-Privoxy 3.0.3 User Manual
+Privoxy 3.0.5 User Manual
-[ Copyright © 2001 - 2004 by Privoxy Developers ]
+Copyright © 2001 - 2006 by Privoxy Developers
-$Id: user-manual.txt,v 1.60.2.7 2004/01/30 23:46:57 oes Exp $
+$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.22 2006/09/22 01:27:55 hal9 Exp $
-The User Manual gives users information on how to install, configure and use
-Privoxy.
+The Privoxy 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, modifying web page content, managing cookies, controlling access, and
+privacy, modifying web page data, 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
Privoxy is based on Internet Junkbuster (tm).
-You can find the latest version of the User Manual at http://www.privoxy.org/
-user-manual/. Please see the Contact section on how to contact the developers.
+You can find the latest version of the Privoxy User Manual at http://
+www.privoxy.org/user-manual/. Please see the Contact section on how to contact
+the developers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
-
+
1.1. Features
-
+
2. Installation
-
+
2.1. Binary Packages
-
+
2.1.1. Red Hat, SuSE and Conectiva RPMs
2.1.2. Debian
2.1.3. Windows
2.1.6. Mac OSX
2.1.7. AmigaOS
2.1.8. Gentoo
-
+
2.2. Building from Source
2.3. Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date
-
-3. Note to Upgraders
+
+3. What's New in this Release
+
+ 3.1. Note to Upgraders
+
4. Quickstart to Using Privoxy
-
+
4.1. Quickstart to Ad Blocking
-
+
5. Starting Privoxy
-
- 5.1. Red Hat and Conectiva
+
+ 5.1. Red Hat, Fedora and Conectiva
5.2. Debian
5.3. SuSE
5.4. Windows
5.8. AmigaOS
5.9. Gentoo
5.10. Command Line Options
-
+
6. Privoxy Configuration
-
+
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
-
+
+ 7.1. Local Set-up Documentation
+
+ 7.1.1. user-manual
+ 7.1.2. trust-info-url
+ 7.1.3. admin-address
+ 7.1.4. proxy-info-url
+
+ 7.2. Configuration and Log File Locations
+
+ 7.2.1. confdir
+ 7.2.2. logdir
+ 7.2.3. actionsfile
+ 7.2.4. filterfile
+ 7.2.5. logfile
+ 7.2.6. jarfile
+ 7.2.7. trustfile
+
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
-
+ 7.4.4. enable-remote-http-toggle
+ 7.4.5. enable-edit-actions
+ 7.4.6. ACLs: permit-access and deny-access
+ 7.4.7. buffer-limit
+
7.5. Forwarding
-
+
7.5.1. forward
7.5.2. forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a
7.5.3. Advanced Forwarding Examples
-
+ 7.5.4. forwarded-connect-retries
+
7.6. Windows GUI Options
-
+
8. Actions Files
-
+
8.1. Finding the Right Mix
8.2. How to Edit
8.3. How Actions are Applied to URLs
8.4. Patterns
-
+
8.4.1. The Domain Pattern
8.4.2. The Path Pattern
-
+
8.5. Actions
-
+
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
-
+ 8.5.3. content-type-overwrite
+ 8.5.4. crunch-client-header
+ 8.5.5. crunch-if-none-match
+ 8.5.6. crunch-incoming-cookies
+ 8.5.7. crunch-server-header
+ 8.5.8. crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ 8.5.9. deanimate-gifs
+ 8.5.10. downgrade-http-version
+ 8.5.11. fast-redirects
+ 8.5.12. filter
+ 8.5.13. filter-client-headers
+ 8.5.14. filter-server-headers
+ 8.5.15. force-text-mode
+ 8.5.16. handle-as-empty-document
+ 8.5.17. handle-as-image
+ 8.5.18. hide-accept-language
+ 8.5.19. hide-content-disposition
+ 8.5.20. hide-if-modified-since
+ 8.5.21. hide-forwarded-for-headers
+ 8.5.22. hide-from-header
+ 8.5.23. hide-referrer
+ 8.5.24. hide-user-agent
+ 8.5.25. inspect-jpegs
+ 8.5.26. kill-popups
+ 8.5.27. limit-connect
+ 8.5.28. prevent-compression
+ 8.5.29. overwrite-last-modified
+ 8.5.30. redirect
+ 8.5.31. send-vanilla-wafer
+ 8.5.32. send-wafer
+ 8.5.33. session-cookies-only
+ 8.5.34. set-image-blocker
+ 8.5.35. treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks
+ 8.5.36. Summary
+
8.6. Aliases
8.7. Actions Files Tutorial
-
+
8.7.1. default.action
8.7.2. user.action
-
-9. The Filter File
-
+
+9. Filter Files
+
9.1. Filter File Tutorial
9.2. The Pre-defined Filters
-
-10. Templates
+
+10. Privoxy's Template Files
11. Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
-
+
11.1. Get Support
- 11.2. Report Bugs
+ 11.2. Reporting Problems
+
+ 11.2.1. Reporting Ads or Other Configuration Problems
+ 11.2.2. Reporting Bugs
+
11.3. Request New Features
- 11.4. Report Ads or Other Actions-Related Problems
- 11.5. Other
-
+ 11.4. Other
+
12. Privoxy Copyright, License and History
-
+
12.1. License
12.2. History
12.3. Authors
-
+
13. See Also
14. Appendix
-
+
14.1. Regular Expressions
14.2. Privoxy's Internal Pages
-
+
14.2.1. Bookmarklets
-
+
14.3. Chain of Events
- 14.4. Anatomy of an Action
-
+ 14.4. Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action
+
1. Introduction
-This documentation is included with the current stable version of Privoxy,
-v.3.0.3.
+This documentation is included with the current BETA version of Privoxy,
+v.3.0.5, 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 a new version is currently
+nearing completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over
+earlier versions. .
+
+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. Features
-In addition to Internet Junkbuster's traditional features of ad and banner
-blocking and cookie management, Privoxy provides new features:
+In addition to the core features of ad blocking and cookie management, Privoxy
+provides many supplemental features, some of them currently under development,
+that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
* 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.)
-
+
* 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 (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.
-
+
* Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
-
+
* GIF de-animation.
-
+
* Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
-
+
* Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
-
+
* User-customizable HTML templates for all proxy-generated pages (e.g.
"blocked" page).
-
+
* Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
-
+
* Improved signal handling, and a true daemon mode (Unix).
-
+
* Every feature now controllable on a per-site or per-location basis,
configuration more powerful and versatile over-all.
-
+
* Many smaller new features added, limitations and bugs removed, and security
holes fixed.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Installation
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
+Note: On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed
+versions, if found. (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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.1.1. Red Hat, SuSE and Conectiva RPMs
-RPMs can be installed with rpm -Uvh privoxy-3.0.3-1.rpm, and will use /etc/
+RPMs can be installed with rpm -Uvh privoxy-3.0.5-1.rpm, and will use /etc/
privoxy for the location of configuration files.
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.
+You will need to enable that using chkconfig, ntsysv, or similar methods.
If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM: rpm
---rebuild privoxy-3.0.3-1.src.rpm. This will use your locally installed
+--rebuild privoxy-3.0.5-1.src.rpm. This will use your locally installed
libraries and RPM version.
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.
+remove Junkbuster automatically if found, before installing Privoxy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
+installed Privoxy in.
+
+Version 3.0.4 introduced full Windows service functionality. On Windows only,
+the Privoxy program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
+Privoxy as a service.
+
+Arguments:
+
+ --install[:service_name]
+
+ --uninstall[:service_name]
+
+After invoking Privoxy with --install, you will need to bring up the Windows
+service console to assign the user you want Privoxy to run under, and whether
+or not you want it to run whenever the system starts. You can start the Windows
+services console with the following command: services.msc. If you do not take
+the manual step of modifying Privoxy's service settings, it will not start.
+Note too that you will need to give Privoxy a user account that actually
+exists, or it will not be permitted to write to its log and configuration
+files.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First, make sure that no previous installations of Junkbuster and / or Privoxy
are left on your system. Check that no Junkbuster or Privoxy objects are in
-your startup folder.
+your startup folder.
Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will guide
you through the installation process. A shadow of the Privoxy executable will
To start Privoxy by hand, double-click on StartPrivoxy.command in the /Library/
Privoxy folder. Or, type this command in the Terminal:
- /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
-
-
+ /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
+
You will be prompted for the administrator password.
latest version.
Configuration files are in /etc/privoxy, the documentation is in /usr/share/doc
-/privoxy-3.0.3 and the Log directory is in /var/log/privoxy.
+/privoxy-3.0.5 and the Log directory is in /var/log/privoxy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
+directly from the CVS repository.
To build Privoxy from source, autoconf, GNU make (gmake), and, of course, a C
compiler like gcc are required.
-When building from a source tarball (either release version or nightly CVS
-tarball), first unpack the source:
-
- tar xzvf privoxy-3.0.3-src* [.tgz or .tar.gz]
- cd privoxy-3.0.3
-
+When building from a source tarball, first unpack the source:
-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:
+ tar xzvf privoxy-3.0.5-beta-src* [.tgz or .tar.gz]
+ cd privoxy-3.0.5-beta
- 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
+For retrieving the current CVS sources, you'll need a CVS client installed.
+Note that sources from CVS are typicially development quality, and may not be
+stable, or well tested. To download CVS source, check the Sourceforge
+documentation, which might give commands like:
+ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@ijbswa.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa login
+ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@ijbswa.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa co current
+ cd current
This will create a directory named current/, which will contain the source
tree.
-Then, in either case, to build from unpacked tarball or CVS source:
+You can also check out any Privoxy "branch", just exchange the current name
+with the wanted branch name (Example: v_3_0_branch for the 3.0 cvs tree).
- autoheader
- autoconf
- ./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)
+It is also strongly recommended to not run Privoxy as root, and instead it is
+suggested to create a "privoxy" user and group for this purpose. See your local
+documentation for the correct command line to do this.
+/etc/passwd might then look like:
-If you have gnu make, you can have the first four steps automatically done for
-you by just typing:
+ privoxy:*:7777:7777:privoxy proxy:/no/home:/no/shell
+
+And then /etc/group, like:
+
+ privoxy:*:7777:
+
+Some binary packages may do this for you.
- make
+Then, to build from either unpacked tarball or CVS source:
+ autoheader
+ autoconf
+ ./configure # (--help to see options)
+ make # (the make from GNU, sometimes called gmake)
+ su
+ make -n install # (to see where all the files will go)
+ make -s install # (to really install, -s to silence output)
+
+If you have GNU make, you can have the first four steps automatically done for
+you by just typing:
+
+ make
in the freshly downloaded or unpacked source directory.
-For more detailed instructions on how to build Redhat and SuSE RPMs, Windows
+WARNING: If installing as root, the install will fail unless a non-root user or
+group is specified, or a privoxy user and group already exist on the system. If
+a non-root user is specified, and no group, then the installation will try to
+also use a group of the same name as "user". If a group is specified (and no
+user), then the support files will be installed as writable by that group, and
+owned by the user running the installation.
+
+configure accepts --with-user and --with-group options for setting user and
+group ownership of the configuration files (which need to be writable by the
+daemon). The specified user must already exist. When starting Privoxy, it
+should be run as this same user to insure write access to configuration and log
+files.
+
+Alternately, you can specify user and group on the make command line, but be
+sure both already exist:
+
+ make -s install USER=privoxy GROUP=privoxy
+
+The default installation path for make install is /usr/local. This may of
+course be customized with the various ./configure path options. If you are
+doing a root install to anywhere else besides /usr/local, be sure to set the
+appropriate paths with the correct configure options (./configure --help).
+
+If you do install to /usr/local, the install will use sysconfdir=$prefix/etc/
+privoxy by default. All other destinations, and the direct usage of
+--sysconfdir flag behave like normal, i.e. will not add the extra privoxy
+directory. This is for a safer install, as there may already exist another
+program that uses a file with the "config" name, and thus makes /usr/local/etc
+cleaner.
+
+If installing to /usr/local, the docs will go by default to $prefix/share/doc.
+But if this directory doesn't exist, it will then try $prefix/doc and install
+there before creating a new $prefix/share/doc just for Privoxy.
+
+Again, if the installs goes to /usr/local, the localstatedir (ie: var/) will
+default to /var instead of $prefix/var so the logs will go to /var/log/privoxy
+/, and the pid file will be created in /var/run/privoxy.pid.
+
+make install will attempt to set the correct values in config (main
+configuration file). You may want to check this to make sure all values are
+correct. If appropriate, an init script will be installed, but it is up to the
+user to determine how and where to start Privoxy. The init script should be
+checked for correct paths and values, if anything other than a default install
+is done.
+
+If install finds previous versions of any local configuration files, these will
+not be overwritten, and the new ones will be installed with a "new" extension.
+default.action, default.filter, and standard.action will be overwritten. You
+will then need to manually update the other installed configuration files as
+needed. All template files will be overwritten. If you have customized, local
+templates, you should save these first. If a previous version of Privoxy is
+already running, you will have to restart it manually.
+
+For more detailed instructions on how to build Redhat RPMs, Windows
self-extracting installers, building on platforms with special requirements
etc, please consult the developer manual.
Privoxy or the actions file, subscribe to our announce mailing list,
ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
-In order not to loose your personal changes and adjustments when updating to
-the latest default.action file we strongly recommend that you use user.action
-for your customization of Privoxy. See the Chapter on actions files for
-details.
+In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating to the
+latest default.action file we strongly recommend that you use user.action and
+user.filter for your local customizations of Privoxy. See the Chapter on
+actions files for details.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3. Note to Upgraders
-
-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:
+3. What's New in this Release
- * The default listening port is now 8118 due to a conflict with another
- service (NAS).
+There are many improvements and new features in Privoxy 3.0.5 :
- * Some installers may remove earlier versions completely. Save any important
- configuration files!
+ * Multiple filter files can now be specified in config. This allows for
+ locally defined filters that can be maintained separately from the filters
+ as supplied by the developers, i.e. default.filter.
+
+ * There are a number of new actions:
+
+ + content-type-overwrite
+
+ + crunch-client-header
+
+ + crunch-if-none-match
+
+ + crunch-server-header
+
+ + filter-client-headers
+
+ + filter-server-headers
+
+ + force-text-mode
+
+ + handle-as-empty-document
+
+ + hide-accept-language
+
+ + hide-content-disposition
+
+ + hide-if-modified-since
+
+ + inspect-jpegs
+
+ + overwrite-last-modified
+
+ + redirect
+
+ + treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks
+
+ In addition, fast-redirects has been significantly improved with enhanced
+ syntax.
+
+ And hide-referrer has a new option, conditional block.
+
+ * MS-Windows versions can now be installed and started as a Windows service.
+
+ * config has two new options: enable-remote-http-toggle, and
+ forwarded-connect-retries.
+
+ And there is improved handling of the user-manual option, for placing
+ documentation and help files on the local system.
+
+ * Actions files problems and suggestions are now being directed to: http://
+ sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288. Please use this to
+ report such configuration related problems as missed ads, sites that don't
+ function properly due to one action or another, innocent images being
+ blocked, etc.
