By: Privoxy Developers
-$Id: faq.sgml,v 1.44 2002/04/07 21:24:29 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 .
tastes. Privoxy has application for both stand-alone systems and multi-user
networks.
-Privoxy is based on the code of the Internet Junkbuster (tm). 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,
-enhancements and new features.
+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 if you want to contact the developers.
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.?
+ 3.5. There are several different "actions" files. What are the differences?
3.6. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not raise
security issues?
3.7. What is "default.filter"?
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
do I get rid of this?
- 3.12. I cannot see all of the "Blocked" page banner. All I see is a bright
- red square.
+ 3.12. I cannot see all of the "Blocked" page banner. Help.
3.13. Can Privoxy run as a service on Win2K/NT?
3.14. How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies like Squid?
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?
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
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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.2. Which operating systems are supported?
-At present, Privoxy is known to run on Win32, Mac OSX, OS/2, AmigaOS, Linux
-(RedHat, Suse, Debian), FreeBSD, and many flavors of Unix. There are source and
-binary 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
"actions" files are where various actions that Privoxy might take, are
configured. Typically, you would define a set of default actions that apply to
-all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults.
+all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults where needed.
Actions can be defined on a per site basis, or for groups of sites. Actions can
also be grouped together and then applied to one or more sites. There are many
blocking cookies as one of our default actions, but need to accept cookies from
a given site, we would define this in our "actions" file.
-Privoxy comes with several default actions files, with varying degrees of
-filtering and blocking, as starting points for your own configuration (see
-below).
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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?
The easiest way to do this, is to access Privoxy with your web browser at http:
-//p.p/, and then select "Edit the actions list" from the selection list. You
-can also do this by editing the appropriate file with a text editor.
+//p.p/, and then select "View & change the current configuration" from the
+selection list. You can also do this by editing the appropriate file with a
+text editor.
Please see the user-manual for a detailed explanation of these and other
configuration files, and their various options and syntax.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-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 |? | | | |
-+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+3.5. There are several different "actions" files. What are the differences?
+
+As of Privoxy v2.9.15, three actions files are being included, to be used for
+different purposes. These are default.action, standard.action, and user.action.
+Please see the User Manual for an explanation of each.
+
+Earlier versions included three different versions default.action files. The
+new scheme allows for greater flexibility of local configuration, and for
+browser based configuration.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.7. 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,
-including HTML tags, and JavaScript. Regular expressions are used to accomplish
-this, and operate on a line by line basis. This is potentially a very powerful
-feature, but requires some expertise.
+The "default.filter" file is where "filters" are defined, which are used to
+"filter" any web page content. By "filtering" we mean it can modify, remove, or
+change anything on the page, including HTML tags, and JavaScript. Regular
+expressions are used to accomplish this, and operate on a line by line basis.
+This is potentially a very powerful feature, but requires some expertise.
If you are familiar with regular expressions, and HTML, you can look at the
provided default.filter with a text editor and see some of things it can be
Presently, there is no GUI editor option for this part of the configuration,
but you can disable/enable various sections of the included default file with
-the "Actions List Editor" from your browser.
+the "View & change the current configuration" from your browser.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
This is a configuration option for images that Privoxy is stopping. You have
the choice of a checkerboard pattern, a transparent 1x1 GIF image (aka
"blank"), or a custom URL of your choice. Note that to fit this category, the
-URL must match both the "+image" and "+block" actions.
+URL must match both the "+handle-as-image" and "+block" actions.
-If you want to see nothing, then change the "+image-blocker" action to
-"+image-blocker{blank}". This can be done from the "Edit Actions List"
-selection at http://p.p/. Or by hand editing the appropriate actions file. This
-will only effect what is defined as "images" though. Also, some URLs that
-generate the bright red "Blocked" banner, can be moved to the "+image-blocker"
-section for the same reason, but there are some limits and risks to this (see
-below).
+If you want to see nothing, then change the "+set-image-blocker" action to
+"+image-blocker{blank}". This can be done from the "View & change the current
+configuration" selection at http://p.p/. Or by hand editing the appropriate
+actions file. This will only effect what is defined as "images" though. Also,
+some URLs that generate the bright red "Blocked" banner, can be moved to the
+"+set-image-blocker" section for the same reason, but there are some limits and
+risks to this (see below).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.11. 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).
-It is meant to be a warning so that you know something has been blocked and an
-easy way for you to see why. These are handled differently than what has been
-defined explicitly as "images" (e.g. ad banners). Depending on the URL itself,
-it is sometimes hard for Privoxy to really know whether there is indeed an ad
-image there or not. And there are limitations as to what Privoxy can do to
-"fool" the browser.
+These are URLs that match something in one of Privoxy's block actions ("+block"
+). It is meant to be a warning so that you know something has been blocked and
+an easy way for you to see why. These are handled differently than what has
+been defined explicitly as "images" (e.g. ads that are GIF image files).
+Depending on the URL itself, it is sometimes hard for Privoxy to really know
+whether there is indeed an ad image there or not. And there are limitations as
+to what Privoxy can do to "fool" the browser.
For instance, if the ad is in a frame, then it is embedded in the separate HTML
-page used for the frame. In this case, you cannot just substitute an aribitray
+page used for the frame. In this case, you cannot just substitute an aribitrary
image (like we would for a "blank" image), for an HTML page. The browser is
-expecting an HTML page, and that is what it must have for frames. So this
-situation can be a little trickier to deal with, and Privoxy will use the
-"Blocked" page.
+expecting an HTML page, and that is what it must have for frames. Such
+situations can be a little trickier to deal with, and Privoxy may show the
+"Blocked" page, despite your best efforts.
If you want these to be treated as if they were images, so that they can be
made invisible, you can try moving the offending URL from the "+block" section
what Privoxy uses to display the "Blocked" page.
Another way to deal with this is find why and where Privoxy is blocking the
-frame, and diable this. Then let the "+image-blocker" action handle the ad that
-is embedded in the frame's HTML page.
+frame, and diable this. Then let the "+set-image-blocker" action handle the ad
+that is embedded in the frame's HTML page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.12. I cannot see all of the "Blocked" page banner. All I see is a bright red
-square.
+3.12. I cannot see all of the "Blocked" page banner. Help.
+
+There is not enough available space to fit the entire Blocked page. Try right
+clicking on the visible portion, and select "Show Frame", or equivalent. This
+will usually allow you to see the entire Privoxy "Blocked" page, and from there
+you can see just what is being blocked, and why.
-There is not enough space to fit the entire page. Try right clicking on the
-visible, red portion, and select "Show Frame", or equivalent. This will usually
-allow you to see the entire Privoxy "Blocked" page, and from there you can see
-just what is being blocked, and why.
+As of Privoxy 2.9.14, the Blocked banner page is re-sizeable, and tries to
+adjust to the allotted space. There may be occassions where there just isn't
+enough room to display much of anything useful though.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.2. I noticed considerable delays in page requests compared to the old
Junkbuster. What's wrong?
-Using the default filtering configuration, I noticed considerable delays in
-page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. Loading pages with large contents
-seemed to take forever, then suddenly delivering all the content at once.
-
-The whole content must be loaded in order to filter, and nothing is is sent to
-the browser during this time. The loading time does not really change in real
-numbers, but the feeling is different, because most browsers are able to start
-rendering incomplete content, giving the user a feeling of "it works".
+The entire page content must be loaded into memory in order for the filtering
+mechanism to work, and nothing is sent to the browser during this time. The
+loading time does not really change in real numbers, but the feeling is
+different, because most browsers are able to start rendering incomplete
+content, giving the user a feeling of "it works".
To modify the content of a page (i.e. make frames resizeable again, etc.) and
not just replace ads, Privoxy needs to download the entire page first, do its
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.
4.4. Do you still maintain the blocklists?
-No. The format of the blocklists has changed significantly in versions 2.9.x
-and later. 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
http://p.p/, access Privoxy from your browser. Alternately, http://
config.privoxy.org may work in some situations where the first does not.
+http://p.p/, and select "Privoxy - Submit Filter Feedback" to submit "misses"
+to the developers.
+
http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html
http://www.waldherr.org/junkbuster/
First verify that it is indeed a Privoxy problem, by disabling Privoxy
filtering and blocking. Go to http://p.p/ and click on "Toggle Privoxy On or
Off", then disable it. Now try that page again. It's probably a good idea to
-flush the browser cache as well.
+flush the browser cache as well with Shift+Reload to flush caches.
If still a problem, go to "Show which actions apply to a URL and why" from
http://p.p/ and paste the full URL of the page in question into the prompt. See
which actions are being applied to the URL. Now, armed with this information,
-go to "Edit the actions list". Here you should see various sections that have
-various Privoxy features disabled for specific sites. Most disabled "actions"
-will have a "-" (minus sign) in front of them. Some aliases are used just to
-disable other actions, e.g. "shop" and "fragile", and won't necessarily use a
-"+" or "-" sign. Add your problem page URL to one of these sections that looks
-like it is disabling the feature that is causing the problem. Rember to flush
-your browser's caches when making such changes! As a last resort, try "fragile"
-which disables most actions. Now re-try the page. There might be some trial and
-error involved. This is discussed in a little more detail in the user-manual
-appendix.
+go to "View & change the current configuration". Here you should see various
+sections that have various Privoxy features disabled for specific sites. Most
+disabled "actions" will have a "-" (minus sign) in front of them. Some aliases
+are used just to disable other actions, e.g. "shop" and "fragile", and won't
+necessarily use a "+" or "-" sign. Add your problem page URL to one of these
+sections that looks like it is disabling the feature that is causing the
+problem. Rember to flush your browser's caches when making such changes! As a
+last resort, try "fragile" which disables most actions. Now re-try the page.
+There might be some trial and error involved. This is discussed in more detail
+in the user-manual appendix.
Alternately, if you are comfortable with a text editor, you can accomplish the
same thing by editing the appropriate "actions" file.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-5.4. Where can I get help? Report bugs? Feature Requests? Etc?
+7. Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
-Feedback is encouraged, whether good, bad or ugly. Please see the contact page
-in the user-manual for details.
+We value your feedback. However, to provide you with the best support, please
+note the following sections.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-5.5. What time is it?
+7.1. Get Support
+
+To get support, use the Sourceforge Support Forum:
-Time for you to go!
+ http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=211118
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7. Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
+7.2. Report bugs
-We value your feedback. However, to provide you with the best support, please
-note:
+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.
- * Use the Sourceforge Support Forum to get help:
-
- http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=211118
-
-
- * Submit bugs only through our 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/Junkbuster version,
- platform, browser, any pertinent log data, any other relevant details
- (please be specific) and, if possible, some way to reproduce the bug.
-
- * Submit feature requests only through our Sourceforge feature request
- forum:
-
- http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=361118&group_id=11118&func=browse.
-
-
- * We will soon have an automated way to submit advertisements, incorrectly
- blocked images, popups and the like. Check back.
-
-
- * 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.
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Copyright and 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 Junkbuster's
+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
projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff