X-Git-Url: http://www.privoxy.org/gitweb/?p=privoxy.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fsource%2Fuser-manual.sgml;h=32c0171040046d993a600babf16cdd25050f5a83;hp=989041793b58ad4285845f2191bb7c4bc4737078;hb=e1efc2ecd4db05418776e31a0169ba23574cb3d8;hpb=eb410372999579a19c6aad3aeef5d3f4cf47b739 diff --git a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml index 98904179..32c01710 100644 --- a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml +++ b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml @@ -1,204 +1,141 @@ - + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +]> -
-Junkbuster User Manual +Privoxy User Manual -$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9 Exp $ +$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes Exp $ - By: Junkbuster Developers + By: Privoxy Developers + - The user manual gives the users information on how to install and configure - Internet Junkbuster. Internet - Junkbuster is an application that provides privacy and - security to users of the World Wide Web. + + This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/ + If I knew enough to fix it, I would. + PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net + +]]> + -You can find the latest version of the user manual at http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/doc/user-manual/. - + The user manual gives users information on how to install, configure and use + Privoxy. + + + + &p-intro; + - Feel free to send a note to the developers at ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net. - + You can find the latest version of the user manual at http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/. + Please see the Contact section on how to + contact the developers. + + + + + - + + + + + -Introduction - - Internet Junkbuster is a web proxy with advanced - filtering capabilities for protecting privacy, filtering web page content, - managing cookies and removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious - Internet Junk. Junkbuster has a very flexible - configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs and tastes. - Internet Junkbuster has application for both - stand-alone systems and multi-user networks. - - - - This documentation is included with the current development version of - Internet Junkbuster and is incomplete at this - point. The most up to date reference for the time being is still the comments - in the source files and in the individual configuration files. Development - of version 3.0 is currently underway, and includes significant changes and - enhancements over earlier verions. The target release date for stable v3.0 is - December 2001. - - - - Since this is a development version, some features are in the process of - being implemented. And there are bugs! - + +Introduction - - -New Features - In addition to Junkbuster's traditional features - of ad and banner blocking and cookie management, this is a list of new - features currently under development: + This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of + Privoxy, v.&p-version;soon ;-)]]>. + - - - - - Modularized configuration that will allow for system wide settings, and - individual user settings. - - - - - - A web based GUI configuration utility. - - - - - - Blocking of annoying pop-up browser windows (previously available as a - patch). - - - - - - Support for HTTP 1.1. - - - - - - Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the configuration files, and - generally a more sophisticated configuration syntax. - - - - - - Web page content filtering. - - - - + Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This + documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with + CVS sources). And there may be bugs, though hopefully + not many! +]]> - - -======= - + New Features - In addition to Junkbuster's traditional features - of ad and banner blocking and cookie management, this is a list of new - features currently under development: - - - - - - - - Modularized configuration that will allow for system wide settings, and - individual user settings. - - - - - - A web based GUI configuration utility. - - - - - - Blocking of annoying pop-up browser windows (previously available as a - patch). - - - - - - - Support for HTTP 1.1. - - - - - - Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the configuration files, and - generally a more sophisticated configuration syntax. - - - - - - Web page content filtering. - - - + In addition to Internet Junkbuster's traditional + features of ad and banner blocking and cookie management, + Privoxy provides new features: + + + &newfeatures; + @@ -208,996 +145,1730 @@ You can find the latest version of the user manual at Installation - - Junkbuster is available as raw source code, or - pre-compiled binaries. See the Junkbuster Home Page - for current releases. Junkbuster is also available - via CVS. - This is the recommended approach at this time. But please be aware that CVS - is constantly changing, and it may break in mysterious ways. - - - -Source - - For gzipped tar archives, unpack the source: - - - tar zxvf ijb_source_2.9* - cd ijb_source_2.9* - + Privoxy is available both in convenient pre-compiled + packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code. + For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our + Privoxy Project Page. - For retrieving the current CVS sources, you'll need the CVS - package installed first. To download CVS source: + If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using + possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute + version directly from the + CVS repository or simply download the nightly CVS + tarball. - - - cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa login - cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa co current - cd current - - + + &supported; + - - This will create a directory named current/, which will - contain the source tree. - + +Binary Packages - Then, in either case, to build from source: + Note: If you have a previous Junkbuster or + Privoxy installation on your system, you + will either need to remove it, or that might be done by the setup + procedure. (See below for your platform). - - ./configure - make - su - make install - + In any case be sure to backup your old configuration + if it is valuable to you. In that case, also see the + note to upgraders. - For Redhat and SuSE Linux RPM packages, see below. + How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system: - - - -Red Hat - - To build Redhat RPM packages, install source as above. Then: - +Redhat and SuSE RPMs - - ./configure - make redhat-dist - + RPMs can be installed with rpm -Uvh <name-of-rpm.rpm>, + and will use /etc/privoxy for configuration files. - This will create both binary and src RPMs in the usual places. Example: + Note that if you have a Junkbuster RPM installed + on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict. + + +Debian -    /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i686/junkbuster-2.9.8-1.i686.rpm - - -    /usr/src/redhat/SRPMS/junkbuster-2.9.8-1.src.rpm + FIXME. + - - To install, of course: - + +Windows - - rpm -Uvv /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i686/junkbuster-2.9.8-1.i686.rpm - + Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through + the installation process. + + + +Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX - This will place the Junkbuster configuration - files in /etc/junkbuster/, and log files in - /var/log/junkbuster/. + Create a new directory, cd to it, then unzip and + untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where + things go. FIXME. - - + -SuSE - - To build SuSE RPM packages, install source as above. Then: - +OS/2 - - ./configure - make suse-dist - + First, make sure that no previous installations of + Junkbuster and / or + Privoxy are left on your + system. - This will create both binary and src RPMs in the usual places. Example: + Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will + guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the + Privoxy executable will be placed in your + startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts. -    /usr/src/suse/RPMS/i686/junkbuster-2.9.8-1.i686.rpm - - -    /usr/src/suse/SRPMS/junkbuster-2.9.8-1.src.rpm + The directory you choose to install Privoxy + into will contain all of the configuration files. + + +Max OSX - To install, of course: + FIXME. + + +AmigaOS - - rpm -Uvv /usr/src/suse/RPMS/i686/junkbuster-2.9.8-1.i686.rpm - + Unpack the .lha archive, then FIXME. + + - - This will place the Junkbuster configuration - files in /etc/junkbuster/, and log files in - /var/log/junkbuster/. - + +Building from Source + +&buildsource; + + + + + -OS/2 - +Quickstart to Using <application>Privoxy</application> - - The OS/2 version of Junkbuster requires the EMX - runtime library to be installed. The EMX runtime library is available on - the hobbes OS/2 archive, among many other locations: - http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/cgi-bin/h-search?sh=1&button=Search&key=emxrt.zip&stype=all&sort=type&dir=%2Fpub%2Fos2%2Fdev%2Femx%2Fv0.9d - + + +Note to Upgraders - Junkbuster is packaged in a WarpIN self- - installing archive. The self-installing program will be named depending - on the release version, something like: - ijbos123.exe. In order to install it, simply run - this executable or double-click on its icon and follow the WarpIN - installation panels. A shadow of the Junkbuster - executable will be placed in your startup folder so it will start - automatically whenever OS/2 starts. + There are very significant changes from older versions of + Junkbuster to the current + Privoxy. Configuration is substantially + changed. Junkbuster 2.0.x and earlier + configuration files will not migrate. The functionality of the old + blockfile, cookiefile and + imagelist, are now combined into the + actions file (default.action + for most installations). - - The directory you choose to install Junkbuster - into will contain all of the configuration files. + A filter file (typically default.filter) + is new with Privoxy 2.9.x, and provides some + of the new sophistication (explained below). config is + much the same as before. - - If you would like to build binary images on OS/2 yourself, you will need - a working EMX/GCC environment, plus several Unix-like tools. The Hobbes - OS/2 archive is a good place to start when building such an environment. - A set of Unix-like tools named gnupack is located here: - http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/cgi-bin/h-search?sh=1&key=gnupack&stype=all&sort=type&dir=%2Fpub%2Fos2%2Fapps + If upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will have to use the new config + files, and possibly adapt any personal rules from your older files. + When porting personal rules over from the old blockfile + to the new actions file, please note that even the pattern syntax has + changed. + If upgrading from 2.9.x development versions, it is still recommended + to use the new configuration files. - Once you have the source code unpacked as above, you can build the binaries - from the current/ directory: + A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading: - - autoconf - sh configure - make - - - - + + + + The default listening port is now 8118 due to a conflict with another + service (NAS). + + + + + Some installers may remove earlier versions completely. Save any + important configuration files! + + + + + Privoxy is controllable with a web browser + at the special URL: http://config.privoxy.org/ + (Shortcut: http://p.p/). Many + aspects of configuration can be done here, including temporarily disabling + Privoxy. + + + + + The primary configuration file for cookie management, ad and banner + blocking, and many other aspects of Privoxy + configuration is default.action. It is strongly + recommended to become familiar with the new actions concept below, + before modifying this file. + + + + + + + Some installers may not automatically start + Privoxy after installation. + + - -Windows -I need help on this. Not a clue here. Also for -configuration section below. + + -Other + +Starting <application>Privoxy</application> - Some quick notes on other Operating Systems. + Before launching Privoxy for the first time, you + will want to configure your browser(s) to use Privoxy + as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is localhost for the proxy address, + and port 8118 (earlier versions used port 8000). This is the one required + configuration that must be done! + + + + With Netscape (and + Mozilla), this can be set under Edit + -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy. + For Internet Explorer: Tools -> + Internet Properties -> Connections -> LAN Setting. Then, + check Use Proxy and fill in the appropriate info (Address: + localhost, Port: 8118). Include if HTTPS proxy support too. - For FreeBSD (and other *BSDs?), the build will need gmake - instead of the included make. gmake is - available from http://www.gnu.org. - The rest should be the same as above for Linux/Unix. + After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a + re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. You + are now ready to start enjoying the benefits of using + Privoxy. - - - - - - - -Junkbuster Configuration - For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuraton files are located in - /etc/junkbuster/ by default. For MS Windows and OS/2, - these are all in the same directory as the - Junkbuster executable. The name and number of - configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is subject to - change as development progresses. + Privoxy is typically started by specifying the + main configuration file to be used on the command line. Example Unix startup + command: - The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point. For the - time being, there are only three default configuration files (this will - change in time): + + + # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config + + - - - - - The main configuration file is named config - on Linux, Unix, BSD, and OS/2, and junkbustr.txt on - Windows. - - - - - - The actionsfile file is used to define various - actions relating to images, banners, pop-ups, banners and cookies. - - - - - - The re_filterfile file can be used to rewrite the raw - page content, including text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript. - - - - + An init script is provided for SuSE and Redhat. - actionsfile and re_filterfile - can use Perl style regular expressions for maximum flexibility. All files use - the # character to denote a comment. Such - lines are not processed by Junkbuster. After - making any changes, restart Junkbuster in order - for the changes to take effect. + For for SuSE: rcprivoxy start - - - - -The Main Configuration File - Again, the main configuration file is named config on - Linux/Unix/BSD and OS/2, and junkbustr.txt on Windows. - Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list of - values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or tabs). For - example: + For RedHat: /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start + - - - - blockfile blocklist.ini - - - + If no configuration file is specified on the command line, + Privoxy will look for a file named + config in the current directory. Except on Win32 where + it will try config.txt. If no file is specified on the + command line and no default configuration file can be found, + Privoxy will fail to start. + - Indicates that the blockfile is named blocklist.ini. + The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting + point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the + actions files. These are where various cookie actions are + defined, ad and banner blocking, and other aspects of + Privoxy configuration. There are several such + files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness. - The # indicates a comment. Any part of a - line following a # is ignored, except if - the # is preceded by a - \. + You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites that require persistent + cookies, and add these to default.action as needed. By + default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser + session (aka session cookies), until you add them to the + configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need + to edit default.action and disable this feature. If you + use more than one browser, it would make more sense to let + Privoxy handle this. In which case, the + browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies. - Thus, by placing a # at the start of an - existing configuration line, you can make it a comment and it will be treated - as if it weren't there. This is called commenting out an - option and can be useful to turn off features: If you comment out the - logfile line, junkbuster will not - log to a file at all. Watch for the default: section in each - explanation to see what happens if the option is left unset (or commented - out). + Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted + sites is the popup-killing (through the +popup and + +filter{popups} actions), because your favorite shopping, + banking, or leisure site may need popups. - Long lines can be continued on the next line by using a - \ as the very last character. + Privoxy is HTTP/1.1 compliant, but not all of + the optional 1.1 features are as yet supported. In the unlikely event that + you experience inexplicable problems with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default + (like Mozilla or recent versions of I.E.), you might + try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under Edit -> + Preferences -> Debug -> Networking. + Alternatively, set the +downgrade config option in + default.action which will downgrade your browser's HTTP + requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them. - There are various aspects of Junkbuster behavior - that can be adjusted. + After running Privoxy for a while, you can + start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site, + preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can + be customized. Actions (as specified in default.action) + can be adjusted by pointing your browser to + http://config.privoxy.org/ + (shortcut: http://p.p/), + and then follow the link to edit the actions list. + (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.) - - - - -Defining Other Configuration Files - - Junkbuster can use a number of other files to tell it - what ads to block, what cookies to accept, etc. This section of the - configuration file tells Junkbuster where to find - all those other files. + In fact, various aspects of Privoxy + configuration can be viewed from this page, including + current configuration parameters, source code version numbers, + the browser's request headers, and actions that apply + to a given URL. In addition to the default.action file + editor mentioned above, Privoxy can also + be turned on and off (toggled) from this page. - On Windows, Junkbuster - looks for these files in the same directory as the executable. On Unix and - OS/2, Junkbuster looks for these files in the current - working directory. In either case, an absolute path name can be used to - avoid problems. + If you encounter problems, try loading the page without + Privoxy. If that helps, enter the URL where + you have the problems into the browser + based rule tracing utility. See which rules apply and why, and + then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem + is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on + again. - When development goes modular and multiuser, the blocker, filter, and - per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of confdir. - For now, only confdir/templates is used for storing HTML - templates for CGI results. + If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to read more about the actions concept + or even dive deep into the Appendix + on actions. - The location of the configuration files: + If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in + Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the + chapter "Contacting the Developers, .." below. + + + + + +Command Line Options - - - - confdir /etc/junkbuster # No trailing /, please. - - - + Privoxy may be invoked with the following + command-line options: - The directory where all logging (i.e. logfile and - jarfile) takes place. No trailing - /, please: - + - - - - - logdir /var/log/junkbuster - - - - + + + --version + + + Print version info and exit, Unix only. + + + + + --help + + + Print a short usage info and exit, Unix only. + + + + + --no-daemon + + + Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group + leader, don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only. + + + + + --pidfile FILE + + + + On startup, write the process ID to FILE. Delete the + FILE on exit. Failure to create or delete the + FILE is non-fatal. If no FILE + option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only. + + + + + --user USER[.GROUP] + + + + After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of + USER, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the + privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only. + + + + + configfile + + + If no configfile is included on the command line, + Privoxy will look for a file named + config in the current directory (except on Win32 + where it will look for config.txt instead). Specify + full path to avoid confusion. + + - - Note that all file specifications below are relative to - the above two directories! + - - The actionsfile contains patterns to specify the actions to - apply to requests for each site. Default: Cookies to and from all - destinations are filtered. Popups are disabled for all sites. All sites are - filtered if re_filterfile specified. No sites are blocked. An empty image is - displayed for filtered ads and other images (formerly - tinygif). The syntax of this file is explained in detail - below. - + - - - - - actionsfile actionsfile - - - - + - - The re_filterfile file contains content modification rules. - These rules permit powerful changes on the content of Web pages, e.g., you - could disable your favourite JavaScript annoyances, rewrite the actual - content, or just have some fun replacing Microsoft with - MicroSuck wherever it appears on a Web page. Default: No - content modification, or whatever the developers are playing with :-/ - + - - - - - re_filterfile re_filterfile - - - - - - The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The logfile - can be useful for tracking down a problem with - Junkbuster (e.g., it's not blocking an ad you - think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look at it. - + +<application>Privoxy</application> Configuration + + All Privoxy configuration is stored + in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor. + Many important aspects of Privoxy can + also be controlled easily with a web browser. - - Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to - periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job - (see man cron). For Redhat, a logrotate - script has been included. - + - - On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like /var/log/junkbuster.* - +1024k 644 nobody.nogroup in /etc/logfiles, with - the effect that cron.daily will automatically archive, gzip, and empty the - log, when it exceeds 1M size. - - - Default: Log to the a file named logfile. - Comment out to disable logging. - + + +Controlling <application>Privoxy</application> with Your Web Browser - - - - logfile logfile - - - - + Privoxy's user interface can be reached through the special + URL http://config.privoxy.org/ + (shortcut: http://p.p/), + which is a built-in page and works without Internet access. + You will see the following section: - - The jarfile defines where - Junkbuster stores the cookies it intercepts. Note - that if you use a jarfile, it may grow quite large. Default: - Don't store intercepted cookies. - - - - #jarfile jarfile - - - - + - - If you specify a trustfile, - Junkbuster will only allow access to sites that - are named in the trustfile. You can also mark sites as trusted referrers, - with the effect that access to untrusted sites will be granted, if a link - from a trusted referrer was used. The link target will then be added to the - trustfile. This is a very restrictive feature that typical - users most propably want to leave disabled. Default: Disabled, don't use the - trust mechanism. - +Please choose from the following options: - - - - - #trustfile trust - - - - - - - If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some online - documentation about your blocking policy and to specify the URL(s) here. They - will appear on the page that your users receive when they try to access - untrusted content. Use multiple times for multiple URLs. Default: Don't - display links on the untrusted info page. - + * Privoxy main page + * Show information about the current configuration + * Show the source code version numbers + * Show the request headers. + * Show which actions apply to a URL and why + * Toggle Privoxy on or off + * Edit the actions list - - - - - trust-info-url http://www.your-site.com/why_we_block.html - trust-info-url http://www.your-site.com/what_we_allow.html - - - + - - - - - - - - - -Other Configuration Options - - This part of the configuration file contains options that control how - Junkbuster operates. + This should be self-explanatory. Note the last item is an editor for the + actions list, which is where much of the ad, banner, cookie, + and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of + Privoxy. This is an easy way to adjust various + aspects of Privoxy configuration. The actions + file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below. - Admin-address should be set to the email address of the proxy - administrator. It is used in many of the proxy-generated pages. Default: - fill@me.in.please. - + Toggle Privoxy On or Off is handy for sites that might + have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use + it as a test to see whether it is Privoxy + causing the problem or not. Privoxy continues + to run as a proxy in this case, but all filtering is disabled. There + is even a toggle Bookmarklet offered, so that you can toggle + Privoxy with one click from your browser. - - - - - #admin-address fill@me.in.please - - - - - Proxy-info-url can be set to a URL that contains more info - about this Junkbuster installation, it's - configuration and policies. It is used in many of the proxy-generated pages - and its use is highly recommended in multi-user installations, since your - users will want to know why certain content is blocked or modified. Default: - Don't show a link to online documentation. - + - - - - - proxy-info-url http://www.your-site.com/proxy.html - - - - + - - Listen-address specifies the address and port where - Junkbuster will listen for connections from your - Web browser. The default is to listen on the localhost port 8000, and - this is suitable for most users. (In your web browser, under proxy - configuration, list the proxy server as localhost and the - port as 8000). - - - If you already have another service running on port 8000, or if you want to - serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well, you - will need to override the default. The syntax is - listen-address [<ip-address>]:<port>. If you leave - out the IP adress, junkbuster will bind to all - interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable from the - internet. In that case, consider using access control lists (acl's) (see - aclfile above). - - - For example, suppose you are running Junkbuster on - a machine which has the address 192.168.0.1 on your local private network - (192.168.0.0) and has another outside connection with a different address. - You want it to serve requests from inside only: - - - - - - listen-address 192.168.0.1:8000 - - - - + + +Configuration Files Overview - If you want it to listen on all addresses (including the outside - connection): + For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in + /etc/privoxy/ by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and + AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the + Privoxy executable. - - - - listen-address :8000 - - - + The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though possibly + aggressive by some standards. For the time being, there are only three + default configuration files (this may change in time): - If you do this, consider using ACLs (see aclfile above). Note: - you will need to point your browser(s) to the address and port that you have - configured here. Default: localhost:8000 (127.0.0.1:8000). - + - - The debug option sets the level of debugging information to log in the - logfile (and to the console in the Windows version). A debug level of 1 is - informative because it will show you each request as it happens. Higher - levels of debug are probably only of interest to developers. - + + + The main configuration file is named config + on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and config.txt + on Windows. + + - - - - - debug 1 # GPC = show each GET/POST/CONNECT request - debug 2 # CONN = show each connection status - debug 4 # IO = show I/O status - debug 8 # HDR = show header parsing - debug 16 # LOG = log all data into the logfile - debug 32 # FRC = debug force feature - debug 64 # REF = debug regular expression filter - debug 128 # = debug fast redirects - debug 256 # = debug GIF deanimation - debug 512 # CLF = Common Log Format - debug 1024 # = debug kill popups - debug 4096 # INFO = Startup banner and warnings. - debug 8192 # ERROR = Non-fatal errors - - - - + + + default.action (the actions file) is used to define + which of a set of various actions relating to images, banners, + pop-ups, access restrictions, banners and cookies are to be applied where. + There is a web based editor for this file that can be accessed at http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions/ + (Shortcut: http://p.p/edit-actions/). + (Other actions files are included as well with differing levels of filtering + and blocking, e.g. basic.action.) + + - - It is highly recommended that you enable ERROR - reporting (debug 8192), at least until the next stable release. - + + + default.filter (the filter file) can be used to re-write the raw + page content, including viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, + and whatever else lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only + pre-defined here; whether to apply them or not is up to the actions file. + + - - The reporting of FATAL errors (i.e. ones which crash - JunkBuster) is always on and cannot be disabled. + - If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set debug - 512 ONLY, do not enable anything else. + All files use the # character to denote a + comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation + through placing a backslash ("\") as the very last character + in a line. If the # is preceded by a backslash, it looses + its special function. Placing a # in front of an otherwise + valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting + out" that line. - Multiple debug directives, are OK - they're logical-OR'd - together. + default.action and default.filter + can use Perl style regular expressions for maximum flexibility. - - - - debug 15 # same as setting the first 4 listed above - - - + After making any changes, there is no need to restart + Privoxy in order for the changes to take + effect. Privoxy detects such changes + automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional + requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address + of Privoxy, these wake up requests + must obviously be sent to the old listening address. + - Default: + While under development, the configuration content is subject to change. + The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this. + Also, what constitutes a default setting, may change, so + please check all your configuration files on important issues. +]]> + - - - - - debug 1 # URLs - debug 4096 # Info - debug 8192 # Errors - *we highly recommended enabling this* - - - - + + + +The Main Configuration File - Junkbuster normally uses - multi-threading, a software technique that permits it to - handle many different requests simultaneously. In some cases you may wish to - disable this -- particularly if you're trying to debug a problem. The - single-threaded option forces - Junkbuster to handle requests sequentially. - Default: Multi-threaded mode. + Again, the main configuration file is named config on + Linux/Unix/BSD and OS/2, and config.txt on Windows. + Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list of + values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or tabs). For + example: - + - #single-threaded + confdir /etc/privoxy - - - - - - toggle allows you to temporarily disable all - Junkbuster's filtering. Just set toggle - 0. + + - The Windows version of Junkbuster puts an icon in - the system tray, which allows you to change this option without having to - edit this file. If you right-click on that icon (or select the - Options menu), one choice is Enable. Clicking - on enable toggles Junkbuster on and off. This is - useful if you want to temporarily disable - Junkbuster, e.g., to access a site that requires - cookies which you normally have blocked. + Assigns the value /etc/privoxy to the option + confdir and thus indicates that the configuration + directory is named /etc/privoxy/. - toggle 1 means Junkbuster runs - normally, toggle 0 means that - Junkbuster becomes a non-anonymizing non-blocking - proxy. Default: 1. + All options in the config file except for confdir and + logdir are optional. Watch out in the below description + for what happens if you leave them unset. - - - - toggle 1 - - - + The main config file controls all aspects of Privoxy's + operation that are not location dependent (i.e. they apply universally, no matter + where you may be surfing). - - - - -Access Control List (ACL) - - Access controls are included at the request of some ISPs and systems - administrators, and are not usually needed by individual users. Please note - the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute - for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security - weaknesses. - +Configuration and Log File Locations - If no access settings are specified, the proxy talks to anyone that - connects. If any access settings file are specified, then the proxy - talks only to IP addresses permitted somewhere in this file and not - denied later in this file. + Privoxy can (and normally does) use a number of + other files for additional configuration and logging. + This section of the configuration file tells Privoxy + where to find those other files. - - Summary -- if using an ACL: - - - - Client must have permission to receive service. - - - - - LAST match in ACL wins. - - - - - Default behavior is to deny service. - - +confdir - - The syntax for an entry in the Access Control List is: - + + + Specifies: + + The directory where the other configuration files are located + + + + Type of value: + + Path name + + + + Default value: + + /etc/privoxy (Unix) or Privoxy installation dir (Windows) + + + + Effect if unset: + + Mandatory + + + + Notes: + + + No trailing /, please + + + When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and + per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of confdir. + For now, the configuration directory structure is flat, except for + confdir/templates, where the HTML templates for CGI + output reside (e.g. Privoxy's 404 error page). + + + + + - - - - - ACTION SRC_ADDR[/SRC_MASKLEN] [ DST_ADDR[/DST_MASKLEN] ] - - - - - - Where the individual fields are: - +logdir - - - - - ACTION = permit-access or deny-access + + + Specifies: + + + The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where logfile and + jarfile are located) + + + + + Type of value: + + Path name + + + + Default value: + + /var/log/privoxy (Unix) or Privoxy installation dir (Windows) + + + + Effect if unset: + + Mandatory + + + + Notes: + + + No trailing /, please + + + + + - SRC_ADDR = client hostname or dotted IP address - SRC_MASKLEN = number of bits in the subnet mask for the source +actionsfile - DST_ADDR = server or forwarder hostname or dotted IP address - DST_MASKLEN = number of bits in the subnet mask for the target - - - - + + + Specifies: + + + The actions file to use + + + + + Type of value: + + File name, relative to confdir + + + + Default value: + + default.action (Unix) or default.action.txt (Windows) + + + + Effect if unset: + + + No action is taken at all. Simple neutral proxying. + + + + + Notes: + + + There is no point in using Privoxy without + an actions file. There are three different actions files included in the + distribution, with varying degrees of aggressiveness: + default.action, intermediate.action and + advanced.action. + + + + + +filterfile - - The field separator (FS) is whitespace (space or tab). - + + + Specifies: + + + The filter file to use + + + + + Type of value: + + File name, relative to confdir + + + + Default value: + + default.filter (Unix) or default.filter.txt (Windows) + + + + Effect if unset: + + + No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all + +filter{name} + actions in the actions file are turned off + + + + + Notes: + + + The default.filter file contains content modification rules + that use regular expressions. These rules permit powerful + changes on the content of Web pages, e.g., you could disable your favorite + JavaScript annoyances, re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some + fun replacing Microsoft with MicroSuck wherever + it appears on a Web page. + + + + + - - IMPORTANT NOTE: If the junkbuster is using a - forwarder (see below) or a gateway for a particular destination URL, the - DST_ADDR that is examined is the address of the forwarder - or the gateway and NOT the address of the ultimate - target. This is necessary because it may be impossible for the local - Junkbuster to determine the address of the - ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for). - +logfile - - Here are a few examples to show how the ACL features work: - + + + Specifies: + + + The log file to use + + + + + Type of value: + + File name, relative to logdir + + + + Default value: + + logfile (Unix) or privoxy.log (Windows) + + + + Effect if unset: + + + No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (stderr). + + + + + Notes: + + + The windows version will additionally log to the console. + + + The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The level + of detail and number of messages are set with the debug + option (see below). The logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with + Privoxy (e.g., it's not blocking an ad you + think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look at it. + + + Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to + periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job + (see man cron). For Redhat, a logrotate + script has been included. + + + On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like /var/log/privoxy.* + +1024k 644 nobody.nogroup in /etc/logfiles, with + the effect that cron.daily will automatically archive, gzip, and empty the + log, when it exceeds 1M size. + + + + + - - localhost is OK -- no DST_ADDR implies that - ALL destination addresses are OK: - +jarfile - - - - - permit-access localhost - - - - + + + Specifies: + + + The file to store intercepted cookies in + + + + + Type of value: + + File name, relative to logdir + + + + Default value: + + jarfile (Unix) or privoxy.jar (Windows) + + + + Effect if unset: + + + Intercepted cookies are not stored at all. + + + + + Notes: + + + The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time. + + + + + - - A silly example to illustrate permitting any host on the class-C subnet with - Junkbuster to go anywhere: - +trustfile - - - - - permit-access www.junkbusters.com/24 - - - - + + + Specifies: + + + The trust file to use + + + + + Type of value: + + File name, relative to confdir + + + + Default value: + + Unset (commented out). When activated: trust (Unix) or trust.txt (Windows) + + + + Effect if unset: + + + The whole trust mechanism is turned off. + + + + + Notes: + + + The trust mechanism is an experimental feature for building white-lists and should + be used with care. It is NOT recommended for the casual user. + + + If you specify a trust file, Privoxy will only allow + access to sites that are named in the trustfile. + You can also mark sites as trusted referrers (with +), with + the effect that access to untrusted sites will be granted, if a link from a + trusted referrer was used. + The link target will then be added to the trustfile. + Possible applications include limiting Internet access for children. + + + If you use + operator in the trust file, it may grow considerably over time. + + + + + - - Except deny one particular IP address from using it at all: - + - - - - - deny-access ident.junkbusters.com - - - - + - - You can also specify an explicit network address and subnet mask. - Explicit addresses do not have to be resolved to be used. - - - - - - permit-access 207.153.200.0/24 - - - - - - A subnet mask of 0 matches anything, so the next line permits everyone. - + - - - - - permit-access 0.0.0.0/0 - - - - + +Local Set-up Documentation - - Note, you cannot say: - + + If you intend to operate Privoxy for more users + that just yourself, it might be a good idea to let them know how to reach + you, what you block and why you do that, your policies etc. + - - - - - permit-access .org - - - - +trust-info-url - - to allow all *.org domains. Every IP address listed must resolve fully. - + + + Specifies: + + + A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if access to an untrusted page is denied. + + + + + Type of value: + + URL + + + + Default value: + + Two example URL are provided + + + + Effect if unset: + + + No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page. + + + + + Notes: + + + The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust mechanism has been + activated. (See trustfile above.) + + + If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line + documentation about your trust policy and to specify the URL(s) here. + Use multiple times for multiple URLs. + + + The URL(s) should be added to the trustfile as well, so users don't end up + locked out from the information on why they were locked out in the first place! + + + + + - - An ISP may want to provide a Junkbuster that is - accessible by the world and yet restrict use of some of their - private content to hosts on its internal network (i.e. its own subscribers). - Say, for instance the ISP owns the Class-B IP address block 123.124.0.0 (a 16 - bit netmask). This is how they could do it: - +admin-address - - - - - permit-access 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 # other clients can go anywhere - # with the following exceptions: - - deny-access 0.0.0.0/0 123.124.0.0/16 # block all external requests for - # sites on the ISP's network + + + Specifies: + + + An email address to reach the proxy administrator. + + + + + Type of value: + + Email address + + + + Default value: + + Unset + + + + Effect if unset: + + + No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface. + + + + + Notes: + + + If both admin-address and proxy-info-url + are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will + not be shown. + + + + + + +proxy-info-url + + + + Specifies: + + + A URL to documentation about the local Privoxy setup, + configuration or policies. + + + + + Type of value: + + URL + + + + Default value: + + Unset + + + + Effect if unset: + + + No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface. + + + + + Notes: + + + If both admin-address and proxy-info-url + are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will + not be shown. + + + This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-) + + + + + - permit 0.0.0.0/0 www.my_isp.com # except for the ISP's main - # web site + + - permit 123.124.0.0/16 0.0.0.0/0 # the ISP's clients can go - # anywhere - - - - + - - Note that if some hostnames are listed with multiple IP addresses, - the primary value returned by DNS (via gethostbyname()) is used. Default: - Anyone can access the proxy. - + +Debugging + + + These options are mainly useful when tracing a problem. + Note that you might also want to invoke + Privoxy with the --no-daemon + command line option when debugging. + + +debug + + + + Specifies: + + + Key values that determine what information gets logged. + + + + + Type of value: + + Integer values + + + + Default value: + + 12289 (i.e.: URLs plus informational and warning messages) + + + + Effect if unset: + + + Nothing gets logged. + + + + + Notes: + + + The available debug levels are: + + + + debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request + debug 2 # show each connection status + debug 4 # show I/O status + debug 8 # show header parsing + debug 16 # log all data into the logfile + debug 32 # debug force feature + debug 64 # debug regular expression filter + debug 128 # debug fast redirects + debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation + debug 512 # Common Log Format + debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups + debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings. + debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors + + + + To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or use + multiple debug lines. + + + A debug level of 1 is informative because it will show you each request + as it happens. 1, 4096 and 8192 are highly recommended + so that you will notice when things go wrong. The other levels are probably + only of interest if you are hunting down a specific problem. They can produce + a hell of an output (especially 16). + + + + The reporting of fatal errors (i.e. ones which crash + Privoxy) is always on and cannot be disabled. + + + If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set debug + 512 ONLY and not enable anything else. + + + + + + +single-threaded + + + + Specifies: + + + Whether to run only one server thread + + + + + Type of value: + + None + + + + Default value: + + Unset + + + + Effect if unset: + + + Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, i.e. the ability to + serve multiple requests simultaneously. + + + + + Notes: + + + This option is only there for debug purposes and you should never + need to use it. It will drastically reduce performance. + + + + + + + + + + + +Access Control and Security + + + This section of the config file controls the security-relevant aspects + of Privoxy's configuration. + + +listen-address + + + + Specifies: + + + The IP address and TCP port on which Privoxy will + listen for client requests. + + + + + Type of value: + + [IP-Address]:Port + + + + Default value: + + localhost:8118 + + + + Effect if unset: + + + Bind to localhost (127.0.0.1), port 8118. This is suitable and recommended for + home users who run Privoxy on the same machine as + their browser. + + + + + Notes: + + + You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address and port. + + + If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to + serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well, you + will need to override the default. + + + If you leave out the IP address, Privoxy will + bind to all interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable + from the Internet. In that case, consider using access control lists (acl's) + (see ACLs below), or a firewall. + + + + + Example: + + + Suppose you are running Privoxy on + a machine which has the address 192.168.0.1 on your local private network + (192.168.0.0) and has another outside connection with a different address. + You want it to serve requests from inside only: + + + + listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118 + + + + + + + +toggle + + + + Specifies: + + + Initial state of "toggle" status + + + + + Type of value: + + 1 or 0 + + + + Default value: + + 1 + + + + Effect if unset: + + + Act as if toggled on + + + + + Notes: + + + If set to 0, Privoxy will start in + toggled off mode, i.e. behave like a normal, content-neutral + proxy. See enable-remote-toggle + below. This is not really useful anymore, since toggling is much easier + via the web + interface then via editing the conf file. + + + The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the system tray + if this option is present. + + + + + + + +enable-remote-toggle + + + Specifies: + + + Whether or not the web-based toggle + feature may be used + + + + + Type of value: + + 0 or 1 + + + + Default value: + + 1 + + + + Effect if unset: + + + The web-based toggle feature is disabled. + + + + + Notes: + + + When toggled off, Privoxy acts like a normal, + content-neutral proxy, i.e. it acts as if none of the actions applied to + any URL. + + + For the time being, access to the toggle feature can not be + controlled separately by ACLs or HTTP authentication, + so that everybody who can access Privoxy (see + ACLs and listen-address above) can + toggle it for all users. So this option is not recommended + for multi-user environments with untrusted users. + + + Note that you must have compiled Privoxy with + support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect. + + + + + + + +enable-edit-actions + + + Specifies: + + + Whether or not the web-based actions + file editor may be used + + + + + Type of value: + + 0 or 1 + + + + Default value: + + 1 + + + + Effect if unset: + + + The web-based actions file editor is disabled. + + + + + Notes: + + + For the time being, access to the editor can not be + controlled separately by ACLs or HTTP authentication, + so that everybody who can access Privoxy (see + ACLs and listen-address above) can + modify its configuration for all users. So this option is not + recommended for multi-user environments with untrusted users. + + + Note that you must have compiled Privoxy with + support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect. + + + + + + +ACLs: permit-access and deny-access + + + Specifies: + + + Who can access what. + + + + + Type of value: + + + src_addr[/src_masklen] + [dst_addr[/dst_masklen]] + + + Where src_addr and + dst_addr are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid + DNS names, and src_masklen and + dst_masklen are subnet masks in CIDR notation, i.e. integer + values from 2 to 30 representing the length (in bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole + destination part are optional. + + + + + Default value: + + Unset + + + + Effect if unset: + + + Don't restrict access further than implied by listen-address + + + + + Notes: + + + Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems + administrators, and are not usually needed by individual users. + For a typical home user, it will normally suffice to ensure that + Privoxy only listens on the localhost or internal (home) + network address by means of the listen-address option. + + + Please see the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute + for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security + weaknesses. + + + Multiple ACL lines are OK. + If any ACLs are specified, then the Privoxy + talks only to IP addresses that match at least one permit-access line + and don't match any subsequent deny-access line. In other words, the + last match wins, with the default being deny-access. + + + If Privoxy is using a forwarder (see forward below) + for a particular destination URL, the dst_addr + that is examined is the address of the forwarder and NOT the address + of the ultimate target. This is necessary because it may be impossible for the local + Privoxy to determine the IP address of the + ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for). + + + You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because the address lookups take + time. All DNS names must resolve! You can not use domain patterns + like *.org or partial domain names. If a DNS name resolves to multiple + IP addresses, only the first one is used. + + + Denying access to particular sites by ACL may have undesired side effects + if the site in question is hosted on a machine which also hosts other sites. + + + + + Examples: + + + Explicitly define the default behavior if no ACL and + listen-address are set: localhost + is OK. The absence of a dst_addr implies that + all destination addresses are OK: + + + + permit-access localhost + + + + Allow any host on the same class C subnet as www.privoxy.org access to + nothing but www.example.com: + + + + permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32 + + + + Allow access from any host on the 26-bit subnet 192.168.45.64 to anywhere, + with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access www.dirty-stuff.example.com: + + + + permit-access 192.168.45.64/26 + deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com + + + + + + + +buffer-limit + + + + Specifies: + + + Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering. + + + + + Type of value: + + Size in Kbytes + + + + Default value: + + 4096 + + + + Effect if unset: + + + Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit. + + + + + Notes: + + + For content filtering, i.e. the +filter and + +deanimate-gif actions, it is necessary that + Privoxy buffers the entire document body. + This can be potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending + data indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust -- with nasty consequences. + Hence this option. + + + When a document buffer size reaches the buffer-limit, it is + flushed to the client unfiltered and no further attempt to + filter the rest of the document is made. Remember that there may be multiple threads + running, which might require up to buffer-limit Kbytes + each, unless you have enabled single-threaded + above. + + + + + @@ -1206,285 +1877,271 @@ configuration section below. - + Forwarding - This feature allows routing of HTTP requests via multiple proxies. + This feature allows routing of HTTP requests through a chain of + multiple proxies. It can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains - to a special purpose filtering proxy such as lpwa.com. - - - - It can also be used in an environment with multiple networks to route - requests via multiple gateways allowing transparent access to multiple - networks without having to modify browser configurations. - - - - Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. Junkbuster - SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A. The difference is that SOCKS 4A will resolve the target - hostname using DNS on the SOCKS server, not our local DNS client. - - - - The syntax of each line is: - - - - - - - forward target_domain[:port] http_proxy_host[:port] - forward-socks4 target_domain[:port] socks_proxy_host[:port] http_proxy_host[:port] - forward-socks4a target_domain[:port] socks_proxy_host[:port] http_proxy_host[:port] - - - - - - - If http_proxy_host is ., then requests are not forwarded to a - HTTP proxy but are made directly to the web servers. - - - - Lines are checked in sequence, and the last match wins. - - - - There is an implicit line equivalent to the following, which specifies that - anything not finding a match on the list is to go out without forwarding - or gateway protocol, like so: - - - - - - - forward .* . # implicit - - - - - - - In the following common configuration, everything goes to Lucent's LPWA, - except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle): - - - - - - - forward .* lpwa.com:8000 - forward :443 . - - - - - - - See the FAQ for instructions on how to automate the login procedure for LPWA. - Some users have reported difficulties related to LPWA's use of - . as the last element of the domain, and have said that this - can be fixed with this: - - - - - - - forward lpwa. lpwa.com:8000 - - - - - - - (NOTE: the syntax for specifiying target_domain has changed since the - previous paragraph was written -- it will not work now. More information - is welcome.) - - - - In this fictitious example, everything goes via an ISP's caching proxy, - except requests to that ISP: - - - - - - - forward .* caching.myisp.net:8000 - forward myisp.net . - - - - - - - For the @home network, we're told the forwarding configuration is this: - - - - - - - - forward .* proxy:8080 - - - + through an anonymous public proxy (see e.g. http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm) + Or to use a caching proxy to speed up browsing. Or chaining to a parent + proxy may be necessary because the machine that Privoxy + runs on has no direct Internet access. - Also, we're told they insist on getting cookies and JavaScript, so you need - to add home.com to the cookie file. We consider JavaScript a security risk. - Java need not be enabled. + Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. Privoxy + supports the SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A protocols. - - In this example direct connections are made to all internal - domains, but everything else goes through Lucent's LPWA by way of the - company's SOCKS gateway to the Internet. - +forward + + + Specifies: + + + To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed. + + + + + Type of value: + + + target_domain[:port] + http_parent[/port] + + + Where target_domain is a domain name pattern (see the + chapter on domain matching in the actions file), + http_parent is the address of the parent HTTP proxy + as an IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or as a valid DNS name (or . to denote + no forwarding, and the optional + port parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer + values from 1 to 64535 + + + + + Default value: + + Unset + + + + Effect if unset: + + + Don't use parent HTTP proxies. + + + + + Notes: + + + If http_parent is ., then requests are not + forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made directly to the web servers. + + + Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins. + + + + + Examples: + + + Everything goes to an example anonymizing proxy, except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle): + + + + forward .* anon-proxy.example.org:8080 + forward :443 . + + + + Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for requests + to that ISP's sites: + + + + forward .*. caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000 + forward .example-isp.net . + + + + + + + +forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a + + + Specifies: + + + Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific requests should be routed. + + + + + Type of value: + + + target_domain[:port] + socks_proxy[/port] + http_parent[/port] + + + Where target_domain is a domain name pattern (see the + chapter on domain matching in the actions file), + http_parent and socks_proxy + are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid DNS names (http_parent + may be . to denote no HTTP forwarding), and the optional + port parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1 to 64535 + + + + + Default value: + + Unset + + + + Effect if unset: + + + Don't use SOCKS proxies. + + + + + Notes: + + + Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins. + + + The difference between forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a + is that in the SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the target hostname happens on the SOCKS + server, while in SOCKS 4 it happens locally. + + + If http_parent is ., then requests are not + forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made (HTTP-wise) directly to the web servers, albeit through + a SOCKS proxy. + + + + + Examples: + + + From the company example.com, direct connections are made to all + internal domains, but everything outbound goes through + their ISP's proxy by way of example.com's corporate SOCKS 4A gateway to + the Internet. + + + + forward-socks4a .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080 + forward .example.com . + + + + A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no HTTP parent looks like this: + + + + forward-socks4 .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 . + + + + + + - - - - - forward_socks4 .* lpwa.com:8000 firewall.my_company.com:1080 - forward my_company.com . - - - - +Advanced Forwarding Examples - This is how you could set up a site that always uses SOCKS but no forwarders: + If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content + only to their subscribers, you can configure multiple Privoxies + which have connections to the respective ISPs to act as forwarders to each other, so that + your users can see the internal content of all ISPs. - - - - forward_socks4a .* . firewall.my_company.com:1080 - - - + Assume that host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.net. And host-b has a PPP connection to + isp-b.net. Both run Privoxy. Their forwarding + configuration can look like this: - An advanced example for network administrators: + host-a: - If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content to - their subscribers, you can configure forwarding to pass requests to the - specific host that's connected to that ISP so that everybody can see all - of the content on all of the ISPs. + + forward .*. . + forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118 + - This is a bit tricky, but here's an example: + host-b: - - host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.com. And host-b has a PPP connection to - isp-b.com. host-a can run a Junkbuster proxy with - forwarding like this: + + forward .*. . + forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118 + - - - - forward .* . - forward isp-b.com host-b:8000 - - - + Now, your users can set their browser's proxy to use either + host-a or host-b and be able to browse the internal content + of both isp-a and isp-b. - host-b can run a Junkbuster proxy with forwarding - like this: + If you intend to chain Privoxy and + squid locally, then chain as + browser -> squid -> privoxy is the recommended way. - - - - forward .* . - forward isp-a.com host-a:8000 - - - + Assuming that Privoxy and squid + run on the same box, your squid configuration could then look like this: - Now, anyone on the Internet (including users on host-a - and host-b) can set their browser's proxy to either - host-a or host-b and be able to browse the content on isp-a or isp-b. - + + # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP) + cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query - - Here's another practical example, for University of Kent at - Canterbury students with a network connection in their room, who - need to use the University's Squid web cache. - + # Define ACL for protocol FTP + acl ftp proto FTP - - - - - forward *. ssbcache.ukc.ac.uk:3128 # Use the proxy, except for: - forward .ukc.ac.uk . # Anything on the same domain as us - forward * . # Host with no domain specified - forward 129.12.*.* . # A dotted IP on our /16 network. - forward 127.*.*.* . # Loopback address - forward localhost.localdomain . # Loopback address - forward www.ukc.mirror.ac.uk . # Specific host - - - - + # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy + always_direct allow ftp - - If you intend to chain Junkbuster and - squid locally, then chain as - browser -> squid -> junkbuster is the recommended way. + # Forward all the rest to Privoxy + never_direct allow all + - Your squid configuration could then look like this: + You would then need to change your browser's proxy settings to squid's address and port. + Squid normally uses port 3128. If unsure consult http_port in squid.conf. - - - - - # Define junkbuster as parent cache - cache_peer 127.0.0.1 8000 parent 0 no-query - - # Define ACL for protocol FTP - acl FTP proto FTP - - # Do not forward ACL FTP to junkbuster - always_direct allow FTP - - # Do not forward ACL CONNECT (https) to junkbuster - always_direct allow CONNECT - - # Forward the rest to junkbuster - never_direct allow all - - - - + @@ -1499,39 +2156,39 @@ configuration section below. Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 --> - Junkbuster has a number of options specific to the + Privoxy has a number of options specific to the Windows GUI interface: If activity-animation is set to 1, the - Junkbuster icon will animate when - Junkbuster is active. To turn off, set to 0. + Privoxy icon will animate when + Privoxy is active. To turn off, set to 0. - + activity-animation 1 - + If log-messages is set to 1, - Junkbuster will log messages to the console + Privoxy will log messages to the console window: - + log-messages 1 - + @@ -1548,11 +2205,11 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 - + log-buffer-size 1 - + @@ -1563,27 +2220,27 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 - + log-max-lines 200 - + If log-highlight-messages is set to 1, - Junkbuster will highlight portions of the log + Privoxy will highlight portions of the log messages with a bold-faced font: - + log-highlight-messages 1 - + @@ -1593,11 +2250,11 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 - + log-font-name Comic Sans MS - + @@ -1607,60 +2264,60 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 - + log-font-size 8 - + show-on-task-bar controls whether or not - Junkbuster will appear as a button on the Task bar + Privoxy will appear as a button on the Task bar when minimized: - + show-on-task-bar 0 - + If close-button-minimizes is set to 1, the Windows close - button will minimize Junkbuster instead of closing + button will minimize Privoxy instead of closing the program (close with the exit option on the File menu). - + close-button-minimizes 1 - + The hide-console option is specific to the MS-Win console - version of JunkBuster. If this option is used, - Junkbuster will disconnect from and hide the + version of Privoxy. If this option is used, + Privoxy will disconnect from and hide the command console. - + #hide-console - + @@ -1675,141 +2332,269 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 The Actions File - The actionsfile is used to define what actions - Junkbuster takes, and thus determines how images, - cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and transactions are - handled. Images can be anything you want, including ads, banners, or just - some obnoxious image that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted - or rejected. The default file is in fact named actionsfile. + The actions file (default.action, formerly: + actionsfile or ijb.action) is used + to define what actions Privoxy takes for which + URLs, and thus determines how ad images, cookies and various other aspects + of HTTP content and transactions are handled on which sites (or even parts + thereof). - - To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is - compared to all patterns in this file. Every time it matches, the list of - applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated. You can trace - this process by visiting http://i.j.b/show-url-info. + + Anything you want can blocked, including ads, banners, or just some obnoxious + URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted or rejected, or + accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not written to disk), + content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking fooled, and much more. + See below for a complete list of available actions. + + +Finding the Right Mix - There are four types of lines in this file: comments (begin with a - # character), actions, aliases and patterns, all of which are - explained below. + Note that some actions like cookie suppression or script disabling may + render some sites unusable, which rely on these techniques to work properly. + Finding the right mix of actions is not easy and certainly a matter of personal + taste. In general, it can be said that the more aggressive + your default settings (in the top section of the actions file) are, + the more exceptions for trusted sites you will have to + make later. If, for example, you want to kill popup windows per default, you'll + have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you regularly use + and that require popups for actually useful content, like maybe your bank, + favorite shop, or newspaper. + + We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the + distribution actions file. But there is no general rule of thumb on these + things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing. + Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter). + + -URL Domain and Path Syntax +How to Edit - Generally, a pattern has the form <domain>/<path>, where both the - <domain> and <path> part are optional. If you only specify a - domain part, the / can be left out: + The easiest way to edit the actions file is with a browser by + using our browser-based editor, which is available at http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions. - www.example.com - is a domain only pattern and will match any request to - www.example.com. + If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the + default.action file. + - - www.example.com/ - means exactly the same. - + +How Actions are Applied to URLs - www.example.com/index.html - matches only the single - document /index.html on www.example.com. + The actions file is divided into sections. There are special sections, + like the alias sections which will be discussed later. For now let's + concentrate on regular sections: They have a heading line (often split + up to multiple lines for readability) which consist of a list of actions, + separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces. Below that, there + is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line. - /index.html - matches the document /index.html, regardless of - the domain. + To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is + compared to all patterns in this file. Every time it matches, the list of + applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, 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. - index.html - matches nothing, since it would be - interpreted as a domain name and there is no top-level domain called - .html. + You can trace this process by visiting http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info. - The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the - domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end. - For example: + More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, + Anatomy of an Action. + + + +Patterns - .example.com - matches any domain that ENDS in - .example.com. + Generally, a pattern has the form <domain>/<path>, + where both the <domain> and <path> + are optional. (This is why the pattern / matches all URLs). + + + www.example.com/ + + + is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to www.example.com, + regardless of which document on that server is requested. + + + + + www.example.com + + + means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing / may + be omitted. + + + + + www.example.com/index.html + + + matches only the single document /index.html + on www.example.com. + + + + + /index.html + + + matches the document /index.html, regardless of the domain, + i.e. on any web server. + + + + + index.html + + + matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and + there is no top-level domain called .html. + + + + + +The Domain Pattern + - www. - matches any domain that STARTS with - www. + The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the + domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end. + For example: + + + .example.com + + + matches any domain that ENDS in + .example.com + + + + + www. + + + matches any domain that STARTS with + www. + + + + + .example. + + + matches any domain that CONTAINS .example. + (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains example as a domain.) + + + + + - Additionally, there are wildcards that you can use in the domain names - themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wildcards: * + Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names + themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: * stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, ? stands for - any single character. And you can define charachter classes in square - brackets and they can be freely mixed: + any single character, you can define character classes in square + brackets and all of that can be freely mixed: - - ad*.example.com - matches adserver.example.com, - ads.example.com, etc but not sfads.example.com. - + + + ad*.example.com + + + matches adserver.example.com, + ads.example.com, etc but not sfads.example.com + + + + + *ad*.example.com + + + matches all of the above, and then some. + + + + + .?pix.com + + + matches www.ipix.com, + pictures.epix.com, a.b.c.d.e.upix.com etc. + + + + + www[1-9a-ez].example.c* + + + matches www1.example.com, + www4.example.cc, wwwd.example.cy, + wwwz.example.com etc., but not + wwww.example.com. + + + + - - *ad*.example.com - matches all of the above, and then some. - + - - .?pix.com - matches www.ipix.com, - pictures.epix.com, a.b.c.d.e.upix.com, etc. - +The Path Pattern - www[1-9a-ez].example.com - matches www1.example.com, - www4.example.com, wwwd.example.com, - wwwz.example.com, etc., but not - wwww.example.com. + Privoxy uses Perl compatible regular expressions + (through the PCRE library) for + matching the path. - If Junkbuster was compiled with - pcre support (default), Perl compatible regular expressions - can be used. See the pcre/docs/ direcory or man - perlre (also available on http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html) - for details. A brief discussion of regular expressions is in the - Appendix. For instance: + There is an Appendix with a brief quick-start into regular + expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line + at http://www.pcre.org/man.txt. + You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (man perlre) + useful, which is available on-line at http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html. - /.*/advert[0-9]+\.jpe?g - would match a URL from any - domain, with any path that includes advert followed - immediately by one or more digits, then a . and ending in - either jpeg or jpg. So we match - example.com/ads/advert2.jpg, and - www.example.com/ads/banners/advert39.jpeg, but not - www.example.com/ads/banners/advert39.gif (no gifs in the - example pattern). + Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the /, + i.e. it matches as if it would start with a ^. - Please note that matching in the path is case + Please also note that matching in the path is case INSENSITIVE by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the (?-i) switch: - - - - www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.* - will match only - documents whose path starts with PaTtErN in + www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.* will match only + documents whose path starts with PaTtErN in exactly this capitalization. + @@ -1837,12 +2622,12 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 - + {+name} # enable this action {-name} # disable this action - + @@ -1850,16 +2635,16 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 - Parameterized (e.g. +/-hide-user-agent): + parameterized (e.g. +/-hide-user-agent): - + {+name{param}} # enable action and set parameter to param {-name} # disable action - + @@ -1870,13 +2655,13 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 - + {+name{param}} # enable action and add parameter param {-name{param}} # remove the parameter param {-name} # disable this action totally - + @@ -1886,20 +2671,22 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 If nothing is specified in this file, no actions are taken. - So in this case JunkBuster would just be a + So in this case Privoxy would just be a normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the privacy and blocking features you need (although the - provided default actionsfile file will + provided default default.action file will give a good starting point). - Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. For multi-valued - actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified. + Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions + to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file. For + multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are + specified. - The list of valid Junkbuster actions are: + The list of valid Privoxy actions are: @@ -1912,11 +2699,11 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 - + +add-header{Name: value} - + @@ -1924,15 +2711,19 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 - Block this URL totally. + Block this URL totally. In a default installation, a blocked + URL will result in bright red banner that says BLOCKED, + with a reason why it is being blocked, and an option to see it anyway. + The page displayed for this is the blocked template + file. - + +block - + @@ -1944,33 +2735,52 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If the option first is given, the first frame of the animation is used as the replacement. If last is given, the last frame - of the animation is used instead, which propably makes more sense for most + 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). - + +deanimate-gifs{last} +deanimate-gifs{first} - + - + + + + +downgrade will downgrade HTTP/1.1 client requests to + HTTP/1.0 and downgrade the responses as well. Use this action for servers + that use HTTP/1.1 protocol features that + Privoxy doesn't handle well yet. HTTP/1.1 + is only partially implemented. Default is not to downgrade requests. + + + + + + +downgrade + + + + + + Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they will link to some script on their own server, giving the destination as a parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs resulting from this scheme typically look like: - http://some.place/some_script?http://some.where-else. + http://some.place/some_script?http://some.where-else. Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the - URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browing more traceable, + 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 @@ -1978,34 +2788,118 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 The +fast-redirects option enables interception of these - requests by Junkbuster, who will cut off all but - the last valid URL in the request and send a local redirect back to your - browser without contacting the remote site. + types of requests by Privoxy, who will cut off + all but the last valid URL in the request and send a local redirect back to + your browser without contacting the intermediate site(s). - + +fast-redirects - + - Filter the website through the re_filterfile: - + Apply the filters in the section_header + section of the default.filter file to the site(s). + default.filter sections are grouped according to like + functionality. Filters can be used to + re-write any of the raw page content. This is a potentially a + very powerful feature! + + - + - +filter{filename} + +filter{section_header} - + + + + Filter sections that are pre-defined in the supplied + default.filter include: + + +
+ + + html-annoyances: Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse. + + + + + js-annoyances: Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse + + + + + content-cookies: Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content + + + + + popups: Kill all popups in JS and HTML + + + + + frameset-borders: Give frames a border and make them resizable + + + + + webbugs: Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking) + + + + + refresh-tags: Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups) + + + + + fun: Text replacements for subversive browsing fun! + + + + + nimda: Remove Nimda (virus) code. + + + + + banners-by-size: Kill banners by size (very efficient!) + + + + + shockwave-flash: Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects + + + + + crude-parental: Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez" + + +
+ + + + Note: 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. + + @@ -2014,11 +2908,11 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 - + +hide-forwarded - + @@ -2031,12 +2925,12 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 - + +hide-from{block} +hide-from{spam@sittingduck.xqq} - + @@ -2046,17 +2940,17 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 Don't send the Referer: (sic) header to the web site. You can block it, forge a URL to the same server as the request (which is preferred because some sites will not send images otherwise) or set it to a - constant string of your choice. + constant, user defined string of your choice. - + +hide-referer{block} +hide-referer{forge} +hide-referer{http://nowhere.com} - + @@ -2070,11 +2964,11 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 - + +hide-referrer{...} - + @@ -2088,24 +2982,24 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 - + +hide-user-agent{Mozilla (X11; I; Linux 2.0.32 i586)} - + @@ -2126,41 +3020,132 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 Treat this URL as an image. This only matters if it's also +blocked, - in which case a blocked image can be sent rather than a HTML page. - See +image-blocker{} below for the control over what is actually sent. + in which case a blocked image can be sent rather than a HTML page. + See +image-blocker{} below for the control over what is actually sent. + If you want invisible ads, they should be defined as + images and blocked. And also, + image-blocker should be set to blank. Note you + cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, frames + require an HTML page to display. So a frame that is an ad, cannot be + treated as an image. Forcing an image in this + situation just will not work. - + +image - + - - Decides what to do with URLs that end up tagged with {+block - +image}. There are 4 options. -image-blocker will - send a HTML blocked page, usually resulting in a - broken image icon. +image-blocker{logo} will - send a JunkBuster image. - +image-blocker{blank} will send a 1x1 transparent GIF image. - And finally, +image-blocker{http://xyz.com} will send a HTTP - temporary redirect to the specified image. This has the advantage of the - icon being being cached by the browser, which will speed up the display. + Decides what to do with URLs that end up tagged with {+block + +image}, e.g an advertisement. There are four options. + -image-blocker will send a HTML blocked page, + usually resulting in a broken image icon. + + + ++image-blocker{blank} will send a 1x1 transparent GIF +image. And finally, +image-blocker{http://xyz.com} will send a +HTTP temporary redirect to the specified image. This has the advantage of the +icon being being cached by the browser, which will speed up the display. ++image-blocker{pattern} will send a checkerboard type pattern: + + + - + - +image-blocker{logo} + +image-blocker{blank} - +image-blocker{http://i.j.b/send-banner} + +image-blocker{pattern} + +image-blocker{http://p.p/send-banner} + + + + + + + + + By default (i.e. in the absence of a +limit-connect + action), Privoxy will only allow CONNECT + requests to port 443, which is the standard port for https as a + precaution. + + + + The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites + (https:// URLs) through proxies. It works very simply: the proxy + connects to the server on the specified port, and then short-circuits + its connections to the client and to the remote proxy. + This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can + be abused as TCP relays very easily. + + + + If you want to allow CONNECT for more ports than this, or want to forbid + CONNECT altogether, you can specify a comma separated list of ports and + port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum defaulting to 0 and + max to 65K): + + + + + + + +limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need no be specified. + +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK. + +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Port less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 + #and above 500 are OK. + + + + + + + + + + +no-compression prevents the website from compressing the + data. Some websites do this, which can be a problem for + Privoxy, since +filter, + +no-popup and +gif-deanimate will not work on + compressed data. This will slow down connections to those websites, + though. Default is no-compression is turned on. + + + + + + + +nocompression - + + + + + + + + If the website sets cookies, no-cookies-keep will make sure + they are erased when you exit and restart your web browser. This makes + profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so + that you can log in for transactions. Default: on. + + + + + + +no-cookies-keep + + @@ -2171,11 +3156,11 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 - + +no-cookies-read - + @@ -2186,11 +3171,11 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 - + +no-cookies-set - + @@ -2203,12 +3188,12 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 - + +no-popup +no-popups - + @@ -2223,11 +3208,11 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 - + +vanilla-wafer - + @@ -2239,11 +3224,11 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 - + +wafer{name=value} - + @@ -2266,15 +3251,18 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 - + - # Turn off all cookies + # Turn off all persistent cookies { +no-cookies-read } { +no-cookies-set } + # Allow cookies for this browser session ONLY + { +no-cookies-keep } - # Execeptions to the above, sites that need cookies + # Exceptions to the above, sites that benefit from persistent cookies { -no-cookies-read } { -no-cookies-set } + { -no-cookies-keep } .javasoft.com .sun.com .yahoo.com @@ -2282,620 +3270,1134 @@ Removed references to Win32. HB 09/23/01 .redhat.com # Alternative way of saying the same thing - {-no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read} + {-no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-keep} .sourceforge.net .sf.net - + + + + + + Now turn off fast redirects, and then we allow two exceptions: + + + + + + + # Turn them off! + {+fast-redirects} + + # Reverse it for these two sites, which don't work right without it. + {-fast-redirects} + www.ukc.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wac\.cgi\? + login.yahoo.com + + + + + + + Turn on page filtering according to rules in the defined sections + of default.filter, and make one exception for + Sourceforge: + + + + + + + # Run everything through the filter file, using only the + # specified sections: + +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups}\ + +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} + + # Then disable filtering of code from sourceforge! + {-filter} + .cvs.sourceforge.net + + + + + + + Now some URLs that we want blocked (normally generates + the blocked banner). Many of these use regular expressions + that will expand to match multiple URLs: + + + + + + + # Blocklist: + {+block} + /.*/(.*[-_.])?ads?[0-9]?(/|[-_.].*|\.(gif|jpe?g)) + /.*/(.*[-_.])?count(er)?(\.cgi|\.dll|\.exe|[?/]) + /.*/(ng)?adclient\.cgi + /.*/(plain|live|rotate)[-_.]?ads?/ + /.*/(sponsor)s?[0-9]?/ + /.*/_?(plain|live)?ads?(-banners)?/ + /.*/abanners/ + /.*/ad(sdna_image|gifs?)/ + /.*/ad(server|stream|juggler)\.(cgi|pl|dll|exe) + /.*/adbanners/ + /.*/adserver + /.*/adstream\.cgi + /.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/ + /.*/banner_?ads/ + /.*/banners?/ + /.*/banners?\.cgi/ + /.*/cgi-bin/centralad/getimage + /.*/images/addver\.gif + /.*/images/marketing/.*\.(gif|jpe?g) + /.*/popupads/ + /.*/siteads/ + /.*/sponsor.*\.gif + /.*/sponsors?[0-9]?/ + /.*/advert[0-9]+\.jpg + /Media/Images/Adds/ + /ad_images/ + /adimages/ + /.*/ads/ + /bannerfarm/ + /grafikk/annonse/ + /graphics/defaultAd/ + /image\.ng/AdType + /image\.ng/transactionID + /images/.*/.*_anim\.gif # alvin brattli + /ip_img/.*\.(gif|jpe?g) + /rotateads/ + /rotations/ + /worldnet/ad\.cgi + /cgi-bin/nph-adclick.exe/ + /.*/Image/BannerAdvertising/ + /.*/ad-bin/ + /.*/adlib/server\.cgi + /autoads/ + + + + + + + Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to + misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways + a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header + content he may depend on. There is no way to have hard and fast rules + for all sites. See the Appendix + for a brief example on troubleshooting actions. + + + + + + + + + +Aliases + + Custom actions, known to Privoxy + as aliases, can be defined by combining other actions. + These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions. + Currently, an alias can contain any character except space, tab, =, + { or }. But please use only a- + z, 0-9, +, and + -. Alias names are not case sensitive, and + must be defined before anything else in the + default.actionfile! And there can only be one set of + aliases defined. + + + + Now let's define a few aliases: + + + + + + + # Useful custom aliases we can use later. These must come first! + {{alias}} + +no-cookies = +no-cookies-set +no-cookies-read + -no-cookies = -no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read + fragile = -block -no-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -no-popups + shop = -no-cookies -filter -fast-redirects + +imageblock = +block +image + + #For people who don't like to type too much: ;-) + c0 = +no-cookies + c1 = -no-cookies + c2 = -no-cookies-set +no-cookies-read + c3 = +no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read + #... etc. Customize to your heart's content. + + + + + + + Some examples using our shop and fragile + aliases from above: + + + + + + + # These sites are very complex and require + # minimal interference. + {fragile} + .office.microsoft.com + .windowsupdate.microsoft.com + .nytimes.com + + # Shopping sites - still want to block ads. + {shop} + .quietpc.com + .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com + .jungle.com + .scan.co.uk + + # These shops require pop-ups + {shop -no-popups} + .dabs.com + .overclockers.co.uk + + - Now turn off fast redirects, and then we allow two exceptions: + The shop and fragile aliases are often used for + problem sites that require most actions to be disabled + in order to function properly. + + + + + + + + + + + +The Filter File + + Any web page can be dynamically modified with the filter file. This + modification can be removal, or re-writing, of any web page content, + including tags and non-visible content. The default filter file is + default.filter, located in the config directory. + + + + This is potentially a very powerful feature, and requires knowledge of both + regular expression and HTML in order create custom + filters. But, there are a number of useful filters included with + Privoxy for many common situations. + + + + The included example file is divided into sections. Each section begins + with the FILTER keyword, followed by the identifier + for that section, e.g. FILTER: webbugs. Each section performs + a similar type of filtering, such as html-annoyances. + + + + This file uses regular expressions to alter or remove any string in the + target page. The expressions can only operate on one line at a time. Some + examples from the included default default.filter: + + + + Stop web pages from displaying annoying messages in the status bar by + deleting such references: - + - # Turn them off! - {+fast-redirects} - - # Reverse it for these two sites, which don't work right without it. - {-fast-redirects} - www.ukc.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wac\.cgi\? - login.yahoo.com + FILTER: html-annoyances + + # New browser windows should be resizeable and have a location and status + # bar. Make it so. + # + s/resizable="?(no|0)"?/resizable=1/ig s/noresize/yesresize/ig + s/location="?(no|0)"?/location=1/ig s/status="?(no|0)"?/status=1/ig + s/scrolling="?(no|0|Auto)"?/scrolling=1/ig + s/menubar="?(no|0)"?/menubar=1/ig + + # The <BLINK> tag was a crime! + # + s*<blink>|</blink>**ig + + # Is this evil? + # + #s/framespacing="?(no|0)"?//ig + #s/margin(height|width)=[0-9]*//gi - + - Turn on page filtering, with one exception for sourceforge: + Just for kicks, replace any occurrence of Microsoft with + MicroSuck, and have a little fun with topical buzzwords: - + - # Run everything through the default filter file (re_filterfile): - {+filter} - - # But please don't re_filter code from sourceforge! - {-filter} - .cvs.sourceforge.net + FILTER: fun + + s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/ig + + # Buzzword Bingo: + # + s/industry-leading|cutting-edge|award-winning/<font color=red><b>BINGO!</b></font>/ig - + - Now some URLs that we want blocked, ie we won't see them. - Many of these use regular expressions that will expand to match multiple - URLs: + Kill those pesky little web-bugs: - + - # Blocklist: - {+block} - /.*/(.*[-_.])?ads?[0-9]?(/|[-_.].*|\.(gif|jpe?g)) - /.*/(.*[-_.])?count(er)?(\.cgi|\.dll|\.exe|[?/]) - /.*/(ng)?adclient\.cgi - /.*/(plain|live|rotate)[-_.]?ads?/ - /.*/(sponsor)s?[0-9]?/ - /.*/_?(plain|live)?ads?(-banners)?/ - /.*/abanners/ - /.*/ad(sdna_image|gifs?)/ - /.*/ad(server|stream|juggler)\.(cgi|pl|dll|exe) - /.*/adbanners/ - /.*/adserver - /.*/adstream\.cgi - /.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/ - /.*/banner_?ads/ - /.*/banners?/ - /.*/banners?\.cgi/ - /.*/cgi-bin/centralad/getimage - /.*/images/addver\.gif - /.*/images/marketing/.*\.(gif|jpe?g) - /.*/popupads/ - /.*/siteads/ - /.*/sponsor.*\.gif - /.*/sponsors?[0-9]?/ - /.*/advert[0-9]+\.jpg - /Media/Images/Adds/ - /ad_images/ - /adimages/ - /.*/ads/ - /bannerfarm/ - /grafikk/annonse/ - /graphics/defaultAd/ - /image\.ng/AdType - /image\.ng/transactionID - /images/.*/.*_anim\.gif # alvin brattli - /ip_img/.*\.(gif|jpe?g) - /rotateads/ - /rotations/ - /worldnet/ad\.cgi - /cgi-bin/nph-adclick.exe/ - /.*/Image/BannerAdvertising/ - /.*/ad-bin/ - /.*/adlib/server\.cgi - /autoads/ + # webbugs: Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking) + FILTER: webbugs + + s/<img\s+[^>]*?(width|height)\s*=\s*['"]?1\D[^>]*?(width|height)\s*=\s*['"]?1(\D[^>]*?)?>/<!-- Squished WebBug -->/sig - + - + + - -Aliases + + +Templates - Custom actions, known to Junkbuster - as aliases, can be defined by combing other actions. - These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions. - Currently, an alias can contain any character except space, tab, =, - { or }. But please use only a- - z, 0-9, +, and - -. Alias names are not case sensitive, and must be defined - before they are used. + When Privoxy displays one of its internal + pages, such as a 404 Not Found error page, it uses the appropriate template. + On Linux, BSD, and Unix, these are located in + /etc/privoxy/templates by default. These may be + customized, if desired. cgi-style.css is + used to control the HTML attributes (fonts, etc). + + + The default Blocked banner page with the bright red top + banner, is called just blocked. This + may be customized or replaced with something else if desired. + + + + + + + + + + + + +Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature +Requests + + + &contacting; + + + + + +Submitting Ads and <quote>Action</quote> Problems + + Ads and banners that are not stopped by Privoxy + can be submitted to the developers by accessing a special page and filling + out the brief, required form. Conversely, you can also report pages, images, + etc. that Privoxy is blocking, but should not. + The form itself does require Internet access. + + + To do this, point your browser to Privoxy + at http://config.privoxy.org/ + (shortcut: http://p.p/), and then select + Actions file feedback system, + near the bottom of the page. Paste in the URL that is the cause of the + unwanted behavior, and follow the prompts. The developers will + try to incorporate a fix for the problem you reported into future versions. + + + + New default.actions files will occasionally be made + available based on your feedback. These + will be announced on the + ijbswa-announce + list. + + + + + + + +Copyright and History + +Copyright + + ©right; + + + + + + + + +History + + &history; + + + + + +See Also + + &seealso; + + + + + + +Appendix + + + + +Regular Expressions + + Privoxy can use regular expressions + in various config files. Assuming support for pcre (Perl + Compatible Regular Expressions) is compiled in, which is the default. Such + configuration directives do not require regular expressions, but they can be + used to increase flexibility by matching a pattern with wild-cards against + URLs. + + + + If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what regular + expressions are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief + introduction only. A full explanation would require a book ;-) + + + + Regular expressions is a way of matching one character + expression against another to see if it matches or not. One of the + expressions is a literal string of readable characters + (letter, numbers, etc), and the other is a complex string of literal + characters combined with wild-cards, and other special characters, called + meta-characters. The meta-characters have special meanings and + are used to build the complex pattern to be matched against. Perl Compatible + Regular Expressions is an enhanced form of the regular expression language + with backward compatibility. + + + + To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card + characters when listing files with the dir command in DOS. + *.* matches all filenames. The special + character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be + more specific and use ? to match just individual + characters. So dir file?.text would match + file1.txt, file2.txt, etc. We are pattern + matching, using a similar technique to regular expressions! + + + + Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more + powerful. There are many more special characters and ways of + building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones, + and then some examples: + + + + + . - Matches any single character, e.g. a, + A, 4, :, or @. + + + + + + ? - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE + times. Either/or. + + + + + + + - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE + times. + + + + + + * - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE + times. + + + + + + \ - The escape character denotes that + the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the + special characters (e.g. .) needs to be taken literally and + not as a special meta-character. + + + + + + [] - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if + any of the enclosed characters are encountered. + + + + + + () - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression, + or multiple sub-expressions. + + + + + + | - The bar character works like an + or conditional statement. A match is successful if the + sub-expression on either side of | matches. + + + + + + s/string1/string2/g - This is used to rewrite strings of text. + string1 is replaced by string2 in this + example. + + + + + These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with + Privoxy, and is a long way from a definitive + list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may + be more illuminating: + + + + /.*/banners/.* - A simple example + that uses the common combination of . and * to + denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all. + So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern + (.*) another literal forward slash, the string + banners, another forward slash, and lastly another + .*. We are building + a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a + directory named banners in it. The .* matches + any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it + might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match: + /eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif, or just + /banners/annoying.html, or almost an infinite number of other + possible combinations, just so it has banners in the path + somewhere. + + + + A now something a little more complex: + + + + /.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/ - + We have several literal forward slashes again (/), so we are + building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another + .*, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so + it matches our expression. The only true literal that must + match our pattern is adv, together with + the forward slashes. What comes after the adv string is the + interesting part. - Now let's define a few aliases: + Remember the ? means the preceding expression (either a + literal character or anything grouped with (...) in this case) + can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So + ((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?)) is optional, as are the + individual sub-expressions: (er), + (ing|ements?), and the s. The | + means or. We have two of those. For instance, + (ing|ements?), can expand to match either ing + OR ements?. What is being done here, is an + attempt at matching as many variations of advertisement, and + similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just adv, + or advert, or adverts, or + advertising, or advertisement, or + advertisements. You get the idea. But it would not match + advertizements (with a z). We could fix that by + changing our regular expression to: + /.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/, which would then match + either spelling. - - - - # Aliases - {{alias}} - - # Useful aliases - +no-cookies = +no-cookies-set +no-cookies-read - -no-cookies = -no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read - fragile = -block -no-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -no-popups - shop = -no-cookies -filter -fast-redirects - +imageblock = +block +image - - #For people who don't like to type too much: ;-) - c0 = +no-cookies - c1 = -no-cookies - c2 = -no-cookies-set +no-cookies-read - c3 = +no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read - #... etc. Customize to your heart's content. - - - + /.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g) - Again + another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets + [] can be matched. This is using 0-9 as a + shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as + saying 0123456789. So any digit matches. The + + means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding + expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit + one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: (gif|jpe?g). + This includes a |, so this needs to match the expression on + either side of that bar character also. A simple gif on one side, and the other + side will in turn match either jpeg or jpg, + since the ? means the letter e is optional and + can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to + match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal + string advert, then one or more digits, and a . + (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped + with \), and lastly either gif, or + jpeg, or jpg. Some possible matches would + include: //advert1.jpg, + /nasty/ads/advert1234.gif, + /banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg. It would not match + advert1.gif (no leading slash), or + /adverts232.jpg (the expression does not include an + s), or /advert1.jsp (jsp is not + in the expression anywhere). - Some examples using our shop and fragile - aliases from above: + s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/i - This is + a substitution. MicroSuck will replace any occurrence of + microsoft. The i at the end of the expression + means ignore case. The (?!.com) means + the match should fail if microsoft is followed by + .com. In other words, this acts like a NOT + modifier. In case this is a hyperlink, we don't want to break it ;-). - - - - # These sites are very complex and require - # minimal interference. - {fragile} - .office.microsoft.com - .windowsupdate.microsoft.com - - # Shopping sites - still want to block ads. - {shop} - .quietpc.com - .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com - .jungle.com - .scan.co.uk + We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you + can understand the default Privoxy + configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own + installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular + expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on + your own :/ + - # These shops require pop-ups - {shop -no-popups} - .dabs.com - .overclockers.co.uk - - - + + More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions: + http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html - - -The Filter File + +<application>Privoxy</application>'s Internal Pages + - The filter file defines what filtering of web pages - Junkbuster does. The default filter file is - re_filterfile, located in the config directory. In this - file, any document content, whether viewable text or - embedded non-visible content, can be changed. + Since Privoxy proxies each requested + web page, it is easy for Privoxy to + trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to + Privoxy, and see how it is + configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these + rules and other configuration options, and even turn + Privoxy's filtering off, all with + a web browser. + - This file uses regular expressions to alter or remove any string in the - target page. Some examples from the included default re_filterfile: + The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access + to Privoxy. Of course, + Privoxy must be running to access these. If + not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not + necessary either. - Stop web pages from displaying annoying messages in the status bar by - deleting such references: + + + + + Privoxy main page: + +
+ + http://config.privoxy.org/ + +
+ + Alternately, this may be reached at http://p.p/, but this + variation may not work as reliably as the above in some configurations. + + + + + + Show information about the current configuration: + +
+ + http://config.privoxy.org/show-status + +
+ + + + + Show the source code version numbers: + +
+ + http://config.privoxy.org/show-version + +
+ + + + + Show the client's request headers: + +
+ + http://config.privoxy.org/show-request + +
+ + + + + Show which actions apply to a URL and why: + +
+ + http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info + +
+ + + + + Toggle Privoxy on or off. In this case, Privoxy continues + to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking place: + +
+ + http://config.privoxy.org/toggle + +
+ + Short cuts. Turn off, then on: + +
+ + http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable + +
+
+ + http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable + +
+ + + + + Edit the actions list file: + +
+ + http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions + +
+ + + - - - - # The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless buzzwords. - # Again, check it out on http://www.airport-cgn.de/. - s/status='.*?';*//ig - - - + These may be bookmarked for quick reference. + + +Bookmarklets - Just for kicks, replace any occurrence of Microsoft with - MicroSuck: + Below are some bookmarklets to allow you to easily access a + mini version of some of Privoxy's + special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work + equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support + JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by + clicking the links below (although that should work for testing). - - - - - s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/ig - - - + To save them, right-click the link and choose Add to Favorites + (IE) or Add Bookmark (Netscape). You will get a warning that + the bookmark may not be safe - just click OK. Then you can run the + Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access, + you can put them on the Links bar (IE) or the Personal + Toolbar (Netscape), and run them with a single click. - Kill those auto-refresh tags: + + + + + Enable Privoxy + + + + + + Disable Privoxy + + + + + + Toggle Privoxy (Toggles between enabled and disabled) + + + + + + View Privoxy Status + + + + + + Actions file feedback system + + + + + + - - - - # Kill refresh tags. I like to refresh myself. Manually. - # check it out on http://www.airport-cgn.de/ and go to the arrivals page. - # - s/<meta[^>]*http-equiv[^>]*refresh.*URL=([^>]*?)"?>/<link rev="x-refresh" href=$1>/i - s/<meta[^>]*http-equiv="?page-enter"?[^>]*content=[^>]*>/<!--no page enter for me-->/i - - - + Credit: The site which gave me the general idea for these bookmarklets is + www.bookmarklets.com. They + have more information about bookmarklets. + + + - -Quickstart to Using Junkbuster - - Install package, then run and enjoy! Be sure your browser is set to use - the proxy which is by default at localhost, port 8000. With - Netscape (and Mozilla), - this can be set under Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> - Proxies -> HTTP Proxy. For Internet - Explorer: Internet Properties -> Connections -> - LAN Setting. Then, check Use Proxy and fill in the - appropriate info (Address: localhost, Port: 8000). - + +Anatomy of an Action + + + The way Privoxy applies actions + and filters to any given URL can be complex, and not always so + easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to + see just what Privoxy is + doing. Especially, if something Privoxy is doing + is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at + the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with + regular expressions whose consequences are not always + so obvious. Privoxy provides the + http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info + page that can show us very specifically how actions + are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting. + - The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting - point, though may be somewhat aggressive in blocking junk. You will probably - want to keep an eye out for sites that require cookies, and add these to - actionsfile as needed. By default, most of these will - be blocked until you add them to the configuration. If you want the browser - to handle this, you will need to edit actionsfile and - disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make more - sense to let Junkbuster handle this. In which - case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies. + First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then + Privoxy will tell us + how the current configuration will handle it. This will not + help with filtering effects from the default.filter file! It + also will not tell you about any other URLs that may be embedded within the + URL you are testing (i.e. a web page). For instance, images such as ads are expressed as URLs + within the raw page source of HTML pages. So you will only get info for the + actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area -- not any sub-URLs. If you + want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you will have to dig those out of + the HTML source. Use your browser's View Page Source option + for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the URL. - If you encounter problems, please verify it is a - Junkbuster bug, by disabling - Junkbuster, and then trying the same page. - Before reporting it as a bug, see if there is not a configuration - option that is enabled that is causing the page not to load. You can - then add an exception for that page or site. If a bug, please report it to - the developers (see below). + Let's look at an example, google.com, + one section at a time: - - - - -Contact the Developers - - Feature requests and other questions should be posted to the Feature - request page at SourceForge. There is also an archive there. + + System default actions: + + { -add-header -block -deanimate-gifs -downgrade -fast-redirects -filter + -hide-forwarded -hide-from -hide-referer -hide-user-agent -image + -image-blocker -limit-connect -no-compression -no-cookies-keep + -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set -no-popups -vanilla-wafer -wafer } + + - Anyone interested in actively participating in development and related - discussions can join the appropriate mailing list - here. - Archives are available here too. + This is the top section, and only tells us of the compiled in defaults. This + is basically what Privoxy would do if there + were not any actions defined, i.e. it does nothing. Every action + is disabled. This is not particularly informative for our purposes here. OK, + next section: - Please report bugs, using the form at - Sourceforge. - Please try to verify that it is a Junkbuster bug, - and not a browser or site bug first. Also, check to make sure this is not - already a known bug. - + - + Matches for http://google.com: + { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade +fast-redirects + +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups} + +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal} + +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded +hide-from{block} +hide-referer{forge} + -hide-user-agent -image +image-blocker{blank} +no-compression + +no-cookies-keep -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set +no-popups + -vanilla-wafer -wafer } + / - -Copyright and History + { -no-cookies-keep -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set } + .google.com - -License - - Internet Junkbuster is free software; you can - redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public - License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the - License, or (at your option) any later version. + { -fast-redirects } + .google.com + + - This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT - ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS - FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more - details, which is available from the Free Software Foundation, - Inc, 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. + This is much more informative, and tells us how we have defined our + actions, and which ones match for our example, + google.com. The first grouping shows our default + settings, which would apply to all URLs. If you look at your actions + file, this would be the section just below the aliases section + near the top. This applies to all URLs as signified by the single forward + slash -- /. + - + + These are the default actions we have enabled. But we can define additional + actions that would be exceptions to these general rules, and then list + specific URLs that these exceptions would apply to. Last match wins. + Just below this then are two explicit matches for .google.com. + The first is negating our various cookie blocking actions (i.e. we will allow + cookies here). The second is allowing fast-redirects. Note + that there is a leading dot here -- .google.com. This will + match any hosts and sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as + www.google.com. So, apparently, we have these actions defined + somewhere in the lower part of our actions file, and + google.com is referenced in these sections. - + + + And now we pull it altogether in the bottom section and summarize how + Privoxy is applying all its actions + to google.com: - + - -History - Junkbuster was originally written by Anonymous - Coders and JunkBusters - Corporation, and was released as free open-source software under the - GNU GPL. Stefan - Waldherr made many improvements, and started the SourceForge project to - rekindle development. The last stable release was v2.0.2, which has now - grown whiskers ;-). - + - + Final results: - + -add-header -block -deanimate-gifs -downgrade -fast-redirects + +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups} + +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal} + +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded +hide-from{block} +hide-referer{forge} + -hide-user-agent -image +image-blocker{blank} -limit-connect +no-compression + -no-cookies-keep -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set +no-popups -vanilla-wafer + -wafer - -See also -To be filled. What should go here :/ + + + + + Now another example, ad.doubleclick.net: - + + + { +block +image } + .ad.doubleclick.net - -Appendix + { +block +image } + ad*. + { +block +image } + .doubleclick.net - - -Regular Expressions - - Junkbuster can use regular expressions - in various config files. Assuming support for pcre (Perl - Compatible Regular Expressions) is compiled in, which is the default. Such - configuration directives do not require regular expressions, but they can be - used to increase flexibility by matching a pattern with wildcards against - URLs. + - If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what regular - expressions are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief - introduction only. A full explanation would require a book ;-) + We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is + matched three different times. Each as an +block +image, + which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as: + +imageblock. (Aliases are defined in the + first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more + than one action.) - Regular expressions is a way of matching one character - expression against another to see if it matches or not. One of the - expressions is a literal string of readable characters - (letter, numbers, etc), and the other is a complex string of literal - characters combined with wildcards, and other special characters, called - metacharacters. The metacharacters have special meanings and - are used to build the complex pattern to be matched against. Perl Compatible - Regular Expressions is an enhanced form of the regular expression language - with backward compatibility. + Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted + image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively + would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys + though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious + URL to be invisible, it should be defined as ad.doubleclick.net + is done here -- as both a +block and an + +image. The custom alias +imageblock does this + for us. - To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wildcard - characters when listing files with the dir command in DOS. - *.* matches all filenames. The special - character here is the asterik which matches any and all characters. We can be - more specific and use ? to match just individual - characters. So dir file?.text would match - file1.txt, file2.txt, etc. We are pattern - matching, using a similar technique to regular expressions! + One last example. Let's try http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/. + This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm... - Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more - powerful. There are many more special characters and ways of - building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones, - and then some examples: - - - - - . - Matches any single character, e.g. a, - A, 4, :, or @. - - - - - - ? - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE - times. Either/or. - - - - - - + - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE - times. - - - - - - * - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE - times. - - + - - - \ - The escape character denotes that - the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the - special characters (e.g. .) needs to be taken literally and - not as a special metacharacter. - - + Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/: - - - [] - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if - any of the enclosed characters are encountered. - - + { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade +fast-redirects + +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups} + +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal} + +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded +hide-from{block} +hide-referer{forge} + -hide-user-agent -image +image-blocker{blank} +no-compression + +no-cookies-keep -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set +no-popups + -vanilla-wafer -wafer } + / - - - () - Pararentheses are used to group a sub-expression, - or multiple sub-expressions. - - + { +block +image } + /ads - - - | - The bar character works like an - or conditional statement. A match is successful if the - sub-expression on either side of | matches. - - + + - - - s/string1/string2/g - This is used to rewrite strings of text. - string1 is replaced by string2 in this - example. - - + + Ooops, the /adsl/ is matching /ads! But + we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the blank page. We could + now add a new action below this that explicitly does not + block (-block) pages with adsl. There are various ways to + handle such exceptions. Example: + - These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with - Junkbuster, and is a long way from a definitive - list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may - be more illuminating: + + + { -block } + /adsl + + - /.*/banners/.* - A simple example - that uses the common combination of . and * to - denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all. - So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern - (.*) another literal forward slash, the string - banners, another forward slash, and lastly another - .*. We are building - a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a - directory named banners in it. The .* matches - any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it - might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match: - /eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif, or just - /banners/annoying.html, or almost an infinite number of other - possible combinations, just so it has banners in the path - somewhere. + Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when + making such changes. Or, try using Shift+Reload. - A now something a little more complex: + But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like + we did with: - /.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/ - - We have several literal forward slashes again (/), so we are - building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another - .*, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so - it matches our expression. The only true literal that must - match our pattern is adv, together with - the forward slashes. What comes after the adv string is the - interesting part. + + + { -block } + /adsl + + - Remember the ? means the preceding expression (either a - literal character or anything grouped with (...) in this case) - can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So - ((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?)) is optional, as are the - individual sub-expressions: (er), - (ing|ements?), and the s. The | - means or. We have two of those. For instance, - (ing|ements?), can expand to match either ing - OR ements?. What is being done here, is an - attempt at matching as many variations of advertisement, and - similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just adv, - or advert, or adverts, or - advertising, or advertisement, or - advertisements. You get the idea. But it would not match - advertizements (with a z). We could fix that by - changing our regular expression to: - /.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/, which would then match - either spelling. + That actually was very telling and pointed us quickly to where the problem + was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default + rules in the first section is causing the problem. This would require some + guesswork, and maybe a little trial and error to isolate the offending rule. + One likely cause would be one of the {+filter} actions. Try + adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off +filter: - /.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g) - Again - another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets - [] can be matched. This is using 0-9 as a - shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as - saying 0123456789. So any digit matches. The + - means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding - expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit - one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: (gif|jpe?g). - This includes a |, so this needs to match the expression on - either side of that bar character also. A simple gif on one side, and the other - side will in turn match either jpeg or jpg, - since the ? means the letter e is optional and - can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to - match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal - string advert, then one or more digits, and a . - (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped - with \), and lastly either gif, or - jpeg, or jpg. Some possible matches would - include: //advert1.jpg, - /nasty/ads/advert1234.gif, - /banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg. It would not match - advert1.gif (no leading slash), or - /adverts232.jpg (the expression does not include an - s), or /advert1.jsp (jsp is not - in the expression anywhere). + + + {shop} + .quietpc.com + .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com + .jungle.com + .scan.co.uk + .forbes.com + + - s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/i - This is - a substitution. MicroSuck will replace any occurence of - microsoft. The i at the end of the expression - means ignore case. The (?!.com) means - the match should fail if microsoft is followed by - .com. In other words, this acts like a NOT - modifier. In case this is a hyperlink, we don't want to break it ;-). + {shop} is an alias that expands to + { -filter -no-cookies -no-cookies-keep }. Or you could do + your own exception to negate filtering: + - We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you - can understand the default Junkbuster - configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own - installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular - expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on - your own :/ + + + {-filter} + .forbes.com + + - More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions: - http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html + {fragile} is an alias that disables most actions. This can be + used as a last resort for problem sites. Remember to flush caches! If this + still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining actions one by + one to find which one(s) is causing the problem. @@ -2923,7 +4425,227 @@ communication (bugs, feature requests, etc.) Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $ - + Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes + Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers + + Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes + Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details + + Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9 + Spellcheck, and minor touchups. + + Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes + Proofreading part 2 + + Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes + Proofreading, part one + + Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9 + -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section. + -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files. + + Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt + Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual + + Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9 + Add small section on submitting actions. + + Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa + generated + + Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9 + Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section + + Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9 + Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :) + + Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa + ? + + Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9 + -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page. + -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml) + -Reworked various aspects of various docs. + -Added additional comments to sub-docs. + + Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa + consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al. + + Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa + more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier + + Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9 + Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content + based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And + definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will + eventually be set by Makefile. + More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs. + + Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa + enhance squid section due to user suggestion + + Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9 + A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review. + + Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9 + Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*. + + Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9 + - Fix privoxy.org/config links. + - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page. + - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework. + + Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9 + Minor update. + + Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9 + Added more to Anatomy section. + + Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9 + Touch up intro for new name. + + Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa + we have a new homepage! + + Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9 + A few minor catch ups with name change. + + Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa + configure needs to be generated. + + Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa + we are too lazy to make a block-built + privoxy logo. hence removed the option. + + Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa + name change related issue. + + Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa + name change. changed filenames. + + Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa + name change + + Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa + renamed every reference to the old name with foobar. + fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed + "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs + comments and remarks to history untouched. + + Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9 + Touch up. + + Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9 + New section in Appendix. + + Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9 + Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes. + + Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa + correct feedback channels + + Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9 + Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix. + + Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa + more distros + + Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9 + New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around. + + Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9 + Added imageblock{pattern}. + + Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa + looks better + + Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9 + Fix a few markup problems for jade. + + Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa + provide correct feedback channels + + Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9 + Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR. + + Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9 + Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade. + + Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9 + jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it. + + Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9 + Add new - - user option. + + Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9 + Added section on command line options. + + Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes + Changed default port to 8118 + + Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9 + Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc + + Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs + AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of + AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the + command line. + + Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt + Just tweaking + + Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9 + Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker. + + Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt + Update OS/2 build section + + Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster + Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1 + will work - no other changes are needed. + + Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9 + Added a very short section on Templates + + Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9 + Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes. + + Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9 + Touch ups for *.action files. + + Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9 + Fix typo. + + Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9 + Updates for recent changes. + + Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9 + Minor update for startup now daemon mode. + + Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9 + Correct 2 minor errors + + Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9 + *** empty log message *** + + Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9 + Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things. + + Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa + wrong url in documentation + + Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9 + Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section. + + Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9 + Very minor changes. + + Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9 + Ditto :/ + + Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9 + Ditto. + Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.