify that &my-app;
+ is working correctly and finally merge back your changes using
+ <application>diff</application> and maybe <application>patch</application>.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ There are a number of new features in each &my-app; release and
+ most of them have to be explicitly enabled in the configuration
+ files. Old configuration files obviously don't do that and due
+ to syntax changes using old configuration files with a new
+ &my-app; isn't always possible anyway.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Note that some installers remove earlier versions completely,
+ including configuration files, therefore you should really save
+ any important configuration files!
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ On the other hand, other installers don't overwrite existing configuration
+ files, thinking you will want to do that yourself.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <filename>standard.action</filename> has been merged into
+ the <filename>default.action</filename> file.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ In the default configuration only fatal errors are logged now.
+ You can change that in the <link linkend="DEBUG">debug section</link>
+ of the configuration file. You may also want to enable more verbose
+ logging until you verified that the new &my-app; version is working
+ as expected.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Three other config file settings are now off by default:
+ <link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link>,
+ <link linkend="enable-remote-http-toggle">enable-remote-http-toggle</link>,
+ and <link linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link>.
+ If you use or want these, you will need to explicitly enable them, and
+ be aware of the security issues involved.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+<!--
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ What constitutes a <quote>default</quote> configuration has changed,
+ and you may want to review which actions are <quote>on</quote> by
+ default. This is primarily a matter of emphasis, but some features
+ you may have been used to, may now be <quote>off</quote> by default.
+ There are also a number of new actions and filters you may want to
+ consider, most of which are not fully incorporated into the default
+ settings as yet (see above).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+-->
+<!--
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The default actions setting is now <literal>Cautious</literal>. Previous
+ releases had a default setting of <literal>Medium</literal>. Experienced
+ users may want to adjust this, as it is fairly conservative by &my-app;
+ standards and past practices. See <ulink
+ url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
+ http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>. New users
+ should try the default settings for a while before turning up the volume.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The default setting has filtering turned <emphasis>off</emphasis>, which
+ subsequently means that compression is <emphasis>on</emphasis>. Remember
+ that filtering does not work on compressed pages, so if you use, or want to
+ use, filtering, you will need to force compression off. Example:
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+ { +<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{google} +<link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link> }
+ .google.</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Or if you use a number of filters, or filter many sites, you may just want
+ to turn off compression for all sites in
+ <filename>default.action</filename> (or
+ <filename>user.action</filename>).
+ </para>
+
+ </listitem>
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Also, <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> is
+ off by default now. If you've liked this feature in the past, you may want
+ to turn it back on in <filename>user.action</filename> now.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+
+
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Some installers may not automatically start
+ <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+-->
+
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
+
+</sect2>
+</sect1>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using Privoxy</title>
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+
<listitem>
<para>
Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
- information.
+ information.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
- linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
+ linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
off by default.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
HTTPS (SSL) <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>
by setting the proxy configuration for address of
<literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
- <emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> activate proxying for <literal>FTP</literal> or
+ <emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> activate proxying for <literal>FTP</literal> or
any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) unless you intend to prevent your
browser from using these protocols.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
- If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage
+ If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage
<ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
you should remove any currently stored cookies too.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
+ A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
- configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
+ configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
to no initial configuration is required in most cases, you may want
to enable the
<ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">web-based action editor</ulink> though.
introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
banners.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Action</link></quote> has hints on how to understand and debug actions that
<quote>misbehave</quote>.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<!--
Did anyone test these lately?
<link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklets</link> into your browser's
personal toolbar.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
-->
<listitem>
<para>
Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
Developers</link> on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get
- help.
+ help.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
<title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
<!--
- NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
+ NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
-->
<para>
Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
- array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
+ array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
</para>
-<para>
- This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
+<para>
+ This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
</para>
<para>
First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
- more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
- things that were not intended. And the more likely that some things
+ more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
+ things that were not intended. And the more likely that some things
may not work as intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
<quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
- configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
- not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
+ configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
+ not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
habits and preferences.
</para>
<para>
Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
- <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
+ <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
<application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
</para>
<para>
Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
- followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
+ followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
<para>
The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: <literal><link
linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
- linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
+ linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
<literal><link
linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal>,and
<literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
<para>
<itemizedlist>
-
+
<listitem>
<para>
- <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this is perhaps
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this is perhaps
the single most used action, and is particularly important for ad blocking.
This action stops any contact between your browser and any URL patterns
that match this action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads,
<application>Privoxy</application>'s own built-in BLOCKED page instead to
let you now what has happened (with some exceptions, see below).
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
+ <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
<application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
- some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
+ some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
<application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
an entire HTML page in most situations.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- <literal><link linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> -
- sends an empty document instead of <application>Privoxy's</application>
- normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither
+ <literal><link linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> -
+ sends an empty document instead of <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither
HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
</para>
<simplelist>
<member>
- <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
+ <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
replacement is obvious. This is the default.
</member>
</simplelist>
of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
</member>
</simplelist>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
Advanced users will eventually want to explore &my-app;
- <literal><link linkend="filter">filters</link></literal> as well. Filters
+ <literal><link linkend="filter">filters</link></literal> as well. Filters
are very different from <literal><link
linkend="block">blocks</link></literal>.
A <quote>block</quote> blocks a site, page, or unwanted contented. Filters
The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
- (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
+ (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
is an internal page, and does not require Internet access.
</para>
<listitem>
<para>
- Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
+ Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
<quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
- pop-up menu.
+ pop-up menu.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Set your browser to
+ Set your browser to
<ulink
url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
+ Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
</para>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
- </imageobject>
+ </imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
</textobject>
</mediaobject>
</figure>
</para>
- </listitem>
-
+ </listitem>
+
<listitem>
<para>
You should have a section with only
- <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
<quote>Actions:</quote>.
If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
- button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
+ button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
<guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
<literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
just below the list.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
<quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
<quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
(or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
</para>
- </listitem>
-
+ </listitem>
+
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
- This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
+ This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
- site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
+ site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
section</link>.
</para>
The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
</para>
<para>
- There are also various
- <link linkend="filter">filters</link> that can be used for ad blocking
- (filters are a special subset of actions). These
+ There are also various
+ <link linkend="filter">filters</link> that can be used for ad blocking
+ (filters are a special subset of actions). These
fall into the <quote>advanced</quote> usage category, and are explained in
- depth in later sections.
+ depth in later sections.
</para>
</sect2>
<para>
Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
will want to configure your browser(s) to use
- <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)
+ <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)
<ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>. The default is
127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
used port 8000). This is the one configuration step <emphasis>that must be done
</emphasis>!
</para>
<para>
- Please note that <application>Privoxy</application> can only proxy HTTP and
+ Please note that <application>Privoxy</application> can only proxy HTTP and
HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
</para>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
- </imageobject>
+ </imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
</textobject>
</mediaobject>
</figure>
</para>
-
-<para>
+
+<para>
With <application>Firefox</application>, this is typically set under:
</para>
-
+
<literallayout>
<guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Network</guibutton> -><guibutton>Connection</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Settings</guibutton>
</literallayout>
-<para>
+<para>
Or optionally on some platforms:
</para>
-
+
<literallayout>
<guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>General</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connection Settings</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Manual Proxy Configuration</guibutton>
</literallayout>
-<para>
+<para>
With <application>Netscape</application> (and
<application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
</para>
</literallayout>
<para>
- For <application>Internet Explorer v.5-7</application>:
+ For <application>Internet Explorer v.5-7</application>:
</para>
<literallayout>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="proxy2.jpg" format="jpg">
- </imageobject>
+ </imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>[ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
</textobject>
<para>
After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
- re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
+ re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
any <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
if you want <application>Privoxy</application> to manage that. You are now
ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application> can run with full Windows service functionality.
On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments
- to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
+ to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
<link linkend="installation-pack-win">Windows Installation
instructions</link> for details.
</para>
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).
+ 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).
<sect2 id="start-gentoo">
<title>Gentoo</title>
<para>
- A script is again used. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config
+ A script is again used. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config
</filename> as its main configuration file.
</para>
<para>
</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>
+ 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>
+<para>
<screen>
rc-update add privoxy default
</screen>
<ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
- such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
+ such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
</para>
<para>
sites is the popup-killing (through <ulink
url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>),
because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
- popups (explained below).
+ popups (explained below).
</para>
<para>
</para>
<para>
- After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
- start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
- preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
- be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
- can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
+ After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
+ start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
+ preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
+ be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
+ can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
<ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
- (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
- and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
+ (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
+ and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
(This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
</para>
<para>
In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
- configuration can be viewed from this page, including
- current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
- the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
- to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
- editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
+ configuration can be viewed from this page, including
+ current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
+ the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
+ to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
+ editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
</para>
<para>
If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
- Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
+ Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
section <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
- Developers</quote></link> below.
+ Developers</quote></link> below.
</para>
-->
<para>
<itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <emphasis>--config-test</emphasis>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Exit after loading the configuration files before binding to
+ the listen address. The exit code signals whether or not the
+ configuration files have been successfully loaded.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ If the exit code is 1, at least one of the configuration files
+ is invalid, if it is 0, all the configuration files have been
+ successfully loaded (but may still contain errors that can
+ currently only be detected at run time).
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This option doesn't affect the log setting, combination with
+ <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis> is recommended if a configured
+ log file shouldn't be used.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<emphasis>--version</emphasis>
<para>
Print version info and exit. Unix only.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<emphasis>--help</emphasis>
<para>
Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
<emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
<emphasis>--chroot</emphasis>
</para>
<para>
- Before changing to the user ID given in the <emphasis>--user</emphasis> option,
+ Before changing to the user ID given in the <emphasis>--user</emphasis> option,
chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
- process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
+ process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy.
Unix only.
</para>
<emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
</para>
<para>
- If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
- <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
- <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
- where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
- full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
+ If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
+ <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
+ <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
+ where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
+ full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
<application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
- On <application>MS Windows</application> only there are two additional
- command-line options to allow <application>Privoxy</application> to install and
- run as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>. See the
-<link linkend="installation-pack-win">Window Installation section</link>
+ On <application>MS Windows</application> only there are two additional
+ command-line options to allow <application>Privoxy</application> to install and
+ run as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>. See the
+<link linkend="installation-pack-win">Window Installation section</link>
for details.
</para>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect1 id="configuration"><title>Privoxy Configuration</title>
<para>
- All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
+ All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
- Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
+ Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
also be controlled easily with a web browser.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser</title>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
+ <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
- (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
+ (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
You will see the following section:
cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
<application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
- file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
+ file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
</para>
<para>
- <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
+ <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
- it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
- causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
+ it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
+ causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
<application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
<para>
For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
<filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
- AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
+ AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
<application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
subject to change as development progresses.]]>
</para>
<para>
- The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
+ The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
principle configuration files are:
</para>
on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
on Windows. This is a required file.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
It should be the second actions file loaded and shouldn't be edited by the user.
</para>
<para>
- Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
- are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
+ Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
+ are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
<filename>match-all.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
to define sooner or later) are best applied in <filename>user.action</filename>,
where you can preserve them across upgrades. The file isn't installed by all
installers, but you can easily create it yourself with a text editor.
</para>
- <para>
+ <para>
There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
<ulink
url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
(Shortcut: <ulink
url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
- various actions files.
+ various actions files.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
- whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
- <filename>default.filter</filename> includes various filters made
- available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
- others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
- filter files in <filename>config</filename> as you can with
- actions files. We suggest <filename>user.filter</filename> for any
+ whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
+ <filename>default.filter</filename> includes various filters made
+ available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
+ others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
+ filter files in <filename>config</filename> as you can with
+ actions files. We suggest <filename>user.filter</filename> for any
locally defined filters or customizations.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</para>
<para>
- The actions files and filter files
+ The actions files and filter files
can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
- maximum flexibility.
+ maximum flexibility.
</para>
<para>
After making any changes, there is no need to restart
<application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
- effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
+ effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
<![%p-not-stable;[
<para>
- While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
- The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
- Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
+ While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
+ The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
+ Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
please check all your configuration files on important issues.
</para>
]]>
The actions files are used to define what <emphasis>actions</emphasis>
<application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determines
how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
- transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof).
+ transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof).
There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
Each action does something a little different.
- These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
- our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that
+ These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
+ our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that
their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.
-</para>
+</para>
<para>
- There
+ There
are three action files included with <application>Privoxy</application> with
differing purposes:
</para>
content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default.
It should be the first actions file loaded
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<filename>default.action</filename> - defines many exceptions (both
work reasonably well as-is for most users. This file is only supposed to
be edited by the developers. It should be the second actions file loaded.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
- <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
+ <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
- has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
+ has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<guibutton>Edit</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Cautious</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Medium</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Advanced</guibutton>
<para>
These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no
influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
- editor</emphasis>. A default installation should be pre-set to
+ editor</emphasis>. A default installation should be pre-set to
<literal>Cautious</literal>. New users should try this for a while before
- adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
- the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
+ adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
+ the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
not working as they should.
</para>
<para>
- The <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button allows you to turn each
+ The <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button allows you to turn each
action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <guibutton>Cautious</guibutton>
- button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
+ button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
ad blocking and a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently
there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
<guibutton>Medium</guibutton> button sets the list to a medium level of
<entry>blocks only</entry>
<entry>blocks only</entry>
</row>
-
+
<row>
<entry>Privacy Features</entry>
<entry>low</entry>
</table>
</para>
- </listitem>
+ </listitem>
</itemizedlist>
-</para>
+</para>
<para>
- The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
+ The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
<filename>default.action</filename> is typically processed before
<filename>user.action</filename>). The content of these can all be viewed and
(defined in <filename>default.action</filename>),
followed by any exceptions (typically also in
<filename>default.action</filename>), which are then followed lastly by any
- local preferences (typically in <emphasis>user</emphasis><filename>.action</filename>).
+ local preferences (typically in <emphasis>user</emphasis><filename>.action</filename>).
Generally, <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word.
</para>
<link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
- universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
+ universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
<filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
</para>
-<para>
+<para>
Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
just some obnoxious URL whose content you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
- certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring
+ certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring
refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that the more
<quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
like <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or
<quote>Advanced</quote>. Warning: the <quote>Advanced</quote> setting is more
aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites.
- Experienced users only!
+ Experienced users only!
</para>
<para>
If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at
- <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly commented with many
+ <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly commented with many
good examples.
</para>
</sect2>
<para>
If multiple applying sections set the same action differently,
the last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated.
- E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading line of <literal>{
+ E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading line of <literal>{
+<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> }</literal>,
then later another one with just <literal>{
+<link linkend="block">block</link> }</literal>, resulting
- in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply. And there may well be
- cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
+ in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply. And there may well be
+ cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
might look like:
</para>
<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
<sect2 id="af-patterns">
<title>Patterns</title>
-<para>
+<para>
As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
to determine what <emphasis>actions</emphasis> might apply to which sites and
pages your browser attempts to access. These <quote>patterns</quote> use wild
flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
against many similar patterns.
</para>
-
+
<para>
Generally, an URL pattern has the form
<literal><domain><port>/<path></literal>, where the
</para>
<para>
The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of
- the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
- while the path part uses more flexible
+ the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
+ while the path part uses more flexible
<ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
Expressions</quote></ulink> (POSIX 1003.2).
</para>
<para>
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
+ 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>
<listitem>
<para>
matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
- there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>. So its
+ there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>. So its
a mistake.
</para>
</listitem>
<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.
+ domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
For example:
</para>
a domain.) This might be <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
<literal>news.example.de</literal>, or
<literal>www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</literal> for instance. All these
- cases are matched.
+ cases are matched.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
<quote>*</quote> represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
- equivalent to the
+ equivalent to the
<ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax of <quote>.*</quote>),
<quote>?</quote> represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
regular expression syntax of a simple <quote>.</quote>), and you can define
- <quote>character classes</quote> in square brackets which is similar to
+ <quote>character classes</quote> in square brackets which is similar to
the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:
</para>
<term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
+ matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
<quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
- <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
+ <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
- <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
- <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
+ matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
+ <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
+ <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
<literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
<para>
Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
- i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
+ i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
for the beginning of a line).
</para>
<para>
Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
- by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
+ by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
<quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
<emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
<term><literal>.example.com/.*</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Is equivalent to just <quote>.example.com</quote>, since any documents
+ Is equivalent to just <quote>.example.com</quote>, since any documents
within that domain are matched with or without the <quote>.*</quote>
regular expression. This is redundant
</para>
named <quote>index.html</quote>, and that is part of some path. For
example, it matches <quote>www.example.com/testing/index.html</quote> but
NOT <quote>www.example.com/index.html</quote> because the regular
- expression called for at least two <quote>/'s</quote>, thus the path
- requirement. It also would match
- <quote>www.example.com/testing/index_html</quote>, because of the
+ expression called for at least two <quote>/'s</quote>, thus the path
+ requirement. It also would match
+ <quote>www.example.com/testing/index_html</quote>, because of the
special meta-character <quote>.</quote>.
</para>
</listitem>
<term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page
- named <quote>index.html</quote> regardless of path which in this case can
- have one or more <quote>/'s</quote>. And this one must contain exactly
+ 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>
<listitem>
<para>
This regular expression will match any path of <quote>example.com</quote>
- that contains any of the words <quote>ads</quote>, <quote>banner</quote>,
+ that contains any of the words <quote>ads</quote>, <quote>banner</quote>,
<quote>banners</quote> (because of the <quote>?</quote>) or <quote>junk</quote>.
The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
</para>
<term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</literal></term>
<listitem>
<para>
- This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
- <quote>.jpg</quote>, <quote>.jpeg</quote>, <quote>.gif</quote> or <quote>.png</quote>. So this
+ This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
+ <quote>.jpg</quote>, <quote>.jpeg</quote>, <quote>.gif</quote> or <quote>.png</quote>. So this
one is limited to common image formats.
</para>
</listitem>
</variablelist>
<para>
- There are many, many good examples to be found in <filename>default.action</filename>,
+ There are many, many good examples to be found in <filename>default.action</filename>,
and more tutorials below in <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>.
</para>
</para>
-<para>
+<para>
Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
- separated by whitespace, like in
+ separated by whitespace, like in
<literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
- of the actions file.
+ of the actions file.
</para>
-<para>
+<para>
Actions fall into three categories:
</para>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
- <para>
+ <para>
Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
<quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
</para>
+<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
-<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
</para>
- <para>
+ <para>
Example: <literal>+handle-as-image</literal>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
- <para>
+ <para>
Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
Syntax:
</para>
Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
</para>
- <para>
+ <para>
Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070602 Firefox/2.0.0.4}</literal>
</para>
</listitem>
-
+
<listitem>
- <para>
+ <para>
Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
# If it was the last one left, disable the action.
<replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
</para>
- <para>
+ <para>
Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
<literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
</para>
<para>
Later defined action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the same type.
- So exceptions to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
- in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such
+ So exceptions to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
+ in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such
as <filename>user.action</filename>). For multi-valued actions, the actions
are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are processed in
the order they are defined in <filename>config</filename> (the default
<para>Multi-value.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
- headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
- <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
+ This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
+ headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
+ <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
one.
</para>
<para>
the <literal><link
linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
<literal><link
- linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>, and
+ linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>, and
<literal><link
linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> actions.
-
+
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<para>A block reason that should be given to the user.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
to the blocked content (the latter only if the force feature is available and
enabled).
</para>
- <para>
- A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
+ <para>
+ A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
<literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
- apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
+ apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
<literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
(see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
</para>
<para>
- It is important to understand this process, in order
- to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
- ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
+ It is important to understand this process, in order
+ to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
+ ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
upon which various other features depend.
</para>
<para>
# Block and replace with "blocked" page
.nasty-stuff.example.com
-{+block{Doubleclick banners.} +handle-as-image}
+{+block{Doubleclick banners.} +handle-as-image}
# Block and replace with image
.ad.doubleclick.net
.ads.r.us/banners/
-{+block{Layered ads.} +handle-as-empty-document}
+{+block{Layered ads.} +handle-as-empty-document}
# Block and then ignore
adserver.example.net/.*\.js$</screen>
</para>
</itemizedlist>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
and use their output as input.
</para>
<para>
- If the request URL gets changed, &my-app; will detect that and use the new
+ If the request URI gets changed, &my-app; will detect that and use the new
one. This can be used to rewrite the request destination behind the client's
back, for example to specify a Tor exit relay for certain requests.
</para>
{+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
/
</screen>
- </para>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<para>
Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
- tag.
+ tag.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
TAG:^User-Agent: Ubuntu APT-HTTP/
TAG:^User-Agent: MPlayer/
</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+# Tag all requests with the Range header set
+{+client-header-tagger{range-requests}}
+/
+
+# Disable filtering for the tagged requests.
+#
+# With filtering enabled Privoxy would remove the Range headers
+# to be able to filter the whole response. The downside is that
+# it prevents clients from resuming downloads or skipping over
+# parts of multimedia files.
+{-filter -deanimate-gifs}
+TAG:^RANGE-REQUEST$
+ </screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Any string.
- </para>
+ Any string.
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this
header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of
displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is
- supported by the browser.
+ supported by the browser.
</para>
<para>
The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
<quote>Content-Type: text/html</quote>, you can use &my-app;
to overwrite it with <quote>application/xml</quote> and validate
the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
- If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
+ If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
</para>
<para>
You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints
error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared
as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
- <quote>text/html</quote> and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
+ <quote>text/html</quote> and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
</para>
<para>
By default <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal> only replaces
<para>
Of course you can apply <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal>
to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
- more work to get the same precision.
+ more work to get the same precision.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<listitem>
<para>
Any string.
- </para>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- <screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
+ <screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
{ +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
/
</screen>
<listitem>
<para>
N/A
- </para>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
- since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
+ since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
<literal><link linkend="filter-content-cookies">filter-content-cookies</link></literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Any string.
- </para>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
- unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
- out there. Not all HTTP/1.1 features and requirements are supported yet,
- so there is a chance you might need this action.
+ unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1-related problems with some server
+ out there.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Note that enabling this action is only a workaround. It should not
+ be enabled for sites that work without it. While it shouldn't break
+ any pages, it has an (usually negative) performance impact.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ If you come across a site where enabling this action helps, please report it,
+ so the cause of the problem can be analyzed. If the problem turns out to be
+ caused by a bug in <application>Privoxy</application> it should be
+ fixed so the following release works without the work around.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
+ <para>
Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
<para>
This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
- this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
+ this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
</para>
<para>
Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil.
<para>
<screen>
{ +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
- one.example.com
+ one.example.com
{ +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
another.example.com/testing</screen>
<varlistentry>
<term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
- <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
+ <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
The name of a content filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>.
- Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
+ Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
<literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
- option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>.
- <filename>default.filter</filename> is the collection of filters
- supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
+ option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>.
+ <filename>default.filter</filename> is the collection of filters
+ supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
in their own file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>.
</para>
<para>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
<term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
+ For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
a list.
</para>
</para>
<para>
<quote>Rolling your own</quote>
- filters requires a knowledge of
+ filters requires a knowledge of
<ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
- Expressions</quote></ulink> and
+ Expressions</quote></ulink> and
<ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"><quote>HTML</quote></ulink>.
- This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
+ This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent
<quote>action</quote> is not available.
</para>
<para>
- The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
+ The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
<literal><link linkend="buffer-limit">buffer-limit</link></literal>
- option in the main <link linkend="config">config file</link>. The
+ option in the main <link linkend="config">config file</link>. The
default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
- data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
+ data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
</para>
<para>
Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
by defining appropriate <literal>-filter</literal> exceptions.
</para>
<para>
- Compressed content can't be filtered either, unless &my-app;
- is compiled with zlib support (requires at least &my-app; 3.0.7),
- in which case &my-app; will decompress the content before filtering
- it.
+ Compressed content can't be filtered either, but if &my-app;
+ is compiled with zlib support and a supported compression algorithm
+ is used (gzip or deflate), &my-app; can first decompress the content
+ and then filter it.
</para>
<para>
If you use a &my-app; version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on
action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
</para>
<para>
- Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
+ Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
<literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
- action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
- works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
- based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
+ action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
+ works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
+ based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
standardized.
</para>
<para>
<varlistentry>
<term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file).
- See <link linkend="PREDEFINED-FILTERS">the Predefined Filters section</link> for
+ See <link linkend="PREDEFINED-FILTERS">the Predefined Filters section</link> for
more explanation on each:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
<listitem>
<para>
Declares a document as text, even if the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> isn't detected as such.
- </para>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<literal>force-text-mode</literal> declares a document as text,
without looking at the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> first.
</para>
- <warning>
+ <warning>
<para>
Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
with regular expressions can cause file damage.
- </para>
- </warning>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>
-+force-text-mode
- </screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward-override">
-<title>forward-override</title>
-<!--
-new action
--->
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Multi-value.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para><quote>forward .</quote> to use a direct connection without any additional proxies.</para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>forward 127.0.0.1:8123</quote> to use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 .</quote> to use the socks4a proxy listening at
- 127.0.0.1 port 9050. Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote>
- to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
- for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 proxy.example.org:8000</quote> to use the socks4a proxy
- listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy listening at proxy.example.org port 8000.
- Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote> to use a socks4 connection
- (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
- for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This action takes parameters similar to the
- <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives in the configuration
- file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used as replacement, but normally it's only
- used in cases where matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient.
- </para>
- <warning>
- <para>
- Please read the description for the <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives before
- using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will reduce your privacy and increase the
- chances of man-in-the-middle attacks.
- </para>
- <para>
- If the ports are missing or invalid, default values will be used. This might change
- in the future and you shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect syntax causes Privoxy
- to exit.
- </para>
- <para>
- Use the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">show-url-info CGI page</ulink>
- to verify that your forward settings do what you thought the do.
- </para>
- </warning>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>
-# Always use direct connections for requests previously tagged as
-# <quote>User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0</quote> and make sure
-# resuming downloads continues to work.
-# This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing,
-# without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates
-# or downloads of bigger files like ISOs.
-# Note that HTTP headers are easy to fake and therefore their
-# values are as (un)trustworthy as your clients and users.
-{+forward-override{forward .} \
- -hide-if-modified-since \
- -overwrite-last-modified \
-}
-TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$
- </screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-empty-document">
-<title>handle-as-empty-document</title>
-<!--
-new action
--->
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis></para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
- If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
- the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote>
- page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
- The <emphasis>empty</emphasis> document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
- are blocked with <application>Privoxy's</application>
- default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
- And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the &my-app;
- BLOCKED message in frames.
- </para>
- <para>
- The content type for the empty document can be specified with
- <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{}</link></literal>,
- but usually this isn't necessary.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
-# but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
-{+block{Blocked JavaScript} +handle-as-empty-document}
-example.org/.*\.js$
- </screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
-<title>handle-as-image</title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <emphasis>if they do get blocked</emphasis>, rather than HTML pages)</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
- If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
- the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
- page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
- linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
- client as a substitute for the blocked content.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
- It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
- be left intact.
- </para>
- <para>
- Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
- <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
- reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
- </para>
- <para>
- Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
- frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
- Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
- ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen># Generic image extensions:
-#
-{+handle-as-image}
-/.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
-
-# These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
-# blocked as images:
-#
-{+block{Nasty banners.} +handle-as-image}
-nasty-banner-server.example.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash
-</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-accept-language">
-<title>hide-accept-language</title>
-<!--
-new action
--->
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Pretend to use different language settings.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deletes or replaces the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> HTTP header in client requests.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
- foreign User-Agent set with
- <literal><link linkend="hide-user-agent">hide-user-agent</link></literal>
- more believable.
- </para>
- <para>
- However some sites with content in different languages check the
- <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> to decide which one to take by default.
- Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
- changing the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header first.
- </para>
- <para>
- Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
- <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header to languages you understand,
- or to languages that aren't wide spread.
- </para>
- <para>
- Before setting the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header
- to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to
- make your requests unique and thus easier to trace.
- If you don't plan to change this header frequently,
- you should stick to a common language.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (section):</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen># Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
-{+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
-+hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
-}
-/ </screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-content-disposition">
-<title>hide-content-disposition</title>
-<!--
-new action
--->
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deletes or replaces the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header set by some servers.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Some servers set the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header for
- documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
- The <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header contains the file name
- the browser is supposed to use by default.
- </para>
- <para>
- In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
- <emphasis>just view</emphasis> the document, without downloading it first,
- even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
- </para>
- <para>
- Removing the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header helps
- to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
- <quote>Content-Type:</quote> header, before they decide if they can
- display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have
- to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
- download menus.
- </para>
- <para>
- It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion
- to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set
- it up.
- </para>
- <para>
- This action will probably be removed in the future,
- use server-header filters instead.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen># Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
-{ -filter \
- +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
- +hide-content-disposition{block} }
- .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-if-modified-since">
-<title>hide-if-modified-since</title>
-<!--
-new action
--->
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deletes the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> HTTP client header or modifies its value.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
- reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the
- browser to use a cached copy of the page.
- </para>
- <para>
- Instead of removing the header, <literal>hide-if-modified-since</literal> can
- also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value.
- You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and
- <application>Privoxy</application> does the rest. A negative value means
- subtracting, a positive value adding.
- </para>
- <para>
- Randomizing the value of the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> makes
- it less likely that the server can use the time as a cookie replacement,
- but you will run into caching problems if the random range is too high.
- </para>
- <para>
- It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
- <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
- handle the greater changes.
- </para>
- <para>
- It is also recommended to use this action together with
- <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>,
- otherwise it's more or less pointless.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (section):</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen># Let the browser revalidate but make tracking based on the time less likely.
-{+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
- +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
- +crunch-if-none-match}
-/</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
-<title>hide-from-header</title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
- specified string.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
- (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
- action).
- </para>
- <para>
- Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
- server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
- is actually used by a real person.
- </para>
- <para>
- This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
- <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
- <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
-<title>hide-referrer</title>
-<anchor id="hide-referer">
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
- or replaces it with a forged one.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para><quote>conditional-block</quote> to delete the header completely if the host has changed.</para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para><quote>conditional-forge</quote> to forge the header if the host has changed.</para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header unconditionally.</para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <literal>conditional-block</literal> is the only parameter,
- that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the
- referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or
- typed in the address directly.
- </para>
- <para>
- Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
- allows the server owner to see the visitor's <quote>click path</quote>,
- but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing
- other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't
- a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between
- different requests.
- </para>
- <para>
- Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
- failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
- requests, in an attempt to prevent their content from being
- embedded or linked to elsewhere.
- </para>
- <para>
- Both <literal>conditional-block</literal> and <literal>forge</literal>
- will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page
- are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case.
- </para>
- <para>
- <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
- <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
- substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
- correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
- requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
- <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
-<title>hide-user-agent</title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Try to conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
- in client requests with the specified value.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Any user-defined string.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <warning>
- <para>
- This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at this header in
- order to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
- way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the right thing to do: good web sites
- work browser-independently).
- </para>
- </warning>
- <para>
- Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
- browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
- <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
- setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
- the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
- OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
- sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
- reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
- let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
- <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
- (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
- </para>
- <para>
- More information on known user-agent strings can be found at
- <ulink url="http://www.user-agents.org/">http://www.user-agents.org/</ulink>
- and
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</ulink>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
-<title>limit-connect</title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
- defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
- <application>Privoxy</application> allows HTTP CONNECT requests to all
- ports. Use <literal>limit-connect</literal> if fine-grained control
- is desired for some or all destinations.
- </para>
- <para>
- The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
- (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
- the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
- short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
- This means CONNECT-enabled proxies can be used as TCP relays very easily.
- </para>
- <para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
- the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent &my-app;'s
- filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usages:</term>
- <listitem>
- <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
- <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
- <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
- <para>
- <screen>+limit-connect{443} # Port 443 is OK.
-+limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
-+limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
-+limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
-+limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
-<title>prevent-compression</title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
- passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
- is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the <literal><link
- linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> and
- <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
- actions need access to the uncompressed data.
- </para>
- <para>
- When compiled with zlib support (available since &my-app; 3.0.7), content that should be
- filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't have to worry about this action.
- If you are using an older &my-app; version, or one that hasn't been compiled with zlib
- support, this action can be used to convince the server to send the content uncompressed.
- </para>
- <para>
- Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is seldom decreased by less than 50%,
- for markup-heavy instances like news feeds saving more than 90% of the original size isn't
- unusual.
- </para>
- <para>
- Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should only
- enable this action if you really need it. As of &my-app; 3.0.7 it's disabled in all
- predefined action settings.
- </para>
- <para>
- Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
- documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an empty document body,
- some IIS versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable
- <literal>prevent-compression</literal> per default, you might want to add
- exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>
-# Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
-#
-{ +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
-# Match only these sites
- .google.
- sourceforge.net
- sf.net
-
-# Or instead, we could set a universal default:
-#
-{ +prevent-compression }
- / # Match all sites
-
-# Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites:
-#
-{ -prevent-compression }
-.compusa.com/</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="overwrite-last-modified">
-<title>overwrite-last-modified</title>
-<!--
-new action
--->
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deletes the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> HTTP server header or modifies its value.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- One of the keywords: <quote>block</quote>, <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote>
- and <quote>randomize</quote>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Removing the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header is useful for filter
- testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
- code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
- version of the page.
- </para>
- <para>
- The <quote>randomize</quote> option overwrites the value of the
- <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with a randomly chosen time
- between the original value and the current time. In theory the server
- could send each document with a different <quote>Last-Modified:</quote>
- header to track visits without using cookies. <quote>Randomize</quote>
- makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
- </para>
- <para>
- <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote> overwrites the value of the
- <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with the current time. You could use
- this option together with
- <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
- to further customize your random range.
- </para>
- <para>
- The preferred parameter here is <quote>randomize</quote>. It is safe
- to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct.
- If the server sets the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header to the time
- of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same.
- Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with
- <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>,
- just to be sure.
- </para>
- <para>
- It is also recommended to use this action together with
- <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
-{ +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
- +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
- +crunch-if-none-match}
-/</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="redirect">
-<title>redirect</title>
-<!--
-new action
--->
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Redirect requests to other sites.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
- to another location and the browser should get it from there.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Requests to which this action applies are answered with a
- HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is
- either provided as parameter, or derived by applying a
- single pcrs command to the original URL.
- </para>
- <para>
- This action will be ignored if you use it together with
- <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>.
- It can be combined with
- <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</link></literal>
- to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL.
- </para>
- <para>
- Use this action carefully, make sure not to create redirection loops
- and be aware that using your own redirects might make it
- possible to fingerprint your requests.
- </para>
- <para>
- In case of problems with your redirects, or simply to watch
- them working, enable <link linkend="DEBUG">debug 128</link>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usages:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
-{ +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
- example.com/stylesheet\.css
-
-# Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
-# (relies on the browser accept and forward invalid URLs to &my-app;)
-{ +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
- a
-
-# Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles
-# (Note the $ at the end of the URL pattern to make sure
-# the request for the rewritten URL isn't redirected as well)
-{+redirect{s@$@&mode=expanded@}}
-undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$
-
-# Redirect Google search requests to MSN
-{+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/search\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=$1@}}
-.google.com/search
-
-# Redirect MSN search requests to Yahoo
-{+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/results\.aspx\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=$1@}}
-search.msn.com//results\.aspx\?q=
-
-# Redirect remote requests for this manual
-# to the local version delivered by Privoxy
-{+redirect{s@^http://www@http://config@}}
-www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-filter">
-<title>server-header-filter</title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Rewrite or remove single server headers.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- All server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly
- through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the
- <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Server-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
- all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
- you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
- You can do that by using tags though.
- </para>
- <para>
- Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
- and use their output as input.
- </para>
- <para>
- Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
- to learn which server-header filters are available by default, and how to
- create your own.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (section):</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>
-{+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}}
-example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html
-
-{+server-header-filter{xml-to-html}}
-example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not
- </screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-tagger">
-<title>server-header-tagger</title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
- the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
- tag.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the
- <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
- and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
- the original.
- </para>
- <para>
- Server-header taggers are executed before all other header actions
- that modify server headers. Their tags can be used to control
- all of the other server-header actions, the content filters
- and the crunch actions (<link linkend="redirect">redirect</link>
- and <link linkend="block">block</link>).
- </para>
- <para>
- Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header taggers
- doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the server's log file.
- </para>
-
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage (section):</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>
-# Tag every request with the content type declared by the server
-{+server-header-tagger{content-type}}
-/
- </screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
-<title>session-cookies-only</title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current
- browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote>
- server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
- forget them in between sessions.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-<varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Boolean.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- N/A
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
- <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
- websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
- </para>
- <para>
- Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
- <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
- This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
- that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
- sites, and is the recommended setting.
- </para>
- <para>
- It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
- together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
- <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
- will be plainly killed.
- </para>
- <para>
- Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
- field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
- </para>
- <para>
- This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
- previously by the browser before starting <application>Privoxy</application>.
- These would have to be removed manually.
- </para>
- <para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> also uses
- the <link linkend="filter-content-cookies">content-cookies filter</link>
- to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
- <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
-<title>set-image-blocker</title>
-
-<variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Typical use:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Effect:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
- <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
- linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
- apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
- <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
- sent as a replacement.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Type:</term>
- <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
- <listitem>
- <para>Parameterized.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Parameter:</term>
- <listitem>
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
- decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
- completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
- images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
- has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
- send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
- to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via <quote>file:///</quote> URL.
- (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
- </para>
- <para>
- A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
- URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
- This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
- the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
- it over and over again.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Notes:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
- class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
- either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
- </para>
- <para>
- There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
- used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
- Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry>
- <term>Example usage:</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Built-in pattern:
- </para>
- <para>
- <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- Redirect to the BSD daemon:
- </para>
- <para>
- <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
- </para>
- <para>
- Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
- </para>
- <para>
- <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-</variablelist>
-</sect3>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect3>
-<title>Summary</title>
-<para>
- Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
- misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
- a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
- content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
- and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
- linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
- actions.
-</para>
-</sect3>
-</sect2>
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="aliases">
-<title>Aliases</title>
-<para>
- Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
- as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
- These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
- Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
- <quote>=</quote>,
- <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
- recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
- <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
- Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
- <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
- expanded.
-</para>
-<para>
- Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
- defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
- And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
- have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
- within that file.
-</para>
-<para>
- There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
- used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
- decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
- <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
- <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
- in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
- by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
-</para>
-<para>
- Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
- <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
- editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
- them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
- but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
- with it.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Now let's define some aliases...
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
- # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
- #
- # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
- # must be at the top of the actions file!
- #
- {{alias}}
-
- # These aliases just save typing later:
- # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
- #
- +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
- -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
- +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
- allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
-
- # These aliases define combinations of actions
- # that are useful for certain types of sites:
- #
- fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link>
-
- shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link>
-
- # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
- #
- c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
- c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
- actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
- up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
- # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
- # user data and require minimal interference to work:
- #
- {fragile}
- .office.microsoft.com
- .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
- # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com
- mail.google.com
-
- # Shopping sites:
- # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
- #
- {shop}
- .quietpc.com
- .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
- mybank.example.com
-
- # These shops require pop-ups:
- #
- {-filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
- .dabs.com
- .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are typically used for
- <quote>problem</quote> sites that require more than one action to be disabled
- in order to function properly.
-</para>
-</sect2>
-<!--
-hal stop here
--->
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="act-examples">
-<title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
-<para>
- The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
- there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
- linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
- to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
- define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
- example <filename>match-all.action</filename>, <filename>default.action</filename>
- and <filename>user.action</filename> file and see how all these pieces come together:
-</para>
-
-<sect3>
-<title>match-all.action</title>
-<para>
- Remember <emphasis>all actions are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>,
- so we have to explicitly enable the ones we want.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- While the <filename>match-all.action</filename> file only contains a
- single section, it is probably the most important one. It has only one
- pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
- <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the set of
- actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
- be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
- wholly overridden by other actions files like <filename>default.action</filename>
- and <filename>user.action</filename>, but it will still be largely responsible
- for your overall browsing experience.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
- no need to disable any actions here. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
- preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
- Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
- multiple lines with line continuation.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
-{ \
- +<link linkend="CHANGE-X-FORWARDED-FOR">change-x-forwarded-for{block}</link> \
- +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
- +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
-}
-/ # Match all URLs
- </screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- The default behavior is now set.
-</para>
-</sect3>
-
-<sect3>
-<title>default.action</title>
-
-<para>
- If you aren't a developer, there's no need for you to edit the
- <filename>default.action</filename> file. It is maintained by
- the &my-app; developers and if you disagree with some of the
- sections, you should overrule them in your <filename>user.action</filename>.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Understanding the <filename>default.action</filename> file can
- help you with your <filename>user.action</filename>, though.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- The first section in this file is a special section for internal use
- that prevents older &my-app; versions from reading the file:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
-##########################################################################
-# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
-##########################################################################
-{{settings}}
-for-privoxy-version=3.0.11</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
- section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
- that also explains why and how aliases are used:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
-##########################################################################
-# Aliases
-##########################################################################
-{{alias}}
-
- # These aliases just save typing later:
- # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
- #
- +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
- -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
- +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
- mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
-
- # These aliases define combinations of actions
- # that are useful for certain types of sites:
- #
- fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link>
- shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link></screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
- sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
- very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
- make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
- our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
- of actions explicitly:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
-##########################################################################
-# Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
-##########################################################################
-
-# "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
-#
-{ fragile }
-.office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
-.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
-mail.google.com</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
- require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
- carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
-# Shopping sites:
-#
-{ shop }
-.quietpc.com
-.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
-.jungle.com
-.scan.co.uk</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
- action, which may have been enabled in <filename>match-all.action</filename>,
- breaks some sites. So disable it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
-{ -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
-login.yahoo.com
-edit.*.yahoo.com
-.google.com
-.altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
-.altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
-.nytimes.com</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
- URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
- be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
- Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
- would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
- would feed the advertisers information about you. We can mark any
- URL as an image with the <literal><link
- linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
- and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
- good start:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
-##########################################################################
-# Images:
-##########################################################################
-
-# Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
-# blocked further down this file:
-#
-{ +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
-/.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
- generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
- request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
- mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
- <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
- course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
- +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
- Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
- <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
- action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
- <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
- action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
-# Known ad generators:
-#
-{ +block-as-image }
-ar.atwola.com
-.ad.doubleclick.net
-.ad.*.doubleclick.net
-.a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
-.a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
-bs*.gsanet.com
-.qkimg.net</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
- is to block banners. Many of these can be <quote>blocked</quote>
- by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
- action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
- images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
- them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
- doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
- need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
- <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
-</para>
-<para>
- First comes many generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
- matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
- a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
- to keep the example short:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
-##########################################################################
-# Block these fine banners:
-##########################################################################
-{ <link linkend="BLOCK">+block{Banner ads.}</link> }
-
-# Generic patterns:
-#
-ad*.
-.*ads.
-banner?.
-count*.
-/.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
-/(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
-
-# Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
-#
-.hitbox.com</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- It's quite remarkable how many advertisers actually call their banner
- servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
- in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
- generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
-</para>
-<para>
- But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
- to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
- <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
- but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
- <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
- well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
- section above.
-</para>
-<para>
- Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
- <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
- so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
- URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
- action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
- general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
- <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
- <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
- applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
- with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
-##########################################################################
-# Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
-##########################################################################
-
-# By domain:
-#
-{ -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
-adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
-adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
-adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
-ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
-.edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
-.*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
-
-# By path:
-#
-/.*loads/
-
-# Site-specific:
-#
-www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
-www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
- so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
- and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
- <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
- disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
-# Don't filter code!
-#
-{ -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
-/(.*/)?cvs
-bugzilla.
-developer.
-wiki.
-.sourceforge.net</screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course much more
- comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
-</para>
-
-</sect3>
-
-<sect3><title>user.action</title>
-
-<para>
- So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
- which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
- you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
- are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
- be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
- be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
- actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
- defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
- <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
- <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
- <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
- to install updated versions from time to time.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
- <filename>user.action</filename>:
-</para>
-
-
-<!-- brief sample user.action here -->
-
-<para>
- <screen>
-# My user.action file. <fred@example.com></screen>
-</para>
+ </para>
+ </warning>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
- file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
- <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
++force-text-mode
+ </screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- <screen>
-# Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
-# (Re-)define aliases for this file:
-#
-{{alias}}
-#
-# These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
-# be self explanatory.
-#
-+crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
--crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
- allow-popups = -filter{all-popups}
-+block-as-image = +block{Blocked as image.} +handle-as-image
--block-as-image = -block
-# These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
-# certain types of sites:
-#
-fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer
-shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward-override">
+<title>forward-override</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-# Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
-#
-allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-# 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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Multi-value.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para><quote>forward .</quote> to use a direct connection without any additional proxies.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote>forward 127.0.0.1:8123</quote> to use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 .</quote> to use the socks4a proxy listening at
+ 127.0.0.1 port 9050. Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote>
+ to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
+ for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 proxy.example.org:8000</quote> to use the socks4a proxy
+ listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy listening at proxy.example.org port 8000.
+ Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote> to use a socks4 connection
+ (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
+ for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This action takes parameters similar to the
+ <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives in the configuration
+ file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used as replacement, but normally it's only
+ used in cases where matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient.
+ </para>
+ <warning>
+ <para>
+ Please read the description for the <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives before
+ using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will reduce your privacy and increase the
+ chances of man-in-the-middle attacks.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ If the ports are missing or invalid, default values will be used. This might change
+ in the future and you shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect syntax causes Privoxy
+ to exit.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Use the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">show-url-info CGI page</ulink>
+ to verify that your forward settings do what you thought the do.
+ </para>
+ </warning>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <screen>
-{ allow-all-cookies }
- sourceforge.net
- .yahoo.com
- .msdn.microsoft.com
- .redhat.com</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+# Always use direct connections for requests previously tagged as
+# <quote>User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0</quote> and make sure
+# resuming downloads continues to work.
+# This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing,
+# without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates
+# or downloads of bigger files like ISOs.
+# Note that HTTP headers are easy to fake and therefore their
+# values are as (un)trustworthy as your clients and users.
+{+forward-override{forward .} \
+ -hide-if-modified-since \
+ -overwrite-last-modified \
+}
+TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$
+ </screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- 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>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-empty-document">
+<title>handle-as-empty-document</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis></para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
+ If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
+ the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote>
+ page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
+ The <emphasis>empty</emphasis> document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <screen>
-# Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
-# erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
-#
-.tldp.org
-/(.*/)?selfhtml/
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-# And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
-# so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
-#
-stupid-server.example.com/</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ N/A
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
+ are blocked with <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
+ And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the &my-app;
+ BLOCKED message in frames.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The content type for the empty document can be specified with
+ <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{}</link></literal>,
+ but usually this isn't necessary.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <screen>
-{ +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link>{Nasty ads.} }
- www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
- another.example.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
+# but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
+{+block{Blocked JavaScript} +handle-as-empty-document}
+example.org/.*\.js$
+ </screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner
- farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which
- makes it impossible for <application>Privoxy</application> to guess
- the file type just by looking at the URL.
- You can use the <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above for
- these cases.
- Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an
- image are typically rendered as a <quote>broken image</quote> icon by the
- browser. Use cautiously.
-</para>
-<para>
- <screen>
-{ +block-as-image }
- .doubleclick.net
- .fastclick.net
- /Realmedia/ads/
- ar.atwola.com/</screen>
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
+<title>handle-as-image</title>
-<para>
- Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
- but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
- were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
- you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
- -- <emphasis>whoa!</emphasis> -- it worked. The <literal>fragile</literal>
- aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also,
- good for testing purposes to see if it is <application>Privoxy</application>
- that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular sites
- that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:
-</para>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <emphasis>if they do get blocked</emphasis>, rather than HTML pages)</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
-<screen>
-{ fragile }
- .forbes.com
- webmail.example.com
- .mybank.com</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
+ If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
+ the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
+ page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
+ linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
+ client as a substitute for the blocked content.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
- but it is disabled in the distributed actions file.
- So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
- update-safe config, once and for all:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
-<screen>
-{ +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
- / # For ALL sites!</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ N/A
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
- to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
- really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
- <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
- won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
+ It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
+ be left intact.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
+ reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
+ frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
+ Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
+ ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are
- funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
- to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
- sites that you feel provide value to you:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Generic image extensions:
+#
+{+handle-as-image}
+/.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
-<para>
-<screen>
-{ allow-ads }
- .sourceforge.net
- .slashdot.org
- .osdn.net</screen>
-</para>
+# These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
+# blocked as images:
+#
+{+block{Nasty banners.} +handle-as-image}
+nasty-banner-server.example.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash
+</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- 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>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-accept-language">
+<title>hide-accept-language</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Pretend to use different language settings.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
-<screen>
-{ handle-as-text }
- /.*\.sh$</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deletes or replaces the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> HTTP header in client requests.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <filename>user.action</filename> is generally the best place to define
- exceptions and additions to the default policies of
- <filename>default.action</filename>. Some actions are safe to have their
- default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
- <quote>blank</quote> image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for
- <emphasis>ALL</emphasis> sites. <quote>/</quote> of course matches all URL
- paths and patterns:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
-<screen>
-{ +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
-/ # ALL sites</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
+ foreign User-Agent set with
+ <literal><link linkend="hide-user-agent">hide-user-agent</link></literal>
+ more believable.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ However some sites with content in different languages check the
+ <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> to decide which one to take by default.
+ Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
+ changing the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header first.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
+ <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header to languages you understand,
+ or to languages that aren't wide spread.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Before setting the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header
+ to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to
+ make your requests unique and thus easier to trace.
+ If you don't plan to change this header frequently,
+ you should stick to a common language.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
+{+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
++hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
+}
+/ </screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
</sect3>
-</sect2>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-</sect1>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect1 id="filter-file">
-<title>Filter Files</title>
-
-<para>
- On-the-fly text substitutions need
- to be defined in a <quote>filter file</quote>. Once defined, they
- can then be invoked as an <quote>action</quote>.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- &my-app; supports three different filter actions:
- <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> to
- rewrite the content that is send to the client,
- <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header-filter</link></literal>
- to rewrite headers that are send by the client, and
- <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header-filter</link></literal>
- to rewrite headers that are send by the server.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- &my-app; also supports two tagger actions:
- <literal><link linkend="client-header-tagger">client-header-tagger</link></literal>
- and
- <literal><link linkend="server-header-tagger">server-header-tagger</link></literal>.
- Taggers and filters use the same syntax in the filter files, the difference
- is that taggers don't modify the text they are filtering, but use a rewritten
- version of the filtered text as tag. The tags can then be used to change the
- applying actions through sections with <link linkend="tag-pattern">tag-patterns</link>.
-</para>
-<para>
- Multiple filter files can be defined through the <literal> <link
- linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config directive. The filters
- as supplied by the developers are located in
- <filename>default.filter</filename>. It is recommended that any locally
- defined or modified filters go in a separately defined file such as
- <filename>user.filter</filename>.
- </para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-content-disposition">
+<title>hide-content-disposition</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Common tasks for content filters are to eliminate common annoyances in
- HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
- exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
- infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
- width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
- or just to have fun.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deletes or replaces the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header set by some servers.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Enabled content filters are applied to any content whose
- <quote>Content Type</quote> header is recognised as a sign
- of text-based content, with the exception of <literal>text/plain</literal>.
- Use the <link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> action
- to also filter other content.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Substitutions are made at the source level, so if you want to <quote>roll
- your own</quote> filters, you should first be familiar with HTML syntax,
- and, of course, regular expressions.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
- filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
- here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with one of the
- <emphasis>keywords</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>,
- <literal>CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER:</literal> or <literal>SERVER-HEADER-FILTER:</literal>
- followed by the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
- <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
- come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
- text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
- should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
- comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
- user interface</ulink>.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Some servers set the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header for
+ documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
+ The <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header contains the file name
+ the browser is supposed to use by default.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
+ <emphasis>just view</emphasis> the document, without downloading it first,
+ even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Removing the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header helps
+ to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
+ <quote>Content-Type:</quote> header, before they decide if they can
+ display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have
+ to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
+ download menus.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion
+ to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set
+ it up.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This action will probably be removed in the future,
+ use server-header filters instead.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- 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>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
+{ -filter \
+ +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
+ +hide-content-disposition{block} }
+ .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- <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>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-if-modified-since">
+<title>hide-if-modified-since</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- If you are new to
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
- Expressions</quote></ulink>, you might want to take a look at
- the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
- see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl
- manual</ulink> for
- <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlop.html">the
- <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
- url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
- expressions</ulink> in general.
- The below examples might also help to get you started.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deletes the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> HTTP client header or modifies its value.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
-<para>
- Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> content filter. We have already defined
- the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
- <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
- needed:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
+ reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the
+ browser to use a cached copy of the page.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Instead of removing the header, <literal>hide-if-modified-since</literal> can
+ also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value.
+ You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and
+ <application>Privoxy</application> does the rest. A negative value means
+ subtracting, a positive value adding.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Randomizing the value of the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> makes
+ it less likely that the server can use the time as a cookie replacement,
+ but you will run into caching problems if the random range is too high.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
+ <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
+ handle the greater changes.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is also recommended to use this action together with
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>,
+ otherwise it's more or less pointless.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen># Let the browser revalidate but make tracking based on the time less likely.
+{+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
+ +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
+ +crunch-if-none-match}
+/</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
- of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
- care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
- we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
-</para>
-<para>
- <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
+<title>hide-from-header</title>
-<para>
- Our complete filter now looks like this:
-</para>
-<para>
- <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
-s/foo/bar/g</screen>
-</para>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
- a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
- abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
+ specified string.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <screen>
-FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-# Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
-#
-s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
+ (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
+ action).
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
+ server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
+ is actually used by a real person.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
+ <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
- <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
- the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
- by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
+ <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
- enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
- means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
- matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
- it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
-</para>
-<para>
- That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
- matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
- be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
- special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
- Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
- the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
- in the page (and appear in that order).
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
+<title>hide-referrer</title>
+<anchor id="hide-referer">
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
- is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
- means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
- tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
- <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
+ or replaces it with a forged one.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
- The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
- remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
- the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
- that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
- text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
- of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
- only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
- tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
- multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
- substitution is global.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
- <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
- (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
- <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
- that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para><quote>conditional-block</quote> to delete the header completely if the host has changed.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para><quote>conditional-forge</quote> to forge the header if the host has changed.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header unconditionally.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
- lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
- easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
- <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
- the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
- This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
- (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
- Business!"</literal>.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <literal>conditional-block</literal> is the only parameter,
+ that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the
+ referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or
+ typed in the address directly.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
+ allows the server owner to see the visitor's <quote>click path</quote>,
+ but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing
+ other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't
+ a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between
+ different requests.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
+ failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
+ requests, in an attempt to prevent their content from being
+ embedded or linked to elsewhere.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Both <literal>conditional-block</literal> and <literal>forge</literal>
+ will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page
+ are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
+ <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
+ substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
+ correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
+ requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
- <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
- <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
- since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
- string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
- information anymore.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
+ <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
- this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
-</para>
-<para>
- <screen>
-# The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
-#
-s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
+<title>hide-user-agent</title>
-<para>
- <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
- carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
- or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
- makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
- option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
- <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>. Finally, <literal>\1</literal> is
- a back-reference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
- with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
- a back-reference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
-</para>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Try to conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
- strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
- (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
- real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
- descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
- you move your mouse over links.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
+ in client requests with the specified value.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <screen>
-# Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
-#
-s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Including the
- <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
- event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
- When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
- This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
- <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
- Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
- case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee
- a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use <literal>[^>]*</literal>
- instead of <literal>.*</literal> to prevent the match from exceeding the
- <body> tag if it doesn't contain <quote>OnUnload</quote>, but the page's
- content does.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Any user-defined string.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- The last example is from the fun department:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <warning>
+ <para>
+ This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at this header in
+ order to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
+ way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the right thing to do: good web sites
+ work browser-independently).
+ </para>
+ </warning>
+ <para>
+ Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
+ browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
+ <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
+ setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
+ the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
+ OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
+ sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
+ reason in some cases).
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ More information on known user-agent strings can be found at
+ <ulink url="http://www.user-agents.org/">http://www.user-agents.org/</ulink>
+ and
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</ulink>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- <screen>
-FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-# Spice the daily news:
-#
-s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
-</para>
-<para>
- Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
- in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
- <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
- in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while
- still replacing the word everywhere else.
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
+<title>limit-connect</title>
-<para>
- <screen>
-# Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
-#
-s* industry[ -]leading \
-| cutting[ -]edge \
-| customer[ -]focused \
-| market[ -]driven \
-| award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
-| high[ -]performance \
-| solutions[ -]based \
-| unmatched \
-| unparalleled \
-| unrivalled \
-*<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
-*igx</screen>
-</para>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
- e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- You get the idea?
-</para>
-</sect2>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ 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>
-<sect2 id="predefined-filters"><title>The Pre-defined Filters</title>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
+ <application>Privoxy</application> allows HTTP CONNECT requests to all
+ ports. Use <literal>limit-connect</literal> if fine-grained control
+ is desired for some or all destinations.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
+ (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
+ the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
+ short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
+ This means CONNECT-enabled proxies can be used as TCP relays very easily.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
+ the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent &my-app;'s
+ filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<!--
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usages:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
+ <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
+ <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
+ <para>
+ <screen>+limit-connect{443} # Port 443 is OK.
++limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
++limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
++limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
++limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
- 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>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-cookie-lifetime">
+<title>limit-cookie-lifetime</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>js-annoyances</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Limit the lifetime of HTTP cookies to a couple of minutes or hours.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.
- To that end, it
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
- with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the <literal><link
- linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal> action on the content level.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- removes the bindings to the DOM's
- <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">unload
- event</ulink> which we feel has no right to exist and is responsible for most <quote>exit consoles</quote>, i.e.
- nasty windows that pop up when you close another one.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being
- full-screen, non-resizeable, without location, status or menu bar etc.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
+ Overwrites the expires field in Set-Cookie server headers if it's above the specified limit.
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that
- rely heavily on JavaScript.
+ The lifetime limit in minutes, or 0.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-
+
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>js-events</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event bindings, which
- means that scripts can not react to user actions such as mouse movements or clicks, window
- resizing etc, anymore. Use with caution!
+ This action reduces the lifetime of HTTP cookies coming from the
+ server to the specified number of minutes, starting from the time
+ the cookie passes Privoxy.
</para>
<para>
- 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).
+ Cookies with a lifetime below the limit are not modified.
+ The lifetime of session cookies is set to the specified limit.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The effect of this action depends on the server.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ In case of servers which refresh their cookies with each response
+ (or at least frequently), the lifetime limit set by this action
+ is updated as well.
+ Thus, a session associated with the cookie continues to work with
+ this action enabled, as long as a new request is made before the
+ last limit set is reached.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ However, some servers send their cookies once, with a lifetime of several
+ years (the year 2037 is a popular choice), and do not refresh them
+ until a certain event in the future, for example the user logging out.
+ In this case this action may limit the absolute lifetime of the session,
+ even if requests are made frequently.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ If the parameter is <quote>0</quote>, this action behaves like
+ <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
-<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>html-annoyances</emphasis></term>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usages:</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>
+ <screen>+limit-cookie-lifetime{60}
+ </screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
+<title>prevent-compression</title>
+<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>content-cookies</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Typical use:</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.
+ Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
+ passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s.
</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
<para>
- 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.
+ Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>refresh tags</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
- that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
- for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
- annoying.
+ N/A
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>unsolicited-popups</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- This filter attempts to prevent only <quote>unsolicited</quote> pop-up
- windows from opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user
- has explicitly chosen to open. It was added in version 3.0.1,
- as an improvement over earlier such filters.
+ More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
+ is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the <literal><link
+ linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> and
+ <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
+ actions need access to the uncompressed data.
</para>
<para>
- 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.
+ 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>
- 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.
+ Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is seldom decreased by less than 50%,
+ for markup-heavy instances like news feeds saving more than 90% of the original size isn't
+ unusual.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should only
+ enable this action if you really need it. As of &my-app; 3.0.7 it's disabled in all
+ predefined action settings.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
+ documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an empty document body,
+ some IIS versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable
+ <literal>prevent-compression</literal> per default, you might want to add
+ exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>all-popups</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Example usage (sections):</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.
+ <screen>
+# Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
+#
+{ +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
+# Match only these sites
+ .google.
+ sourceforge.net
+ sf.net
+
+# Or instead, we could set a universal default:
+#
+{ +prevent-compression }
+ / # Match all sites
+
+# Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites:
+#
+{ -prevent-compression }
+.compusa.com/</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="overwrite-last-modified">
+<title>overwrite-last-modified</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>img-reorder</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Effect:</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.
+ Deletes the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> HTTP server header or modifies its value.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ One of the keywords: <quote>block</quote>, <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote>
+ and <quote>randomize</quote>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Removing the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header is useful for filter
+ testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
+ code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
+ version of the page.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The <quote>randomize</quote> option overwrites the value of the
+ <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with a randomly chosen time
+ between the original value and the current time. In theory the server
+ could send each document with a different <quote>Last-Modified:</quote>
+ header to track visits without using cookies. <quote>Randomize</quote>
+ makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
</para>
- </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.
+ <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote> overwrites the value of the
+ <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with the current time. You could use
+ this option together with
+ <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
+ to further customize your random range.
</para>
<para>
- 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.
+ 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>
- 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.
+ It is also recommended to use this action together with
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>banners-by-link</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Example usage:</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>
+ <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
+{ +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
+ +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
+ +crunch-if-none-match}
+/</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="redirect">
+<title>redirect</title>
+<!--
+new action
+-->
+<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>webbugs</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Typical use:</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>.
+ Redirect requests to other sites.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>tiny-textforms</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Effect:</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.
+ Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
+ to another location and the browser should get it from there.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>jumping-windows</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
<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>
+ <para>Parameterized</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>frameset-borders</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Parameter:</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.
+ An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>demoronizer</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Notes:</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.
+ Requests to which this action applies are answered with a
+ HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is
+ either provided as parameter, or derived by applying a
+ single pcrs command to the original URL.
</para>
<para>
- This 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
--->
+ The syntax for pcrs commands is documented in the
+ <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link> section.
</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.
+ This action will be ignored if you use it together with
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>.
+ It can be combined with
+ <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</link></literal>
+ to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Use this action carefully, make sure not to create redirection loops
+ and be aware that using your own redirects might make it
+ possible to fingerprint your requests.
</para>
<para>
+ In case of problems with your redirects, or simply to watch
+ them working, enable <link linkend="DEBUG">debug 128</link>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>quicktime-kioskmode</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Example usages:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
- prevents saving, is disabled.
+ <screen># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
+{ +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
+ example.com/stylesheet\.css
+
+# Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
+# (relies on the browser accept and forward invalid URLs to &my-app;)
+{ +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
+ a
+
+# Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles
+# (Note the $ at the end of the URL pattern to make sure
+# the request for the rewritten URL isn't redirected as well)
+{+redirect{s@$@&mode=expanded@}}
+undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$
+
+# Redirect Google search requests to MSN
+{+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/search\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=$1@}}
+.google.com/search
+
+# Redirect MSN search requests to Yahoo
+{+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/results\.aspx\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=$1@}}
+search.msn.com//results\.aspx\?q=
+
+# Redirect remote requests for this manual
+# to the local version delivered by Privoxy
+{+redirect{s@^http://www@http://config@}}
+www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</screen>
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-filter">
+<title>server-header-filter</title>
+
+<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>fun</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
- Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
+ Rewrite or remove single server headers.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>crude-parental</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- A demonstration-only filter that shows how <application>Privoxy</application>
- can be used to delete web content on a keyword basis.
+ 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><emphasis>ie-exploits</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>
- An experimental collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
- code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
- </para>
- <para>
- Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug, and
- would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
- </para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>site-specifics</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't apply
- anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
- </para>
- <para>
- This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be applied
- to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
- <filename>default.action</filename> file does. Users shouldn't need to change
- anything regarding this filter.
+ The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the
+ <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>google</emphasis></term>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- A CSS based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation
- and the toolbar advertisement.
+ 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>
- </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.
+ Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
+ and use their output as input.
</para>
- </listitem>
+ <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><emphasis>msn</emphasis></term>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- Another CSS based block, this time for MSN text ads. And removes
- tracking URLs, as well as a width limitation.
- </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>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
+
+
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-tagger">
+<title>server-header-tagger</title>
+
+<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>blogspot</emphasis></term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this one!
- </para>
- <para>
- This filter also intentionally removes some navigation stuff and sets the
- page width to 100%. As a result, some rounded <quote>corners</quote> would
- appear to early or not at all and as fixing this would require a browser
- that understands background-size (CSS3), they are removed instead.
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>xml-to-html</emphasis></term>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from xml to html.
+ 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><emphasis>html-to-xml</emphasis></term>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
<listitem>
- <para>
- Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from html to xml.
- </para>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>no-ping</emphasis></term>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Removes the non-standard <literal>ping</literal> attribute from
- anchor and area HTML tags.
+ The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the
+ <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis>hide-tor-exit-notation</emphasis></term>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
<listitem>
<para>
- Client-header filter to remove the <command>Tor</command> exit node notation
- found in Host and Referer headers.
- </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.
+ 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>
- 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).
+ Server-header taggers are executed before all other header actions
+ that modify server headers. Their tags can be used to control
+ all of the other server-header actions, the content filters
+ and the crunch actions (<link linkend="redirect">redirect</link>
+ and <link linkend="block">block</link>).
</para>
<para>
- 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.
+ Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header taggers
+ doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the server's log file.
</para>
- </listitem>
+
+ </listitem>
</varlistentry>
-<!--
<varlistentry>
- <term><emphasis> </emphasis></term>
+ <term>Example usage (section):</term>
<listitem>
- <para>
- </para>
- <para>
- </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen>
+# Tag every request with the content type declared by the server
+{+server-header-tagger{content-type}}
+/
+ </screen>
+ </para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
--->
-</variablelist>
-
-</sect2>
-</sect1>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect1 id="templates">
-<title>Privoxy's Template Files</title>
-<para>
- All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
- <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
- error page</ulink>, the <ulink
- url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
- page</ulink>
- and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
- user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
- (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
- intended.)
-</para>
-
-<para>
- These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
- directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On Unixish platforms,
- this is typically
- <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
- or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. It
- is possible to edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want
- to customize them. (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual
- user</emphasis>). Should you create your own custom templates, you should use
- the <filename>config</filename> setting <link linkend="templdir">templdir</link>
- to specify an alternate location, so your templates do not get overwritten
- during upgrades.
- </para>
- <para>
- Note that just like in configuration files, lines starting
- with <literal>#</literal> are ignored when the templates are filled in.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
- find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
- in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
- always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
- code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
-</para>
-
-<para>
- A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
- blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
- for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
- our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
- is in an alpha or beta development stage:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen>
-<!-- @if-unstable-start -->
-
- ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
-
-<!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
- <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
- will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
-</para>
-
-<para>
- <screen><!-- --></screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
- mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
- templates ;-)
-</para>
-
-<para>
- All templates refer to a style located at
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
- This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
- and the source for it can be found and edited in the
- <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
-</para>
-
-</sect1>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
-Requests</title>
-
-<!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
- &contacting;
-<!-- end boilerplate -->
-
-</sect1>
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
-
-<!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
- ©right;
-<!-- end copyright -->
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2><title>License</title>
-<!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
- &license;
-<!-- end copyright -->
-</sect2>
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-
-<sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
-<!-- Include history.sgml: -->
- &history;
-<!-- end history -->
-</sect2>
-
-<sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
-<!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
- &p-authors;
-<!-- end authors -->
-</sect2>
-
-</sect1>
-
-<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
-<!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
- &seealso;
-<!-- end seealso -->
-</sect1>
-
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
-
-
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="regex">
-<title>Regular Expressions</title>
-<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
- expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
- files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
- through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
-<!--
- dead 08/27/06
- <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
--->
- <application>PCRS</application> libraries.
-</para>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
- expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
- introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
- url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
-</para>
-<para>
- Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
- run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
- match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
- strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
- characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
- special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
- Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
- <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
+<title>session-cookies-only</title>
-<para>
- To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
- characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
- <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
- character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
- more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
- characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
- <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
- matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
-</para>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current
+ browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
- powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
- building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
- and then some examples:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote>
+ server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
+ forget them in between sessions.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
- <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
+<varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Boolean.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
- times. Either/or.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ N/A
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
- times.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
+ websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
+ <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
+ This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
+ that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
+ sites, and is the recommended setting.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
+ together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
+ will be plainly killed.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
+ field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
+ previously by the browser before starting <application>Privoxy</application>.
+ These would have to be removed manually.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> also uses
+ the <link linkend="filter-content-cookies">content-cookies filter</link>
+ to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
+ <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
- times.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
- the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
- special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
- not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
- sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
- meta-character meaning of any single character).
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>[ ]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
- any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
- matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
- this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
+<title>set-image-blocker</title>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>( )</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
- or multiple sub-expressions.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Typical use:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para><simplelist>
- <member>
- <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
- <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
- sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
- <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
- and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
- example</quote>, and nothing else.
- </member>
-</simplelist></para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Effect:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
+ linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
+ apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
+ <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
+ sent as a replacement.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
-<para>
- These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
- <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
- list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
- be more illuminating:
-</para>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Type:</term>
+ <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>Parameterized.</para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Parameter:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
+ decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
+ completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
+ images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
+ has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
+ send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
+ to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via <quote>file:///</quote> URL.
+ (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
+ URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
+ This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
+ the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
+ it over and over again.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Notes:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
+ class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
+ either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
+ used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
+ Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term>Example usage:</term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Built-in pattern:
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Redirect to the BSD daemon:
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+</variablelist>
+</sect3>
-<para>
- <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
- that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
- denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
- So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
- (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
- <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
- <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
- a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
- directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
- any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
- might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
- <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
- <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
- possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
- somewhere.
-</para>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect3>
+<title>Summary</title>
<para>
- And now something a little more complex:
+ Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
+ misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
+ a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
+ content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
+ and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
+ linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
+ actions.
</para>
+</sect3>
+</sect2>
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="aliases">
+<title>Aliases</title>
<para>
- <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
- We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
- building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
- <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
- it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
- match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
- the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
- interesting part.
+ Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
+ as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
+ These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
+ Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
+ <quote>=</quote>,
+ <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
+ recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
+ <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
+ Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
+ <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
+ expanded.
</para>
-
<para>
- Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
- literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
- can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
- <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
- individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
- <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
- means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
- <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
- <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
- attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
- similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
- or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
- <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
- <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
- <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
- changing our regular expression to:
- <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
- either spelling.
+ Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
+ defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
+ And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
+ have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
+ within that file.
</para>
-
<para>
- <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
- another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
- <quote>[ ]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
- shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
- saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
- means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
- expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
- one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
- This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
- either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
- side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
- since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
- can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
- match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
- string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
- (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
- with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
- <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
- include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
- <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
- <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
- <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
- <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
- <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
- in the expression anywhere).
+ There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
+ used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
+ decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
+ <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
+ <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
+ in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
+ by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
</para>
-
<para>
- We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
- can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
- configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
- installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
- expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
- your own :/
+ Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
+ <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
+ editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
+ them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
+ but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
+ with it.
</para>
<para>
- More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
- <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>
+ Now let's define some aliases...
</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 ~ -->
+ <screen>
+ # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
+ #
+ # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
+ # must be at the top of the actions file!
+ #
+ {{alias}}
+ # These aliases just save typing later:
+ # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
+ #
+ +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
+ -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
+ +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
+ allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2>
-<title>Privoxy's Internal Pages</title>
+ # These aliases define combinations of actions
+ # that are useful for certain types of sites:
+ #
+ fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link>
-<para>
- Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
- web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
- trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
- <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
- configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
- rules and other configuration options, and even turn
- <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
- a web browser.
+ shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link>
+ # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
+ #
+ c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
+ c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
</para>
<para>
- The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
- to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
- <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
- not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
- necessary either.
+ ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
+ actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
+ up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
</para>
<para>
- <itemizedlist>
+ <screen>
+ # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
+ # user data and require minimal interference to work:
+ #
+ {fragile}
+ .office.microsoft.com
+ .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
+ # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com
+ mail.google.com
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Privoxy main page:
- </para>
- <blockquote>
- <para>
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
- </para>
- </blockquote>
- <para>
- There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
- doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
- sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
- </para>
- </listitem>
+ # Shopping sites:
+ # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
+ #
+ {shop}
+ .quietpc.com
+ .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+ mybank.example.com
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
- editing of actions files:
- </para>
- <blockquote>
- <para>
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
- </para>
- </blockquote>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Show the source code version numbers:
- </para>
- <blockquote>
- <para>
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
- </para>
- </blockquote>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Show the browser's request headers:
- </para>
- <blockquote>
- <para>
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
- </para>
- </blockquote>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
- </para>
- <blockquote>
- <para>
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
- </para>
- </blockquote>
- </listitem>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Toggle Privoxy on or off. This feature can be turned off/on in the main
- <filename>config</filename> file. When toggled <quote>off</quote>, <quote>Privoxy</quote>
- continues to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking
- place:
- </para>
- <blockquote>
- <para>
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
- </para>
- </blockquote>
- <para>
- Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
- </para>
- <blockquote>
- <para>
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
- </para>
- </blockquote>
- <blockquote>
- <para>
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
- </para>
- </blockquote>
- </listitem>
-
- </itemizedlist>
+ # These shops require pop-ups:
+ #
+ {-filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
+ .dabs.com
+ .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are typically used for
+ <quote>problem</quote> sites that require more than one action to be disabled
+ in order to function properly.
+</para>
+</sect2>
+<!--
+hal stop here
+-->
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="act-examples">
+<title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
+<para>
+ The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
+ there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
+ linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
+ to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
+ define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
+ example <filename>match-all.action</filename>, <filename>default.action</filename>
+ and <filename>user.action</filename> file and see how all these pieces come together:
</para>
+<sect3>
+<title>match-all.action</title>
<para>
- These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
+ Remember <emphasis>all actions are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>,
+ so we have to explicitly enable the ones we want.
+</para>
+<para>
+ While the <filename>match-all.action</filename> file only contains a
+ single section, it is probably the most important one. It has only one
+ pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
+ <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the set of
+ actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
+ be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
+ wholly overridden by other actions files like <filename>default.action</filename>
+ and <filename>user.action</filename>, but it will still be largely responsible
+ for your overall browsing experience.
</para>
-<sect3 id="bookmarklets">
-<title>Bookmarklets</title>
<para>
- Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
- <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
- special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
- equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
- JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
- clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
+ Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
+ no need to disable any actions here. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
+ preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
+ Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
+ multiple lines with line continuation.
</para>
+
<para>
- To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
- (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
- the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
- Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
- you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
- Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
+ <screen>
+{ \
+ +<link linkend="CHANGE-X-FORWARDED-FOR">change-x-forwarded-for{block}</link> \
+ +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
+ +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
+}
+/ # Match all URLs
+ </screen>
</para>
<para>
- <itemizedlist>
+ The default behavior is now set.
+</para>
+</sect3>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <ulink
- url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=enabled','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Enable</ulink>
- </para>
- </listitem>
+<sect3>
+<title>default.action</title>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <ulink
- url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=disabled','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Disable</ulink>
- </para>
- </listitem>
+<para>
+ If you aren't a developer, there's no need for you to edit the
+ <filename>default.action</filename> file. It is maintained by
+ the &my-app; developers and if you disagree with some of the
+ sections, you should overrule them in your <filename>user.action</filename>.
+</para>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <ulink
- url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=toggle','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Toggle Privoxy</ulink> (Toggles between enabled and disabled)
- </para>
- </listitem>
+<para>
+ Understanding the <filename>default.action</filename> file can
+ help you with your <filename>user.action</filename>, though.
+</para>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <ulink
- url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y','ijbstatus','width=250,height=2,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy- View Status</ulink>
- </para>
- </listitem>
-<!--
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <ulink url="javascript:w=Math.floor(screen.width/2);h=Math.floor(screen.height*0.9);void(window.open('http://www.privoxy.org/actions/index.php?url='+escape(location.href),'Feedback','screenx='+w+',width='+w+',height='+h+',scrollbars=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Submit Actions File Feedback</ulink>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- -->
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
+<para>
+ The first section in this file is a special section for internal use
+ that prevents older &my-app; versions from reading the file:
</para>
<para>
- 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.
+ <screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
+##########################################################################
+{{settings}}
+for-privoxy-version=3.0.11</screen>
</para>
+<para>
+ After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
+ section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
+ that also explains why and how aliases are used:
+</para>
-</sect3>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Aliases
+##########################################################################
+{{alias}}
-</sect2>
+ # These aliases just save typing later:
+ # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
+ #
+ +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
+ -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
+ +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
+ mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
+ # These aliases define combinations of actions
+ # that are useful for certain types of sites:
+ #
+ fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link>
+ shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link></screen>
+</para>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="chain">
-<title>Chain of Events</title>
<para>
- Let's take a quick look at how some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
- core features are triggered, and the ensuing sequence of events when a web
- page is requested by your browser:
+ The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
+ sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
+ very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
+ make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
+ our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
+ of actions explicitly:
</para>
<para>
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
- the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
- relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
- tests:
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
- pages (e.g <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
- matches any <link
- linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
- so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
- <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
- and
- <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT"><quote>+handle-as-empty-document</quote></link>
- are then checked, and if there is no match, an
- HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back to the browser. Otherwise, if
- it does match, an image is returned for the former, and an empty text
- document for the latter. The type of image would depend on the setting of
- <link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
- (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
- <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- If the URL pattern matches the <link
- linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
- it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
- of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
- linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
- etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
- their parameters.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web
- page).
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
- things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
- filtered as determined by the
- <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
- <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
- and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
- actions.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- If any <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
- or <link
- linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
- action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
- read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
- <filename>default.filter</filename> and any other filter files) are
- processed against the buffered content. Filters are applied in the order
- they are specified in one of the filter files. Animated GIFs, if present,
- are reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
- setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
- <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
- </para>
- <para>
- If neither a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
- or <link
- linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
- matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
- to the client browser as it becomes available.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it
- reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
- source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
- frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a
- separate request (this is easily viewable in <application>Privoxy's</application>
- logs). And each such request is in turn processed just as above. Note that a
- complex web page will have many, many such embedded URLs. If these
- secondary requests are to a different server, then quite possibly a very
- differing set of actions is triggered.
- </para>
- </listitem>
-
- </itemizedlist>
+ <screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
+##########################################################################
+
+# "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
+#
+{ fragile }
+.office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
+.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
+mail.google.com</screen>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+ Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
+ require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
+ carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
</para>
+
<para>
- NOTE: This is somewhat of a simplistic overview of what happens with each URL
- request. For the sake of brevity and simplicity, we have focused on
- <application>Privoxy's</application> core features only.
+ <screen>
+# Shopping sites:
+#
+{ shop }
+.quietpc.com
+.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+.jungle.com
+.scan.co.uk</screen>
</para>
-</sect2>
+<para>
+ The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
+ action, which may have been enabled in <filename>match-all.action</filename>,
+ breaks some sites. So disable it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
+{ -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
+login.yahoo.com
+edit.*.yahoo.com
+.google.com
+.altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
+.altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
+.nytimes.com</screen>
+</para>
-<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
-<sect2 id="actionsanat">
-<title>Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</title>
+<para>
+ It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
+ URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
+ be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
+ Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
+ would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
+ would feed the advertisers information about you. We can mark any
+ URL as an image with the <literal><link
+ linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
+ and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
+ good start:
+</para>
<para>
- The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
- <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
- to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
- easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
- <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
- doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
- is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
- the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
- <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
- always so obvious.
+ <screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Images:
+##########################################################################
+
+# Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
+# blocked further down this file:
+#
+{ +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
+/.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
</para>
<para>
- One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
- or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
- step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
- and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
- logs is a good idea too. (Note that both the toggle feature and logging are
- enabled via <filename>config</filename> file settings, and may need to be
- turned <quote>on</quote>.)
+ And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
+ generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
+ request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
+ mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
+ <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
+ course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
+ +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
+ Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
+ <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
+ action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
+ <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
+ action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
</para>
+
<para>
- Another easy troubleshooting step to try is if you have done any
- customization of your installation, revert back to the installed
- defaults and see if that helps. There are times the developers get complaints
- about one thing or another, and the problem is more related to a customized
- configuration issue.
+ <screen>
+# Known ad generators:
+#
+{ +block-as-image }
+ar.atwola.com
+.ad.doubleclick.net
+.ad.*.doubleclick.net
+.a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
+.a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
+bs*.gsanet.com
+.qkimg.net</screen>
</para>
<para>
- <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
- <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
- page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
- are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
+ One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
+ is to block banners. Many of these can be <quote>blocked</quote>
+ by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
+ action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
+ images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
+ them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
+ doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
+ need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
+ <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
+</para>
+<para>
+ First comes many generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
+ matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
+ a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
+ to keep the example short:
</para>
<para>
- First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
- <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
- how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
- help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
- linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
- one of the filter files since this is handled very
- differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
- URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
- such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
- you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
- -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
- will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
- Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
- URL.
+ <screen>
+##########################################################################
+# Block these fine banners:
+##########################################################################
+{ <link linkend="BLOCK">+block{Banner ads.}</link> }
+
+# Generic patterns:
+#
+ad*.
+.*ads.
+banner?.
+count*.
+/.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
+/(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
+
+# Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
+#
+.hitbox.com</screen>
</para>
<para>
- Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
- and look at it one section at a time in a sample configuration (your real
- configuration may vary):
+ It's quite remarkable how many advertisers actually call their banner
+ servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
+ in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
+ generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
+</para>
+<para>
+ But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
+ to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
+ <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
+ but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
+ <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
+ well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
+ section above.
+</para>
+<para>
+ Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
+ <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
+ so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
+ URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
+ action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
+ general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
+ <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
+ <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
+ applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
+ with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
</para>
<para>
<screen>
- Matches for http://www.google.com:
+##########################################################################
+# Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
+##########################################################################
- In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
+# By domain:
+#
+{ -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
+adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
+adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
+adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
+ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
+.edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
+.*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
- {+change-x-forwarded-for{block}
- +deanimate-gifs {last}
- +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
- +filter {refresh-tags}
- +filter {img-reorder}
- +filter {banners-by-size}
- +filter {webbugs}
- +filter {jumping-windows}
- +filter {ie-exploits}
- +hide-from-header {block}
- +hide-referrer {forge}
- +session-cookies-only
- +set-image-blocker {pattern}
-/
-
- { -session-cookies-only }
- .google.com
+# By path:
+#
+/.*loads/
- { -fast-redirects }
- .google.com
+# Site-specific:
+#
+www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
+www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
+</para>
-In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
-(no matches in this file)
-</screen>
+<para>
+ Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
+ so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
+ and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
+ <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
+ disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
</para>
<para>
- This is telling us how we have defined our
- <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
- which ones match for our test case, <quote>google.com</quote>.
- Displayed is all the actions that are available to us. Remember,
- the <literal>+</literal> sign denotes <quote>on</quote>. <literal>-</literal>
- denotes <quote>off</quote>. So some are <quote>on</quote> here, but many
- are <quote>off</quote>. Each example we try may provide a slightly different
- end result, depending on our configuration directives.
+ <screen>
+# Don't filter code!
+#
+{ -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
+/(.*/)?cvs
+bugzilla.
+developer.
+wiki.
+.sourceforge.net</screen>
</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>.
+ The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course much more
+ comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
</para>
+</sect3>
+
+<sect3><title>user.action</title>
+
<para>
- But we have defined additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
- rules, and then we list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions
- would apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit
- matches for <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous
- cookie setting, which was for <link
- linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
- (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google, at
- least that is how it is in this example. The second turns
- <emphasis>off</emphasis> any <link
- linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
- action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
- dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
- sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
- <quote>www.google.com</quote> or <quote>mail.google.com</quote>. But it would not
- match <quote>www.google.de</quote>! So, apparently, we have these two actions
- defined as exceptions to the general rules at the top somewhere in the lower
- part of our <filename>default.action</filename> file, and
- <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter sections.
+ 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>
- 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,
+ So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
+ <filename>user.action</filename>:
</para>
-<para>
- And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
- <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
- to <quote>google.com</quote>:
-</para>
+<!-- brief sample user.action here -->
<para>
<screen>
-
- Final results:
-
- -add-header
- -block
- +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
- -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
- -content-type-overwrite
- -crunch-client-header
- -crunch-if-none-match
- -crunch-incoming-cookies
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-server-header
- +deanimate-gifs {last}
- -downgrade-http-version
- -fast-redirects
- -filter {js-events}
- -filter {content-cookies}
- -filter {all-popups}
- -filter {banners-by-link}
- -filter {tiny-textforms}
- -filter {frameset-borders}
- -filter {demoronizer}
- -filter {shockwave-flash}
- -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
- -filter {fun}
- -filter {crude-parental}
- -filter {site-specifics}
- -filter {js-annoyances}
- -filter {html-annoyances}
- +filter {refresh-tags}
- -filter {unsolicited-popups}
- +filter {img-reorder}
- +filter {banners-by-size}
- +filter {webbugs}
- +filter {jumping-windows}
- +filter {ie-exploits}
- -filter {google}
- -filter {yahoo}
- -filter {msn}
- -filter {blogspot}
- -filter {no-ping}
- -force-text-mode
- -handle-as-empty-document
- -handle-as-image
- -hide-accept-language
- -hide-content-disposition
- +hide-from-header {block}
- -hide-if-modified-since
- +hide-referrer {forge}
- -hide-user-agent
- -limit-connect
- -overwrite-last-modified
- -prevent-compression
- -redirect
- -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
- -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
- -session-cookies-only
- +set-image-blocker {pattern} </screen>
-</para>
-
-<para>
- Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
- <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>,
- which are activated specifically for this site in our configuration,
- and thus show in the <quote>Final Results</quote>.
+# My user.action file. <fred@example.com></screen>
</para>
<para>
- Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
+ As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
+ file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
+ <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
</para>
<para>
<screen>
+# Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
+# (Re-)define aliases for this file:
+#
+{{alias}}
+#
+# These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
+# be self explanatory.
+#
++crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+-crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
+ allow-popups = -filter{all-popups}
++block-as-image = +block{Blocked as image.} +handle-as-image
+-block-as-image = -block
- { +block{Domains starts with "ad"} }
- ad*.
+# These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
+# certain types of sites:
+#
+fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer
+shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
- { +block{Domain contains "ad"} }
- .ad.
+# 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>
- { +block{Doubleclick banner server} +handle-as-image }
- .[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. Two <quote>+block{}</quote> sections,
- and a <quote>+block{} +handle-as-image</quote>,
- which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
- <quote>+block-as-image</quote>. (<link
- linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
- the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
- than one action.)
+ 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>
- Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
- image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
- would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
- though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
- URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
- is done here -- as both a <link
- linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block{}</quote></link>
- <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
- <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
- The custom alias <quote><literal>+block-as-image</literal></quote> just
- simplifies the process and make it more readable.
+ <screen>
+{ allow-all-cookies }
+ sourceforge.net
+ .yahoo.com
+ .msdn.microsoft.com
+ .redhat.com</screen>
</para>
<para>
- One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
- This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
+ 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>
- Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
-
- In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
+<para>
+ Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
+</para>
- {-add-header
- -block
- +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
- -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
- -content-type-overwrite
- -crunch-client-header
- -crunch-if-none-match
- -crunch-incoming-cookies
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-server-header
- +deanimate-gifs
- -downgrade-http-version
- +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
- -filter {js-events}
- -filter {content-cookies}
- -filter {all-popups}
- -filter {banners-by-link}
- -filter {tiny-textforms}
- -filter {frameset-borders}
- -filter {demoronizer}
- -filter {shockwave-flash}
- -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
- -filter {fun}
- -filter {crude-parental}
- -filter {site-specifics}
- -filter {js-annoyances}
- -filter {html-annoyances}
- +filter {refresh-tags}
- -filter {unsolicited-popups}
- +filter {img-reorder}
- +filter {banners-by-size}
- +filter {webbugs}
- +filter {jumping-windows}
- +filter {ie-exploits}
- -filter {google}
- -filter {yahoo}
- -filter {msn}
- -filter {blogspot}
- -filter {no-ping}
- -force-text-mode
- -handle-as-empty-document
- -handle-as-image
- -hide-accept-language
- -hide-content-disposition
- +hide-from-header{block}
- +hide-referer{forge}
- -hide-user-agent
- -overwrite-last-modified
- +prevent-compression
- -redirect
- -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
- -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
- +session-cookies-only
- +set-image-blocker{blank} }
- /
+<para>
+ <screen>
+# Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
+# erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
+#
+.tldp.org
+/(.*/)?selfhtml/
- { +block{Path contains "ads".} +handle-as-image }
- /ads
-</screen>
+# And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
+# so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
+#
+stupid-server.example.com/</screen>
</para>
<para>
- 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:
+ Example of a simple <link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> action. Say you've
+ seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of.
+ You have right-clicked the image, selected <quote>copy image location</quote>
+ and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a
+ <literal>{ +block{} }</literal> section. Note that <literal>{ +handle-as-image
+ }</literal> need not be specified, since all URLs ending in
+ <literal>.gif</literal> will be tagged as images by the general rules as set
+ in default.action anyway:
</para>
<para>
<screen>
+{ +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link>{Nasty ads.} }
+ www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
+ another.example.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
+</para>
- { -block }
- /adsl
-</screen>
+<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>
- Now the page displays ;-)
- Remember to flush your browser's caches when making these kinds of changes to
- your configuration to insure that you get a freshly delivered page! Or, try
- using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
+ <screen>
+{ +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>
- But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
- we did with:
+<screen>
+{ fragile }
+ .forbes.com
+ webmail.example.com
+ .mybank.com</screen>
</para>
<para>
- <screen>
-
- { +block{Path starts with "ads".} +handle-as-image }
- /ads
-</screen>
+ You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
+ but it is disabled in the distributed actions file.
+ So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
+ update-safe config, once and for all:
</para>
<para>
- That actually was very helpful and pointed us quickly to where the problem
- was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
- rules in the first section of <filename>default.action</filename> is causing
- the problem. This would require some guesswork, and maybe a little trial and
- error to isolate the offending rule. One likely cause would be one of the
- <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> actions.
- These tend to be harder to troubleshoot.
- Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off
- <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>:
+<screen>
+{ +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
+ / # For ALL sites!</screen>
</para>
<para>
- <screen>
-
- { shop }
- .quietpc.com
- .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
- .jungle.com
- .scan.co.uk
- .forbes.com
-</screen>
+ 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>
- <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:
-
+ 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>
-
- { -filter }
- # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
- .forbes.com
- developer.ibm.com
- localhost
-</screen>
+<screen>
+{ allow-ads }
+ .sourceforge.net
+ .slashdot.org
+ .osdn.net</screen>
</para>
<para>
- This would turn off all filtering for these sites. This is best
- put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
- exceptions. Note that when a simple domain pattern is used by itself (without
- the subsequent path portion), all sub-pages within that domain are included
- automatically in the scope of the action.
+ 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>
- 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).
+ 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>
- <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>
+<screen>
+{ handle-as-text }
+ /.*\.sh$</screen>
</para>
-
<para>
- <emphasis>Remember to flush caches!</emphasis> Note that the
- <literal>mail.google</literal> reference lacks the TLD portion (e.g.
- <quote>.com</quote>). This will effectively match any TLD with
- <literal>google</literal> in it, such as <literal>mail.google.de.</literal>,
- just as an example.
+ <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>
- 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>
+<screen>
+{ +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
+/ # ALL sites</screen>
</para>
+</sect3>
</sect2>
-</sect1>
-
- <!--
-
- This program is free software; you can redistribute it
- and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
- Public License as published by the Free Software
- Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
- your option) any later version.
-
- This program is distributed in the hope that it will
- be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
- implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
- PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
- License for more details.
-
- The GNU General Public License should be included with
- this file. If not, you can view it at
- http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
- or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
- 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301,
- USA
-
- $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
- Revision 2.126 2010/11/06 12:55:48 fabiankeil
- Set p-version to 3.0.17
-
- Revision 2.125 2010/09/03 17:39:37 fabiankeil
- Slightly improve the explanation of why filtering may appear slower than it is.
-
- Revision 2.124 2010/05/01 18:21:30 fabiankeil
- Explicitly mention how to match any URL.
-
- Revision 2.123 2010/02/19 16:00:38 fabiankeil
- Even more fixes.
-
- Revision 2.122 2010/02/19 15:22:47 fabiankeil
- Add missing word.
-
- Revision 2.121 2010/02/15 15:30:13 fabiankeil
- Mention the use of the no-such-domain template for DNS problems with FEATURE_IPV6_SUPPORT enabled.
-
- Revision 2.120 2010/02/13 17:38:39 fabiankeil
- Update entities for 3.0.16 stable.
-
- Revision 2.119 2010/02/13 16:37:37 fabiankeil
- Update 'What's new?' section.
-
- Revision 2.118 2010/02/11 13:59:48 fabiankeil
- Mention that the headers added by the add-header action aren't modified by other actions.
-
- Revision 2.117 2010/01/11 12:56:04 fabiankeil
- Bump copyright range as p-config.sgml's copyright line is only used in the config file.
-
- Revision 2.116 2009/11/15 14:24:12 fabiankeil
- Prepare to generate docs for 3.0.16 UNRELEASED.
-
- Revision 2.115 2009/10/10 06:19:34 fabiankeil
- Ditch a duplicated 'since'.
-
- Revision 2.114 2009/10/10 05:51:48 fabiankeil
- Update "What's new" section.
-
- Revision 2.113 2009/10/10 05:48:55 fabiankeil
- Prepare for 3.0.15 beta.
-
- Revision 2.112 2009/07/24 12:20:30 fabiankeil
- Remove duplicated period.
-
- Revision 2.111 2009/07/18 18:11:11 fabiankeil
- Don't claim that NTLM should work when there are multiple reports that it doesn't.
-
- Revision 2.110 2009/07/18 16:25:17 fabiankeil
- Fix trailing whitespace.
-
- Revision 2.109 2009/07/18 16:24:39 fabiankeil
- Bump entities for 3.0.14 beta.
-
- Revision 2.108 2009/07/18 15:49:23 fabiankeil
- Add most of the changes in 3.0.14 to the "What's New" section.
-
- Revision 2.107 2009/06/12 14:30:58 fabiankeil
- Update entities for 3.0.13 beta.
-
- Revision 2.106 2009/06/12 11:04:13 fabiankeil
- Import ChangeLog for 3.0.13 beta.
-
- Revision 2.105 2009/04/17 11:32:57 fabiankeil
- Grammar and spelling fixes.
-
- Revision 2.104 2009/04/17 11:27:49 fabiankeil
- Petr Pisar's privoxy-3.0.12-ipv6-3.diff.
-
- Revision 2.103 2009/03/21 10:49:05 fabiankeil
- Merge updated ChangeLog.
-
- Revision 2.102 2009/03/15 19:31:36 fabiankeil
- Update "What's New in this Release" section.
-
- Revision 2.101 2009/02/25 19:01:56 fabiankeil
- Fix typo.
-
- Revision 2.100 2009/02/19 17:14:11 fabiankeil
- - Copy the release cycle description from announce.txt into
- the "What's New" section.
- - Stop referring to the ChangeLog for a "complete list of changes".
- The "What's New" section already contains the complete list.
-
- Revision 2.99 2009/02/19 02:20:22 hal9
- Make some links in seealso conditional. Man page is now privoxy only links.
-
- Revision 2.98 2009/02/16 17:10:33 fabiankeil
- Fix entry about shortened log messages. Noticed by Lee.
-
- Revision 2.97 2009/02/14 18:01:00 fabiankeil
- Import ChangeLog.
-
- Revision 2.96 2009/02/14 13:14:03 fabiankeil
- Unbreak syntax.
-
- Revision 2.95 2009/02/14 12:51:26 fabiankeil
- Mention match-all.action in the "Actions Files Tutorial" section.
-
- Revision 2.94 2009/02/14 11:50:31 fabiankeil
- Some indentation fixes.
-
- Revision 2.93 2009/02/14 10:14:42 fabiankeil
- Mention match-all.action in the action file descriptions.
-
- Revision 2.92 2009/02/12 16:08:26 fabiankeil
- Declare the code stable.
-
- Revision 2.91 2009/01/13 16:50:35 fabiankeil
- The standard.action file is gone.
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- Revision 2.90 2008/09/26 16:53:09 fabiankeil
- Update "What's new" section.
+</sect1>
- Revision 2.89 2008/09/21 15:38:56 fabiankeil
- Fix Portage tree sync instructions in Gentoo section.
- Anonymously reported at ijbswa-developers@.
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- Revision 2.88 2008/09/21 14:42:52 fabiankeil
- Add documentation for change-x-forwarded-for{},
- remove documentation for hide-forwarded-for-headers.
+<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
- Revision 2.87 2008/08/30 15:37:35 fabiankeil
- Update entities.
+<sect1 id="filter-file">
+<title>Filter Files</title>
- Revision 2.86 2008/08/16 10:12:23 fabiankeil
- Merge two sentences and move the URL to the end of the item.
+<para>
+ On-the-fly text substitutions need
+ to be defined in a <quote>filter file</quote>. Once defined, they
+ can then be invoked as an <quote>action</quote>.
+</para>
- Revision 2.85 2008/08/16 10:04:59 fabiankeil
- Some more syntax fixes. This version actually builds.
+<para>
+ &my-app; supports three different filter actions:
+ <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> to
+ rewrite the content that is send to the client,
+ <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header-filter</link></literal>
+ to rewrite headers that are send by the client, and
+ <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header-filter</link></literal>
+ to rewrite headers that are send by the server.
+</para>
- Revision 2.84 2008/08/16 09:42:45 fabiankeil
- Turns out building docs works better if the syntax is valid.
+<para>
+ &my-app; also supports two tagger actions:
+ <literal><link linkend="client-header-tagger">client-header-tagger</link></literal>
+ and
+ <literal><link linkend="server-header-tagger">server-header-tagger</link></literal>.
+ Taggers and filters use the same syntax in the filter files, the difference
+ is that taggers don't modify the text they are filtering, but use a rewritten
+ version of the filtered text as tag. The tags can then be used to change the
+ applying actions through sections with <link linkend="tag-pattern">tag-patterns</link>.
+</para>
- Revision 2.83 2008/08/16 09:32:02 fabiankeil
- Mention changes since 3.0.9 beta.
- Revision 2.82 2008/08/16 09:00:52 fabiankeil
- Fix example URL pattern (once more with feeling).
+<para>
+ Multiple filter files can be defined through the <literal> <link
+ linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config directive. The filters
+ as supplied by the developers are located in
+ <filename>default.filter</filename>. It is recommended that any locally
+ defined or modified filters go in a separately defined file such as
+ <filename>user.filter</filename>.
+ </para>
- Revision 2.81 2008/08/16 08:51:28 fabiankeil
- Update version-related entities.
+<para>
+ Common tasks for content filters are to eliminate common annoyances in
+ HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
+ exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
+ infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
+ width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
+ or just to have fun.
+</para>
- Revision 2.80 2008/07/18 16:54:30 fabiankeil
- Remove erroneous whitespace in documentation link.
- Reported by John Chronister in #2021611.
+<para>
+ Enabled content filters are applied to any content whose
+ <quote>Content Type</quote> header is recognised as a sign
+ of text-based content, with the exception of <literal>text/plain</literal>.
+ Use the <link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> action
+ to also filter other content.
+</para>
- Revision 2.79 2008/06/27 18:00:53 markm68k
- remove outdated startup information for mac os x
+<para>
+ Substitutions are made at the source level, so if you want to <quote>roll
+ your own</quote> filters, you should first be familiar with HTML syntax,
+ and, of course, regular expressions.
+</para>
- Revision 2.78 2008/06/21 17:03:03 fabiankeil
- Fix typo.
+<para>
+ Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
+ filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
+ here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with one of the
+ <emphasis>keywords</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>,
+ <literal>CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER:</literal> or <literal>SERVER-HEADER-FILTER:</literal>
+ followed by the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
+ <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
+ come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
+ text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
+ should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
+ comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
+ user interface</ulink>.
+</para>
- Revision 2.77 2008/06/14 13:45:22 fabiankeil
- Re-add a colon I unintentionally removed a few revisions ago.
+<para>
+ Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
+ in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
+ +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
+ in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
+</para>
- Revision 2.76 2008/06/14 13:21:28 fabiankeil
- Prepare for the upcoming 3.0.9 beta release.
+<para>
+ Filter definitions start with a header line that contains the filter
+ type, the filter name and the filter description.
+ A content filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
+ like this:
+</para>
- Revision 2.75 2008/06/13 16:06:48 fabiankeil
- Update the "What's New in this Release" section with
- the ChangeLog entries changelog2doc.pl could handle.
+<para>
+ <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 2.74 2008/05/26 15:55:46 fabiankeil
- - Update "default profiles" table.
- - Add some more pcrs redirect examples and note that
- enabling debug 128 helps to get redirects working.
+<para>
+ 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>
- Revision 2.73 2008/05/23 14:43:18 fabiankeil
- Remove previously out-commented block that caused syntax problems.
+<para>
+ If you are new to
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
+ Expressions</quote></ulink>, you might want to take a look at
+ the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
+ see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl
+ manual</ulink> for
+ <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlop.html">the
+ <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
+ url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
+ expressions</ulink> in general.
+ The below examples might also help to get you started.
+</para>
- Revision 2.72 2008/05/12 10:26:14 fabiankeil
- Synchronize content filter descriptions with the ones in default.filter.
- Revision 2.71 2008/04/10 17:37:16 fabiankeil
- Actually we use "modern" POSIX 1003.2 regular
- expressions in path patterns, not PCRE.
+<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
- Revision 2.70 2008/04/10 15:59:12 fabiankeil
- Add another section to the client-header-tagger example that shows
- how to actually change the action settings once the tag is created.
+<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>
- Revision 2.69 2008/03/29 12:14:25 fabiankeil
- Remove send-wafer and send-vanilla-wafer actions.
+<para>
+ <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 2.68 2008/03/28 15:13:43 fabiankeil
- Remove inspect-jpegs action.
+<para>
+ But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
+ of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
+ care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
+ we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
+</para>
- Revision 2.67 2008/03/27 18:31:21 fabiankeil
- Remove kill-popups action.
+<para>
+ <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 2.66 2008/03/06 16:33:47 fabiankeil
- If limit-connect isn't used, don't limit CONNECT requests to port 443.
+<para>
+ Our complete filter now looks like this:
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
+s/foo/bar/g</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 2.65 2008/03/04 18:30:40 fabiankeil
- Remove the treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks action. We now
- use the "blocked" page for forbidden CONNECT requests by default.
+<para>
+ Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
+ a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
+ abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
+</para>
- Revision 2.64 2008/03/01 14:10:28 fabiankeil
- Use new block syntax. Still needs some polishing.
- Revision 2.63 2008/02/22 05:50:37 markm68k
- fix merge problem
+<para>
+ <screen>
+FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
- Revision 2.62 2008/02/11 11:52:23 hal9
- Fix entity ... s/&/&
+# Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
+#
+s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 2.61 2008/02/11 03:41:47 markm68k
- more updates for mac os x
+<para>
+ Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
+ <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
+ the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
+ by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
+</para>
- Revision 2.60 2008/02/11 03:40:25 markm68k
- more updates for mac os x
+<para>
+ Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
+ enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
+ means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
+ matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
+ it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
+</para>
- Revision 2.59 2008/02/11 00:52:34 markm68k
- reflect new changes for mac os x
+<para>
+ That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
+ matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
+ be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
+ special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
+ Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
+ the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
+ in the page (and appear in that order).
+</para>
- Revision 2.58 2008/02/03 21:37:40 hal9
- Apply patch from Mark: s/OSX/OS X/
+<para>
+ But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
+ is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
+ means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
+ tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
+ <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
+</para>
- Revision 2.57 2008/02/03 19:10:14 fabiankeil
- Mention forward-socks5.
+<para>
+ This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
+ The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
+ remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
+ the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
+ that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
+ text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
+ of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
+ only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
+ tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
+ multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
+ substitution is global.
+</para>
- Revision 2.56 2008/01/31 19:11:35 fabiankeil
- Let the +client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation} example apply
- to all requests as "tainted" Referers aren't limited to exit TLDs.
+<para>
+ So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
+ <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
+ (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
+ <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
+ that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
+</para>
- Revision 2.55 2008/01/19 21:26:37 hal9
- Add IE7 to configuration section per Gerry.
+<para>
+ Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
+ lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
+ easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
+ <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
+ the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
+ This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
+ (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
+ Business!"</literal>.
+</para>
- Revision 2.54 2008/01/19 17:52:39 hal9
- Re-commit to fix various minor issues for new release.
+<para>
+ The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
+ <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
+ <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
+ since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
+ string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
+ information anymore.
+</para>
- Revision 2.53 2008/01/19 15:03:05 hal9
- Doc sources tagged for 3.0.8 release.
+<para>
+ We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
+ this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
+</para>
- Revision 2.52 2008/01/17 01:49:51 hal9
- Change copyright notice for docs s/2007/2008/. All these will be rebuilt soon
- enough.
+<para>
+ <screen>
+# The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
+#
+s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 2.51 2007/12/23 16:48:24 fabiankeil
- Use more precise example descriptions for the mysterious domain patterns.
+<para>
+ <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
+ carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
+ or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
+ makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
+ option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
+ <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>. Finally, <literal>\1</literal> is
+ a back-reference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
+ with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
+ a back-reference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
+</para>
- Revision 2.50 2007/12/08 12:44:36 fabiankeil
- - Remove already commented out pre-3.0.7 changes.
- - Update the "new log defaults" paragraph.
+<para>
+ So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
+ strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
+ (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
+ real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
+ descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
+ you move your mouse over links.
+</para>
- Revision 2.49 2007/12/06 18:21:55 fabiankeil
- Update hide-forwarded-for-headers description.
+<para>
+ <screen>
+# Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
+#
+s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 2.48 2007/11/24 19:07:17 fabiankeil
- - Mention request rewriting.
- - Enable the conditional-forge paragraph.
- - Minor rewordings.
+<para>
+ Including the
+ <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
+ event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
+ When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
+ This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
+ <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
+ Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
+ case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee
+ a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use <literal>[^>]*</literal>
+ instead of <literal>.*</literal> to prevent the match from exceeding the
+ <body> tag if it doesn't contain <quote>OnUnload</quote>, but the page's
+ content does.
+</para>
- Revision 2.47 2007/11/18 14:59:47 fabiankeil
- A few "Note to Upgraders" updates.
+<para>
+ The last example is from the fun department:
+</para>
- Revision 2.46 2007/11/17 17:24:44 fabiankeil
- - Use new action defaults.
- - Minor fixes and rewordings.
+<para>
+ <screen>
+FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
- Revision 2.45 2007/11/16 11:48:46 hal9
- Fix one typo, and add a couple of small refinements.
+# Spice the daily news:
+#
+s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 2.44 2007/11/15 03:30:20 hal9
- Results of spell check.
+<para>
+ Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
+ in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
+ <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
+ in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while
+ still replacing the word everywhere else.
+</para>
- Revision 2.43 2007/11/14 18:45:39 fabiankeil
- - Mention some more contributors in the "New in this Release" list.
- - Minor rewordings.
+<para>
+ <screen>
+# Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
+#
+s* industry[ -]leading \
+| cutting[ -]edge \
+| customer[ -]focused \
+| market[ -]driven \
+| award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
+| high[ -]performance \
+| solutions[ -]based \
+| unmatched \
+| unparalleled \
+| unrivalled \
+*<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
+*igx</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 2.42 2007/11/12 03:32:40 hal9
- Updates for "What's New" and "Notes to Upgraders". Various other changes in
- preparation for new release. User Manual is almost ready.
+<para>
+ The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
+ e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
+</para>
- Revision 2.41 2007/11/11 16:32:11 hal9
- This is primarily syncing What's New and Note to Upgraders sections with the many
- new features and changes (gleaned from memory but mostly from ChangeLog).
+<para>
+ You get the idea?
+</para>
+</sect2>
- Revision 2.40 2007/11/10 17:10:59 fabiankeil
- In the first third of the file, mention several times that
- the action editor is disabled by default in 3.0.7 beta and later.
+<!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
- Revision 2.39 2007/11/05 02:34:49 hal9
- Various changes in preparation for the upcoming release. Much yet to be done.
+<sect2 id="predefined-filters"><title>The Pre-defined Filters</title>
- Revision 2.38 2007/09/22 16:01:42 fabiankeil
- Update embedded show-url-info output.
+<!--
- Revision 2.37 2007/08/27 16:09:55 fabiankeil
- Fix pre-chroot-nslookup description which I failed to
- copy and paste properly. Reported by Stephen Gildea.
+ Note each filter is also listed in the +filter action section above. Please
+ keep these listings in sync.
- Revision 2.36 2007/08/26 16:47:14 fabiankeil
- Add Stephen Gildea's pre-chroot-nslookup patch [#1276666],
- extensive comments moved to user manual.
+-->
- Revision 2.35 2007/08/26 14:59:49 fabiankeil
- Minor rewordings and fixes.
+<para>
+The distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file contains a selection of
+pre-defined filters for your convenience:
+</para>
- Revision 2.34 2007/08/05 15:19:50 fabiankeil
- - Don't claim HTTP/1.1 compliance.
- - Use $ in some of the path pattern examples.
- - Use a hide-user-agent example argument without
- leading and trailing space.
- - Make it clear that the cookie actions work with
- HTTP cookies only.
- - Rephrase the inspect-jpegs text to underline
- that it's only meant to protect against a single
- exploit.
+<variablelist>
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>js-annoyances</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.
+ To that end, it
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
+ with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the <literal><link
+ linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal> action on the content level.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ removes the bindings to the DOM's
+ <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">unload
+ event</ulink> which we feel has no right to exist and is responsible for most <quote>exit consoles</quote>, i.e.
+ nasty windows that pop up when you close another one.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being
+ full-screen, non-resizeable, without location, status or menu bar etc.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that
+ rely heavily on JavaScript.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.33 2007/07/27 10:57:35 hal9
- Add references for user-agent strings for hide-user-agenet
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>js-events</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event bindings, which
+ means that scripts can not react to user actions such as mouse movements or clicks, window
+ resizing etc, anymore. Use with caution!
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ We <emphasis>strongly discourage</emphasis> using this filter as a default since it breaks
+ many legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should you really
+ need to go there).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.32 2007/06/07 12:36:22 fabiankeil
- Apply Roland's 29_usermanual.dpatch to fix a bunch
- of syntax errors I collected over the last months.
+<varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>html-annoyances</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ The <literal>BLINK</literal> and <literal>MARQUEE</literal> tags
+ are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser windows will be created as
+ resizeable (as of course they should be!), and will have location,
+ scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.31 2007/06/02 14:01:37 fabiankeil
- Start to document forward-override{}.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>content-cookies</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialog, where they can be intercepted
+ by the
+ <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>
+ and <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>
+ actions. But web sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript
+ to sneak cookies to the browser on the content level.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This filter disables most HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets
+ cookies. It cannot detect all clever uses of these types of code, so it
+ should not be relied on as an absolute fix. Use it wherever you would also
+ use the cookie crunch actions.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.30 2007/04/25 15:10:36 fabiankeil
- - Describe installation for FreeBSD.
- - Start to document taggers and tag patterns.
- - Don't confuse devils and daemons.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>refresh-tags</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
+ that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
+ for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
+ annoying.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.29 2007/04/05 11:47:51 fabiankeil
- Some updates regarding header filtering,
- handling of compressed content and redirect's
- support for pcrs commands.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>unsolicited-popups</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This filter attempts to prevent only <quote>unsolicited</quote> pop-up
+ windows from opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user
+ has explicitly chosen to open. It was added in version 3.0.1,
+ as an improvement over earlier such filters.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
+ function to a dummy function, <literal>PrivoxyWindowOpen()</literal>,
+ during the loading and rendering phase of each HTML page access, and
+ restoring the function afterward.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This is recommended only for browsers that cannot perform this function
+ reliably themselves. And be aware that some sites require such windows
+ in order to function normally. Use with caution.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.28 2006/12/10 23:42:48 hal9
- Fix various typos reported by Adam P. Thanks.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>all-popups</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Attempt to prevent <emphasis>all</emphasis> pop-up windows from opening.
+ Note this should be used with even more discretion than the above, since
+ it is more likely to break some sites that require pop-ups for normal
+ usage. Use with caution.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.27 2006/11/14 01:57:47 hal9
- Dump all docs prior to 3.0.6 release. Various minor changes to faq and user
- manual.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>img-reorder</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the
+ <literal>banners-by-size</literal> and <literal>banners-by-link</literal>
+ (see below) filters more effective and should be enabled together with them.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.26 2006/10/24 11:16:44 hal9
- Add new filters.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>banners-by-size</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are. Fortunately
+ for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain standardized
+ sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad stripping purposes.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not ads,
+ but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Recommended only for those who require extreme ad blocking. The default
+ block rules should catch 95+% of all ads <emphasis>without</emphasis> this filter enabled.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.25 2006/10/18 10:50:33 hal9
- Add note that since filters are off in Cautious, compression is ON. Turn off
- compression to make filters work on all sites.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>banners-by-link</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if
+ their URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently
+ not of much value and is not recommended for use by default.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.24 2006/10/03 11:13:54 hal9
- More references to the new filters. Include html this time around.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>webbugs</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that
+ are used to track users across websites, and collect information on them.
+ As an HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the
+ browser to contact a third-party site, disclosing the tracking information
+ through the requested URL and/or cookies for that third-party domain, without
+ the user ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party site.
+ HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email addresses.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This filter removes the HTML code that loads such <quote>webbugs</quote>.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.23 2006/10/02 22:43:53 hal9
- Contains new filter definitions from Fabian, and few other miscellaneous
- touch-ups.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>tiny-textforms</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas (those
+ multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in them.
+ It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such boxes are
+ a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.22 2006/09/22 01:27:55 hal9
- Final commit of probably various minor changes here and there. Unless
- something changes this should be ready for pending release.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>jumping-windows</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This filter
+ neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might not display
+ or behave as intended when using this filter. Use with caution.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.21 2006/09/20 03:21:36 david__schmidt
- Just the tiniest tweak. Wafer thin!
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>frameset-borders</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view their
+ web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution etc,
+ because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame sizes,
+ yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they be too
+ small to show their whole content.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to sites
+ which need it.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.20 2006/09/10 14:53:54 hal9
- Results of spell check. User manual has some updates to standard.actions file
- info.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>demoronizer</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions (read:
+ violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This can cause those
+ HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant platforms.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents.
+ It is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of
+ all documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly
+ worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if weird garbage characters
+ sometimes appear on some pages, or user agents that don't correct for this on
+ the fly.
+<!--
+ My version of Mozilla (ancient) shows litte square boxes for quote
+ characters, and apostrophes on moronized pages. So many pages have this, I
+ can read them fine now. HB 08/27/06
+-->
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.19 2006/09/08 12:19:02 fabiankeil
- Adjust hide-if-modified-since example values
- to reflect the recent changes.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>shockwave-flash</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips code
+ out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.18 2006/09/08 02:38:57 hal9
- Various changes:
- -Fix a number of broken links.
- -Migrate the new Windows service command line options, and reference as
- needed.
- -Rebuild so that can be used with the new "user-manual" config capabilities.
- -Etc.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>quicktime-kioskmode</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
+ prevents saving, is disabled.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.17 2006/09/05 13:25:12 david__schmidt
- Add Windows service invocation stuff (duplicated) in FAQ and in user manual under Windows startup. One probably ought to reference the other.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>fun</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
+ Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.16 2006/09/02 12:49:37 hal9
- Various small updates for new actions, filterfiles, etc.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>crude-parental</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ A demonstration-only filter that shows how <application>Privoxy</application>
+ can be used to delete web content on a keyword basis.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.15 2006/08/30 11:15:22 hal9
- More work on the new actions, especially filter-*-headers, and What's New
- section. User Manual is close to final form for 3.0.4 release. Some tinkering
- and proof reading left to do.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>ie-exploits</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ An experimental collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
+ code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug, and
+ would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.14 2006/08/29 10:59:36 hal9
- Add a "Whats New in this release" Section. Further work on multiple filter
- files, and assorted other minor changes.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>site-specifics</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't apply
+ anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be applied
+ to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
+ <filename>default.action</filename> file does. Users shouldn't need to change
+ anything regarding this filter.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.13 2006/08/22 11:04:59 hal9
- Silence warnings and errors. This should build now. New filters were only
- stubbed in. More to be done.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>google</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ A CSS based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation
+ and the toolbar advertisement.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.12 2006/08/14 08:40:39 fabiankeil
- Documented new actions that were part of
- the "minor Privoxy improvements".
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>yahoo</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Another CSS based block, this time for Yahoo text ads. And removes
+ a width limitation as well.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 2.11 2006/07/18 14:48:51 david__schmidt
- Reorganizing the repository: swapping out what was HEAD (the old 3.1 branch)
- with what was really the latest development (the v_3_0_branch branch)
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>msn</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Another CSS based block, this time for MSN text ads. And removes
+ tracking URLs, as well as a width limitation.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 1.123.2.43 2005/05/23 09:59:10 hal9
- Fix typo 'loose'
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>blogspot</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this one!
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This filter also intentionally removes some navigation stuff and sets the
+ page width to 100%. As a result, some rounded <quote>corners</quote> would
+ appear to early or not at all and as fixing this would require a browser
+ that understands background-size (CSS3), they are removed instead.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 1.123.2.42 2004/12/04 14:39:57 hal9
- Fix two minor typos per bug SF report.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>xml-to-html</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from xml to html.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 1.123.2.41 2004/03/23 12:58:42 oes
- Fixed an inaccuracy
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>html-to-xml</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from html to xml.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 1.123.2.40 2004/02/27 12:48:49 hal9
- Add comment re: redirecting to local file system for set-image-blocker may
- is dependent on browser.
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>no-ping</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Removes the non-standard <literal>ping</literal> attribute from
+ anchor and area HTML tags.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 1.123.2.39 2004/01/30 22:31:40 oes
- Added a hint re bookmarklets to Quickstart section
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis>hide-tor-exit-notation</emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Client-header filter to remove the <command>Tor</command> exit node notation
+ found in Host and Referer headers.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ If &my-app; and <command>Tor</command> are chained and &my-app;
+ is configured to use socks4a, one can use <quote>http://www.example.org.foobar.exit/</quote>
+ to access the host <quote>www.example.org</quote> through the
+ <command>Tor</command> exit node <quote>foobar</quote>.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ As the HTTP client isn't aware of this notation, it treats the
+ whole string <quote>www.example.org.foobar.exit</quote> as host and uses it
+ for the <quote>Host</quote> and <quote>Referer</quote> headers. From the
+ server's point of view the resulting headers are invalid and can cause problems.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ An invalid <quote>Referer</quote> header can trigger <quote>hot-linking</quote>
+ protections, an invalid <quote>Host</quote> header will make it impossible for
+ the server to find the right vhost (several domains hosted on the same IP address).
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ This client-header filter removes the <quote>foo.exit</quote> part in those headers
+ to prevent the mentioned problems. Note that it only modifies
+ the HTTP headers, it doesn't make it impossible for the server
+ to detect your <command>Tor</command> exit node based on the IP address
+ the request is coming from.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
- Revision 1.123.2.38 2004/01/30 16:47:51 oes
- Some minor clarifications
+<!--
+ <varlistentry>
+ <term><emphasis> </emphasis></term>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </varlistentry>
+-->
+</variablelist>
- 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.
+</sect2>
+</sect1>
- Revision 1.123.2.36 2003/12/10 02:26:26 hal9
- Changed the demoronizer filter description.
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- 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.
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
- 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).
+<sect1 id="templates">
+<title>Privoxy's Template Files</title>
+<para>
+ All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
+ <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
+ error page</ulink>, the <ulink
+ url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
+ page</ulink>
+ and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
+ user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
+ (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
+ intended.)
+</para>
- Revision 1.123.2.31 2003/03/26 02:03:43 oes
- Updated hard-coded copyright dates
+<para>
+ These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
+ directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On Unixish platforms,
+ this is typically
+ <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
+</para>
- Revision 1.123.2.30 2003/03/24 12:58:56 hal9
- Add new section on Predefined Filters.
+<para>
+ The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
+ or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. It
+ is possible to edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want
+ to customize them. (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual
+ user</emphasis>). Should you create your own custom templates, you should use
+ the <filename>config</filename> setting <link linkend="templdir">templdir</link>
+ to specify an alternate location, so your templates do not get overwritten
+ during upgrades.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Note that just like in configuration files, lines starting
+ with <literal>#</literal> are ignored when the templates are filled in.
+</para>
- Revision 1.123.2.29 2003/03/20 02:45:29 hal9
- More problems with \-\-chroot causing markup problems :(
+<para>
+ The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
+ find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
+ in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
+ always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
+ code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
+</para>
- Revision 1.123.2.28 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).
+<para>
+ A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
+ blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
+ for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
+ our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
+ is in an alpha or beta development stage:
+</para>
- Revision 1.123.2.27 2003/03/18 19:37:14 oes
- s/Advanced|Radical/Adventuresome/g to avoid complaints re fun filter
+<para>
+ <screen>
+<!-- @if-unstable-start -->
- Revision 1.123.2.26 2003/03/17 16:50:53 oes
- Added documentation for new chroot option
+ ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
- Revision 1.123.2.25 2003/03/15 18:36:55 oes
- Adapted to the new filters
+<!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
+</para>
- 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.
+<para>
+ If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
+ <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
+ will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
+</para>
- Revision 1.123.2.23 2002/10/21 02:32:01 hal9
- Updates to the user.action examples section. A few new ones.
+<para>
+ <screen><!-- --></screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.123.2.22 2002/10/12 00:51:53 hal9
- Add demoronizer to filter section.
+<para>
+ There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
+ mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
+ templates ;-)
+</para>
- Revision 1.123.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 hal9
- s/Advanced/Radical/ and added very brief note.
+<para>
+ All templates refer to a style located at
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
+ This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
+ and the source for it can be found and edited in the
+ <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
+</para>
- Revision 1.123.2.20 2002/10/10 03:49:21 hal9
- Add notes to session-cookies-only and Quickstart about pre-existing
- cookies. Also, note content-cookies work differently.
+</sect1>
- Revision 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9
- More explanation on Privoxy patterns, more on content-cookies and SSL.
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9
- Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match
- CGIs.
- Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9
- Spell checked (only one typo this time!).
- Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt
- Update to Mac OS X startup script name
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
- Revision 1.123.2.15 2002/08/07 17:32:11 oes
- Converted some internal links from ulink to link for PDF creation; no content changed
+<sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
+Requests</title>
- Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes
- Nits re: actions file download
+<!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
+ &contacting;
+<!-- end boilerplate -->
- Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff
- Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections
+</sect1>
- Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff
- Added 2 Gentoo sections
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- 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.
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
- Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt
+<!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
+ ©right;
+<!-- end copyright -->
- Updated Mac OS X sections due to installation location change
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2><title>License</title>
+<!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
+ &license;
+<!-- end copyright -->
+</sect2>
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- 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.
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
- Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9
- Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs.
+<sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
+<!-- Include history.sgml: -->
+ &history;
+<!-- end history -->
+</sect2>
- 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.
+<sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
+<!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
+ &p-authors;
+<!-- end authors -->
+</sect2>
- Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
- Ooops missed something from David.
+</sect1>
- Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9
- Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and Mac OS X startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat).
- That's a wrap, I think.
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9
- Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section.
- Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
- -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
+<!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
+ &seealso;
+<!-- end seealso -->
+</sect1>
- 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).
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
- Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
- Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
- Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
- Added Security hint
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="regex">
+<title>Regular Expressions</title>
+<para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
+ expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
+ files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
+ through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
+<!--
+ dead 08/27/06
+ <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
+-->
+ <application>PCRS</application> libraries.
+</para>
- Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
- -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
- -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
+<para>
+ If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
+ expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
+ introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
+ url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
+</para>
- Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
- - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
- - Small changes to Regex appendix
- - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
+<para>
+ Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
+ run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
+ match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
+ strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
+ characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
+ special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
+ Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
+ <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
+</para>
- Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
- Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
+<para>
+ To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
+ characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
+ <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
+ character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
+ more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
+ characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
+ <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
+ matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
+</para>
- Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
- Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
+<para>
+ Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
+ powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
+ building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
+ and then some examples:
+</para>
- Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
- More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
+<para><simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
+ <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
+ </member>
+</simplelist></para>
- Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
- Extended and further commented the example actions files
+<para><simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
+ times. Either/or.
+ </member>
+</simplelist></para>
- Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
- Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
- clarification.
+<para><simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
+ times.
+ </member>
+</simplelist></para>
- Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes
- Fixing the fixes
+<para><simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
+ times.
+ </member>
+</simplelist></para>
- Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes
- Restored alphabetical order of actions
+<para><simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
+ the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
+ special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
+ not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
+ sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
+ meta-character meaning of any single character).
+ </member>
+</simplelist></para>
- Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes
- Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs
+<para><simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>[ ]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
+ any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
+ matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
+ this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
+ </member>
+</simplelist></para>
- Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
- Completed proofreading the actions chapter
+<para><simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>( )</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
+ or multiple sub-expressions.
+ </member>
+</simplelist></para>
- Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9
- Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this
- apparently an important distinction for some OS's.
+<para><simplelist>
+ <member>
+ <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
+ <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
+ sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
+ <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
+ and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
+ example</quote>, and nothing else.
+ </member>
+</simplelist></para>
- Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
- This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
- are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
- changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
+<para>
+ These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
+ <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
+ list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
+ be more illuminating:
+</para>
- Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
- Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
+<para>
+ <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
+ that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
+ denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
+ So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
+ (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
+ <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
+ <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
+ a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
+ directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
+ any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
+ might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
+ <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
+ <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
+ possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
+ somewhere.
+</para>
- Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
- bumped version
+<para>
+ And now something a little more complex:
+</para>
- Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
- -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
- -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
+<para>
+ <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
+ We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
+ building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
+ <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
+ it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
+ match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
+ the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
+ interesting part.
+</para>
- Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
- Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
+<para>
+ Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
+ literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
+ can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
+ <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
+ individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
+ <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
+ means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
+ <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
+ <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
+ attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
+ similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
+ or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
+ <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
+ <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
+ <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
+ changing our regular expression to:
+ <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
+ either spelling.
+</para>
- Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
- Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
- Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
+<para>
+ <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
+ another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
+ <quote>[ ]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
+ shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
+ saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
+ means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
+ expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
+ one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
+ This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
+ either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
+ side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
+ since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
+ can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
+ match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
+ string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
+ (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
+ with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
+ <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
+ include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
+ <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
+ <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
+ <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
+ <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
+ <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
+ in the expression anywhere).
+</para>
- Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
- Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
+<para>
+ We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
+ can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
+ configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
+ installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
+ expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
+ your own :/
+</para>
- Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
- more structure in starting section
+<para>
+ More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
+ <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>
+</para>
- Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
- This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
- will probably break links elsewhere :(
+<para>
+ For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications
+ in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
+ in this manual.
+</para>
+</sect2>
- Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
- -Rewrite of Actions File example.
- -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
+<!-- ~ End section ~ -->
- Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
- -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
- -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
- Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
- bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2>
+<title>Privoxy's Internal Pages</title>
- Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
- -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
- -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
+<para>
+ Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
+ web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
+ trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
+ <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
+ configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
+ rules and other configuration options, and even turn
+ <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
+ a web browser.
- Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
- More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
- Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
+</para>
- Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
- Add 'Chain of Events' section.
+<para>
+ The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
+ to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
+ <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
+ not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
+ necessary either.
+</para>
- Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
- Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
- Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
- Added hint for startup on Red Hat
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Privoxy main page:
+ </para>
+ <blockquote>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </blockquote>
+ <para>
+ There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
+ doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
+ sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
- Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
- Add AmigaOS install stuff.
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
+ editing of actions files:
+ </para>
+ <blockquote>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </blockquote>
+ </listitem>
- Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
- Updated Mac OS X installation section
- Added a few English tweaks here an there
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Show the source code version numbers:
+ </para>
+ <blockquote>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </blockquote>
+ </listitem>
- Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
- Re-write actions section.
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Show the browser's request headers:
+ </para>
+ <blockquote>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </blockquote>
+ </listitem>
- Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
- Fix ugly typo (mine).
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
+ </para>
+ <blockquote>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </blockquote>
+ </listitem>
- Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
- Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Toggle Privoxy on or off. This feature can be turned off/on in the main
+ <filename>config</filename> file. When toggled <quote>off</quote>, <quote>Privoxy</quote>
+ continues to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking
+ place:
+ </para>
+ <blockquote>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </blockquote>
+ <para>
+ Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
+ </para>
+ <blockquote>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </blockquote>
+ <blockquote>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </blockquote>
+ </listitem>
- Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
- Added RPM install detail
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
- Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
- Cosmetics
+<para>
+ These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
- Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
- Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
+</para>
- Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
- Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
+<sect3 id="bookmarklets">
+<title>Bookmarklets</title>
+<para>
+ Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
+ <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
+ equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
+ JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
+ clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
+</para>
+<para>
+ To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
+ (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
+ the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
+ Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
+ you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
+ Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
+</para>
- Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
- Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
- Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
- Proofreading part 2
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <ulink
+ url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=enabled','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Enable</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
- Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
- Proofreading, part one
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <ulink
+ url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=disabled','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Disable</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
- Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
- -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
- -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <ulink
+ url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=toggle','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Toggle Privoxy</ulink> (Toggles between enabled and disabled)
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
- Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
- Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <ulink
+ url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y','ijbstatus','width=250,height=2,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy- View Status</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+<!--
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="javascript:w=Math.floor(screen.width/2);h=Math.floor(screen.height*0.9);void(window.open('http://www.privoxy.org/actions/index.php?url='+escape(location.href),'Feedback','screenx='+w+',width='+w+',height='+h+',scrollbars=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Submit Actions File Feedback</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ -->
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
- Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
- Add small section on submitting actions.
+<para>
+ Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
+ <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com/">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
+ have more information about bookmarklets.
+</para>
- Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
- generated
- Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
- Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
+</sect3>
- Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
- Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
+</sect2>
- Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
- ?
- Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
- -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
- -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
- -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
- -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="chain">
+<title>Chain of Events</title>
+<para>
+ Let's take a quick look at how some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ core features are triggered, and the ensuing sequence of events when a web
+ page is requested by your browser:
+</para>
- Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
- consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
+<para>
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
+ the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
+ relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
+ tests:
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
+ pages (e.g <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
+ matches any <link
+ linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
+ so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
+ <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
+ and
+ <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT"><quote>+handle-as-empty-document</quote></link>
+ are then checked, and if there is no match, an
+ HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back to the browser. Otherwise, if
+ it does match, an image is returned for the former, and an empty text
+ document for the latter. The type of image would depend on the setting of
+ <link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
+ (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
+ <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ If the URL pattern matches the <link
+ linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
+ it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
+ of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
+ linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
+ etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
+ their parameters.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web
+ page).
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
+ things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
+ filtered as determined by the
+ <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
+ <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
+ and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
+ actions.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ If any <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
+ or <link
+ linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
+ action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
+ read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
+ <filename>default.filter</filename> and any other filter files) are
+ processed against the buffered content. Filters are applied in the order
+ they are specified in one of the filter files. Animated GIFs, if present,
+ are reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
+ setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
+ <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ If neither a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
+ or <link
+ linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
+ matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
+ to the client browser as it becomes available.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <para>
+ As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it
+ reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
+ source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
+ frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a
+ separate request (this is easily viewable in <application>Privoxy's</application>
+ logs). And each such request is in turn processed just as above. Note that a
+ complex web page will have many, many such embedded URLs. If these
+ secondary requests are to a different server, then quite possibly a very
+ differing set of actions is triggered.
+ </para>
+ </listitem>
- Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
- more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
+ </itemizedlist>
+</para>
+<para>
+ NOTE: This is somewhat of a simplistic overview of what happens with each URL
+ request. For the sake of brevity and simplicity, we have focused on
+ <application>Privoxy's</application> core features only.
+</para>
- Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
- Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
- based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
- definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
- eventually be set by Makefile.
- More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
+</sect2>
- Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
- enhance squid section due to user suggestion
- Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
- A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
+<!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
+<sect2 id="actionsanat">
+<title>Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</title>
- Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
- Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
+<para>
+ The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
+ <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
+ to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
+ easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
+ <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
+ doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
+ is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
+ the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
+ <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
+ always so obvious.
+</para>
- Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
- - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
- - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
- - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
+<para>
+ One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
+ or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
+ step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
+ and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
+ logs is a good idea too. (Note that both the toggle feature and logging are
+ enabled via <filename>config</filename> file settings, and may need to be
+ turned <quote>on</quote>.)
+</para>
+<para>
+ Another easy troubleshooting step to try is if you have done any
+ customization of your installation, revert back to the installed
+ defaults and see if that helps. There are times the developers get complaints
+ about one thing or another, and the problem is more related to a customized
+ configuration issue.
+</para>
- Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
- Minor update.
+<para>
+ <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
+ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
+ page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
+ are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
+</para>
- Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
- Added more to Anatomy section.
+<para>
+ First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
+ <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
+ how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
+ help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
+ linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
+ one of the filter files since this is handled very
+ differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
+ URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
+ such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
+ you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
+ -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
+ will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
+ Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
+ URL.
+</para>
- Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
- Touch up intro for new name.
+<para>
+ Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
+ and look at it one section at a time in a sample configuration (your real
+ configuration may vary):
+</para>
- Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
- we have a new homepage!
+<para>
+ <screen>
+ Matches for http://www.google.com:
- Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
- A few minor catch ups with name change.
+ In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
- Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
- configure needs to be generated.
+ {+change-x-forwarded-for{block}
+ +deanimate-gifs {last}
+ +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
+ +filter {refresh-tags}
+ +filter {img-reorder}
+ +filter {banners-by-size}
+ +filter {webbugs}
+ +filter {jumping-windows}
+ +filter {ie-exploits}
+ +hide-from-header {block}
+ +hide-referrer {forge}
+ +session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker {pattern}
+/
- Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
- we are too lazy to make a block-built
- privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
+ { -session-cookies-only }
+ .google.com
- Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
- name change related issue.
+ { -fast-redirects }
+ .google.com
- Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
- name change. changed filenames.
+In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
+(no matches in this file)
+</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
- name change
+<para>
+ This is telling us how we have defined our
+ <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
+ which ones match for our test case, <quote>google.com</quote>.
+ Displayed is all the actions that are available to us. Remember,
+ the <literal>+</literal> sign denotes <quote>on</quote>. <literal>-</literal>
+ denotes <quote>off</quote>. So some are <quote>on</quote> here, but many
+ are <quote>off</quote>. Each example we try may provide a slightly different
+ end result, depending on our configuration directives.
+</para>
+<para>
+ The first listing
+ is for our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line
+ listing, is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default
+ settings. If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the
+ section just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This
+ will apply to all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end
+ of the listing -- <quote> / </quote>.
+</para>
- Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
- renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
- fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
- "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
- comments and remarks to history untouched.
+<para>
+ But we have defined additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
+ rules, and then we list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions
+ would apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit
+ matches for <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous
+ cookie setting, which was for <link
+ linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
+ (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google, at
+ least that is how it is in this example. The second turns
+ <emphasis>off</emphasis> any <link
+ linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
+ action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
+ dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
+ sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
+ <quote>www.google.com</quote> or <quote>mail.google.com</quote>. But it would not
+ match <quote>www.google.de</quote>! So, apparently, we have these two actions
+ defined as exceptions to the general rules at the top somewhere in the lower
+ part of our <filename>default.action</filename> file, and
+ <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter sections.
+</para>
- Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
- Touch up.
+<para>
+ Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
+ So there is nothing google-specific that we might have added to our own, local
+ configuration. If there was, those actions would over-rule any actions from
+ previously processed files, such as <filename>default.action</filename>.
+ <filename>user.action</filename> typically has the last word. This is the
+ best place to put hard and fast exceptions,
+</para>
- Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
- New section in Appendix.
+<para>
+ And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
+ <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
+ to <quote>google.com</quote>:
- Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
- Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
+</para>
- Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
- correct feedback channels
+<para>
+ <screen>
- Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
- Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
+ Final results:
- Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
- more distros
+ -add-header
+ -block
+ +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
+ -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
+ -content-type-overwrite
+ -crunch-client-header
+ -crunch-if-none-match
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-server-header
+ +deanimate-gifs {last}
+ -downgrade-http-version
+ -fast-redirects
+ -filter {js-events}
+ -filter {content-cookies}
+ -filter {all-popups}
+ -filter {banners-by-link}
+ -filter {tiny-textforms}
+ -filter {frameset-borders}
+ -filter {demoronizer}
+ -filter {shockwave-flash}
+ -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
+ -filter {fun}
+ -filter {crude-parental}
+ -filter {site-specifics}
+ -filter {js-annoyances}
+ -filter {html-annoyances}
+ +filter {refresh-tags}
+ -filter {unsolicited-popups}
+ +filter {img-reorder}
+ +filter {banners-by-size}
+ +filter {webbugs}
+ +filter {jumping-windows}
+ +filter {ie-exploits}
+ -filter {google}
+ -filter {yahoo}
+ -filter {msn}
+ -filter {blogspot}
+ -filter {no-ping}
+ -force-text-mode
+ -handle-as-empty-document
+ -handle-as-image
+ -hide-accept-language
+ -hide-content-disposition
+ +hide-from-header {block}
+ -hide-if-modified-since
+ +hide-referrer {forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -limit-connect
+ -overwrite-last-modified
+ -prevent-compression
+ -redirect
+ -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
+ -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
+ -session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker {pattern} </screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
- New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
+<para>
+ Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
+ <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>,
+ which are activated specifically for this site in our configuration,
+ and thus show in the <quote>Final Results</quote>.
+</para>
- Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
- Added imageblock{pattern}.
+<para>
+ Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
+</para>
- Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
- looks better
+<para>
+ <screen>
- Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
- Fix a few markup problems for jade.
+ { +block{Domains starts with "ad"} }
+ ad*.
- Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
- provide correct feedback channels
+ { +block{Domain contains "ad"} }
+ .ad.
- Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
- Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
+ { +block{Doubleclick banner server} +handle-as-image }
+ .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
+</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
- Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
+<para>
+ We'll just show the interesting part here - the explicit matches. It is
+ matched three different times. Two <quote>+block{}</quote> sections,
+ and a <quote>+block{} +handle-as-image</quote>,
+ which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
+ <quote>+block-as-image</quote>. (<link
+ linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
+ the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
+ than one action.)
+</para>
- Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
- jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
+<para>
+ Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
+ image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
+ would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
+ though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
+ URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
+ is done here -- as both a <link
+ linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block{}</quote></link>
+ <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
+ <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
+ The custom alias <quote><literal>+block-as-image</literal></quote> just
+ simplifies the process and make it more readable.
+</para>
- Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
- Add new - - user option.
+<para>
+ One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
+ This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
+</para>
- Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
- Added section on command line options.
+<para>
+ <screen>
- Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
- Changed default port to 8118
+ Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
- Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
- Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
+ In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
- Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
- AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
- AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
- command line.
+ {-add-header
+ -block
+ +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
+ -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
+ -content-type-overwrite
+ -crunch-client-header
+ -crunch-if-none-match
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-server-header
+ +deanimate-gifs
+ -downgrade-http-version
+ +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
+ -filter {js-events}
+ -filter {content-cookies}
+ -filter {all-popups}
+ -filter {banners-by-link}
+ -filter {tiny-textforms}
+ -filter {frameset-borders}
+ -filter {demoronizer}
+ -filter {shockwave-flash}
+ -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
+ -filter {fun}
+ -filter {crude-parental}
+ -filter {site-specifics}
+ -filter {js-annoyances}
+ -filter {html-annoyances}
+ +filter {refresh-tags}
+ -filter {unsolicited-popups}
+ +filter {img-reorder}
+ +filter {banners-by-size}
+ +filter {webbugs}
+ +filter {jumping-windows}
+ +filter {ie-exploits}
+ -filter {google}
+ -filter {yahoo}
+ -filter {msn}
+ -filter {blogspot}
+ -filter {no-ping}
+ -force-text-mode
+ -handle-as-empty-document
+ -handle-as-image
+ -hide-accept-language
+ -hide-content-disposition
+ +hide-from-header{block}
+ +hide-referer{forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -overwrite-last-modified
+ +prevent-compression
+ -redirect
+ -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
+ -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
+ +session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker{blank} }
+ /
- Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
- Just tweaking
+ { +block{Path contains "ads".} +handle-as-image }
+ /ads
+</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
- Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
+<para>
+ Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote> in our
+ configuration! But we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the
+ blank page. It is actually triggering two different actions here, and
+ the effects are aggregated so that the URL is blocked, and &my-app; is told
+ to treat the block as if it were an image. But this is, of course, all wrong.
+ We could now add a new action below this (or better in our own
+ <filename>user.action</filename> file) that explicitly
+ <emphasis>un</emphasis> blocks (
+ <link linkend="BLOCK"><quote>{-block}</quote></link>) paths with
+ <quote>adsl</quote> in them (remember, last match in the configuration
+ wins). There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
+</para>
- Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
- Update OS/2 build section
+<para>
+ <screen>
- Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
- Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
- will work - no other changes are needed.
+ { -block }
+ /adsl
+</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
- Added a very short section on Templates
+<para>
+ Now the page displays ;-)
+ Remember to flush your browser's caches when making these kinds of changes to
+ your configuration to insure that you get a freshly delivered page! Or, try
+ using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
+</para>
- Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
- Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
+<para>
+ But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
+ we did with:
+</para>
- Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
- Touch ups for *.action files.
+<para>
+ <screen>
- Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
- Fix typo.
+ { +block{Path starts with "ads".} +handle-as-image }
+ /ads
+</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
- Updates for recent changes.
+<para>
+ That actually was very helpful and pointed us quickly to where the problem
+ was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
+ rules in the first section of <filename>default.action</filename> is causing
+ the problem. This would require some guesswork, and maybe a little trial and
+ error to isolate the offending rule. One likely cause would be one of the
+ <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> actions.
+ These tend to be harder to troubleshoot.
+ Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off
+ <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>:
+</para>
- Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
- Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
+<para>
+ <screen>
- Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
- Correct 2 minor errors
+ { shop }
+ .quietpc.com
+ .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+ .jungle.com
+ .scan.co.uk
+ .forbes.com
+</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
- *** empty log message ***
+<para>
+ <quote><literal>{ shop }</literal></quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
+ <quote><literal>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</literal></quote>.
+ Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
- Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
- Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
+</para>
- Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
- wrong url in documentation
+<para>
+ <screen>
- Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
- Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
+ { -filter }
+ # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
+ .forbes.com
+ developer.ibm.com
+ localhost
+</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
- Very minor changes.
+<para>
+ This would turn off all filtering for these sites. This is best
+ put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
+ exceptions. Note that when a simple domain pattern is used by itself (without
+ the subsequent path portion), all sub-pages within that domain are included
+ automatically in the scope of the action.
+</para>
- Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
- Ditto :/
+<para>
+ Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
+<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"><quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote></link>
+ rule, which assumes
+ that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well
+ <emphasis>most of the time</emphasis> since these tend to be standardized).
+</para>
- Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
- Ditto.
+<para>
+ <quote><literal>{ fragile }</literal></quote> is an alias that disables most
+ actions that are the most likely to cause trouble. This can be used as a
+ last resort for problem sites.
+</para>
+<para>
+ <screen>
- Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
- A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
+ { fragile }
+ # Handle with care: easy to break
+ mail.google.
+ mybank.example.com</screen>
+</para>
- Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
- Some additions, and re-arranging.
- Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
- Diddling.
+<para>
+ <emphasis>Remember to flush caches!</emphasis> Note that the
+ <literal>mail.google</literal> reference lacks the TLD portion (e.g.
+ <quote>.com</quote>). This will effectively match any TLD with
+ <literal>google</literal> in it, such as <literal>mail.google.de.</literal>,
+ just as an example.
+</para>
+<para>
+ If this still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining
+ actions one by one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
+</para>
- Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
- Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
+</sect2>
- Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
- cosmetics
+</sect1>
- Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
- source files for junkbuster documentation
+ <!--
- Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
- first proposal of a structure.
+ This program is free software; you can redistribute it
+ and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
+ Public License as published by the Free Software
+ Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
+ your option) any later version.
- Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
- docs should have an author.
+ This program is distributed in the hope that it will
+ be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
+ implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
+ PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
+ License for more details.
- Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
- first import of project's documentation for the webserver.
+ The GNU General Public License should be included with
+ this file. If not, you can view it at
+ http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
+ or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+ 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301,
+ USA
-->
projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff