By: Privoxy Developers
-$Id: faq.sgml,v 1.38 2002/04/02 03:49:10 hal9 Exp $
+$Id: faq.sgml,v 1.51 2002/04/26 17:24:31 swa Exp $
This FAQ gives users and developers alike answers to frequently asked questions
-about Privoxy.
+about Privoxy .
Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for protecting
privacy, filtering web page content, managing cookies, controlling access, and
tastes. Privoxy has application for both stand-alone systems and multi-user
networks.
-Privoxy is based on the code of the Internet Junkbuster. Junkbuster was
-originally written by JunkBusters Corporation, and was released as free
-open-source software under the GNU GPL. Stefan Waldherr made many improvements,
-and started the SourceForge project to continue development.
-
-Privoxy continues the Junkbuster tradition, but adds many refinements and
-enhancements.
+Privoxy is based on Internet Junkbuster (tm).
You can find the latest version of the document at http://www.privoxy.org/faq/.
-Please see the Contact section in the user-manual if you want to contact the
-developers.
+Please see the Contact section if you want to contact the developers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.1. Can I use my old config files?
3.2. What is an "actions" file?
- 3.3. The "actions"concept confuses me. Please list some of these "actions".
+ 3.3. The "actions" concept confuses me. Please list some of these
+ "actions".
3.4. How are actions files configured? What is the easiest way to do this?
- 3.5. What are the differences between intermediate.action, basic.action,
- etc.?
- 3.6. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not raise
+ 3.5. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not raise
security issues?
- 3.7. What is "default.filter"?
- 3.8. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?
- 3.9. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
+ 3.6. What is "default.filter"?
+ 3.7. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?
+ 3.8. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
anything.
- 3.10. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
- 3.11. I see large red banners on some pages that say "Blocked". Why and how
+ 3.9. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
+ 3.10. I see large red banners on some pages that say "Blocked". Why and how
do I get rid of this?
- 3.12. I cannot see all of the "Blocked" page banner. All I see is a bright
+ 3.11. I cannot see all of the "Blocked" page banner. All I see is a bright
red square.
+ 3.12. Can Privoxy run as a service on Win2K/NT?
3.13. How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies like Squid?
4. Miscellaneous
5.2. I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is still getting through.
How?
5.3. One of my favorite sites does not work with Privoxy. What can I do?
- 5.4. Where can I get help? Report bugs? Feature Requests? Etc?
- 5.5. What time is it?
+ 5.4. What time is it?
+
+7. Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
+
+ 7.1. Get Support
+ 7.2. Report bugs
+ 7.3. Request new features
+ 7.4. Report ads or other filter problems
+ 7.5. Other
+
+8. Copyright and History
+
+ 8.1. Copyright
+ 8.2. History
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.1. What is this new version of Privoxy?
-The original Internet JunkbusterTM (tm) is a copyrighted product of Junkbusters
-Corporation. Development of this effort stopped some time ago as of version
-2.0.2. Stefan Waldherr started the ijbswa project on Sourceforge to rekindle
-development. Other developers subsequently joined with Stefan, and have since
-added many new features, refinements and enhancements. The result of this
-effort is Privoxy.
+The original Internet Junkbuster™ (tm) is a copyrighted product of
+Junkbusters Corporation. Development of this effort stopped some time ago as of
+version 2.0.2. Stefan Waldherr started the ijbswa project on Sourceforge to
+rekindle development. Other developers subsequently joined with Stefan, and
+have since added many new features, refinements and enhancements. The result of
+this effort is Privoxy.
Privoxy has evolved from the Junkbuster 2.0.2 code base, and has advanced
significantly at this point.
-Please see the user-manual for more information on the history of Junkbuster
-and Privoxy.
+Please see the History section for more information on the history of
+Junkbuster and Privoxy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Privoxy is the "Privacy Enhancing Proxy".
-There are possible legal complications from the continued use of the Junkbuster
-name, which is a trademark of Junkbusters Corporation. (There are, however, no
-objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the Privoxy project itself, and
-they, in fact, still share our ideals and goals.)
+There are potential legal complications from the continued use of the
+Junkbuster name, which is a registered trademark of Junkbusters Corporation.
+And thus they "own" the rights to the name. (There are, however, no objections
+from Junkbusters Corporation to the Privoxy project itself, and they, in fact,
+still share our ideals and goals.)
-The developers also believed that there so many changes from the original code,
-that it was time to make a clean break from the past and make a name in their
-own right, especially now with the pending release of version 3.0.
+The developers also believed that there are so many changes from the original
+code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past and make a name in
+their own right, especially now with the pending release of version 3.0.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
have been added, all in the same vein.
The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something that
-users will notice right off the bat. The "blocklist" file does not exist any
-more. This is replaced by "actions" files, such as default.actions. This is
-where most of the per site configuration is now.
+users will notice right off the bat if you are upgrading from Junkbuster 2.0.x.
+The "blocklist" file does not exist any more. This is replaced by "actions"
+files, such as default.actions. This is where most of the per site
+configuration is now.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.4. What are some of the new features?
- * Integrated browser based configuration and control utility (http://p.p).
- Browser-based tracing of rule and filter effects.
+ * FIXME: complete the list of features. change the order: most important
+ features to the top of the list. prefix new features with "NEW".
+
+ * Integrated browser based configuration and control utility at http://
+ config.privoxy.org/ (shortcut: http://p.p/). Browser-based tracing of rule
+ and filter effects. Remote toggling.
* Blocking of annoying pop-up browser windows.
- * HTTP/1.1 compliant (most, but not all 1.1 features are supported).
+ * HTTP/1.1 compliant (but not all optional 1.1 features are supported).
* Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the configuration files,
and generally a more sophisticated and flexible configuration syntax over
* GIF de-animation.
* Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size, invisible
- "web-bugs", JavaScript, pop-ups, status bar abuse, etc.)
+ "web-bugs", JavaScript and HTML annoyances, pop-ups, etc.)
* Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
* Improved signal handling, and a true daemon mode (Unix).
- * Builds from source on most UNIX-like systems. Packages available for: Linux
- (RedHat, SuSE, or Debian), Windows, Sun Solaris, Mac OSX, OS/2, HP-UX 11
- and AmigaOS.
+ * Every feature now controllable on a per-site or per-location basis,
+ configuration more powerful and versatile over-all.
- * In addition, the configuration is much more powerful and versatile
- over-all.
+ * Many smaller new features added, limitations and bugs removed, and security
+ holes fixed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But this should not be a big concern since the Privoxy configuration is very
flexible, and includes tools to help identify these types of situations so they
can be addressed as needed, allowing you to customize your installation. (See
-the appendix below.)
+the Troubleshooting section below.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Privoxy is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It is free to
use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of this license.
-Please see the user-manual for more information on the license and copyright.
+Please see the Copyright section for more information on the license and
+copyright.
There is no warranty of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise. That is
something that would cost real money ;-) There is no registration either.
2.2. Which operating systems are supported?
-At present, Privoxy is known to run on Win32, Mac OSX, OS/2, AmigaOS, Linux,
-and many flavors of Unix. There are releases for these available for download
-at http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118.
+At present, Privoxy is known to run on Windows(95, 98, ME, 2000, XP), Linux
+(RedHat, Suse, Debian), Mac OSX, OS/2, AmigaOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, BeOS, and many
+more flavors of Unix.
But any operating system that runs TCP/IP, can conceivably take advantage of
Privoxy in a networked situation where Privoxy would run as a server on a LAN
confusion. You may want to save your old configuration files for future
reference. The configuration is substantially changed.
-See the user-manual for platform specific installation instructions. [FIXME:
-This is meant for after the name change for 3.0!]
+See the user-manual for platform specific installation instructions.
Note: Some installers may automatically uninstall Junkbuster, if present!
3.1. Can I use my old config files?
-There are major changes to Junkbuster, Privoxy, configuration from version
-2.0.x to 2.9.x and later. Most of the older files will not work at all. This is
+There are major changes to Junkbuster/ Privoxy configuration from version 2.0.x
+to 2.9.x and later. Most of the older files will not work at all. This is
especially true of blocklist. If this is the case, you will need to re-enter
your old data into the new configuration structure. This is probably also a
good recommendation even if upgrading from 2.9.x to 3.x since there were many
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.3. The "actions"concept confuses me. Please list some of these "actions".
+3.3. The "actions" concept confuses me. Please list some of these "actions".
These are all explained in the user-manual. Please refer to that.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.5. What are the differences between intermediate.action, basic.action, etc.?
-
-Configuring Privoxy is not easy. To help you get started, we provide you with
-three different default configurations. The following table shows you, which
-features are enabled in each configuration.
-
-Table 1. Default Configurations
-
-+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
-|Feature |default.action|basic.action |intermediate.action|advanced.action|
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|ad-filtering |? |x |x |x |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|blank image |? |x |x |x |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|de-animate GIFs |? |x |x |x |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|referer forging |? |x |x |x |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|jon's |? |x |x |x |
-|+no-cookies-keep | | | | |
-|(i.e. session | | | | |
-|cookies only) | | | | |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|no-popup windows |? | |x |x |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|fast redirects |? | |x |x |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|hide-referrer |? | |x |x |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|hide-useragent |? | |x |x |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|content-modification|? | | |x |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|feature-x |? | | | |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|feature-y |? | | | |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|feature-z |? | | | |
-+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-3.6. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not raise
+3.5. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not raise
security issues?
What I don't understand, is how I can browser edit the config file as a regular
user, while the whole /etc/privoxy hierarchy belongs to the user "privoxy",
-with only 644 perms.
+with only 644 permissions.
When you use the browser-based editor, Privoxy itself is writing to the config
files. Because Privoxy is running as the user "privoxy", it can update the
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.7. What is "default.filter"?
+3.6. What is "default.filter"?
The "default.filter" file is used to "filter" any web page content. By
"filtering" we mean it can modify, remove, or change anything on the page,
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.8. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?
+3.7. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?
By default, Privoxy only responds to requests from localhost. To have it act as
a server for a network, this needs to be changed in the main config file where
and assign it the address of the LAN gateway interface, and port number to use:
listen-address 192.168.1.1:8118
-
Save the file, and restart Privoxy. Configure all browsers on the network then
to use this address and port number.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.9. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
+3.8. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
anything.
This is a configuration option for images that Privoxy is stopping. You have
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.10. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
+3.9. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
This can be helpful for troubleshooting problems. It might also be good for
anyone new to Privoxy so that they can see if their favorite pages are
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.11. I see large red banners on some pages that say "Blocked". Why and how do
+3.10. I see large red banners on some pages that say "Blocked". Why and how do
I get rid of this?
These are URLs that match something in one of Privoxy's block actions (+block).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.12. I cannot see all of the "Blocked" page banner. All I see is a bright red
+3.11. I cannot see all of the "Blocked" page banner. All I see is a bright red
square.
There is not enough space to fit the entire page. Try right clicking on the
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+3.12. Can Privoxy run as a service on Win2K/NT?
+
+Yes, it can run as a system service using srvany.exe. The only catch is that
+this will effectively disable the Privoxy icon in the taskbar. You can have one
+or the other, but not both at this time :(
+
+There is a pending feature request for this functionality. See thread: http://
+sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=361118&aid=485617&group_id=11118, for
+details, and a sample configuration.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
3.13. How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies like Squid?
This can be done. See the user manual, which describes how to do this.
Since Privoxy sits between your web browser and the Internet, it can be
programmed to handle certain pages specially.
-With recent versions of Privoxy (version 2.9.x), you can get some information
-about Privoxy and change some settings by going to http://p.p/ or,
+With recent versions of Privoxy (version 2.9.x and greater), you can get some
+information about Privoxy and change some settings by going to http://p.p/ or,
equivalently, http://config.privoxy.org/ (Note that p.p is far easier to type
but may not work in some configurations. With the name change to Privoxy, this
-is changed from the previous http://i.j.b/ or earlier 2.9.x versions).
+is changed from the previous http://i.j.b/ and earlier 2.9.x versions).
These pages are not forwarded to a server on the Internet - instead they are
handled by a special web server which is built in to Privoxy.
If you have version 2.0.2, then the equivalent is http://example.com/
show-proxy-args (but you get far less information, and you should really
-consider upgrading to 2.9.x).
+consider upgrading to 2.9.14).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.4. Do you still maintain the blocklists?
-No. The format of the blocklists has changed significantly in the versions
-2.9.x. Once we have released the new stable version, v3.0, there will again be
-blocklists that you can update automatically.
+No, not by this name. The format of the blocklists has changed significantly in
+versions 2.9.x and later. This functionality is done by the "actions" file now.
+See next question ...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.5. How can I submit new ads?
-As of now, please discontinue to submit new ad blocking infos. Once we have
-released the new version, there will again be a form on the website, which you
-can use to contribute new ads.
+Please see the Contact section.
+
+This process does not work with earlier versions of Privoxy or Junkbuster.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.6. How can I hide my IP address?
You cannot hide your IP address with Privoxy or any other software, since the
-server needs to know your IP address to send the answer to you.
+server needs to know your IP address to send the answers back to you.
Fortunately there are many publicly usable anonymous proxies out there, which
solve the problem by providing a further level of indirection between you and
you do on the Web can be traced back to you.
Privoxy can remove various information about you, and allows you more freedom
-to decide which sites you can trust. But it's still possible that web sites can
-find out who you are. Here's one way this can happen.
+to decide which sites you can trust, and what details you want to reveal. But
+it's still possible that web sites can find out who you are. Here's one way
+this can happen.
A few browsers disclose the user's email address in certain situations, such as
when transferring a file by FTP. Privoxy does not filter FTP. If you need this
If you have problems with a site, you will have to adjust your configuration
accordingly. Cookies are probably the most likely adjustment that may be
-required, but by no means the only one.
+required, but by no means the only one.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other references and sites of interest to Privoxy users:
- http://www.privoxy.org/, The Privoxy Home page.
+http://www.privoxy.org/, The Privoxy Home page.
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa, the Project Page for Privoxy on
+http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa, the Project Page for Privoxy on
Sourceforge.
- http://p.p/, access Privoxy from your browser. Alternately, http://
+http://p.p/, access Privoxy from your browser. Alternately, http://
config.privoxy.org may work in some situations where the first does not.
- http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html
+http://p.p/, and select "actions file feedback system" to submit "misses" to
+the developers.
- http://www.waldherr.org/junkbuster/
+http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html
- http://privacy.net/analyze/
+http://www.waldherr.org/junkbuster/
- http://www.squid-cache.org/
+http://privacy.net/analyze/
+
+http://www.squid-cache.org/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-5.4. Where can I get help? Report bugs? Feature Requests? Etc?
+5.4. What time is it?
-Feedback is encouraged, whether good, bad or ugly. Please see the contact page
-in the user-manual for details.
+Time for you to go!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-5.5. What time is it?
+7. Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
-Time for you to go!
+We value your feedback. However, to provide you with the best support, please
+note the following sections.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+7.1. Get Support
+
+To get support, use the Sourceforge Support Forum:
+
+ http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=211118
+
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+7.2. Report bugs
+
+To submit bugs, use the Sourceforge Bug Forum:
+
+ http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=111118.
+
+
+Make sure that the bug has not already been submitted. Please try to verify
+that it is a Privoxy bug, and not a browser or site bug first. If you are using
+your own custom configuration, please try the stock configs to see if the
+problem is a configuration related bug. And if not using the latest development
+snapshot, please try the latest one. Or even better, CVS sources. Please be
+sure to include the Privoxy version, platform, browser, any pertinent log data,
+any other relevant details (please be specific) and, if possible, some way to
+reproduce the bug.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+7.3. Request new features
+
+To submit ideas on new features, use the Sourceforge feature request forum:
+
+ http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=361118&group_id=11118&func=browse.
+
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+7.4. Report ads or other filter problems
+
+You can also send feedback on websites that Privoxy has problems with. Please
+bookmark the following link: "Privoxy - Submit Filter Feedback". Once you surf
+to a page with problems, use the bookmark to send us feedback. We will look
+into the issue as soon as possible.
+
+New, improved default.action files will occasionally be made available based on
+your feedback. These will be announced on the ijbswa-announce list.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+7.5. Other
+
+For any other issues, feel free to use the mailing lists:
+
+ http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=11118.
+
+
+Anyone interested in actively participating in development and related
+discussions can also join the appropriate mailing list. Archives are available,
+too. See the page on Sourceforge.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8. Copyright and History
+
+8.1. Copyright
+
+Privoxy 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, which
+is available from the Free Software Foundation, Inc, 59 Temple Place - Suite
+330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
+
+You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
+this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple
+Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.2. History
+
+Privoxy is evolved, and derived from, the Internet Junkbuster, with many
+improvments and enhancements over the original.
+
+Junkbuster was originally written by Anonymous Coders and Junkbusters
+Corporation, and was released as free open-source software under the GNU GPL.
+Stefan Waldherr made many improvements, and started the SourceForge project
+Privoxy to rekindle development. There are now several active developers
+contributing. The last stable release of Junkbuster was v2.0.2, which has now
+grown whiskers ;-).
projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff