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+>Privoxy 3.0.17 User Manual</TH
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>8. Actions Files</A
></H1
><P
-> The actions files are used to define what actions
+> The actions files are used to define what <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>actions</I
+></SPAN
+>
<SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
-> takes for which URLs, and thus determine
+> takes for which URLs, and thus determines
how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
- transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). There
- are three such files included with <SPAN
+ transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof).
+ There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
+ Each action does something a little different.
+ These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
+ our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that
+ their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.</P
+><P
+> There
+ are three action files included with <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
-> (as of
- version 2.9.15), with differing purposes:
- </P
+> with
+ differing purposes:</P
><P
+> <P
></P
><UL
><LI
><P
-> <TT
+> <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>match-all.action</TT
+> - is used to define which
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"actions"</SPAN
+> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
+ content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default.
+ It should be the first actions file loaded
+ </P
+></LI
+><LI
+><P
+> <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>default.action</TT
-> - is the primary action file
- that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
- provide a base level of functionality for
- <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy's</SPAN
-> 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.
- </P
+> - defines many exceptions (both
+ positive and negative) from the default set of actions that's configured
+ in <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>match-all.action</TT
+>. It is a set of rules that should
+ work reasonably well as-is for most users. This file is only supposed to
+ be edited by the developers. It should be the second actions file loaded.
+ </P
></LI
><LI
><P
-> <TT
+> <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>user.action</TT
> - 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.
- </P
+ 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.
+ </P
></LI
><LI
><P
-> <TT
-CLASS="FILENAME"
->standard.action</TT
-> - is used by the web based editor,
- to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
- in <TT
+> <SPAN
+CLASS="GUIBUTTON"
+>Edit</SPAN
+> <SPAN
+CLASS="GUIBUTTON"
+>Set to Cautious</SPAN
+> <SPAN
+CLASS="GUIBUTTON"
+>Set to Medium</SPAN
+> <SPAN
+CLASS="GUIBUTTON"
+>Set to Advanced</SPAN
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>and have no
+ influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
+ editor</I
+></SPAN
+>. A default installation should be pre-set to
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>Cautious</TT
+>. New users should try this for a while before
+ adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
+ the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
+ not working as they should.
+ </P
+><P
+> The <SPAN
+CLASS="GUIBUTTON"
+>Edit</SPAN
+> button allows you to turn each
+ action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <SPAN
+CLASS="GUIBUTTON"
+>Cautious</SPAN
+>
+ button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
+ ad blocking and a minimal set of <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+>'s features, and subsequently
+ there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="GUIBUTTON"
+>Medium</SPAN
+> button sets the list to a medium level of
+ other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="GUIBUTTON"
+>Advanced</SPAN
+> 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
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="GUIBUTTON"
+>Edit</SPAN
+> button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
+ lower sections of this internal page.
+ </P
+><P
+> While the actions file editor allows to enable these settings in all
+ actions files, they are only supposed to be enabled in the first one
+ to make sure you don't unintentionally overrule earlier rules.
+ </P
+><P
+> The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
+ <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>default.action</TT
->. These have increasing levels of
- aggressiveness <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->and have no influence on your browsing unless
- you select them explicitly in the editor</I
->. It is not recommend
- to edit this file.
+> are:
+ </P
+><P
+> <DIV
+CLASS="TABLE"
+><A
+NAME="AEN2534"
+></A
+><P
+><B
+>Table 1. Default Configurations</B
+></P
+><TABLE
+BORDER="1"
+FRAME="border"
+RULES="all"
+CLASS="CALSTABLE"
+><COL
+WIDTH="1*"
+TITLE="C1"><COL
+WIDTH="1*"
+TITLE="C2"><COL
+WIDTH="1*"
+TITLE="C3"><COL
+WIDTH="1*"
+TITLE="C4"><THEAD
+><TR
+><TH
+>Feature</TH
+><TH
+>Cautious</TH
+><TH
+>Medium</TH
+><TH
+>Advanced</TH
+></TR
+></THEAD
+><TBODY
+><TR
+><TD
+>Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</TD
+><TD
+>medium</TD
+><TD
+>high</TD
+><TD
+>high</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+>Ad-filtering by size</TD
+><TD
+>no</TD
+><TD
+>yes</TD
+><TD
+>yes</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+>Ad-filtering by link</TD
+><TD
+>no</TD
+><TD
+>no</TD
+><TD
+>yes</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+>Pop-up killing</TD
+><TD
+>blocks only</TD
+><TD
+>blocks only</TD
+><TD
+>blocks only</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+>Privacy Features</TD
+><TD
+>low</TD
+><TD
+>medium</TD
+><TD
+>medium/high</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+>Cookie handling</TD
+><TD
+>none</TD
+><TD
+>session-only</TD
+><TD
+>kill</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+>Referer forging</TD
+><TD
+>no</TD
+><TD
+>yes</TD
+><TD
+>yes</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+>GIF de-animation</TD
+><TD
+>no</TD
+><TD
+>yes</TD
+><TD
+>yes</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+>Fast redirects</TD
+><TD
+>no</TD
+><TD
+>no</TD
+><TD
+>yes</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+>HTML taming</TD
+><TD
+>no</TD
+><TD
+>no</TD
+><TD
+>yes</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+>JavaScript taming</TD
+><TD
+>no</TD
+><TD
+>no</TD
+><TD
+>yes</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+>Web-bug killing</TD
+><TD
+>no</TD
+><TD
+>yes</TD
+><TD
+>yes</TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+>Image tag reordering</TD
+><TD
+>no</TD
+><TD
+>yes</TD
+><TD
+>yes</TD
+></TR
+></TBODY
+></TABLE
+></DIV
+>
</P
></LI
></UL
->
- </P
+></P
><P
> The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
- file, and are processed in the order they are defined. The content of these
- can all be viewed and edited from <A
+ file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
+ <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>default.action</TT
+> is typically processed before
+ <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>user.action</TT
+>). The content of these can all be viewed and
+ edited from <A
HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status"
TARGET="_top"
>http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</A
->.</P
+>.
+ 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 <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>default.action</TT
+>),
+ followed by any exceptions (typically also in
+ <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>default.action</TT
+>), which are then followed lastly by any
+ local preferences (typically in <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>user</I
+></SPAN
+><TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>.action</TT
+>).
+ Generally, <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>user.action</TT
+> has the last word.
+ </P
><P
> An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
<SPAN
>alias section</A
> at the top of that file.
Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
- sites and pages (be <I
+ sites and pages (be <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>very careful</I
+></SPAN
> with using such a
universal set in <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
CLASS="FILENAME"
>default.action</TT
>,
- with the advantage that is a separate file, which makes preserving your
+ with the advantage that it is a separate file, which makes preserving your
personal settings across <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
><P
>
Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
- just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
+ just some obnoxious URL whose content you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
- written to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
+ written to disk), content can be modified, some JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
fooled, and much more. See below for a <A
HREF="actions-file.html#ACTIONS"
>complete list
><H2
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="AEN1403"
+NAME="AEN2633"
>8.1. Finding the Right Mix</A
></H2
><P
>, 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
+ certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring
+ refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that the more
<SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"aggressive"</SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"trusted"</SPAN
> sites you
- will have to make later. If, for example, you want to kill popup windows per
+ 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 popups for actually useful content, like maybe
+ regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe
your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.</P
><P
> We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
><H2
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
-NAME="AEN1410"
+NAME="AEN2640"
>8.2. How to Edit</A
></H2
><P
TARGET="_top"
>http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</A
>.
- 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
- <SPAN
+ Note: the config file option <A
+HREF="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS"
+>enable-edit-actions</A
+> must be enabled for
+ this to work. 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 <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"Cautious"</SPAN
>, <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"Medium"</SPAN
-> or <SPAN
+> or
+ <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"Advanced"</SPAN
->.</P
+>. Warning: the <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Advanced"</SPAN
+> setting is more
+ aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites.
+ Experienced users only!
+ </P
><P
> If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
- the actions files. Look at <TT
+ the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at
+ <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>default.action</TT
-> which is richly
- commented.</P
+> which is richly commented with many
+ good examples.</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
NAME="ACTIONS-APPLY"
->8.3. How Actions are Applied to URLs</A
+>8.3. How Actions are Applied to Requests</A
></H2
><P
> Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
HREF="actions-file.html#ALIASES"
>alias</A
>"</SPAN
-> sections which will be discussed later. For now
- let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a heading line (often split
- up to multiple lines for readability) which consist of a list of actions,
- separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces. Below that, there
- is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line.</P
+> sections which will
+ be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
+ heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
+ of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
+ Below that, there is a list of URL and tag patterns, each on a separate line.</P
><P
> To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
- compared to all patterns in each action file file. Every time it matches, the list of
- applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading
- of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for
- the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not,
- the effects are aggregated (e.g. a URL might match both the
- <A
-HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
-TARGET="_top"
-><SPAN
+ compared to all URL patterns in each <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
->"+handle-as-image"</SPAN
-></A
->
- and <A
+>"action file"</SPAN
+>.
+ Every time it matches, the list of applicable actions for the request is
+ incrementally updated, using the heading of the section in which the
+ pattern is located. The same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on.</P
+><P
+> If multiple applying sections set the same action differently,
+ the last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated.
+ E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading line of <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>{
+ +<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
+>handle-as-image</A
+> }</TT
+>,
+ then later another one with just <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>{
+ +<A
HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
-TARGET="_top"
-><SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"+block"</SPAN
-></A
-> actions).
+>block</A
+> }</TT
+>, resulting
+ in <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>both</I
+></SPAN
+> actions to apply. And there may well be
+ cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
+ might look like:</P
+><P
+> <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="100%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+> { +<TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>handle-as-image</TT
+> +<TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>block{Banner ads.}</TT
+> }
+ # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
+ banners.example.com
+ media.example.com/.*banners
+ .example.com/images/ads/</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
</P
><P
-> You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting <A
+> You can trace this process for
URL patterns and any given URL by visiting <A
HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info"
TARGET="_top"
>http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</A
>.</P
><P
->
More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <A
+>
Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <A
HREF="appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT"
-> Anatomy of an Action</A
->.</P
+> Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</A
+> section.</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
>8.4. Patterns</A
></H2
><P
-> Generally, a pattern has the form <TT
+>
+ As mentioned, <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> uses <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"patterns"</SPAN
+>
+ to determine what <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>actions</I
+></SPAN
+> might apply to which sites and
+ pages your browser attempts to access. These <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"patterns"</SPAN
+> use wild
+ card type <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>pattern</I
+></SPAN
+> matching to achieve a high degree of
+ flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
+ against many similar patterns.</P
+><P
+> Generally, an URL pattern has the form
+ <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
-><domain>/<path></TT
->,
- where both the <TT
+><domain><port>/<path></TT
+>, where the
+ <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
><domain></TT
-> and <TT
+>, the <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
-><path></TT
+><port></TT
>
- are optional. (This is why the pattern <TT
+ and the <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><path></TT
+> are optional. (This is why the special
+ <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>/</TT
-> matches all URLs).</P
+> pattern matches all URLs). Note that the protocol
+ portion of the URL pattern (e.g. <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>http://</TT
+>) should
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>not</I
+></SPAN
+> be included in the pattern. This is assumed already!</P
+><P
+> The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of
+ the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
+ while the path part uses more flexible
+ <A
+HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"
+TARGET="_top"
+><SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Regular
+ Expressions"</SPAN
+></A
+> (POSIX 1003.2).</P
+><P
+> The port part of a pattern is a decimal port number preceded by a colon
+ (<TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>:</TT
+>). If the domain part contains a numerical IPv6 address,
+ it has to be put into angle brackets
+ (<TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><</TT
+>, <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>></TT
+>).</P
><P
></P
><DIV
CLASS="LITERAL"
>www.example.com</TT
>,
- 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 <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>example.com</TT
+> is different and would NOT match.
</P
></DD
><DT
></DT
><DD
><P
-> matches only the single document <TT
+> matches all the documents on <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
->/index.html</TT
+>www.example.com</TT
>
- on <TT
+ whose name starts with <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
->www.example.com</TT
+>/index.html</TT
>.
</P
></DD
><DT
><TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
+>www.example.com/index.html$</TT
+></DT
+><DD
+><P
+> matches only the single document <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
>/index.html</TT
+>
+ on <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>www.example.com</TT
+>.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+><TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>/index.html$</TT
></DT
><DD
><P
CLASS="LITERAL"
>/index.html</TT
>, regardless of the domain,
- i.e. on <I
+ i.e. on <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>any</I
-> web server.
+></SPAN
+> web server anywhere.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+><TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>/</TT
+></DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Matches any URL because there's no requirement for either the
+ domain or the path to match anything.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+><TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>:8000/</TT
+></DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Matches any URL pointing to TCP port 8000.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+><TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><2001:db8::1>/</TT
+></DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Matches any URL with the host address <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>2001:db8::1</TT
+>.
+ (Note that the real URL uses plain brackets, not angle brackets.)
</P
></DD
><DT
></DT
><DD
><P
-> matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
+> matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
there is no top-level domain called <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>.html</TT
->.
+>. So its
+ a mistake.
</P
></DD
></DL
><H3
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
-NAME="AEN1473"
+NAME="AEN2752"
>8.4.1. The Domain Pattern</A
></H3
><P
></DT
><DD
><P
-> matches any domain that <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->ENDS</I
-> in
- <TT
+> matches any domain with first-level domain <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
->.example.com</TT
+>com</TT
>
+ and second-level domain <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>example</TT
+>.
+ For example <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>www.example.com</TT
+>,
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>example.com</TT
+> and <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>foo.bar.baz.example.com</TT
+>.
+ Note that it wouldn't match if the second-level domain was <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>another-example</TT
+>.
</P
></DD
><DT
></DT
><DD
><P
-> matches any domain that <I
+> matches any domain that <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>STARTS</I
+></SPAN
> with
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>www.</TT
->
+> (It also matches the domain
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>www</TT
+> but most of the time that doesn't matter.)
</P
></DD
><DT
></DT
><DD
><P
-> matches any domain that <I
+> matches any domain that <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>CONTAINS</I
+></SPAN
> <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>.example.</TT
->
- (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <TT
+>.
+ 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 <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>example</TT
-> as a domain.)
+> as
+ a domain.) This might be <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>www.example.com</TT
+>,
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>news.example.de</TT
+>, or
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</TT
+> for instance. All these
+ cases are matched.
</P
></DD
></DL
></DIV
><P
> Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
- themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: <SPAN
+ themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
+ <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"*"</SPAN
->
- stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, <SPAN
+> represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
+ equivalent to the
+ <A
+HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"
+TARGET="_top"
+><SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Regular
+ Expression"</SPAN
+></A
+> based syntax of <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>".*"</SPAN
+>),
+ <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"?"</SPAN
-> stands for
- any single character, you can define character classes in square
- brackets and all of that can be freely mixed:</P
+> represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
+ regular expression syntax of a simple <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"."</SPAN
+>), and you can define
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"character classes"</SPAN
+> in square brackets which is similar to
+ the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:</P
><P
></P
><DIV
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>wwwz.example.com</TT
-> etc., but <I
+> etc., but <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>not</I
+></SPAN
>
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
></DD
></DL
></DIV
+><P
+> While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax.</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT3"
><H3
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
-NAME="AEN1535"
+NAME="AEN2828"
>8.4.2. The Path Pattern</A
></H3
><P
> <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
-> uses Perl compatible regular expressions
- (through the <A
-HREF="http://www.pcre.org/"
+> uses <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"modern"</SPAN
+> POSIX 1003.2
+ <A
+HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"
TARGET="_top"
->PCRE</A
-> library) for
- matching the path.</P
+><SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Regular
+ Expressions"</SPAN
+></A
+> for matching the path portion (after the slash),
+ and is thus more flexible.</P
><P
> There is an <A
HREF="appendix.html#REGEX"
>Appendix</A
> with a brief quick-start into regular
- expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
- at <A
-HREF="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt"
-TARGET="_top"
->http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</A
->.
- You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<TT
+ expressions, you also might want to have a look at your operating system's documentation
+ on regular expressions (try <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
->man perlre</TT
->)
- useful, which is available on-line at <A
-HREF="http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html"
-TARGET="_top"
->http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html</A
->.</P
+>man re_format</TT
+>).</P
><P
> Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
> (regular expression speak
for the beginning of a line).</P
><P
-> Please also note that matching in the path is case
- <I
+> Please also note that matching in the path is <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->INSENSITIVE</I
-> by default, but you can switch to case
- sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
+>CASE INSENSITIVE</I
+></SPAN
+>
+ by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
<SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"(?-i)"</SPAN
-> switch:
- <TT
+> switch: <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</TT
-> will match only
- documents whose path starts with <TT
+> will match
+ only documents whose path starts with <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>PaTtErN</TT
> in
- <I
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>exactly</I
+></SPAN
> this capitalization.</P
+><P
+></P
+><DIV
+CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
+><DL
+><DT
+><TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>.example.com/.*</TT
+></DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Is equivalent to just <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>".example.com"</SPAN
+>, since any documents
+ within that domain are matched with or without the <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>".*"</SPAN
+>
+ regular expression. This is redundant
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+><TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>.example.com/.*/index.html$</TT
+></DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Will match any page in the domain of <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"example.com"</SPAN
+> that is
+ named <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"index.html"</SPAN
+>, and that is part of some path. For
+ example, it matches <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"www.example.com/testing/index.html"</SPAN
+> but
+ NOT <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"www.example.com/index.html"</SPAN
+> because the regular
+ expression called for at least two <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"/'s"</SPAN
+>, thus the path
+ requirement. It also would match
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"www.example.com/testing/index_html"</SPAN
+>, because of the
+ special meta-character <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"."</SPAN
+>.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+><TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$</TT
+></DT
+><DD
+><P
+> This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page
+ named <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"index.html"</SPAN
+> regardless of path which in this case can
+ have one or more <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"/'s"</SPAN
+>. And this one must contain exactly
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>".html"</SPAN
+> (but does not have to end with that!).
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+><TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</TT
+></DT
+><DD
+><P
+> This regular expression will match any path of <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"example.com"</SPAN
+>
+ that contains any of the words <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"ads"</SPAN
+>, <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"banner"</SPAN
+>,
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"banners"</SPAN
+> (because of the <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"?"</SPAN
+>) or <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"junk"</SPAN
+>.
+ The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+><TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</TT
+></DT
+><DD
+><P
+> This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>".jpg"</SPAN
+>, <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>".jpeg"</SPAN
+>, <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>".gif"</SPAN
+> or <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>".png"</SPAN
+>. So this
+ one is limited to common image formats.
+ </P
+></DD
+></DL
+></DIV
+><P
+> There are many, many good examples to be found in <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>default.action</TT
+>,
+ and more tutorials below in <A
+HREF="appendix.html#REGEX"
+>Appendix on regular expressions</A
+>.</P
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><H3
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><A
+NAME="TAG-PATTERN"
+>8.4.3. The Tag Pattern</A
+></H3
+><P
+> Tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the
+ request's tags. Tags can be created with either the
+ <A
+HREF="actions-file.html#CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER"
+>client-header-tagger</A
+>
+ or the <A
+HREF="actions-file.html#SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER"
+>server-header-tagger</A
+> action.</P
+><P
+> Tag patterns have to start with <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"TAG:"</SPAN
+>, so <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+>
+ can tell them apart from URL patterns. Everything after the colon
+ including white space, is interpreted as a regular expression with
+ path pattern syntax, except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored
+ automatically (<SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> doesn't silently add a <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"^"</SPAN
+>,
+ you have to do it yourself if you need it).</P
+><P
+> To match all requests that are tagged with <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"foo"</SPAN
+>
+ your pattern line should be <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"TAG:^foo$"</SPAN
+>,
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"TAG:foo"</SPAN
+> would work as well, but it would also
+ match requests whose tags contain <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"foo"</SPAN
+> somewhere.
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"TAG: foo"</SPAN
+> wouldn't work as it requires white space.</P
+><P
+> Sections can contain URL and tag patterns at the same time,
+ but tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus
+ always overrule them, even if they are located before the URL patterns.</P
+><P
+> Once a new tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's matched by one
+ of the tag patterns and updates the action settings accordingly. As a result
+ tags can be used to activate other tagger actions, as long as these other
+ taggers look for headers that haven't already be parsed.</P
+><P
+> For example you could tag client requests which use the
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>POST</TT
+> method,
+ then use this tag to activate another tagger that adds a tag if cookies
+ are sent, and then use a block action based on the cookie tag. This allows
+ the outcome of one action, to be input into a subsequent action. However if
+ you'd reverse the position of the described taggers, and activated the
+ method tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method tags would be created.
+ The method tagger would look for the request line, but at the time
+ the cookie tag is created, the request line has already been parsed.</P
+><P
+> While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of
+ indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't
+ make too much sense.</P
></DIV
></DIV
><DIV
of the actions file. </P
><P
>
- There are three classes of actions:</P
+ Actions fall into three categories:</P
><P
> <P
></P
>
Example: <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
->+block</TT
+>+handle-as-image</TT
>
</P
></LI
>
Example: <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
->+hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 }</TT
+>+hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070602 Firefox/2.0.0.4}</TT
>
</P
></LI
>
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, <I
+ same URL, but with different parameters, <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>all</I
+></SPAN
> the parameters
- from <I
+ from <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>all</I
+></SPAN
> 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:
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
> would just be a
- normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the
+ normal, non-blocking, non-filtering proxy. You must specifically enable the
privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
files will give a good starting point).</P
><P
-> 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
- <TT
+> Later defined action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the same type.
+ So exceptions to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
+ in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such
+ as <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>user.action</TT
+>). 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 <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>config</TT
-> (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!</P
+> (the default
+ installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any given
+ URL to match more than one <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"pattern"</SPAN
+> (because of wildcards and
+ regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last
+ match wins.</P
><P
> The list of valid <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
NAME="ADD-HEADER"
->8.5.1. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->add-header</I
-></A
+>8.5.1. add-header</A
></H4
><P
></P
> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
one.
</P
+><P
+> Headers added by this action are not modified by other actions.
+ </P
></DD
><DT
>Example usage:</DT
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
NAME="BLOCK"
->8.5.2. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->block</I
-></A
+>8.5.2. block</A
></H4
><P
></P
>Typical use:</DT
><DD
><P
->Block ads or other obnoxious content</P
+>Block ads or other unwanted content</P
></DD
><DT
>Effect:</DT
><DD
><P
-> 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 <TT
+> Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
+ requests are trapped by <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> and the requested URL is never retrieved,
+ but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
+ the <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
><A
HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
>handle-as-image</A
></TT
->
- and <TT
+>,
+ <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
><A
HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
>set-image-blocker</A
></TT
+>, and
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT"
+>handle-as-empty-document</A
+></TT
> actions.
+
</P
></DD
><DT
>Type:</DT
><DD
><P
->Boolean.</P
+>Parameterized.</P
></DD
><DT
>Parameter:</DT
><DD
><P
->N/A</P
+>A block reason that should be given to the user.</P
></DD
><DT
>Notes:</DT
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"BLOCKED"</SPAN
> page
- for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request
- was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the
- force feature enabled). The <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"BLOCKED"</SPAN
-> page adapts to the available
- screen space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and text-only
- if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
->
- right now, you can take a look at the
- <A
-HREF="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"
-TARGET="_top"
-><SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"BLOCKED"</SPAN
->
- page</A
->.
+ for requests to blocked pages. This page contains the block reason given as
+ parameter, a link to find out why the block action applies, and a click-through
+ to the blocked content (the latter only if the force feature is available and
+ enabled).
</P
><P
>
- A very important exception occurs if <I
+ A very important exception occurs if <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>both</I
+></SPAN
>
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
> deals with
- ads and other unwanted content.
+ ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
+ upon which various other features depend.
</P
><P
> The <TT
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
->{+block} # Block and replace with "blocked" page
-.nasty-stuff.example.com
+>{+block{No nasty stuff for you.}}
+# 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</PRE
+{+block{Doubleclick banners.} +handle-as-image}
+# Block and replace with image
+ .ad.doubleclick.net
+ .ads.r.us/banners/
+
+{+block{Layered ads.} +handle-as-empty-document}
+# Block and then ignore
+ adserver.example.net/.*\.js$</PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><H4
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
-NAME="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
->8.5.3. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->crunch-incoming-cookies</I
-></A
+NAME="CHANGE-X-FORWARDED-FOR"
+>8.5.3. change-x-forwarded-for</A
></H4
><P
></P
>Typical use:</DT
><DD
><P
-> Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system
- </P
+>Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request in the HTTP headers.</P
></DD
><DT
>Effect:</DT
><DD
><P
-> Deletes any <SPAN
+> Deletes the <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
->"Set-Cookie:"</SPAN
-> HTTP headers from server replies.
+>"X-Forwarded-For:"</SPAN
+> HTTP header from the client request,
+ or adds a new one.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Type:</DT
><DD
><P
->Boolean.</P
+>Parameterized.</P
></DD
><DT
>Parameter:</DT
><DD
><P
-> N/A
- </P
+></P
+><UL
+><LI
+><P
+><SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"block"</SPAN
+> to delete the header.</P
+></LI
+><LI
+><P
+> <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"add"</SPAN
+> to create the header (or append
+ the client's IP address to an already existing one).
+ </P
+></LI
+></UL
></DD
><DT
>Notes:</DT
><DD
><P
-> This action is only concerned with <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->incoming</I
-> cookies. For
- <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->outgoing</I
-> cookies, use
- <TT
+> It is safe and recommended to use <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
-><A
-HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
->crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
-></TT
+>block</TT
>.
- Use <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->both</I
-> to disable cookies completely.
</P
><P
-> It makes <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->no sense at all</I
-> to use this action in conjunction
- with the <TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
-><A
-HREF="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
->session-cookies-only</A
-></TT
-> action,
- since it would prevent the session cookies from being set.
+> Forwarding the source address of the request may make
+ sense in some multi-user setups but is also a privacy risk.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Example usage:</DT
><DD
><P
-> <TABLE
BORDER="0"
BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
WIDTH="90%"
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
->+crunch-incoming-cookies</PRE
+>+change-x-forwarded-for{block}</PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><H4
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
-NAME="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
->8.5.4. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->crunch-outgoing-cookies</I
-></A
+NAME="CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER"
+>8.5.4. client-header-filter</A
></H4
><P
></P
>Typical use:</DT
><DD
><P
-> Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system
+> Rewrite or remove single client headers.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Effect:</DT
><DD
><P
-> Deletes any <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"Cookie:"</SPAN
-> HTTP headers from client requests.
+> All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
+ the specified regular expression based substitutions.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Type:</DT
><DD
><P
->Boolean.</P
+>Parameterized.</P
></DD
><DT
>Parameter:</DT
><DD
><P
-> N/A
+> The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the
+ <A
+HREF="filter-file.html"
+>filter files</A
+>.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Notes:</DT
><DD
><P
-> This action is only concerned with <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->outgoing</I
-> cookies. For
- <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->incoming</I
-> cookies, use
- <TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
-><A
-HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
->crunch-incoming-cookies</A
-></TT
->.
- Use <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->both</I
-> to disable cookies completely.
+> Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
+ all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
+ you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
+ You can do that by using tags though.
</P
><P
-> It makes <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->no sense at all</I
-> to use this action in conjunction
- with the <TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
-><A
-HREF="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
->session-cookies-only</A
-></TT
-> action,
- since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
+> Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
+ and use their output as input.
+ </P
+><P
+> If the request URL gets changed, <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> will detect that and use the new
+ one. This can be used to rewrite the request destination behind the client's
+ back, for example to specify a Tor exit relay for certain requests.
+ </P
+><P
+> Please refer to the <A
+HREF="filter-file.html"
+>filter file chapter</A
+>
+ to learn which client-header filters are available by default, and how to
+ create your own.
</P
></DD
><DT
->Example usage:</DT
+>Example usage (section):</DT
><DD
><P
-> <TABLE
BORDER="0"
BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
WIDTH="90%"
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
->+crunch-outgoing-cookies</PRE
+># Hide Tor exit notation in Host and Referer Headers
+{+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
+/
+ </PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
>
- </P
+ </P
></DD
></DL
></DIV
><H4
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
-NAME="DEANIMATE-GIFS"
->8.5.5. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->deanimate-gifs</I
-></A
+NAME="CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER"
+>8.5.5. client-header-tagger</A
></H4
><P
></P
>Typical use:</DT
><DD
><P
->Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</P
+> Block requests based on their headers.
+ </P
></DD
><DT
>Effect:</DT
><DD
><P
-> De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
+> Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
+ the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
+ tag.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Parameter:</DT
><DD
><P
-> <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"last"</SPAN
-> or <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"first"</SPAN
->
+> The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the
+ <A
+HREF="filter-file.html"
+>filter files</A
+>.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Notes:</DT
><DD
><P
-> This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
- the option <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"first"</SPAN
-> is given, the first frame of the animation
- is used as the replacement. If <SPAN
+> Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
+ and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
->"last"</SPAN
-> 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).
+>"sees"</SPAN
+>
+ the original.
</P
><P
-> 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.
+> Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed
+ and their tags can be used to control every other action.
</P
></DD
><DT
->Example usage:</DT
+>Example usage (section):</DT
><DD
><P
+> <TABLE
BORDER="0"
BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
WIDTH="90%"
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
->+deanimate-gifs{last}</PRE
+># Tag every request with the User-Agent header
+{+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
+/
+
+# Tagging itself doesn't change the action
+# settings, sections with TAG patterns do:
+#
+# If it's a download agent, use a different forwarding proxy,
+# show the real User-Agent and make sure resume works.
+{+forward-override{forward-socks5 10.0.0.2:2222 .} \
+ -hide-if-modified-since \
+ -overwrite-last-modified \
+ -hide-user-agent \
+ -filter \
+ -deanimate-gifs \
+}
+TAG:^User-Agent: NetBSD-ftp/
+TAG:^User-Agent: Novell ZYPP Installer
+TAG:^User-Agent: RPM APT-HTTP/
+TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/
+TAG:^User-Agent: Ubuntu APT-HTTP/
+TAG:^User-Agent: MPlayer/
+ </PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><H4
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
-NAME="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"
->8.5.6. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->downgrade-http-version</I
-></A
+NAME="CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE"
+>8.5.6. content-type-overwrite</A
></H4
><P
></P
>Typical use:</DT
><DD
><P
->Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</P
+>Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode</P
></DD
><DT
>Effect:</DT
><DD
><P
-> Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
+> Replaces the <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Content-Type:"</SPAN
+> HTTP server header.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Type:</DT
><DD
><P
->Boolean.</P
+>Parameterized.</P
></DD
><DT
>Parameter:</DT
><DD
><P
-> N/A
+> Any string.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Notes:</DT
><DD
><P
-> This is a left-over from the time when <SPAN
+> The <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Content-Type:"</SPAN
+> 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.
+ </P
+><P
+> The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
+ the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"text/html"</SPAN
+>,
+ many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
+ If it is send as <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"application/xml"</SPAN
+>, browsers with
+ XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
+ </P
+><P
+> If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Content-Type: text/html"</SPAN
+>, you can use <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
>
- 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.
+ to overwrite it with <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"application/xml"</SPAN
+> and validate
+ the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
+ If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
+ </P
+><P
+> 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
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"text/html"</SPAN
+> and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
+ </P
+><P
+> By default <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>content-type-overwrite</TT
+> only replaces
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Content-Type:"</SPAN
+> headers that look like some kind of text.
+ If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#FORCE-TEXT-MODE"
+>force-text-mode</A
+></TT
+>.
+ This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
+ </P
+><P
+> Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#SERVER-HEADER-FILTER"
+>server-header filter</A
+></TT
+>.
+ 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.
+ </P
+><P
+> Of course you can apply <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>content-type-overwrite</TT
+>
+ to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
+ more work to get the same precision.
</P
></DD
><DT
->Example usage (section):</DT
+>Example usage (sections):</DT
><DD
><P
> <TABLE
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
->{+downgrade-http-version}
-problem-host.example.com</PRE
+># 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</PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
>
- </P
+ </P
></DD
></DL
></DIV
><H4
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
-NAME="FAST-REDIRECTS"
->8.5.7. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->fast-redirects</I
-></A
+NAME="CRUNCH-CLIENT-HEADER"
+>8.5.7. crunch-client-header</A
></H4
><P
></P
>Typical use:</DT
><DD
><P
->Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links</P
+>Remove a client header <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> has no dedicated action for.</P
></DD
><DT
>Effect:</DT
><DD
><P
-> Cut off all but the last valid URL from requests.
+> Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Type:</DT
><DD
><P
->Boolean.</P
+>Parameterized.</P
></DD
><DT
>Parameter:</DT
><DD
><P
-> N/A
+> Any string.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Notes:</DT
><DD
><P
->
- 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:
- <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->http://some.place/click-tracker.cgi?target=http://some.where.else</I
->.
- </P
+> This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> action exists.
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> will remove every client header that
+ contains the string you supplied as parameter.
+ </P
><P
-> Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
- URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
- since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
- to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
- browser ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
- the advertisers.
+> Regular expressions are <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>not supported</I
+></SPAN
+> and you can't
+ use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
+ they contain the same string.
</P
><P
-> 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
+> <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>crunch-client-header</TT
+> is only meant for quick tests.
+ If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
+ parts of them, you should use a
<TT
-CLASS="FILENAME"
->default.action</TT
->. Some sites just don't work without
- it.
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER"
+>client-header filter</A
+></TT
+>.
</P
-></DD
-><DT
->Example usage:</DT
-><DD
+><DIV
+CLASS="WARNING"
><P
-> <TABLE
+></P
+><TABLE
+CLASS="WARNING"
+BORDER="1"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="CENTER"
+><B
+>Warning</B
+></TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+><P
+> Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
+ </P
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+></DIV
+></DD
+><DT
+>Example usage (section):</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> <TABLE
BORDER="0"
BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
WIDTH="90%"
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
->{+fast-redirects}</PRE
+># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
+{ +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
+/
+ </PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
>
- </P
+ </P
></DD
></DL
></DIV
><H4
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
-NAME="FILTER"
->8.5.8. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->filter</I
-></A
+NAME="CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH"
+>8.5.8. crunch-if-none-match</A
></H4
><P
></P
>Typical use:</DT
><DD
><P
->Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size), do fun text replacements, etc.</P
+>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</P
></DD
><DT
>Effect:</DT
><DD
><P
-> Text documents, including HTML and JavaScript, to which this action applies, are filtered on-the-fly
- through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
+> Deletes the <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"If-None-Match:"</SPAN
+> HTTP client header.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Type:</DT
><DD
><P
->Parameterized.</P
+>Boolean.</P
></DD
><DT
>Parameter:</DT
><DD
><P
-> The name of a filter, as defined in the <A
-HREF="filter-file.html"
->filter file</A
->
- (typically <TT
-CLASS="FILENAME"
->default.filter</TT
->, set by the
- <TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
-><A
-HREF="config.html#FILTERFILE"
->filterfile</A
-></TT
->
- option in the <A
-HREF="config.html"
->config file</A
->)
+> N/A
</P
></DD
><DT
>Notes:</DT
><DD
><P
-> For your convenience, there are a bunch of pre-defined filters available
- in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the example below for
- a list.
+> Removing the <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"If-None-Match:"</SPAN
+> HTTP client header
+ is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
+ reload instead of getting status code <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"304"</SPAN
+> which
+ would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
</P
><P
-> This is potentially a very powerful feature! But <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"rolling your own"</SPAN
->
- filters requires a knowledge of regular expressions and HTML.
+> It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
+ replacement (unlikely but possible).
</P
><P
-> 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.
+> Blocking the <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"If-None-Match:"</SPAN
+> header shouldn't cause any
+ caching problems, as long as the <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"If-Modified-Since:"</SPAN
+> header
+ isn't blocked or missing as well.
</P
><P
-> At this time, <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> cannot (yet!) uncompress compressed
- documents. If you want filtering to work on all documents, even those that
- would normally be sent compressed, use the
+> It is recommended to use this action together with
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
><A
-HREF="actions-file.html#PREVENT-COMPRESSION"
->prevent-compression</A
+HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE"
+>hide-if-modified-since</A
></TT
>
- action in conjunction with <TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
->filter</TT
->.
- </P
-><P
-> Filtering can achieve some of the effects as the
+ and
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
><A
-HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
->block</A
+HREF="actions-file.html#OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED"
+>overwrite-last-modified</A
></TT
->
- action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners.
- </P
-><P
-> <A
-HREF="contact.html"
->Feedback</A
-> with suggestions for new or improved filters is particularly
- welcome!
+>.
</P
></DD
><DT
->Example usage (with filters from the distribution <TT
-CLASS="FILENAME"
->default.filter</TT
-> file):</DT
+>Example usage (section):</DT
><DD
><P
-> <A
-NAME="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES"
-></A
->
- <TABLE
+> <TABLE
BORDER="0"
BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
WIDTH="90%"
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
->+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</PRE
+># Let the browser revalidate cached documents but don't
+# allow the server to use the revalidation headers for user tracking.
+{+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
+ +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
+ +crunch-if-none-match}
+/ </PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
>
</P
+></DD
+></DL
+></DIV
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><H4
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><A
+NAME="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
+>8.5.9. crunch-incoming-cookies</A
+></H4
><P
-> <A
-NAME="FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES"
-></A
->
- <TABLE
-BORDER="0"
-BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
-WIDTH="90%"
-><TR
-><TD
-><PRE
-CLASS="SCREEN"
->+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse</PRE
-></TD
-></TR
-></TABLE
->
+></P
+><DIV
+CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
+><DL
+><DT
+>Typical use:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your system
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Effect:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Deletes any <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Set-Cookie:"</SPAN
+> HTTP headers from server replies.
</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Type:</DT
+><DD
><P
-> <A
-NAME="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"
-></A
->
- <TABLE
-BORDER="0"
-BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
-WIDTH="90%"
-><TR
-><TD
-><PRE
-CLASS="SCREEN"
->+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size (<I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->very</I
-> efficient!)</PRE
-></TD
-></TR
-></TABLE
->
+>Boolean.</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Parameter:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> N/A
</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Notes:</DT
+><DD
><P
-> <A
-NAME="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES"
-></A
->
- <TABLE
-BORDER="0"
-BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
-WIDTH="90%"
-><TR
-><TD
-><PRE
-CLASS="SCREEN"
->+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come sneaking in the HTML or JS content</PRE
-></TD
-></TR
-></TABLE
->
+> This action is only concerned with <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>incoming</I
+></SPAN
+> HTTP cookies. For
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>outgoing</I
+></SPAN
+> HTTP cookies, use
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
+>crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
+></TT
+>.
+ Use <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>both</I
+></SPAN
+> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
</P
><P
-> <A
-NAME="FILTER-POPUPS"
-></A
->
- <TABLE
-BORDER="0"
-BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
-WIDTH="90%"
-><TR
-><TD
-><PRE
-CLASS="SCREEN"
->+filter{popups} # Kill all popups in JS and HTML</PRE
-></TD
-></TR
-></TABLE
->
+> It makes <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>no sense at all</I
+></SPAN
+> to use this action in conjunction
+ with the <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
+>session-cookies-only</A
+></TT
+> action,
+ since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES"
+>filter-content-cookies</A
+></TT
+>.
</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Example usage:</DT
+><DD
><P
-> <A
-NAME="FILTER-WEBBUGS"
-></A
->
- <TABLE
+> <TABLE
BORDER="0"
BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
WIDTH="90%"
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
->+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)</PRE
+>+crunch-incoming-cookies</PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
>
</P
+></DD
+></DL
+></DIV
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><H4
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><A
+NAME="CRUNCH-SERVER-HEADER"
+>8.5.10. crunch-server-header</A
+></H4
><P
-> <A
+></P
+><DIV
+CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
+><DL
+><DT
+>Typical use:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Remove a server header <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> has no dedicated action for.</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Effect:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Type:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Parameterized.</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Parameter:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Any string.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Notes:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> action exists. <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+>
+ will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
+ </P
+><P
+> Regular expressions are <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>not supported</I
+></SPAN
+> and you can't
+ use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
+ they contain the same string.
+ </P
+><P
+> <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>crunch-server-header</TT
+> is only meant for quick tests.
+ If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
+ parts of them, you should use a custom
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#SERVER-HEADER-FILTER"
+>server-header filter</A
+></TT
+>.
+ </P
+><DIV
+CLASS="WARNING"
+><P
+></P
+><TABLE
+CLASS="WARNING"
+BORDER="1"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="CENTER"
+><B
+>Warning</B
+></TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+><P
+> Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
+ </P
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+></DIV
+></DD
+><DT
+>Example usage (section):</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
+{ +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
+/ </PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+></DD
+></DL
+></DIV
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><H4
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><A
+NAME="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
+>8.5.11. crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
+></H4
+><P
+></P
+><DIV
+CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
+><DL
+><DT
+>Typical use:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from your system
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Effect:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Deletes any <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Cookie:"</SPAN
+> HTTP headers from client requests.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Type:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Boolean.</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Parameter:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> N/A
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Notes:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> This action is only concerned with <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>outgoing</I
+></SPAN
+> HTTP cookies. For
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>incoming</I
+></SPAN
+> HTTP cookies, use
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
+>crunch-incoming-cookies</A
+></TT
+>.
+ Use <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>both</I
+></SPAN
+> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
+ </P
+><P
+> It makes <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>no sense at all</I
+></SPAN
+> to use this action in conjunction
+ with the <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
+>session-cookies-only</A
+></TT
+> action,
+ since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Example usage:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+></DD
+></DL
+></DIV
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><H4
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><A
+NAME="DEANIMATE-GIFS"
+>8.5.12. deanimate-gifs</A
+></H4
+><P
+></P
+><DIV
+CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
+><DL
+><DT
+>Typical use:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Effect:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Type:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Parameterized.</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Parameter:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"last"</SPAN
+> or <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"first"</SPAN
+>
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Notes:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
+ the option <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"first"</SPAN
+> is given, the first frame of the animation
+ is used as the replacement. If <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"last"</SPAN
+> 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).
+ </P
+><P
+> 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.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Example usage:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+deanimate-gifs{last}</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+></DD
+></DL
+></DIV
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><H4
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><A
+NAME="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"
+>8.5.13. downgrade-http-version</A
+></H4
+><P
+></P
+><DIV
+CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
+><DL
+><DT
+>Typical use:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Effect:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Type:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Boolean.</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Parameter:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> N/A
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Notes:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> This is a left-over from the time when <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+>
+ didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
+ unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
+ out there. Not all HTTP/1.1 features and requirements are supported yet,
+ so there is a chance you might need this action.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Example usage (section):</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>{+downgrade-http-version}
+problem-host.example.com</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+></DD
+></DL
+></DIV
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><H4
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><A
+NAME="FAST-REDIRECTS"
+>8.5.14. fast-redirects</A
+></H4
+><P
+></P
+><DIV
+CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
+><DL
+><DT
+>Typical use:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Effect:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting
+ the redirection server first.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Type:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Parameterized.</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Parameter:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+></P
+><UL
+><LI
+><P
+> <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"simple-check"</SPAN
+> to just search for the string <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"http://"</SPAN
+>
+ to detect redirection URLs.
+ </P
+></LI
+><LI
+><P
+> <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"check-decoded-url"</SPAN
+> to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching
+ for redirection URLs.
+ </P
+></LI
+></UL
+></DD
+><DT
+>Notes:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>
+ 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:
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/"</SPAN
+>.
+ </P
+><P
+> 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 asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
+ the advertisers.
+ </P
+><P
+> This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
+ If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
+ this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
+ </P
+><P
+> 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.
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>fast-redirects</TT
+> 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.
+ </P
+><P
+> Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter.
+ The URL:
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar"</SPAN
+>.
+ contains the redirection URL <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"http://www.example.net/"</SPAN
+>,
+ followed by another parameter. <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>fast-redirects</TT
+> doesn't know that
+ and will cause a redirect to <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"http://www.example.net/&foo=bar"</SPAN
+>.
+ Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
+ or lead to a <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"page not found"</SPAN
+> error. You can prevent this problem by
+ first using the <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#REDIRECT"
+>redirect</A
+></TT
+> action
+ to remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort.
+ </P
+><P
+> To detect a redirection URL, <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>fast-redirects</TT
+> only
+ looks for the string <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"http://"</SPAN
+>, either in plain text
+ (invalid but often used) or encoded as <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"http%3a//"</SPAN
+>.
+ 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
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>fast-redirects</TT
+> is fooled and the request reaches the
+ redirection server where it probably gets logged.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Example usage:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+> { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
+ one.example.com
+
+ { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
+ another.example.com/testing</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+></DD
+></DL
+></DIV
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><H4
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><A
+NAME="FILTER"
+>8.5.15. filter</A
+></H4
+><P
+></P
+><DIV
+CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
+><DL
+><DT
+>Typical use:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
+ do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Effect:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
+ this action applies, can be 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
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>text/plain</TT
+> MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Type:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Parameterized.</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Parameter:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> The name of a content filter, as defined in the <A
+HREF="filter-file.html"
+>filter file</A
+>.
+ Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="config.html#FILTERFILE"
+>filterfile</A
+></TT
+>
+ option in the <A
+HREF="config.html"
+>config file</A
+>.
+ <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>default.filter</TT
+> is the collection of filters
+ supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
+ in their own file, such as <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>user.filter</TT
+>.
+ </P
+><P
+> When used in its negative form,
+ and without parameters, <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>all</I
+></SPAN
+> filtering is completely disabled.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Notes:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> 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.
+ </P
+><P
+> 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. (The total time until the page is completely rendered
+ doesn't change much, but it may be perceived as slower since the page is
+ not incrementally displayed.)
+ This effect will be more noticeable on slower connections.
+ </P
+><P
+> <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Rolling your own"</SPAN
+>
+ filters requires a knowledge of
+ <A
+HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"
+TARGET="_top"
+><SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Regular
+ Expressions"</SPAN
+></A
+> and
+ <A
+HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"
+TARGET="_top"
+><SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"HTML"</SPAN
+></A
+>.
+ This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
+ Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"action"</SPAN
+> is not available.
+ </P
+><P
+> The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="config.html#BUFFER-LIMIT"
+>buffer-limit</A
+></TT
+>
+ option in the main <A
+HREF="config.html"
+>config file</A
+>. The
+ default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
+ data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
+ </P
+><P
+> 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 <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>-filter</TT
+> exceptions.
+ </P
+><P
+> Compressed content can't be filtered either, unless <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+>
+ is compiled with zlib support (requires at least <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> 3.0.7),
+ in which case <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> will decompress the content before filtering
+ it.
+ </P
+><P
+> If you use a <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on
+ as much documents as possible, even those that would normally be sent compressed,
+ you must use the <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#PREVENT-COMPRESSION"
+>prevent-compression</A
+></TT
+>
+ action in conjunction with <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>filter</TT
+>.
+ </P
+><P
+> Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
+>block</A
+></TT
+>
+ 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.
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+HREF="contact.html"
+>Feedback</A
+> with suggestions for new or
+ improved filters is particularly welcome!
+ </P
+><P
+> The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
+ predefined filter. There are <A
+HREF="filter-file.html#PREDEFINED-FILTERS"
+>more
+ verbose explanations</A
+> of what these filters do in the <A
+HREF="filter-file.html"
+>filter file chapter</A
+>.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>default.filter</TT
+> file).
+ See <A
+HREF="filter-file.html#PREDEFINED-FILTERS"
+>the Predefined Filters section</A
+> for
+ more explanation on each:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-JS-EVENTS"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings and timers (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites).</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups).</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-IMG-REORDER"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-WEBBUGS"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking).</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-TINY-TEXTFORMS"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-JUMPING-WINDOWS"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-FRAMESET-BORDERS"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizable.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-DEMORONIZER"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-QUICKTIME-KIOSKMODE"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies saveable.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
NAME="FILTER-FUN"
></A
>
- <TABLE
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering. Note that this filter doesn't work reliably.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-IE-EXPLOITS"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-SITE-SPECIFICS"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{site-specifics} # Cure for site-specific problems. Don't apply generally!</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-NO-PING"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes in <a> and <area> tags.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-GOOGLE"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{google} # CSS-based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation and the toolbar advertisement.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-YAHOO"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{yahoo} # CSS-based block for Yahoo text ads. Also removes a width limitation.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-MSN"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{msn} # CSS-based block for MSN text ads. Also removes tracking URLs and a width limitation.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+><P
+> <A
+NAME="FILTER-BLOGSPOT"
+></A
+>
+ <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+filter{blogspot} # Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this.</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+></DD
+></DL
+></DIV
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><H4
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><A
+NAME="FORCE-TEXT-MODE"
+>8.5.16. force-text-mode</A
+></H4
+><P
+></P
+><DIV
+CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
+><DL
+><DT
+>Typical use:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Force <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> to treat a document as if it was in some kind of <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>text</I
+></SPAN
+> format. </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Effect:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Declares a document as text, even if the <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Content-Type:"</SPAN
+> isn't detected as such.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Type:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Boolean.</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Parameter:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> N/A
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Notes:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> As explained <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
+>above</A
+></TT
+>,
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> tries to only filter files that are
+ in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE"
+>content-type-overwrite</A
+></TT
+>.
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>force-text-mode</TT
+> declares a document as text,
+ without looking at the <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Content-Type:"</SPAN
+> first.
+ </P
+><DIV
+CLASS="WARNING"
+><P
+></P
+><TABLE
+CLASS="WARNING"
+BORDER="1"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="CENTER"
+><B
+>Warning</B
+></TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+><P
+> Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
+ with regular expressions can cause file damage.
+ </P
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+></DIV
+></DD
+><DT
+>Example usage:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+force-text-mode
+ </PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+></DD
+></DL
+></DIV
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><H4
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><A
+NAME="FORWARD-OVERRIDE"
+>8.5.17. forward-override</A
+></H4
+><P
+></P
+><DIV
+CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
+><DL
+><DT
+>Typical use:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Effect:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Type:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Multi-value.</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Parameter:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+></P
+><UL
+><LI
+><P
+><SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"forward ."</SPAN
+> to use a direct connection without any additional proxies.</P
+></LI
+><LI
+><P
+> <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"forward 127.0.0.1:8123"</SPAN
+> to use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123.
+ </P
+></LI
+><LI
+><P
+> <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 ."</SPAN
+> to use the socks4a proxy listening at
+ 127.0.0.1 port 9050. Replace <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"forward-socks4a"</SPAN
+> with <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"forward-socks4"</SPAN
+>
+ to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"forward-socks5"</SPAN
+>
+ for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
+ </P
+></LI
+><LI
+><P
+> <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 proxy.example.org:8000"</SPAN
+> to use the socks4a proxy
+ listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy listening at proxy.example.org port 8000.
+ Replace <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"forward-socks4a"</SPAN
+> with <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"forward-socks4"</SPAN
+> to use a socks4 connection
+ (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"forward-socks5"</SPAN
+>
+ for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
+ </P
+></LI
+></UL
+></DD
+><DT
+>Notes:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> This action takes parameters similar to the
+ <A
+HREF="config.html#FORWARDING"
+>forward</A
+> directives in the configuration
+ file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used as replacement, but normally it's only
+ used in cases where matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient.
+ </P
+><DIV
+CLASS="WARNING"
+><P
+></P
+><TABLE
+CLASS="WARNING"
+BORDER="1"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="CENTER"
+><B
+>Warning</B
+></TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+><P
+> Please read the description for the <A
+HREF="config.html#FORWARDING"
+>forward</A
+> directives before
+ using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will reduce your privacy and increase the
+ chances of man-in-the-middle attacks.
+ </P
+><P
+> If the ports are missing or invalid, default values will be used. This might change
+ in the future and you shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect syntax causes Privoxy
+ to exit.
+ </P
+><P
+> Use the <A
+HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info"
+TARGET="_top"
+>show-url-info CGI page</A
+>
+ to verify that your forward settings do what you thought the do.
+ </P
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+></DIV
+></DD
+><DT
+>Example usage:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> <TABLE
BORDER="0"
BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
WIDTH="90%"
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
->+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</PRE
+># Always use direct connections for requests previously tagged as
+# <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0"</SPAN
+> and make sure
+# resuming downloads continues to work.
+# This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing,
+# without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates
+# or downloads of bigger files like ISOs.
+# Note that HTTP headers are easy to fake and therefore their
+# values are as (un)trustworthy as your clients and users.
+{+forward-override{forward .} \
+ -hide-if-modified-since \
+ -overwrite-last-modified \
+}
+TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$
+ </PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
>
</P
+></DD
+></DL
+></DIV
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><H4
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><A
+NAME="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT"
+>8.5.18. handle-as-empty-document</A
+></H4
+><P
+></P
+><DIV
+CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
+><DL
+><DT
+>Typical use:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>if they get blocked</I
+></SPAN
+></P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Effect:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
+ If the <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
+>block</A
+></TT
+> action <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>also applies</I
+></SPAN
+>,
+ the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"BLOCKED"</SPAN
+>
+ page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
+ The <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>empty</I
+></SPAN
+> document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Type:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Boolean.</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Parameter:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> N/A
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Notes:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
+ are blocked with <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy's</SPAN
+>
+ default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
+ And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+>
+ BLOCKED message in frames.
+ </P
><P
-> <A
-NAME="FILTER-FRAMESET-BORDERS"
-></A
->
- <TABLE
-BORDER="0"
-BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
-WIDTH="90%"
-><TR
-><TD
-><PRE
-CLASS="SCREEN"
->+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable</PRE
-></TD
-></TR
-></TABLE
->
+> The content type for the empty document can be specified with
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE"
+>content-type-overwrite{}</A
+></TT
+>,
+ but usually this isn't necessary.
</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Example usage:</DT
+><DD
><P
-> <A
-NAME="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS"
-></A
->
- <TABLE
+> <TABLE
BORDER="0"
BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
WIDTH="90%"
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
->+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)</PRE
+># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
+# but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
+{+block{Blocked JavaScript} +handle-as-empty-document}
+example.org/.*\.js$
+ </PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
>
</P
+></DD
+></DL
+></DIV
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><H4
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><A
+NAME="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
+>8.5.19. handle-as-image</A
+></H4
><P
-> <A
-NAME="FILTER-NIMDA"
-></A
->
- <TABLE
-BORDER="0"
-BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
-WIDTH="90%"
-><TR
-><TD
-><PRE
-CLASS="SCREEN"
->+filter{nimda} # Remove Nimda (virus) code.</PRE
-></TD
-></TR
-></TABLE
+></P
+><DIV
+CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
+><DL
+><DT
+>Typical use:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>if they do get blocked</I
+></SPAN
+>, rather than HTML pages)</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Effect:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
+ If the <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
+>block</A
+></TT
+> action <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>also applies</I
+></SPAN
+>,
+ the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"blocked"</SPAN
>
+ page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
+>set-image-blocker</A
+></TT
+> action) will be sent to the
+ client as a substitute for the blocked content.
</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Type:</DT
+><DD
><P
-> <A
-NAME="FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH"
-></A
->
- <TABLE
+>Boolean.</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Parameter:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> N/A
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Notes:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> The below generic example section is actually part of <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>default.action</TT
+>.
+ It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
+ be left intact.
+ </P
+><P
+> Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
+>block</A
+></TT
+>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
+ reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
+ </P
+><P
+> 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 <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>handle-as-image</TT
+> in this situation will not replace the
+ ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Example usage (sections):</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> <TABLE
BORDER="0"
BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
WIDTH="90%"
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
->+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects</PRE
+># Generic image extensions:
+#
+{+handle-as-image}
+/.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
+
+# These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
+# blocked as images:
+#
+{+block{Nasty banners.} +handle-as-image}
+nasty-banner-server.example.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash</PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
>
</P
+></DD
+></DL
+></DIV
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><H4
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><A
+NAME="HIDE-ACCEPT-LANGUAGE"
+>8.5.20. hide-accept-language</A
+></H4
><P
-> <A
-NAME="FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL"
-></A
+></P
+><DIV
+CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
+><DL
+><DT
+>Typical use:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Pretend to use different language settings.</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Effect:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Deletes or replaces the <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Accept-Language:"</SPAN
+> HTTP header in client requests.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Type:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Parameterized.</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Parameter:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Keyword: <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"block"</SPAN
+>, or any user defined value.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Notes:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
+ foreign User-Agent set with
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-USER-AGENT"
+>hide-user-agent</A
+></TT
>
- <TABLE
+ more believable.
+ </P
+><P
+> However some sites with content in different languages check the
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Accept-Language:"</SPAN
+> to decide which one to take by default.
+ Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
+ changing the <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Accept-Language:"</SPAN
+> header first.
+ </P
+><P
+> Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Accept-Language:"</SPAN
+> header to languages you understand,
+ or to languages that aren't wide spread.
+ </P
+><P
+> Before setting the <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Accept-Language:"</SPAN
+> 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.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Example usage (section):</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> <TABLE
BORDER="0"
BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
WIDTH="90%"
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
->+filter{crude-parental} # Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez"</PRE
+># 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} \
+}
+/ </PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><H4
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
-NAME="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
->8.5.9. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->handle-as-image</I
-></A
+NAME="HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION"
+>8.5.21. hide-content-disposition</A
></H4
><P
></P
>Typical use:</DT
><DD
><P
->Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->if they get blocked</I
->)</P
+>Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.</P
></DD
><DT
>Effect:</DT
><DD
-><P
-> This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
- If the <TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
-><A
-HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
->block</A
-></TT
-> action <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->also applies</I
->,
- the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <SPAN
+><P
+> Deletes or replaces the <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
->"blocked"</SPAN
->
- page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
-><A
-HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
->set-image-blocker</A
-></TT
-> action) will be sent to the
- client as a substitute for the blocked content.
+>"Content-Disposition:"</SPAN
+> HTTP header set by some servers.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Type:</DT
><DD
><P
->Boolean.</P
+>Parameterized.</P
></DD
><DT
>Parameter:</DT
><DD
><P
-> N/A
+> Keyword: <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"block"</SPAN
+>, or any user defined value.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Notes:</DT
><DD
><P
-> The below generic example section is actually part of <TT
-CLASS="FILENAME"
->default.action</TT
->.
- It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
- be left intact.
+> Some servers set the <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Content-Disposition:"</SPAN
+> HTTP header for
+ documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
+ The <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Content-Disposition:"</SPAN
+> header contains the file name
+ the browser is supposed to use by default.
</P
><P
-> Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
- <TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
-><A
-HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
->block</A
-></TT
->, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
- reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
+> In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>just view</I
+></SPAN
+> the document, without downloading it first,
+ even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
</P
><P
-> Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (inline) ad
- frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
- Forcing <TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
->handle-as-image</TT
-> in this situation will not replace the
- ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
+> Removing the <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Content-Disposition:"</SPAN
+> header helps
+ to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Content-Type:"</SPAN
+> 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.
+ </P
+><P
+> 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.
+ </P
+><P
+> This action will probably be removed in the future,
+ use server-header filters instead.
</P
></DD
><DT
->Example usage (sections):</DT
+>Example usage:</DT
><DD
><P
> <TABLE
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
-># Generic image extensions:
-#
-{+handle-as-image}
-/.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
-
-# These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
-# blocked as images:
-#
-{+block +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 </PRE
+># Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
+{ -filter \
+ +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
+ +hide-content-disposition{block} }
+ .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php</PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><H4
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
-NAME="HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS"
->8.5.10. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->hide-forwarded-for-headers</I
-></A
+NAME="HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE"
+>8.5.22. hide-if-modified-since</A
></H4
><P
></P
>Typical use:</DT
><DD
><P
->Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request</P
+>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</P
></DD
><DT
>Effect:</DT
><DD
><P
-> Deletes any existing <SPAN
+> Deletes the <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
->"X-Forwarded-for:"</SPAN
-> HTTP header from client requests,
- and prevents adding a new one.
+>"If-Modified-Since:"</SPAN
+> HTTP client header or modifies its value.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Type:</DT
><DD
><P
->Boolean.</P
+>Parameterized.</P
></DD
><DT
>Parameter:</DT
><DD
><P
-> N/A
+> Keyword: <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"block"</SPAN
+>, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Notes:</DT
><DD
><P
-> It is fairly safe to leave this on.
+> Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
+ reload instead of getting status code <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"304"</SPAN
+>, which would cause the
+ browser to use a cached copy of the page.
</P
><P
-> This action is scheduled for improvement: It should be able to generate forged
+> Instead of removing the header, <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>hide-if-modified-since</TT
+> 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
<SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> does the rest. A negative value means
+ subtracting, a positive value adding.
+ </P
+><P
+> Randomizing the value of the <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
->"X-Forwarded-for:"</SPAN
-> 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.
+>"If-Modified-Since:"</SPAN
+> makes
+ it less likely that the server can use the time as a cookie replacement,
+ but you will run into caching problems if the random range is too high.
+ </P
+><P
+> It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED"
+>overwrite-last-modified</A
+></TT
+>
+ handle the greater changes.
+ </P
+><P
+> It is also recommended to use this action together with
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH"
+>crunch-if-none-match</A
+></TT
+>,
+ otherwise it's more or less pointless.
</P
></DD
><DT
->Example usage:</DT
+>Example usage (section):</DT
><DD
><P
> <TABLE
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
->+hide-forwarded-for-headers</PRE
+># Let the browser revalidate but make tracking based on the time less likely.
+{+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
+ +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
+ +crunch-if-none-match}
+/</PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
NAME="HIDE-FROM-HEADER"
->8.5.11. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->hide-from-header</I
-></A
+>8.5.23. hide-from-header</A
></H4
><P
></P
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
NAME="HIDE-REFERRER"
->8.5.12. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->hide-referrer</I
-></A
+>8.5.24. hide-referrer</A
></H4
><A
NAME="HIDE-REFERER"
><P
><SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"conditional-block"</SPAN
+> to delete the header completely if the host has changed.</P
+></LI
+><LI
+><P
+><SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"conditional-forge"</SPAN
+> to forge the header if the host has changed.</P
+></LI
+><LI
+><P
+><SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
>"block"</SPAN
-> to delete the header completely.</P
+> to delete the header unconditionally.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
>Notes:</DT
><DD
><P
-> <SPAN
+> <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>conditional-block</TT
+> 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.
+ </P
+><P
+> Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
+ allows the server owner to see the visitor's <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
->"forge"</SPAN
-> 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 <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->their</I
-> banners).
+>"click path"</SPAN
+>,
+ 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.
+ </P
+><P
+> Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
+ failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
+ requests, in an attempt to prevent their content from being
+ embedded or linked to elsewhere.
+ </P
+><P
+> Both <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>conditional-block</TT
+> and <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>forge</TT
+>
+ 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.
</P
><P
>
- <TT
+ <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>hide-referer</TT
> is an alternate spelling of
- <TT
+ <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>hide-referrer</TT
> and the two can be can be freely
- substituted with each other. (<SPAN
+ substituted with each other. (<SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"referrer"</SPAN
> is the
- correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
- requires it to be spelled as <SPAN
+ correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
+ requires it to be spelled as <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"referer"</SPAN
>.)
- </P
+ </P
></DD
><DT
>Example usage:</DT
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
NAME="HIDE-USER-AGENT"
->8.5.13. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->hide-user-agent</I
-></A
+>8.5.25. hide-user-agent</A
></H4
><P
></P
>Typical use:</DT
><DD
><P
->Conceal your type of browser and client operating system</P
+>Try to conceal your type of browser and client operating system</P
></DD
><DT
>Effect:</DT
><DT
>Notes:</DT
><DD
-><DIV
-CLASS="WARNING"
+><DIV
+CLASS="WARNING"
+><P
+></P
+><TABLE
+CLASS="WARNING"
+BORDER="1"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="CENTER"
+><B
+>Warning</B
+></TD
+></TR
+><TR
+><TD
+ALIGN="LEFT"
+><P
+> 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 <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>NOT</I
+></SPAN
+> the right thing to do: good web sites
+ work browser-independently).
+ </P
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+></DIV
+><P
+> Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
+ browsers will access the same <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> is
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>not recommended</I
+></SPAN
+>. In single-user, single-browser
+ setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
+ the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
+ OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
+ sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
+ reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
+ let <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Mozilla</SPAN
+> enter, yet forging to a
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Netscape 6.1</SPAN
+> user-agent works just fine.
+ (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
+ </P
+><P
+> More information on known user-agent strings can be found at
+ <A
+HREF="http://www.user-agents.org/"
+TARGET="_top"
+>http://www.user-agents.org/</A
+>
+ and
+ <A
+HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent"
+TARGET="_top"
+>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</A
+>.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Example usage:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="90%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+>
+ </P
+></DD
+></DL
+></DIV
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><H4
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><A
+NAME="LIMIT-CONNECT"
+>8.5.26. limit-connect</A
+></H4
+><P
+></P
+><DIV
+CLASS="VARIABLELIST"
+><DL
+><DT
+>Typical use:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Prevent abuse of <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Effect:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Type:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+>Parameterized.</P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Parameter:</DT
+><DD
+><P
+> A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
+ defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
+ </P
+></DD
+><DT
+>Notes:</DT
+><DD
><P
-></P
-><TABLE
-CLASS="WARNING"
-BORDER="1"
-WIDTH="90%"
-><TR
-><TD
-ALIGN="CENTER"
-><B
->Warning</B
-></TD
-></TR
-><TR
-><TD
-ALIGN="LEFT"
+> By default, i.e. if no <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>limit-connect</TT
+> action applies,
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> allows HTTP CONNECT requests to all
+ ports. Use <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>limit-connect</TT
+> if fine-grained control
+ is desired for some or all destinations.
+ </P
><P
-> 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 <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->NOT</I
-> a <A
-HREF="http://www.javascriptkit.com/javaindex.shtml"
-TARGET="_top"
->smart way to do
- that</A
->!).
- </P
-></TD
-></TR
-></TABLE
-></DIV
+> The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
+ (<SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"https://"</SPAN
+> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
+ the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
+ short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
+ This means CONNECT-enabled proxies can be used as TCP relays very easily.
+ </P
><P
-> Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
- browsers will access the same <SPAN
+> <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
-> is
- <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->not recommended</I
->. In single-user, single-browser
- setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
- the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
- OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
- sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
- reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
- let <SPAN
+> relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
+ the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Mozilla</SPAN
-> enter, yet forging to a
- <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Netscape 6.1</SPAN
-> user-agent works just fine.
- (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
- </P
-><P
-> This action is scheduled for improvement.
- </P
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+>'s
+ filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
+ </P
></DD
><DT
->Example usage:</DT
+>Example usages:</DT
><DD
><P
> <TABLE
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
->+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</PRE
+>+limit-connect{443} # Port 443 is OK.
++limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
++limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
++limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
++limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><H4
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
-NAME="KILL-POPUPS"
->8.5.14. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->kill-popups<A
-NAME="KILL-POPUP"
-></A
-></I
-></A
+NAME="PREVENT-COMPRESSION"
+>8.5.27. prevent-compression</A
></H4
><P
></P
>Typical use:</DT
><DD
><P
->Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows</P
+> Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
+ passed through <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
+>filter</A
+></TT
+>s.
+ </P
></DD
><DT
>Effect:</DT
><DD
><P
-> While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens
- pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly.
+> Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Notes:</DT
><DD
><P
-> This action is easily confused with the built-in, hardwired <TT
+> More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
+ is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
><A
HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
>filter</A
></TT
->
- action, but there are important differences: For <TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
->kill-popups</TT
->,
- the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while
- downloading. But <TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
->kill-popups</TT
-> doesn't catch as many pop-ups as
+> and
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
><A
-HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
->filter</A
->{<TT
-CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
-><I
->popups</I
+HREF="actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS"
+>deanimate-gifs</A
></TT
->}</TT
>
- does.
+ actions need access to the uncompressed data.
</P
><P
-> 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 <TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
-><A
-HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
->filter</A
-></TT
-> action,
- since as soon as one <TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
-><A
-HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
->filter</A
-></TT
-> applies,
- the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the advantage of
- the <TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
->kill-popups</TT
-> action over its filter equivalent.
+> When compiled with zlib support (available since <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> 3.0.7), content that should be
+ filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't have to worry about this action.
+ If you are using an older <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> version, or one that hasn't been compiled with zlib
+ support, this action can be used to convince the server to send the content uncompressed.
+ </P
+><P
+> Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is seldom decreased by less than 50%,
+ for markup-heavy instances like news feeds saving more than 90% of the original size isn't
+ unusual.
</P
><P
-> Killing all pop-ups is a dangerous business. Many shops and banks rely on
- pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and killing only the unwanted pop-ups
- would require artificial intelligence in <SPAN
+> Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should only
+ enable this action if you really need it. As of <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
->.
- If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those
- <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->really nasty</I
-> windows that appear when you close an other
- one), you might want to use
+> 3.0.7 it's disabled in all
+ predefined action settings.
+ </P
+><P
+> Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
+ documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an empty document body,
+ some IIS versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
-><A
-HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
->filter</A
->{<TT
-CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
-><I
->js-annoyances</I
-></TT
->}</TT
->
- instead.
+>prevent-compression</TT
+> per default, you might want to add
+ exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
</P
></DD
><DT
->Example usage:</DT
+>Example usage (sections):</DT
><DD
><P
-><TABLE
BORDER="0"
BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
WIDTH="90%"
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
->+kill-popups</PRE
+># Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
+#
+{ +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
+# Match only these sites
+ .google.
+ sourceforge.net
+ sf.net
+
+# Or instead, we could set a universal default:
+#
+{ +prevent-compression }
+ / # Match all sites
+
+# Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites:
+#
+{ -prevent-compression }
+.compusa.com/</PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
-></P
+>
+ </P
></DD
></DL
></DIV
><H4
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
-NAME="LIMIT-CONNECT"
->8.5.15. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->limit-connect</I
-></A
+NAME="OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED"
+>8.5.28. overwrite-last-modified</A
></H4
><P
></P
>Typical use:</DT
><DD
><P
->Prevent abuse of <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> as a TCP proxy relay</P
+>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</P
></DD
><DT
>Effect:</DT
><DD
><P
-> Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
+> Deletes the <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Last-Modified:"</SPAN
+> HTTP server header or modifies its value.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Parameter:</DT
><DD
><P
-> A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
- defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
+> One of the keywords: <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"block"</SPAN
+>, <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"reset-to-request-time"</SPAN
+>
+ and <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"randomize"</SPAN
+>
</P
></DD
><DT
>Notes:</DT
><DD
><P
-> By default, i.e. if no <TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
->limit-connect</TT
-> action applies,
+> Removing the <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Last-Modified:"</SPAN
+> header is useful for filter
+ testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
+ code <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"304"</SPAN
+>, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
+ version of the page.
+ </P
+><P
+> The <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"randomize"</SPAN
+> option overwrites the value of the
<SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> only allows HTTP CONNECT
- requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Last-Modified:"</SPAN
+> 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 <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Last-Modified:"</SPAN
+>
+ header to track visits without using cookies. <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Randomize"</SPAN
+>
+ makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
+ </P
+><P
+> <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"reset-to-request-time"</SPAN
+> overwrites the value of the
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Last-Modified:"</SPAN
+> header with the current time. You could use
+ this option together with
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
->limit-connect</TT
-> if more fine-grained control is desired
- for some or all destinations.
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE"
+>hide-if-modified-since</A
+></TT
+>
+ to further customize your random range.
</P
><P
-> The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
- (<SPAN
+> The preferred parameter here is <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
->"https://"</SPAN
-> 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.
- </P
+>"randomize"</SPAN
+>. It is safe
+ to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct.
+ If the server sets the <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"Last-Modified:"</SPAN
+> 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
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE"
+>hided-if-modified-since</A
+></TT
+>,
+ just to be sure.
+ </P
><P
-> 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.
- </P
+> It is also recommended to use this action together with
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+><A
+HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH"
+>crunch-if-none-match</A
+></TT
+>.
+ </P
></DD
><DT
->Example usages:</DT
+>Example usage:</DT
><DD
><P
> <TABLE
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
->+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!)</PRE
+># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
+{ +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
+ +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
+ +crunch-if-none-match}
+/</PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><H4
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
-NAME="PREVENT-COMPRESSION"
->8.5.16. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->prevent-compression</I
-></A
+NAME="REDIRECT"
+>8.5.29. redirect</A
></H4
><P
></P
>Typical use:</DT
><DD
><P
-> Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
- passed through <TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
-><A
-HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
->filter</A
-></TT
->s
+> Redirect requests to other sites.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Effect:</DT
><DD
><P
-> Adds a header to the request that asks for uncompressed transfer.
+> Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
+ to another location and the browser should get it from there.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Type:</DT
><DD
><P
->Boolean.</P
+>Parameterized</P
></DD
><DT
>Parameter:</DT
><DD
><P
-> N/A
+> An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Notes:</DT
><DD
><P
-> More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
- is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the <TT
+> Requests to which this action applies are answered with a
+ HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is
+ either provided as parameter, or derived by applying a
+ single pcrs command to the original URL.
+ </P
+><P
+> This action will be ignored if you use it together with
+ <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
><A
-HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
->filter</A
+HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
+>block</A
></TT
->, <TT
+>.
+ It can be combined with
+ <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
><A
-HREF="actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS"
->deanimate-gifs</A
+HREF="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"
+>fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</A
></TT
>
- and <TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
-><A
-HREF="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"
->kill-popups</A
-></TT
-> actions to work,
- <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> needs access to the uncompressed data.
- Unfortunately, <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> 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.
+ to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL.
</P
><P
-> This will slow down transfers from those websites, though. If you use any of the above-mentioned
- actions, you will typically want to use <TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
->prevent-compression</TT
-> in conjunction
- with them.
+> Use this action carefully, make sure not to create redirection loops
+ and be aware that using your own redirects might make it
+ possible to fingerprint your requests.
</P
><P
-> Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
- documents correctly (they send an empty document body). If you use <TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
->prevent-compression</TT
->
- per default, you'll have to add exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
+> In case of problems with your redirects, or simply to watch
+ them working, enable <A
+HREF="config.html#DEBUG"
+>debug 128</A
+>.
</P
></DD
><DT
->Example usage (sections):</DT
+>Example usages:</DT
><DD
><P
> <TABLE
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
-># Set default:
-#
-{+prevent-compression}
-/ # Match all sites
+># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
+{ +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
+ example.com/stylesheet\.css
-# Make exceptions for ill sites:
-#
-{-prevent-compression}
-www.debianhelp.org
-www.pclinuxonline.com</PRE
+# Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
+# (relies on the browser accept and forward invalid URLs to <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+>)
+{ +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
+ a
+
+# Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles
+# (Note the $ at the end of the URL pattern to make sure
+# the request for the rewritten URL isn't redirected as well)
+{+redirect{s@$@&mode=expanded@}}
+undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$
+
+# Redirect Google search requests to MSN
+{+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/search\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=$1@}}
+.google.com/search
+
+# Redirect MSN search requests to Yahoo
+{+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/results\.aspx\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=$1@}}
+search.msn.com//results\.aspx\?q=
+
+# Redirect remote requests for this manual
+# to the local version delivered by Privoxy
+{+redirect{s@^http://www@http://config@}}
+www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><H4
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
-NAME="SEND-VANILLA-WAFER"
->8.5.17. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->send-vanilla-wafer</I
-></A
+NAME="SERVER-HEADER-FILTER"
+>8.5.30. server-header-filter</A
></H4
><P
></P
>Typical use:</DT
><DD
><P
-> Feed log analysis scripts with useless data.
+> Rewrite or remove single server headers.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Effect:</DT
><DD
><P
-> 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.
+> All server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly
+ through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Type:</DT
><DD
><P
->Boolean.</P
+>Parameterized.</P
></DD
><DT
>Parameter:</DT
><DD
><P
-> N/A
+> The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the
+ <A
+HREF="filter-file.html"
+>filter files</A
+>.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Notes:</DT
><DD
><P
-> The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you.
+> Server-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
+ all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
+ you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
+ You can do that by using tags though.
</P
><P
-> This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
+> Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
+ and use their output as input.
+ </P
+><P
+> Please refer to the <A
+HREF="filter-file.html"
+>filter file chapter</A
+>
+ to learn which server-header filters are available by default, and how to
+ create your own.
</P
></DD
><DT
->Example usage:</DT
+>Example usage (section):</DT
><DD
><P
> <TABLE
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
->+send-vanilla-wafer</PRE
+>{+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}}
+example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html
+
+{+server-header-filter{xml-to-html}}
+example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not
+ </PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
>
- </P
+ </P
></DD
></DL
></DIV
><H4
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
-NAME="SEND-WAFER"
->8.5.18. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->send-wafer</I
-></A
+NAME="SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER"
+>8.5.31. server-header-tagger</A
></H4
><P
></P
>Typical use:</DT
><DD
><P
-> Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data.
+> Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Effect:</DT
><DD
><P
-> Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request.
+> Server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
+ the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
+ tag.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Type:</DT
><DD
><P
->Multi-value.</P
+>Parameterized.</P
></DD
><DT
>Parameter:</DT
><DD
><P
-> A string of the form <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"<TT
-CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
-><I
->name</I
-></TT
->=<TT
-CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
-><I
->value</I
-></TT
->"</SPAN
+> The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the
+ <A
+HREF="filter-file.html"
+>filter files</A
>.
</P
></DD
>Notes:</DT
><DD
><P
-> Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request,
- resulting in multiple cookies being sent.
+> Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
+ and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"sees"</SPAN
+>
+ the original.
+ </P
+><P
+> Server-header taggers are executed before all other header actions
+ that modify server headers. Their tags can be used to control
+ all of the other server-header actions, the content filters
+ and the crunch actions (<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#REDIRECT"
+>redirect</A
+>
+ and <A
+HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
+>block</A
+>).
</P
><P
-> This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
+> Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header taggers
+ doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the server's log file.
</P
></DD
><DT
>Example usage (section):</DT
><DD
><P
-> <TABLE
BORDER="0"
BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
WIDTH="90%"
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
->{+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
-my-internal-testing-server.void</PRE
+># Tag every request with the content type declared by the server
+{+server-header-tagger{content-type}}
+/
+ </PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
>
- </P
+ </P
></DD
></DL
></DIV
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
NAME="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
->8.5.19. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->session-cookies-only</I
-></A
+>8.5.32. session-cookies-only</A
></H4
><P
></P
> Allow only temporary <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"session"</SPAN
-> cookies (for the current browser session <I
+> cookies (for the current
+ browser session <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>only</I
->).
+></SPAN
+>).
</P
></DD
><DT
> field from <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"Set-Cookie:"</SPAN
-> server headers.
- Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and forget them in between sessions.
+>
+ server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
+ forget them in between sessions.
</P
></DD
><DT
sites, and is the recommended setting.
</P
><P
-> It makes <I
+> It makes <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>no sense at all</I
+></SPAN
> to use <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>session-cookies-only</TT
>
field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
</P
+><P
+> This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
+ previously by the browser before starting <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+>.
+ These would have to be removed manually.
+ </P
+><P
+> <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> also uses
+ the <A
+HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES"
+>content-cookies filter</A
+>
+ to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>session-cookies-only</TT
+>.
+ </P
></DD
><DT
>Example usage:</DT
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
NAME="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
->8.5.20. <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->set-image-blocker</I
-></A
+>8.5.33. set-image-blocker</A
></H4
><P
></P
>Effect:</DT
><DD
><P
-> This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <I
+> This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>both</I
+></SPAN
>
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
>block</A
></TT
-> <I
+> <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>and</I
+></SPAN
> <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
><A
HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
>handle-as-image</A
></TT
-> <I
+> <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>also</I
+></SPAN
>
apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
- <I
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>then</I
+></SPAN
> the parameter of this action decides what will be
sent as a replacement.
</P
>target-url</I
></TT
>. You can redirect
- to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem (via <SPAN
+ to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"file:///"</SPAN
-> URL).
+> URL.
+ (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
</P
><P
> A good application of redirects is to use special <SPAN
> There is a third (advanced) type, called <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"auto"</SPAN
->. It is <I
+>. It is <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>NOT</I
+></SPAN
> to be
used in <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>
</P
><P
-> Redirect to the BSD devil:
+> Redirect to the BSD daemon:
</P
><P
> <TABLE
><H3
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
-NAME="AEN2469"
->8.5.21. Summary</A
+NAME="AEN4460"
+>8.5.34. Summary</A
></H3
><P
> Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
> and <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"}"</SPAN
->, but we <I
+>, but we <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>strongly
recommend</I
+></SPAN
> that you only use <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"a"</SPAN
> sign, since they are merely textually
expanded.</P
><P
-> Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <I
+> Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>must be
defined in a special section at the top of the file!</I
+></SPAN
>
And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"shop"</SPAN
>, you can later change your policy on shops in
- <I
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>one</I
+></SPAN
> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
in the actions file where the <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
- with it.
- This is likely to change in future versions of <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
->.</P
+ with it.</P
><P
> Now let's define some aliases...</P
><P
# 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
+ +crunch-all-cookies = +<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
+>crunch-incoming-cookies</A
+> +<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
+>crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
+>
+ -crunch-all-cookies = -<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
+>crunch-incoming-cookies</A
+> -<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
+>crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
+>
+ +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
+ allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
+>session-cookies-only</A
+> -<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES"
+>filter{content-cookies}</A
+>
# These aliases define combinations of actions
# that are useful for certain types of sites:
#
- fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
- shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups
+ fragile = -<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
+>block</A
+> -<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
+>filter</A
+> -crunch-all-cookies -<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"
+>fast-redirects</A
+> -<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-REFERER"
+>hide-referrer</A
+> -<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#PREVENT-COMPRESSION"
+>prevent-compression</A
+>
+
+ shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-ALL-POPUPS"
+>filter{all-popups}</A
+>
# Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
#
{fragile}
.office.microsoft.com
.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
- .nytimes.com
+ # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com
+ mail.google.com
# Shopping sites:
# Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
{shop}
.quietpc.com
.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
- .scan.co.uk
+ mybank.example.com
# These shops require pop-ups:
#
- {shop -kill-popups -filter{popups}}
+ {-filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
.dabs.com
.overclockers.co.uk</PRE
></TD
> and <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"fragile"</SPAN
-> are often used for
+> are typically used for
<SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"problem"</SPAN
-> sites that require some actions to be disabled
+> sites that require more than one action to be disabled
in order to function properly.</P
></DIV
><DIV
>. Now, let's look at an
example <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
+>match-all.action</TT
+>, <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
>default.action</TT
-> and <TT
+>
+ and <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>user.action</TT
->
- file and see how all these pieces come together:</P
+> file and see how all these pieces come together:</P
><DIV
CLASS="SECT3"
><H3
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
-NAME="AEN2521"
->8.7.1. default.action</A
+NAME="AEN4524"
+>8.7.1. match-all.action</A
></H3
><P
->Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:</P
+> Remember <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>all actions are disabled when matching starts</I
+></SPAN
+>,
+ so we have to explicitly enable the ones we want.</P
+><P
+> While the <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>match-all.action</TT
+> file only contains a
+ single section, it is probably the most important one. It has only one
+ pattern, <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"<TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>/</TT
+>"</SPAN
+>, but this pattern
+ <A
+HREF="actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS"
+>matches all URLs</A
+>. Therefore, the set of
+ actions used in this <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"default"</SPAN
+> section <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>will
+ be applied to all requests as a start</I
+></SPAN
+>. It can be partly or
+ wholly overridden by other actions files like <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>default.action</TT
+>
+ and <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>user.action</TT
+>, but it will still be largely responsible
+ for your overall browsing experience.</P
+><P
+> Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
+ no need to disable any actions here. (Remember: a <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"+"</SPAN
+>
+ preceding the action name enables the action, a <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"-"</SPAN
+> disables!).
+ Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
+ multiple lines with line continuation.</P
><P
> <TABLE
BORDER="0"
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
-># Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org></PRE
+>{ \
+ +<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#CHANGE-X-FORWARDED-FOR"
+>change-x-forwarded-for{block}</A
+> \
+ +<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-FROM-HEADER"
+>hide-from-header{block}</A
+> \
+ +<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
+>set-image-blocker{pattern}</A
+> \
+}
+/ # Match all URLs
+ </PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></P
><P
->Then, since this is the <TT
+> The default behavior is now set.</P
+></DIV
+><DIV
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><H3
+CLASS="SECT3"
+><A
+NAME="AEN4546"
+>8.7.2. default.action</A
+></H3
+><P
+> If you aren't a developer, there's no need for you to edit the
+ <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>default.action</TT
+> file. It is maintained by
+ the <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> developers and if you disagree with some of the
+ sections, you should overrule them in your <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>user.action</TT
+>.</P
+><P
+> Understanding the <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>default.action</TT
-> file, the
-first section is a special section for internal use that you needn't
-change or worry about:</P
+> file can
+ help you with your <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>user.action</TT
+>, though.</P
+><P
+> The first section in this file is a special section for internal use
+ that prevents older <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> versions from reading the file:</P
><P
> <TABLE
BORDER="0"
>##########################################################################
# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
##########################################################################
-
{{settings}}
-for-privoxy-version=3.0</PRE
+for-privoxy-version=3.0.11</PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></P
><P
->After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
-section from the above <A
+> After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
+
section from the above <A
HREF="actions-file.html#ALIASES"
>chapter on aliases</A
>,
-that also explains why and how aliases are used:</P
+ that also explains why and how aliases are used:</P
><P
> <TABLE
BORDER="0"
##########################################################################
{{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
-
-# These aliases define combinations of actions
-# that are useful for certain types of sites:
-#
-fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
-shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups</PRE
-></TD
-></TR
-></TABLE
-></P
-><P
-> Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied
- by URL patterns to which they apply. Remember <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->all actions
- are disabled when matching starts</I
->, so we have to explicitly
- enable the ones we want.</P
-><P
-> The first regular section is probably the most important. It has only
- one pattern, <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"<TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
->/</TT
->"</SPAN
->, but this pattern
- <A
-HREF="actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS"
->matches all URLs.</A
->. Therefore, the
- set of actions used in this <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"default"</SPAN
-> section <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->will
- be applied to all requests as a start</I
->. It can be partly or
- wholly overridden by later matches further down this file, or in user.action,
- but it will still be largely responsible for your overall browsing
- experience.</P
-><P
-> Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
- no real need to disable any actions here, but we will do that nonetheless,
- to have a complete listing for your reference. (Remember: A <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"+"</SPAN
+ # These aliases just save typing later:
+ # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
+ #
+ +crunch-all-cookies = +<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
+>crunch-incoming-cookies</A
+> +<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
+>crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
>
- preceding the action name enables the action, a <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"-"</SPAN
-> disables!).
- Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
- multiple lines with line continuation.</P
-><P
-> <TABLE
-BORDER="0"
-BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
-WIDTH="100%"
-><TR
-><TD
-><PRE
-CLASS="SCREEN"
->##########################################################################
-# "Defaults" section:
-##########################################################################
- { \
- -<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#ADD-HEADER"
->add-header</A
-> \
- -<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
->block</A
-> \
- -<A
+ -crunch-all-cookies = -<A
HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"
>crunch-incoming-cookies</A
-> \
- -<A
+> -<A
HREF="actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES"
>crunch-outgoing-cookies</A
-> \
- +<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS"
->deanimate-gifs</A
-> \
- -<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"
->downgrade-http-version</A
-> \
- +<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"
->fast-redirects</A
-> \
- +<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES"
->filter{html-annoyances}</A
-> \
- +<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES"
->filter{js-annoyances}</A
-> \
- -<A
+>
+ +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
+ mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
+>session-cookies-only</A
+> -<A
HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES"
>filter{content-cookies}</A
-> \
- +<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"
->filter{popups}</A
-> \
- +<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-WEBBUGS"
->filter{webbugs}</A
-> \
- -<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS"
->filter{refresh-tags}</A
-> \
- -<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-FUN"
->filter{fun}</A
-> \
- +<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-NIMDA"
->filter{nimda}</A
-> \
- +<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"
->filter{banners-by-size}</A
-> \
- -<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH"
->filter{shockwave-flash}</A
-> \
- -<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL"
->filter{crude-parental}</A
-> \
- -<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
->handle-as-image</A
-> \
- +<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS"
->hide-forwarded-for-headers</A
-> \
- +<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-FROM-HEADER"
->hide-from-header{block}</A
-> \
- +<A
+>
+
+ # These aliases define combinations of actions
+ # that are useful for certain types of sites:
+ #
+ fragile = -<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
+>block</A
+> -<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
+>filter</A
+> -crunch-all-cookies -<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#FAST-REDIRECTS"
+>fast-redirects</A
+> -<A
HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-REFERER"
->hide-referrer{forge}</A
-> \
- -<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-USER-AGENT"
->hide-user-agent</A
-> \
- -<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"
->kill-popups</A
-> \
- -<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#LIMIT-CONNECT"
->limit-connect</A
-> \
- +<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#PREVENT-COMPRESSION"
->prevent-compression</A
-> \
- -<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#SEND-VANILLA-WAFER"
->send-vanilla-wafer</A
-> \
- -<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#SEND-WAFER"
->send-wafer</A
-> \
- +<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"
->session-cookies-only</A
-> \
- +<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
->set-image-blocker{pattern}</A
-> \
- }
- / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.</PRE
+>hide-referrer</A
+>
+ shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-ALL-POPUPS"
+>filter{all-popups}</A
+></PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></P
><P
-> The default behavior is now set. Note that some actions, like not hiding
- the user agent, are part of a <SPAN
-CLASS="QUOTE"
->"general policy"</SPAN
-> that applies
- universally and won't get any exceptions defined later. Other choices,
- like not blocking (which is <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->understandably</I
-> the
- default!) need exceptions, i.e. we need to specify explicitly what we
- want to block in later sections.
- We will also want to make exceptions from our general pop-up-killing,
- and use our defined aliases for that.</P
-><P
> The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"fragile"</SPAN
#
{ fragile }
.office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
-.windowsupdate.microsoft.com</PRE
+.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
+mail.google.com</PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></TABLE
></P
><P
-> Then, there are sites which rely on pop-up windows (yuck!) to work.
- Since we made pop-up-killing our default above, we need to make exceptions
- now. <A
-HREF="http://www.mozilla.org/"
-TARGET="_top"
->Mozilla</A
-> users, who
- can turn on smart handling of unwanted pop-ups in their browsers, can
- safely choose
- -<TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
-><A
-HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"
->filter{popups}</A
-></TT
-> (and
- -<TT
-CLASS="LITERAL"
-><A
-HREF="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"
->kill-popups</A
-></TT
->) above
- and hence don't need this section. Anyway, disabling an already disabled
- action doesn't hurt, so we'll define our exceptions regardless of what was
- chosen in the defaults section:</P
-><P
-> <TABLE
-BORDER="0"
-BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
-WIDTH="100%"
-><TR
-><TD
-><PRE
-CLASS="SCREEN"
-># These sites require pop-ups too :(
-#
-{ -<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"
->kill-popups</A
-> -<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"
->filter{popups}</A
-> }
-.dabs.com
-.overclockers.co.uk
-.deutsche-bank-24.de</PRE
-></TD
-></TR
-></TABLE
-></P
-><P
> The <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
><A
>fast-redirects</A
></TT
>
- action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable
- it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:</P
+ action, which may have been enabled in <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>match-all.action</TT
+>,
+ breaks some sites. So disable it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:</P
><P
> <TABLE
BORDER="0"
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
> knows which
- URLs belong to images, so that <I
+ URLs belong to images, so that <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>if</I
+></SPAN
> they are to
be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
- would feed the advertisers (in terms of money <I
-CLASS="EMPHASIS"
->and</I
->
- information). We can mark any URL as an image with the <TT
+ would feed the advertisers information about you. We can mark any
+ URL as an image with the <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
><A
HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
><P
> 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 <I
+ request is for an image. Hence we block them <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>and</I
+></SPAN
>
mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
->block-as-image</TT
+>+block-as-image</TT
> alias defined above. (We could of
course just as well use <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
CLASS="SCREEN"
># Known ad generators:
#
-{ block-as-image }
+{ +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</PRE
></TD
></TR
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>Privoxy</SPAN
>
- is to block banners. A huge bunch of them are already <SPAN
+ is to block banners. Many of these can be <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"blocked"</SPAN
>
></TT
> action to them.</P
><P
-> First comes a bunch of generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
+> First comes many generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
to keep the example short:</P
##########################################################################
{ <A
HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
->+block</A
+>+block{Banner ads.}</A
> }
# Generic patterns:
></TABLE
></P
><P
-> You wouldn't believe how many advertisers actually call their banner
+> It's quite remarkable how many advertisers actually call their banner
servers ads.<TT
CLASS="REPLACEABLE"
><I
> e.g. catches
<SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
->"nasty-<I
+>"nasty-<SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>ads</I
+></SPAN
>.nasty-corp.com"</SPAN
> as intended,
but also <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
->"downlo<I
+>"downlo<SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>ads</I
+></SPAN
>.sourcefroge.net"</SPAN
> or
<SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
->"<I
+>"<SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>ads</I
+></SPAN
>l.some-provider.net."</SPAN
> So here come some
well-known exceptions to the <TT
>-block</A
></TT
>
- applies, so (unless it matches <I
+ applies, so (unless it matches <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>again</I
+></SPAN
> further down) it ends up
with no <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
> }
adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
+adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
.edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
.*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
>filter</A
></TT
>
- disables <I
+ disables <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>all</I
+></SPAN
> filters in one fell swoop!</P
><P
> <TABLE
HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
>filter</A
> }
-/.*cvs
+/(.*/)?cvs
+bugzilla.
+developer.
+wiki.
.sourceforge.net</PRE
></TD
></TR
> The actual <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>default.action</TT
-> is of course more
+> is of course much more
comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.</P
></DIV
><DIV
><H3
CLASS="SECT3"
><A
-NAME="AEN2675"
->8.7.2. user.action</A
+NAME="AEN4659"
+>8.7.3. user.action</A
></H3
><P
> So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
- you'd maybe want to be more specific and have customized rules that
+ you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
be placed in <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>user.action</TT
> is also a
- <I
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
CLASS="EMPHASIS"
>safe</I
+></SPAN
> place for your personal settings, since
<TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
-># My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com></PRE
+># My user.action file. <fred@example.com></PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
-># (Re-)define aliases for this file:
+># 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
-mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
-fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
-shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups
-allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} # (see below)</PRE
+ allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
+ allow-popups = -filter{all-popups}
++block-as-image = +block{Blocked as image.} +handle-as-image
+-block-as-image = -block
+
+# These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
+# certain types of sites:
+#
+fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer
+shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
+
+# 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 = -<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
+>filter</A
+> +-<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE"
+>content-type-overwrite{text/plain}</A
+> +-<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#FORCE-TEXT-MODE"
+>force-text-mode</A
+> -<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION"
+>hide-content-disposition</A
+></PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
->
- </P
+> </P
><P
> Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
->mercy-for-cookies</TT
+>allow-all-cookies</TT
> alias defined above does exactly
- that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and
- processing of cookies to make them temporary.</P
+ that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
+ processing of cookies to make them only temporary.</P
><P
> <TABLE
BORDER="0"
><TD
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
->{ mercy-for-cookies }
-sunsolve.sun.com
-slashdot.org
-.yahoo.com
-.msdn.microsoft.com
-.redhat.com</PRE
+>{ allow-all-cookies }
+ sourceforge.net
+ .yahoo.com
+ .msdn.microsoft.com
+ .redhat.com</PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></P
><P
-> Your bank needs popups and is allergic to some filter, but you don't
- know which, so you disable them all:</P
+> Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:</P
><P
> <TABLE
BORDER="0"
>{ -<A
HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER"
>filter</A
-> -<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"
->kill-popups</A
> }
-.your-home-banking-site.com</PRE
+ .your-home-banking-site.com</PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></P
><P
-> While browsing the web with <SPAN
-CLASS="APPLICATION"
->Privoxy</SPAN
-> you
- noticed some ads that sneaked through, but you were too lazy to
- report them through our fine and easy <A
-HREF="contact.html"
->feedback</A
+> Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:</P
+><P
+> <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="100%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+># 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/</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+></P
+><P
+> Example of a simple <A
+HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
+>block</A
+> action. Say you've
+ seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of.
+ You have right-clicked the image, selected <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"copy image location"</SPAN
>
- system, so you have added them here:</P
+ and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>{ +block{} }</TT
+> section. Note that <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>{ +handle-as-image
+ }</TT
+> need not be specified, since all URLs ending in
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>.gif</TT
+> will be tagged as images by the general rules as set
+ in default.action anyway:</P
><P
> <TABLE
BORDER="0"
>{ +<A
HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
>block</A
-> }
-www.a-popular-site.com/some/unobvious/path
-another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/</PRE
+>{Nasty ads.} }
+ www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
+ another.example.net/more/junk/here/</PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
></P
><P
-> Note that, assuming the banners in the above example have regular image
- extensions (most do),
- <TT
+> The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner
+ farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which
+ makes it impossible for <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+> to guess
+ the file type just by looking at the URL.
+ You can use the <TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
->+<A
-HREF="actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"
->handle-as-image</A
-></TT
->
- need not be specified, since all URLs ending in these extensions will
- already have been tagged as images in the relevant section of
- <TT
-CLASS="FILENAME"
->default.action</TT
-> by now.</P
+>+block-as-image</TT
+> alias defined above for
+ these cases.
+ Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an
+ image are typically rendered as a <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"broken image"</SPAN
+> icon by the
+ browser. Use cautiously.</P
+><P
+> <TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="100%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>{ +block-as-image }
+ .doubleclick.net
+ .fastclick.net
+ /Realmedia/ads/
+ ar.atwola.com/</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+></P
><P
-> Then you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
+> 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 <A
HREF="contact.html"
CLASS="LITERAL"
>fragile</TT
> alias on the site, and
- -- whoa! -- it worked:</P
+ -- <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>whoa!</I
+></SPAN
+> -- it worked. The <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>fragile</TT
+>
+ aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also,
+ good for testing purposes to see if it is <SPAN
+CLASS="APPLICATION"
+>Privoxy</SPAN
+>
+ that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular sites
+ that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:</P
><P
><TABLE
BORDER="0"
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
>{ fragile }
-.forbes.com</PRE
+ .forbes.com
+ webmail.example.com
+ .mybank.com</PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
CLASS="FILENAME"
>default.filter</TT
>,
- 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,
+ but it is disabled in the distributed actions file.
+ So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
update-safe config, once and for all:</P
><P
><TABLE
HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-FUN"
>filter{fun}</A
> }
-/ # For ALL sites!</PRE
+ / # For ALL sites!</PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
>"fun"</SPAN
> filtering specified here.</P
><P
-> Finally, you might think about how your favourite free websites are
+> You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are
funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
sites that you feel provide value to you:</P
><PRE
CLASS="SCREEN"
>{ allow-ads }
-.sourceforge.net
-.slashdot.org
-.osdn.net</PRE
+ .sourceforge.net
+ .slashdot.org
+ .osdn.net</PRE
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
HREF="actions-file.html#BLOCK"
>block</A
></TT
->
+>,
<TT
CLASS="LITERAL"
>-<A
HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"
>filter{banners-by-size}</A
></TT
->
- above.</P
+>, and
+ <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+>-<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK"
+>filter{banners-by-link}</A
+></TT
+> above.</P
+><P
+> Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type <TT
+CLASS="LITERAL"
+> application/x-sh</TT
+> 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.</P
+><P
+><TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="100%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>{ handle-as-text }
+ /.*\.sh$</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+> </P
+><P
+> <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>user.action</TT
+> is generally the best place to define
+ exceptions and additions to the default policies of
+ <TT
+CLASS="FILENAME"
+>default.action</TT
+>. Some actions are safe to have their
+ default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"blank"</SPAN
+> image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for
+ <SPAN
+CLASS="emphasis"
+><I
+CLASS="EMPHASIS"
+>ALL</I
+></SPAN
+> sites. <SPAN
+CLASS="QUOTE"
+>"/"</SPAN
+> of course matches all URL
+ paths and patterns:</P
+><P
+><TABLE
+BORDER="0"
+BGCOLOR="#E0E0E0"
+WIDTH="100%"
+><TR
+><TD
+><PRE
+CLASS="SCREEN"
+>{ +<A
+HREF="actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"
+>set-image-blocker{blank}</A
+> }
+/ # ALL sites</PRE
+></TD
+></TR
+></TABLE
+></P
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projects / privoxy.git / blobdiff