+
+ * In addition, there are numerous bug fixes and significant enhancements,
+ including error pages should no longer be cached if the problem is fixed,
+ much better DNS error handling, and various logging improvements.
+
+ * The default actions setting is now Cautious. Previous releases had a
+ default setting of Medium. Experienced users may want to adjust this, as it
+ is fairly conservative by Privoxy standards and past practices. See http://
+ config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default. New users should try the
+ default settings for a while before turning up the volume.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- * 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.
+3.1. Note to Upgraders
- * The primary configuration files for cookie management, ad and banner
- blocking, and many other aspects of Privoxy configuration are 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.
+A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier versions of
+Privoxy:
+ * Some installers may remove earlier versions completely, including
+ configuration files. Save any important configuration files!
+
+ * On the other hand, other installers may not overwrite any existing
+ configuration files, thinking you will want to do that. You may want to
+ manually check your saved files against the newer versions to see if the
+ improvements have merit, or whether there are new options that you may want
+ to consider. There are a number of new features, but most won't be
+ available unless these features are incorporated into your configuration
+ somehow.
+
+ * See the full documentation on fast-redirects which has changed syntax, and
+ will require adjustments to local configs, such as user.action. You must
+ reference the new syntax:
+
+ { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
+ .example.com
+ mybank.com
+ .google.
+
+ * The jarfile, cookie logger, is off by default now.
+
+ * What constitutes a "default" configuration has changed, and you may want to
+ review which actions are "on" by default. This is primarily a matter of
+ emphasis, but some features you may have been used to, may now be "off" by
+ default. There are also a number of new actions you may want to consider,
+ most of which are not incorporated into the default settings as yet (see
+ above).
+
* Some installers may not automatically start Privoxy after installation.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Quickstart to Using Privoxy
- * If upgrading, from versions before 2.9.16, please back up any configuration
- files. See the Note to Upgraders Section.
-
* Install Privoxy. See the Installation Section below for platform specific
information.
-
+
* Advanced users and those who want to offer Privoxy service to more than
- just their local machine should check the main config file, especially the
+ just their local machine should check the main config file, especially the
security-relevant options. These are off by default.
-
+
* Start Privoxy, if the installation program has not done this already (may
vary according to platform). See the section Starting Privoxy.
-
+
* Set your browser to use Privoxy as HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) 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 below for more details on this.
-
+ the proxy configuration for address of 127.0.0.1 and port 8118. DO NOT
+ activate proxying for FTP or any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)! It
+ won't work!
+
* Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad
images. If using Privoxy to manage cookies, you should remove any currently
stored cookies too.
-
+
* A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for most.
There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little to no
initial configuration is required in most cases.
-
+
See the Configuration section for more configuration options, and how to
- customize your installation.
-
- * If you experience ads that slipped through, innocent images that are
- blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune Privoxy's behaviour, take
- a look at the actions files. As a quick start, you might find the richly
- commented examples helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files
- through the web-based user interface. The Appendix "Anatomy of an Action"
- has hints how to debug actions that "misbehave".
-
- * For easy access to Privoxy's most important controls, drag the provided
+ customize your installation. You might also want to look at the next
+ section for a quick introduction to how Privoxy blocks ads and banners.
+
+ * If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are blocked,
+ or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune Privoxy's behavior, take a look at
+ the actions files. As a quick start, you might find the richly commented
+ examples helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the
+ web-based user interface. The Appendix "Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
+ Action" has hints how to understand and debug actions that "misbehave".
+
+ * For easy access to Privoxy's most important controls, drag the provided
Bookmarklets into your browser's personal toolbar.
-
- * Please see the section Contacting the Developers on how to report bugs or
+
+ * Please see the section Contacting the Developers on how to report bugs,
problems with websites or to get help.
-
- * Now enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy!
-
+
+ * Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.1. Quickstart to Ad Blocking
context, are the directives we use to tell Privoxy to perform some task
relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell Privoxy to take some
"action". Each action has a unique name and function. While there are many
-potential actions in Privoxy's arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking.
+potential actions in Privoxy's arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking.
Actions, and action configuration files, are explained in depth below.
Actions are specified in Privoxy's configuration, followed by one or more URLs
itself, it simply stops any communication with the remote server and sends
Privoxy's own built-in BLOCKED page instead to let you now what has
happened.
-
+
* handle-as-image - tells Privoxy to treat this URL as an image. Privoxy's
default configuration already does this for all common image types (e.g.
GIF), but there are many situations where this is not so easy to determine.
page (which would only result in a "broken image" icon). There are some
limitations to this though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an
image substitution for an entire HTML page in most situations.
-
+
* set-image-blocker - tells Privoxy what to display in place of an ad image
that has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
- block action somewhere in the configuration, and, it must also match an
+ block action somewhere in the configuration, and, it must also match an
handle-as-image action.
-
+
The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
-
- pattern - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad replacement is obvious.
- This is the default.
-
+
+ pattern - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad replacement is obvious.
+ This is the default.
+
blank - A very small empty GIF image is displayed. This is the so-called
- "invisible" configuration option.
-
- http://<URL> - A redirect to any image anywhere of the user's choosing
- (advanced usage).
-
+ "invisible" configuration option.
+
+ http://<URL> - A redirect to any image anywhere of the user's choosing
+ (advanced usage).
+
The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
-the special Privoxy editor at http://config.privoxy.org/show-status (shortcut:
+the special Privoxy editor at http://config.privoxy.org/show-status (shortcut:
http://p.p/show-status). This is an internal page, and does not require
Internet access. Select the appropriate "actions" file, and click "Edit". It is
best to put personal or local preferences in user.action since this is not
* Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select "Copy Link Location"
from the pop-up menu.
-
+
* Set your browser to http://config.privoxy.org/show-status
-
+
* Find user.action in the top section, and click on "Edit":
-
+
Figure 1. Actions Files in Use
-
+
[files-in-u]
-
+
* You should have a section with only block listed under "Actions:". If not,
click a "Insert new section below" button, and in the new section that just
appeared, click the Edit button right under the word "Actions:". This will
bring up a list of all actions. Find block near the top, and click in the
"Enabled" column, then "Submit" just below the list.
-
+
* Now, in the block actions section, click the "Add" button, and paste the
URL the browser got from "Copy Link Location". Remove the http:// at the
beginning of the URL. Then, click "Submit" (or "OK" if in a pop-up window).
-
+
* Now go back to the original page, and press SHIFT-Reload (or flush all
browser caches). The image should be gone now.
-
+
This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
site. For a more extensive explanation of "patterns", and the entire actions
5. Starting Privoxy
Before launching Privoxy for the first time, you will want to configure your
-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!
+browser(s) to use Privoxy as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) 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!
Please note that Privoxy can only proxy HTTP and HTTPS traffic. It will not
work with FTP or other protocols.
-Figure 2. Proxy Configuration (Mozilla)
+Figure 2. Proxy Configuration Showing Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)
+Settings
[proxy_setu]
+With Firefox, this can be set under:
+
+ Tools -> Options -> General -> Connection Settings -> Manual Proxy
+Configuration
+
+
With Netscape (and Mozilla), this can be set under:
- Edit
- |_
- Preferences
- |_
- Advanced
- |_
- Proxies
- |_
- HTTP Proxy
-
-For Internet Explorer:
-
- Tools
- |_
- Internet Properties
- |_
- Connections
- |_
- LAN Settings
+ Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy
+
+
+For Internet Explorer v.5-6:
+
+ Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN Settings
Then, check "Use Proxy" and fill in the appropriate info (Address: 127.0.0.1,
-Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS proxy support too.
+Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS proxy support too
+(sometimes labeled "Secure"). Make sure any checkboxes like "Use the same proxy
+server for all protocols" is UNCHECKED. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
+
+Figure 3. Proxy Configuration Showing Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure)
+Settings
+
+[proxy2]
After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
-re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. You are
-now ready to start enjoying the benefits of using Privoxy!
+re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
+any cookies, if you want Privoxy to manage that. 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. 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.
+Privoxy itself is typically started by specifying the main configuration file
+to be used on the command line. If no configuration file is specified on the
+command line, Privoxy will look for a file named config in the current
+directory. Except on Win32 where it will try config.txt.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-5.1. Red Hat and Conectiva
+5.1. Red Hat, Fedora and Conectiva
-We use a script. Note that Red Hat does not start Privoxy upon booting per
-default. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration
-file.
+A default Red Hat installation may not start Privoxy upon boot. It will use the
+file /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration file.
- # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
+ # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
+Or ...
+
+ # service privoxy start
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.2. Debian
-We use a script. Note that Debian starts Privoxy upon booting per default. It
-will use the file /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration file.
-
- # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
+We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts Privoxy upon booting per
+default. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration
+file.
+ # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
-
+ # rcprivoxy start
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
+Note that Windows will automatically start Privoxy when the system starts if
+you chose that option when installing.
+
+Privoxy can run with full Windows service functionality. On Windows only, the
+Privoxy program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
+Privoxy as a service. See the Windows Installation instructions for details.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Example Unix startup command:
- # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
-
+ # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.7. Mac OSX
During installation, Privoxy is configured to start automatically when the
-system restarts. To start Privoxy by hand, double-click on the
+system restarts. To start Privoxy manually, double-click on the
StartPrivoxy.command icon in the /Library/Privoxy folder. Or, type this command
in the Terminal:
- /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
-
-
+ /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
+
You will be prompted for the administrator password.
5.8. AmigaOS
-Start Privoxy (with RUN <>NIL:) in your startnet script (AmiTCP), in
-s:user-startup (RoadShow), as startup program in your startup script (Genesis),
+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).
A script is again used. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config as its main
configuration file.
- /etc/init.d/privoxy start
-
-
+ /etc/init.d/privoxy start
+
Note that Privoxy is not automatically started at boot time by default. You can
change this with the rc-update command.
- rc-update add privoxy default
-
-
+ rc-update add privoxy default
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Privoxy may be invoked with the following command-line options:
* --version
-
+
Print version info and exit. Unix only.
-
+
* --help
-
+
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, and
don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
-
+
* --pidfile FILE
-
+
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.
-
+
* --user USER[.GROUP]
-
+
After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of USER, and if
included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the privileges are not sufficient to do
so. Unix only.
-
+
* --chroot
-
+
Before changing to the user ID given in the --user option, chroot to that
user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the Privoxy process
that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
the impact of possible vulnerabilities in Privoxy to the files contained in
that hierarchy. Unix only.
-
+
* configfile
-
+
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. If no
config file is found, Privoxy will fail to start.
+
+On MS Windows only there are two additional command-line options to allow
+Privoxy to install and run as a service. See the Window Installation section
+for details.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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:
-
- 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
- ? Documentation
+without Internet access. You will see the following section:
+ 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
+ ? Documentation
+
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
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
-directory as the Privoxy executable.
+directory as the Privoxy executable. The name and number of configuration files
+has changed from previous versions, and is subject to change as development
+progresses.
The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though some
settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the principle
* The main configuration file is named config on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and
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
+
+ * "Filter files" (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.
- Only one filter file may be defined.
+ default.filter includes various filters made available for use by the
+ developers. Some are much more intrusive than others, and all should be
+ used with caution. You may define additional filter files in config as you
+ can with actions files. We suggest user.filter for any locally defined
+ filters or customizations.
+
+The syntax of all configuration files has remained the same throughout the 3.x
+series. There have been enhancements, but no changes that would preclude the
+use of any configuration file from one version to the next. (There is one
+exception: +fast-redirects which has enhanced syntax and will require updating
+any local configs from earlier versions.)
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.
+out" that line. Blank lines are ignored.
-The actions files and default.filter can use Perl style regular expressions for
+The actions files and filter files can use Perl style regular expressions for
maximum flexibility.
After making any changes, there is no need to restart Privoxy in order for the
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
+constitutes a "default" setting, may change, so please check all your
+configuration files on important issues.
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. The Main Configuration File
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.1. Configuration and Log File Locations
-
-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.
+7.1. Local Set-up Documentation
-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 and actions files.
+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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.1.1. confdir
+7.1.1. user-manual
Specifies:
-
- The directory where the other configuration files are located
-
+
+ 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 the single best source of information on Privoxy,
+ and 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.
+
+ Examples:
+
+ The best all purpose solution is simply to put the full local PATH to where
+ the User Manual is located:
+
+ user-manual /usr/share/doc/privoxy/user-manual
+
+ The User Manual is then available to anyone with access to the proxy, by
+ following the built-in URL: http://config.privoxy.org/user-manual/ (or the
+ shortcut: http://p.p/user-manual/).
+
+ If the documentation is not on the local system, it can be accessed from a
+ remote server, as:
+
+ user-manual http://example.com/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 on |
+ |start-up. |
+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
- Path name
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+7.1.2. trust-info-url
+
+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!
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- /etc/privoxy (Unix) or Privoxy installation dir (Windows)
+7.1.3. admin-address
+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.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Mandatory
+7.1.4. proxy-info-url
+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 ;-)
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- No trailing "/", please
+7.2. Configuration and Log File Locations
- 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).
+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.
+
+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 and actions files.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.1.2. logdir
+7.2.1. confdir
Specifies:
+
+ The directory where the other configuration files are located
+
+Type of value:
+
+ Path name
+
+Default value:
+
+ /etc/privoxy (Unix) or Privoxy installation dir (Windows)
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ Mandatory
+
+Notes:
+
+ No trailing "/", please
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+7.2.2. logdir
+Specifies:
+
The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where logfile and jarfile
are located)
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
Path name
-
+
Default value:
-
+
/var/log/privoxy (Unix) or Privoxy installation dir (Windows)
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Mandatory
-
+
Notes:
-
+
No trailing "/", please
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.1.3. actionsfile
+7.2.3. actionsfile
Specifies:
-
+
The actions file(s) to use
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
File name, relative to confdir, without the .action suffix
-
+
Default values:
-
+
standard # Internal purposes, no editing recommended
-
- default # Main actions file
-
- user # User customizations
-
+
+ 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.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.1.4. filterfile
+7.2.4. filterfile
Specifies:
-
- The filter file to use
-
+
+ The filter file(s) to use
+
Type of value:
-
+
File name, relative to confdir
-
+
Default value:
-
+
default.filter (Unix) or default.filter.txt (Windows)
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all +filter{name} actions in
the actions files are turned neutral.
-
+
Notes:
-
- The filter file contains content modification rules that use regular
+
+ Multiple filterfile lines are permitted.
+
+ The filter files contain 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.
-
+ pages, and optionally the headers as well, e.g., you could disable your
+ favorite JavaScript annoyances, re-write the actual displayed text, or just
+ have some fun playing buzzword bingo with web pages.
+
The +filter{name} actions rely on the relevant filter (name) to be defined
- in the filter file!
-
- A pre-defined filter file called default.filter that contains a bunch of
- handy filters for common problems is included in the distribution. See the
+ in a filter file!
+
+ A pre-defined filter file called default.filter that contains a number of
+ useful filters for common problems is included in the distribution. See the
section on the filter action for a list.
-
+
+ It is recommended to place any locally adapted filters into a separate
+ file, such as user.filter.
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.1.5. logfile
+7.2.5. logfile
Specifies:
-
+
The log file to use
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
File name, relative to logdir
-
+
Default value:
-
+
logfile (Unix) or privoxy.log (Windows)
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (STDERR).
-
+
Notes:
-
+
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").
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.1.6. jarfile
+7.2.6. jarfile
Specifies:
-
+
The file to store intercepted cookies in
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
File name, relative to logdir
-
+
Default value:
-
- jarfile (Unix) or privoxy.jar (Windows)
-
+
+ Unset (commented out). When activated: jarfile (Unix) or privoxy.jar
+ (Windows)
+
Effect if unset:
-
- Intercepted cookies are not stored at all.
-
+
+ Intercepted cookies are not stored in a dedicated log file.
+
Notes:
-
+
The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time.
-
+
+ If debug 8 (show header parsing) is enabled, cookies are written to the
+ logfile with the rest of the headers.
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.1.7. trustfile
+7.2.7. trustfile
Specifies:
-
- The trust file to use
-
+
+ The name of 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 entire trust mechanism is turned off.
-
+
+ The entire trust mechanism is disabled.
+
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 specified in the trustfile. Sites can be listed in one of two ways:
-
+
Prepending a ~ character limits access to this site only (and any sub-paths
- within this site), e.g. ~www.example.com.
-
+ within this site), e.g. ~www.example.com allows access to ~www.example.com/
+ features/news.html, etc.
+
Or, you can designate sites as trusted referrers, by prepending the name
with a + character. The effect is that access to untrusted sites will be
- granted -- but only if a link from this trusted referrer was used. The link
- target will then be added to the "trustfile" so that future, direct
- accesses will be granted. Sites added via this mechanism do not become
- trusted referrers themselves (i.e. they are added with a ~ designation).
-
+ granted -- but only if a link from this trusted referrer was used to get
+ there. The link target will then be added to the "trustfile" so that
+ future, direct accesses will be granted. Sites added via this mechanism do
+ not become trusted referrers themselves (i.e. they are added with a ~
+ designation). There is a limit of 512 such entries, after which new entries
+ will not be made.
+
If you use the + operator in the trust file, it may grow considerably over
time.
-
+
It is recommended that Privoxy be compiled with the --disable-force,
--disable-toggle and --disable-editor options, if this feature is to be
used.
-
+
Possible applications include limiting Internet access for children.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-7.2. Local Set-up Documentation
-
-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.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-7.2.1. user-manual
-
-Specifies:
-
- 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-3.0.3/user-manual/
-
-
- Windows, in local filesystem, must use forward slash notation:
-
- user-manual file:/c:/some-dir/privoxy-3.0.3/user-manual/
-
-
- Windows, UNC notation (with forward slashes):
-
- user-manual file://///some-server/some-path/privoxy-3.0.3/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. |
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-7.2.2. trust-info-url
-
-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!
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-7.2.3. admin-address
-
-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.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-7.2.4. proxy-info-url
-
-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 ;-)
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.3. Debugging
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 2048 # CGI user interface
- debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
- debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
-
-
+
+ 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 2048 # CGI user interface
+ 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.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.3.2. single-threaded
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.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.4. Access Control and Security
7.4.1. listen-address
Specifies:
-
+
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 below), and/or a
firewall.
-
- If you open Privoxy to untrusted users, you will also want to turn off the
+
+ If you open Privoxy to untrusted users, you will also want to turn off the
enable-edit-actions and enable-remote-toggle options!
-
+
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
-
-
+
+ listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.4.2. toggle
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.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.4.3. enable-remote-toggle
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.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.4.4. enable-edit-actions
+7.4.4. enable-remote-http-toggle
Specifies:
+
+ Whether or not Privoxy recognizes special HTTP headers to change its
+ behaviour.
+
+Type of value:
+
+ 0 or 1
+
+Default value:
+
+ 1
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ Privoxy ignores special HTTP headers.
+
+Notes:
+
+ When toggled on, the client can change Privoxy's behaviour by setting
+ special HTTP headers. Currently the only supported special header is
+ "X-Filter: No", to disable filtering for the ongoing request, even if it is
+ enabled in one of the action files.
+
+ If you are using Privoxy in a multi-user environment or with untrustworthy
+ clients and want to enforce filtering, you will have to disable this
+ option, otherwise you can ignore it.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Whether or not the web-based actions file editor may be used
+7.4.5. enable-edit-actions
+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.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.4.5. ACLs: permit-access and deny-access
+7.4.6. ACLs: permit-access and deny-access
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
-
-
+
+ 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
-
-
+
+ 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
-
-
+
+ permit-access 192.168.45.64/26
+ deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.4.6. buffer-limit
+7.4.7. buffer-limit
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.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.5. Forwarding
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.
+anonymous public proxy. 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.
Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. Privoxy supports the SOCKS 4 and SOCKS
4A protocols.
7.5.1. forward
Specifies:
-
+
To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
target_pattern http_parent[:port]
-
+
where target_pattern is a URL pattern that specifies to which requests
(i.e. URLs) this forward rule shall apply. Use / to denote "all URLs".
http_parent[:port] is the DNS name or IP address of the parent HTTP proxy
through which the requests should be forwarded, optionally followed by its
listening port (default: 8080). Use a single dot (.) to denote "no
forwarding".
-
+
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 .
-
-
+
+ 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 .
-
-
+
+ forward / caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000
+ forward .example-isp.net .
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.5.2. forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a
Specifies:
-
+
Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific
requests should be routed.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
target_pattern socks_proxy[:port] http_parent[:port]
-
+
where target_pattern is a URL pattern that specifies to which requests
(i.e. URLs) this forward rule shall apply. Use / to denote "all URLs".
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 .
-
-
+
+ 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 .
-
-
+
+ forward-socks4 / socks-gw.example.com:1080 .
+
+ To chain Privoxy and Tor, both running on the same system, you should use
+ the rule:
+
+ forward-socks4 / 127.0.0.1:9050 .
+
+ The public Tor network can't be used to reach your local network, therefore
+ it's a good idea to make some exceptions:
+
+ forward 192.168.*.*/ .
+ forward 10.*.*.*/ .
+ forward 127.*.*.*/ .
+
+ Unencrypted connections to systems in these address ranges will be as (un)
+ secure as the local network is, but the alternative is that you can't reach
+ the network at all.
+
+ If you also want to be able to reach servers in your local network by using
+ their names, you will need additional exceptions that look like this:
+
+ forward localhost/ .
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.5.3. Advanced Forwarding Examples
host-a:
- forward / .
- forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118
-
+ forward / .
+ forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118
host-b:
- forward / .
- forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118
-
+ 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.
Assuming that Privoxy and squid run on the same box, your squid configuration
could then look like this:
- # 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
-
+ # 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
You could just as well decide to only forward requests for Windows executables
through a virus-scanning parent proxy, say, on antivir.example.com, port 8010:
- forward / .
- forward /.*\.(exe|com|dll|zip)$ antivir.example.com:8010
-
+ forward / .
+ forward /.*\.(exe|com|dll|zip)$ antivir.example.com:8010
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.6. Windows GUI Options
-
-Privoxy has a number of options specific to the Windows GUI interface:
+7.5.4. forwarded-connect-retries
-If "activity-animation" is set to 1, the Privoxy icon will animate when
+Specifies:
+
+ How often Privoxy retries if a forwarded connection request fails.
+
+Type of value:
+
+ Number of retries.
+
+Default value:
+
+ 0
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ Forwarded connections are treated like direct connections and no retry
+ attempts are made.
+
+Notes:
+
+ forwarded-connect-retries is mainly interesting for socks4a connections,
+ where Privoxy can't detect why the connections failed. The connection might
+ have failed because of a DNS timeout in which case a retry makes sense, but
+ it might also have failed because the server doesn't exist or isn't
+ reachable. In this case the retry will just delay the appearance of
+ Privoxy's error message.
+
+ Only use this option, if you are getting many forwarding related error
+ messages, that go away when you try again manually. Start with a small
+ value and check Privoxy's logfile from time to time, to see how many
+ retries are usually needed.
+
+Examples:
+
+ forwarded-connect-retries 1
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+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
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
+and thus determines how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP
content and transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts
-thereof). There are three such files included with Privoxy with differing
-purposes:
+thereof). There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of
+functionality. Each action does something a little different. These actions
+give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert our control,
+preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that their effects are
+aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.
+
+There are three action files included with Privoxy with differing purposes:
* 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.
-
+ work reasonably well as-is for most users. This is the file that the
+ developers are keeping updated, and making available to users. The user's
+ preferences as set in standard.action, e.g. either Cautious (the default),
+ Medium, or Advanced (see below).
+
* 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.
-
- * 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.
-
+
+ * standard.action - is used by the web based editor at http://
+ config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default, to set various pre-defined
+ sets of rules for the default actions section in default.action.
+
+ Edit Set to Cautious Set to Medium Set to Advanced
+
+ These have increasing levels of aggressiveness and have no influence on
+ your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the editor. A default
+ installation should be pre-set to Cautious (versions prior to 3.0.5 were
+ set to Medium). New users should try this for a while before adjusting the
+ settings to more aggressive levels.
+
+ The Edit button allows you to turn each action on/off individually for
+ fine-tuning. The Cautious button changes the actions list to low/safe
+ settings which will activate a minimal set of Privoxy's features, and
+ subsequently there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
+ Medium button sets the list to a medium level of ad blocking and a low
+ level set of privacy features. The Advanced button sets the list to a high
+ level of ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The
+ latter three buttons over-ride any changes via with the Edit button. More
+ fine-tuning can be done in the lower sections of this internal page.
+
+ It is not recommend to edit the standard.action file itself.
+
The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
standard.action are:
-
+
Table 1. Default Configurations
-
- +------------------------------------------------------------+
- | Feature | Cautious | Medium |Adventuresome|
- |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
- |Ad-blocking by URL |yes |yes |yes |
- |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
- |Ad-filtering by size |yes |yes |yes |
- |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
- |GIF de-animation |no |yes |yes |
- |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
- |Referer forging |no |yes |yes |
- |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
- |Cookie handling |none |session-only|kill |
- |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
- |Pop-up killing |unsolicited|unsolicited |all |
- |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
- |Fast redirects |no |no |yes |
- |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
- |HTML taming |yes |yes |yes |
- |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
- |JavaScript taming |yes |yes |yes |
- |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
- |Web-bug killing |yes |yes |yes |
- |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
- |Fun text replacements|no |no |yes |
- |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
- |Image tag reordering |no |no |yes |
- |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
- |Ad-filtering by link |no |no |yes |
- |---------------------+-----------+------------+-------------|
- |Demoronizer |no |no |yes |
- +------------------------------------------------------------+
-
+
+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+ |Feature |Cautious |Medium |Advanced |
+ |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
+ |Ad-blocking |medium |high |high |
+ |Aggressiveness | | | |
+ |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
+ |Ad-filtering by |no |yes |yes |
+ |size | | | |
+ |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
+ |Ad-filtering by |no |no |yes |
+ |link | | | |
+ |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
+ |Pop-up killing |blocks only |blocks only |all |
+ |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
+ |Privacy Features |low |medium |medium/high |
+ |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
+ |Cookie handling |none |session-only |kill |
+ |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
+ |Referer forging |no |yes |yes |
+ |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
+ |GIF de-animation |no |yes |yes |
+ |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
+ |Fast redirects |no |no |yes |
+ |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
+ |HTML taming |no |yes |yes |
+ |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
+ |JavaScript taming |no |yes |yes |
+ |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
+ |Web-bug killing |no |yes |yes |
+ |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
+ |Image tag |no |no |yes |
+ |reordering | | | |
+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g. default.action is
typically process before user.action). The content of these can all be viewed
-and edited from http://config.privoxy.org/show-status.
+and edited from http://config.privoxy.org/show-status. The over-riding
+principle when applying actions, is that the last action that matches a given
+URL, wins. The broadest, most general rules go first (defined in
+default.action), followed by any exceptions (typically also in default.action),
+which are then followed lastly by any local preferences (typically in
+user.action). Generally, user.action has the last word.
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
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
-crunch all cookies per default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule
-for sites that you regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful
-puposes, like maybe your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
+taste. And, things can always change, requiring refinements in the
+configuration. 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 crunch all cookies per default, you'll have to make exceptions from
+that rule for sites that you regularly use and that require cookies for
+actually useful purposes, like maybe your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
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
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 "Adventuresome". Warning: the "Adventuresome"
-setting is not only more aggressive, but includes settings that are fun and
-subversive, and which some may find of dubious merit!
+like "Cautious", "Medium" or "Advanced". Warning: the "Advanced" setting is
+more aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites.
+Experienced users only!
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.
+the the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at default.action
+which is richly commented with many good examples.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
+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 a regular section with a heading
line of { +handle-as-image }, then later another one with just { +block },
-resulting in both actions to apply.
+resulting in both actions to apply. And there may well be cases where you will
+want to combine actions together. Such a section then might look like:
+
+ { +handle-as-image +block }
+ # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
+ banners.example.com
+ media.example.com/.*banners
+ .example.com/images/ads/
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.
+Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, Troubleshooting:
+Anatomy of an Action section.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
all URLs). Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g. http://)
should not be included in the pattern. This is assumed already!
-www.example.com/
+The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of the
+URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique, while the
+path part uses a more flexible "Regular Expressions (PCRE)" based syntax.
+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.
-
+ regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in
+ this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
+ simple example.com is different and would NOT match.
+
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.
-
+ server anywhere.
+
index.html
-
+
matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and there
- is no top-level domain called .html.
-
+ is no top-level domain called .html. So its a mistake.
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.4.1. The Domain Pattern
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.)
-
+
+ matches any domain that CONTAINS .example.. And, by the way, also included
+ would be any files or documents that exist within that domain since no path
+ limitations are specified. (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that
+ contains example as a domain.) This might be www.example.com,
+ news.example.de, or www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl for instance. All these
+ cases are matched.
+
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, you can
-define character classes in square brackets and all of that can be freely
-mixed:
+themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards: "*"
+represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is equivalent to the
+"Regular Expression" based syntax of ".*"), "?" represents any single character
+(this is equivalent to the regular expression syntax of a simple "."), and you
+can define "character classes" in square brackets which is similar to the same
+regular expression technique. All of this 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.
+
+While flexibile, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression
+based syntax.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.4.2. The Path Pattern
-Privoxy uses Perl compatible regular expressions (through the PCRE library) for
-matching the path.
+Privoxy uses Perl compatible (PCRE) "Regular Expression" based syntax (through
+the PCRE library) for matching the path portion (after the slash), and is thus
+more flexible.
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.
+perldoc.perl.org/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
-i)" switch: www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.* will match only documents whose
path starts with PaTtErN in exactly this capitalization.
+.example.com/.*
+
+ Is equivalent to just ".example.com", since any documents within that
+ domain are matched with or without the ".*" regular expression. This is
+ redundant
+
+.example.com/.*/index.html
+
+ Will match any page in the domain of "example.com" that is named
+ "index.html", and that is part of some path. For example, it matches
+ "www.example.com/testing/index.html" but NOT "www.example.com/index.html"
+ because the regular expression called for at least two "/'s", thus the path
+ requirement. It also would match "www.example.com/testing/index_html",
+ because of the special meta-character ".".
+
+.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html
+
+ This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page named
+ "index.html" regardless of path which in this case can have one or more "/
+ 's". And this one must contain exactly ".html" (but does not have to end
+ with that!).
+
+.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)
+
+ This regular expression will match any path of "example.com" that contains
+ any of the words "ads", "banner", "banners" (because of the "?") or "junk".
+ The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
+
+.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$
+
+ This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
+ ".jpg", ".jpeg", ".gif" or ".png". So this one is limited to common image
+ formats.
+
+There are many, many good examples to be found in default.action, and more
+tutorials below in Appendix on regular expressions.
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5. Actions
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."
+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
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:
+Actions fall into three categories:
* Boolean, i.e the action can only be "enabled" or "disabled". Syntax:
-
- +name # enable action name
- -name # disable action name
-
-
+
+ +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
-
-
+
+ +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{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
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!
+processed later when using multiple actions files such as user.action). 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! Last match wins.
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}
-
-
+
+ +add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.5.2. block
Typical use:
-
- Block ads or other obnoxious content
-
+
+ Block ads or other unwanted 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.
-
+ requests are trapped by Privoxy and the requested URL is never retrieved,
+ but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
+ the handle-as-image, set-image-blocker, and handle-as-empty-document
+ 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
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
+ 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.
-
+ Privoxy deals with ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core
+ feature, and one upon which various other features depend.
+
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
-
-
+
+ {+block}
+ # Block and replace with "blocked" page
+ .nasty-stuff.example.com
+
+ {+block +handle-as-image}
+ # Block and replace with image
+ .ad.doubleclick.net
+ .ads.r.us/banners/
+
+ {+block +handle-as-empty-document}
+ # Block and then ignore
+ adserver.exampleclick.net/.*\.js$
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.3. crunch-incoming-cookies
+8.5.3. content-type-overwrite
Typical use:
-
- Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system
-
+
+ Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's
+ rendering mode
+
Effect:
-
- Deletes any "Set-Cookie:" HTTP headers from server replies.
-
+
+ Replaces the "Content-Type:" HTTP server header.
+
Type:
-
- Boolean.
-
+
+ Parameterized.
+
Parameter:
-
- N/A
-
+
+ Any string.
+
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. See also filter-content-cookies.
-
-Example usage:
-
- +crunch-incoming-cookies
-
-
+
+ The "Content-Type:" HTTP server header is used by the browser to decide
+ what to do with the document. The value of this header can cause the
+ browser to open a download menu instead of displaying the document by
+ itself, even if the document's format is supported by the browser.
+
+ The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode the browser
+ chooses. If XHTML is delivered as "text/html", many browsers treat it as
+ yet another broken HTML document. If it is send as "application/xml",
+ browsers with XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
+
+ If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
+ "Content-Type: text/html", you can use Privoxy to overwrite it with
+ "application/xml" and validate the web master's claim inside your
+ XHTML-supporting browser. If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will
+ complain loudly.
+
+ You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints error
+ messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared as XHTML, you can
+ overwrite the content type with "text/html" and have it rendered as broken
+ HTML document.
+
+ By default content-type-overwrite only replaces "Content-Type:" headers
+ that look like some kind of text. If you want to overwrite it
+ unconditionally, you have to combine it with force-text-mode. This
+ limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
+
+ Most of the time it's easier to enable filter-server-headers and replace
+ this action with a custom regular expression. It allows you to activate it
+ for every document of a certain site and it will still only replace the
+ content types you aimed at.
+
+ Of course you can apply content-type-overwrite to a whole site and then
+ make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot more work to get the same
+ precision.
+
+Example usage (sections):
+
+ # Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
+ {+content-type-overwrite {application/xml}}
+ www.example.net/
+
+ # but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
+ {-content-type-overwrite}
+ www.example.net/*.\.css$
+ www.example.net/*.style
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.4. crunch-outgoing-cookies
+8.5.4. crunch-client-header
Typical use:
-
- Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system
-
+
+ Remove a client header Privoxy has no dedicated action for.
+
Effect:
-
- Deletes any "Cookie:" HTTP headers from client requests.
-
+
+ Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user
+ supplied as parameter.
+
Type:
-
- Boolean.
-
+
+ Parameterized.
+
Parameter:
-
- N/A
-
+
+ Any string.
+
Notes:
+
+ This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
+ Privoxy action exists. Privoxy will remove every client header that
+ contains the string you supplied as parameter.
+
+ Regular expressions are not supported and you can't use this action to
+ block different headers in the same request, unless they contain the same
+ string.
+
+ crunch-client-header is only meant for quick tests. If you have to block
+ several different headers, or only want to modify parts of them, you should
+ enable filter-client-headers and create your own filter.
+
+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+ | Warning |
+ |-----------------------------------------------------------------|
+ |Don't block any header without understanding the consequences. |
+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+Example usage (section):
+
+ # Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
+ {+crunch-client-header {Privacy-Violation:}}
+ /
+
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- 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
-
+8.5.5. crunch-if-none-match
+Typical use:
+
+ Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.
+
+Effect:
+
+ Deletes the "If-None-Match:" HTTP client header.
+
+Type:
+
+ Boolean.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ N/A
+
+Notes:
+
+ Removing the "If-None-Match:" HTTP client header is useful for filter
+ testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
+ code "304" which would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
+
+ It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
+ replacement.
+
+ Blocking the "If-None-Match:" header shouldn't cause any caching problems,
+ as long as the "If-Modified-Since:" header isn't blocked as well.
+
+ It is recommended to use this action together with hide-if-modified-since
+ and overwrite-last-modified.
+
+Example usage (section):
+
+ # Let the browser revalidate cached documents without being tracked across sessions
+ {+hide-if-modified-since {-60} \
+ +overwrite-last-modified {randomize} \
+ +crunch-if-none-match}
+ /
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.5. deanimate-gifs
+8.5.6. crunch-incoming-cookies
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. See also filter-content-cookies.
+
+Example usage:
+
+ +crunch-incoming-cookies
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.
+8.5.7. crunch-server-header
+Typical use:
+
+ Remove a server header Privoxy has no dedicated action for.
+
Effect:
+
+ Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user
+ supplied as parameter.
+
+Type:
+
+ Parameterized.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ Any string.
+
+Notes:
+
+ This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
+ Privoxy action exists. Privoxy will remove every server header that
+ contains the string you supplied as parameter.
+
+ Regular expressions are not supported and you can't use this action to
+ block different headers in the same request, unless they contain the same
+ string.
+
+ crunch-server-header is only meant for quick tests. If you have to block
+ several different headers, or only want to modify parts of them, you should
+ enable filter-server-headers and create your own filter.
+
+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+ | Warning |
+ |-----------------------------------------------------------------|
+ |Don't block any header without understanding the consequences. |
+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+Example usage (section):
+
+ # Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
+ {+crunch-server-header {no-cache}}
+ /
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
+8.5.8. crunch-outgoing-cookies
+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
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Parameterized.
+8.5.9. deanimate-gifs
+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}
-
-
+
+ +deanimate-gifs{last}
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.6. downgrade-http-version
+8.5.10. 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
-
-
+
+ {+downgrade-http-version}
+ problem-host.example.com
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.7. fast-redirects
+8.5.11. fast-redirects
Typical use:
-
- Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links
-
+
+ Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.
+
Effect:
-
- Cut off all but the last valid URL from requests.
-
+
+ Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting the
+ redirection server first.
+
Type:
-
- Boolean.
-
+
+ Parameterized.
+
Parameter:
-
- N/A
-
+
+ + "simple-check" to just search for the string "http://" to detect
+ redirection URLs.
+
+ + "check-decoded-url" to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching for
+ redirection URLs.
+
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.
-
+ from this scheme typically look like: "http://www.example.org/
+ click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/".
+
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
+ asks 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.
-
+ If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
+ this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
+
+ Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil. Some sites offer a
+ real service that requires this information to work. For example a
+ validation service needs to know, which document to validate.
+ fast-redirects assumes that every URL parameter that looks like another URL
+ is a redirection target, and will always redirect to the last one. Most of
+ the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't, the user gets
+ redirected anyway.
+
+ Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL
+ parameter. The URL: "http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//
+ www.example.net/&foo=bar". contains the redirection URL "http://
+ www.example.net/", followed by another parameter. fast-redirects doesn't
+ know that and will cause a redirect to "http://www.example.net/&foo=bar".
+ Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be
+ silently ignored or lead to a "page not found" error. It is possible to fix
+ these redirected requests with filter-client-headers but it requires a
+ little effort.
+
+ To detect a redirection URL, fast-redirects only looks for the string
+ "http://", either in plain text (invalid but often used) or encoded as
+ "http%3a//". Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the
+ address of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses
+ cases fast-redirects is fooled and the request reaches the redirection
+ server where it probably gets logged.
+
Example usage:
-
- {+fast-redirects}
-
-
+
+ { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
+ .example.com
+
+ { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
+ another.example.com/testing
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.8. filter
+8.5.12. filter
Typical use:
-
+
Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
do fun text replacements, etc.
-
+
Effect:
-
+
All files of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
this action applies, are filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular
expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text
documents are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
- text/plain MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
-
+ text/plain MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.) By default,
+ filtering works only on the raw document content itself (that which can be
+ seen with View Source), not the headers.
+
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). When used
- in its negative form, and without parameters, filtering is completely
- disabled.
-
+
+ The name of a filter, as defined in the filter file. Filters can be defined
+ in one or more files as defined by the filterfile option in the config file
+ . default.filter is the collection of filters supplied by the developers.
+ Locally defined filters should go in their own file, such as user.filter.
+
+ When used in its negative form, and without parameters, all filtering is
+ completely disabled.
+
Notes:
-
+
For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below
for a list.
-
+
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.
-
- This is very powerful feature, but "rolling your own" filters requires a
- knowledge of regular expressions and HTML.
-
+
+ "Rolling your own" filters requires a knowledge of "Regular Expressions"
+ and "HTML". This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
+ Use with caution.
+
The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the buffer-limit
option in the main config file. The default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this
limit is exceeded, the buffered data, and all pending data, is passed
through unfiltered.
-
- Inadequate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
+
+ Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
(Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data (from
HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate the
integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might be
necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering by
- defining appropriate -filter sections.
-
- 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.
-
+ defining appropriate -filter exceptions.
+
+ At this time, Privoxy cannot 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 same effects as the block action, i.e. it
can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism works quite
differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners based on their size
(see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat standardized.
-
+
Feedback with suggestions for new or improved filters is particularly
welcome!
-
+
The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
predefined filter. There are more verbose explanations of what these
filters do in the filter file chapter.
-
+
Example usage (with filters from the distribution default.filter file). See the
Predefined Filters section for more explanation on each:
-
+
+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
-
-
+
+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites)
-
-
+
+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse
-
-
+
+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content
-
-
+
+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)
-
-
+
+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows
-
-
+
+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML
-
-
+
+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective
-
-
- +filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size
-
-
+
+ +filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size
+
+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers
-
-
+
+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)
-
-
+
+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap
-
-
+
+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves
-
-
- +filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizable
-
-
+
+ +filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable
+
+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets
+
+ +filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects
+
+ +filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies savable
+
+ +filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!
+
+ +filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering (demo only)
+
+ +filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+8.5.13. filter-client-headers
- +filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects
+Typical use:
+
+ To apply filtering to the client's (browser's) headers
+
+Effect:
+
+ By default, Privoxy's filters only apply to the document content itself.
+ This will extend those filters to include the client's headers as well.
+
+Type:
+
+ Boolean.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ N/A
+
+Notes:
+
+ Regular expressions can be used to filter headers as well. Check your
+ filters closely before activating this action, as it can easily lead to
+ broken requests.
+
+ These filters are applied to each header on its own, not to them all at
+ once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside you
+ can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
+
+ The filters are used after the other header actions have finished and can
+ use their output as input.
+
+ Whenever possible one should specify ^, $, the whole header name and the
+ colon, to make sure the filter doesn't cause havoc to other headers or the
+ page itself. For example if you want to transform Galeon User-Agents to
+ Firefox User-Agents you shouldn't use:
+
+ s@Galeon/\d\.\d\.\d @@
+
+ but:
+
+ s@^(User-Agent:.*) Galeon/\d\.\d\.\d (Firefox/\d\.\d\.\d\.\d)$@$1 $2@
+
+Example usage (section):
+
+ {+filter-client-headers +filter{test_filter}}
+ problem-host.example.com
+
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+8.5.14. filter-server-headers
- +filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies saveable
+Typical use:
+
+ To apply filtering to the server's headers
+
+Effect:
+
+ By default, Privoxy's filters only apply to the document content itself.
+ This will extend those filters to include the server's headers as well.
+
+Type:
+
+ Boolean.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ N/A
+
+Notes:
+
+ Similar to filter-client-headers, but works on the server instead. To
+ filter both server and client, use both.
+
+ As with filter-client-headers, check your filters before activating this
+ action, as it can easily lead to broken requests.
+
+ These filters are applied to each header on its own, not to them all at
+ once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside you
+ can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
+
+ The filters are used after the other header actions have finished and can
+ use their output as input.
+
+ Remember too, whenever possible one should specify ^, $, the whole header
+ name and the colon, to make sure the filter doesn't cause havoc to other
+ headers or the page itself. See above for example.
+
+Example usage (section):
+
+ {+filter-server-headers +filter{test_filter}}
+ problem-host.example.com
+
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+8.5.15. force-text-mode
- +filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!
+Typical use:
+
+ Force Privoxy to treat a document as if it was in some kind of text format.
+
+Effect:
+
+ Declares a document as text, even if the "Content-Type:" isn't detected as
+ such.
+
+Type:
+
+ Boolean.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ N/A
+
+Notes:
+
+ As explained above, Privoxy tries to only filter files that are in some
+ kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to content-type-overwrite.
+ force-text-mode declares a document as text, without looking at the
+ "Content-Type:" first.
+
+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+ | Warning |
+ |-----------------------------------------------------------------|
+ |Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data |
+ |with regular expressions can cause file damage. |
+ +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+Example usage:
+
+ +force-text-mode
+
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+8.5.16. handle-as-empty-document
- +filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering (demo only)
+Typical use:
+
+ Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents if they get blocked
+
+Effect:
+
+ This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs. If
+ the block action also applies, the presence or absence of this mark decides
+ whether an HTML "blocked" page, or an empty document will be sent to the
+ client as a substitute for the blocked content. The empty document isn't
+ literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
+
+Type:
+
+ Boolean.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ N/A
+
+Notes:
+
+ Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents are
+ blocked with Privoxy's default HTML page; this option can be used to
+ silence them.
+
+ The content type for the empty document can be specified with
+ content-type-overwrite{}, but usually this isn't necessary.
+
+Example usage:
+
+ # Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
+ # but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
+ {+block +handle-as-empty-document}
+ example.org/.*\.js$
+
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+8.5.17. handle-as-image
- +filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits
+Typical use:
+
+ Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images if they
+ do get blocked, rather than HTML pages)
+
+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, (in-line) 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
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+8.5.18. hide-accept-language
+Typical use:
+
+ Pretend to use different language settings.
+
+Effect:
+
+ Deletes or replaces the "Accept-Language:" HTTP header in client requests.
+
+Type:
+
+ Parameterized.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ Keyword: "block", or any user defined value.
+
+Notes:
+
+ Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a foreign
+ User-Agent set with hide-user-agent more believable.
+
+ However some sites with content in different languages check the
+ "Accept-Language:" to decide which one to take by default. Sometimes it
+ isn't possible to later switch to another language without changing the
+ "Accept-Language:" header first.
+
+ Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the "Accept-Language:"
+ header to languages you understand, or to languages that aren't wide
+ spread.
+
+ Before setting the "Accept-Language:" header to a rare language, you should
+ consider that it helps to make your requests unique and thus easier to
+ trace. If you don't plan to change this header frequently, you should stick
+ to a common language.
+
+Example usage (section):
+
+ # Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
+ {+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
+ +hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
+ }
+ /
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.9. handle-as-image
+8.5.19. hide-content-disposition
Typical use:
+
+ Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.
+
+Effect:
+
+ Deletes or replaces the "Content-Disposition:" HTTP header set by some
+ servers.
+
+Type:
+
+ Parameterized.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ Keyword: "block", or any user defined value.
+
+Notes:
+
+ Some servers set the "Content-Disposition:" HTTP header for documents they
+ assume you want to save locally before viewing them. The
+ "Content-Disposition:" header contains the file name the browser is
+ supposed to use by default.
+
+ In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
+ just view the document, without downloading it first, even if it's just a
+ simple text file or an image.
+
+ Removing the "Content-Disposition:" header helps to prevent this annoyance,
+ but some browsers additionally check the "Content-Type:" header, before
+ they decide if they can display a document without saving it first. In
+ these cases, you have to change this header as well, before the browser
+ stops displaying download menus.
+
+ It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion to another
+ one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set it up.
+
+Example usage:
+
+ # Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
+ {-filter\
+ +content-type-overwrite {text/plain}\
+ +hide-content-disposition {block} }
+ .sourceforge.net/tracker/download.php
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images if they
- get blocked)
+8.5.20. hide-if-modified-since
+Typical use:
+
+ Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.
+
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.
-
+
+ Deletes the "If-Modified-Since:" HTTP client header or modifies its value.
+
Type:
-
- Boolean.
-
+
+ Parameterized.
+
Parameter:
-
- N/A
-
+
+ Keyword: "block", or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
+
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, (in-line) 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
-
-
+
+ Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force
+ a real reload instead of getting status code "304", which would cause the
+ browser to use a cached copy of the page.
+
+ Instead of removing the header, hide-if-modified-since can also add or
+ subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value. You specify a
+ range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and Privoxy
+ does the rest. A negative value means subtracting, a positive value adding.
+
+ Randomizing the value of the "If-Modified-Since:" makes sure it isn't used
+ as a cookie replacement, but you will run into caching problems if the
+ random range is too high.
+
+ It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
+ overwrite-last-modified handle the greater changes.
+
+ It is also recommended to use this action together with
+ crunch-if-none-match.
+
+Example usage (section):
+
+ # Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
+ {+hide-if-modified-since {-60}\
+ +overwrite-last-modified {randomize}\
+ +crunch-if-none-match}
+ /
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.10. hide-forwarded-for-headers
+8.5.21. 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
-
-
+
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.11. hide-from-header
+8.5.22. 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}
-
-
+
+ +hide-from-header{block}
+
or
-
- +hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}
-
-
+
+ +hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.12. hide-referrer
+8.5.23. 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.
-
+
+ + "conditional-block" to delete the header completely if the host has
+ changed.
+
+ + "block" to delete the header unconditionally.
+
+ "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).
-
+
+ conditional-block is the only parameter, that isn't easily detected in the
+ server's log file. If it blocks the referrer, the request will look like
+ the visitor used a bookmark or typed in the address directly.
+
+ Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host allows the
+ server owner to see the visitor's "click path", but in most cases she could
+ also get that information by comparing other parts of the log file: for
+ example the User-Agent if it isn't a very common one, or the user's IP
+ address if it doesn't change between different requests.
+
+ Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to failures
+ on servers that check the referrer before they answer any requests, in an
+ attempt to prevent their valuable content from being embedded or linked to
+ elsewhere.
+
+ Both conditional-block and forge will work with referrer checks, as long as
+ content and valid referring page are on the same host. Most of the time
+ that's the case.
+
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}
-
-
+
+ +hide-referrer{forge}
+
or
-
- +hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}
-
-
+
+ +hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.13. hide-user-agent
+8.5.24. hide-user-agent
Typical use:
-
+
Conceal your type of browser and client operating system
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Replaces the value of the "User-Agent:" HTTP header in client requests with
the specified value.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
Any user-defined string.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| 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!). |
+ |This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at |
+ |this header in order to customize their content for different |
+ |browsers (which, by the way, is NOT the right thing to do: good |
+ |web sites work browser-independently). |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
-
+
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
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 :-).
-
+
This action is scheduled for improvement.
-
+
Example usage:
+
+ +hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- +hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}
-
+8.5.25. inspect-jpegs
+Typical use:
+
+ To protect against the MS buffer over-run in JPEG processing
+
+Effect:
+
+ Protect against a known exploit
+
+Type:
+
+ Boolean.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ N/A
+
+Notes:
+
+ See Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-028. JPEG images are one of the most
+ common image types found across the Internet. The exploit as described can
+ allow execution of code on the target system, giving an attacker access to
+ the system in question by merely planting an altered JPEG image, which
+ would have no obvious indications of what lurks inside. This action
+ prevents unwanted intrusion.
+
+Example usage:
+
+ +inspect-jpegs
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.14. kill-popups
+8.5.26. kill-popups
Typical use:
-
+
Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows (deprecated)
-
+
Effect:
-
+
While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens pop-up
windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
This action is basically a built-in, hardwired special-purpose 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
{all-popups} does and is not as smart as filter{unsolicited-popups} is.
-
+
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 its filter equivalent.
-
+
Killing all pop-ups unconditionally is problematic. Many shops and banks
rely on pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and the filter
{unsolicited-popups} does a fairly good job of catching only the unwanted
ones.
-
+
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.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- +kill-popups
-
-
+
+ +kill-popups
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.15. limit-connect
+8.5.27. limit-connect
Typical use:
-
- Prevent abuse of Privoxy as a TCP proxy relay
-
+
+ Prevent abuse of Privoxy as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted
+ sites
+
Effect:
-
+
Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes,
with the minimum defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
-
+
Notes:
-
+
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
to the server on the specified port, and then short-circuits its
connections to the client and to the remote server. This can be a big
security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be abused as TCP relays
very easily.
-
- 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.
-
-Example usages:
-
- +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!)
-
-
+
+ Privoxy relays HTTPS traffic without seeing the decoded content. Websites
+ can leverage this limitation to circumvent Privoxy's filters. By specifying
+ an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely. If you plan to
+ disable SSL by default, consider enabling
+ treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks as well, to be able to quickly create
+ exceptions.
+
+Example usages:
+
+ +limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
+ +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
+ +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
+ +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
+ +limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.16. prevent-compression
+8.5.28. prevent-compression
Typical use:
-
+
Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be passed
- through filters
-
+ through filters.
+
Effect:
-
- Adds a header to the request that asks for uncompressed transfer.
-
+
+ Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed
+ transfer.
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which is
- generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the filter,
+ 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.
-
+
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.
-
+
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.
-
+
Example usage (sections):
+
+ # Set default:
+ #
+ {+prevent-compression}
+ / # Match all sites
+
+ # Make exceptions for ill sites:
+ #
+ {-prevent-compression}
+ www.debianhelp.org
+ www.pclinuxonline.com
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- # Set default:
- #
- {+prevent-compression}
- / # Match all sites
+8.5.29. overwrite-last-modified
- # Make exceptions for ill sites:
- #
- {-prevent-compression}
- www.debianhelp.org
- www.pclinuxonline.com
+Typical use:
+
+ Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.
+
+Effect:
+
+ Deletes the "Last-Modified:" HTTP server header or modifies its value.
+
+Type:
+
+ Parameterized.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ One of the keywords: "block", "reset-to-request-time" and "randomize"
+
+Notes:
+
+ Removing the "Last-Modified:" header is useful for filter testing, where
+ you want to force a real reload instead of getting status code "304", which
+ would cause the browser to reuse the old version of the page.
+
+ The "randomize" option overwrites the value of the "Last-Modified:" header
+ with a randomly chosen time between the original value and the current
+ time. In theory the server could send each document with a different
+ "Last-Modified:" header to track visits without using cookies. "Randomize"
+ makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
+
+ "reset-to-request-time" overwrites the value of the "Last-Modified:" header
+ with the current time. You could use this option together with
+ hided-if-modified-since to further customize your random range.
+
+ The preferred parameter here is "randomize". It is safe to use, as long as
+ the time settings are more or less correct. If the server sets the
+ "Last-Modified:" header to the time of the request, the random range
+ becomes zero and the value stays the same. Therefore you should later
+ randomize it a second time with hided-if-modified-since, just to be sure.
+
+ It is also recommended to use this action together with
+ crunch-if-none-match.
+
+Example usage:
+
+ # Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
+ {+hide-if-modified-since {-60}\
+ +overwrite-last-modified {randomize}\
+ +crunch-if-none-match}
+ /
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+8.5.30. redirect
+Typical use:
+
+ Redirect requests to other sites.
+
+Effect:
+
+ Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved to another
+ location and the browser should get it from there.
+
+Type:
+
+ Parameterized
+
+Parameter:
+
+ Any URL.
+
+Notes:
+
+ This action is useful to replace whole documents with ones of your
+ choosing. This can be used to enforce safe surfing, or just as a simple
+ convenience.
+
+ You can do the same by combining the actions block, handle-as-image and
+ set-image-blocker{URL}. It doesn't sound right for non-image documents, and
+ that's why this action was created.
+
+ This action will be ignored if you use it together with block.
+
+Example usages:
+
+ # Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
+ { +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
+ example.com/stylesheet.css
+
+ # Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
+ { +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
+ a
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.17. send-vanilla-wafer
+8.5.31. send-vanilla-wafer
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
-
-
+
+ +send-vanilla-wafer
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.18. send-wafer
+8.5.32. send-wafer
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
-
-
+
+ {+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
+ my-internal-testing-server.void
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.19. session-cookies-only
+8.5.33. session-cookies-only
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
+
+ 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.
-
+
This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
previously by the browser before starting Privoxy. These would have to be
removed manually.
-
+
Privoxy also uses the content-cookies filter to block some types of
cookies. Content cookies are not effected by session-cookies-only.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- +session-cookies-only
-
-
+
+ +session-cookies-only
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.20. set-image-blocker
+8.5.34. set-image-blocker
Typical use:
-
+
Choose the replacement for blocked images
-
+
Effect:
-
- This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If both block and
+
+ 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).
-
+ image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via "file:///" URL. (But
+ note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
+
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}
-
-
+
+ +set-image-blocker{pattern}
+
Redirect to the BSD devil:
-
- +set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}
-
-
+
+ +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}
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+8.5.35. treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks
+Typical use:
+
+ Block forbidden connects with an easy to find error message.
+
+Effect:
+
+ If this action is enabled, Privoxy no longer makes a difference between
+ forbidden connects and ordinary blocks.
+
+Type:
+
+ Boolean
+
+Parameter:
+
+ N/A
+
+Notes:
+
+ By default Privoxy answers forbidden "Connect" requests with a short error
+ message inside the headers. If the browser doesn't display headers (most
+ don't), you just see an empty page.
+
+ With this action enabled, Privoxy displays the message that is used for
+ ordinary blocks instead. If you decide to make an exception for the page in
+ question, you can do so by following the "See why" link.
+
+ For "Connect" requests the clients tell Privoxy which host they are
+ interested in, but not which document they plan to get later. As a result,
+ the "Go there anyway" link becomes rather useless: it lets the client
+ request the home page of the forbidden host through unencrypted HTTP, still
+ using the port of the last request.
+
+ If you previously configured Privoxy to do the request through a SSL
+ tunnel, everything will work. Most likely you haven't and the server will
+ respond with an error message because it is expecting HTTPS (SSL).
+
+Example usage:
+
+ +treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.21. Summary
+8.5.36. 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
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:
- # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
- #
- +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
- mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies}
-
- # These aliases define combinations of actions
- # that are useful for certain types of sites:
- #
- fragile = -block -filter -crunch-all-cookies -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
- shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
-
- # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
- #
- c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
- c1 = -crunch-all-cookies
-
+ # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
+ #
+ # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
+ # must be at the top of the actions file!
+ #
+ {{alias}}
+
+ # These aliases just save typing later:
+ # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
+ #
+ +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
+ mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies}
+
+ # These aliases define combinations of actions
+ # that are useful for certain types of sites:
+ #
+ fragile = -block -filter -crunch-all-cookies -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
+ shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
+
+ # Short names for 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{all-popups}}
- .dabs.com
- .overclockers.co.uk
-
+ # 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{all-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.
Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:
-# Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org>
-
+# Sample default.action file <ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net>
Then, since this is the default.action file, the first section is a special
section for internal use that you needn't change or worry about:
-##########################################################################
-# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
-##########################################################################
-
-{{settings}}
-for-privoxy-version=3.0
-
+##########################################################################
+# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
+##########################################################################
+
+{{settings}}
+for-privoxy-version=3.0
After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example section
from the above chapter on aliases, that also explains why and how aliases are
used:
-##########################################################################
-# Aliases
-##########################################################################
-{{alias}}
-
- # These aliases just save typing later:
- # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
- #
- +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
- mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies}
-
- # These aliases define combinations of actions
- # that are useful for certain types of sites:
- #
- fragile = -block -filter -crunch-all-cookies -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
- shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
-
+##########################################################################
+# Aliases
+##########################################################################
+{{alias}}
+
+ # These aliases just save typing later:
+ # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
+ #
+ +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
+ mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies}
+
+ # These aliases define combinations of actions
+ # that are useful for certain types of sites:
+ #
+ fragile = -block -filter -crunch-all-cookies -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
+ shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied by URL
patterns to which they apply. Remember all actions are disabled when matching
enables the action, a "-" disables!). Also note how this long line has been
made more readable by splitting it into multiple lines with line continuation.
-##########################################################################
-# "Defaults" section:
-##########################################################################
- { \
- -add-header \
- -block \
- -crunch-incoming-cookies \
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies \
- +deanimate-gifs \
- -downgrade-http-version \
- +fast-redirects \
- +filter{js-annoyances} \
- -filter{js-events} \
- +filter{html-annoyances} \
- -filter{content-cookies} \
- +filter{refresh-tags} \
- +filter{unsolicited-popups} \
- -filter{all-popups} \
- +filter{img-reorder} \
- +filter{banners-by-size} \
- -filter{banners-by-link} \
- +filter{webbugs} \
- -filter{tiny-textforms} \
- +filter{jumping-windows} \
- -filter{frameset-borders} \
- -filter{demoronizer} \
- -filter{shockwave-flash} \
- -filter{quicktime-kioskmode} \
- -filter{fun} \
- -filter{crude-parental} \
- +filter{ie-exploits} \
- -handle-as-image \
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers \
- +hide-from-header{block} \
- +hide-referrer{forge} \
- -hide-user-agent \
- -kill-popups \
- -limit-connect \
- +prevent-compression \
- -send-vanilla-wafer \
- -send-wafer \
- +session-cookies-only \
- +set-image-blocker{pattern} \
- }
- / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.
-
+##########################################################################
+# "Defaults" section:
+##########################################################################
+ { \
+ -add-header \
+ -block \
+ -content-type-overwrite \
+ -crunch-client-header \
+ -crunch-if-none-match \
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies \
+ -crunch-server-header \
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies \
+ +deanimate-gifs \
+ -downgrade-http-version \
+ +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} \
+ +filter{js-annoyances} \
+ -filter{js-events} \
+ +filter{html-annoyances} \
+ -filter{content-cookies} \
+ +filter{refresh-tags} \
+ +filter{unsolicited-popups} \
+ -filter{all-popups} \
+ +filter{img-reorder} \
+ +filter{banners-by-size} \
+ -filter{banners-by-link} \
+ +filter{webbugs} \
+ -filter{tiny-textforms} \
+ +filter{jumping-windows} \
+ -filter{frameset-borders} \
+ -filter{demoronizer} \
+ -filter{shockwave-flash} \
+ -filter{quicktime-kioskmode} \
+ -filter{fun} \
+ -filter{crude-parental} \
+ +filter{ie-exploits} \
+ -filter-client-headers \
+ -filter-server-headers \
+ -force-text-mode \
+ -handle-as-empty-document \
+ -handle-as-image \
+ -hide-accept-language \
+ -hide-content-disposition \
+ -hide-if-modified-since \
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers \
+ +hide-from-header{block} \
+ +hide-referrer{forge} \
+ -hide-user-agent \
+ -inspect-jpegs \
+ -kill-popups \
+ -limit-connect \
+ +prevent-compression \
+ -overwrite-last-modified \
+ -redirect \
+ -send-vanilla-wafer \
+ -send-wafer \
+ +session-cookies-only \
+ +set-image-blocker{pattern} \
+ -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks \
+ }
+ / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.
The default behavior is now set. Note that some actions, like not hiding the
user agent, are part of a "general policy" that applies universally and won't
unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use our
pre-defined fragile alias instead of stating the list of actions explicitly:
-##########################################################################
-# Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
-##########################################################################
-
-# "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
-#
-{ fragile }
-.office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
-.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
-
+##########################################################################
+# Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
+##########################################################################
+
+# "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
+#
+{ fragile }
+.office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
+.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically require cookies to log
in, and pop-up windows for shopping carts or item details. Again, we'll use a
pre-defined alias:
-# Shopping sites:
-#
-{ shop }
-.quietpc.com
-.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
-.jungle.com
-.scan.co.uk
-
+# Shopping sites:
+#
+{ shop }
+.quietpc.com
+.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+.jungle.com
+.scan.co.uk
The fast-redirects action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some
sites. So disable it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
-{ -fast-redirects }
-login.yahoo.com
-edit.*.yahoo.com
-.google.com
-.altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
-.altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
-.nytimes.com
-
+{ -fast-redirects }
+login.yahoo.com
+edit.*.yahoo.com
+.google.com
+.altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
+.altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
+.nytimes.com
It is important that Privoxy knows which URLs belong to images, so that if they
are to be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
image with the handle-as-image action, and marking all URLs that end in a known
image file extension is a good start:
-##########################################################################
-# Images:
-##########################################################################
-
-# Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
-# blocked further down this file:
-#
-{ +handle-as-image }
-/.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$
-
+##########################################################################
+# Images:
+##########################################################################
+
+# Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
+# blocked further down this file:
+#
+{ +handle-as-image }
+/.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$
And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to generate the
banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the request is for an image.
Hence we block them and mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
-block-as-image alias defined above. (We could of course just as well use +block
-+handle-as-image here.) Remember that the type of the replacement image is
-chosen by the set-image-blocker action. Since all URLs have matched the default
-section with its +set-image-blocker{pattern} action before, it still applies
-and needn't be repeated:
-
-# Known ad generators:
-#
-{ block-as-image }
-ar.atwola.com
-.ad.doubleclick.net
-.ad.*.doubleclick.net
-.a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
-.a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
-bs*.gsanet.com
-bs*.einets.com
-.qkimg.net
-
++block-as-image alias defined above. (We could of course just as well use +
+block +handle-as-image here.) Remember that the type of the replacement image
+is chosen by the set-image-blocker action. Since all URLs have matched the
+default section with its +set-image-blocker{pattern} action before, it still
+applies and needn't be repeated:
+
+# Known ad generators:
+#
+{ +block-as-image }
+ar.atwola.com
+.ad.doubleclick.net
+.ad.*.doubleclick.net
+.a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
+.a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
+bs*.gsanet.com
+bs*.einets.com
+.qkimg.net
One of the most important jobs of Privoxy is to block banners. A huge bunch of
-them are already "blocked" by the filter{banners-by-size} action, which we
-enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner images from the pages
-while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request them anymore, and hence
-they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally doesn't catch all
-banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we need a comprehensive
-list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the block action to them.
+them can be "blocked" by the filter{banners-by-size} action, which we enabled
+above, and which deletes the references to banner images from the pages while
+they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request them anymore, and hence they
+don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally doesn't catch all banners,
+and some people choose not to use filters, so we need a comprehensive list of
+patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the block action to them.
First comes a bunch of generic patterns, which do most of the work, by matching
typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes a list of
individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here to keep the
example short:
-##########################################################################
-# Block these fine banners:
-##########################################################################
-{ +block }
-
-# Generic patterns:
-#
-ad*.
-.*ads.
-banner?.
-count*.
-/.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
-/(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
-
-# Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
-#
-.hitbox.com
-
+##########################################################################
+# Block these fine banners:
+##########################################################################
+{ +block }
+
+# Generic patterns:
+#
+ad*.
+.*ads.
+banner?.
+count*.
+/.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
+/(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
+
+# Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
+#
+.hitbox.com
You wouldn't believe how many advertisers actually call their banner servers
ads.company.com, or call the directory in which the banners are stored simply
now, it'll match .*loads., where -block applies, so (unless it matches again
further down) it ends up with no block action applying.
-##########################################################################
-# Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
-##########################################################################
-
-# By domain:
-#
-{ -block }
-adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
-adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
-ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
-.edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
-.*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
-
-# By path:
-#
-/.*loads/
-
-# Site-specific:
-#
-www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
-www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv
-
+##########################################################################
+# Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
+##########################################################################
+
+# By domain:
+#
+{ -block }
+adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
+adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
+ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
+.edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
+.*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
+
+# By path:
+#
+/.*loads/
+
+# Site-specific:
+#
+www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
+www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv
Filtering source code can have nasty side effects, so make an exception for our
friends at sourceforge.net, and all paths with "cvs" in them. Note that -filter
disables all filters in one fell swoop!
-# Don't filter code!
-#
-{ -filter }
-/.*cvs
-.sourceforge.net
-
+# Don't filter code!
+#
+{ -filter }
+/.*cvs
+.sourceforge.net
-The actual default.action is of course more comprehensive, but we hope this
-example made clear how it works.
+The actual default.action is of course much more comprehensive, but we hope
+this example made clear how it works.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
user.action:
-# My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com>
-
+# My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com>
As aliases are local to the actions file that they are defined in, you can't
use the ones from default.action, unless you repeat them here:
-# Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
-# (Re-)define aliases for this file:
-#
-{{alias}}
-#
-# These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
-# be self explanatory.
-#
-+crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
--crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
- allow-popups = -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
-+block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
--block-as-image = -block
-
-# These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
-# certain types of sites:
-#
-fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
-shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
-
-# Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
-#
-allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
+# Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
+# (Re-)define aliases for this file:
+#
+{{alias}}
+#
+# These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
+# be self explanatory.
+#
++crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+-crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
+ allow-popups = -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
++block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
+-block-as-image = -block
+
+# These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
+# certain types of sites:
+#
+fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
+shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
+
+# Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
+#
+allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
+
+# Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
+# MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
+handle-as-text = -filter +-content-type-overwrite{text/plain} +-force-text-mode -hide-content-disposition
+
Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and you don't
want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like to allow persistent
that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
processing of cookies to make them only temporary.
-{ allow-all-cookies }
-sourceforge.net
-sunsolve.sun.com
-.slashdot.org
-.yahoo.com
-.msdn.microsoft.com
-.redhat.com
-
+{ allow-all-cookies }
+ sourceforge.net
+ .yahoo.com
+ .msdn.microsoft.com
+ .redhat.com
Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable
them all:
-{ -filter }
-.your-home-banking-site.com
-
+{ -filter }
+ .your-home-banking-site.com
Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
-# Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
-# erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
-#
-.tldp.org
-/(.*/)?selfhtml/
-
-# And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
-# so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
-#
-stupid-server.example.com/
-
+# Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
+# erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
+#
+.tldp.org
+/(.*/)?selfhtml/
+
+# And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
+# so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
+#
+stupid-server.example.com/
Example of a simple block action. Say you've seen an ad on your favourite page
on example.com that you want to get rid of. You have right-clicked the image,
not be specified, since all URLs ending in .gif will be tagged as images by the
general rules as set in default.action anyway:
-{ +block }
-www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.gif
-another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/
-
+{ +block }
+ www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.gif
+ another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/
The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner farms,
often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which makes it
objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an image are
typically rendered as a "broken image" icon by the browser. Use cautiously.
-{ +block-as-image }
-.doubleclick.net
-/Realmedia/ads/
-ar.atwola.com/
-
+{ +block-as-image }
+ .doubleclick.net
+ .fastclick.net
+ /Realmedia/ads/
+ ar.atwola.com/
Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine, but you
were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you were again too
lazy to give feedback, so you just used the fragile alias on the site, and --
whoa! -- it worked. The fragile aliases disables those actions that are most
likely to break a site. Also, good for testing purposes to see if it is Privoxy
-that is causing the problem or not.
-
-{ fragile }
-.forbes.com
+that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular sites that
+misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:
+{ fragile }
+ .forbes.com
+ mail.example.com
+ .mybank.com
You like the "fun" text replacements in default.filter, but it is disabled in
the distributed actions file. (My colleagues on the team just don't have a
sense of humour, that's why! ;-). So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
update-safe config, once and for all:
-{ +filter{fun} }
-/ # For ALL sites!
-
+{ +filter{fun} }
+ / # For ALL sites!
Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions to the
filters in default.action for things that really shouldn't be filtered, like
might want to specifically allow banners for those sites that you feel provide
value to you:
-{ allow-ads }
-.sourceforge.net
-.slashdot.org
-.osdn.net
-
+{ allow-ads }
+ .sourceforge.net
+ .slashdot.org
+ .osdn.net
Note that allow-ads has been aliased to -block, -filter{banners-by-size}, and -
filter{banners-by-link} above.
+Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type application/
+x-sh which typically would open a download type dialog. In my case, I want to
+look at the shell script, and then I can save it should I choose to.
+
+{ handle-as-text }
+ /.*\.sh$
+
user.action is generally the best place to define exceptions and additions to
the default policies of default.action. Some actions are safe to have their
default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
"blank" image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for ALL sites. "/" of
course matches all URL paths and patterns:
-{ +set-image-blocker{blank} }
-/ # ALL sites
-
+{ +set-image-blocker{blank} }
+/ # ALL sites
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-9. The Filter File
+9. Filter Files
-All text substitutions that can be invoked through the filter action must first
-be defined in the filter file, which is typically called default.filter and
-which can be selected through the filterfile config option.
+On-the-fly text substitutions that can be invoked through the filter action
+need to be defined in a "filter file". Once defined, they can then be invoked
+as an "action". Multiple filter files can be defined through the filterfile
+config directive. The filters as supplied by the developers will be found in
+default.filter. It is recommended that any locally defined or modified filters
+go in a separately defined file such as user.filter.
-Typical reasons for doing such substitutions are to eliminate common annoyances
-in HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows, exit consoles, crippled windows
-without navigation tools, the infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with
-certain width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs), or
-just to have fun. The possibilities are endless.
+Typical reasons for doing these kinds of substitutions are to eliminate common
+annoyances in HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows, exit consoles,
+crippled windows without navigation tools, the infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to
+suppress images with certain width and height attributes (standard banner sizes
+or web-bugs), or just to have fun. The possibilities are endless.
Filtering works on any text-based document type, including HTML, JavaScript,
CSS etc. (all text/* MIME types, except text/plain). Substitutions are made at
-the source level, so if you want to "roll your own" filters, you should be
-familiar with HTML syntax.
+the source level, so if you want to "roll your own" filters, you should first
+be familiar with HTML syntax, and, of course, regular expressions. By default,
+filters are only applied to the raw document content, but can be extended to
+the HTTP headers with the supplemental actions: filter-client-headers and
+filter-server-headers.
Just like the actions files, the filter file is organized in sections, which
are called filters here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts
with the keyword FILTER:, followed by the filter's name, and a short (one line)
description of what it does. Below that line come the jobs, i.e. lines that
define the actual text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
-should describe what the filter eliminates. The comment is used in the
+should describe what the filter eliminates. The comment is used in the
web-based user interface.
Once a filter called name has been defined in the filter file, it can be
A filter header line for a filter called "foo" could look like this:
-FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
-
+FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that define what
text replacements the filter executes. They are specified in a syntax that
imitates Perl's s/// operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you will find
-this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the PCRS man page for the
-subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most notably, the non-standard option
+this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the PCRS documentation for
+the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most notably, the non-standard option
letter U is supported, which turns the default to ungreedy matching.
-If you are new to regular expressions, you might want to take a look at the
+If you are new to "Regular Expressions", you might want to take a look at the
Appendix on regular expressions, and see the Perl manual for the s///
operator's syntax and Perl-style regular expressions in general. The below
examples might also help to get you started.
the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace "foo" with "bar",
there is only one (trivial) job needed:
-s/foo/bar/
-
+s/foo/bar/
But wait! Didn't the comment say that all occurrences of "foo" should be
replaced? Our current job will only take care of the first "foo" on each page.
For global substitution, we'll need to add the g option:
-s/foo/bar/g
-
+s/foo/bar/g
Our complete filter now looks like this:
-FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
-s/foo/bar/g
-
+FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
+s/foo/bar/g
Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see a
filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
-FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
-
-# Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
-#
-s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg
-
+FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
+
+# Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
+#
+s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg
Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses |
as the delimiter instead of /, because the pattern contains a forward slash,
in parentheses, will be remembered and be available through the variables $1,
$2, ... in the substitute. The U option switches to ungreedy matching, which
means that the first .* in the pattern will only "eat up" all text in between "
-<script" and the first occurrence of "document.referrer", and that the second
-.* will only span the text up to the first "</script>" tag. Furthermore, the s
+<script" and the first occurrence of "document.referrer", and that the second .
+* will only span the text up to the first "</script>" tag. Furthermore, the s
option says that the match may span multiple lines in the page, and the g
option again means that the substitution is global.
We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but this
time only point out the constructs of special interest:
-# The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
-#
-s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig
-
+# The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
+#
+s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig
\s stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline, carriage return, form
feed), so that \s* means: "zero or more whitespace". The ? in .*? makes this
matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the U option is not set). The
['"] construct means: "a single or a double quote". Finally, \1 is a
-backreference to the first parenthesis just like $1 above, with the difference
-that in the pattern, a backslash indicates a backreference, whereas in the
+back-reference to the first parenthesis just like $1 above, with the difference
+that in the pattern, a backslash indicates a back-reference, whereas in the
substitute, it's the dollar.
So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when you move your mouse
over links.
-# Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
-#
-s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU
-
+# Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
+#
+s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU
Including the OnUnload event binding in the HTML DOM was a CRIME. When I close
a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta. This job replaces the
The last example is from the fun department:
-FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
-
-# Spice the daily news:
-#
-s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig
-
+FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
+
+# Spice the daily news:
+#
+s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig
Note the (?!\.com) part (a so-called negative lookahead) in the job's pattern,
which means: Don't match, if the string ".com" appears directly following
"microsoft" in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being
trashed, while still replacing the word everywhere else.
-# Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
-#
-s* industry[ -]leading \
-| cutting[ -]edge \
-| customer[ -]focused \
-| market[ -]driven \
-| award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
-| high[ -]performance \
-| solutions[ -]based \
-| unmatched \
-| unparalleled \
-| unrivalled \
-*<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
-*igx
-
+# Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
+#
+s* industry[ -]leading \
+| cutting[ -]edge \
+| customer[ -]focused \
+| market[ -]driven \
+| award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
+| high[ -]performance \
+| solutions[ -]based \
+| unmatched \
+| unparalleled \
+| unrivalled \
+*<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
+*igx
The x option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for e.g. the
liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
filters for your convenience:
js-annoyances
-
+
The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying
JavaScript abuse. To that end, it
-
+
+ replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
- with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the
+ with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the
hide-referrer action on the content level.
-
+
+ removes the bindings to the DOM's unload event which we feel has no
right to exist and is responsible for most "exit consoles", i.e. nasty
windows that pop up when you close another one.
-
+
+ removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired
- properties, such as being full-screen, non-resizable, without location,
- status or menu bar etc.
-
+ properties, such as being full-screen, non-resizeable, without
+ location, status or menu bar etc.
+
js-events
-
+
This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event
bindings, which means that scripts can not react to user actions such as
mouse movements or clicks, window resizing etc, anymore.
-
+
We strongly discourage using this filter as a default since it breaks many
legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should
you really need to go there).
-
+
html-annoyances
-
+
This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
-
+
The BLINK and MARQUEE tags are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser
- windows will be created as resizable (as of course they should be!), and
+ windows will be created as resizeable (as of course they should be!), and
will have location, scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
-
+
content-cookies
-
- Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialogue, where they can be intercepted by
+
+ Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialog, where they can be intercepted by
the crunch-incoming-cookies and crunch-outgoing-cookies actions. But web
sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript to sneak
cookies to the browser on the content level.
-
+
This filter disables HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets cookies.
Use it wherever you would also use the cookie crunch actions.
-
+
refresh tags
-
+
Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
annoying.
-
+
unsolicited-popups
-
+
This filter attempts to prevent only "unsolicited" pop-up windows from
opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user has explicitly chosen
to open. It was added in version 3.0.1, as an improvement over earlier such
filters.
-
+
Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
function to a dummy function during the loading and rendering phase of each
- HTML page access, and restoring the function afterwards.
-
+ HTML page access, and restoring the function afterward.
+
all-popups
-
+
Attempt to prevent all pop-up windows from opening. Note this should be
used with more discretion than the above, since it is more likely to break
some sites that require pop-ups for normal usage. Use with caution.
-
+
img-reorder
-
+
This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the
banners-by-size and banners-by-link (see below) filters more effective and
should be enabled together with them.
-
+
banners-by-size
-
+
This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are.
Fortunately for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain
standardized sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad
stripping purposes.
-
+
Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not
ads, but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes.
-
+
banners-by-link
-
+
This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if their
URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently
not of much value and is not recommended for use by default.
-
+
webbugs
-
+
Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that are
used to track users across websites, and collect information on them. As an
HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the
without the use ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party
site. HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email
addresses.
-
+
This filter removes the HTML code that loads such "webbugs".
-
+
tiny-textforms
-
+
A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas
(those multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in
them. It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such
boxes are a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too.
-
+
It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
-
+
jumping-windows
-
+
Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This
filter neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might
not display or behave as intended when using this filter.
-
+
frameset-borders
-
+
Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view
their web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution
etc, because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame
sizes, yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they
be too small to show their whole content.
-
+
This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to
sites which need it.
-
+
demoronizer
-
+
Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions
- (read: violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This causes
- those HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant
+ (read: violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This can
+ cause those HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant
platforms.
-
+
This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents. It
is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of all
documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly
- worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if wierd garbage characters
- sometimes appear on some pages.
-
+ worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if weird garbage characters
+ sometimes appear on some pages, or user agents that don't correct for this
+ on the fly.
+
shockwave-flash
-
+
A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips
code out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects.
-
+
quicktime-kioskmode
-
+
Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
prevents saving, is disabled.
-
+
fun
-
+
Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
-
+
crude-parental
-
+
A demonstration-only filter that shows how Privoxy can be used to delete
web content on a keyword basis.
-
+
ie-exploits
-
+
A collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
-
+
Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug,
and would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
-
+
site-specifics
-
+
Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't
apply anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
-
+
This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be
applied to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
default.action file does. Users shouldn't need to change anything regarding
this filter.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-10. Templates
+10. Privoxy's Template Files
All Privoxy built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the "404 - No Such Domain"
error page, the "BLOCKED" page and all pages of its web-based user interface,
A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole blocks of
HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this for many
purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all our user
-interface (CGI) pages when Privoxy in in an alpha or beta development stage:
-
-<!-- @if-unstable-start -->
-
- ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
-
-<!-- if-unstable-end@ -->
+interface (CGI) pages when Privoxy is in an alpha or beta development stage:
+<!-- @if-unstable-start -->
+
+ ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
+
+<!-- if-unstable-end@ -->
If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
@if-unstable-start and if-unstable-end@ will disappear, leaving nothing but an
empty comment:
-<!-- -->
-
+<!-- -->
There's also an if-then-else construct and an #include mechanism, but you'll
sure find out if you are inclined to edit the templates ;-)
11.1. Get Support
-For casual users, our support forum at SourceForge is probably best suited:
+For casual users, our support forum at SourceForge is probably best suited:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=211118
All users are of course welcome to discuss their issues on the users mailing
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-11.2. Report Bugs
+11.2. Reporting Problems
+
+"Problems" for our purposes, come in two forms:
+
+ * Configuration issues, such as ads that slip through, or sites that don't
+ function properly due to one Privoxy "action" or another being turned "on".
+
+ * "Bugs" in the programming code that makes up Privoxy, such as that might
+ cause a crash.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+11.2.1. Reporting Ads or Other Configuration Problems
+
+Please send feedback on ads that slipped through, innocent images that were
+blocked, sites that don't work properly, and other configuration related
+problem of default.action file, to http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=
+11118&atid=460288, the Actions File Tracker.
+
+New, improved default.action files may occasionally be made available based on
+your feedback. These will be announced on the ijbswa-announce list and
+available from our the files section of our project page.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+11.2.2. Reporting Bugs
Please report all bugs only through our bug tracker: http://sourceforge.net/
tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=111118.
Before doing so, please make sure that the bug has not already been submitted
-and observe the additional hints at the top of the submit form.
+and observe the additional hints at the top of the submit form. If already
+submitted, please feel free to add any info to the original report that might
+help to solve the issue.
Please try to verify that it is a Privoxy bug, and not a browser or site bug
-first. If unsure, try toggling off Privoxy, and see if the problem persists.
-The appendix of the user manual also has helpful information on action
-debugging. If you are using your own custom configuration, please try the stock
-configs to see if the problem is configuration related.
+first. If unsure, try toggling off Privoxy, and see if the problem persists. If
+you are using your own custom configuration, please try the stock configs to
+see if the problem is configuration related.
+
+If not using the latest version, the bug may have been found and fixed in the
+meantime. We would appreciate if you could take the time to upgrade to the
+latest version (or even the latest CVS snapshot) and verify your bug.
+
+Please be sure to provide the following information:
-If not using the latest version, chances are that the bug has been found and
-fixed in the meantime. We would appreciate if you could take the time to
-upgrade to the latest version (or even the latest CVS snapshot) and verify your
-bug, but this is not required for reporting.
+ * The exact Privoxy version of the proxy software (if you got the source from
+ CVS, please also provide the source code revisions as shown in http://
+ config.privoxy.org/show-version).
+
+ * The operating system and versions you run Privoxy on, (e.g. Windows XP
+ SP2), if you are using some kind of Unix flavour, sending the output of
+ "uname -a" should do.
+
+ * The name, platform, and version of the browser you were using (e.g.
+ Internet Explorer v5.5 for Mac).
+
+ * The URL where the problem occurred, or some way for us to duplicate the
+ problem (e.g. http://somesite.example.com/?somethingelse=123).
+
+ * Whether your version of Privoxy is one supplied by the developers of
+ Privoxy via SourceForge, or somewhere else.
+
+ * Whether you are using Privoxy in tandem with another proxy such as Tor. If
+ so, please try disabling the other proxy.
+
+ * Whether you are using a personal firewall product. If so, does Privoxy work
+ without it?
+
+ * Any other pertinent information to help identify the problem such as config
+ or log file excerpts (yes, you should have log file entries for each action
+ taken).
+
+ * Please provide your SF login, or email address, in case we need to contact
+ you.
+
+The appendix of the Privoxy User Manual also has helpful information on
+understanding actions, and action debugging.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-11.4. Report Ads or Other Actions-Related Problems
-
-Please send feedback on ads that slipped through, innocent images that were
-blocked, and any other problems relating to the default.action file through our
-actions feedback mechanism located at http://www.privoxy.org/actions/. On this
-page, you will also find a bookmark which will take you back there from any
-troubled site and even pre-fill the form!
-
-New, improved default.action files will occasionally be made available based on
-your feedback. These will be announced on the ijbswa-announce list and
-available from our the files section of our project page.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-11.5. Other
+11.4. Other
For any other issues, feel free to use the mailing lists. Technically
interested users and people who wish to contribute to the project are also
12. Privoxy Copyright, License and History
-Copyright © 2001 - 2004 by Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
+Copyright © 2001 - 2006 by Privoxy Developers <
+ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net>
Some source code is based on code Copyright © 1997 by Anonymous Coders and
Junkbusters, Inc. and licensed under the GNU General Public License.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details, which
-is available from the Free Software Foundation, Inc, 59 Temple Place - Suite
-330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
+is available from the Free Software Foundation, Inc, 51 Franklin Street, Fifth
+Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, 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
+ Foundation, Inc. 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor
+ Boston, MA 02110-1301
USA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12.2. History
-In the beginning, there was the Internet Junkbuster, by Anonymous Coders and
-Junkbusters Corporation. It saved many users a lot of pain in the early days of
-web advertising and user tracking.
+Along time ago, there was the Internet Junkbuster, by Anonymous Coders and
+Junkbusters Corporation. This saved many users a lot of pain in the early days
+of web advertising and user tracking.
But the web, its protocols and standards, and with it, the techniques for
-forcing users to consume ads, give up autonomy over their browsing, and for
-spying on them, kept evolving. Unfortunately, the Internet Junkbuster did not.
-Version 2.0.2, published in 1998, was (and is) the last official release
-available from Junkbusters Corporation. Fortunately, it had been released under
-the GNU GPL, which allowed further development by others.
+forcing ads on users, give up autonomy over their browsing, and for tracking
+them, keeps evolving. Unfortunately, the Internet Junkbuster did not. Version
+2.0.2, published in 1998, was (and is) the last official release available from
+Junkbusters Corporation. Fortunately, it had been released under the GNU GPL,
+which allowed further development by others.
So Stefan Waldherr started maintaining an improved version of the software, to
which eventually a number of people contributed patches. It could already
12.3. Authors
-Current Developement Team:
+Current Privoxy Team:
- Hal Burgiss (docs)
- Andreas Oesterhelt
- David Schmidt (OS/2, Mac OSX ports)
+ Fabian Keil, developer
+ David Schmidt, developer
+ Hal Burgiss
+ Ian Cummings
+ Félix Rauch
+ Roland Rosenfeld
-
-Current and Former Project Contributors:
+Former Privoxy Team Members:
Johny Agotnes
- Rodrigo Barbosa (RPM specfiles)
+ Rodrigo Barbosa
Moritz Barsnick
Brian Dessent
- Mattes Dolak
Jon Foster
- Karsten Hopp (Red Hat)
+ Karsten Hopp
Alexander Lazic
Daniel Leite
Gábor Lipták
- Adam Lock (Win32)
+ Adam Lock
Guy Laroche
+ Mark Martinec
+ Andreas Oesterhelt
Haroon Rafique
- Roland Rosenfeld (Debian)
- Georg Sauthoff (Gentoo)
+ Georg Sauthoff
Thomas Steudten
- Joerg Strohmayer (Amiga)
+ Joerg Strohmayer
Rodney Stromlund
Sviatoslav Sviridov
Sarantis Paskalis
Stefan Waldherr
-Based in part on code originally developed by:
-
- Junkbusters Corp.
- Anonymous Coders
-
-Thanks to the many people who have tested Privoxy, reported bugs, or made
-suggestions. These include (in alphabetical order):
+Thanks to the many people who have tested Privoxy, reported bugs, made
+suggestions or contributed in some way. These include (in alphabetical order):
Ken Arromdee
Devin Bayer
Andrew J. Caines
Clifford Caoile
Michael T. Davis
- Brian Dessent
+ Mattes Dolak
+ Ulrich Drepper
Peter E
Aaron Hamid
Magnus Holmgren
Don Libes
Paul Lieverse
+ Jindrich Makovicka
David Mediavilla
Oliver Stoeneberg
Roberto Ragusa
Maynard Riley
Bart Schelstraete
+ Bobby G. Vinyard
Darren Wiebe
+ Jörg Weinmann
+ Oliver Yeoh
Jamie Zawinski
+Privoxy is based in part on code originally developed by:
+
+ Junkbusters Corp.
+ Anonymous Coders
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13. See Also
http://www.privoxy.org/faq/, the Privoxy FAQ.
-http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/, the Project Page for Privoxy on
-SourceForge.
+http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/, the Project Page for Privoxy on
+SourceForge.
-http://config.privoxy.org/, the web-based user interface. Privoxy must be
-running for this to work. Shortcut: http://p.p/
+http://config.privoxy.org/, the web-based user interface. Privoxy must be
+running for this to work. Shortcut: http://p.p/
-http://www.privoxy.org/actions/, to submit "misses" to the developers.
+http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288, to submit "misses"
+and other configuration related suggestions to the developers.
-http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/ijbswa/contrib/, cool and fun
-ideas from Privoxy users.
-
-http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html, an explanation how cookies are
-used to track web users.
+http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html, an explanation how cookies are
+used to track web users.
http://www.junkbusters.com/ijb.html, the original Internet Junkbuster.
-http://www.waldherr.org/junkbuster/, Stefan Waldherr's version of Junkbuster,
-from which Privoxy was derived.
+http://privacy.net/, a useful site to check what information about you is
+leaked while you browse the web.
-http://privacy.net/analyze/, a useful site to check what information about you
-is leaked while you browse the web.
+http://www.squid-cache.org/, a very popular caching proxy, which is often used
+together with Privoxy.
-http://www.squid-cache.org/, a very popular caching proxy, which is often used
-together with Privoxy.
+http://tor.eff.org/, Tor can help anonymize web browsing, web publishing,
+instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications.
http://www.privoxy.org/developer-manual/, the Privoxy developer manual.
. - Matches any single character, e.g. "a", "A", "4", ":", or "@".
? - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE times. Either/
-or.
+or.
+ - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE times.
\ - 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. 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).
+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. 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]+".
+[ ] - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if any of the enclosed
+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.
+( ) - 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. As an example:
-"/(this|that) example/" uses grouping and the bar character and would match
-either "this example" or "that example", and nothing else.
+| - The "bar" character works like an "or" conditional statement. A match is
+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.
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
started with a few simple examples which may be more illuminating:
-/.*/banners/.* - A simple example that uses the common combination of "." and
-"*" to denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at
+/.*/banners/.* - A simple example that uses the common combination of "." and "
+*" to denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at
all. So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression
pattern (".*") another literal forward slash, the string "banners", another
forward slash, and lastly another ".*". We are building a directory path here.
banners/annoying.html", or almost an infinite number of other possible
combinations, just so it has "banners" in the path somewhere.
-A now something a little more complex:
+And now something a little more complex:
/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/ - We have several literal forward
slashes again ("/"), so we are building another expression that is a file path
would then match either spelling.
/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g) - Again another path statement with forward
-slashes. Anything in the square brackets "[]" can be matched. This is using
+slashes. Anything in the square brackets "[ ]" can be matched. This is using
"0-9" as a shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the
same as saying "0123456789". So any digit matches. The "+" means one or more of
the preceding expression must be included. The preceding expression here is
be done with regular expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you
can learn more on your own :/
-More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions: http://www.perldoc.com/
-perl5.6/pod/perlre.html
+More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions: http://perldoc.perl.org/
+perlre.html
For information on regular expression based substitutions and their
applications in filters, please see the filter file tutorial in this manual.
certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to Privoxy, and see how
it is configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these rules and
other configuration options, and even turn Privoxy's filtering off, all with a
-web browser.
+web browser.
The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access to Privoxy.
Of course, Privoxy must be running to access these. If not, you will get a
friendly error message. Internet access is not necessary either.
* Privoxy main page:
-
+
http://config.privoxy.org/
-
+
There is a shortcut: http://p.p/ (But it doesn't provide a fall-back to a
real page, in case the request is not sent through Privoxy)
-
+
* Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
editing of actions files:
-
+
http://config.privoxy.org/show-status
-
+
* Show the source code version numbers:
-
+
http://config.privoxy.org/show-version
-
+
* Show the browser's request headers:
-
+
http://config.privoxy.org/show-request
-
+
* Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
-
+
http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info
-
+
* Toggle Privoxy on or off. In this case, "Privoxy" continues to run, but
only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking place:
-
+
http://config.privoxy.org/toggle
-
+
Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
-
+
http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable
-
+
http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable
-
-These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
+
+These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
click.
* Privoxy - Enable
-
+
* Privoxy - Disable
-
+
* Privoxy - Toggle Privoxy (Toggles between enabled and disabled)
-
+
* Privoxy- View Status
-
- * Privoxy - Submit Actions File Feedback
-
+
* Privoxy - Why?
-
-Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
+
+Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
www.bookmarklets.com. They have more information about bookmarklets.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* 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",
+ 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.
-
+ configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from default.filter and any
+ other filter files) are processed against the buffered content. Filters are
+ applied in the order they are specified in one of the filter files.
+ Animated GIFs, if present, are reduced to either the first or last frame,
+ depending on the action setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is
+ then sent by 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
+
+ * As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it reads
and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page source,
e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a new
request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a
complex web page may have many such embedded URLs.
-
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-14.4. Anatomy of an Action
+14.4. Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action
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
Bookmarklets section on a quick and easy way to do this (be sure to flush
caches afterward!). Looking at the logs is a good idea too.
+Another easy troubleshooting step to try is if you have done any customization
+of your installation, revert back to the installed defaults and see if that
+helps. There are times the developers get complaints about one thing or
+another, and the problem is more related to a customized configuration issue.
+
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.
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
+filtering effects (i.e. the "+filter" action) from one of the filter files
since this is handled very differently and not so easy to trap! It also will
not tell you about any other URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are
testing. For instance, images such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw
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:
-
- In file: default.action [ View ] [ Edit ]
-
-{-add-header
- -block
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-incoming-cookies
- +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
- -kill-popups
- -limit-connect
- +prevent-compression
- -send-vanilla-wafer
- -send-wafer
- +session-cookies-only
- +set-image-blocker{pattern} }
-/
-
- { -session-cookies-only }
- .google.com
-
- { -fast-redirects }
- .google.com
-
-In file: user.action [ View ] [ Edit ]
-(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 two
-actions defined somewhere in the lower part of our default.action file, and
-"google.com" is referenced somewhere in these latter sections.
-
-Then, for our user.action file, we again have no hits.
+Let's try an example, google.com, and look at it one section at a time in a
+sample configuration (your real configuration may vary):
+
+ Matches for http://google.com:
+
+ In file: default.action [ View ] [ Edit ]
+
+ {-add-header
+ -block
+ -content-type-overwrite
+ -crunch-client-header
+ -crunch-if-none-match
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-server-header
+ +deanimate-gifs {last}
+ -downgrade-http-version
+ +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
+ -filter {js-events}
+ -filter {content-cookies}
+ -filter {all-popups}
+ -filter {banners-by-link}
+ -filter {tiny-textforms}
+ -filter {frameset-borders}
+ -filter {demoronizer}
+ -filter {shockwave-flash}
+ -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
+ -filter {fun}
+ -filter {crude-parental}
+ -filter {site-specifics}
+ +filter {js-annoyances}
+ +filter {html-annoyances}
+ +filter {refresh-tags}
+ +filter {unsolicited-popups}
+ +filter {img-reorder}
+ +filter {banners-by-size}
+ +filter {webbugs}
+ +filter {jumping-windows}
+ +filter {ie-exploits}
+ -filter-client-headers
+ -filter-server-headers
+ -force-text-mode
+ -handle-as-empty-document
+ -handle-as-image
+ -hide-accept-language
+ -hide-content-disposition
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers
+ +hide-from-header {block}
+ -hide-if-modified-since
+ +hide-referrer {forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -inspect-jpegs
+ -kill-popups
+ -limit-connect
+ -overwrite-last-modified
+ +prevent-compression
+ -redirect
+ -send-vanilla-wafer
+ -send-wafer
+ +session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker {pattern}
+ -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks }
+/
+
+ { -session-cookies-only }
+ .google.com
+
+ { -fast-redirects }
+ .google.com
+
+In file: user.action [ View ] [ Edit ]
+(no matches in this file)
+
+This is telling us how we have defined our "actions", and which ones match for
+our test case, "google.com". Displayed is all the actions that are available to
+us. Remember, the + sign denotes "on". - denotes "off". So some are "on" here,
+but many are "off". Each example we try may provide a slightly different end
+result, depending on our configuration directives.
+
+The first listing is for 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 have defined additional actions that would be exceptions to these
+general rules, and then we list specific URLs (or patterns) that these
+exceptions would apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two
+explicit matches for ".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, at least that is how it is in this
+example. 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" or "mail.google.com". But it would not match
+"www.google.de"! So, apparently, we have these two actions defined as
+exceptions to the general rules at the top somewhere in the lower part of our
+default.action file, and "google.com" is referenced somewhere in these latter
+sections.
+
+Then, for our user.action file, we again have no hits. So there is nothing
+google-specific that we might have added to our own, local configuration. If
+there was, those actions would over-rule any actions from previously processed
+files, such as default.action. user.action typically has the last word. This is
+the best place to put hard and fast exceptions,
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
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-incoming-cookies
- +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
- -kill-popups
- -limit-connect
- +prevent-compression
- -send-vanilla-wafer
- -send-wafer
- -session-cookies-only
- +set-image-blocker{pattern}
-
+Privoxy is applying all its "actions" to "google.com":
+
+ Final results:
+
+ -add-header
+ -block
+ -content-type-overwrite
+ -crunch-client-header
+ -crunch-if-none-match
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-server-header
+ +deanimate-gifs {last}
+ -downgrade-http-version
+ -fast-redirects
+ +filter {js-annoyances}
+ +filter {html-annoyances}
+ +filter {refresh-tags}
+ +filter {unsolicited-popups}
+ +filter {img-reorder}
+ +filter {banners-by-size}
+ +filter {webbugs}
+ +filter {jumping-windows}
+ +filter {ie-exploits}
+ -filter-client-headers
+ -filter-server-headers
+ -force-text-mode
+ -handle-as-empty-document
+ -handle-as-image
+ -hide-accept-language
+ -hide-content-disposition
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers
+ +hide-from-header {block}
+ -hide-if-modified-since
+ +hide-referrer {forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -inspect-jpegs
+ -kill-popups
+ -limit-connect
+ -overwrite-last-modified
+ +prevent-compression
+ -redirect
+ -send-vanilla-wafer
+ -send-wafer
+ -session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker {pattern}
+ -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks
Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to "fast-redirects"
-and "session-cookies-only".
+and "session-cookies-only", which are activated specifically for this site in
+our configuration, and thus show in the "Final Results".
Now another example, "ad.doubleclick.net":
- { +block +handle-as-image }
- .ad.doubleclick.net
-
- { +block +handle-as-image }
- ad*.
-
- { +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 +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.)
+ { +block }
+ ad*.
+
+ { +block }
+ .ad.
+
+ { +block +handle-as-image }
+ .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
+
+We'll just show the interesting part here - the explicit matches. It is matched
+three different times. Two "+block" sections, and a "+block +handle-as-image",
+which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
+"+block-as-image". ("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
-"+handle-as-image". The custom alias "+imageblock" just simplifies the process
-and make it more readable.
+defined as "ad.doubleclick.net" is done here -- as both a "+block" and an
+"+handle-as-image". The custom alias "+block-as-image" just simplifies the
+process and make it more readable.
-One last example. Let's try "http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/". This one is
+One last example. Let's try "http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/". This one is
giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
- Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
-
- In file: default.action [ View ] [ Edit ]
-
- {-add-header
- -block
- -crunch-incoming-cookies
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- +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
- +kill-popups
- +prevent-compression
- -send-vanilla-wafer
- -send-wafer
- +session-cookies-only
- +set-image-blocker{blank} }
- /
-
- { +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
-explicitly does not block ("{-block}") paths with "adsl". There are various
-ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
-
- { -block }
- /adsl
-
-
-Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when making
-such changes. Or, try using Shift+Reload.
+ Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
+
+ In file: default.action [ View ] [ Edit ]
+
+ {-add-header
+ -block
+ -content-type-overwrite
+ -crunch-client-header
+ -crunch-if-none-match
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-server-header
+ +deanimate-gifs
+ -downgrade-http-version
+ +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}
+ +filter{html-annoyances}
+ +filter{js-annoyances}
+ +filter{kill-popups}
+ +filter{webbugs}
+ +filter{nimda}
+ +filter{banners-by-size}
+ +filter{hal}
+ +filter{fun}
+ -filter-client-headers
+ -filter-server-headers
+ -force-text-mode
+ -handle-as-empty-document
+ -handle-as-image
+ -hide-accept-language
+ -hide-content-disposition
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers
+ +hide-from-header{block}
+ +hide-referer{forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -inspect-jpegs
+ +kill-popups
+ -overwrite-last-modified
+ +prevent-compression
+ -redirect
+ -send-vanilla-wafer
+ -send-wafer
+ +session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker{blank}
+ -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks }
+ /
+
+ { +block +handle-as-image }
+ /ads
+
+Ooops, the "/adsl/" is matching "/ads" in our configuration! But we did not
+want this at all! Now we see why we get the blank page. It is actually
+triggering two different actions here, and the effects are aggregated so that
+the URL is blocked, and Privoxy is told to treat the block as if it were an
+image. But this is, of course, all wrong. We could now add a new action below
+this (or better in our own user.action file) that explicitly un blocks ( "
+{-block}") paths with "adsl" in them (remember, last match in the configuration
+wins). There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
+
+ { -block }
+ /adsl
+
+Now the page displays ;-) Remember to flush your browser's caches when making
+these kinds of changes to your configuration to insure that you get a freshly
+delivered page! Or, try using Shift+Reload.
But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like we did
with:
- { +block +handle-as-image }
- /ads
+ { +block +handle-as-image }
+ /ads
-
-That actually was very telling and pointed us quickly to where the problem was.
+That actually was very helpful and pointed us quickly to where the problem was.
If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default rules in
-the first section is causing the problem. This would require some guesswork,
-and maybe a little trial and error to isolate the offending rule. One likely
-cause would be one of the "{+filter}" actions. These tend to be harder to
-troubleshoot. Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off
-"+filter":
-
- {shop}
- .quietpc.com
- .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
- .jungle.com
- .scan.co.uk
- .forbes.com
-
-
-"{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 turn off all filtering for that site. This would probably be most
-appropriately put in user.action, for local site exceptions.
+the first section of default.action is causing the problem. This would require
+some guesswork, and maybe a little trial and error to isolate the offending
+rule. One likely cause would be one of the "+filter" actions. These tend to be
+harder to troubleshoot. Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that
+turn off "+filter":
+
+ { shop }
+ .quietpc.com
+ .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+ .jungle.com
+ .scan.co.uk
+ .forbes.com
+
+"{ shop }" is an "alias" that expands to "{ -filter -session-cookies-only }".
+Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
+
+ { -filter }
+ # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
+ .forbes.com
+ developer.ibm.com
+ localhost
+
+This would turn off all filtering for these sites. This is best put in
+user.action, for local site exceptions. Note that when a simple domain pattern
+is used by itself (without the subsequent path portion), all sub-pages within
+that domain are included automatcially in the scope of the action.
Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the "+filter
{banners-by-size}" rule, which assumes that images of certain sizes are ad
banners (works well most of the time since these tend to be standardized).
-"{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.
+"{ fragile }" is an alias that disables most actions that are the most likely
+to cause trouble. This can be used as a last resort for problem sites.
+
+ { fragile }
+ # Handle with care: easy to break
+ mail.google.
+ mybank.example.com
+
+Remember to flush caches! Note that the mail.google reference lacks the TLD
+portion (e.g. ".com". This will effectively match any TLD with google in it,
+such as mail.google.de, just as an example.
+
+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