Privoxy User Manual
-By: Privoxy Developers
+Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Privoxy Developers
-$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9 Exp $
+$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes Exp $
-The user manual gives users information on how to install, configure and use
-Privoxy. Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for
-protecting privacy, filtering web page content, managing cookies, controlling
-access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious Internet Junk.
-Privoxy has a very flexible configuration and can be customized to suit
-individual needs and tastes. Privoxy has application for both stand-alone
-systems and multi-user networks.
+The user manual gives users information on how to install, configure and use
+Privoxy.
+
+Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for protecting
+privacy, filtering web page content, managing cookies, controlling access, and
+removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious Internet junk. Privoxy has a
+very flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs and
+tastes. Privoxy has application for both stand-alone systems and multi-user
+networks.
+
+Privoxy is based on Internet Junkbuster (tm).
You can find the latest version of the user manual at http://www.privoxy.org/
-user-manual/.
+user-manual/. Please see the Contact section on how to contact the developers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
- 1.1. New Features
+ 1.1. Features
2. Installation
- 2.1. Source
- 2.2. Red Hat
- 2.3. SuSE
- 2.4. OS/2
- 2.5. Windows
- 2.6. Other
+ 2.1. Binary Packages
+
+ 2.1.1. Red Hat, SuSE RPMs and Conectiva
+ 2.1.2. Debian
+ 2.1.3. Windows
+ 2.1.4. Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX
+ 2.1.5. OS/2
+ 2.1.6. Max OSX
+ 2.1.7. AmigaOS
+
+ 2.2. Building from Source
+
+3. Note to Upgraders
+4. Quickstart to Using Privoxy
+5. Starting Privoxy
+
+ 5.1. RedHat, Conectiva and Debian
+ 5.2. SuSE
+ 5.3. Windows
+ 5.4. Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others
+ 5.5. OS/2
+ 5.6. MAX OSX
+ 5.7. AmigaOS
+ 5.8. Command Line Options
-3. Quickstart to Using Privoxy
+6. Privoxy Configuration
- 3.1. Command Line Options
+ 6.1. Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser
+ 6.2. Configuration Files Overview
+
+7. The Main Configuration File
+
+ 7.1. Configuration and Log File Locations
+
+ 7.1.1. confdir
+ 7.1.2. logdir
+ 7.1.3. actionsfile
+ 7.1.4. filterfile
+ 7.1.5. logfile
+ 7.1.6. jarfile
+ 7.1.7. trustfile
+
+ 7.2. Local Set-up Documentation
+
+ 7.2.1. user-manual
+ 7.2.2. trust-info-url
+ 7.2.3. admin-address
+ 7.2.4. proxy-info-url
+
+ 7.3. Debugging
+
+ 7.3.1. debug
+ 7.3.2. single-threaded
+
+ 7.4. Access Control and Security
+
+ 7.4.1. listen-address
+ 7.4.2. toggle
+ 7.4.3. enable-remote-toggle
+ 7.4.4. enable-edit-actions
+ 7.4.5. ACLs: permit-access and deny-access
+ 7.4.6. buffer-limit
+
+ 7.5. Forwarding
+
+ 7.5.1. forward
+ 7.5.2. forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a
+ 7.5.3. Advanced Forwarding Examples
+
+ 7.6. Windows GUI Options
-4. Privoxy Configuration
+8. Actions Files
- 4.1. Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser
- 4.2. Configuration Files Overview
- 4.3. The Main Configuration File
+ 8.1. Finding the Right Mix
+ 8.2. How to Edit
+ 8.3. How Actions are Applied to URLs
+ 8.4. Patterns
- 4.3.1. Defining Other Configuration Files
- 4.3.2. Other Configuration Options
- 4.3.3. Access Control List (ACL)
- 4.3.4. Forwarding
- 4.3.5. Windows GUI Options
+ 8.4.1. The Domain Pattern
+ 8.4.2. The Path Pattern
- 4.4. The Actions File
+ 8.5. Actions
- 4.4.1. URL Domain and Path Syntax
- 4.4.2. Actions
- 4.4.3. Aliases
+ 8.5.1. add-header
+ 8.5.2. block
+ 8.5.3. crunch-incoming-cookies
+ 8.5.4. crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ 8.5.5. deanimate-gifs
+ 8.5.6. downgrade-http-version
+ 8.5.7. fast-redirects
+ 8.5.8. filter
+ 8.5.9. handle-as-image
+ 8.5.10. hide-forwarded-for-headers
+ 8.5.11. hide-from-header
+ 8.5.12. hide-referrer
+ 8.5.13. hide-user-agent
+ 8.5.14. kill-popups
+ 8.5.15. limit-connect
+ 8.5.16. prevent-compression
+ 8.5.17. send-vanilla-wafer
+ 8.5.18. send-wafer
+ 8.5.19. session-cookies-only
+ 8.5.20. set-image-blocker
+ 8.5.21. Summary
- 4.5. The Filter File
- 4.6. Templates
+ 8.6. Aliases
+ 8.7. Sample Actions Files
-5. Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
-6. Copyright and History
+9. The Filter File
- 6.1. License
- 6.2. History
+ 9.1. The +filter Action
-7. See also
-8. Appendix
+10. Templates
+11. Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
- 8.1. Regular Expressions
- 8.2. Privoxy's Internal Pages
+ 11.1. Get Support
+ 11.2. Report bugs
+ 11.3. Request new features
+ 11.4. Report ads or other filter problems
+ 11.5. Other
+
+12. Privoxy Copyright, License and History
+
+ 12.1. License
+ 12.2. History
+
+13. See Also
+14. Appendix
+
+ 14.1. Regular Expressions
+ 14.2. Privoxy's Internal Pages
- 8.2.1. Bookmarklets
+ 14.2.1. Bookmarklets
- 8.3. Anatomy of an Action
+ 14.3. Chain of Events
+ 14.4. Anatomy of an Action
1. Introduction
-Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for protecting
-privacy, filtering web page content, managing cookies, controlling access, and
-removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious Internet junk. Privoxy has a
-very flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs 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.
+This documentation is included with the current beta version of Privoxy,
+v.2.9.15, and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference
+for the time being is still the comments in the source files and in the
+individual configuration files. Development of version 3.0 is currently nearing
+completion, and includes many significant changes and enhancements over earlier
+versions. The target release date for stable v3.0 is "soon" ;-).
-This documentation is included with the current BETA version of Privoxy and is
-mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the time being
-is still the comments in the source files and in the individual configuration
-files. Development of version 3.0 is currently nearing completion, and includes
-many significant changes and enhancements over earlier versions. The target
-release date for stable v3.0 is "soon" ;-)
-
-Since this is a BETA version, not all new features are well tested. This
+Since this is a beta version, not all new features are well tested. This
documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with CVS
sources). And there may be bugs, though hopefully not many!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-1.1. New Features
+1.1. Features
-In addition to Internet Junkbuster's traditional feature of ad and banner
+In addition to Internet Junkbuster's traditional features of ad and banner
blocking and cookie management, Privoxy provides new features, some of them
currently under development:
- * Integrated browser based configuration and control utility (http://p.p).
- Browser-based tracing of rule and filter effects.
+ * 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.
+
+ * Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size, invisible
+ "web-bugs", JavaScript and HTML annoyances, pop-up windows, etc.)
- * Blocking of annoying pop-up browser windows.
+ * Modularized configuration that allows for standard settings and user
+ settings to reside in separate files, so that installing updated actions
+ files won't overwrite individual user settings.
- * 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
previous versions.
- * GIF de-animation.
+ * Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
- * Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size, invisible
- "web-bugs", JavaScript, pop-ups, status bar abuse, etc.)
+ * GIF de-animation.
* Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
* Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
- * Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
-
- * User-customizable HTML templates (e.g. 404 error page).
+ * User-customizable HTML templates for all proxy-generated pages (e.g.
+ "blocked" page).
- * Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
+ * Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
* 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. Installation
-Privoxy is available as raw source code, or pre-compiled binaries. See the
-Privoxy Home Page for binaries and current release info. Privoxy is also
-available via CVS. This is the recommended approach at this time. But please be
-aware that CVS is constantly changing, and it may break in mysterious ways.
+Privoxy is available both in convenient pre-compiled packages for a wide range
+of operating systems, and as raw source code. For most users, we recommend
+using the packages, which can be downloaded from our Privoxy Project Page.
+
+Note: If you have a previous Junkbuster or Privoxy installation on your system,
+you will need to remove it. On some platforms, this may be done for you as part
+of their installation procedure. (See below for your platform). In any case be
+sure to backup your old configuration if it is valuable to you. See the note to
+upgraders section below.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-2.1. Source
+2.1. Binary Packages
-For gzipped tar archives, unpack the source:
+How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
- tar xzvf privoxy-2.9.13-beta-src* [.tgz or .tar.gz]
- cd privoxy-2.9.13-beta
-
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-For retrieving the current CVS sources, you'll need the CVS package installed
-first. To download CVS source:
+2.1.1. Red Hat, SuSE RPMs and Conectiva
- cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa login
- cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa co current
- cd current
-
+RPMs can be installed with rpm -Uvh privoxy-2.9.15-1.rpm, and will use /etc/
+privoxy for the location of configuration files.
-This will create a directory named current/, which will contain the source
-tree.
+Note that on Red Hat, Privoxy will not be automatically started on system boot.
+You will need to enable that using chkconfig, ntsysv, or similar methods. Note
+that SuSE will automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
-Then, in either case, to build from tarball/CVS source:
+If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM: rpm
+--rebuild privoxy-2.9.15-1.src.rpm;. This will use your locally installed
+libraries and RPM version.
- ./configure (--help to see options)
- make (the make from gnu, gmake for *BSD)
- su
- make -n install (to see where all the files will go)
- make install (to really install)
-
+Also note that if you have a Junkbuster RPM installed on your system, you need
+to remove it first, because the packages conflict. Otherwise, RPM will try to
+remove Junkbuster automatically, before installing Privoxy.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-For Redhat and SuSE Linux RPM packages, see below.
+2.1.2. Debian
+
+FIXME.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-2.2. Red Hat
+2.1.3. Windows
-To build Redhat RPM packages, install source as above. Then:
+Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through the installation
+process. You will find the configuration files in the same directory as you
+installed Privoxy in. We do not use the registry of Windows.
- autoheader
- autoconf
- ./configure
- make redhat-dist
-
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+2.1.4. Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX
-This will create both binary and src RPMs in the usual places. Example:
+Create a new directory, cd to it, then unzip and untar the archive. For the
+most part, you'll have to figure out where things go. FIXME.
- /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- /usr/src/redhat/SRPMS/privoxy-2.9.11-1.src.rpm
+2.1.5. OS/2
-To install, of course:
+First, make sure that no previous installations of Junkbuster and / or Privoxy
+are left on your system. You can do this by
- rpm -Uvv /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm
-
+Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will guide
+you through the installation process. A shadow of the Privoxy executable will
+be placed in your startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2
+starts.
-This will place the Privoxy configuration files in /etc/privoxy/, and log files
-in /var/log/privoxy/.
+The directory you choose to install Privoxy into will contain all of the
+configuration files.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-2.3. SuSE
+2.1.6. Max OSX
-To build SuSE RPM packages, install source as above. Then:
+Unzip the downloaded package (you can either double-click on the file in the
+finder, or on the desktop if you downloaded it there). Then, double-click on
+the package installer icon and follow the installation process. Privoxy will be
+installed in the subdirectory /Applications/Privoxy.app. Privoxy will set
+itself up to start automatically on system bring-up via /System/Library/
+StartupItems/Privoxy.
- autoheader
- autoconf
- ./configure
- make suse-dist
-
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-This will create both binary and src RPMs in the usual places. Example:
+2.1.7. AmigaOS
- /usr/src/packages/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm
+Copy and then unpack the lha archive to a suitable location. All necessary
+files will be installed into Privoxy directory, including all configuration and
+log files. To uninstall, just remove this directory.
- /usr/src/packages/SRPMS/privoxy-2.9.11-1.src.rpm
+Start Privoxy (with RUN <>NIL:) in your startnet script (AmiTCP), in s:
+user-startup (RoadShow), as startup program in your startup script (Genesis),
+or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx). Privoxy will automatically quit when
+you quit your TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack
+may display that Privoxy is still running).
-To install, of course:
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- rpm -Uvv /usr/src/packages/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm
-
+2.2. Building from Source
-This will place the Privoxy configuration files in /etc/privoxy/, and log files
-in /var/log/privoxy/.
+The most convenient way to obtain the Privoxy sources is to download the source
+tarball from our project page.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+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 the CVS repository or simply download the nightly CVS tarball.
-2.4. OS/2
+To build Privoxy from source, autoconf, GNU make (gmake), and, of course, a C
+compiler like gcc are required.
-Privoxy is packaged in a WarpIN self- installing archive. The self-installing
-program will be named depending on the release version, something like:
-ijbos2_setup_1.2.3.exe. In order to install it, simply run this executable or
-double-click on its icon and follow the WarpIN installation panels. A shadow of
-the Privoxy executable will be placed in your startup folder so it will start
-automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
+When building from a source tarball (either release version or nightly CVS
+tarball), first unpack the source:
-The directory you choose to install Privoxy into will contain all of the
-configuration files.
+ tar xzvf privoxy-2.9.15-beta-src* [.tgz or .tar.gz]
+ cd privoxy-2.9.15-beta
-If you would like to build binary images on OS/2 yourself, you will need a few
-Unix-like tools: autoconf, autoheader and sh. These tools will be used to
-create the required config.h file, which is not part of the source distribution
-because it differs based on platform. You will also need a compiler. The
-distribution has been created using IBM VisualAge compilers, but you can use
-any compiler you like. GCC/EMX has the disadvantage of needing to be
-single-threaded due to a limitation of EMX's implementation of the select()
-socket call.
+For retrieving the current CVS sources, you'll need CVS installed. Note that
+sources from CVS are development quality, and may not be stable, or well
+tested. To download CVS source:
-In addition to needing the source code distribution as outlined earlier, you
-will want to extract the os2seutp directory from CVS:
+ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa login
+ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa co current
+ cd current
- cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa login
- cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa co os2setup
-
+This will create a directory named current/, which will contain the source
+tree.
-This will create a directory named os2setup/, which will contain the
-Makefile.vac makefile and os2build.cmd which is used to completely create the
-binary distribution. The sequence of events for building the executable for
-yourself goes something like this:
+Then, in either case, to build from unpacked tarball or CVS source:
- cd current
autoheader
autoconf
- sh configure
- cd ..\os2setup
- nmake -f Makefile.vac
-
+ ./configure # (--help to see options)
+ make # (the make from gnu, gmake for *BSD)
+ su
+ make -n install # (to see where all the files will go)
+ make install # (to really install)
-You will see this sequence laid out in os2build.cmd.
+If you have gnu make, you can have the first four steps automatically done for
+you by just typing:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ make
-2.5. Windows
+in the freshly downloaded or unpacked source directory.
-Click-click. (I need help on this. Not a clue here. Also for configuration
-section below. HB.)
+For more detailed instructions on how to build Redhat and SuSE RPMs, Windows
+self-extracting installers, building on platforms with special requirements
+etc, please consult the developer manual.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-2.6. Other
+3. Note to Upgraders
-Some quick notes on other Operating Systems.
+There are very significant changes from earlier Junkbuster versions to the
+current Privoxy. The number, names, syntax, and purposes of configuration files
+have substantially changed. Junkbuster 2.0.x configuration files will not
+migrate, Junkbuster 2.9.x and Privoxy configurations will need to be ported.
+The functionalities of the old blockfile, cookiefile and imagelist are now
+combined into the "actions files". default.action, is the main actions file.
+Local exceptions should best be put into user.action.
+
+A "filter file" (typically default.filter) is new as of Privoxy 2.9.x, and
+provides some of the new sophistication (explained below). config is much the
+same as before.
+
+If upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will have to use the new config files,
+and possibly adapt any personal rules from your older files. When porting
+personal rules over from the old blockfile to the new actions files, please
+note that even the pattern syntax has changed. If upgrading from 2.9.x
+development versions, it is still recommended to use the new configuration
+files.
+
+A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading:
+
+ * The default listening port is now 8118 due to a conflict with another
+ service (NAS).
+
+ * Some installers may remove earlier versions completely. Save any important
+ configuration files!
+
+ * Privoxy is controllable with a web browser at the special URL: http://
+ config.privoxy.org/ (Shortcut: http://p.p/). Many aspects of configuration
+ can be done here, including temporarily disabling Privoxy.
+
+ * The primary configuration file for cookie management, ad and banner
+ blocking, and many other aspects of Privoxy configuration is in the actions
+ files. It is strongly recommended to become familiar with the new actions
+ concept below, before modifying these files. Locally defined rules should
+ go into user.action.
+
+ * Some installers may not automatically start Privoxy after installation.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-For FreeBSD (and other *BSDs?), the build will require gmake instead of the
-included make. gmake is available from http://www.gnu.org. The rest should be
-the same as above for Linux/Unix.
+4. Quickstart to Using Privoxy
+ * If upgrading, please back up any configuration files. See the Note to
+ Upgraders Section.
+
+ * Install Privoxy. See the Installation Section for platform specific
+ information.
+
+ * Start Privoxy, if the installation program has not done this already. See
+ the section Starting Privoxy.
+
+ * Set your browser to use Privoxy as HTTP and HTTPS proxy by setting the
+ proxy configuration for address of 127.0.0.1 and port 8118. (Junkbuster and
+ earlier versions of Privoxy used port 8000.) See the section Starting
+ Privoxy.
+
+ * Flush your browser's caches, to remove any cached ad images.
+
+ * Enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy. You may want to customize
+ the user.action file to personalize your new browsing experience. See the
+ Configuration section for more configuration options, and how to further
+ customize your installation.
+
+ * If you experience problems with sites that "misbehave", see the Anatomy of
+ an Action section in the Appendix.
+
+ * Please see the section Contacting the Developers on how to report bugs or
+ problems with websites or to get help.
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3. Quickstart to Using Privoxy
+5. Starting Privoxy
Before launching Privoxy for the first time, you will want to configure your
-browser(s) to use Privoxy and the HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is
-localhost for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions used port
-800). This is the one required configuration that must be done!
+browser(s) to use Privoxy as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is 127.0.0.1
+(or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions used port
+8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done!
With Netscape (and Mozilla), this can be set under Edit -> Preferences ->
-Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy. For Internet Explorer: Tools > Internet
+Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy. For Internet Explorer: Tools -> Internet
Properties -> Connections -> LAN Setting. Then, check "Use Proxy" and fill in
-the appropriate info (Address: localhost, Port: 8118). Include if HTTPS proxy
+the appropriate info (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include if HTTPS proxy
support too.
After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
-re-reading of all pages and get rid of any ads that may be cached. You are now
-ready to start enjoying the benefits of using Privoxy.
+re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. You are
+now ready to start enjoying the benefits of using Privoxy!
Privoxy is typically started by specifying the main configuration file to be
-used on the command line. Example Unix startup command:
+used on the command line. If no configuration file is specified on the command
+line, Privoxy will look for a file named config in the current directory.
+Except on Win32 where it will try config.txt.
-
- # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
-
-
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+5.1. RedHat, Conectiva and Debian
-An init script is provided for SuSE and Redhat.
+We use a script. Note that RedHat does not start Privoxy upon booting per
+default. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration
+file. FIXME: Debian??
+
+ # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+5.2. SuSE
+
+We use a script. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config as its main
+configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting your PC.
+
+ # rcprivoxy start
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+5.3. Windows
+
+Click on the Privoxy Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is
+specified on the command line, Privoxy will look for a file named config.txt.
+Note that Windows will automatically start Privoxy upon booting you PC.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+5.4. Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others
+
+Example Unix startup command:
+
+ # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
-For for SuSE: /etc/rc.d/privoxy start
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-For RedHat: /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
+5.5. OS/2
-If no configuration file is specified on the command line, Privoxy will look
-for a file named config in the current directory. Except on Win32 where it will
-try config.txt. If no file is specified on the command line and no default
-configuration file can be found, Privoxy will fail to start.
+FIXME.
-The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
-point, though may be somewhat aggressive in blocking junk. Most of the per site
-configuration is done in the "actions" files. These are where various cookie
-actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other aspects of Privoxy
-configuration. There are several such files included, with varying levels of
-aggressiveness.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites that require persistent
-cookies, and add these to default.action as needed. By default, most of these
-will be accepted only during the current browser session, until you add them to
-the configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will
-need to edit default.action and disable this feature. If you use more than one
-browser, it would make more sense to let Privoxy handle this. In which case,
-the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
+5.6. MAX OSX
-Privoxy is HTTP/1.1 compliant, but not all 1.1 features are as yet implemented.
-If browsers that support HTTP/1.1 (like Mozilla or recent versions of I.E.)
-experience problems, you might try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For
-Mozilla, look under Edit -> Preferences -> Debug -> Networking. Or set the
-"+downgrade" config option in default.action.
+FIXME.
-After running Privoxy 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. "Actions" (as specified in default.action)
-can be adjusted by pointing your browser to http://p.p/, and then follow the
-link to "edit the actions list". (This is an internal page and does not require
-Internet access.)
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-In fact, various aspects of Privoxy configuration can be viewed from this page,
-including current configuration parameters, source code version numbers, the
-browser's request headers, and "actions" that apply to a given URL. In addition
-to the default.action file editor mentioned above, Privoxy can also be turned
-"on" and "off" from this page.
+5.7. AmigaOS
-If you encounter problems, please verify it is a Privoxy bug, by disabling
-Privoxy, and then trying the same page. Also, try another browser if possible
-to eliminate browser or site problems. Before reporting it as a bug, see if
-there is not a configuration option that is enabled that is causing the page
-not to load. You can then add an exception for that page or site. For instance,
-try adding it to the {fragile} section of default.action. This will turn off
-most actions for this site. For more on troubleshooting problem sites, see the
-Appendix. If a bug, please report it to the developers (see below).
+FIXME.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.1. Command Line Options
+5.8. Command Line Options
Privoxy may be invoked with the following command-line options:
* --version
- Print version info and exit, Unix only.
+ Print version info and exit. Unix only.
* --help
- Print a short usage info and exit, Unix only.
+ Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
* --no-daemon
- Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group leader,
+ Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group leader, and
don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
* --pidfile FILE
- On startup, write the process ID to FILE. Delete the FILE on exit. Failiure
+ On startup, write the process ID to FILE. Delete the FILE on exit. Failure
to create or delete the FILE is non-fatal. If no FILE option is given, no
PID file will be used. Unix only.
If no configfile is included on the command line, Privoxy will look for a
file named "config" in the current directory (except on Win32 where it will
- look for "config.txt" instead). Specify full path to avoid confusion.
+ look for "config.txt" instead). Specify full path to avoid confusion. If no
+ config file is found, Privoxy will fail to start.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4. Privoxy Configuration
+6. Privoxy Configuration
-All Privoxy configuration is kept in text files. These files can be edited with
-a text editor. Many important aspects of Privoxy can also be controlled easily
-with a web browser.
+All Privoxy configuration is stored in text files. These files can be edited
+with a text editor. Many important aspects of Privoxy can also be controlled
+easily with a web browser.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.1. Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser
+6.1. Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser
-Privoxy can be reached by the special URL http://p.p/ (or alternately http://
-config.privoxy.org/), which is an internal page. You will see the following
-section:
+Privoxy's user interface can be reached through the special URL http://
+config.privoxy.org/ (shortcut: http://p.p/), which is a built-in page and works
+without Internet access. You will see the following section:
-Please choose from the following options:
-
- * Show information about the current configuration
- * Show the source code version numbers
- * Show the client's request headers.
- * Show which actions apply to a URL and why
- * Toggle Privoxy on or off
- * Edit the actions list
-
+ Privoxy Menu
+ ? View & change the current configuration
+ ? View the source code version numbers
+ ? View the request headers.
+ ? Look up which actions apply to a URL and why
+ ? Toggle Privoxy on or off
-This should be self-explanatory. Note the last item is an editor for the
-"actions list", which is where much of the ad, banner, cookie, and URL blocking
-magic is configured as well as other advanced features of Privoxy. This is an
-easy way to adjust various aspects of Privoxy configuration. The actions file,
-and other configuration files, are explained in detail below. Privoxy will
-automatically detect any changes to these files.
+This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
+actions files, which is where the ad, banner, cookie, and URL blocking magic is
+configured as well as other advanced features of Privoxy. This is an easy way
+to adjust various aspects of Privoxy configuration. The actions file, and other
+configuration files, are explained in detail below.
"Toggle Privoxy On or Off" is handy for sites that might have problems with
-your current actions and filters, or just to test if a site misbehaves, whether
-it is Privoxy causing the problem or not. Privoxy continues to run as a proxy
-in this case, but all filtering is disabled.
+your current actions and filters. You can in fact use it as a test to see
+whether it is Privoxy causing the problem or not. Privoxy continues to run as a
+proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e. Privoxy acts like a
+normal forwarding proxy. There is even a toggle Bookmarklet offered, so that
+you can toggle Privoxy with one click from your browser.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.2. Configuration Files Overview
+6.2. Configuration Files Overview
For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in /etc/privoxy/
by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and AmigaOS these are all in the same
has changed from previous versions, and is subject to change as development
progresses.
-The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though possibly
-aggressive by some standards. For the time being, there are only three default
-configuration files (this will change in time):
+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:
* The main configuration file is named config on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and
- AmigaOS and config.txt on Windows.
-
- * The default.action file is used to define various "actions" relating to
- images, banners, pop-ups, access restrictions, banners and cookies. There
- is a CGI based editor for this file that can be accessed via http://p.p.
- (Other actions files are included as well with differing levels of
- filtering and blocking, e.g. ijb-basic.action.)
-
- * The default.filter file 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.
-
-default.action and default.filter can use Perl style regular expressions for
-maximum flexibility. All files use the "#" character to denote a comment. Such
-lines are not processed by Privoxy. After making any changes, there is no need
-to restart Privoxy in order for the changes to take effect. Privoxy should
-detect such changes automatically.
+ AmigaOS and config.txt on Windows. This is a required file.
+
+ * default.action (the main actions file) is used to define which "actions"
+ relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups, content modification, cookie
+ handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many exceptions
+ (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
+ Privoxy to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on as many
+ websites as possible.
+
+ Multiple actions files may be defined in config. These are processed in the
+ order they are defined. Local customizations and locally preferred
+ exceptions to the default policies as defined in default.action (which you
+ will most probably want to define sooner or later) are probably best
+ applied in user.action, where you can preserve them across upgrades.
+ standard.action is for Privoxy's internal use.
+
+ There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from http://
+ config.privoxy.org/show-status (Shortcut: http://p.p/show-status) for the
+ various actions files.
+
+ * default.filter (the filter file) 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.
+
+All files use the "#" character to denote a comment (the rest of the line will
+be ignored) and understand line continuation through placing a backslash ("\")
+as the very last character in a line. If the # is preceded by a backslash, it
+looses its special function. Placing a # in front of an otherwise valid
+configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
+out" that line.
+
+The actions files and default.filter can use Perl style regular expressions for
+maximum flexibility.
+
+After making any changes, there is no need to restart Privoxy in order for the
+changes to take effect. Privoxy 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 Privoxy, these "wake up"
+requests must obviously be sent to the old listening address.
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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.3. The Main Configuration File
+7. The Main Configuration File
Again, the main configuration file is named config on Linux/Unix/BSD and OS/2,
and config.txt on Windows. Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword
followed by a list of values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces
or tabs). For example:
- blockfile blocklist.ini
-
-
-Indicates that the blockfile is named "blocklist.ini". (A default installation
-does not use this.)
+ confdir /etc/privoxy
-A "#" indicates a comment. Any part of a line following a "#" is ignored,
-except if the "#" is preceded by a "\".
+Assigns the value /etc/privoxy to the option confdir and thus indicates that
+the configuration directory is named "/etc/privoxy/".
-Thus, by placing a "#" at the start of an existing configuration line, you can
-make it a comment and it will be treated as if it weren't there. This is called
-"commenting out" an option and can be useful to turn off features: If you
-comment out the "logfile" line, Privoxy will not log to a file at all. Watch
-for the "default:" section in each explanation to see what happens if the
-option is left unset (or commented out).
+All options in the config file except for confdir and logdir are optional.
+Watch out in the below description for what happens if you leave them unset.
-Long lines can be continued on the next line by using a "\" as the very last
-character.
-
-There are various aspects of Privoxy behavior that can be tuned.
+The main config file controls all aspects of Privoxy's operation that are not
+location dependent (i.e. they apply universally, no matter where you may be
+surfing).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.3.1. Defining Other Configuration Files
+7.1. Configuration and Log File Locations
-Privoxy can use a number of other files to tell it what ads to block, what
-cookies to accept, etc. This section of the configuration file tells Privoxy
-where to find all those other files.
+Privoxy can (and normally does) use a number of other files for additional
+configuration, help and logging. This section of the configuration file tells
+Privoxy where to find those other files.
-On Windows and AmigaOS, Privoxy looks for these files in the same directory as
-the executable. On Unix and OS/2, Privoxy looks for these files in the current
-working directory. In either case, an absolute path name can be used to avoid
-problems.
+The user running Privoxy, must have read permission for all configuration
+files, and write permission to any files that would be modified, such as log
+files.
-When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and per-user
-config will be stored in subdirectories of "confdir". For now, only confdir/
-templates is used for storing HTML templates for CGI results.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-The location of the configuration files:
+7.1.1. confdir
- confdir /etc/privoxy # No trailing /, please.
+Specifies:
-
-The directory where all logging (i.e. logfile and jarfile) takes place. No
-trailing "/", please:
-
- logdir /var/log/privoxy
+ The directory where the other configuration files are located
-
-Note that all file specifications below are relative to the above two
-directories!
-
-The "default.action" file contains patterns to specify the actions to apply to
-requests for each site. Default: Cookies to and from all destinations are kept
-only during the current browser session (i.e. they are not saved to disk).
-Pop-ups are disabled for all sites. All sites are filtered through selected
-sections of "default.filter". No sites are blocked. Privoxy displays a
-checkboard type pattern for filtered ads and other images. The syntax of this
-file is explained in detail below. Other "actions" files are included, and you
-are free to use any of them. They have varying degrees of aggressiveness.
-
- actionsfile default.action
+Type of value:
-
-The "default.filter" file contains content modification rules that use "regular
-expressions". These rules permit powerful changes on the content of Web pages,
-e.g., you could disable your favorite JavaScript annoyances, re-write the
-actual displayed text, or just have some fun replacing "Microsoft" with
-"MicroSuck" wherever it appears on a Web page. Default: whatever the developers
-are playing with :-/
-
-Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to slow down
-page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has passed the
-filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way since the page is
-not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more noticeable on slower
-connections.
-
- filterfile default.filter
+ Path name
-
-The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The logfile
-can be useful for tracking down a problem with Privoxy (e.g., it's not blocking
-an ad you think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look
-at it.
-
-Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to periodically
-remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job (see "man cron").
-For Redhat, a logrotate script has been included.
-
-On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like "/var/log/privoxy.* +1024k 644
-nobody.nogroup" in /etc/logfiles, with the effect that cron.daily will
-automatically archive, gzip, and empty the log, when it exceeds 1M size.
-
-Default: Log to the a file named logfile. Comment out to disable logging.
-
- logfile logfile
+Default value:
-
-The "jarfile" defines where Privoxy stores the cookies it intercepts. Note that
-if you use a "jarfile", it may grow quite large. Default: Don't store
-intercepted cookies.
-
- #jarfile jarfile
+ /etc/privoxy (Unix) or Privoxy installation dir (Windows)
-
-If you specify a "trustfile", Privoxy will only allow access to sites that are
-named in the trustfile. You can also mark sites as trusted referrers, with the
-effect that access to untrusted sites will be granted, if a link from a trusted
-referrer was used. The link target will then be added to the "trustfile". This
-is a very restrictive feature that typical users most probably want to leave
-disabled. Default: Disabled, don't use the trust mechanism.
-
- #trustfile trust
+Effect if unset:
-
-If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line
-documentation about your blocking policy and to specify the URL(s) here. They
-will appear on the page that your users receive when they try to access
-untrusted content. Use multiple times for multiple URLs. Default: Don't display
-links on the "untrusted" info page.
-
- trust-info-url http://www.your-site.com/why_we_block.html
- trust-info-url http://www.your-site.com/what_we_allow.html
+ Mandatory
+
+Notes:
+
+ No trailing "/", please
+
+ When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and
+ per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of "confdir". For now, the
+ configuration directory structure is flat, except for confdir/templates,
+ where the HTML templates for CGI output reside (e.g. Privoxy's 404 error
+ page).
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.3.2. Other Configuration Options
-
-This part of the configuration file contains options that control how Privoxy
-operates.
+7.1.2. logdir
-"Admin-address" should be set to the email address of the proxy administrator.
-It is used in many of the proxy-generated pages. Default: fill@me.in.please.
-
- #admin-address fill@me.in.please
+Specifies:
-
-"Proxy-info-url" can be set to a URL that contains more info about this Privoxy
-installation, it's configuration and policies. It is used in many of the
-proxy-generated pages and its use is highly recommended in multi-user
-installations, since your users will want to know why certain content is
-blocked or modified. Default: Don't show a link to on-line documentation.
-
- proxy-info-url http://www.your-site.com/proxy.html
+ The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where logfile and jarfile
+ are located)
-
-"Listen-address" specifies the address and port where Privoxy will listen for
-connections from your Web browser. The default is to listen on the localhost
-port 8118, and this is suitable for most users. (In your web browser, under
-proxy configuration, list the proxy server as "localhost" and the port as
-"8118").
-
-If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to
-serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well, you
-will need to override the default. The syntax is "listen-address
-[<ip-address>]:<port>". If you leave out the IP address, Privoxy will bind to
-all interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable from the
-Internet. In that case, consider using access control lists (acl's) (see
-"aclfile" above), or a firewall.
-
-For example, suppose you are running Privoxy on a machine which has the address
-192.168.0.1 on your local private network (192.168.0.0) and has another outside
-connection with a different address. You want it to serve requests from inside
-only:
-
- listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
+Type of value:
-
-If you want it to listen on all addresses (including the outside connection):
-
- listen-address :8118
+ Path name
-
-If you do this, consider using ACLs (see "aclfile" above). Note: you will need
-to point your browser(s) to the address and port that you have configured here.
-Default: localhost:8118 (127.0.0.1:8118).
-
-The debug option sets the level of debugging information to log in the logfile
-(and to the console in the Windows version). A debug level of 1 is informative
-because it will show you each request as it happens. Higher levels of debug are
-probably only of interest to developers.
-
- debug 1 # GPC = show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
- debug 2 # CONN = show each connection status
- debug 4 # IO = show I/O status
- debug 8 # HDR = show header parsing
- debug 16 # LOG = log all data into the logfile
- debug 32 # FRC = debug force feature
- debug 64 # REF = debug regular expression filter
- debug 128 # = debug fast redirects
- debug 256 # = debug GIF de-animation
- debug 512 # CLF = Common Log Format
- debug 1024 # = debug kill pop-ups
- debug 4096 # INFO = Startup banner and warnings.
- debug 8192 # ERROR = Non-fatal errors
-
-
-It is highly recommended that you enable ERROR reporting (debug 8192), at least
-until v3.0 is released.
-
-The reporting of FATAL errors (i.e. ones which crash Privoxy) is always on and
-cannot be disabled.
-
-If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set "debug 512" ONLY, do
-not enable anything else.
-
-Multiple "debug" directives, are OK - they're logical-OR'd together.
-
- debug 15 # same as setting the first 4 listed above
+Default value:
-
-Default:
-
- debug 1 # URLs
- debug 4096 # Info
- debug 8192 # Errors - *we highly recommended enabling this*
+ /var/log/privoxy (Unix) or Privoxy installation dir (Windows)
-
-Privoxy normally uses "multi-threading", a software technique that permits it
-to handle many different requests simultaneously. In some cases you may wish to
-disable this -- particularly if you're trying to debug a problem. The
-"single-threaded" option forces Privoxy to handle requests sequentially.
-Default: Multi-threaded mode.
-
- #single-threaded
+Effect if unset:
-
-"toggle" allows you to temporarily disable all Privoxy's filtering. Just set
-"toggle 0".
-
-The Windows version of Privoxy puts an icon in the system tray, which also
-allows you to change this option. If you right-click on that icon (or select
-the "Options" menu), one choice is "Enable". Clicking on enable toggles Privoxy
-on and off. This is useful if you want to temporarily disable Privoxy, e.g., to
-access a site that requires cookies which you would otherwise have blocked.
-This can also be toggled via a web browser at the Privoxy internal address of
-http://p.p on any platform.
-
-"toggle 1" means Privoxy runs normally, "toggle 0" means that Privoxy becomes a
-non-anonymizing non-blocking proxy. Default: 1 (on).
-
- toggle 1
+ Mandatory
-
-For content filtering, i.e. the "+filter" and "+deanimate-gif" actions, it is
-necessary that Privoxy buffers the entire document body. This can be
-potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending data indefinitely
-and wait for your RAM to exhaust. With nasty consequences.
-
-The buffer-limit option lets you set the maximum size in Kbytes that each
-buffer may use. When the documents buffer exceeds this size, it is flushed to
-the client unfiltered and no further attempt to filter the rest of it is made.
-Remember that there may multiple threads running, which might require
-increasing the "buffer-limit" Kbytes each, unless you have enabled
-"single-threaded" above.
-
- buffer-limit 4069
+Notes:
-
-To enable the web-based default.action file editor set enable-edit-actions to
-1, or 0 to disable. Note that you must have compiled Privoxy with support for
-this feature, otherwise this option has no effect. This internal page can be
-reached at http://p.p.
-
-Security note: If this is enabled, anyone who can use the proxy can edit the
-actions file, and their changes will affect all users. For shared proxies, you
-probably want to disable this. Default: enabled.
-
- enable-edit-actions 1
+ No trailing "/", please
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Allow Privoxy to be toggled on and off remotely, using your web browser. Set
-"enable-remote-toggle"to 1 to enable, and 0 to disable. Note that you must have
-compiled Privoxy with support for this feature, otherwise this option has no
-effect.
-
-Security note: If this is enabled, anyone who can use the proxy can toggle it
-on or off (see http://p.p), and their changes will affect all users. For shared
-proxies, you probably want to disable this. Default: enabled.
+7.1.3. actionsfile
- enable-remote-toggle 1
+Specifies:
+
+ The actions file(s) to use
+
+Type of value:
+
+ File name, relative to confdir, without the .action suffix
+
+Default value:
+
+ standard # Internal purposes, no editing recommended
+
+ default # Main actions file
+
+ user # User customizations
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ No actions are taken at all. Simple neutral proxying.
+
+Notes:
+
+ Multiple actionsfile lines are permitted, and are in fact recommended!
+
+ The default values include standard.action, which is used for internal
+ purposes and should be loaded, default.action, which is the "main" actions
+ file maintained by the developers, and user.action, where you can make your
+ personal additions.
+
+ Actions files are where all the per site and per URL configuration is done
+ for ad blocking, cookie management, privacy considerations, etc. There is
+ no point in using Privoxy without at least one actions file.
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.3.3. Access Control List (ACL)
-
-Access controls are included at the request of some ISPs and systems
-administrators, and are not usually needed by individual users. Please note the
-warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute for a
-firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security weaknesses.
-
-If no access settings are specified, the proxy talks to anyone that connects.
-If any access settings file are specified, then the proxy talks only to IP
-addresses permitted somewhere in this file and not denied later in this file.
-
-Summary -- if using an ACL:
-
-Client must have permission to receive service.
-
-LAST match in ACL wins.
-
-Default behavior is to deny service.
-
-The syntax for an entry in the Access Control List is:
+7.1.4. filterfile
- ACTION SRC_ADDR[/SRC_MASKLEN] [ DST_ADDR[/DST_MASKLEN] ]
+Specifies:
-
-Where the individual fields are:
-
- ACTION = "permit-access" or "deny-access"
-
- SRC_ADDR = client hostname or dotted IP address
- SRC_MASKLEN = number of bits in the subnet mask for the source
-
- DST_ADDR = server or forwarder hostname or dotted IP address
- DST_MASKLEN = number of bits in the subnet mask for the target
+ The filter file to use
-
-The field separator (FS) is whitespace (space or tab).
-
-IMPORTANT NOTE: If Privoxy is using a forwarder (see below) or a gateway for a
-particular destination URL, the DST_ADDR that is examined is the address of the
-forwarder or the gateway and NOT the address of the ultimate target. This is
-necessary because it may be impossible for the local Privoxy to determine the
-address of the ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for).
-
-Here are a few examples to show how the ACL features work:
-
-"localhost" is OK -- no DST_ADDR implies that ALL destination addresses are OK:
-
- permit-access localhost
+Type of value:
-
-A silly example to illustrate permitting any host on the class-C subnet with
-Privoxy to go anywhere:
-
- permit-access www.privoxy.com/24
+ File name, relative to confdir
-
-Except deny one particular IP address from using it at all:
-
- deny-access ident.privoxy.com
+Default value:
-
-You can also specify an explicit network address and subnet mask. Explicit
-addresses do not have to be resolved to be used.
-
- permit-access 207.153.200.0/24
+ default.filter (Unix) or default.filter.txt (Windows)
-
-A subnet mask of 0 matches anything, so the next line permits everyone.
-
- permit-access 0.0.0.0/0
+Effect if unset:
-
-Note, you cannot say:
-
- permit-access .org
+ No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all +filter{name} actions in
+ the actions files are turned neutral.
-
-to allow all *.org domains. Every IP address listed must resolve fully.
-
-An ISP may want to provide a Privoxy that is accessible by "the world" and yet
-restrict use of some of their private content to hosts on its internal network
-(i.e. its own subscribers). Say, for instance the ISP owns the Class-B IP
-address block 123.124.0.0 (a 16 bit netmask). This is how they could do it:
-
- permit-access 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 # other clients can go anywhere
- # with the following exceptions:
-
- deny-access 0.0.0.0/0 123.124.0.0/16 # block all external requests for
- # sites on the ISP's network
-
- permit 0.0.0.0/0 www.my_isp.com # except for the ISP's main
- # web site
-
- permit 123.124.0.0/16 0.0.0.0/0 # the ISP's clients can go
- # anywhere
+Notes:
+
+ The "default.filter" file contains content modification rules that use
+ "regular expressions". These rules permit powerful changes on the content
+ of Web pages, e.g., you could disable your favorite JavaScript annoyances,
+ re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some fun replacing
+ "Microsoft" with "MicroSuck" wherever it appears on a Web page.
-
-Note that if some hostnames are listed with multiple IP addresses, the primary
-value returned by DNS (via gethostbyname()) is used. Default: Anyone can access
-the proxy.
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.3.4. Forwarding
-
-This feature allows chaining of HTTP requests via multiple proxies. It can be
-used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when accessing specific
-domains by routing requests to those domains to a special purpose filtering
-proxy such as lpwa.com. Or to use a caching proxy to speed up browsing.
-
-It can also be used in an environment with multiple networks to route requests
-via multiple gateways allowing transparent access to multiple networks without
-having to modify browser configurations.
-
-Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. Privoxy SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A. The
-difference is that SOCKS 4A will resolve the target hostname using DNS on the
-SOCKS server, not our local DNS client.
-
-The syntax of each line is:
+7.1.5. logfile
- forward target_domain[:port] http_proxy_host[:port]
- forward-socks4 target_domain[:port] socks_proxy_host[:port] http_proxy_host[:
-port]
- forward-socks4a target_domain[:port] socks_proxy_host[:port] http_proxy_host[:
-port]
+Specifies:
-
-If http_proxy_host is ".", then requests are not forwarded to a HTTP proxy but
-are made directly to the web servers.
-
-Lines are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
-
-There is an implicit line equivalent to the following, which specifies that
-anything not finding a match on the list is to go out without forwarding or
-gateway protocol, like so:
-
- forward .* . # implicit
+ The log file to use
-
-In the following common configuration, everything goes to Lucent's LPWA, except
-SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle):
-
- forward .* lpwa.com:8000
- forward :443 .
+Type of value:
-
-Some users have reported difficulties related to LPWA's use of "." as the last
-element of the domain, and have said that this can be fixed with this:
-
- forward lpwa. lpwa.com:8000
+ File name, relative to logdir
-
-(NOTE: the syntax for specifying target_domain has changed since the previous
-paragraph was written -- it will not work now. More information is welcome.)
-
-In this fictitious example, everything goes via an ISP's caching proxy, except
-requests to that ISP:
-
- forward .* caching.myisp.net:8000
- forward myisp.net .
+Default value:
-
-For the @home network, we're told the forwarding configuration is this:
-
- forward .* proxy:8080
+ logfile (Unix) or privoxy.log (Windows)
+Effect if unset:
+
+ No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (stderr).
+
+Notes:
+
+ The windows version will additionally log to the console.
+
+ The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The level
+ of detail and number of messages are set with the debug option (see below).
+ The logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with Privoxy (e.g.,
+ it's not blocking an ad you think it should block) but in most cases you
+ probably will never look at it.
+
+ Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to
+ periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job
+ (see "man cron"). For Red Hat, a logrotate script has been included.
+
+ On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like "/var/log/privoxy.* +1024k
+ 644 nobody.nogroup" in /etc/logfiles, with the effect that cron.daily will
+ automatically archive, gzip, and empty the log, when it exceeds 1M size.
+
+ Any log files must be writable by whatever user Privoxy is being run as
+ (default on UNIX, user id is "privoxy").
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Also, we're told they insist on getting cookies and JavaScript, so you should
-allow cookies from home.com. We consider JavaScript a potential security risk.
-Java need not be enabled.
-
-In this example direct connections are made to all "internal" domains, but
-everything else goes through Lucent's LPWA by way of the company's SOCKS
-gateway to the Internet.
+7.1.6. jarfile
- forward-socks4 .* lpwa.com:8000 firewall.my_company.com:1080
- forward my_company.com .
+Specifies:
+
+ The file to store intercepted cookies in
+Type of value:
+
+ File name, relative to logdir
+
+Default value:
+
+ jarfile (Unix) or privoxy.jar (Windows)
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ Intercepted cookies are not stored at all.
+
+Notes:
+
+ The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-This is how you could set up a site that always uses SOCKS but no forwarders:
+7.1.7. trustfile
- forward-socks4a .* . firewall.my_company.com:1080
+Specifies:
+
+ The trust file to use
+
+Type of value:
+
+ File name, relative to confdir
+
+Default value:
+
+ Unset (commented out). When activated: trust (Unix) or trust.txt (Windows)
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ The whole trust mechanism is turned off.
+Notes:
+
+ The trust mechanism is an experimental feature for building white-lists and
+ should be used with care. It is NOT recommended for the casual user.
+
+ If you specify a trust file, Privoxy will only allow access to sites that
+ are named in the trustfile. You can also mark sites as trusted referrers
+ (with +), with the effect that access to untrusted sites will be granted,
+ if a link from a trusted referrer was used. The link target will then be
+ added to the "trustfile". Possible applications include limiting Internet
+ access for children.
+
+ If you use + operator in the trust file, it may grow considerably over
+ time.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-An advanced example for network administrators:
+7.2. Local Set-up Documentation
-If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content to
-their subscribers, you can configure forwarding to pass requests to the
-specific host that's connected to that ISP so that everybody can see all of the
-content on all of the ISPs.
+If you intend to operate Privoxy for more users than just yourself, it might be
+a good idea to let them know how to reach you, what you block and why you do
+that, your policies, etc.
-This is a bit tricky, but here's an example:
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.com. And host-b has a PPP connection to
-isp-b.com. host-a can run a Privoxy proxy with forwarding like this:
+7.2.1. user-manual
- forward .* .
- forward isp-b.com host-b:8118
+Specifies:
-
-host-b can run a Privoxy proxy with forwarding like this:
-
- forward .* .
- forward isp-a.com host-a:8118
+ Location of the Privoxy User Manual.
+
+Type of value:
+
+ A fully qualified URI
+
+Default value:
+
+ Unset
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ http://www.privoxy.org/version/user-manual/ will be used, where version is
+ the Privoxy version.
+
+Notes:
+
+ The User Manual URI is used for help links from some of the internal CGI
+ pages. The manual itself is normally packaged with the binary
+ distributions, so you probably want to set this to a locally installed
+ copy. For multi-user setups, you could provide a copy on a local webserver
+ for all your users and use the corresponding URL here.
+ Examples:
+
+ Unix, in local filesystem:
+
+ user-manual file:///usr/share/doc/privoxy-2.9.15/user-manual/
+
+ Any platform, on local webserver (called "local-webserver"):
+
+ user-manual http://local-webserver/privoxy-user-manual/
+
+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+ | Warning |
+ |-----------------------------------------------------------------|
+ |If set, this option should be the first option in the config |
+ |file, because it is used while the config file is being read. |
+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
-Now, anyone on the Internet (including users on host-a and host-b) can set
-their browser's proxy to either host-a or host-b and be able to browse the
-content on isp-a or isp-b.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Here's another practical example, for University of Kent at Canterbury students
-with a network connection in their room, who need to use the University's Squid
-web cache.
+7.2.2. trust-info-url
- forward *. ssbcache.ukc.ac.uk:3128 # Use the proxy, except for:
- forward .ukc.ac.uk . # Anything on the same domain as us
- forward * . # Host with no domain specified
- forward 129.12.*.* . # A dotted IP on our /16 network.
- forward 127.*.*.* . # Loopback address
- forward localhost.localdomain . # Loopback address
- forward www.ukc.mirror.ac.uk . # Specific host
+Specifies:
+ A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if access to an
+ untrusted page is denied.
+
+Type of value:
+
+ URL
+
+Default value:
+
+ Two example URL are provided
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page.
+
+Notes:
+
+ The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust mechanism
+ has been activated. (See trustfile above.)
+
+ If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line
+ documentation about your trust policy and to specify the URL(s) here. Use
+ multiple times for multiple URLs.
+
+ The URL(s) should be added to the trustfile as well, so users don't end up
+ locked out from the information on why they were locked out in the first
+ place!
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-If you intend to chain Privoxy and squid locally, then chain as browser ->
-squid -> privoxy is the recommended way.
-
-Your squid configuration could then look like this:
-
- # Define Privoxy as parent cache
-
- cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 0 no-query
-
- # Define ACL for protocol FTP
- acl FTP proto FTP
+7.2.3. admin-address
- # Do not forward ACL FTP to privoxy
- always_direct allow FTP
+Specifies:
+
+ An email address to reach the proxy administrator.
+
+Type of value:
+
+ Email address
+
+Default value:
+
+ Unset
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
+
+Notes:
+
+ If both admin-address and proxy-info-url are unset, the whole "Local
+ Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will not be shown.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- # Do not forward ACL CONNECT (https) to privoxy
- always_direct allow CONNECT
+7.2.4. proxy-info-url
- # Forward the rest to privoxy
- never_direct allow all
+Specifies:
+
+ A URL to documentation about the local Privoxy setup, configuration or
+ policies.
+
+Type of value:
+
+ URL
+
+Default value:
+
+ Unset
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and the CGI user
+ interface.
+
+Notes:
+
+ If both admin-address and proxy-info-url are unset, the whole "Local
+ Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will not be shown.
+
+ This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-)
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.3.5. Windows GUI Options
+7.3. Debugging
-Privoxy has a number of options specific to the Windows GUI interface:
+These options are mainly useful when tracing a problem. Note that you might
+also want to invoke Privoxy with the --no-daemon command line option when
+debugging.
-If "activity-animation" is set to 1, the Privoxy icon will animate when
-"Privoxy" is active. To turn off, set to 0.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- activity-animation 1
+7.3.1. debug
+
+Specifies:
+
+ Key values that determine what information gets logged to the logfile.
+
+Type of value:
+
+ Integer values
+
+Default value:
+
+ 12289 (i.e.: URLs plus informational and warning messages)
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ Nothing gets logged.
+
+Notes:
+
+ The available debug levels are:
+
+ debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
+ debug 2 # show each connection status
+ debug 4 # show I/O status
+ debug 8 # show header parsing
+ debug 16 # log all data into the logfile
+ debug 32 # debug force feature
+ debug 64 # debug regular expression filter
+ debug 128 # debug fast redirects
+ debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation
+ debug 512 # Common Log Format
+ debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups
+ debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
+ debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
+
+ To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or use multiple
+ debug lines.
+
+ A debug level of 1 is informative because it will show you each request as
+ it happens. 1, 4096 and 8192 are highly recommended so that you will notice
+ when things go wrong. The other levels are probably only of interest if you
+ are hunting down a specific problem. They can produce a hell of an output
+ (especially 16).
+
+ The reporting of fatal errors (i.e. ones which crash Privoxy) is always on
+ and cannot be disabled.
+
+ If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set "debug 512" ONLY
+ and not enable anything else.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-If "log-messages" is set to 1, Privoxy will log messages to the console window:
+7.3.2. single-threaded
- log-messages 1
+Specifies:
+
+ Whether to run only one server thread
+
+Type of value:
+
+ None
+
+Default value:
+
+ Unset
+Effect if unset:
+
+ Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, i.e. the ability
+ to serve multiple requests simultaneously.
+
+Notes:
+
+ This option is only there for debug purposes and you should never need to
+ use it. It will drastically reduce performance.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-If "log-buffer-size" is set to 1, the size of the log buffer, i.e. the amount
-of memory used for the log messages displayed in the console window, will be
-limited to "log-max-lines" (see below).
+7.4. Access Control and Security
-Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and eat
-up all your memory!
+This section of the config file controls the security-relevant aspects of
+Privoxy's configuration.
- log-buffer-size 1
-
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-log-max-lines is the maximum number of lines held in the log buffer. See above.
+7.4.1. listen-address
- log-max-lines 200
+Specifies:
-
-If "log-highlight-messages" is set to 1, Privoxy will highlight portions of the
-log messages with a bold-faced font:
-
- log-highlight-messages 1
+ The IP address and TCP port on which Privoxy will listen for client
+ requests.
+
+Type of value:
+
+ [IP-Address]:Port
+
+Default value:
+
+ 127.0.0.1:8118
+Effect if unset:
+
+ Bind to 127.0.0.1 (localhost), port 8118. This is suitable and recommended
+ for home users who run Privoxy on the same machine as their browser.
+
+Notes:
+
+ You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address and port.
+
+ If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to
+ serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well,
+ you will need to override the default.
+
+ If you leave out the IP address, Privoxy will bind to all interfaces
+ (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable from the Internet. In
+ that case, consider using access control lists (ACL's) (see "ACLs" below),
+ or a firewall.
+
+Example:
+
+ Suppose you are running Privoxy on a machine which has the address
+ 192.168.0.1 on your local private network (192.168.0.0) and has another
+ outside connection with a different address. You want it to serve requests
+ from inside only:
+
+ listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-The font used in the console window:
+7.4.2. toggle
- log-font-name Comic Sans MS
+Specifies:
+
+ Initial state of "toggle" status
+
+Type of value:
+
+ 1 or 0
+
+Default value:
+ 1
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ Act as if toggled on
+
+Notes:
+
+ If set to 0, Privoxy will start in "toggled off" mode, i.e. behave like a
+ normal, content-neutral proxy where all ad blocking, filtering, etc are
+ disabled. See enable-remote-toggle below. This is not really useful
+ anymore, since toggling is much easier via the web interface than via
+ editing the conf file.
+
+ The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the system tray if
+ this option is present.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Font size used in the console window:
+7.4.3. enable-remote-toggle
- log-font-size 8
+Specifies:
+
+ Whether or not the web-based toggle feature may be used
+
+Type of value:
+
+ 0 or 1
+
+Default value:
+
+ 1
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ The web-based toggle feature is disabled.
+Notes:
+
+ When toggled off, Privoxy acts like a normal, content-neutral proxy, i.e.
+ it acts as if none of the actions applied to any URL.
+
+ For the time being, access to the toggle feature can not be controlled
+ separately by "ACLs" or HTTP authentication, so that everybody who can
+ access Privoxy (see "ACLs" and listen-address above) can toggle it for all
+ users. So this option is not recommended for multi-user environments with
+ untrusted users.
+
+ Note that you must have compiled Privoxy with support for this feature,
+ otherwise this option has no effect.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-"show-on-task-bar" controls whether or not Privoxy will appear as a button on
-the Task bar when minimized:
+7.4.4. enable-edit-actions
- show-on-task-bar 0
+Specifies:
+
+ Whether or not the web-based actions file editor may be used
+
+Type of value:
+
+ 0 or 1
+
+Default value:
+
+ 1
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ The web-based actions file editor is disabled.
+
+Notes:
+ For the time being, access to the editor can not be controlled separately
+ by "ACLs" or HTTP authentication, so that everybody who can access Privoxy
+ (see "ACLs" and listen-address above) can modify its configuration for all
+ users. So this option is not recommended for multi-user environments with
+ untrusted users.
+
+ Note that you must have compiled Privoxy with support for this feature,
+ otherwise this option has no effect.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-If "close-button-minimizes" is set to 1, the Windows close button will minimize
-Privoxy instead of closing the program (close with the exit option on the File
-menu).
+7.4.5. ACLs: permit-access and deny-access
- close-button-minimizes 1
+Specifies:
+
+ Who can access what.
+
+Type of value:
+
+ src_addr[/src_masklen] [dst_addr[/dst_masklen]]
+
+ Where src_addr and dst_addr are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or
+ valid DNS names, and src_masklen and dst_masklen are subnet masks in CIDR
+ notation, i.e. integer values from 2 to 30 representing the length (in
+ bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole destination part are
+ optional.
+
+Default value:
+
+ Unset
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ Don't restrict access further than implied by listen-address
+
+Notes:
+ Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems
+ administrators, and are not usually needed by individual users. For a
+ typical home user, it will normally suffice to ensure that Privoxy only
+ listens on the localhost (127.0.0.1) or internal (home) network address by
+ means of the listen-address option.
+
+ Please see the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a
+ substitute for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic
+ security weaknesses.
+
+ Multiple ACL lines are OK. If any ACLs are specified, then the Privoxy
+ talks only to IP addresses that match at least one permit-access line and
+ don't match any subsequent deny-access line. In other words, the last match
+ wins, with the default being deny-access.
+
+ If Privoxy is using a forwarder (see forward below) for a particular
+ destination URL, the dst_addr that is examined is the address of the
+ forwarder and NOT the address of the ultimate target. This is necessary
+ because it may be impossible for the local Privoxy to determine the IP
+ address of the ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for).
+
+ You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because the address
+ lookups take time. All DNS names must resolve! You can not use domain
+ patterns like "*.org" or partial domain names. If a DNS name resolves to
+ multiple IP addresses, only the first one is used.
+
+ Denying access to particular sites by ACL may have undesired side effects
+ if the site in question is hosted on a machine which also hosts other
+ sites.
+
+Examples:
+
+ Explicitly define the default behavior if no ACL and listen-address are
+ set: "localhost" is OK. The absence of a dst_addr implies that all
+ destination addresses are OK:
+
+ permit-access localhost
+
+ Allow any host on the same class C subnet as www.privoxy.org access to
+ nothing but www.example.com:
+
+ permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32
+
+ Allow access from any host on the 26-bit subnet 192.168.45.64 to anywhere,
+ with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access
+ www.dirty-stuff.example.com:
+
+ permit-access 192.168.45.64/26
+ deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-The "hide-console" option is specific to the MS-Win console version of Privoxy.
-If this option is used, Privoxy will disconnect from and hide the command
-console.
+7.4.6. buffer-limit
- #hide-console
+Specifies:
+
+ Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering.
+
+Type of value:
+
+ Size in Kbytes
+
+Default value:
+
+ 4096
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit.
+
+Notes:
+
+ For content filtering, i.e. the +filter and +deanimate-gif actions, it is
+ necessary that Privoxy buffers the entire document body. This can be
+ potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending data
+ indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust -- with nasty consequences.
+ Hence this option.
+
+ When a document buffer size reaches the buffer-limit, it is flushed to the
+ client unfiltered and no further attempt to filter the rest of the document
+ is made. Remember that there may be multiple threads running, which might
+ require up to buffer-limit Kbytes each, unless you have enabled
+ "single-threaded" above.
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.4. The Actions File
+7.5. Forwarding
-The "default.action" file (formerly actionsfile or ijb.action) is used to
-define what actions Privoxy takes, and thus determines how images, cookies and
-various other aspects of HTTP content and transactions are handled. Images can
-be anything you want, including ads, banners, or just some obnoxious URL that
-you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted or rejected, or accepted only
-during the current browser session (i.e. not written to disk). Changes to
-default.action should be immediately visible to Privoxy without the need to
-restart.
+This feature allows routing of HTTP requests through a chain of multiple
+proxies. It can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when
+accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains through an
+anonymous public proxy (see e.g. http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm) Or to
+use a caching proxy to speed up browsing. Or chaining to a parent proxy may be
+necessary because the machine that Privoxy runs on has no direct Internet
+access.
-The easiest way to edit "actions" file is with a browser by loading http://p.p/
-, and then select "Edit Actions List". A text editor can also be used.
+Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. Privoxy supports the SOCKS 4 and SOCKS
+4A protocols.
-To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
-compared to all patterns in this file. Every time it matches, the list of
-applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated. You can trace this
-process by visiting http://p.p/show-url-info.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-There are four types of lines in this file: comments (begin with a "#"
-character), actions, aliases and patterns, all of which are explained below, as
-well as the configuration file syntax that Privoxy understands.
+7.5.1. forward
+Specifies:
+
+ To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed.
+
+Type of value:
+
+ target_domain[:port] http_parent[/port]
+
+ Where target_domain is a domain name pattern (see the chapter on domain
+ matching in the default.action file), http_parent is the address of the
+ parent HTTP proxy as an IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or as a
+ valid DNS name (or "." to denote "no forwarding", and the optional port
+ parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1 to 64535
+
+Default value:
+
+ Unset
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ Don't use parent HTTP proxies.
+
+Notes:
+
+ If http_parent is ".", then requests are not forwarded to another HTTP
+ proxy but are made directly to the web servers.
+
+ Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match
+ wins.
+
+Examples:
+
+ Everything goes to an example anonymizing proxy, except SSL on port 443
+ (which it doesn't handle):
+
+ forward .* anon-proxy.example.org:8080
+ forward :443 .
+
+ Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for requests to
+ that ISP's sites:
+
+ forward .*. caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000
+ forward .example-isp.net .
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.4.1. URL Domain and Path Syntax
+7.5.2. forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a
-Generally, a pattern has the form <domain>/<path>, where both the <domain> and
-<path> part are optional. If you only specify a domain part, the "/" can be
-left out:
+Specifies:
+
+ Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific
+ requests should be routed.
+
+Type of value:
+
+ target_domain[:port] socks_proxy[/port] http_parent[/port]
+
+ Where target_domain is a domain name pattern (see the chapter on domain
+ matching in the default.action file), http_parent and socks_proxy are IP
+ addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid DNS names (http_parent may be
+ "." to denote "no HTTP forwarding"), and the optional port parameters are
+ TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1 to 64535
+
+Default value:
+
+ Unset
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ Don't use SOCKS proxies.
+
+Notes:
+
+ Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match
+ wins.
+
+ The difference between forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a is that in the
+ SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the target hostname happens on the
+ SOCKS server, while in SOCKS 4 it happens locally.
+
+ If http_parent is ".", then requests are not forwarded to another HTTP
+ proxy but are made (HTTP-wise) directly to the web servers, albeit through
+ a SOCKS proxy.
+
+Examples:
+
+ From the company example.com, direct connections are made to all "internal"
+ domains, but everything outbound goes through their ISP's proxy by way of
+ example.com's corporate SOCKS 4A gateway to the Internet.
+
+ forward-socks4a .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080
+ forward .example.com .
+
+ A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no HTTP parent
+ looks like this:
+
+ forward-socks4 .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 .
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-www.example.com - is a domain only pattern and will match any request to
-"www.example.com".
+7.5.3. Advanced Forwarding Examples
-www.example.com/ - means exactly the same.
+If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content only to
+their subscribers, you can configure multiple Privoxies which have connections
+to the respective ISPs to act as forwarders to each other, so that your users
+can see the internal content of all ISPs.
-www.example.com/index.html - matches only the single document "/index.html" on
-"www.example.com".
+Assume that host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.net. And host-b has a PPP
+connection to isp-b.net. Both run Privoxy. Their forwarding configuration can
+look like this:
-/index.html - matches the document "/index.html", regardless of the domain.
+host-a:
-index.html - matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name
-and there is no top-level domain called ".html".
+ forward .*. .
+ forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118
-The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the domain
-starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end. For example:
+host-b:
+
+ forward .*. .
+ forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118
+
+Now, your users can set their browser's proxy to use either host-a or host-b
+and be able to browse the internal content of both isp-a and isp-b.
+
+If you intend to chain Privoxy and squid locally, then chain as browser ->
+squid -> privoxy is the recommended way.
-.example.com - matches any domain that ENDS in ".example.com".
+Assuming that Privoxy and squid run on the same box, your squid configuration
+could then look like this:
-www. - matches any domain that STARTS with "www".
+ # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP)
+ cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query
+
+ # Define ACL for protocol FTP
+ acl ftp proto FTP
+
+ # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy
+ always_direct allow ftp
+
+ # Forward all the rest to Privoxy
+ never_direct allow all
+
+You would then need to change your browser's proxy settings to squid's address
+and port. Squid normally uses port 3128. If unsure consult http_port in
+squid.conf.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+7.6. Windows GUI Options
+
+Privoxy has a number of options specific to the Windows GUI interface:
+
+If "activity-animation" is set to 1, the Privoxy icon will animate when
+"Privoxy" is active. To turn off, set to 0.
+
+ activity-animation 1
+
+
+If "log-messages" is set to 1, Privoxy will log messages to the console window:
+
+ log-messages 1
+
+
+If "log-buffer-size" is set to 1, the size of the log buffer, i.e. the amount
+of memory used for the log messages displayed in the console window, will be
+limited to "log-max-lines" (see below).
+
+Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and eat
+up all your memory!
+
+ log-buffer-size 1
+
+
+log-max-lines is the maximum number of lines held in the log buffer. See above.
+
+ log-max-lines 200
+
+
+If "log-highlight-messages" is set to 1, Privoxy will highlight portions of the
+log messages with a bold-faced font:
+
+ log-highlight-messages 1
+
+
+The font used in the console window:
+
+ log-font-name Comic Sans MS
+
+
+Font size used in the console window:
+
+ log-font-size 8
+
+
+"show-on-task-bar" controls whether or not Privoxy will appear as a button on
+the Task bar when minimized:
+
+ show-on-task-bar 0
+
+
+If "close-button-minimizes" is set to 1, the Windows close button will minimize
+Privoxy instead of closing the program (close with the exit option on the File
+menu).
+
+ close-button-minimizes 1
+
+
+The "hide-console" option is specific to the MS-Win console version of Privoxy.
+If this option is used, Privoxy will disconnect from and hide the command
+console.
+
+ #hide-console
+
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8. Actions Files
+
+The actions files are used to define what actions Privoxy takes for which URLs,
+and thus determine how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP
+content and transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts
+thereof). There are three such files included with Privoxy (as of version
+2.9.15), with differing purposes:
+
+ * standard.action - is used by the web based editor, to set various
+ pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section in
+ default.action. These have increasing levels of aggressiveness and have no
+ influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the editor.
+ It is not recommend to edit this file.
+
+ * default.action - is the primary action file that sets the initial values
+ for all actions. It is intended to provide a base level of functionality
+ for Privoxy's array of features. So it is a set of broad rules that should
+ work reasonably well for users everywhere. This is the file that the
+ developers are keeping updated, and making available to users.
+
+ * user.action - is intended to be for local site preferences and exceptions.
+ As an example, if your ISP or your bank has specific requirements, and need
+ special handling, this kind of thing should go here. This file will not be
+ upgraded.
+
+The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
+file, and are processed in the order they are defined. The content of these can
+all be viewed and edited from http://config.privoxy.org/show-status.
+
+An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use "aliases"
+in an actions file, you have to place the (optional) alias section at the top
+of that file. Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally
+to all sites and pages (be very careful with using such a universal set in
+user.action or any other actions file after default.action, because it will
+override the result from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
+exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard user.action as an
+appendix to default.action, with the advantage that is a separate file, which
+makes preserving your personal settings across Privoxy upgrades easier.
+
+Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or just
+some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted or
+rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not written
+to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking fooled, and
+much more. See below for a complete list of actions.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.1. Finding the Right Mix
+
+Note that some actions, like cookie suppression or script disabling, may render
+some sites unusable that rely on these techniques to work properly. Finding the
+right mix of actions is not always easy and certainly a matter of personal
+taste. In general, it can be said that the more "aggressive" your default
+settings (in the top section of the actions file) are, the more exceptions for
+"trusted" sites you will have to make later. If, for example, you want to kill
+popup windows per default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for
+sites that you regularly use and that require popups for actually useful
+content, like maybe your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
+
+We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
+distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
+things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
+Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again
+:).
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.2. How to Edit
+
+The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by using our
+browser-based editor, which can be reached from http://config.privoxy.org/
+show-status. The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single
+feature on a per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults
+like "Cautious", "Medium" or "Advanced".
+
+If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit
+the the actions files. Look at default.action which is richly commented.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.3. How Actions are Applied to URLs
+
+Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections, like the "
+alias" sections which will be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on
+regular sections: They have a heading line (often split up to multiple lines
+for readability) which consist of a list of actions, separated by whitespace
+and enclosed in curly braces. Below that, there is a list of URL patterns, each
+on a separate line.
+
+To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
+compared to all patterns in each action file file. Every time it matches, the
+list of applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the
+heading of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for
+the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not, the
+effects are aggregated (e.g. a URL might match both the "+handle-as-image" and
+"+block" actions).
+
+You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting http://
+config.privoxy.org/show-url-info.
+
+More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, Anatomy of an Action.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.4. Patterns
+
+Generally, a pattern has the form <domain>/<path>, where both the <domain> and
+<path> are optional. (This is why the pattern / matches all URLs).
+
+www.example.com/
+
+ is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to www.example.com,
+ regardless of which document on that server is requested.
+
+www.example.com
+
+ means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing / may be
+ omitted.
+
+www.example.com/index.html
+
+ matches only the single document /index.html on www.example.com.
+
+/index.html
+
+ matches the document /index.html, regardless of the domain, i.e. on any web
+ server.
+
+index.html
+
+ matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and there
+ is no top-level domain called .html.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.4.1. The Domain Pattern
+
+The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the domain
+starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end. For example:
+
+.example.com
+
+ matches any domain that ENDS in .example.com
+
+www.
+
+ matches any domain that STARTS with www.
+
+.example.
+
+ matches any domain that CONTAINS .example. (Correctly speaking: It matches
+ any FQDN that contains example as a domain.)
+
Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: "*" stands for zero
-or more arbitrary characters, "?" stands for any single character. And you can
-define character classes in square brackets and they can be freely mixed:
+or more arbitrary characters, "?" stands for any single character, you can
+define character classes in square brackets and all of that can be freely
+mixed:
+
+ad*.example.com
+
+ matches "adserver.example.com", "ads.example.com", etc but not
+ "sfads.example.com"
+
+*ad*.example.com
+
+ matches all of the above, and then some.
+
+.?pix.com
+
+ matches www.ipix.com, pictures.epix.com, a.b.c.d.e.upix.com etc.
+
+www[1-9a-ez].example.c*
+
+ matches www1.example.com, www4.example.cc, wwwd.example.cy,
+ wwwz.example.com etc., but not wwww.example.com.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.4.2. The Path Pattern
+
+Privoxy uses Perl compatible regular expressions (through the PCRE library) for
+matching the path.
+
+There is an Appendix with a brief quick-start into regular expressions, and
+full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
+at http://www.pcre.org/man.txt. You might also find the Perl man page on
+regular expressions (man perlre) useful, which is available on-line at http://
+www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html.
+
+Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the "/", i.e. it
+matches as if it would start with a "^" (regular expression speak for the
+beginning of a line).
+
+Please also note that matching in the path is case INSENSITIVE by default, but
+you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the "(?
+-i)" switch: www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.* will match only documents whose
+path starts with PaTtErN in exactly this capitalization.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.5. Actions
+
+All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
+somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a "+", and
+turned off if preceded with a "-". So a +action means "do that action", e.g.
++block means "please block URLs that match the following patterns", and -block
+means "don't block URLs that match the following patterns, even if +block
+previously applied."
+
+Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces
+and separated by whitespace, like in {+some-action -some-other-action
+{some-parameter}}, 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.
+
+There are three classes of actions:
+
+ * Boolean, i.e the action can only be "enabled" or "disabled". Syntax:
+
+ +name # enable action name
+ -name # disable action name
+
+ Example: +block
+
+ * Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of
+ action. Syntax:
+
+ +name{param} # enable action and set parameter to param,
+ # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
+ -name # disable action. The parameter can be omitted
+
+ 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.
+
+ Example: +hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 }
+
+ * 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, all the parameters from all matches are remembered.
+ This is used for actions that can be executed for the same request
+ repeatedly, like adding multiple headers, or filtering through multiple
+ filters. Syntax:
+
+ +name{param} # enable action and add param to the list of parameters
+ -name{param} # remove the parameter param from the list of parameters
+ # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
+ -name # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list
+
+ Examples: +add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text} and +filter{html-annoyances}
+
+If nothing is specified in any actions file, no "actions" are taken. So in this
+case Privoxy would just be a normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You
+must specifically enable the privacy and blocking features you need (although
+the provided default actions files will give a good starting point).
+
+Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions to any rules
+you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or in a file that is
+processed later when using multiple actions files). For multi-valued actions,
+the actions are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are
+processed in the order they are defined in config (the default installation has
+three actions files). It also quite possible for any given URL pattern to match
+more than one pattern and thus more than one set of actions!
+
+The list of valid Privoxy actions are:
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.5.1. add-header
+
+Typical use:
+
+ Confuse log analysis, custom applications
+
+Effect:
+
+ Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
+
+Type:
+
+ Multi-value.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not
+ checked. It is recommended that you use the "X-" prefix for custom headers.
+
+Notes:
+
+ 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
+ "HTTP headers" are, you definitely don't need to worry about this one.
+
+Example usage:
+
+ +add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-ad*.example.com - matches "adserver.example.com", "ads.example.com", etc but
-not "sfads.example.com".
+8.5.2. block
-*ad*.example.com - matches all of the above, and then some.
+Typical use:
+
+ Block ads or other obnoxious content
+
+Effect:
+
+ Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
+ requests are not forwarded to the remote server, but answered locally with
+ a substitute page or image, as determined by the handle-as-image and
+ set-image-blocker actions.
+
+Type:
+
+ Boolean.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ N/A
+
+Notes:
+
+ Privoxy sends a special "BLOCKED" page for requests to blocked pages. This
+ page contains links to find out why the request was blocked, and a
+ click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the
+ force feature enabled). The "BLOCKED" page adapts to the available screen
+ space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and
+ text-only if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using Privoxy
+ right now, you can take a look at the "BLOCKED" page.
+
+ A very important exception occurs if both block and handle-as-image, apply
+ to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
+ set-image-blocker (see below) also applies, the type of image will be
+ determined by its parameter, if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is
+ sent.
+
+ It is important to understand this process, in order to understand how
+ Privoxy deals with ads and other unwanted content.
+
+ The filter action can perform a very similar task, by "blocking" banner
+ images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
+ document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
+ Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse
+ the two.
+
+Example usage (section):
+
+ {+block} # Block and replace with "blocked" page
+ .nasty-stuff.example.com
+
+ {+block +handle-as-image} # Block and replace with image
+ .ad.doubleclick.net
+ .ads.r.us
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-.?pix.com - matches "www.ipix.com", "pictures.epix.com", "a.b.c.d.e.upix.com",
-etc.
+8.5.3. crunch-incoming-cookies
-www[1-9a-ez].example.com - matches "www1.example.com", "www4.example.com",
-"wwwd.example.com", "wwwz.example.com", etc., but not "wwww.example.com".
+Typical use:
+
+ Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system
+
+Effect:
+
+ Deletes any "Set-Cookie:" HTTP headers from server replies.
+
+Type:
+
+ Boolean.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ N/A
+
+Notes:
+
+ This action is only concerned with incoming cookies. For outgoing cookies,
+ use crunch-outgoing-cookies. Use both to disable cookies completely.
+
+ It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction with the
+ session-cookies-only action, since it would prevent the session cookies
+ from being set.
+
+Example usage:
+
+ +crunch-incoming-cookies
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-If Privoxy was compiled with "pcre" support (default), Perl compatible regular
-expressions can be used. See the pcre/docs/ directory or "man perlre" (also
-available on http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html) for details. A
-brief discussion of regular expressions is in the Appendix. For instance:
+8.5.4. crunch-outgoing-cookies
-/.*/advert[0-9]+\.jpe?g - would match a URL from any domain, with any path that
-includes "advert" followed immediately by one or more digits, then a "." and
-ending in either "jpeg" or "jpg". So we match "example.com/ads/advert2.jpg",
-and "www.example.com/ads/banners/advert39.jpeg", but not "www.example.com/ads/
-banners/advert39.gif" (no gifs in the example pattern).
+Typical use:
+
+ Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system
+
+Effect:
+
+ Deletes any "Cookie:" HTTP headers from client requests.
+
+Type:
+
+ Boolean.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ N/A
+
+Notes:
+
+ This action is only concerned with outgoing cookies. For incoming cookies,
+ use crunch-incoming-cookies. Use both to disable cookies completely.
+
+ It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction with the
+ session-cookies-only action, since it would prevent the session cookies
+ from being read.
+
+Example usage:
+
+ +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Please note that matching in the path is case INSENSITIVE by default, but you
-can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the "(?-i)"
-switch:
+8.5.5. deanimate-gifs
-www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.* - will match only documents whose path starts
-with "PaTtErN" in exactly this capitalization.
+Typical use:
+
+ Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.
+
+Effect:
+
+ De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
+
+Type:
+
+ Parameterized.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ "last" or "first"
+
+Notes:
+
+ This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
+ the option "first" is given, the first frame of the animation is used as
+ the replacement. If "last" is given, the last frame of the animation is
+ used instead, which probably makes more sense for most banner animations,
+ but also has the risk of not showing the entire last frame (if it is only a
+ delta to an earlier frame).
+
+ You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
+ objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
+ a GIF.
+
+Example usage:
+
+ +deanimate-gifs{last}
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.5.6. downgrade-http-version
+Typical use:
+
+ Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1
+
+Effect:
+
+ Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
+
+Type:
+
+ Boolean.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ N/A
+
+Notes:
+
+ This is a left-over from the time when Privoxy didn't support important
+ HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the unlikely case that you
+ experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server out there. Not all
+ (optional) HTTP/1.1 features are supported yet, so there is a chance you
+ might need this action.
+
+Example usage (section):
+
+ {+downgrade-http-version}
+ problem-host.example.com
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.5.7. fast-redirects
+
+Typical use:
+
+ Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links
+
+Effect:
+
+ Cut off all but the last valid URL from requests.
+
+Type:
+
+ Boolean.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ N/A
+
+Notes:
+
+ Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
+ will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
+ parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs resulting
+ from this scheme typically look like: http://some.place/click-tracker.cgi?
+ target=http://some.where.else.
+
+ Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
+ URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
+ since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go to.
+ Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your browser
+ ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds the
+ advertisers.
+
+ This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
+ It is likely to break some sites. You should expect to need possibly many
+ exceptions to this action, if it is enabled by default in default.action.
+ Some sites just don't work without it.
+
+Example usage:
+
+ {+fast-redirects}
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.5.8. filter
+
+Typical use:
+
+ Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
+ do fun text replacements, etc.
+
+Effect:
+
+ Text documents, including HTML and JavaScript, to which this action
+ applies, are filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular expression
+ based substitutions.
+
+Type:
+
+ Parameterized.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ The name of a filter, as defined in the filter file (typically
+ default.filter, set by the filterfile option in the config file)
+
+Notes:
+
+ For your convenience, there are a bunch of pre-defined filters available in
+ the distribution filter file that you can use. See the example below for a
+ list.
+
+ This is potentially a very powerful feature! But "rolling your own" filters
+ requires a knowledge of regular expressions and HTML.
+
+ Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to slow
+ down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has passed
+ the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way since the
+ page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more noticeable
+ on slower connections.
+
+ At this time, Privoxy cannot (yet!) uncompress compressed documents. If you
+ want filtering to work on all documents, even those that would normally be
+ sent compressed, use the prevent-compression action in conjunction with
+ filter.
+
+ Filtering can achieve some of the effects as the block action, i.e. it can
+ be used to block ads and banners.
+
+ Feedback with suggestions for new or improved filters is particularly
+ welcome!
+
+Example usage (with filters from the distribution default.filter file):
+
+ +filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.
+
+ +filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
+
+ +filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size (very efficient!)
+
+ +filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come sneaking in the HTML or JS content
+
+ +filter{popups} # Kill all popups in JS and HTML
+
+ +filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)
+
+ +filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!
+
+ +filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable
+
+ +filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)
+
+ +filter{nimda} # Remove Nimda (virus) code.
+
+ +filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects
+
+ +filter{crude-parental} # Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez"
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.5.9. handle-as-image
+
+Typical use:
+
+ Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images if they
+ get blocked)
+
+Effect:
+
+ This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as
+ images. If the block action also applies, the presence or absence of this
+ mark decides whether an HTML "blocked" page, or a replacement image (as
+ determined by the set-image-blocker action) will be sent to the client as a
+ substitute for the blocked content.
+
+Type:
+
+ Boolean.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ N/A
+
+Notes:
+
+ The below generic example section is actually part of default.action. It
+ marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and
+ should be left intact.
+
+ Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in
+ conjunction with block, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
+ reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
+
+ Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For
+ instance, (inline) ad frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't
+ display properly. Forcing handle-as-image in this situation will not
+ replace the ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
+
+Example usage (sections):
+
+ # Generic image extensions:
+ #
+ {+handle-as-image}
+ /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
+
+ # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
+ # blocked as images:
+ #
+ {+block +handle-as-image}
+ some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash
+
+ # Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
+ ad.doubleclick.net
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.5.10. hide-forwarded-for-headers
+
+Typical use:
+
+ Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request
+
+Effect:
+
+ Deletes any existing "X-Forwarded-for:" HTTP header from client requests,
+ and prevents adding a new one.
+
+Type:
+
+ Boolean.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ N/A
+
+Notes:
+
+ It is fairly safe to leave this on.
+
+ This action is scheduled for improvement: It should be able to generate
+ forged "X-Forwarded-for:" headers using random IP addresses from a
+ specified network, to make successive requests from the same client look
+ like requests from a pool of different users sharing the same proxy.
+
+Example usage:
+
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.5.11. hide-from-header
+
+Typical use:
+
+ Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address
+
+Effect:
+
+ Deletes any existing "From:" HTTP header, or replaces it with the specified
+ string.
+
+Type:
+
+ Parameterized.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ Keyword: "block", or any user defined value.
+
+Notes:
+
+ The keyword "block" will completely remove the header (not to be confused
+ with the block action).
+
+ 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.
+
+ This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send "From:"
+ headers anymore.
+
+Example usage:
+
+ +hide-from-header{block}
+
+ or
+
+ +hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.5.12. hide-referrer
+
+Typical use:
+
+ Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site
+
+Effect:
+
+ Deletes the "Referer:" (sic) HTTP header from the client request, or
+ replaces it with a forged one.
+
+Type:
+
+ Parameterized.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ + "block" to delete the header completely.
+
+ + "forge" to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are
+ talking to.
+
+ + Any other string to set a user defined referrer.
+
+Notes:
+
+ "forge" is the preferred option here, since some servers will not send
+ images back otherwise, in an attempt to prevent their valuable content from
+ being embedded elsewhere (and hence, without being surrounded by their
+ banners).
+
+ hide-referer is an alternate spelling of hide-referrer and the two can be
+ can be freely substituted with each other. ("referrer" is the correct
+ English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it requires it
+ to be spelled as "referer".)
+
+Example usage:
+
+ +hide-referrer{forge}
+
+ or
+
+ +hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.4.2. Actions
+8.5.13. hide-user-agent
-Actions are enabled if preceded with a "+", and disabled if preceded with a
-"-". Actions are invoked by enclosing the action name in curly braces (e.g.
-{+some_action}), followed by a list of URLs to which the action applies. There
-are three classes of actions:
-
- * Boolean (e.g. "+/-block"):
+Typical use:
- {+name} # enable this action
- {-name} # disable this action
-
+ Conceal your type of browser and client operating system
- * parameterized (e.g. "+/-hide-user-agent"):
+Effect:
- {+name{param}} # enable action and set parameter to "param"
- {-name} # disable action
-
+ Replaces the value of the "User-Agent:" HTTP header in client requests with
+ the specified value.
- * Multi-value (e.g. "{+/-add-header{Name: value}}", "{+/-wafer{name=value}}
- "):
+Type:
- {+name{param}} # enable action and add parameter "param"
- {-name{param}} # remove the parameter "param"
- {-name} # disable this action totally
-
+ Parameterized.
-If nothing is specified in this file, no "actions" are taken. So in this case
-Privoxy would just be a normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must
-specifically enable the privacy and blocking features you need (although the
-provided default default.action file will give a good starting point).
-
-Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. For multi-valued actions,
-the actions are applied in the order they are specified.
-
-The list of valid Privoxy "actions" are:
-
- * Add the specified HTTP header, which is not checked for validity. You may
- specify this many times to specify many different headers:
+Parameter:
- +add-header{Name: value}
-
+ Any user-defined string.
- * Block this URL totally. In a default installation, a "blocked" URL will
- result in bright red banner that says "BLOCKED", with a reason why it is
- being blocked.
+Notes:
- +block
-
+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+ | Warning |
+ |-----------------------------------------------------------------|
+ |This breaks many web sites that depend on looking at this header |
+ |in order to customize their content for different browsers |
+ |(which, by the way, is NOT a smart way to do that!). |
+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
- * De-animate all animated GIF images, i.e. reduce them to their last frame.
- This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
- the option "first" is given, the first frame of the animation is used as
- the replacement. If "last" is given, the last frame of the animation is
- used instead, which probably makes more sense for most banner animations,
- but also has the risk of not showing the entire last frame (if it is only a
- delta to an earlier frame).
+ Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
+ browsers will access the same Privoxy is not recommended. 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 Mozilla
+ enter, yet forging to a Netscape 6.1 user-agent works just fine. (Must be
+ just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
- +deanimate-gifs{last}
- +deanimate-gifs{first}
-
+ This action is scheduled for improvement.
- * "+downgrade" will downgrade HTTP/1.1 client requests to HTTP/1.0 and
- downgrade the responses as well. Use this action for servers that use HTTP/
- 1.1 protocol features that Privoxy doesn't handle well yet. HTTP/1.1 is
- only partially implemented. Default is not to downgrade requests.
+Example usage:
- +downgrade
-
+ +hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}
- * Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
- will link to some script on their own server, giving the destination as a
- parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs resulting
- from this scheme typically look like: http://some.place/some_script?http://
- some.where-else.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.5.14. kill-popups
+
+Typical use:
- Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
- URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
- since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go to.
- Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your browser
- ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds the
- advertisers.
+ Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows
- The "+fast-redirects" option enables interception of these types of
- requests by Privoxy, who will cut off all but the last valid URL in the
- request and send a local redirect back to your browser without contacting
- the intermediate site(s).
+Effect:
- +fast-redirects
-
+ While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens pop-up
+ windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly.
- * Apply the filters in the section_header section of the default.filter file
- to the site(s). default.filter sections are grouped according to like
- functionality.
+Type:
- +filter{section_header}
-
+ Boolean.
- Filter sections that are pre-defined in the supplied default.filter
- include:
+Parameter:
- html-annoyances: Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.
-
- js-annoyances: Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
-
- no-poups: Kill all popups in JS and HTML
-
- frameset-borders: Give frames a border
-
- webbugs: Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)
-
- no-refresh: Automatic refresh sucks on auto-dialup lines
-
- fun: Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!
-
- nimda: Remove (virus) Nimda code.
-
- banners-by-size: Kill banners by size
-
- crude-parental: Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or
- "warez"
-
- * Block any existing X-Forwarded-for header, and do not add a new one:
+ N/A
- +hide-forwarded
-
+Notes:
- * If the browser sends a "From:" header containing your e-mail address, this
- either completely removes the header ("block"), or changes it to the
- specified e-mail address.
+ This action is easily confused with the built-in, hardwired filter action,
+ but there are important differences: For kill-popups, the document need not
+ be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while downloading. But
+ kill-popups doesn't catch as many pop-ups as filter{popups} does.
- +hide-from{block}
- +hide-from{spam@sittingduck.xqq}
-
+ Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you can
+ use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make sense
+ to combine it with any filter action, since as soon as one filter applies,
+ the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the
+ advantage of the kill-popups action over it's filter equivalent.
- * Don't send the "Referer:" (sic) header to the web site. You can block it,
- forge a URL to the same server as the request (which is preferred because
- some sites will not send images otherwise) or set it to a constant string
- of your choice.
+ Killing all pop-ups is a dangerous business. Many shops and banks rely on
+ pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and killing only the unwanted
+ pop-ups would require artificial intelligence in Privoxy. If the only kind
+ of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those really nasty
+ windows that appear when you close an other one), you might want to use
+ filter{js-annoyances} instead.
- +hide-referer{block}
- +hide-referer{forge}
- +hide-referer{http://nowhere.com}
-
+Example usage:
- * Alternative spelling of "+hide-referer". It has the same parameters, and
- can be freely mixed with, "+hide-referer". ("referrer" is the correct
- English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it requires it
- to be spelled "referer".)
+ +kill-popups
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.5.15. limit-connect
+
+Typical use:
+
+ Prevent abuse of Privoxy as a TCP proxy relay
- +hide-referrer{...}
-
+Effect:
- * Change the "User-Agent:" header so web servers can't tell your browser
- type. Warning! This breaks many web sites. Specify the user-agent value you
- want. Example, pretend to be using Netscape on Linux:
+ Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
- +hide-user-agent{Mozilla (X11; I; Linux 2.0.32 i586)}
-
+Type:
- * Treat this URL as an image. This only matters if it's also "+block"ed, in
- which case a "blocked" image can be sent rather than a HTML page. See
- "+image-blocker{}" below for the control over what is actually sent. If you
- want invisible ads, they should be defined as images and blocked. And also,
- "image-blocker" should be set to "blank".
+ Parameterized.
- +image
-
+Parameter:
- * Decides what to do with URLs that end up tagged with "{+block +image}", e.g
- an advertizement. There are five options. "-image-blocker" will send a HTML
- "blocked" page, usually resulting in a "broken image" icon. "+image-blocker
- {blank}" will send a 1x1 transparent GIF image. And finally,
- "+image-blocker{http://xyz.com}" will send a HTTP temporary redirect to the
- specified image. This has the advantage of the icon being being cached by
- the browser, which will speed up the display. "+image-blocker{pattern}"
- will send a checkboard type pattern
+ A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes,
+ with the minimum defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
- +image-blocker{blank}
- +image-blocker{pattern}
- +image-blocker{http://p.p/send-banner}
-
+Notes:
- * By default (i.e. in the absence of a "+limit-connect" action), Privoxy will
- only allow CONNECT requests to port 443, which is the standard port for
- https as a precaution.
+ By default, i.e. if no limit-connect action applies, Privoxy only allows
+ HTTP CONNECT requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
+ limit-connect if more fine-grained control is desired for some or all
+ destinations.
The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
- (https:// URLs) through proxies. It works very simply: the proxy connects
+ ("https://" 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 proxy. This can be a big
+ connections to the client and to the remote server. This can be a big
security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be abused as TCP relays
very easily.
- If you want to allow CONNECT for more ports than this, or want to forbid
- CONNECT altogether, you can specify a comma separated list of ports and
- port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum defaulting to 0 and
- max to 65K):
+ If you don't know what any of this means, there probably is no reason to
+ change this one, since the default is already very restrictive.
- +limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need no be specified.
- +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
- +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Port less than 3, 7, 20 to 100
- #and above 500 are OK.
-
+Example usages:
- * "+no-compression" prevents the website from compressing the data. Some
- websites do this, which can be a problem for Privoxy, since "+filter",
- "+no-popup" and "+gif-deanimate" will not work on compressed data. This
- will slow down connections to those websites, though. Default is
- "nocompression" is turned on.
+ +limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
+ +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
+ +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
+ +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK (gaping security hole!)
- +nocompression
-
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.5.16. prevent-compression
+
+Typical use:
- * If the website sets cookies, "no-cookies-keep" will make sure they are
- erased when you exit and restart your web browser. This makes profiling
- cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so that you
- can log in for transactions. Default: on.
+ Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be passed
+ through filters
- +no-cookies-keep
-
+Effect:
- * Prevent the website from reading cookies:
+ Adds a header to the request that asks for uncompressed transfer.
- +no-cookies-read
-
+Type:
- * Prevent the website from setting cookies:
+ Boolean.
- +no-cookies-set
-
+Parameter:
- * Filter the website through a built-in filter to disable those obnoxious
- JavaScript pop-up windows via window.open(), etc. The two alternative
- spellings are equivalent.
+ N/A
- +no-popup
- +no-popups
-
+Notes:
- * This action only applies if you are using a jarfile for saving cookies. It
- sends a cookie to every site stating that you do not accept any copyright
- on cookies sent to you, and asking them not to track you. Of course, this
- is a (relatively) unique header they could use to track you.
+ More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which is
+ generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the filter,
+ deanimate-gifs and kill-popups actions to work, Privoxy needs access to the
+ uncompressed data. Unfortunately, Privoxy can't yet(!) uncompress, filter,
+ and re-compress the content on the fly. So if you want to ensure that all
+ websites, including those that normally compress, can be filtered, you need
+ to use this action.
- +vanilla-wafer
-
+ This will slow down transfers from those websites, though. If you use any
+ of the above-mentioned actions, you will typically want to use
+ prevent-compression in conjunction with them.
- * This allows you to add an arbitrary cookie. It can be specified multiple
- times in order to add as many cookies as you like.
+ Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for
+ uncompressed documents correctly (they send an empty document body). If you
+ use prevent-compression per default, you'll have to add exceptions for
+ those sites. See the example for how to do that.
- +wafer{name=value}
-
+Example usage (sections):
-The meaning of any of the above is reversed by preceding the action with a "-",
-in place of the "+".
-
-Some examples:
+ # Set default:
+ #
+ {+prevent-compression}
+ / # Match all sites
+
+ # Make exceptions for ill sites:
+ #
+ {-prevent-compression}
+ www.debianhelp.org
+ www.pclinuxonline.com
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Turn off cookies by default, then allow a few through for specified sites:
+8.5.17. send-vanilla-wafer
- # Turn off all persistent cookies
- { +no-cookies-read }
- { +no-cookies-set }
- # Allow cookies for this browser session ONLY
- { +no-cookies-keep }
+Typical use:
+
+ Feed log analysis scripts with useless data.
+
+Effect:
+
+ Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any
+ copyright on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track
+ you.
+
+Type:
+
+ Boolean.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ N/A
+
+Notes:
+
+ The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be
+ used to track you.
+
+ This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
+
+Example usage:
+
+ +send-vanilla-wafer
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- # Exceptions to the above, sites that benefit from persistent cookies
- { -no-cookies-read }
- { -no-cookies-set }
- { -no-cookies-keep }
- .javasoft.com
- .sun.com
- .yahoo.com
- .msdn.microsoft.com
- .redhat.com
+8.5.18. send-wafer
- # Alternative way of saying the same thing
- {-no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-keep}
- .sourceforge.net
- .sf.net
+Typical use:
+
+ Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless
+ data.
+
+Effect:
+
+ Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request.
+
+Type:
+
+ Multi-value.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ A string of the form "name=value".
+
+Notes:
+
+ Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same
+ request, resulting in multiple cookies being sent.
+
+ This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
+
+Example usage (section):
+ {+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
+ my-internal-testing-server.void
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Now turn off "fast redirects", and then we allow two exceptions:
+8.5.19. session-cookies-only
- # Turn them off!
- {+fast-redirects}
-
- # Reverse it for these two sites, which don't work right without it.
- {-fast-redirects}
- www.ukc.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wac\.cgi\?
- login.yahoo.com
+Typical use:
+
+ Allow only temporary "session" cookies (for the current browser session
+ only).
+
+Effect:
+
+ Deletes the "expires" field from "Set-Cookie:" server headers. Most
+ browsers will not store such cookies permanently and forget them in between
+ sessions.
+
+Type:
+
+ Boolean.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ N/A
+
+Notes:
+
+ This is less strict than crunch-incoming-cookies / crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ and allows you to browse websites that insist or rely on setting cookies,
+ without compromising your privacy too badly.
+
+ Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed
+ by session-cookies-only 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.
+
+ It makes no sense at all to use session-cookies-only together with
+ crunch-incoming-cookies or crunch-outgoing-cookies. If you do, cookies will
+ be plainly killed.
+
+ Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an
+ "expires" field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out
+ to be sure.
+Example usage:
+
+ +session-cookies-only
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.5.20. set-image-blocker
-Turn on page filtering according to rules in the defined sections of
-refilterfile, and make one exception for sourceforge:
-
- # Run everything through the filter file, using only the
- # specified sections:
- +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups}\
- +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size}
-
- # Then disable filtering of code from sourceforge!
- {-filter}
- .cvs.sourceforge.net
-
-
-Now some URLs that we want "blocked", ie we won't see them. Many of these use
-regular expressions that will expand to match multiple URLs:
-
- # Blocklist:
- {+block}
- /.*/(.*[-_.])?ads?[0-9]?(/|[-_.].*|\.(gif|jpe?g))
- /.*/(.*[-_.])?count(er)?(\.cgi|\.dll|\.exe|[?/])
- /.*/(ng)?adclient\.cgi
- /.*/(plain|live|rotate)[-_.]?ads?/
- /.*/(sponsor)s?[0-9]?/
- /.*/_?(plain|live)?ads?(-banners)?/
- /.*/abanners/
- /.*/ad(sdna_image|gifs?)/
- /.*/ad(server|stream|juggler)\.(cgi|pl|dll|exe)
- /.*/adbanners/
- /.*/adserver
- /.*/adstream\.cgi
- /.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/
- /.*/banner_?ads/
- /.*/banners?/
- /.*/banners?\.cgi/
- /.*/cgi-bin/centralad/getimage
- /.*/images/addver\.gif
- /.*/images/marketing/.*\.(gif|jpe?g)
- /.*/popupads/
- /.*/siteads/
- /.*/sponsor.*\.gif
- /.*/sponsors?[0-9]?/
- /.*/advert[0-9]+\.jpg
- /Media/Images/Adds/
- /ad_images/
- /adimages/
- /.*/ads/
- /bannerfarm/
- /grafikk/annonse/
- /graphics/defaultAd/
- /image\.ng/AdType
- /image\.ng/transactionID
- /images/.*/.*_anim\.gif # alvin brattli
- /ip_img/.*\.(gif|jpe?g)
- /rotateads/
- /rotations/
- /worldnet/ad\.cgi
- /cgi-bin/nph-adclick.exe/
- /.*/Image/BannerAdvertising/
- /.*/ad-bin/
- /.*/adlib/server\.cgi
- /autoads/
+Typical use:
+
+ Choose the replacement for blocked images
+
+Effect:
+
+ This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If both block and
+ handle-as-image also apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an
+ image, then the parameter of this action decides what will be sent as a
+ replacement.
+
+Type:
+
+ Parameterized.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ + "pattern" to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is
+ visually decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners
+ were busted.
+
+ + "blank" to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners
+ disappear completely, but makes it hard to detect where Privoxy has
+ blocked images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if
+ Privoxy has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
+
+ + "target-url" to send a redirect to target-url. You can redirect to any
+ image anywhere, even in your local filesystem (via "file:///" URL).
+
+ A good application of redirects is to use special Privoxy-built-in
+ URLs, which send the built-in images, as target-url. This has the same
+ visual effect as specifying "blank" or "pattern" in the first place,
+ but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of
+ requesting it over and over again.
+
+Notes:
+
+ The URLs for the built-in images are "http://config.privoxy.org/
+ send-banner?type=type", where type is either "blank" or "pattern".
+ There is a third (advanced) type, called "auto". It is NOT to be used in
+ set-image-blocker, but meant for use from filters. Auto will select the
+ type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an
+ image.
+
+Example usage:
+
+ Built-in pattern:
+
+ +set-image-blocker{pattern}
+
+ Redirect to the BSD devil:
+
+ +set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}
+
+ Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
+
+ +set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.5.21. Summary
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 he may
-depend on. There is no way to have hard and fast rules for all sites. See the
-Appendix for a brief example on troubleshooting actions.
+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 Appendix for a brief example on troubleshooting actions.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.4.3. Aliases
+8.6. Aliases
Custom "actions", known to Privoxy as "aliases", can be defined by combining
-other "actions". These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in "actions".
-Currently, an alias can contain any character except space, tab, "=", "{" or "}
-". But please use only "a"- "z", "0"-"9", "+", and "-". Alias names are not
-case sensitive, and must be defined before anything else in the
-default.actionfile ! And there can only be one set of "aliases" defined.
-
-Now let's define a few aliases:
-
- # Useful customer aliases we can use later. These must come first!
- {{alias}}
- +no-cookies = +no-cookies-set +no-cookies-read
- -no-cookies = -no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read
- fragile =
- -block -no-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -no-popups
- shop = -no-cookies -filter -fast-redirects
- +imageblock = +block +image
-
- #For people who don't like to type too much: ;-)
- c0 = +no-cookies
- c1 = -no-cookies
- c2 = -no-cookies-set +no-cookies-read
- c3 = +no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read
- #... etc. Customize to your heart's content.
-
-
-Some examples using our "shop" and "fragile" aliases from above:
-
- # These sites are very complex and require
- # minimal interference.
- {fragile}
- .office.microsoft.com
+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, "=", "{"
+and "}", but we strongly recommend that you only use "a" to "z", "0" to "9",
+"+", and "-". Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start
+with a "+" or "-" sign, since they are merely textually expanded.
+
+Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they must be defined in a
+special section at the top of the file! 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.
+
+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 "shop",
+you can later change your policy on shops in one place, and your changes will
+take effect everywhere in the actions file where the "shop" alias is used.
+Calling aliases by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
+
+Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though: Privoxy'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. This is likely to change in future versions of
+Privoxy.
+
+Now let's define some aliases...
+
+ # 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:
+ #
+ +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ +imageblock = +block +handle-as-image
+
+ # These aliases define combinations of actions
+ # that are useful for certain types of sites:
+ #
+ fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
+ shop = -crunch-all-cookies -fast-redirects
+
+ # Aliases defined from other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
+ #
+ c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
+ c1 = -crunch-all-cookies
+
+...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 "/" pattern):
+
+ # 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
+ .nytimes.com
+
+ # Shopping sites:
+ # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
+ #
+ {shop}
+ .quietpc.com
+ .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+ .scan.co.uk
+
+ # These shops require pop-ups:
+ #
+ {shop -kill-popups -filter{popups}}
+ .dabs.com
+ .overclockers.co.uk
+
+Aliases like "shop" and "fragile" are often used for "problem" sites that
+require some actions to be disabled in order to function properly.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+8.7. Sample Actions Files
+
+Remember that the meaning of each action is reversed by preceding the action
+with a "-", in place of the "+". Also, that some actions are turned on in the
+default section of the actions file, and require little to no additional
+configuration. These are just "on".
+
+But, other actions that are turned on in the default section do typically
+require exceptions to be listed in the latter sections of one of our actions
+file. For instance, by default no URLs are "blocked" (i.e. in the default
+definitions of default.action). We need exceptions to this in order to enable
+ad blocking in the lower sections. But we need to be very selective about what
+we do block. Thus, the default is "off" for blocking.
+
+Below is a liberally commented sample default.action file to demonstrate how
+all the pieces come together. And to show how exceptions to the default
+policies can be handled. This is followed by a brief user.action with similar
+examples.
+
+# Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org>
+
+# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
+{{settings}}
+for-privoxy-version=3.0
+
+
+##########################################################################
+# Aliases must be defined *before* they are used. These are
+# easier to remember, and can combine several actions into one. Once
+# defined they can be used just like any built-in action -- but within
+# this file only! Aliases do not require a + or - sign.
+##########################################################################
+{{alias}}
+
+# Some useful aliases.
+# Alias to turn off cookie handling, ie allow all cookies unmolested.
+#
+mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies \
+ -session-cookies-only
+
+# Alias to both block and treat as if an image for ad blocking
+# purposes.
+#
++block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
+
+# Shops should be allowed to set persistent cookies
+#
+shop = -filter mercy-for-cookies
+
+# Fragile sites should receive minimum interference:
+#
+fragile = -block -deanimate-gifs -fast-redirects -filter -hide-referer \
+ mercy-for-cookies -kill-popups
+
+##########################################################################
+# Matching starts here. Remember that at this time, all actions are
+# disabled, so we need to explicitly enable the ones we want.
+#
+# We begin with "default" action settings, i.e. we define a set of actions
+# for a pattern ("/") that matches all URLs. This default set will be
+# applied to all requests as a start, and can be partly or wholly overridden
+# by later matches further down this file, or in user.action.
+#
+# We will show all potential actions here whether they are enabled
+# or not. We could omit any disabled action if we wanted, since all
+# actions are 'off' by default anyway. Shown for completeness only.
+# Actions are enabled if preceded by a '+', otherwise they are disabled
+# (unless an alias has been defined without this).
+##########################################################################
+ { \
+ -add-header \
+ -block \
+ -deanimate-gifs \
+ -downgrade-http-version \
+ +fast-redirects \
+ +filter{html-annoyances} \
+ +filter{js-annoyances} \
+ -filter{content-cookies} \
+ -filter{popups} \
+ +filter{webbugs} \
+ -filter{refresh-tags} \
+ -filter{fun} \
+ +filter{nimda} \
+ +filter{banners-by-size} \
+ -filter{shockwave-flash} \
+ -filter{crude-parental} \
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers \
+ +hide-from-header{block} \
+ -hide-referrer \
+ -hide-user-agent \
+ -handle-as-image \
+ +set-image-blocker{pattern} \
+ -limit-connect \
+ +prevent-compression \
+ -session-cookies-only \
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies \
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies \
+ -kill-popups \
+ -send-vanilla-wafer \
+ -send-wafer \
+ }
+ / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.
+
+##########################################################################
+# Default behavior is now set. Now we will define some exceptions to our
+# default action policies.
+##########################################################################
+
+# These sites are very complex and require very minimal interference.
+# We'll disable most actions with our 'fragile' alias:
+ { fragile }
+ .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
- .nytimes.com
- # Shopping sites - still want to block ads.
- {shop}
- .quietpc.com
+
+# Shopping sites - not as fragile but require some special
+# handling. We still want to block ads, and we will allow
+# persistent cookies via the 'shop' alias:
+ { shop }
+ .quietpc.com
.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
.jungle.com
.scan.co.uk
- # These shops require pop-ups
- {shop -no-popups}
+
+# These sites require pop-ups too :( We'll combine our 'shop'
+# alias with two other actions into one rule to allow all popups.
+ { shop -kill-popups -filter{popups} }
.dabs.com
.overclockers.co.uk
+
+
+# The 'Fast-redirects' action breaks some sites. Disable this action
+# for these known sensitive sites:
+ { -fast-redirects }
+ login.yahoo.com
+ edit.europe.yahoo.com
+ .google.com
+ .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
+ .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
+ .nytimes.com
+
+
+# Define which file types will be treated as images. Important
+# for ad blocking.
+ { +handle-as-image }
+ /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)
+
+
+# Now lets list some domains that are known ad generators. And
+# our alias that we use here will block these as well as force
+# them to be treated as images. This combination of actions is
+# important for ad blocking. What the browser will show instead is
+# determined by the setting of "+set-image-blocker"
+ { +imageblock }
+ ar.atwola.com
+ .ad.doubleclick.net
+ .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
+ .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
+ bs*.gsanet.com
+ bs*.einets.com
+ .qkimg.net
+ ad.*.doubleclick.net
+
+
+# These will just simply be blocked. They will generate the BLOCKED
+# banner page, if matched. Heavy use of wildcards and regular
+# expressions in this example. Enable block action:
+ { +block }
+ ad*.
+ .*ads.
+ banner?.
+ count*.
+ /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
+ /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
+ .hitbox.com
+
+
+# The above block section will probably inadvertently catch some
+# sites we DO NOT want blocked via the wildcards and regular expressions.
+# Now let's set exceptions to the exceptions so the good guys get better
+# treatment. Disable block action:
+ { -block }
+ advogato.org
+ adsl.
+ ad[ud]*.
+ advice.
+# Let's just trust all .edu top level domains.
+ .edu
+ www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv
+# We'll need to access to path names containing 'download'
+ .*downloads.
+ /downloads/
+# 'adv' is for globalintersec and means advanced, not advertisement
+ www.globalintersec.com/adv
+
+
+# Don't filter *anything* from our friends at sourceforge.
+# Notice we don't have to name the individual filter
+# identifiers -- we just turn them all off in one fell swoop.
+# Disable all filters for this one site:
+ { -filter }
+ .sourceforge.net
+
+
+So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies. The
+above would be a reasonable starting point for many situations. Now, we want to
+be more specific and have customized rules that are more suitable to our
+personal habits and preferences. These would be for narrowly defined situations
+like your ISP or your bank, and should be placed in user.action, which is
+parsed after all other actions files and should not be clobbered by upgrades.
+So any settings here, will have the last word and over-ride any previously
+defined actions.
+
+Now a few examples of some things that one might do with a user.action file.
+
+# Sample user.action file.
+
+# Any aliases you want to use need to be re-defined here.
+# Alias to turn off cookie handling, ie allow all cookies unmolested.
+ -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies \
+ -session-cookies-only
+
+# Fragile sites should have the minimum changes:
+ fragile = -block -deanimate-gifs -fast-redirects -filter -hide-referer \
+ -crunch-all-cookies -kill-popups
+
+# Allow persistent cookies for a few regular sites that we
+# trust via our above alias. These will be saved from one browser session
+# to the next. We are explicitly turning off any and all cookie handling,
+# even though the crunch-*-cookies settings were disabled in our above
+# default.action anyway. So cookies from these domains will come through
+# unmolested.
+ { -crunch-all-cookies }
+ .sun.com
+ .yahoo.com
+ .msdn.microsoft.com
+ .redhat.com
+
+
+# My ISP uses obnoxious self promoting images on many pages.
+# Nuke them :) Note that "+handle-as-image" need not be specified,
+# since all URLs ending in .gif will be tagged as images by the
+# general rules in default.action anyway.
+ { +block }
+ www.my-isp-example.com/logo[0-9].gif
+
+
+# Say the site where you do your home banking needs to open
+# popup windows, but you have chosen to kill popups by
+# default. This will allow it for your-example-bank.com:
+#
+ { -filter{popups} -kill-popups }
+ .my-example-bank.com
+
+
+# This site is delicate, and requires kid-glove
+# treatment.
+ { fragile }
+ .forbes.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.5. The Filter File
+9. The Filter File
Any web page can be dynamically modified with the filter file. This
modification can be removal, or re-writing, of any web page content, including
-tags and non-visible content. The default filter file is default.filter,
-located in the config directory.
+tags and non-visible content. The default filter file is oddly enough
+default.filter, located in the config directory.
+
+This is potentially a very powerful feature, and requires knowledge of both
+"regular expression" and HTML in order create custom filters. But, there are a
+number of useful filters included with Privoxy for many common situations.
The included example file is divided into sections. Each section begins with
the FILTER keyword, followed by the identifier for that section, e.g. "FILTER:
webbugs". Each section performs a similar type of filtering, such as
-"html-annoyances".
+"html-annoyances".
This file uses regular expressions to alter or remove any string in the target
page. The expressions can only operate on one line at a time. Some examples
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-4.6. Templates
+9.1. The +filter Action
+
+Filters are enabled with the "+filter" action from within one of the actions
+files. "+filter" requires one parameter, which should match one of the section
+identifiers in the filter file itself. Example:
+
+ +filter{html-annoyances}
+
+This would activate that particular filter. Similarly, "+filter" can be turned
+off for selected sites as: "-filter{html-annoyances}". Remember too, all
+actions are off by default, unless they are explicitly enabled in one of the
+actions files.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+10. Templates
When Privoxy displays one of its internal pages, such as a 404 Not Found error
-page, it uses the appropriate template. On Linux, BSD, and Unix, these are
-located in /etc/privoxy/templates by default. These may be customized, if
-desired.
+page (Privoxy must be running for link to work as intended), it uses the
+appropriate template. On Linux, BSD, and Unix, these are located in /etc/
+privoxy/templates by default. These may be customized, if desired.
+cgi-style.css is used to control the HTML attributes (fonts, etc).
+
+The default Blocked (Privoxy needs to be running for page to display) banner
+page with the bright red top banner, is called just "blocked". This may be
+customized or replaced with something else if desired (not recommended for the
+casual user).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-5. Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
+11. Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
We value your feedback. However, to provide you with the best support, please
-note:
+note the following sections.
- * Use the Sourceforge support forum to get help.
-
- * Submit bugs only thru our Sourceforge bug forum. 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.
-
- * Submit feature requests only thru our Sourceforge feature request forum.
-
-
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+11.1. Get Support
+
+To get support, use the Sourceforge Support Forum:
+
+ http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=211118
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+11.2. 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.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+11.3. 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.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+11.4. 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.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+11.5. Other
-For any other issues, feel free to use the mailing lists.
+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 join the appropriate mailing list here. Archives are available
-here too.
+discussions can also join the appropriate mailing list. Archives are available,
+too. See the page on Sourceforge.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-6. Copyright and History
+12. Privoxy Copyright, License and History
+
+Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
-6.1. License
+Some source code is based on code Copyright © 1997 by Anonymous Coders and
+Junkbusters, Inc. and licensed under the GNU General Public License.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+12.1. License
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.
+terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2, as published by the Free
+Software Foundation.
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
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
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-6.2. History
+12.2. History
Privoxy is evolved, and derived from, the Internet Junkbuster, with many
-improvments and enhancements over the original.
+improvements 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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7. See also
+13. See Also
+
+Other references and sites of interest to Privoxy users:
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa, the Project Page for Privoxy.
+http://www.privoxy.org/, The Privoxy Home page.
- http://www.privoxy.org/
+http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa, the Project Page for Privoxy on
+Sourceforge.
- http://p.p/
+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 "Privoxy - Submit Filter Feedback" 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/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8. Appendix
+14. Appendix
-8.1. Regular Expressions
+14.1. Regular Expressions
Privoxy can use "regular expressions" in various config files. Assuming support
for "pcre" (Perl Compatible Regular Expressions) is compiled in, which is the
\ - The "escape" character denotes that the following character should be taken
literally. This is used where one of the special characters (e.g. ".") needs to
-be taken literally and not as a special meta-character.
+be taken literally and not as a special meta-character. Example: "example
+\.com", makes sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded
+to its meta-character meaning of any single character).
[] - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if any of the enclosed
-characters are encountered.
+characters are encountered. For instance, "[0-9]" matches any numeric digit
+(zero through nine). As an example, we can combine this with "+" to match any
+digit one of more times: "[0-9]+".
() - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression, or multiple
sub-expressions.
| - The "bar" character works like an "or" conditional statement. A match is
-successful if the sub-expression on either side of "|" matches.
+successful if the sub-expression on either side of "|" matches. As an example:
+"/(this|that) example/" uses grouping and the bar character and would match
+either "this example" or "that example", and nothing else.
s/string1/string2/g - This is used to rewrite strings of text. "string1" is
-replaced by "string2" in this example.
+replaced by "string2" in this example. There must of course be a match on
+"string1" first.
These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
Privoxy, and is a long way from a definitive list. This is enough to get us
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.2. Privoxy's Internal Pages
+14.2. Privoxy's Internal Pages
Since Privoxy proxies each requested web page, it is easy for Privoxy to trap
certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to Privoxy, and see how
Alternately, this may be reached at http://p.p/, but this variation may not
work as reliably as the above in some configurations.
- * Show information about the current configuration:
+ * Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
+ editing of actions files:
http://config.privoxy.org/show-status
http://config.privoxy.org/show-version
- * Show the client's request headers:
+ * Show the browser's request headers:
http://config.privoxy.org/show-request
http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable
- * Edit the actions list file:
-
- http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions
-
-These may be bookmarked for quick reference.
+These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.2.1. Bookmarklets
+14.2.1. Bookmarklets
-Here are some bookmarklets to allow you to easily access a "mini" version of
-this page. 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 will work for testing).
+Below are some "bookmarklets" to allow you to easily access a "mini" version of
+some of Privoxy's 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).
To save them, right-click the link and choose "Add to Favorites" (IE) or "Add
Bookmark" (Netscape). You will get a warning that the bookmark "may not be
safe" - just click OK. Then you can run the Bookmarklet directly from your
-favourites/bookmarks. For even faster access, you can put them on the "Links"
+favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access, you can put them on the "Links"
bar (IE) or the "Personal Toolbar" (Netscape), and run them with a single
click.
- * Enable Privoxy
+ * Privoxy - Enable
+
+ * Privoxy - Disable
- * Disable Privoxy
+ * Privoxy - Toggle Privoxy (Toggles between enabled and disabled)
- * Toggle Privoxy (Toggles between enabled and disabled)
+ * Privoxy- View Status
- * View Privoxy Status
+ * Privoxy - Submit Filter Feedback
Credit: The site which gave me the general idea for these bookmarklets is
www.bookmarklets.com. They have more information about bookmarklets.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.3. Anatomy of an Action
+14.3. Chain of Events
-The way Privoxy applies "actions" 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 see just what Privoxy is doing. Especially, if something Privoxy is
-doing is causing us a problem inadvertantly. It can be a little daunting to
-look at the actions files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
-"regular expressions" whose consequences are not always so obvious. Privoxy
-provides the http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info page that can show us very
-specifically how actions are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help
-for troubleshooting.
+Let's take a quick look at the basic sequence of events when a web page is
+requested by your browser and Privoxy is on duty:
-First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then Privoxy will tell
-us how the current configuration will handle it. This will not help with
-filtering effects from the default.filter file! 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
-"View Page Source" option for this.
+ * First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send the
+ request to Privoxy, which will in turn, relay the request to the remote web
+ server after passing the following tests:
+
+ * Privoxy traps any request for its own internal CGI pages (e.g http://p.p/)
+ and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
+
+ * Next, Privoxy checks to see if the URL matches any "+block" patterns. If
+ so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be
+ contacted. "+handle-as-image" is then checked and if it does not match, an
+ HTML "BLOCKED" page is sent back. Otherwise, if it does match, an image is
+ returned. The type of image depends on the setting of "+set-image-blocker"
+ (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
+
+ * Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the trust file, then
+ that is done.
+
+ * If the URL pattern matches the "+fast-redirects" action, it is then
+ processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
+
+ * Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
+ of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. "+hide-user-agent", etc.),
+ headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and their
+ parameters.
+
+ * Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web
+ page and related data).
+
+ * 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 "+crunch-incoming-cookies",
+ "+session-cookies-only", and "+downgrade-http-version" actions.
+
+ * If the "+kill-popups" action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript
+ document, the popup-code in the response is filtered on-the-fly as it is
+ received.
+
+ * If a "+filter" or "+deanimate-gifs" 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 default.filter) are
+ processed against the buffered content. Filters are applied in the order
+ they are specified in the default.filter file. 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 Privoxy
+ back to your browser.
+
+ If neither "+filter" or "+deanimate-gifs" matches, then Privoxy passes the
+ raw data through to the client browser as it becomes available.
+
+ * As the browser receives the now (probably filtered) page content, it reads
+ and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page source,
+ e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
+ frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a new
+ request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a
+ complex web page may have many such embedded URLs.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Let's look at an example, google.com, one section at a time:
+14.4. Anatomy of an Action
- System default actions:
-
- { -add-header -block -deanimate-gifs -downgrade -fast-redirects -filter
- -hide-forwarded -hide-from -hide-referer -hide-user-agent -image
- -image-blocker -limit-connect -no-compression -no-cookies-keep
- -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set -no-popups -vanilla-wafer -wafer }
-
-
+The way Privoxy applies "actions" and "filters" 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 see just what Privoxy is doing. Especially, if something
+Privoxy 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 "regular expressions" whose consequences are not always so
+obvious.
-This is the top section, and only tells us of the compiled in defaults. This is
-basically what Privoxy would do if there were not any "actions" defined, i.e.
-it does nothing. Every action is disabled. This is not particularly informative
-for our purposes here. OK, next section:
+One quick test to see if Privoxy is causing a problem or not, is to disable it
+temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting step. See the
+Bookmarklets section on a quick and easy way to do this (be sure to flush
+caches afterward!).
- Matches for http://google.com:
-
- { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade +fast-redirects
- +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups}
- +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal}
- +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded +hide-from{block} +hide-referer{forge}
- -hide-user-agent -image +image-blocker{blank} +no-compression
- +no-cookies-keep -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set +no-popups
- -vanilla-wafer -wafer }
- /
-
- { -no-cookies-keep -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set }
- .google.com
-
- { -fast-redirects }
- .google.com
-
-
+Privoxy also provides the http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info page that can
+show us very specifically how actions are being applied to any given URL. This
+is a big help for troubleshooting.
-This is much more informative, and tells us how we have defined our "actions",
-and which ones match for our example, "google.com". The first grouping shows
-our default settings, which would apply to all URLs. If you look at your
-"actions" file, this would be the section just below the "aliases" section near
-the top. This applies to all URLs as signified by the single forward slash -- "
-/".
-
-These are the default actions we have enabled. But we can define additional
-actions that would be exceptions to these general rules, and then list specific
-URLs that these exceptions would apply to. Last match wins. Just below this
-then are two explict matches for ".google.com". The first is negating our
-various cookie blocking actions (i.e. we will allow cookies here). The second
-is allowing "fast-redirects". Note that there is a leading dot here --
+First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then Privoxy will tell
+us how the current configuration will handle it. This will not help with
+filtering effects (i.e. the "+filter" action) from the default.filter file
+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 "View Page Source" option for this. Or right click on the ad,
+and grab the URL.
+
+Let's try an example, google.com, and look at it one section at a time:
+
+ Matches for http://google.com:
+
+--- File standard ---
+(no matches in this file)
+
+--- File default ---
+
+{ -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects
+ -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental}
+ +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies}
+ +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size}
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge}
+ -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect
+ +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer }
+/
+
+ { -session-cookies-only }
+ .google.com
+
+ { -fast-redirects }
+ .google.com
+
+--- File user ---
+(no matches in this file)
+
+This tells us how we have defined our "actions", and which ones match for our
+example, "google.com". The first listing is any matches for the standard.action
+file. No hits at all here on "standard". Then next is "default", or our
+default.action 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 "actions"
+file, this would be the section just below the "aliases" section near the top.
+This will apply to all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end
+of the listing -- "/".
+
+But we can define additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
+rules, and then list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions would
+apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit matches for
+".google.com". The first is negating our previous cookie setting, which was for
+"+session-cookies-only" (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent
+cookies for google. The second turns off any "+fast-redirects" action, allowing
+this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading dot here --
".google.com". This will match any hosts and sub-domains, in the google.com
-domain also, such as "www.google.com". So, apparently, we have these actions
-defined somewhere in the lower part of our actions file, and "google.com" is
-referenced in these sections.
+domain also, such as "www.google.com". So, apparently, we have these two
+actions defined somewhere in the lower part of our default.action file, and
+"google.com" is referenced somewhere in these latter sections.
-And now we pull it altogether in the bottom section and summarize how Privoxy
-is appying all its "actions" to "google.com":
+Then, for our user.action file, we again have no hits.
- Final results:
-
- -add-header -block -deanimate-gifs -downgrade -fast-redirects
- +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups}
- +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal}
- +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded +hide-from{block} +hide-referer{forge}
- -hide-user-agent -image +image-blocker{blank} -limit-connect +no-compression
- -no-cookies-keep -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set +no-popups -vanilla-wafer
- -wafer
-
-
+And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
+Privoxy is applying all its "actions" to "google.com":
+
+ Final results:
+ -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version -fast-redirects
+ -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental}
+ +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies}
+ +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size}
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge}
+ -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect
+ +prevent-compression -session-cookies-only -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer
+
+Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to "fast-redirects"
+and "session-cookies-only".
Now another example, "ad.doubleclick.net":
- { +block +image }
+ { +block +handle-as-image }
.ad.doubleclick.net
- { +block +image }
+ { +block +handle-as-image }
ad*.
- { +block +image }
+ { +block +handle-as-image }
.doubleclick.net
-
-
We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is matched
-three different times. Each as an "+block +image", which is the expanded form
-of one of our aliases that had been defined as: "+imageblock". ("Aliases" are
-defined in the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine
-more than one action.)
+three different times. Each as an "+block +handle-as-image", which is the
+expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as: "+imageblock". (
+"Aliases" are defined in the first section of the actions file and typically
+used to combine more than one action.)
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 "ad.doubleclick.net" is done here -- as both a "+block" and an
-"+image". The custom alias "+imageblock" does this for us.
+defined as "ad.doubleclick.net" is done here -- as both a "+block" and an
+"+handle-as-image". The custom alias "+imageblock" just simplifies the process
+and make it more readable.
One last example. Let's try "http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/". This one is
giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm...
- Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
-
- { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade +fast-redirects
- +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups}
- +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal}
- +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded +hide-from{block} +hide-referer{forge}
- -hide-user-agent -image +image-blocker{blank} +no-compression
- +no-cookies-keep -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set +no-popups
- -vanilla-wafer -wafer }
- /
-
- { +block +image }
- /ads
-
-
+ Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
+
+ { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects
+ +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{kill-popups}
+ +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal}
+ +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block}
+ +hide-referer{forge} -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{blank}
+ +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -crunch-incoming-cookies
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies +kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer }
+ /
+
+ { +block +handle-as-image }
+ /ads
Ooops, the "/adsl/" is matching "/ads"! But we did not want this at all! Now we
see why we get the blank page. We could now add a new action below this that
-explictly does not block (-block) pages with "adsl". There are various ways to
-handle such exceptions. Example:
+explicitly does not block ("{-block}") paths with "adsl". There are various
+ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
{ -block }
/adsl
-
-
-Now the page displays ;-)
+Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when making
+such changes. Or, try using Shift+Reload.
But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like we did
-with:
+with:
- { -block }
- /adsl
-
-
+ { +block +handle-as-image }
+ /ads
That actually was very telling 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
.jungle.com
.scan.co.uk
.forbes.com
-
-
-"{shop}" is an "alias" that expands to "{ -filter -no-cookies -no-cookies-keep
-}". Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
+"{shop}" is an "alias" that expands to "{ -filter -session-cookies-only }". Or
+you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
{-filter}
.forbes.com
-
-
+
+This would probably be most appropriately put in user.action, for local site
+exceptions.
+
+"{fragile}" is an alias that disables most actions. This can be used as a last
+resort for problem sites. Remember to flush caches! If this still does not
+work, you will have to go through the remaining actions one by one to find
+which one(s) is causing the problem.
projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff