X-Git-Url: http://www.privoxy.org/gitweb/?p=privoxy.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fsource%2Fuser-manual.sgml;h=3f88ffb0961355e4b666b11631555ac015fac70a;hp=9f8e3245043f17f8f4cab70e08782b430864fcb1;hb=043a1d495ada3ded930834bd238dbdc90bac47ef;hpb=38cc6e90b4e805ca1b4e7e0f5bdd23a73e5162a4 diff --git a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml index 9f8e3245..3f88ffb0 100644 --- a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml +++ b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml @@ -9,16 +9,22 @@ - - - - + + + + + + + - + + + +Privoxy"> ]> - Copyright &my-copy; 2001, 2002 by - Privoxy Developers + Copyright &my-copy; 2001 - 2008 by + Privoxy Developers -$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes Exp $ +$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.57 2008/02/03 19:10:14 fabiankeil Exp $ @@ -92,9 +87,9 @@ Hal. ]]> - The user manual gives users information on how to install, configure and use - Privoxy. + The Privoxy User Manual gives users information on how to + install, configure and use Privoxy. @@ -102,9 +97,9 @@ Hal. - You can find the latest version of the user manual at Privoxy User Manual at http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/. - Please see the Contact section on how to + Please see the Contact section on how to contact the developers. @@ -122,10 +117,9 @@ Hal. Privoxy, v.&p-version;soon ;-)]]>. + configuration files. Development of a new version is currently nearing + completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over + earlier versions. ]]>. @@ -141,10 +135,12 @@ Hal. Features - In addition to Internet Junkbuster's traditional - features of ad and banner blocking and cookie management, - Privoxy provides new features: + In addition to the core + features of ad blocking and + cookie management, + Privoxy provides many supplemental + features, + that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom: &newfeatures; @@ -168,14 +164,11 @@ Hal. - Note: If you have a previous Junkbuster or - Privoxy installation on your system, you - will need to remove it. Some platforms do this for you as part - of their installation procedure. (See below for your platform). - In any case be sure to backup your old configuration - if it is valuable to you. See the - note to upgraders section - below. + Note: + On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if + found. (See below for your platform). In any case be sure to backup + your old configuration if it is valuable to you. See the note to upgraders section below. @@ -184,8 +177,10 @@ Hal. How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system: + + -Red Hat and SuSE RPMs +Red Hat and Fedora RPMs RPMs can be installed with rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm, @@ -197,13 +192,12 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system: Note that on Red Hat, Privoxy will not be automatically started on system boot. You will need to enable that using chkconfig, - ntsysv, or similar methods. Note that SuSE will -automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. + ntsysv, or similar methods. If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM: - rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm;. This + rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm. This will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version. @@ -211,14 +205,16 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. Also note that if you have a Junkbuster RPM installed on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict. Otherwise, RPM will try to remove Junkbuster - automatically, before installing Privoxy. + automatically if found, before installing Privoxy. -Debian +Debian and Ubuntu - FIXME. + DEBs can be installed with apt-get install privoxy, + and will use /etc/privoxy for the location of + configuration files. @@ -228,18 +224,50 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through the installation process. You will find the configuration files - in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in. We do not - use the registry of Windows. + in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in. + + + Version 3.0.5 beta introduced full Windows service + functionality. On Windows only, the Privoxy + program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall + Privoxy as a service. + + + + Arguments: + + + --install[:service_name] + + + --uninstall[:service_name] + + + + + + After invoking Privoxy with + --install, you will need to bring up the + Windows service console to assign the user you + want Privoxy to run under, and whether or not you + want it to run whenever the system starts. You can start the + Windows services console with the following + command: services.msc. If you do not take the manual step + of modifying Privoxy's service settings, it will + not start. Note too that you will need to give Privoxy a user account that + actually exists, or it will not be permitted to + write to its log and configuration files. + -Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX +Solaris <!--, NetBSD, HP-UX--> 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. + things go. @@ -250,7 +278,10 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. First, make sure that no previous installations of Junkbuster and / or Privoxy are left on your - system. You can do this by + system. Check that no Junkbuster + or Privoxy objects are in + your startup folder. + @@ -267,17 +298,32 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. -Max OSX - - Unzip the downloaded package (you can either double-click on the file - in the finder, or on the desktop if you downloaded it there). Then, - double-click on the package installer icon and follow the installation - process. - Privoxy will be installed in the subdirectory - /Applications/Privoxy.app. - Privoxy will set itself up to start - automatically on system bring-up via - /System/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy. +Mac OS X + + Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the file + from the finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there). + Then, double-click on the package installer icon named + Privoxy.pkg + and follow the installation process. + Privoxy will be installed in the folder + /Library/Privoxy. + It will start automatically whenever you start up. To prevent it from + starting automatically, remove or rename the folder + /Library/StartupItems/Privoxy. + + + To start Privoxy by hand, double-click on + StartPrivoxy.command in the + /Library/Privoxy folder. + Or, type this command in the Terminal: + + + + /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command + + + + You will be prompted for the administrator password. @@ -289,16 +335,48 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just remove this directory. + + + +FreeBSD + - Start Privoxy (with RUN <>NIL:) in your - startnet script (AmiTCP), in - s:user-startup (RoadShow), as startup program in your - startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx). - Privoxy will automatically quit when you quit your - TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that - Privoxy is still running). + Privoxy is part of FreeBSD's Ports Collection, you can build and install + it with cd /usr/ports/www/privoxy; make install clean. + + + If you don't use the ports, you can fetch and install + the package with pkg_add -r privoxy. + + + The port skeleton and the package can also be downloaded from the + File Release + Page, but there's no reason to use them unless you're interested in the + beta releases which are only available there. + + + + +Gentoo + + Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for Privoxy are + contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page, + but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new + Privoxy Version is added to the Portage Tree). + + + Before installing Privoxy under Gentoo just do + first emerge rsync to get the latest changes from the + Portage tree. With emerge privoxy you install the latest + version. + + + Configuration files are in /etc/privoxy, the + documentation is in /usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version; + and the Log directory is in /var/log/privoxy. + @@ -306,7 +384,8 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. The most convenient way to obtain the Privoxy sources - is to download the source tarball from our project + is to download the source tarball from our + project download page. @@ -314,9 +393,13 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. 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 + CVS repository. + @@ -324,45 +407,202 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. + +Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date + + As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions + of both the main actions file (as a separate + package) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for + download. + + + + If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of + Privoxy or the actions file, subscribe + to our announce mailing list, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net. + + + + In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating + to the latest default.action file we strongly + recommend that you use user.action and + user.filter for your local + customizations of Privoxy. See the Chapter on actions files for details. + + + + - -Note to Upgraders + +What's New in this Release - There are very significant changes from earlier - Junkbuster versions to the current - Privoxy. The number, names, syntax, and - purposes of configuration files have substantially changed. - Junkbuster 2.0.x configuration - files will not migrate, Junkbuster 2.9.x - and Privoxy configurations will need to be - ported. The functionalities of the old blockfile, - cookiefile and imagelist - are now combined into the actions - files. - default.action, is the main actions file. Local - exceptions should best be put into user.action. + There are many improvements and new features since Privoxy 3.0.6, the last stable release: + - A filter file (typically - default.filter) is new as of Privoxy - 2.9.x, and provides some of the new sophistication (explained - below). config is much the same as before. + + + + Two new actions server-header-tagger + and client-header-tagger + that can be used to create arbitrary tags + based on client and server headers. + These tags can then subsequently be used + to control the other actions used for the current request, + greatly increasing &my-app;'s flexibility and selectivity. See tag patterns for more information on tags. + + + + + + Header filtering is done with dedicated header filters now. As a result + the actions filter-client-headers and filter-server-headers + that were introduced with Privoxy 3.0.5 to apply + content filters to the headers have been removed. + See the new actions server-header-filter + and client-header-filter for details. + + + + + There are four new options for the main config file: + + + + + + allow-cgi-request-crunching + which allows requests for Privoxy's internal CGI pages to be + blocked, redirected or (un)trusted like ordinary requests. + + + + + split-large-forms + that will work around a browser bug that caused IE6 and IE7 to + ignore the Submit button on the Privoxy's edit-actions-for-url CGI + page. + + + + + accept-intercepted-requests + which allows to combine Privoxy with any packet filter to create an + intercepting proxy for HTTP/1.1 requests (and for HTTP/1.0 requests + with Host header set). This means clients can be forced to use + &my-app; even if their proxy settings are configured differently. + + + + + templdir + to designate an alternate location for &my-app;'s + locally customized CGI templates so that + these are not overwritten during upgrades. + + + + + + + + A new command line option --pre-chroot-nslookup hostname to + initialize the resolver library before chroot'ing. On some systems this + reduces the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree. + (Patch provided by Stephen Gildea) + + + + + + The forward-override action + allows changing of the forwarding settings through the actions files. + Combined with tags, this allows to choose the forwarder based on + client headers like the User-Agent, or the request origin. + + + + + + The redirect action can now use regular + expression substitutions against the original URL. + + + + + + zlib support is now available as a compile + time option to filter compressed content. Patch provided by Wil Mahan. + + + + + Improve various filters, and add new ones. + + + + + + + Include support for RFC 3253 so that Subversion works + with &my-app;. Patch provided by Petr Kadlec. + + + + + + Logging can be completely turned off by not specifying a logfile directive. + + + + + + + A number of improvements to Privoxy's internal CGI pages, including the + use of favicons for error and control pages. + + + + + + Many bugfixes, memory leaks addressed, code improvements, and logging + improvements. + + + + - If upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will have to use the new config - files, and possibly adapt any personal rules from your older files. - When porting personal rules over from the old blockfile - to the new actions files, please note that even the pattern syntax has - changed. If upgrading from 2.9.x development versions, it is still - recommended to use the new configuration files. + For a more detailed list of changes please have a look at the ChangeLog. + + + + +Note to Upgraders + - A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading: + A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier + versions of Privoxy: @@ -370,195 +610,719 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. - The default listening port is now 8118 due to a conflict with another - service (NAS). + The recommended way to upgrade &my-app; is to backup your old + configuration files, install the new ones, verify that &my-app; + is working correctly and finally merge back your changes using + diff and maybe patch. - + + There are a number of new features in each &my-app; release and + most of them have to be explicitly enabled in the configuration + files. Old configuration files obviously don't do that and due + to syntax changes using old configuration files with a new + &my-app; isn't always possible anyway. + + + + + Note that some installers remove earlier versions completely, + including configuration files, therefore you should really save + any important configuration files! + + + + + On the other hand, other installers don't overwrite existing configuration + files, thinking you will want to do that yourself. + + - Some installers may remove earlier versions completely. Save any - important configuration files! + standard.action now only includes the enabled actions. + Not all actions as before. - 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. + In the default configuration only fatal errors are logged now. + You can change that in the debug section + of the configuration file. You may also want to enable more verbose + logging until you verified that the new &my-app; version is working + as expected. - + + + + + Three other config file settings are now off by default: + enable-remote-toggle, + enable-remote-http-toggle, + and enable-edit-actions. + If you use or want these, you will need to explicitly enable them, and + be aware of the security issues involved. + + + + + + The filter-client-headers and + filter-server-headers actions that were introduced with + Privoxy 3.0.5 to apply content filters to + the headers have been removed and replaced with new actions. + See the What's New section above. + + + + + + - Some installers may not automatically start Privoxy after installation. +--> + + -Quickstart to Using <application>Privoxy</application> +Quickstart to Using Privoxy - - - If upgrading, please back up any configuration files. See - the Note to Upgraders Section. - - Install Privoxy. See the Installation Section for platform specific + linkend="installation">Installation Section below for platform specific information. - Start Privoxy, if the installation program has - not done this already. See the section Starting - Privoxy. + Advanced users and those who want to offer Privoxy + service to more than just their local machine should check the main config file, especially the security-relevant options. These are + off by default. - Set your browser to use Privoxy as HTTP and HTTPS - proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of - 127.0.0.1 and port 8118. - (Junkbuster and earlier versions of - Privoxy used port 8000.) See the section Starting Privoxy. + Start Privoxy, if the installation program has + not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section + Starting Privoxy. + + + + + + Set your browser to use Privoxy as HTTP and + HTTPS (SSL) proxy + by setting the proxy configuration for address of + 127.0.0.1 and port 8118. + DO NOT activate proxying for FTP or + any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) unless you intend to prevent your + browser from using these protocols. - Flush your browser's caches, to remove any cached ad images. + Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images. + If using Privoxy to manage + cookies, + you should remove any currently stored cookies too. - + - Enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy. You may want to customize the - user.action file to - personalize your new browsing experience. See the Configuration section for more configuration - options, and how to further customize your installation. + A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for + most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the + configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little + to no initial configuration is required in most cases, you may want + to enable the + web-based action editor though. + Be sure to read the warnings first. + + See the Configuration section for more + configuration options, and how to customize your installation. + You might also want to look at the next section for a quick + introduction to how Privoxy blocks ads and + banners. + - + - If you experience problems with sites that misbehave, see - the Anatomy of an Action section in the - Appendix. + If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are + blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune + Privoxy's behavior, take a look at the actions files. As a quick start, you might + find the richly commented examples + helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the web-based user interface. The + Appendix Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an + Action has hints on how to understand and debug actions that + misbehave. - + + + Please see the section Contacting the - Developers on how to report bugs or problems with websites or to get + Developers on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get help. + + + Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy! + + + - - -Starting <application>Privoxy</application> + + +Quickstart to Ad Blocking + - Before launching Privoxy for the first time, you - will want to configure your browser(s) to use - Privoxy as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is - 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions - used port 8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done! + Ad blocking is but one of Privoxy's + array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced + user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody. - - 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: - 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include if HTTPS proxy support too. + This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so + you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive + information provided below, though this is highly recommended. + + + First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the + more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block + things that were not intended. And the more likely that some things + may not work as intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want + extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more + problem sites, and to spend more time adjusting the + configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is + not an easy way to eliminate all ads. Either take + the easy way and settle for most ads blocked with the + default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing + habits and preferences. + + + Secondly, a brief explanation of Privoxy's + actions. Actions in this context, are + the directives we use to tell Privoxy to perform + some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell + Privoxy to take some action. Each + action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential + actions in Privoxy's + arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. Actions, and action + configuration files, are explained in depth below. + + + Actions are specified in Privoxy's configuration, + followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs + can actually be URL type patterns that use + wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The + actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section. + + + When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more + of the sections as defined in Privoxy's configuration, + or not. If so, then Privoxy will perform the + respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web + pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will + use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the + original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL + embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server, + or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many + such embedded URLs. &my-app; can deal with each URL individually, so, for + instance, the main page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such + server are blocked. + + + + The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: block, handle-as-image, + handle-as-empty-document,and + set-image-blocker: - 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! + + + + + block - this is perhaps + the single most used action, and is particularly important for ad blocking. + This action stops any contact between your browser and any URL patterns + that match this action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads, + but also anything that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply + stops any communication with the remote server and sends + Privoxy's own built-in BLOCKED page instead to + let you now what has happened (with some exceptions, see below). + + + + + + handle-as-image - + tells Privoxy to treat this URL as an image. + Privoxy's default configuration already does this + for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this + is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly + important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of + some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the + Privoxy BLOCKED page (which would only result in + a broken image icon). There are some limitations to this + though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for + an entire HTML page in most situations. + + + + + + handle-as-empty-document - + sends an empty document instead of Privoxy's + normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither + HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files. + + + + + + set-image-blocker - tells + Privoxy what to display in place of an ad image that + has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a + block action somewhere in the + configuration, and, it must also match an + handle-as-image action. + + + The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are: + + + +    pattern - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad + replacement is obvious. This is the default. + + + + +    blank - A very small empty GIF image is displayed. + This is the so-called invisible configuration option. + + + + +    http://<URL> - A redirect to any image anywhere + of the user's choosing (advanced usage). + + + + + - Privoxy is typically started by specifying the - main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration - file is specified on the command line, Privoxy - will look for a file named config in the current - directory. Except on Win32 where it will try config.txt. + Advanced users will eventually want to explore &my-app; + filters as well. Filters + are very different from blocks. + A block blocks a site, page, or unwanted contented. Filters + are a way of filtering or modifying what is actually on the page. An example + filter usage: a text replacement of no-no for + nasty-word. That is a very simple example. This process can be + used for ad blocking, but it is more in the realm of advanced usage and has + some pitfalls to be wary off. - -RedHat and Debian -We use a script. Note that RedHat does not start Privoxy upon booting per -default. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config as its -main configuration file. FIXME: Debian?? + The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through + the special Privoxy editor at http://config.privoxy.org/show-status + (shortcut: http://p.p/show-status). This + is an internal page, and does not require Internet access. + - - # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start - + Note that as of Privoxy 3.0.7 beta the + action editor is disabled by default. Check the + enable-edit-actions + section in the configuration file to learn why and in which + cases it's safe to enable again. - - -SuSE -We use a script. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config -as its main configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting -your PC. + If you decided to enable the action editor, select the appropriate + actions file, and click + Edit. It is best to put personal or + local preferences in user.action since this is not + meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in + other files. Here you can insert new actions, and URLs for ad + blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration. + Privoxy will detect these changes automatically. + - - # rcprivoxy start - + A quick and simple step by step example: - - + + + + + + Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select + Copy Link Location from the + pop-up menu. + + + + + Set your browser to + http://config.privoxy.org/show-status + + + + + Find user.action in the top section, and click + on Edit: + + + + +
Actions Files in Use + + + + + + [ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ] + + +
+ + + + + + You should have a section with only + block listed under + Actions:. + If not, click a Insert new section below + button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the + Edit button right under the word Actions:. + This will bring up a list of all actions. Find + block near the top, and click + in the Enabled column, then Submit + just below the list. + + + + + Now, in the block actions section, + click the Add button, and paste the URL the + browser got from Copy Link Location. + Remove the http:// at the beginning of the URL. Then, click + Submit (or + OK if in a pop-up window). + + + + + Now go back to the original page, and press SHIFT-Reload + (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now. + + + + + + + + This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a + wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same + site. For a more extensive explanation of patterns, and + the entire actions concept, see the Actions + section. + + + + For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want + to now go to the Actions Files Tutorial. + The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor. + + + There are also various + filters that can be used for ad blocking + (filters are a special subset of actions). These + fall into the advanced usage category, and are explained in + depth in later sections. + + + + + + + + + + + +Starting Privoxy + + Before launching Privoxy for the first time, you + will want to configure your browser(s) to use + Privoxy as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) + proxy. The default is + 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions + used port 8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done +! + + + Please note that Privoxy can only proxy HTTP and + HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols. + + + + +
Proxy Configuration Showing + Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings + + + + + + [ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ] + + +
+ + + + + With Firefox, this is typically set under: + + + + Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Network ->Connection -> Settings + + + + + Or optionally on some platforms: + + + + Edit -> Preferences -> General -> Connection Settings -> Manual Proxy Configuration + + + + + + With Netscape (and + Mozilla), this can be set under: + + + + + + + Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy + + + + + For Internet Explorer v.5-7: + + + + Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN Settings + + + + Then, check Use Proxy and fill in the appropriate info + (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS + proxy support too (sometimes labeled Secure). Make sure any + checkboxes like Use the same proxy server for all protocols is + UNCHECKED. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)! + + + + +
Proxy Configuration Showing + Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings + + + + + + [ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ] + + +
+ + + + + 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. Remove + any cookies, + if you want Privoxy to manage that. You are now + ready to start enjoying the benefits of using + Privoxy! + + + + Privoxy itself is typically started by specifying the + main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration + file is specified on the command line, Privoxy + will look for a file named config in the current + directory. Except on Win32 where it will try config.txt. + + + +Red Hat and Fedora + + A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use + the file /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration + file. + + + + # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start + + + + Or ... + + + + # service privoxy start + + + + + +Debian + + We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; upon booting per + default. It will use the file + /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration + file. + + + + # /etc/init.d/privoxy start + + + + + Windows -Click on the Privoxy Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is +Click on the &my-app; Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is specified on the command line, Privoxy will look for a file named config.txt. Note that Windows will - automatically start Privoxy upon booting you PC. + automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option + when installing. + + + Privoxy can run with full Windows service functionality. + On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments + to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the + Windows Installation + instructions for details. @@ -577,14 +1341,29 @@ Example Unix startup command: OS/2 -FIXME. + During installation, Privoxy is configured to + start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by + double-clicking on the Privoxy icon in the + Privoxy folder. -MAX OSX +Mac OS X + + During installation, Privoxy is configured to + start automatically when the system restarts. To start &my-app; manually, + double-click on the StartPrivoxy.command icon in the + /Library/Privoxy folder. Or, type this command + in the Terminal: + + + + /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command + + -FIXME. + You will be prompted for the administrator password. @@ -592,7 +1371,36 @@ FIXME. AmigaOS -FIXME. + Start Privoxy (with RUN <>NIL:) in your + startnet script (AmiTCP), in + s:user-startup (RoadShow), as startup program in your + startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx). + Privoxy will automatically quit when you quit your + TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that + Privoxy is still running). + + + + +Gentoo + + A script is again used. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config + as its main configuration file. + + + + /etc/init.d/privoxy start + + + + Note that Privoxy is not automatically started at + boot time by default. You can change this with the rc-update + command. + + + + rc-update add privoxy default + @@ -600,7 +1408,7 @@ FIXME. See the section Command line options for - furher info. + further info. must find a better place for this paragraph @@ -637,9 +1445,9 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph - 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 + Privoxy does not support all of the optional HTTP/1.1 + features yet. 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. @@ -681,17 +1489,17 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph - 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. + 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. 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 - section Contacting the - Developers below. + section Contacting the + Developers below. --> @@ -735,7 +1543,6 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph --pidfile FILE - On startup, write the process ID to FILE. Delete the @@ -747,14 +1554,43 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph --user USER[.GROUP] - After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of USER, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only. - + + + + --chroot + + + Before changing to the user ID given in the --user option, + chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app; + process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit + the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy. + Unix only. + + + + + --pre-chroot-nslookup hostname + + + Specifies a hostname to look up before doing a chroot. On some systems, initializing the + resolver library involves reading config files from /etc and/or loading additional shared + libraries from /lib. On these systems, doing a hostname lookup before the chroot reduces + the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree. + + + For fastest startup speed, a good value is a hostname that is not in /etc/hosts but that + your local name server (listed in /etc/resolv.conf) can resolve without recursion + (that is, without having to ask any other name servers). The hostname need not exist, + but if it doesn't, an error message (which can be ignored) will be output. + + + configfile @@ -772,6 +1608,14 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph + + On MS Windows only there are two additional + command-line options to allow Privoxy to install and + run as a service. See the +Window Installation section +for details. + + @@ -780,7 +1624,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph -<application>Privoxy</application> Configuration +Privoxy Configuration All Privoxy configuration is stored in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor. @@ -792,7 +1636,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph -Controlling <application>Privoxy</application> with Your Web Browser +Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser Privoxy's user interface can be reached through the special URL http://config.privoxy.org/ @@ -805,7 +1649,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph - Privoxy Menu +     Privoxy Menu @@ -823,6 +1667,10 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph         ▪  Toggle Privoxy on or off + +         ▪  Documentation + @@ -849,6 +1697,14 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph your browser. + + Note that several of the features described above are disabled by default + in Privoxy 3.0.7 beta and later. + Check the + configuration file to learn why + and in which cases it's safe to enable them again. + + @@ -899,10 +1755,10 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph Multiple actions files may be defined in config. These are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in - default.action (which you will most propably want + default.action (which you will most probably want to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in user.action, where you can preserve them across - upgrades. standard.action is for + upgrades. standard.action is only for Privoxy's internal use. @@ -917,17 +1773,29 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph - default.filter (the filter + Filter files (the filter file) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here; - whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files. + whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files. + default.filter includes various filters made + available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than + others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional + filter files in config as you can with + actions files. We suggest user.filter for any + locally defined filters or customizations. + + The syntax of the configuration and filter files may change between different + Privoxy versions, unfortunately some enhancements cost backwards compatibility. + + + All files use the # character to denote a comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation @@ -935,11 +1803,11 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph in a line. If the # is preceded by a backslash, it looses its special function. Placing a # in front of an otherwise valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting - out" that line. + out" that line. Blank lines are ignored. - The actions files and default.filter + The actions files and filter files can use Perl style regular expressions for maximum flexibility. @@ -970,923 +1838,1544 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph - -The Main Configuration File + + + + &config; + - - 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: - - - - - - confdir /etc/privoxy - - - + - - Assigns the value /etc/privoxy to the option - confdir and thus indicates that the configuration - directory is named /etc/privoxy/. - - - 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. - - - 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). - + +Actions Files - + + The actions files are 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, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). + There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality. + Each action does something a little different. + These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert + our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that + their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs. + + + There + are three action files included with Privoxy with + differing purposes: + + + + + + + default.action - is the primary action file + that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to + provide a base level of functionality for + Privoxy's array of features. So it is + a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well as-is for most users. + This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and making available to users. + The user's preferences as set in standard.action, + e.g. either Cautious (the default), + Medium, or Advanced (see + below). + + + + + user.action - is intended to be for local site + preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank + has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of + thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded. + + + + + standard.action - is used only by the web based editor + at + http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default, + to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section + in default.action. + + + Edit Set to Cautious Set to Medium Set to Advanced + + + These have increasing levels of aggressiveness and have no + influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the + editor. A default installation should be pre-set to + Cautious (versions prior to 3.0.5 were set to + Medium). New users should try this for a while before + adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive + the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites + not working as they should. + + + The Edit button allows you to turn each + action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The Cautious + button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate + ad blocking and a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently + there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The + Medium button sets the list to a medium level of + other features and a low level set of privacy features. The + Advanced button sets the list to a high level of + ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter + three buttons over-ride any changes via with the + Edit button. More fine-tuning can be done in the + lower sections of this internal page. + + + It is not recommend to edit the standard.action file + itself. + + + The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in + standard.action are: + + + Default Configurations + + + + + + + + Feature + Cautious + Medium + Advanced + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Ad-blocking Aggressiveness + medium + high + high + + + + Ad-filtering by size + no + yes + yes + + + + Ad-filtering by link + no + no + yes + + + Pop-up killing + blocks only + blocks only + blocks only + + + + Privacy Features + low + medium + medium/high + + + + Cookie handling + none + session-only + kill + + + + Referer forging + no + yes + yes + + + + + GIF de-animation + no + yes + yes + + + + + Fast redirects + no + no + yes + + + + HTML taming + no + no + yes + + + + JavaScript taming + no + no + yes + + + + Web-bug killing + no + yes + yes + + + + Image tag reordering + no + no + yes + + + + +
+ - -Configuration and Log File Locations + + + - Privoxy can (and normally does) use a number of - other files for additional configuration, help and logging. - This section of the configuration file tells Privoxy - where to find those other files. - + The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration + file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g. + default.action is typically processed before + user.action). The content of these can all be viewed and + edited from http://config.privoxy.org/show-status. + The over-riding principle when applying actions, is that the last action that + matches a given URL wins. The broadest, most general rules go first + (defined in default.action), + followed by any exceptions (typically also in + default.action), which are then followed lastly by any + local preferences (typically in user.action). + Generally, user.action has the last word. + - The user running Privoxy, must have read permission for all - configuration files, and write permission to any files that would - be modified, such as log files. + An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use + aliases in an actions file, you have to place the (optional) + alias section at the top of that file. + Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all + sites and pages (be very careful with using such a + universal set in user.action or any other actions file after + default.action, because it will override the result + from consulting any previous file). And then below that, + exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard + user.action as an appendix to default.action, + with the advantage that it is a separate file, which makes preserving your + personal settings across Privoxy upgrades easier. -confdir - - - - Specifies: - - The directory where the other configuration files are located - - - - Type of value: - - Path name - - - - Default value: - - /etc/privoxy (Unix) or Privoxy installation dir (Windows) - - - - Effect if unset: - - Mandatory - - - - Notes: - - - No trailing /, please - - - 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). - - - - - + + Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or + just some obnoxious URL whose content you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted + or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not + written to disk), content can be modified, some JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking + fooled, and much more. See below for a complete list + of actions. + + + + +Finding the Right Mix + + Note that some actions, like cookie suppression + or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these + techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and + certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring + refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that the more + aggressive your default settings (in the top section of the + actions file) are, the more exceptions for trusted sites you + will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per + default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you + regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe + your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper. + + + + We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the + distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these + things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing. + Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :). + + + + + +How to Edit + + The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by + using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from http://config.privoxy.org/show-status. + Note: the config file option enable-edit-actions must be enabled for + this to work. The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single + feature on a per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults + like Cautious, Medium or + Advanced. Warning: the Advanced setting is more + aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites. + Experienced users only! + + + + If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the + the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at + default.action which is richly commented with many + good examples. + + + + + +How Actions are Applied to Requests + + Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections, + like the alias sections which will + be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a + heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist + of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces. + Below that, there is a list of URL and tag patterns, each on a separate line. + + + + To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is + compared to all URL patterns in each action file. + Every time it matches, the list of applicable actions for the request is + incrementally updated, using the heading of the section in which the + pattern is located. The same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on. + + + + If multiple applying sections set the same action differently, + the last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated. + E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading line of { + +handle-as-image }, + then later another one with just { + +block }, resulting + in both actions to apply. And there may well be + cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then + might look like: + + + + { +handle-as-image +block } + # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page. + banners.example.com + media.example.com/.*banners + .example.com/images/ads/ + + + + You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by visiting http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info. + + + + Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, + Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action section. + + -logdir + + +Patterns + + As mentioned, Privoxy uses patterns + to determine what actions might apply to which sites and + pages your browser attempts to access. These patterns use wild + card type pattern matching to achieve a high degree of + flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match + against many similar patterns. + + + + Generally, an URL pattern has the form + <domain>/<path>, where both the + <domain> and <path> are + optional. (This is why the special / pattern matches all + URLs). Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g. + http://) should not be included in + the pattern. This is assumed already! + + + The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of + the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique, + while the path part uses a more flexible + Regular + Expressions (PCRE) based syntax. + - Specifies: + www.example.com/ - The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where logfile and - jarfile are located) + is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to www.example.com, + regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in + this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a + simple example.com is different and would NOT match. - Type of value: - - Path name - - - - Default value: - - /var/log/privoxy (Unix) or Privoxy installation dir (Windows) - - - - Effect if unset: - - Mandatory - - - - Notes: + www.example.com - No trailing /, please + means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing / may + be omitted. - - - - -actionsfile - - - - - - - Specifies: + www.example.com/index.html$ - The actions file(s) to use + matches all the documents on www.example.com + whose name starts with /index.html. - Type of value: - - File name, relative to confdir, without the .action suffix - - - - Default value: + www.example.com/index.html$ - - - standard # Internal purposes, no editing recommended - - - default # Main actions file - - - user # User customizations - - + + matches only the single document /index.html + on www.example.com. + - Effect if unset: + /index.html$ - No actions are taken at all. Simple neutral proxying. + matches the document /index.html, regardless of the domain, + i.e. on any web server anywhere. - Notes: + index.html - Multiple actionsfile lines are permitted, and are in fact recommended! - - - The default values include standard.action, which is used for internal - purposes and should be loaded, default.action, which is the - main actions file maintained by the developers, and - user.action, where you can make your personal additions. - - - Actions files are where all the per site and per URL configuration is done for - ad blocking, cookie management, privacy considerations, etc. - There is no point in using Privoxy without at - least one actions file. + matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and + there is no top-level domain called .html. So its + a mistake. - -filterfile - + + +The Domain Pattern + + + The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the + domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end. + For example: + + - Specifies: + .example.com - The filter file to use + matches any domain with first-level domain com + and second-level domain example. + For example www.example.com, + example.com and foo.bar.baz.example.com. + Note that it wouldn't match if the second-level domain was another-example. - Type of value: - - File name, relative to confdir - - - - Default value: - - default.filter (Unix) or default.filter.txt (Windows) - - - - Effect if unset: + www. - No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all - +filter{name} - actions in the actions files are turned neutral. + matches any domain that STARTS with + www. (It also matches the domain + www but most of the time that doesn't matter.) - Notes: + .example. - 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. + matches any domain that CONTAINS .example.. + And, by the way, also included would be any files or documents that exist + within that domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly + speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains example as + a domain.) This might be www.example.com, + news.example.de, or + www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl for instance. All these + cases are matched. - -logfile + + Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names + themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards: + * represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is + equivalent to the + Regular + Expression based syntax of .*), + ? represents any single character (this is equivalent to the + regular expression syntax of a simple .), and you can define + character classes in square brackets which is similar to + the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed: + - Specifies: + ad*.example.com - The log file to use + matches adserver.example.com, + ads.example.com, etc but not sfads.example.com - Type of value: - - File name, relative to logdir - - - - Default value: + *ad*.example.com - logfile (Unix) or privoxy.log (Windows) + + matches all of the above, and then some. + - Effect if unset: + .?pix.com - No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (stderr). + matches www.ipix.com, + pictures.epix.com, a.b.c.d.e.upix.com etc. - Notes: + www[1-9a-ez].example.c* - The windows version will additionally log to the console. - - - The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The level - of detail and number of messages are set with the debug - option (see below). The logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with - Privoxy (e.g., it's not blocking an ad you - think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look at it. - - - Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to - periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job - (see man cron). For Red Hat, a logrotate - script has been included. - - - On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like /var/log/privoxy.* - +1024k 644 nobody.nogroup in /etc/logfiles, with - the effect that cron.daily will automatically archive, gzip, and empty the - log, when it exceeds 1M size. - - - Any log files must be writable by whatever user Privoxy - is being run as (default on UNIX, user id is privoxy). + matches www1.example.com, + www4.example.cc, wwwd.example.cy, + wwwz.example.com etc., but not + wwww.example.com. + + + While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax. + + -jarfile + + + + +The Path Pattern + + + Privoxy uses Perl compatible (PCRE) + Regular + Expression based syntax + (through the PCRE library) for + matching the path portion (after the slash), and is thus more flexible. + + + + There is an Appendix with a brief quick-start into regular + expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line + at http://www.pcre.org/man.txt. + You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (man perlre) + useful, which is available on-line at http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html. + + + + Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the /, + i.e. it matches as if it would start with a ^ (regular expression speak + for the beginning of a line). + + + + Please also note that matching in the path is CASE INSENSITIVE + by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the + (?-i) switch: www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.* will match + only documents whose path starts with PaTtErN in + exactly this capitalization. + - 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: + .example.com/.* - Intercepted cookies are not stored at all. + Is equivalent to just .example.com, since any documents + within that domain are matched with or without the .* + regular expression. This is redundant - Notes: + .example.com/.*/index.html$ - The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time. + Will match any page in the domain of example.com that is + named index.html, and that is part of some path. For + example, it matches www.example.com/testing/index.html but + NOT www.example.com/index.html because the regular + expression called for at least two /'s, thus the path + requirement. It also would match + www.example.com/testing/index_html, because of the + special meta-character .. - - - -trustfile - - Specifies: + .example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$ - The trust file to use + This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page + named index.html regardless of path which in this case can + have one or more /'s. And this one must contain exactly + .html (but does not have to end with that!). - Type of value: - - File name, relative to confdir - - - - Default value: - - Unset (commented out). When activated: trust (Unix) or trust.txt (Windows) - - - - Effect if unset: + .example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk) - The whole trust mechanism is turned off. + This regular expression will match any path of example.com + that contains any of the words ads, banner, + banners (because of the ?) or junk. + The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them. - Notes: + .example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$ - 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. + This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either + .jpg, .jpeg, .gif or .png. So this + one is limited to common image formats. + + + There are many, many good examples to be found in default.action, + and more tutorials below in Appendix on regular expressions. + + - + +The Tag Pattern + + + Tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the + request's tags. Tags can be created with either the + client-header-tagger + or the server-header-tagger action. + + + + Tag patterns have to start with TAG:, so &my-app; + can tell them apart from URL patterns. Everything after the colon + including white space, is interpreted as a regular expression with + path pattern syntax, except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored + automatically (&my-app; doesn't silently add a ^, + you have to do it yourself if you need it). + + + + To match all requests that are tagged with foo + your pattern line should be TAG:^foo$, + TAG:foo would work as well, but it would also + match requests whose tags contain foo somewhere. + TAG: foo wouldn't work as it requires white space. + + + + Sections can contain URL and tag patterns at the same time, + but tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus + always overrule them, even if they are located before the URL patterns. + + + + Once a new tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's matched by one + of the tag patterns and updates the action settings accordingly. As a result + tags can be used to activate other tagger actions, as long as these other + taggers look for headers that haven't already be parsed. + + + + For example you could tag client requests which use the + POST method, + then use this tag to activate another tagger that adds a tag if cookies + are sent, and then use a block action based on the cookie tag. This allows + the outcome of one action, to be input into a subsequent action. However if + you'd reverse the position of the described taggers, and activated the + method tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method tags would be created. + The method tagger would look for the request line, but at the time + the cookie tag is created, the request line has already been parsed. + + + + While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of + indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't + make too much sense. + + + + + + + + - -Local Set-up Documentation + +Actions + + All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled + somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a + +, and turned off if preceded with a -. So a + +action means do that action, e.g. + +block means please block URLs that match the + following patterns, and -block means don't + block URLs that match the following patterns, even if +block + previously applied. + + + + + Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and + separated by whitespace, like in + {+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}, + followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply. + Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section + of the actions file. + + + + Actions fall into three categories: + + + + + + + Boolean, i.e the action can only be enabled or + disabled. Syntax: + + + + +name # enable action name + -name # disable action name + + + Example: +block + + + + + + Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action. + Syntax: + - 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. - + + +name{param} # enable action and set parameter to param, + # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary + -name # disable action. The parameter can be omitted + + + Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action, + the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored. + + + Example: +hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070602 Firefox/2.0.0.4} + + + + + + Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions, + but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the + same URL, but with different parameters, all the parameters + from all matches are remembered. This is used for actions + that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple + headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax: + + + + +name{param} # enable action and add param to the list of parameters + -name{param} # remove the parameter param from the list of parameters + # If it was the last one left, disable the action. + -name # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list + + + Examples: +add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text} and + +filter{html-annoyances} + + + + + + + + If nothing is specified in any actions file, no actions are + taken. So in this case Privoxy would just be a + normal, non-blocking, non-filtering proxy. You must specifically enable the + privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions + files will give a good starting point). + + + + Later defined action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the same type. + So exceptions to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or + in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such + as user.action). For multi-valued actions, the actions + are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are processed in + the order they are defined in config (the default + installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any given + URL to match more than one pattern (because of wildcards and + regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last + match wins. + + + + + The list of valid Privoxy actions are: + + + + + + + + + + + + + +add-header -user-manual - Specifies: + Typical use: - - Location of the Privoxy User Manual. - + Confuse log analysis, custom applications + - Type of value: + Effect: - A fully qualified URI + + Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server. + + - Default value: + Type: + - Unset + Multi-value. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - http://www.privoxy.org/version/user-manual/ - will be used, where version is the Privoxy version. + Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked. + It is recommended that you use the X- prefix + for custom headers. - + + Notes: - - The User Manual URI is used for help links from some of the internal CGI pages. - The manual itself is normally packaged with the binary distributions, so you propably want - to set this to a locally installed copy. For multi-user setups, you could provide a copy on - a local webserver for all your users and use the corresponding URL here. - - Examples: + This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple + headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what + HTTP headers are, you definitely don't need to worry about this + one. - - Unix, in local filesystem: - - - user-manual  file:///usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;/user-manual/ - - - Any platform, on local webserver (called local-webserver): - - - user-manual  http://local-webserver/privoxy-user-manual/ - - - - If set, this option should be the first option in the config file, because - it is used while the config file is being read. + + + + + Example usage: + + + +add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks} - - + -trust-info-url + + + +block - Specifies: + Typical use: - - A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if access to an untrusted page is denied. - + Block ads or other unwanted content + - Type of value: + Effect: - URL + + Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the + requests are trapped by &my-app; and the requested URL is never retrieved, + but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by + the handle-as-image, + set-image-blocker, and + handle-as-empty-document actions. + + + - Default value: + Type: + - Two example URL are provided + Boolean. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - - No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page. - + N/A - + + Notes: - The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust mechanism has been - activated. (See trustfile above.) + Privoxy sends a special BLOCKED page + for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request + was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the + force feature enabled). The BLOCKED page adapts to the available + screen space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and text-only + if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using Privoxy + right now, you can take a look at the + BLOCKED + page. + + + A very important exception occurs if both + block and handle-as-image, + apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If + set-image-blocker + (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter, + if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent. - 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. + It is important to understand this process, in order + to understand how Privoxy deals with + ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one + upon which various other features depend. - 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! + The filter + action can perform a very similar task, by blocking + banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the + document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place. + Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two. + + + Example usage (section): + + + {+block} +# Block and replace with "blocked" page + .nasty-stuff.example.com + +{+block +handle-as-image} +# Block and replace with image + .ad.doubleclick.net + .ads.r.us/banners/ + +{+block +handle-as-empty-document} +# Block and then ignore + adserver.exampleclick.net/.*\.js$ + + + + + -admin-address + + + +client-header-filter - Specifies: + Typical use: - An email address to reach the proxy administrator. + Rewrite or remove single client headers. + - Type of value: + Effect: - Email address - + + All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through + the specified regular expression based substitutions. + + + - Default value: + Type: + - Unset + Parameterized. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface. + The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the + filter files. + Notes: + + + Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to + all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside + you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z. + You can do that by using tags though. + + + Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished + and use their output as input. + + + If the request URL gets changed, &my-app; will detect that and use the new + one. This can be used to rewrite the request destination behind the client's + back, for example to specify a Tor exit relay for certain requests. + + + Please refer to the filter file chapter + to learn which client-header filters are available by default, and how to + create your own. + + + + + + + Example usage (section): - If both admin-address and proxy-info-url - are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will - not be shown. - + +# Hide Tor exit notation in Host and Referer Headers +{+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}} +/ + + + -proxy-info-url + + + +client-header-tagger - Specifies: + Typical use: - A URL to documentation about the local Privoxy setup, - configuration or policies. + Block requests based on their headers. + - Type of value: + Effect: - URL + + Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through + the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as + tag. + + - Default value: + Type: + - Unset + Parameterized. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface. + The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the + filter files. + 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. - + Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own, + and as the header isn't modified, each tagger sees + the original. + - This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-) - + Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed + and their tags can be used to control every other action. + + + + + + Example usage (section): + + + +# Tag every request with the User-Agent header +{+client-header-tagger{user-agent}} +/ + + + - - - - -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 + +content-type-overwrite - Specifies: + Typical use: - - Key values that determine what information gets logged. - + Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode + - Type of value: + Effect: - Integer values + + Replaces the Content-Type: HTTP server header. + + - Default value: + Type: + - 12289 (i.e.: URLs plus informational and warning messages) + Parameterized. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - Nothing gets logged. - + Any string. + + Notes: - The available debug levels are: + The Content-Type: HTTP server header is used by the + browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this + header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of + displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is + supported by the browser. - - 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 - + The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode + the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as text/html, + many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document. + If it is send as application/xml, browsers with + XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct. - To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or use - multiple debug lines. + If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets + Content-Type: text/html, you can use &my-app; + to overwrite it with application/xml and validate + the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser. + If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly. - 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). - + You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints + error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared + as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with + text/html and have it rendered as broken HTML document. - The reporting of fatal errors (i.e. ones which crash - Privoxy) is always on and cannot be disabled. + By default content-type-overwrite only replaces + Content-Type: headers that look like some kind of text. + If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with + force-text-mode. + This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it. - If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set debug - 512 ONLY and not enable anything else. + Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom + server-header filter. + It allows you to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still + only replace the content types you aimed at. + + + Of course you can apply content-type-overwrite + to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot + more work to get the same precision. + + + + + + Example usage (sections): + + + # Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML +{ +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} } +www.example.net/ + +# but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet +{-content-type-overwrite} +www.example.net/.*\.css$ +www.example.net/.*style + -single-threaded + + + + +crunch-client-header - Specifies: + Typical use: + + Remove a client header Privoxy has no dedicated action for. + + + + + Effect: - Whether to run only one server thread + Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter. + - Type of value: + Type: + - None + Parameterized. + - Default value: + Parameter: - Unset + + Any string. + + - Effect if unset: + Notes: - Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, i.e. the ability to - serve multiple requests simultaneously. + This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated + Privoxy action exists. + Privoxy will remove every client header that + contains the string you supplied as parameter. + + + Regular expressions are not supported and you can't + use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless + they contain the same string. + + + crunch-client-header is only meant for quick tests. + If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify + parts of them, you should use a + client-header filter. + + + Don't block any header without understanding the consequences. + + + - Notes: + Example usage (section): - - This option is only there for debug purposes and you should never - need to use it. It will drastically reduce performance. + + # Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header +{ +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} } +/ + - - - -Access Control and Security - - - This section of the config file controls the security-relevant aspects - of Privoxy's configuration. - - -listen-address - + +crunch-if-none-match + - Specifies: + Typical use: - - The IP address and TCP port on which Privoxy will - listen for client requests. - + Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions. + - Type of value: + Effect: - [IP-Address]:Port + + Deletes the If-None-Match: HTTP client header. + - Default value: + Type: + - 127.0.0.1:8118 + Boolean. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - Bind to 127.0.0.1 (localhost), port 8118. This is suitable and recommended for - home users who run Privoxy on the same machine as - their browser. - + N/A + + Notes: - You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address and port. + Removing the If-None-Match: HTTP client header + is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real + reload instead of getting status code 304 which + would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page. + + + It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie + replacement (unlikely but possible). - 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. + Blocking the If-None-Match: header shouldn't cause any + caching problems, as long as the If-Modified-Since: header + isn't blocked or missing as well. - 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. + It is recommended to use this action together with + hide-if-modified-since + and + overwrite-last-modified. + - Example: + Example usage (section): - - 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 - + + # Let the browser revalidate cached documents but don't +# allow the server to use the revalidation headers for user tracking. +{+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \ + +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \ + +crunch-if-none-match} +/ -toggle + + + +crunch-incoming-cookies - Specifies: + Typical use: - Initial state of "toggle" status + Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your system + - Type of value: + Effect: - 1 or 0 + + Deletes any Set-Cookie: HTTP headers from server replies. + + - Default value: + Type: + - 1 + Boolean. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - Act as if toggled on + N/A + 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 than via editing the conf file. + This action is only concerned with incoming HTTP cookies. For + outgoing HTTP cookies, use + crunch-outgoing-cookies. + Use both to disable HTTP cookies completely. + + + It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction + with the session-cookies-only action, + since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also + filter-content-cookies. + + + + + Example usage: + - The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the system tray - if this option is present. + +crunch-incoming-cookies @@ -1894,56 +3383,80 @@ actionsfile -enable-remote-toggle + + +crunch-server-header + - Specifies: + Typical use: - - Whether or not the web-based toggle - feature may be used - + Remove a server header Privoxy has no dedicated action for. + - Type of value: + Effect: - 0 or 1 + + Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter. + + - Default value: + Type: + - 1 + Parameterized. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - The web-based toggle feature is disabled. - + Any string. + + 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. + This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated + Privoxy action exists. Privoxy + will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter. - 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. + Regular expressions are not supported and you can't + use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless + they contain the same string. - Note that you must have compiled Privoxy with - support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect. + crunch-server-header is only meant for quick tests. + If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify + parts of them, you should use a custom + server-header filter. + + + + Don't block any header without understanding the consequences. + + + + + + + Example usage (section): + + + # Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching +{ +crunch-server-header{no-cache} } +/ @@ -1951,1186 +3464,1030 @@ actionsfile -enable-edit-actions + + +crunch-outgoing-cookies + - Specifies: + Typical use: - Whether or not the web-based actions - file editor may be used + Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from your system + - Type of value: + Effect: - 0 or 1 + + Deletes any Cookie: HTTP headers from client requests. + + - Default value: + Type: + - 1 + Boolean. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - The web-based actions file editor is disabled. + N/A + 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. + This action is only concerned with outgoing HTTP cookies. For + incoming HTTP cookies, use + crunch-incoming-cookies. + Use both to disable HTTP cookies completely. + + + It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction + with the session-cookies-only action, + since it would prevent the session cookies from being read. + + + + + Example usage: + - Note that you must have compiled Privoxy with - support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect. + +crunch-outgoing-cookies + - -ACLs: permit-access and deny-access - - + + + +deanimate-gifs - Specifies: + Typical use: - - Who can access what. - + Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images. + - Type of value: + Effect: - 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. + De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image. + - Default value: + Type: + - Unset + Parameterized. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - Don't restrict access further than implied by listen-address + last or first + Notes: - Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems - administrators, and are not usually needed by individual users. - For a typical home user, it will normally suffice to ensure that - Privoxy only listens on the localhost - (127.0.0.1) or internal (home) network address by means of the - listen-address option. - - - Please see the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute - for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security - weaknesses. - - - Multiple ACL lines are OK. - If any ACLs are specified, then the Privoxy - talks only to IP addresses that match at least one permit-access line - and don't match any subsequent deny-access line. In other words, the - last match wins, with the default being deny-access. - - - If Privoxy is using a forwarder (see forward below) - for a particular destination URL, the dst_addr - that is examined is the address of the forwarder and NOT the address - of the ultimate target. This is necessary because it may be impossible for the local - Privoxy to determine the IP address of the - ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for). - - - You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because the address lookups take - time. All DNS names must resolve! You can not use domain patterns - like *.org or partial domain names. If a DNS name resolves to multiple - IP addresses, only the first one is used. + This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If + the option first is given, the first frame of the animation + is used as the replacement. If last is given, the last + frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for + most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire + last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame). - 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. + You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF + objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like + a GIF. + - Examples: + Example usage: - - 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 - - + + +deanimate-gifs{last} + -buffer-limit + + +downgrade-http-version - Specifies: + Typical use: - - Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering. - + Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1 + - Type of value: + Effect: - Size in Kbytes + + Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0. + + - Default value: + Type: + - 4096 + Boolean. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit. + N/A - + + 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. + This is a left-over from the time when Privoxy + didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the + unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server + out there. Not all HTTP/1.1 features and requirements are supported yet, + so there is a chance you might need this action. - - - - - + + Example usage (section): + + + {+downgrade-http-version} +problem-host.example.com + + + + + + +fast-redirects - -Forwarding - - - This feature allows routing of HTTP requests through a chain of - multiple proxies. - It can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when - accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains - through an anonymous public proxy (see e.g. http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm) - Or to use a caching proxy to speed up browsing. Or chaining to a parent - proxy may be necessary because the machine that Privoxy - runs on has no direct Internet access. - - - - Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. Privoxy - supports the SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A protocols. - - -forward - Specifies: + Typical use: - - To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed. - + Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links. + - Type of value: + Effect: - target_domain[:port] - http_parent[/port] - - - Where target_domain is a domain name pattern (see the - chapter on domain matching in the default.action file), - http_parent is the address of the parent HTTP proxy - as an IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or as a valid DNS name (or . to denote - no forwarding, and the optional - port parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer - values from 1 to 64535 + Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting + the redirection server first. + - Default value: + Type: + - Unset + Parameterized. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - - Don't use parent HTTP proxies. - + + + + simple-check to just search for the string http:// + to detect redirection URLs. + + + + + check-decoded-url to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching + for redirection URLs. + + + + Notes: + + Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they + will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a + parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs + resulting from this scheme typically look like: + http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/. + - 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. + Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the + URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable, + since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go + to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your + browser asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds + the advertisers. - - - - Examples: - - Everything goes to an example anonymizing proxy, except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle): + This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement. + If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to + this action. It can lead to failures in several ways: - - forward .* anon-proxy.example.org:8080 - forward :443 . - + Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil. + Some sites offer a real service that requires this information to work. + For example a validation service needs to know, which document to validate. + fast-redirects assumes that every URL parameter that + looks like another URL is a redirection target, and will always redirect to + the last one. Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't, + the user gets redirected anyway. - Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for requests - to that ISP's sites: + Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter. + The URL: + http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar. + contains the redirection URL http://www.example.net/, + followed by another parameter. fast-redirects doesn't know that + and will cause a redirect to http://www.example.net/&foo=bar. + Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored + or lead to a page not found error. You can prevent this problem by + first using the redirect action + to remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort. - - forward .*. caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000 - forward .example-isp.net . - + To detect a redirection URL, fast-redirects only + looks for the string http://, either in plain text + (invalid but often used) or encoded as http%3a//. + Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the address + of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses cases + fast-redirects is fooled and the request reaches the + redirection server where it probably gets logged. + + + Example usage: + + + + { +fast-redirects{simple-check} } + one.example.com + + { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} } + another.example.com/testing + + + + - -forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a - - + + + +filter - Specifies: + Typical use: - - Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific requests should be routed. - + Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size), + do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc. + - Type of value: + Effect: - target_domain[:port] - socks_proxy[/port] - http_parent[/port] - - - Where target_domain is a domain name pattern (see the - chapter on domain matching in the default.action file), - http_parent and socks_proxy - are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid DNS names (http_parent - may be . to denote no HTTP forwarding), and the optional - port parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1 to 64535 + All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which + this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular + expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents + are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the + text/plain MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.) + - Default value: + Type: + - Unset + Parameterized. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - Don't use SOCKS proxies. + The name of a content filter, as defined in the filter file. + Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the + filterfile + option in the config file. + default.filter is the collection of filters + supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go + in their own file, such as user.filter. + + When used in its negative form, + and without parameters, all filtering is completely disabled. + + Notes: - Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins. + For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available + in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for + a list. + + + Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to + slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has + passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way + since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more + noticeable on slower connections. + + + Rolling your own + filters requires a knowledge of + Regular + Expressions and + HTML. + This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive. + Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent + action is not available. + + + The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the + buffer-limit + option in the main config file. The + default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered + data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered. + + + Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all. + (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data + (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate + the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might + be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering + by defining appropriate -filter exceptions. + + + Compressed content can't be filtered either, unless &my-app; + is compiled with zlib support (requires at least &my-app; 3.0.7), + in which case &my-app; will decompress the content before filtering + it. + + + If you use a &my-app; version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on + as much documents as possible, even those that would normally be sent compressed, + you must use the prevent-compression + action in conjunction with filter. + + + Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the + block + action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism + works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners + based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat + standardized. - 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. + Feedback with suggestions for new or + improved filters is particularly welcome! - 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. + The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each + predefined filter. There are more + verbose explanations of what these filters do in the filter file chapter. + - Examples: + Example usage (with filters from the distribution default.filter file). + See the Predefined Filters section for + more explanation on each: - 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. + + +filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse - - forward-socks4a .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080 - forward .example.com . - + + +filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites) - A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no HTTP parent looks like this: + + +filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse - - forward-socks4 .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 . - + + +filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content + + + + +filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups) + + + + +filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability. + + + + +filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability. + + + + +filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective + + + + +filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size + + + + +filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers + + + + +filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking) + + + + +filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap + + + + +filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves + + + + +filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable + + + + +filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets + + + + +filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects + + + + +filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies savable + + + + +filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun! + + + + +filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering (demo only) + + + + +filter{ie-exploits} # Disable a known Internet Explorer bug exploits + + + + +filter{site-specifics} # Custom filters for specific site related problems + + + + +filter{google} # Removes text ads and other Google specific improvements + + + + +filter{yahoo} # Removes text ads and other Yahoo specific improvements + + + + +filter{msn} # Removes text ads and other MSN specific improvements + + + + +filter{blogspot} # Cleans up Blogspot blogs + + + + +filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes from anchor and area tags -Advanced Forwarding Examples - - 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. - - - - 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: - - - - host-a: - - - - - forward .*. . - forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118 - - - - - host-b: - + + +force-text-mode + + + + Typical use: + + Force Privoxy to treat a document as if it was in some kind of text format. + + - - - forward .*. . - forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118 - - + + Effect: + + + Declares a document as text, even if the Content-Type: isn't detected as such. + + + - - 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. - + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + - - If you intend to chain Privoxy and - squid locally, then chain as - browser -> squid -> privoxy is the recommended way. - + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + - - Assuming that Privoxy and squid - run on the same box, your squid configuration could then look like this: - + + Notes: + + + As explained above, + Privoxy tries to only filter files that are + in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to + content-type-overwrite. + force-text-mode declares a document as text, + without looking at the Content-Type: first. + + + + Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data + with regular expressions can cause file damage. + + + + + + + Example usage: + + + ++force-text-mode + + + + + + - - - # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP) - cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query - # Define ACL for protocol FTP - acl ftp proto FTP + + +forward-override + + + + Typical use: + + Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin + + - # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy - always_direct allow ftp + + Effect: + + + Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file. + + + - # Forward all the rest to Privoxy - never_direct allow all - + + Type: + + + Multi-value. + + - - 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. - + + Parameter: + + + + forward . to use a direct connection without any additional proxies. + + + + forward 127.0.0.1:8123 to use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123. + + + + + forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 . to use the socks4a proxy listening at + 127.0.0.1 port 9050. Replace forward-socks4a with forward-socks4 + to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS resolution) instead, use forward-socks5 + for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution). + + + + + forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 proxy.example.org:8000 to use the socks4a proxy + listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy listening at proxy.example.org port 8000. + Replace forward-socks4a with forward-socks4 to use a socks4 connection + (with local DNS resolution) instead, use forward-socks5 + for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution). + + + + + + + Notes: + + + This action takes parameters similar to the + forward directives in the configuration + file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used as replacement, but normally it's only + used in cases where matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient. + + + + Please read the description for the forward directives before + using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will reduce your privacy and increase the + chances of man-in-the-middle attacks. + + + If the ports are missing or invalid, default values will be used. This might change + in the future and you shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect syntax causes Privoxy + to exit. + + + Use the show-url-info CGI page + to verify that your forward settings do what you thought the do. + + + + + + + Example usage: + + + +# Always use direct connections for requests previously tagged as +# User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0 and make sure +# resuming downloads continues to work. +# This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing, +# without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates +# or downloads of bigger files like ISOs. +# Note that HTTP headers are easy to fake and therefore their +# values are as (un)trustworthy as your clients and users. +{+forward-override{forward .} \ + -hide-if-modified-since \ + -overwrite-last-modified \ +} +TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$ + + + + + - - - - + +handle-as-empty-document + + + + Typical use: + + Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents if they get blocked + + - -Windows GUI Options - - Privoxy has a number of options specific to the - Windows GUI interface: - - - - - If activity-animation is set to 1, the - Privoxy icon will animate when - Privoxy is active. To turn off, set to 0. - - - - - - - activity-animation 1 - - - - - - - - If log-messages is set to 1, - Privoxy will log messages to the console - window: - + + Effect: + + + This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs. + If the block action also applies, + the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML BLOCKED + page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content. + The empty document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space. + + + - - - - - log-messages 1 - - - - + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + - - - If log-buffer-size is set to 1, the size of the log buffer, - i.e. the amount of memory used for the log messages displayed in the - console window, will be limited to log-max-lines (see below). - + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + - - Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and - eat up all your memory! - + + Notes: + + + Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents + are blocked with Privoxy's + default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them. + And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the &my-app; + BLOCKED message in frames. + + + The content type for the empty document can be specified with + content-type-overwrite{}, + but usually this isn't necessary. + + + - - - - - log-buffer-size 1 - - - - + + Example usage: + + + # Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js", +# but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message. +{+block +handle-as-empty-document} +example.org/.*\.js$ + + + + + + - - - log-max-lines is the maximum number of lines held - in the log buffer. See above. - - - - - - log-max-lines 200 - - - - + + +handle-as-image - - - If log-highlight-messages is set to 1, - Privoxy will highlight portions of the log - messages with a bold-faced font: - + + + Typical use: + + Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images if they do get blocked, rather than HTML pages) + + - - - - - log-highlight-messages 1 - - - - + + Effect: + + + This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images. + If the block action also applies, + the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML blocked + page, or a replacement image (as determined by the set-image-blocker action) will be sent to the + client as a substitute for the blocked content. + + + - - - The font used in the console window: - + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + - - - - - log-font-name Comic Sans MS - - - - - - - - Font size used in the console window: - - - - - - - log-font-size 8 - - - - - - - - show-on-task-bar controls whether or not - Privoxy will appear as a button on the Task bar - when minimized: - - - - - - - show-on-task-bar 0 - - - - - - - - If close-button-minimizes is set to 1, the Windows close - button will minimize Privoxy instead of closing - the program (close with the exit option on the File menu). - - - - - - - close-button-minimizes 1 - - - - - - - - The hide-console option is specific to the MS-Win console - version of Privoxy. If this option is used, - Privoxy will disconnect from and hide the - command console. - - - - - - - #hide-console - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Actions Files - - - The actions files are used to define what actions - Privoxy takes for which URLs, and thus determine - how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and - transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). There - are three such files included with Privoxy (as of - version 2.9.15), with differing purposes: - - - - - - - standard.action - is used by the web based editor, - to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section - in default.action. These have increasing levels of - aggressiveness and have no influence on your browsing unless - you select them explicitly in the editor. It is not recommend - to edit this file. - - - - - default.action - is the primary action file - that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to - provide a base level of functionality for - Privoxy's array of features. So it is - a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well for users everywhere. - This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and making - available to users. - - - - - user.action - is intended to be for local site - preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank - has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of - thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded. - - - - - - - The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration - file, and are processed in the order they are defined. The content of these - can all be viewed and edited from http://config.privoxy.org/show-status. - - - - An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use - aliases in an actions file, you have to place the (optional) - alias section at the top of that file. - Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all - sites and pages (be very careful with using such a - universal set in user.action or any other actions file after - default.action, because it will override the result - from consulting any previous file). And then below that, - exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard - user.action as an appendix to default.action, - with the advantage that is a separate file, which makes preserving your - personal settings across Privoxy upgrades easier. - - - - Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or - just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted - or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not - written to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking - fooled, and much more. See below for a complete list - of actions. - - - - -Finding the Right Mix - - Note that some actions, like cookie suppression - or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these - techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and - certainly a matter of personal taste. In general, it can be said that the more - aggressive your default settings (in the top section of the - actions file) are, the more exceptions for trusted sites you - will have to make later. If, for example, you want to kill popup windows per - default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you - regularly use and that require popups for actually useful content, like maybe - your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper. - - - - We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the - distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these - things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing. - Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :). - - - - - -How to Edit - - The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by - using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from http://config.privoxy.org/show-status. - The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single feature on a - per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults like - Cautious, Medium or Advanced. - - - - If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the - the actions files. Look at default.action which is richly - commented. - - - - - -How Actions are Applied to URLs - - Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections, - like the alias sections which will be discussed later. For now - let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a heading line (often split - up to multiple lines for readability) which consist of a list of actions, - separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces. Below that, there - is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line. - - - - To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is - compared to all patterns in each action file file. Every time it matches, the list of - applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading - of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for - the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not, - the effects are aggregated (e.g. a URL might match both the - +handle-as-image - and +block actions). - - - - - You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info. - - - - More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, - Anatomy of an Action. - - - - - -Patterns - - Generally, a pattern has the form <domain>/<path>, - where both the <domain> and <path> - are optional. (This is why the pattern / matches all URLs). - - - - www.example.com/ + Parameter: - is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to www.example.com, - regardless of which document on that server is requested. + N/A + - www.example.com + Notes: - means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing / may - be omitted. + The below generic example section is actually part of default.action. + It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should + be left intact. - - - - www.example.com/index.html - - matches only the single document /index.html - on www.example.com. + Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with + block, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't + reflect the file type, like in the second example section. - - - - /index.html - - matches the document /index.html, regardless of the domain, - i.e. on any web server. + Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad + frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly. + Forcing handle-as-image in this situation will not replace the + ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages. + - index.html + Example usage (sections): - matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and - there is no top-level domain called .html. + # Generic image extensions: +# +{+handle-as-image} +/.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$ + +# These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be +# blocked as images: +# +{+block +handle-as-image} +some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash + +# Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content? +ad.doubleclick.net + + -The Domain Pattern - - - The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the - domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end. - For example: - - + +hide-accept-language + - .example.com + Typical use: - - matches any domain that ENDS in - .example.com - + Pretend to use different language settings. + - www. + Effect: - matches any domain that STARTS with - www. + Deletes or replaces the Accept-Language: HTTP header in client requests. + - .example. + Type: + - - matches any domain that CONTAINS .example. - (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains example as a domain.) - + Parameterized. - - - Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names - themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: * - stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, ? stands for - any single character, you can define character classes in square - brackets and all of that can be freely mixed: - - - - ad*.example.com + Parameter: - matches adserver.example.com, - ads.example.com, etc but not sfads.example.com - + Keyword: block, or any user defined value. + + - *ad*.example.com + Notes: - matches all of the above, and then some. + Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a + foreign User-Agent set with + hide-user-agent + more believable. + + + However some sites with content in different languages check the + Accept-Language: to decide which one to take by default. + Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without + changing the Accept-Language: header first. + + + Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the + Accept-Language: header to languages you understand, + or to languages that aren't wide spread. + + + Before setting the Accept-Language: header + to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to + make your requests unique and thus easier to trace. + If you don't plan to change this header frequently, + you should stick to a common language. + - .?pix.com + Example usage (section): - - 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. + + # Pretend to use Canadian language settings. +{+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \ ++hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \ +} +/ - - - - - - - -The Path Pattern - - - Privoxy uses Perl compatible regular expressions - (through the PCRE library) for - matching the path. - - - - There is an Appendix with a brief quick-start into regular - expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line - at http://www.pcre.org/man.txt. - You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (man perlre) - useful, which is available on-line at http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html. - - - - Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the /, - i.e. it matches as if it would start with a ^ (regular expression speak - for the beginning of a line). - - - - Please also note that matching in the path is case - INSENSITIVE by default, but you can switch to case - sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the - (?-i) switch: - www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.* will match only - documents whose path starts with PaTtErN in - exactly this capitalization. - - - - - - - - - -Actions - - All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled - somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a - +, and turned off if preceded with a -. So a - +action means do that action, e.g. - +block means please block URLs that match the - following patterns, and -block means don't - block URLs that match the following patterns, even if +block - previously applied. - - - - - Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and - separated by whitespace, like in - {+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}, - followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply. - Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section - of the actions file. - - - - There are three classes of actions: - - - - - - - Boolean, i.e the action can only be enabled or - disabled. Syntax: - - - - +name # enable action name - -name # disable action name - - - Example: +block - - - - - - - Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action. - Syntax: - - - - +name{param} # enable action and set parameter to param, - # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary - -name # disable action. The parameter can be omitted - - - Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action, - the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored. - - - Example: +hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 } - - - - - - Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions, - but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the - same URL, but with different parameters, all the parameters - from all matches are remembered. This is used for actions - that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple - headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax: - - - - +name{param} # enable action and add param to the list of parameters - -name{param} # remove the parameter param from the list of parameters - # If it was the last one left, disable the action. - -name # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list - - - Examples: +add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text} and - +filter{html-annoyances} - - - - - - - - If nothing is specified in any actions file, no actions are - taken. So in this case Privoxy would just be a - normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the - privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions - files will give a good starting point). - - - - Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions - to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or - in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files). For - multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified. - Actions files are processed in the order they are defined in - config (the default installation has three actions - files). It also quite possible for any given URL pattern to match more than - one pattern and thus more than one set of actions! - - - - - The list of valid Privoxy actions are: - - - - - - - - - - - -<emphasis>add-header</emphasis> - + +hide-content-disposition + Typical use: - Confuse log analysis, custom applications + Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser. @@ -3138,38 +4495,58 @@ forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a Effect: - Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server. + Deletes or replaces the Content-Disposition: HTTP header set by some servers. Type: - + - Multi-value. + Parameterized. - + Parameter: - Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked. - It is recommended that you use the X- prefix - for custom headers. - + Keyword: block, or any user defined value. + - + Notes: - This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple - headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what - HTTP headers are, you definitely don't need to worry about this - one. + Some servers set the Content-Disposition: HTTP header for + documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them. + The Content-Disposition: header contains the file name + the browser is supposed to use by default. + + + In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to + just view the document, without downloading it first, + even if it's just a simple text file or an image. + + + Removing the Content-Disposition: header helps + to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the + Content-Type: header, before they decide if they can + display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have + to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying + download menus. + + + It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion + to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set + it up. + + + This action will probably be removed in the future, + use server-header filters instead. @@ -3178,7 +4555,11 @@ forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a Example usage: - +add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks} + # Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker +{ -filter \ + +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\ + +hide-content-disposition{block} } + .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php @@ -3187,14 +4568,16 @@ forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a - -<emphasis>block</emphasis> - + +hide-if-modified-since + Typical use: - Block ads or other obnoxious content + Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions. @@ -3202,62 +4585,57 @@ forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a Effect: - Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the requests are not - forwarded to the remote server, but answered locally with a substitute page or image, - as determined by the handle-as-image - and set-image-blocker actions. + Deletes the If-Modified-Since: HTTP client header or modifies its value. Type: - + - Boolean. + Parameterized. Parameter: - N/A + + Keyword: block, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours. + - + Notes: - Privoxy sends a special BLOCKED page - for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request - was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the - force feature enabled). The BLOCKED page adapts to the available - screen space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or minaturized and text-only - if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using Privoxy - right now, you can take a look at the - BLOCKED - page. + Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real + reload instead of getting status code 304, which would cause the + browser to use a cached copy of the page. - - A very important exception occurs if both - block and handle-as-image, - apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If - set-image-blocker - (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter, - if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent. + + Instead of removing the header, hide-if-modified-since can + also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value. + You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and + Privoxy does the rest. A negative value means + subtracting, a positive value adding. - It is important to understand this process, in order - to understand how Privoxy deals with - ads and other unwanted content. + Randomizing the value of the If-Modified-Since: makes + it less likely that the server can use the time as a cookie replacement, + but you will run into caching problems if the random range is too high. - The filter - action can perform a very similar task, by blocking - banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the - document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place. - Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two. + It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let + overwrite-last-modified + handle the greater changes. + + + It is also recommended to use this action together with + crunch-if-none-match, + otherwise it's more or less pointless. @@ -3266,30 +4644,26 @@ forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a Example usage (section): - {+block} # Block and replace with "blocked" page -.nasty-stuff.example.com - -{+block +handle-as-image} # Block and replace with image -.ad.doubleclick.net -.ads.r.us - + # Let the browser revalidate but make tracking based on the time less likely. +{+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \ + +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \ + +crunch-if-none-match} +/ + - - - -<emphasis>deanimate-gifs</emphasis> - + +hide-forwarded-for-headers Typical use: - Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images. + Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request in the HTTP headers. @@ -3297,16 +4671,16 @@ forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a Effect: - De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image. + Deletes any existing X-Forwarded-for: HTTP header from client requests. Type: - + - Parameterized. + Boolean. @@ -3314,7 +4688,7 @@ forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a Parameter: - last or first + N/A @@ -3323,17 +4697,7 @@ forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a Notes: - This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If - the option first is given, the first frame of the animation - is used as the replacement. If last is given, the last - frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for - most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire - last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame). - - - You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF - objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like - a GIF. + It is safe and recommended to leave this on. @@ -3342,22 +4706,23 @@ forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a Example usage: - +deanimate-gifs{last} - + +hide-forwarded-for-headers + + - -<emphasis>downgrade-http-version</emphasis> + +hide-from-header Typical use: - Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1 + Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address @@ -3365,16 +4730,17 @@ forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a Effect: - Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0. + Deletes any existing From: HTTP header, or replaces it with the + specified string. Type: - + - Boolean. + Parameterized. @@ -3382,46 +4748,53 @@ forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a Parameter: - N/A + Keyword: block, or any user defined value. - + Notes: - This is a left-over from the time when Privoxy - didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the - unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server - out there. Not all (optional) HTTP/1.1 features are supported yet, so there - is a chance you might need this action. + The keyword block will completely remove the header + (not to be confused with the block + action). + + + Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web + server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that + is actually used by a real person. + + + This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send + From: headers anymore. - Example usage (section): + Example usage: - - {+downgrade-http-version} -problem-host.example.com - + + +hide-from-header{block} or + +hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com} + - - - -<emphasis>fast-redirects</emphasis> + + +hide-referrer + Typical use: - Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links + Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site @@ -3429,50 +4802,77 @@ problem-host.example.com Effect: - Cut off all but the last valid URL from requests. + Deletes the Referer: (sic) HTTP header from the client request, + or replaces it with a forged one. Type: - + - Boolean. + Parameterized. Parameter: - - N/A - + + + conditional-block to delete the header completely if the host has changed. + + + conditional-forge to forge the header if the host has changed. + + + block to delete the header unconditionally. + + + forge to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to. + + + Any other string to set a user defined referrer. + + - + Notes: - - Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they - will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a - parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs - resulting from this scheme typically look like: - http://some.place/click-tracker.cgi?target=http://some.where.else. - - Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the - URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable, - since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go - to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your - browser ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds - the advertisers. + conditional-block is the only parameter, + that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the + referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or + typed in the address directly. - This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement. - It is likely to break some sites. There is a bunch of exceptions to this action in - default.action, should you decide to turn it on by default. + Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host + allows the server owner to see the visitor's click path, + but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing + other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't + a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between + different requests. + + + Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to + failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any + requests, in an attempt to prevent their content from being + embedded or linked to elsewhere. + + + Both conditional-block and forge + will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page + are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case. + + + hide-referer is an alternate spelling of + hide-referrer and the two can be can be freely + substituted with each other. (referrer is the + correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it + requires it to be spelled as referer.) @@ -3480,25 +4880,25 @@ problem-host.example.com Example usage: - - {+fast-redirects} - + + +hide-referrer{forge} or + +hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/} + - - -<emphasis>filter</emphasis> + +hide-user-agent Typical use: - Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size), do fun text replacements, etc. + Try to conceal your type of browser and client operating system @@ -3506,15 +4906,15 @@ problem-host.example.com Effect: - Text documents, including HTML and JavaScript, to which this action applies, are filterd on-the-fly - through the specified regular expression based substitutions. + Replaces the value of the User-Agent: HTTP header + in client requests with the specified value. Type: - + Parameterized. @@ -3524,10 +4924,7 @@ problem-host.example.com Parameter: - The name of a filter, as defined in the filter file - (typically default.filter, set by the - filterfile - option in the config file) + Any user-defined string. @@ -3535,91 +4932,41 @@ problem-host.example.com Notes: + + + This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at this header in + order to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the + way, is NOT the right thing to do: good web sites + work browser-independently). + + - For your convenience, there are a bunch of pre-defined filters available - in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the example below for - a list. - - - This is potentially a very powerful feature! But rolling your own - filters requires a knowledge of regular expressions and HTML. - - - Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to - slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has - passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way - since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more - noticeable on slower connections. - - - At this time, Privoxy cannot (yet!) uncompress compressed - documents. If you want filtering to work on all documents, even those that - would normally be sent compressed, use the - prevent-compression - action in conjuction with filter. - - - Filtering can achieve some of the effects as the - block - action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. + Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of + browsers will access the same Privoxy is + not recommended. In single-user, single-browser + setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from + the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your + OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access + sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good + reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not + let Mozilla enter, yet forging to a + Netscape 6.1 user-agent works just fine. + (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-). - Feedback with suggestions for new or improved filters is particularly - welcome! + More information on known user-agent strings can be found at + http://www.user-agents.org/ + and + http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent. - + - Example usage (with filters from the distribution default.filter file): + Example usage: - - +filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse. - - - - +filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse - - - - +filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size (very efficient!) - - - - +filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come sneaking in the HTML or JS content - - - - +filter{popups} # Kill all popups in JS and HTML - - - - +filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking) - - - - +filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun! - - - - +filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizable - - - - +filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups) - - - - +filter{nimda} # Remove Nimda (virus) code. - - - - +filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects - - - - +filter{crude-parental} # Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez" + +hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)} @@ -3628,14 +4975,13 @@ problem-host.example.com - -<emphasis>handle-as-image</emphasis> - + +inspect-jpegs Typical use: - Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images if they get blocked) + Try to protect against a MS buffer over-run in JPEG processing @@ -3643,12 +4989,7 @@ problem-host.example.com Effect: - This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images. - If the block action also applies, - the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML blocked - page, or a replacement image (as determined by the set-image-blocker action) will be sent to the - client as a substitute for the blocked content. + Protect against a known exploit @@ -3674,43 +5015,27 @@ problem-host.example.com Notes: - The below generic example section is actually part of default.action. - It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should - be left intact. - - - Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with - block, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't - reflect the file type, like in the second example section. + See Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-028. JPEG images are one of the most + common image types found across the Internet. The exploit as described can + allow execution of code on the target system, giving an attacker access + to the system in question by merely planting an altered JPEG image, which + would have no obvious indications of what lurks inside. This action + tries to prevent this exploit if delivered through unencrypted HTTP. - Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (inline) ad - frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly. - Forcing handle-as-image in this situation will not replace the - ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages. + Note that the exploit mentioned is several years old + and it's unlikely that your client is still vulnerable + against it. This action may be removed in one of the + next releases. + - Example usage (sections): + Example usage: - - # Generic image extensions: -# -{+handle-as-image} -/.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$ - -# These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be -# blocked as images: -# -{+block +handle-as-image} -some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash - -# Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content? -ad.doubleclick.net - - + +inspect-jpegs @@ -3718,14 +5043,14 @@ ad.doubleclick.net - -<emphasis>hide-forwarded-for-headers</emphasis> + +kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"> Typical use: - Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request + Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows (deprecated) @@ -3733,8 +5058,8 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Effect: - Deletes any existing X-Forwarded-for: HTTP header from client requests, - and prevents adding a new one. + While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens + pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly. @@ -3760,13 +5085,44 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Notes: - It is fairly safe to leave this on. + This action is basically a built-in, hardwired special-purpose filter + action, but there are important differences: For kill-popups, + the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while + downloading. But kill-popups doesn't catch as many pop-ups as + filter{all-popups} + does and is not as smart as filter{unsolicited-popups} + is. + + + Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you + can use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make + sense to combine it with any filter action, + since as soon as one filter applies, + the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the advantage of + the kill-popups action over its filter equivalent. + + + Killing all pop-ups unconditionally is problematic. Many shops and banks rely on + pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and the filter{unsolicited-popups} + does a better job of catching only the unwanted ones. + + + If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those + really nasty windows that appear when you close an other + one), you might want to use + filter{js-annoyances} + instead. + + + This action is most appropriate for browsers that don't have any controls + for unwanted pop-ups. Not recommended for general usage. - This action is scheduled for improvement: It should be able to generate forged - X-Forwarded-for: headers using random IP addresses from a specified network, - to make successive requests from the same client look like requests from a pool of different - users sharing the same proxy. + This action doesn't work very reliable and may be removed in future releases. @@ -3774,9 +5130,7 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Example usage: - - +hide-forwarded-for-headers - + +kill-popups @@ -3784,14 +5138,14 @@ ad.doubleclick.net - -<emphasis>hide-from-header</emphasis> + +limit-connect Typical use: - Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address + Prevent abuse of Privoxy as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites @@ -3799,8 +5153,7 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Effect: - Deletes any existing From: HTTP header, or replaces it with the - specified string. + Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable. @@ -3817,7 +5170,8 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Parameter: - Keyword: block, or any user defined value. + A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum + defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K). @@ -3826,44 +5180,166 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Notes: - The keyword block will completely remove the header - (not to be confused with the block - action). - - - Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web - server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that - is actually used by a real person. + By default, i.e. if no limit-connect action applies, + Privoxy only allows HTTP CONNECT + requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use + limit-connect if more fine-grained control is desired + for some or all destinations. - This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send - From: headers anymore. + The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites + (https:// URLs) through proxies. It works very simply: + the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then + short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server. + This means CONNECT-enabled proxies can be used as TCP relays very easily. + + + Privoxy relays HTTPS traffic without seeing + the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent &my-app;'s + filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely. + If you plan to disable SSL by default, consider enabling + treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks + as well, to be able to quickly create exceptions. + + + + + + Example usages: + + + + + + +limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified. ++limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK. ++limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK. ++limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK ++limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed + + + + + +prevent-compression + - Example usage: + Typical use: - +hide-from-header{block} or - +hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com} + Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be + passed through filters. + + + + + + Effect: + + + Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer. + + + + + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + + + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + + + + Notes: + + + More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which + is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the filter, deanimate-gifs + and kill-popups actions need + access to the uncompressed data. + + + When compiled with zlib support (available since &my-app; 3.0.7), content that should be + filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't have to worry about this action. + If you are using an older &my-app; version, or one that hasn't been compiled with zlib + support, this action can be used to convince the server to send the content uncompressed. + + + Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is seldom decreased by less than 50%, + for markup-heavy instances like news feeds saving more than 90% of the original size isn't + unusual. + + + Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should only + enable this action if you really need it. As of &my-app; 3.0.7 it's disabled in all + predefined action settings. + + + Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed + documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an empty document body, + some IIS versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable + prevent-compression per default, you might want to add + exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that. + + + + + + Example usage (sections): + + + +# Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter +# +{ +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression } +# Match only these sites + .google. + sourceforge.net + sf.net + +# Or instead, we could set a universal default: +# +{ +prevent-compression } + / # Match all sites + +# Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites: +# +{ -prevent-compression } +.compusa.com/ + - -<emphasis>hide-referrer</emphasis> - + +overwrite-last-modified + Typical use: - Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site + Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions. @@ -3871,8 +5347,7 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Effect: - Deletes the Referer: (sic) HTTP header from the client request, - or replaces it with a forged one. + Deletes the Last-Modified: HTTP server header or modifies its value. @@ -3888,17 +5363,10 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Parameter: - - - block to delete the header completely. - - - forge to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to. - - - Any other string to set a user defined referrer. - - + + One of the keywords: block, reset-to-request-time + and randomize + @@ -3906,27 +5374,51 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Notes: - forge is the preferred option here, since some servers will - not send images back otherwise, in an attempt to prevent their valuable - content from being embedded elsewhere (and hence, without being surrounded - by their banners. + Removing the Last-Modified: header is useful for filter + testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status + code 304, which would cause the browser to reuse the old + version of the page. + + + The randomize option overwrites the value of the + Last-Modified: header with a randomly chosen time + between the original value and the current time. In theory the server + could send each document with a different Last-Modified: + header to track visits without using cookies. Randomize + makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents. + + + reset-to-request-time overwrites the value of the + Last-Modified: header with the current time. You could use + this option together with + hided-if-modified-since + to further customize your random range. + + + The preferred parameter here is randomize. It is safe + to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct. + If the server sets the Last-Modified: header to the time + of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same. + Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with + hided-if-modified-since, + just to be sure. + + + It is also recommended to use this action together with + crunch-if-none-match. - - hide-referer is an alternate spelling of - hide-referrer and the two can be can be freely - substituted with each other. (referrer is the - correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it - requires it to be spelled as referer.) - Example usage: - - +hide-referrer{forge} or - +hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/} + + # Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions +{ +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \ + +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \ + +crunch-if-none-match} +/ @@ -3935,14 +5427,18 @@ ad.doubleclick.net - -<emphasis>hide-user-agent</emphasis> - + +redirect + Typical use: - Conceal your type of browser and client operating system + + Redirect requests to other sites. + @@ -3950,8 +5446,8 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Effect: - Replaces the value of the User-Agent: HTTP header - in client requests with the specified value. + Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved + to another location and the browser should get it from there. @@ -3960,7 +5456,7 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Type: - Parameterized. + Parameterized @@ -3968,7 +5464,7 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Parameter: - Any user-defined string. + An absolute URL or a single pcrs command. @@ -3977,46 +5473,63 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Notes: - Warning! This breaks many web sites that depend on this in order - to customize their content for the different browser types by looking - at this header (which, btw, is NOT a smart way to - do that!). + Requests to which this action applies are answered with a + HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is + either provided as parameter, or derived by applying a + single pcrs command to the original URL. - Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever diffrerent types of - browsers will access the same Privoxy is - not recommended. In single-user, single-browser - setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from - the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your - OS. + This action will be ignored if you use it together with + block. + It can be combined with + fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} + to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL. - This action is scheduled for improvement. + Use this action carefully, make sure not to create redirection loops + and be aware that using your own redirects might make it + possible to fingerprint your requests. - + - Example usage: + Example usages: - +hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)} + # Replace example.com's style sheet with another one +{ +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} } + example.com/stylesheet\.css + +# Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site +# (relies on the browser accept and forward invalid URLs to &my-app;) +{ +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} } + a + +# Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles +# (Note the $ at the end of the URL pattern to make sure +# the request for the rewritten URL isn't redirected as well) +{+redirect{s@$@&mode=expanded@}} +undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$ + - -<emphasis>kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"></emphasis> + +send-vanilla-wafer Typical use: - Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows + + Feed log analysis scripts with useless data. + @@ -4024,8 +5537,8 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Effect: - While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens - pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly. + Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any copyright + on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track you. @@ -4051,1256 +5564,2231 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Notes: - This action is easily confused with a built-in harwired filter - action, but there are important differences: For kill-popups, - the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while - downloading. But kill-popups doesn't catch as many pop-ups as - filter{popups} does. + The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you. - Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you - can use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make - sense to combine it with any filter action, - since as soon as one filter applies, - the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the advantage of - the kill-popups action over it's filter equivalent. + This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration. + + + + + Example usage: + - Killing all pop-ups is a dangerous business. Many shops and banks rely on - pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and killing only the unwanted pop-ups - would require artificial intelligance in Privoxy. - If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those - really nasty windows that appear when you close an other - one), you might want to use - filter{js-annoyances} instead. + +send-vanilla-wafer + + + + + + + + + +send-wafer - + + Multi-value. + + + + + Parameter: + + + A string of the form name=value. + + + + + + Notes: + + + Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request, + resulting in multiple cookies being sent. + + + This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration. + + + + + Example usage (section): + + + {+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}} +my-internal-testing-server.void + + + + + + + + + +server-header-filter + + + + Typical use: + + + Rewrite or remove single server headers. - --> - - Example usage: - - +kill-popups - - - - + + Effect: + + + All server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly + through the specified regular expression based substitutions. + + + + + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + + + + Parameter: + + + The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the + filter files. + + + + + + Notes: + + + Server-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to + all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside + you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z. + You can do that by using tags though. + + + Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished + and use their output as input. + + + Please refer to the filter file chapter + to learn which server-header filters are available by default, and how to + create your own. + + + + + + Example usage (section): + + + +{+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}} +example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html + +{+server-header-filter{xml-to-html}} +example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not + + + + + + + + + + + +server-header-tagger + + + + Typical use: + + + Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header. + + + + + + Effect: + + + Server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through + the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as + tag. + + + + + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + + + + Parameter: + + + The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the + filter files. + + + + + + Notes: + + + Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its own, + and as the header isn't modified, each tagger sees + the original. + + + Server-header taggers are executed before all other header actions + that modify server headers. Their tags can be used to control + all of the other server-header actions, the content filters + and the crunch actions (redirect + and block). + + + Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header taggers + doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the server's log file. + + + + + + + Example usage (section): + + + +# Tag every request with the content type declared by the server +{+server-header-tagger{content-type}} +/ + + + + + + + + + + + +session-cookies-only + + + + Typical use: + + + Allow only temporary session cookies (for the current + browser session only). + + + + + + Effect: + + + Deletes the expires field from Set-Cookie: + server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and + forget them in between sessions. + + + + + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + + + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + + + + Notes: + + + This is less strict than crunch-incoming-cookies / + crunch-outgoing-cookies and allows you to browse + websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly. + + + Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by + session-cookies-only and will forget about them between sessions. + This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so + that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all + sites, and is the recommended setting. + + + It makes no sense at all to use session-cookies-only + together with crunch-incoming-cookies or + crunch-outgoing-cookies. If you do, cookies + will be plainly killed. + + + Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an expires + field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure. + + + This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored + previously by the browser before starting Privoxy. + These would have to be removed manually. + + + Privoxy also uses + the content-cookies filter + to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by + session-cookies-only. + + + + + + Example usage: + + + +session-cookies-only + + + + + + + + + +set-image-blocker + + + + Typical use: + + Choose the replacement for blocked images + + + + + Effect: + + + This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If both + block and handle-as-image also + apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image, + then the parameter of this action decides what will be + sent as a replacement. + + + + + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + + + + Parameter: + + + + + pattern to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually + decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted. + + + + + blank to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear + completely, but makes it hard to detect where Privoxy has blocked + images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if Privoxy + has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons. + + + + + target-url to + send a redirect to target-url. You can redirect + to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via file:/// URL. + (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system). + + + A good application of redirects is to use special Privoxy-built-in + URLs, which send the built-in images, as target-url. + This has the same visual effect as specifying blank or pattern in + the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting + it over and over again. + + + + + + + + Notes: + + + The URLs for the built-in images are http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=type, where type is + either blank or pattern. + + + There is a third (advanced) type, called auto. It is NOT to be + used in set-image-blocker, but meant for use from filters. + Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image. + + + + + + Example usage: + + + Built-in pattern: + + + +set-image-blocker{pattern} + + + Redirect to the BSD daemon: + + + +set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif} + + + Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching: + + + +set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern} + + + + + + + + + +treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks + + + + Typical use: + + Block forbidden connects with an easy to find error message. + + + + + Effect: + + + If this action is enabled, Privoxy no longer + makes a difference between forbidden connects and ordinary blocks. + + + + + + Type: + + + Boolean + + + + + Parameter: + + N/A + + + + + Notes: + + + By default Privoxy answers + forbidden Connect requests + with a short error message inside the headers. If the browser doesn't display + headers (most don't), you just see an empty page. + + + With this action enabled, Privoxy displays + the message that is used for ordinary blocks instead. If you decide + to make an exception for the page in question, you can do so by + following the See why link. + + + For Connect requests the clients tell + Privoxy which host they are interested + in, but not which document they plan to get later. As a result, the + Go there anyway wouldn't work and is therefore suppressed. + + + + + + Example usage: + + + +treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks + + + + + + + + + +Summary + + Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to + misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways + a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header + content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard + and fast rules for all sites. See the Appendix for a brief example on troubleshooting + actions. + + + + + + +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 name can contain any character except space, tab, + =, + { and }, but we strongly + recommend that you only use a to z, + 0 to 9, +, and -. + Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a + + or - sign, since they are merely textually + expanded. + + + Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they must be + defined in a special section at the top of the file! + And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may + have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible + within that file. + + + There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently + used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you + decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called + shop, you can later change your policy on shops in + one place, and your changes will take effect everywhere + in the actions file where the shop alias is used. Calling aliases + by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable. + + + Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though: + Privoxy's built-in web-based action file + editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands + them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved, + but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases + with it. + + + + Now let's define some aliases... + + + + + # Useful custom aliases we can use later. + # + # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section + # must be at the top of the actions file! + # + {{alias}} + + # These aliases just save typing later: + # (Note that some already use other aliases!) + # + +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies + -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies + +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image + allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies} + + # These aliases define combinations of actions + # that are useful for certain types of sites: + # + fragile = -block -filter -crunch-all-cookies -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups -prevent-compression + + shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups + + # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-) + # + c0 = +crunch-all-cookies + c1 = -crunch-all-cookies + + + + ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an + actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further + up for the / pattern): + + + + + # These sites are either very complex or very keen on + # user data and require minimal interference to work: + # + {fragile} + .office.microsoft.com + .windowsupdate.microsoft.com + # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com + mail.google.com + + # Shopping sites: + # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data) + # + {shop} + .quietpc.com + .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com + mybank.example.com + + # These shops require pop-ups: + # + {-kill-popups -filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}} + .dabs.com + .overclockers.co.uk + + + + Aliases like shop and fragile are typically used for + problem sites that require more than one action to be disabled + in order to function properly. + + + + + +Actions Files Tutorial + + The above chapters have shown which actions files + there are and how they are organized, how actions are specified and applied + to URLs, how patterns work, and how to + define and use aliases. Now, let's look at an + example default.action and user.action + file and see how all these pieces come together: + + +default.action + + +Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose: + + + + # Sample default.action file <ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net> + + + +Then, since this is the default.action file, the +first section is a special section for internal use that you needn't +change or worry about: + + + + +########################################################################## +# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY. +########################################################################## + +{{settings}} +for-privoxy-version=3.0 + + + +After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example +section from the above chapter on aliases, +that also explains why and how aliases are used: + + + + +########################################################################## +# Aliases +########################################################################## +{{alias}} + + # These aliases just save typing later: + # (Note that some already use other aliases!) + # + +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies + -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies + +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image + mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies} + + # These aliases define combinations of actions + # that are useful for certain types of sites: + # + fragile = -block -filter -crunch-all-cookies -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups + shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups + + + + Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied + by URL patterns to which they apply. Remember all actions + are disabled when matching starts, so we have to explicitly + enable the ones we want. + + + + The first regular section is probably the most important. It has only + one pattern, /, but this pattern + matches all URLs. Therefore, the + set of actions used in this default section will + be applied to all requests as a start. It can be partly or + wholly overridden by later matches further down this file, or in user.action, + but it will still be largely responsible for your overall browsing + experience. + + + + Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is + no need to disable any actions here. (Remember: a + + preceding the action name enables the action, a - disables!). + Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into + multiple lines with line continuation. + + + + +########################################################################## +# "Defaults" section: +########################################################################## + { \ + +deanimate-gifs \ + +filter{html-annoyances} \ + +filter{refresh-tags} \ + +filter{webbugs} \ + +filter{ie-exploits} \ + +hide-forwarded-for-headers \ + +hide-from-header{block} \ + +hide-referrer{forge} \ + +prevent-compression \ + +session-cookies-only \ + +set-image-blocker{pattern} \ + } + / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns. + + + + The default behavior is now set. + + + + + The first of our specialized sections is concerned with fragile + sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either + very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that + make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use + our pre-defined fragile alias instead of stating the list + of actions explicitly: + + + + +########################################################################## +# Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set: +########################################################################## + +# "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above): +# +{ fragile } +.office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise! +.windowsupdate.microsoft.com +mail.google.com + + + + Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically + require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping + carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias: + + + + +# Shopping sites: +# +{ shop } +.quietpc.com +.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com +.jungle.com +.scan.co.uk + + + + + + The fast-redirects + action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable + it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves: + + + + +{ -fast-redirects } +login.yahoo.com +edit.*.yahoo.com +.google.com +.altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http +.altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http +.nytimes.com + + + + It is important that Privoxy knows which + URLs belong to images, so that if they are to + be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page. + Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it + would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it + would feed the advertisers (in terms of money and + information). We can mark any URL as an image with the handle-as-image action, + and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a + good start: + + + + +########################################################################## +# Images: +########################################################################## + +# Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get +# blocked further down this file: +# +{ +handle-as-image } +/.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$ + + + + And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to + generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the + request is for an image. Hence we block them and + mark them as images in one go, with the help of our + +block-as-image alias defined above. (We could of + course just as well use +block + +handle-as-image here.) + Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the + set-image-blocker + action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its + +set-image-blocker{pattern} + action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated: + + + + +# Known ad generators: +# +{ +block-as-image } +ar.atwola.com +.ad.doubleclick.net +.ad.*.doubleclick.net +.a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$ +.a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$ +bs*.gsanet.com +.qkimg.net + + + + One of the most important jobs of Privoxy + is to block banners. Many of these can be blocked + by the filter{banners-by-size} + action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner + images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request + them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally + doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we + need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the + block action to them. + + + First comes many generic patterns, which do most of the work, by + matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes + a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here + to keep the example short: + + + + +########################################################################## +# Block these fine banners: +########################################################################## +{ +block } + +# Generic patterns: +# +ad*. +.*ads. +banner?. +count*. +/.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?) +/(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/ + +# Site-specific patterns (abbreviated): +# +.hitbox.com + + + + It's quite remarkable how many advertisers actually call their banner + servers ads.company.com, or call the directory + in which the banners are stored simply banners. So the above + generic patterns are surprisingly effective. + + + But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want + to block. The pattern .*ads. e.g. catches + nasty-ads.nasty-corp.com as intended, + but also downloads.sourcefroge.net or + adsl.some-provider.net. So here come some + well-known exceptions to the +block + section above. + + + Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL + downloads.sourcefroge.net: Initially, all actions are deactivated, + so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the + URL, but just deactivates the block + action once again. Then it matches .*ads., an exception to the + general non-blocking policy, and suddenly + +block applies. And now, it'll match + .*loads., where -block + applies, so (unless it matches again further down) it ends up + with no block action applying. + + + +########################################################################## +# Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns: +########################################################################## - - -<emphasis>limit-connect</emphasis> +# By domain: +# +{ -block } +adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*) +adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads) +adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either) +ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*) +.edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!)) +.*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc) + +# By path: +# +/.*loads/ - - - Typical use: - - Prevent abuse of Privoxy as a TCP relay - - +# Site-specific: +# +www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced) +www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv + - - Effect: - - - Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable. - - - + + Filtering source code can have nasty side effects, + so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net, + and all paths with cvs in them. Note that + -filter + disables all filters in one fell swoop! + - - Type: - - - Parameterized. - - + + +# Don't filter code! +# +{ -filter } +/(.*/)?cvs +bugzilla. +developer. +wiki. +.sourceforge.net + - - Parameter: - - - A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum - defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K). - - - - - - Notes: - - - By default, i.e. if no limit-connect action applies, - Privoxy only allows HTTP CONNECT - requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use - limit-connect if more fine-grained control is desired - for some or all destinations. - - - The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites - (https:// URLs) through proxies. It works very simply: - the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then - short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server. - This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be - abused as TCP relays very easily. - - - If you don't know what any of this means, there probably is no reason to - change this one, since the default is already very restrictive. - - - + + The actual default.action is of course much more + comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works. + - - Example usages: - - - - - - +limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified. -+limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK. -+limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK. -+limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK (gaping security hole!) - - - - - - -<emphasis>prevent-compression</emphasis> +user.action - - - Typical use: - - - Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be - passed through filters - - - + + So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies, + which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now, + you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that + are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would + be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should + be placed in user.action, which is parsed after all other + actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously + defined actions. user.action is also a + safe place for your personal settings, since + default.action is actively maintained by the + Privoxy developers and you'll probably want + to install updated versions from time to time. + - - Effect: - - - Adds a header to the request that asks for uncompressed transfer. - - - + + So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in + user.action: + - - Type: - - - Boolean. - - - - Parameter: - - - N/A - - - - - - Notes: - - - More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which - is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the filter, deanimate-gifs - and kill-popups actions to work, - Privoxy needs access to the uncompressed data. - Unfortunately, Privoxy can't yet(!) uncompress, filter, and - re-compress the content on the fly. So if you want to ensure that all websites, including - those that normally compress, can be filtered, you need to use this action. - - - This will slow down transfers from those websites, though. If you use any of the above-mentioned - actions, you will typically want to use prevent-compression in conjunction - with them. - - - Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed - documents correctly (they send an empty document body). If you use prevent-compression - per default, you'll have to add exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that. - - - + - - Example usage (sections): - - - # Set default: + + +# My user.action file. <fred@example.com> + + + + As aliases are local to the actions + file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from + default.action, unless you repeat them here: + + + + +# Aliases are local to the file they are defined in. +# (Re-)define aliases for this file: +# +{{alias}} +# +# These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should +# be self explanatory. +# ++crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies +-crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies + allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only + allow-popups = -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups ++block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image +-block-as-image = -block + +# These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for +# certain types of sites: # -{+prevent-compression} -/ # Match all sites +fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups +shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups -# Make exceptions for ill sites: +# Allow ads for selected useful free sites: # -{-prevent-compression} -www.debianhelp.org -www.pclinuxonline.com - - - +allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link} - - +# Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting +# MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents. +handle-as-text = -filter +-content-type-overwrite{text/plain} +-force-text-mode -hide-content-disposition + - - -<emphasis>crunch-outgoing-cookies</emphasis> + + Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and + you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like + to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The + allow-all-cookies alias defined above does exactly + that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the + processing of cookies to make them only temporary. + - - - Typical use: - - - Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system - - - + + +{ allow-all-cookies } + sourceforge.net + .yahoo.com + .msdn.microsoft.com + .redhat.com + - - Effect: - - - Deletes any Cookie: HTTP headers from client requests. - - - + + Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all: + - - Type: - - - Boolean. - - + + +{ -filter } + .your-home-banking-site.com + - - Parameter: - - - N/A - - - - - - Notes: - - - This action is only concerned with outgoing cookies. For - incoming cookies, use - crunch-incoming-cookies. - Use both to disable cookies completely. - - - It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction - with the session-cookies-only action, - since it would prevent the session cookies from being read. - - - + + Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons: + - - Example usage: - - - +crunch-outgoing-cookies - - - + + +# Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might +# erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters: +# +.tldp.org +/(.*/)?selfhtml/ - - +# And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type, +# so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering: +# +stupid-server.example.com/ + + + + Example of a simple block action. Say you've + seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of. + You have right-clicked the image, selected copy image location + and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a + { +block } section. Note that { +handle-as-image + } need not be specified, since all URLs ending in + .gif will be tagged as images by the general rules as set + in default.action anyway: + + + + +{ +block } + www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif + another.example.net/more/junk/here/ + + + + The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner + farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which + makes it impossible for Privoxy to guess + the file type just by looking at the URL. + You can use the +block-as-image alias defined above for + these cases. + Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an + image are typically rendered as a broken image icon by the + browser. Use cautiously. + + + +{ +block-as-image } + .doubleclick.net + .fastclick.net + /Realmedia/ads/ + ar.atwola.com/ + - - -<emphasis>crunch-incoming-cookies</emphasis> + + Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine, + but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you + were again too lazy to give feedback, so + you just used the fragile alias on the site, and + -- whoa! -- it worked. The fragile + aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also, + good for testing purposes to see if it is Privoxy + that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular sites + that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers: + - - - Typical use: - - - Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system - - - + + +{ fragile } + .forbes.com + webmail.example.com + .mybank.com + - - Effect: - - - Deletes any Set-Cookie: HTTP headers from server replies. - - - + + You like the fun text replacements in default.filter, + but it is disabled in the distributed actions file. + So you'd like to turn it on in your private, + update-safe config, once and for all: + - - Type: - - - Boolean. - - + + +{ +filter{fun} } + / # For ALL sites! + - - Parameter: - - - N/A - - - - - - Notes: - - - This action is only concerned with incoming cookies. For - outgoing cookies, use - crunch-outgoing-cookies. - Use both to disable cookies completely. - - - It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction - with the session-cookies-only action, - since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. - - - + + Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions + to the filters in default.action for things that + really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since + user.action has the last word, these exceptions + won't be valid for the fun filtering specified here. + - - Example usage: - - - +crunch-incoming-cookies - - - - - + + You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are + funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements + to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those + sites that you feel provide value to you: + + + +{ allow-ads } + .sourceforge.net + .slashdot.org + .osdn.net + - - -<emphasis>session-cookies-only</emphasis> + + Note that allow-ads has been aliased to + -block, + -filter{banners-by-size}, and + -filter{banners-by-link} above. + - - - Typical use: - - - Allow only temporary session cookies (for the current browser session only). - - - + + Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type + application/x-sh which typically would open a download type + dialog. In my case, I want to look at the shell script, and then I can save + it should I choose to. + - - Effect: - - - Deletes the expires field from Set-Cookie: server headers. - Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and forget them in between sessions. - - - + + +{ handle-as-text } + /.*\.sh$ + - - Type: - - - Boolean. - - + + user.action is generally the best place to define + exceptions and additions to the default policies of + default.action. Some actions are safe to have their + default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a + blank image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for + ALL sites. / of course matches all URL + paths and patterns: + - - Parameter: - - - N/A - - - - - - Notes: - - - This is less strict than crunch-incoming-cookies / - crunch-outgoing-cookies and allows you to browse - websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly. - - - Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by - session-cookies-only and will forget about them between sessions. - This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so - that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all - sites, and is the recommended setting. - - - It makes no sense at all to use session-cookies-only - together with crunch-incoming-cookies or - crunch-outgoing-cookies. If you do, cookies - will be plainly killed. - - - Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an expires - field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure. - - - + + +{ +set-image-blocker{blank} } +/ # ALL sites + - - Example usage: - - - +session-cookies-only - - - - + + - - -<emphasis>send-vanilla-wafer</emphasis> + - - - Typical use: - - - Feed log analysis scripts with useless data. - - - + - - Effect: - - - Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any copyright - on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track you. - - - + - - Type: - - - Boolean. - - + +Filter Files - - Parameter: - - - N/A - - - - - - Notes: - - - The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you. - - - This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration. - - - + + On-the-fly text substitutions need + to be defined in a filter file. Once defined, they + can then be invoked as an action. + - - Example usage: - - - +send-vanilla-wafer - - - + + &my-app; supports three different filter actions: + filter to + rewrite the content that is send to the client, + client-header-filter + to rewrite headers that are send by the client, and + server-header-filter + to rewrite headers that are send by the server. + - - + + &my-app; also supports two tagger actions: + client-header-tagger + and + server-header-tagger. + Taggers and filters use the same syntax in the filter files, the difference + is that taggers don't modify the text they are filtering, but use a rewritten + version of the filtered text as tag. The tags can then be used to change the + applying actions through sections with tag-patterns. + - - -<emphasis>send-wafer</emphasis> + + Multiple filter files can be defined through the filterfile config directive. The filters + as supplied by the developers are located in + default.filter. It is recommended that any locally + defined or modified filters go in a separately defined file such as + user.filter. + - - - Typical use: - - - Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data. - - - + + Common tasks for content filters are to eliminate common annoyances in + HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows, + exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the + infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain + width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs), + or just to have fun. + - - Effect: - - - Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request. - - - + + Enabled content filters are applied to any content whose + Content Type header is recognised as a sign + of text-based content, with the exception of text/plain. + Use the force-text-mode action + to also filter other content. + + + + Substitutions are made at the source level, so if you want to roll + your own filters, you should first be familiar with HTML syntax, + and, of course, regular expressions. + - - Type: - - - Multi-value. - - + + Just like the actions files, the + filter file is organized in sections, which are called filters + here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with one of the + keywords FILTER:, + CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER: or SERVER-HEADER-FILTER: + followed by the filter's name, and a short (one line) + description of what it does. Below that line + come the jobs, i.e. lines that define the actual + text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter + should describe what the filter eliminates. The + comment is used in the web-based + user interface. + - - Parameter: - - - A string of the form name=value. - - - + + Once a filter called name has been defined + in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form + +filter{name} + in any actions file. + - - Notes: - - - Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request, - resulting in multiple cookies being sent. - - - This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration. - - - - - Example usage (section): - - - {+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}} -my-internal-testing-server.void - - - - - + + Filter definitions start with a header line that contains the filter + type, the filter name and the filter description. + A content filter header line for a filter called foo could look + like this: + + + FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar" + - - -<emphasis>set-image-blocker</emphasis> + + Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that + define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified + in a syntax that imitates Perl's + s/// operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you + will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the + PCRS documentation for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most + notably, the non-standard option letter U is supported, + which turns the default to ungreedy matching. + - - - Typical use: - - Choose the replacement for blocked images - - + + If you are new to + Regular + Expressions, you might want to take a look at + the Appendix on regular expressions, and + see the Perl + manual for + the + s/// operator's syntax and Perl-style regular + expressions in general. + The below examples might also help to get you started. + - - Effect: - - - This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If both - block and handle-as-image also - apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image, - then the parameter of this action decides what will be - sent as a replacement. - - - - - Type: - - - Parameterized. - - + - - Parameter: - - - - - pattern to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually - decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted. - - - - - blank to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear - completely, but makes it hard to detect where Privoxy has blocked - images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if Privoxy - has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons. - - - - - target-url to - send a redirect to target-url. You can redirect - to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem (via file:/// URL). - - - A good application of redirects is to use special Privoxy-built-in - URLs, which send the built-in images, as target-url. - This has the same visual effect as specifying blank or pattern in - the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting - it over and over again. - - - - - +Filter File Tutorial + + Now, let's complete our foo content filter. We have already defined + the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace + foo with bar, there is only one (trivial) job + needed: + - - Notes: - - - The URLs for the built-in images are http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=type, where type is - either blank or pattern. - - - There is a third (advanced) type, called auto. It is NOT to be - used in set-image-blocker, but meant for use from filters. - Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image. - - - + + s/foo/bar/ + - - Example usage: - - - Built-in pattern: - - - +set-image-blocker{pattern} - - - Redirect to the BSD devil: - - - +set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif} - - - Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching: - - - +set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern} - - - - - + + But wait! Didn't the comment say that all occurrences + of foo should be replaced? Our current job will only take + care of the first foo on each page. For global substitution, + we'll need to add the g option: + + + s/foo/bar/g + - - -Summary - Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to - misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways - a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header - content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard - and fast rules for all sites. See the Appendix for a brief example on troubleshooting - actions. + Our complete filter now looks like this: + + + FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar" +s/foo/bar/g - - - - -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 name can contain any character except space, tab, - =, - { and }, but we strongly - recommend that you only use a to z, - 0 to 9, +, and -. - Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a - + or - sign, since they are merely textually - expanded. + Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see + a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript + abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other: + + + + + +FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse + +# Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm +# +s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg + - Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they must be - defined in a special section at the top of the file! - And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may - have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible - within that file. + Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses + | as the delimiter instead of /, because + the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped + by a backslash (\). + - There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently - used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you - decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called - shop, you can later chenge your policy on shops in - one place, and your changes will take effect everywhere - in the actions file where the shop alias is used. Calling aliases - by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable. + Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <script.* + enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and * + means: Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself, this + matches <script, followed by any text, i.e. + it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag. + - Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though: - Privoxy's built-in web-based action file - editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands - them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved, - but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit the files this way. - This is likely to change in future versions of Privoxy. + That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: document\.referrer + matches only the exact string document.referrer. The dot needed to + be escaped, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its + special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is: + Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including, + the text document.referrer, if both are present + in the page (and appear in that order). - Now let's define some aliases... + But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses, + is .*</script>. You already know what .* + means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script> + tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text + document.referrer appears somewhere in between. - - # Useful custom aliases we can use later. - # - # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section - # must be at the top of the actions file! - # - {{alias}} + This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses: + The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be + remembered and be available through the variables $1, $2, ... in + the substitute. The U option switches to ungreedy matching, which means + that the first .* in the pattern will only eat up all + text in between <script and the first occurrence + of document.referrer, and that the second .* will + only span the text up to the first </script> + tag. Furthermore, the s option says that the match may span + multiple lines in the page, and the g option again means that the + substitution is global. + - # These aliases just save typing later: - # - +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies - -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies - +imageblock = +block +handle-as-image + + So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text + document.referrer. Remember the parts of the script from + (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string + document.referrer as $1, and the part following + that string, up to and including the closing tag, as $2. + - # These aliases define combinations of actions - # that are useful for certain types of sites: - # - fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups - shop = -crunch-all-cookies -fast-redirects + + Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So + lets look at the substitute: $1"Not Your Business!"$2 is + easy to read: The text remembered as $1, followed by + "Not Your Business!" (including + the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as $2. + This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part + (the document.referrer) replaced by "Not Your + Business!". + - # Aliases defined from other aliases, for really lazy people ;-) - # - c0 = +crunch-all-cookies - c1 = -crunch-all-cookies + + The whole job now reads: Replace document.referrer by + "Not Your Business!" wherever it appears inside a + <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax, + since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid + string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer + information anymore. - ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an - actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further - up for the / pattern): + We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but + this time only point out the constructs of special interest: - # These sites are either very complex or very keen on - # user data and require minimal interference to work: - # - {fragile} - .office.microsoft.com - .windowsupdate.microsoft.com - .nytimes.com +# The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah +# +s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig + - # Shopping sites: - # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data) - # - {shop} - .quietpc.com - .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com - .scan.co.uk + + \s stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline, + carriage return, form feed), so that \s* means: zero + or more whitespace. The ? in .*? + makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the U + option is not set). The ['"] construct means: a single + or a double quote. Finally, \1 is + a back-reference to the first parenthesis just like $1 above, + with the difference that in the pattern, a backslash indicates + a back-reference, whereas in the substitute, it's the dollar. + - # These shops require pop-ups: - # - {shop -kill-popups -filter{popups}} - .dabs.com - .overclockers.co.uk + + So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted + strings to the window.status object with a dummy assignment + (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with + real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless + descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when + you move your mouse over links. - Aliases like shop and fragile are often used for - problem sites that require some actions to be disabled - in order to function properly. + +# Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html +# +s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU - - - -Sample Actions Files - Remember that the meaning of any of the above references is reversed by preceding - the action with a -, in place of the +. Also, - that some actions are turned on in the default section of the actions file, - and require little to no additional configuration. These are just on. + Including the + OnUnload + event binding in the HTML DOM was a CRIME. + When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta. + This job replaces the onunload attribute in + <body> tags with the dummy word never. + Note that the i option makes the pattern matching + case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee + a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use [^>]* + instead of .* to prevent the match from exceeding the + <body> tag if it doesn't contain OnUnload, but the page's + content does. - But, other actions that are turned on in the default section do - typically require exceptions to be listed in the latter sections of - one of our actions file. For instance, by default no URLs are - blocked (i.e. in the default definitions of - default.action). We need exceptions to this in order to - enable ad blocking in the lower sections. But we need to - be very selective about what we do block. Thus, the default is off - for blocking. + The last example is from the fun department: - Below is a liberally commented sample default.action file - to demonstrate how all the pieces come together. And to show how exceptions - to the default policies can be handled. This is followed by a brief - user.action with similar examples. + +FILTER: fun Fun text replacements + +# Spice the daily news: +# +s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig - - - -# Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org> + Note the (?!\.com) part (a so-called negative lookahead) + in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string + .com appears directly following microsoft + in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while + still replacing the word everywhere else. + -# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY. -{{settings}} -for-privoxy-version=3.0 + + +# Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax) +# +s* industry[ -]leading \ +| cutting[ -]edge \ +| customer[ -]focused \ +| market[ -]driven \ +| award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \ +| high[ -]performance \ +| solutions[ -]based \ +| unmatched \ +| unparalleled \ +| unrivalled \ +*<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \ +*igx + + + The x option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for + e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting. + -########################################################################## -# Aliases must be defined *before* they are used. These are -# easier to remember, and can combine several actions into one. Once -# defined they can be used just like any built-in action -- but within -# this file only! Aliases do not require a + or - sign. -########################################################################## + + You get the idea? + + -# Some useful aliases. -# Alias to turn off cookie handling, ie allow all cookies unmolested. - -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies \ - -session-cookies-only + -# Alias to both block and treat as if an image for ad blocking -# purposes. - +imageblock = +block +handle-as-image +The Pre-defined Filters -# Fragile sites should have the minimum changes: - fragile = -block -deanimate-gifs -fast-redirects -filter -hide-referer \ - -crunch-all-cookies -kill-popups + + +The distribution default.filter file contains a selection of +pre-defined filters for your convenience: + -########################################################################## -# Begin default action settings. Anything in this section will match -# all URLs -- UNLESS we have exceptions that also match, defined below this -# section. We will show all potential actions here whether they are on -# or off. We could omit any disabled action if we wanted, since all -# actions are 'off' by default anyway. Shown for completeness only. -# Actions are enabled if preceded by a '+', otherwise they are disabled -# (unless an alias has been defined without this). -########################################################################## - { \ - -add-header \ - -block \ - -deanimate-gifs \ - -downgrade-http-version \ - +fast-redirects \ - +filter{html-annoyances} \ - +filter{js-annoyances} \ - -filter{content-cookies} \ - -filter{popups} \ - +filter{webbugs} \ - -filter{refresh-tags} \ - -filter{fun} \ - +filter{nimda} \ - +filter{banners-by-size} \ - -filter{shockwave-flash} \ - -filter{crude-prental} \ - +hide-forwarded-for-headers \ - +hide-from-header{block} \ - -hide-referrer \ - -hide-user-agent \ - -handle-as-image \ - +set-image-blocker{pattern} \ - -limit-connect \ - +prevent-compression \ - -session-cookies-only \ - -crunch-outgoing-cookies \ - -crunch-incoming-cookies \ - -kill-popups \ - -send-vanilla-wafer \ - -send-wafer \ - } - / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns. + + + js-annoyances + + + The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse. + To that end, it + + + + replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information + with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the hide-referrer action on the content level. + + + + + removes the bindings to the DOM's + unload + event which we feel has no right to exist and is responsible for most exit consoles, i.e. + nasty windows that pop up when you close another one. + + + + + removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being + full-screen, non-resizeable, without location, status or menu bar etc. + + + + + + Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that + rely heavily on JavaScript. + + + + + + js-events + + + This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event bindings, which + means that scripts can not react to user actions such as mouse movements or clicks, window + resizing etc, anymore. Use with caution! + + + We strongly discourage using this filter as a default since it breaks + many legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should you really + need to go there). + + + -########################################################################## -# Default behavior is now set. Now we will define some exceptions to our -# default action policies. -########################################################################## + + html-annoyances + + + This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse. + + + The BLINK and MARQUEE tags + are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser windows will be created as + resizeable (as of course they should be!), and will have location, + scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise. + + + -# These sites are very complex and require very minimal interference. -# We'll disable most actions with our 'fragile' alias: - { fragile } - .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise! - .windowsupdate.microsoft.com + + content-cookies + + + Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialog, where they can be intercepted + by the + crunch-incoming-cookies + and crunch-outgoing-cookies + actions. But web sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript + to sneak cookies to the browser on the content level. + + + This filter disables most HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets + cookies. It cannot detect all clever uses of these types of code, so it + should not be relied on as an absolute fix. Use it wherever you would also + use the cookie crunch actions. + + + + + + refresh tags + + + Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so + that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful + for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature + annoying. + + + + + unsolicited-popups + + + This filter attempts to prevent only unsolicited pop-up + windows from opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user + has explicitly chosen to open. It was added in version 3.0.1, + as an improvement over earlier such filters. + + + Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript + function to a dummy function, PrivoxyWindowOpen(), + during the loading and rendering phase of each HTML page access, and + restoring the function afterward. + + + This is recommended only for browsers that cannot perform this function + reliably themselves. And be aware that some sites require such windows + in order to function normally. Use with caution. + + + -# Shopping sites - not as fragile but require some special -# handling. We still want to block ads, and we will allow -# persistant cookies via the 'shop' alias: - { shop } - .quietpc.com - .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com - .jungle.com - .scan.co.uk + + all-popups + + + Attempt to prevent all pop-up windows from opening. + Note this should be used with even more discretion than the above, since + it is more likely to break some sites that require pop-ups for normal + usage. Use with caution. + + + + + img-reorder + + + This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the + banners-by-size and banners-by-link + (see below) filters more effective and should be enabled together with them. + + + -# These sites require pop-ups too :( We'll combine our 'shop' -# alias with two other actions into one rule to allow all popups. - { shop -kill-popups -filter{popups} } - .dabs.com - .overclockers.co.uk + + banners-by-size + + + This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are. Fortunately + for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain standardized + sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad stripping purposes. + + + Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not ads, + but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes. + + + Recommended only for those who require extreme ad blocking. The default + block rules should catch 95+% of all ads without this filter enabled. + + + + + banners-by-link + + + This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if + their URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently + not of much value and is not recommended for use by default. + + + -# The 'Fast-redirects' action breaks some sites. Disable this action -# for these known sensitive sites: - { -fast-redirects } - login.yahoo.com - edit.europe.yahoo.com - .google.com - .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http - .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http - .nytimes.com + + webbugs + + + Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that + are used to track users across websites, and collect information on them. + As an HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the + browser to contact a third-party site, disclosing the tracking information + through the requested URL and/or cookies for that third-party domain, without + the user ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party site. + HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email addresses. + + + This filter removes the HTML code that loads such webbugs. + + + + + tiny-textforms + + + A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas (those + multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in them. + It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such boxes are + a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too. + + + It is not recommended to use this filter as a default. + + + -# Define which file types will be treated as images. Important -# for ad blocking. - { +handle-as-image } - /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico) + + jumping-windows + + + Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This filter + neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might not display + or behave as intended when using this filter. Use with caution. + + + + + frameset-borders + + + Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view their + web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution etc, + because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame sizes, + yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they be too + small to show their whole content. + + + This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to sites + which need it. + + + -# Now lets list some domains that are known ad generators. And -# our alias that we use here will block these as well as force -# them to be treated as images. This combination of actions is -# important for ad blocking. What the browser will show instead is -# determined by the setting of +set-image-blocker - { +imageblock } - ar.atwola.com - .ad.doubleclick.net - .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$ - .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$ - bs*.gsanet.com - bs*.einets.com - .qkimg.net - ad.*.doubleclick.net - - -# These will just simply be blocked. They will generate the BLOCKED -# banner page, if matched. Heavy use of wildcards and regular -# expressions in this example. Enable block action: - { +block } - ad*. - .*ads. - banner?. - count*. - /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?) - /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/ - .hitbox.com - - -# The above block section will probably inadvertantly catch some -# sites we DO NOT want blocked via the wildcards and regular expressions. -# Now let's set exceptions to the exceptions so the good guys get better -# treatment. Disable block action: - { -block } - advogato.org - adsl. - ad[ud]*. - advice. -# Let's just trust all .edu top level domains. - .edu - www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv -# We'll need to access to path names containing 'download' - .*downloads. - /downloads/ -# 'adv' is for globalintersec and means advanced, not advertisement - www.globalintersec.com/adv - - -# Don't filter *anything* from our friends at sourceforge. -# Notice we don't have to name the individual filter -# identifiers -- we just turn them all off in one fell swoop. -# Disable all filters for this one site: - { -filter } - .sourceforge.net - - - - + + demoronizer + + + Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions (read: + violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This can cause those + HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant platforms. + + + This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents. + It is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of + all documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly + worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if weird garbage characters + sometimes appear on some pages, or user agents that don't correct for this on + the fly. + + + + - - So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies. - The above would be a reasonable starting point for many situations. Now, - we want to be more specific and have customized rules that are more suitable - to our personal habits and preferences. These would be for narrowly defined - situations like your ISP or your bank, and should be placed in - user.action, which is parsed after all other - actions files and should not be clobbered by upgrades. So any settings here, - will have the last word and over-ride any previously defined actions. - + + shockwave-flash + + + A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips code + out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects. + + + + + - - Now a few examples of some things that one might do with a - user.action file. - + + quicktime-kioskmode + + + Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which + prevents saving, is disabled. + + + - + + fun + + + Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite + Monopolist or play buzzword bingo. + + + - - - - -# Sample user.action file. - -# Any aliases you want to use need to be re-defined here. -# Alias to turn off cookie handling, ie allow all cookies unmolested. - -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies \ - -session-cookies-only - -# Fragile sites should have the minimum changes: - fragile = -block -deanimate-gifs -fast-redirects -filter -hide-referer \ - -crunch-all-cookies -kill-popups - -# Allow persistent cookies for a few regular sites that we -# trust via our above alias. These will be saved from one browser session -# to the next. We are explicity turning off any and all cookie handling, -# even though the cunch-*-cookies settings were disabled in our above -# default.action anyway. So cookies from these domains will come through -# unmolested. - { -crunch-all-cookies } - .sun.com - .yahoo.com - .msdn.microsoft.com - .redhat.com + + crude-parental + + + A demonstration-only filter that shows how Privoxy + can be used to delete web content on a keyword basis. + + + + + ie-exploits + + + An experimental collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript + code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer. + + + Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug, and + would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection. + + + -# My ISP uses obnoxious self promoting images on many pages. -# Nuke them :) Note that +handle-as-image need not be specified, -# since all URLs ending in .gif will be tagged as images by the -# general rules in default.action anyway. - { +block } - www.my-isp-example.com/logo[0-9].gif + + site-specifics + + + Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't apply + anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites. + + + This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be applied + to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied + default.action file does. Users shouldn't need to change + anything regarding this filter. + + + + + google + + + A CSS based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation + and the toolbar advertisement. + + + + + + yahoo + + + Another CSS based block, this time for Yahoo text ads. And removes + a width limitation as well. + + + -# Say the site where you do your homebanking needs to open -# popup windows, but you have chosen to kill popups by -# default. This will allow it for your-example-bank.com: -# - { -filter{popups} -kill-popups } - .my-example-bank.com + + msn + + + Another CSS based block, this time for MSN text ads. And removes + tracking URLs, as well as a width limitation. + + + + + blogspot + + + Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this one! + + + This filter also intentionally removes some navigation stuff and sets the + page width to 100%. As a result, some rounded corners would + appear to early or not at all and as fixing this would require a browser + that understands background-size (CSS3), they are removed instead. + + + -# This site is delicate, and requires kid-glove -# treatment. - { fragile } - .forbes.com - - - - - + + xml-to-html + + + Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from xml to html. + + + + + + html-to-xml + + + Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from html to xml. + + + - + + no-ping + + + Removes the non-standard ping attribute from + anchor and area HTML tags. + + + + + hide-tor-exit-notation + + + Client-header filter to remove the Tor exit node notation + found in Host and Referer headers. + + + If &my-app; and Tor are chained and &my-app; + is configured to use socks4a, one can use http://www.example.org.foobar.exit/ + to access the host www.example.org through the + Tor exit node foobar. + + + As the HTTP client isn't aware of this notation, it treats the + whole string www.example.org.foobar.exit as host and uses it + for the Host and Referer headers. From the + server's point of view the resulting headers are invalid and can cause problems. + + + An invalid Referer header can trigger hot-linking + protections, an invalid Host header will make it impossible for + the server to find the right vhost (several domains hosted on the same IP address). + + + This client-header filter removes the foo.exit part in those headers + to prevent the mentioned problems. Note that it only modifies + the HTTP headers, it doesn't make it impossible for the server + to detect your Tor exit node based on the IP address + the request is coming from. + + + + + + - - - -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 - oddly enough default.filter, located in the config - directory. - - - - This is potentially a very powerful feature, and requires knowledge of both - regular expression and HTML in order create custom - filters. But, there are a number of useful filters included with - Privoxy for many common situations. - + + +Privoxy's Template Files - 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. + All Privoxy built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the + 404 - No Such Domain + error page, the BLOCKED + page + and all pages of its web-based + user interface, are generated from templates. + (Privoxy must be running for the above links to work as + intended.) - 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: + These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the configuration + directory called templates. On Unixish platforms, + this is typically + /etc/privoxy/templates/. - Stop web pages from displaying annoying messages in the status bar by - deleting such references: + The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols + or exports), which Privoxy fills at run time. It + is possible to edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want + to customize them. (Not recommended for the casual + user). Should you create your own custom templates, you should use + the config setting templdir + to specify an alternate location, so your templates do not get overwritten + during upgrades. + + + Note that just like in configuration files, lines starting + with # are ignored when the templates are filled in. - - - - 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 - - - + The place-holders are of the form @name@, and you will + find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template, + in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not + always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML + code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with. - Just for kicks, replace any occurrence of Microsoft with - MicroSuck, and have a little fun with topical buzzwords: + A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole + blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this + for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all + our user interface (CGI) pages when Privoxy + is in an alpha or beta development stage: - - - - FILTER: fun - - s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/ig + +<!-- @if-unstable-start --> - # Buzzword Bingo: - # - s/industry-leading|cutting-edge|award-winning/<font color=red><b>BINGO!</b></font>/ig - - - - + ... beta warning HTML code goes here ... - - Kill those pesky little web-bugs: +<!-- if-unstable-end@ --> - - - - # 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 - - - + If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including + @if-unstable-start and if-unstable-end@ + will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment: - - - -The <emphasis>+filter</emphasis> Action - Filters are enabled with the +filter action from within - one of the actions files. +filter requires one parameter, which - should match one of the section identifiers in the filter file itself. Example: + <!-- --> - - +filter{html-annoyances} - - - This would activate that particular filter. Similarly, +filter - can be turned off for selected sites as: - -filter{html-annoyances}. Remember too, all actions are off by - default, unless they are explicity enabled in one of the actions files. + There's also an if-then-else construct and an #include + mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the + templates ;-) - - - - - - - - - - - -Templates - When Privoxy displays one of its internal - pages, such as a 404 Not Found error page - (Privoxy must be running for link to work as - intended), it uses the appropriate template. On Linux, BSD, and Unix, these - are located in /etc/privoxy/templates by default. These - may be customized, if desired. cgi-style.css is used to - control the HTML attributes (fonts, etc). + All templates refer to a style located at + http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet. + This is, of course, locally served by Privoxy + and the source for it can be found and edited in the + cgi-style.css template. - - The default -Blocked -(Privoxy needs to be running for page to display) - banner page with the bright red top - banner, is called just blocked. This - may be customized or replaced with something else if desired. - @@ -5322,7 +7810,7 @@ Requests -<application>Privoxy</application> Copyright, License and History +Privoxy Copyright, License and History ©right; @@ -5344,6 +7832,13 @@ Requests &history; + +Authors + + &p-authors; + + + @@ -5366,30 +7861,33 @@ Requests 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. + Privoxy uses Perl-style regular + expressions in its actions + files and filter file, + through the PCRE and + + PCRS libraries. 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 ;-) + 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. + Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be + run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they + match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex) + strings 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 complex patterns to be matched against. + Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient + dialect of the regular expression language. @@ -5451,7 +7949,7 @@ Requests - [] - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if + [ ] - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, [0-9] matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine this with + to match any digit one of more times: [0-9]+. @@ -5460,7 +7958,7 @@ Requests - () - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression, + ( ) - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression, or multiple sub-expressions. @@ -5476,14 +7974,6 @@ Requests - - - s/string1/string2/g - This is used to rewrite strings of text. - string1 is replaced by string2 in this - example. There must of course be a match on string1 first. - - - These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with Privoxy, and is a long way from a definitive @@ -5510,7 +8000,7 @@ Requests - A now something a little more complex: + And now something a little more complex: @@ -5548,7 +8038,7 @@ Requests /.*/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 + [ ] 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 @@ -5573,16 +8063,6 @@ Requests in the expression anywhere). - - 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 ;-). - - We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you can understand the default Privoxy @@ -5594,9 +8074,14 @@ Requests More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions: - http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html + http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html + + For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications + in filters, please see the filter file tutorial + in this manual. + @@ -5604,7 +8089,7 @@ Requests -<application>Privoxy</application>'s Internal Pages +Privoxy's Internal Pages Since Privoxy proxies each requested @@ -5639,9 +8124,9 @@ Requests - Alternately, this may be reached at http://p.p/, but this - variation may not work as reliably as the above in some configurations. + There is a shortcut: http://p.p/ (But it + doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not + sent through Privoxy) @@ -5692,8 +8177,10 @@ Requests - Toggle Privoxy on or off. In this case, Privoxy continues - to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking place: + Toggle Privoxy on or off. This feature can be turned off/on in the main + config file. When toggled off, Privoxy + continues to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking + place:
@@ -5772,21 +8259,24 @@ Requests url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y','ijbstatus','width=250,height=2,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy- View Status - + + + + Privoxy - Why? - - - - Credit: The site which gave me the general idea for these bookmarklets is - www.bookmarklets.com. They + Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is + www.bookmarklets.com. They have more information about bookmarklets. @@ -5800,8 +8290,9 @@ Requests Chain of Events - Let's take a quick look at the basic sequence of events when a web page is - requested by your browser and Privoxy is on duty: + Let's take a quick look at how some of Privoxy's + core features are triggered, and the ensuing sequence of events when a web + page is requested by your browser: @@ -5817,20 +8308,23 @@ Requests Privoxy traps any request for its own internal CGI - pages (e.g http://p.p/) and sends the CGI page back to the browser. + pages (e.g http://p.p/) and sends the CGI page back to the browser. Next, Privoxy checks to see if the URL - matches any +block patterns. If + matches any +block patterns. If so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted. - +handle-as-image - is then checked and if it does not match, an - HTML BLOCKED page is sent back. Otherwise, if it does match, - an image is returned. The type of image depends on the setting of +set-image-blocker + +handle-as-image + and + +handle-as-empty-document + are then checked, and if there is no match, an + HTML BLOCKED page is sent back to the browser. Otherwise, if + it does match, an image is returned for the former, and an empty text + document for the latter. The type of image would depend on the setting of + +set-image-blocker (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere). @@ -5842,106 +8336,123 @@ Requests - If the URL pattern matches the +fast-redirects action, + If the URL pattern matches the +fast-redirects action, it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped. Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any - of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. +hide-user-agent, + of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. +hide-user-agent, etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and their parameters. - Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web page and related - data). + Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web + page). First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then - filtered as deterimed by the - +crunch-incoming-cookies, - +session-cookies-only, - and +downgrade-http-version + filtered as determined by the + +crunch-incoming-cookies, + +session-cookies-only, + and +downgrade-http-version actions. - If the +kill-popups + If the +kill-popups action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript document, the popup-code in the response is filtered on-the-fly as it is received. - If a +filter - or +deanimate-gifs + If any +filter action + or +deanimate-gifs action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from - default.filter) are processed against the buffered - content. Filters are applied in the order they are specified in the - default.filter file. Animated GIFs, if present, are - reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action + default.filter and any other filter files) are + processed against the buffered content. Filters are applied in the order + they are specified in one of the filter files. Animated GIFs, if present, + are reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by Privoxy back to your browser. - If neither +filter - or +deanimate-gifs + If neither a +filter action + or +deanimate-gifs matches, then Privoxy passes the raw data through to the client browser as it becomes available. - As the browser receives the now (probably filtered) page content, it + As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g. - frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a new - request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a - complex web page may have many such embedded URLs. + frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a + separate request (this is easily viewable in Privoxy's + logs). And each such request is in turn processed just as above. Note that a + complex web page will have many, many such embedded URLs. If these + secondary requests are to a different server, then quite possibly a very + differing set of actions is triggered. + + NOTE: This is somewhat of a simplistic overview of what happens with each URL + request. For the sake of brevity and simplicity, we have focused on + Privoxy's core features only. + -Anatomy of an Action +Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action The way Privoxy applies - actions - and filters + 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. + regular expressions whose consequences are not + always so obvious. One quick test to see if Privoxy is causing a problem or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting step. See the Bookmarklets section on a quick - and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). + and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the + logs is a good idea too. (Note that both the toggle feature and logging are + enabled via config file settings, and may need to be + turned on.) + + + Another easy troubleshooting step to try is if you have done any + customization of your installation, revert back to the installed + defaults and see if that helps. There are times the developers get complaints + about one thing or another, and the problem is more related to a customized + configuration issue. @@ -5955,9 +8466,9 @@ Requests First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then Privoxy will tell us how the current configuration will handle it. This will not - help with filtering effects (i.e. the +filter action) from - the default.filter file since this is handled very + help with filtering effects (i.e. the +filter action) from + one of the filter files since this is handled very differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So @@ -5970,75 +8481,90 @@ Requests Let's try an example, google.com, - and look at it one section at a time: + and look at it one section at a time in a sample configuration (your real + configuration may vary): - Matches for http://google.com: - ---- File standard --- -(no matches in this file) - ---- File default --- - -{ -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects - -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental} - +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies} - +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} - +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge} - -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect - +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -crunch-outgoing-cookies - -crunch-incoming-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer } + Matches for http://www.google.com: + + In file: default.action [ View ] [ Edit ] + + {+deanimate-gifs {last} + +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url} + +filter {refresh-tags} + +filter {img-reorder} + +filter {banners-by-size} + +filter {webbugs} + +filter {jumping-windows} + +filter {ie-exploits} + +hide-forwarded-for-headers + +hide-from-header {block} + +hide-referrer {forge} + +session-cookies-only + +set-image-blocker {pattern} / - + { -session-cookies-only } .google.com { -fast-redirects } .google.com ---- File user --- +In file: user.action [ View ] [ Edit ] (no matches in this file) - This tells us how we have defined our - actions, and - which ones match for our example, google.com. The first listing - is any matches for the standard.action file. No hits at - all here on standard. Then next is default, or - our default.action file. The large, multi-line listing, - is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default settings. - If you look at your actions file, this would be the section - just below the aliases section near the top. This will apply to - all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end of the listing - -- /. + This is telling us how we have defined our + actions, and + which ones match for our test case, google.com. + Displayed is all the actions that are available to us. Remember, + the + sign denotes on. - + denotes off. So some are on here, but many + are off. Each example we try may provide a slightly different + end result, depending on our configuration directives. + + + The first listing + is for our default.action file. The large, multi-line + listing, is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default + settings. If you look at your actions file, this would be the + section just below the aliases section near the top. This + will apply to all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end + of the listing -- / . - But we can define additional actions that would be exceptions to these general - rules, and then list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions would - apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit matches for - .google.com. The first is negating our previous cookie setting, - which was for +session-cookies-only - (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google. The - second turns off any - +fast-redirects + But we have defined additional actions that would be exceptions to these general + rules, and then we list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions + would apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit + matches for .google.com. The first is negating our previous + cookie setting, which was for +session-cookies-only + (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google, at + least that is how it is in this example. The second turns + off any +fast-redirects action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading dot here -- .google.com. This will match any hosts and sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as - www.google.com. So, apparently, we have these two actions - defined somewhere in the lower part of our default.action - file, and google.com is referenced somewhere in these latter - sections. + www.google.com or mail.google.com. But it would not + match www.google.de! So, apparently, we have these two actions + defined as exceptions to the general rules at the top somewhere in the lower + part of our default.action file, and + google.com is referenced somewhere in these latter sections. Then, for our user.action file, we again have no hits. + So there is nothing google-specific that we might have added to our own, local + configuration. If there was, those actions would over-rule any actions from + previously processed files, such as default.action. + user.action typically has the last word. This is the + best place to put hard and fast exceptions, @@ -6052,20 +8578,75 @@ Requests Final results: - -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version -fast-redirects - -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental} - +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies} - +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} - +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge} - -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect - +prevent-compression -session-cookies-only -crunch-outgoing-cookies - -crunch-incoming-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer - + + -add-header + -block + -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation} + -content-type-overwrite + -crunch-client-header + -crunch-if-none-match + -crunch-incoming-cookies + -crunch-outgoing-cookies + -crunch-server-header + +deanimate-gifs {last} + -downgrade-http-version + -fast-redirects + -filter {js-events} + -filter {content-cookies} + -filter {all-popups} + -filter {banners-by-link} + -filter {tiny-textforms} + -filter {frameset-borders} + -filter {demoronizer} + -filter {shockwave-flash} + -filter {quicktime-kioskmode} + -filter {fun} + -filter {crude-parental} + -filter {site-specifics} + -filter {js-annoyances} + -filter {html-annoyances} + +filter {refresh-tags} + -filter {unsolicited-popups} + +filter {img-reorder} + +filter {banners-by-size} + +filter {webbugs} + +filter {jumping-windows} + +filter {ie-exploits} + -filter {google} + -filter {yahoo} + -filter {msn} + -filter {blogspot} + -filter {no-ping} + -force-text-mode + -handle-as-empty-document + -handle-as-image + -hide-accept-language + -hide-content-disposition + +hide-forwarded-for-headers + +hide-from-header {block} + -hide-if-modified-since + +hide-referrer {forge} + -hide-user-agent + -inspect-jpegs + -kill-popups + -limit-connect + -overwrite-last-modified + -prevent-compression + -redirect + -send-vanilla-wafer + -send-wafer + -server-header-filter{xml-to-html} + -server-header-filter{html-to-xml} + -session-cookies-only + +set-image-blocker {pattern} + -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to - fast-redirects and session-cookies-only. + fast-redirects and session-cookies-only, + which are activated specifically for this site in our configuration, + and thus show in the Final Results. @@ -6075,23 +8656,24 @@ Requests - { +block +handle-as-image } - .ad.doubleclick.net - - { +block +handle-as-image } + { +block } ad*. + { +block } + .ad. + { +block +handle-as-image } - .doubleclick.net + .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net - We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is - matched three different times. Each as an +block +handle-as-image, + We'll just show the interesting part here - the explicit matches. It is + matched three different times. Two +block sections, + and a +block +handle-as-image, which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as: - +imageblock. (Aliases are defined in + +block-as-image. (Aliases are defined in the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more than one action.) @@ -6102,32 +8684,85 @@ Requests 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 + is done here -- as both a +block and an - +handle-as-image. - The custom alias +imageblock just simplifies the process and make - it more readable. + +handle-as-image. + The custom alias +block-as-image just + simplifies the process and make it more readable. - One last example. Let's try http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/. - This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm... + One last example. Let's try http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/. + This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ... - Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/: - - { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects - +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{kill-popups} - +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal} - +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} - +hide-referer{forge} -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{blank} - +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -crunch-incoming-cookies - -crunch-outgoing-cookies +kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer } + Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/: + + In file: default.action [ View ] [ Edit ] + + {-add-header + -block + -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation} + -content-type-overwrite + -crunch-client-header + -crunch-if-none-match + -crunch-incoming-cookies + -crunch-outgoing-cookies + -crunch-server-header + +deanimate-gifs + -downgrade-http-version + +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url} + -filter {js-events} + -filter {content-cookies} + -filter {all-popups} + -filter {banners-by-link} + -filter {tiny-textforms} + -filter {frameset-borders} + -filter {demoronizer} + -filter {shockwave-flash} + -filter {quicktime-kioskmode} + -filter {fun} + -filter {crude-parental} + -filter {site-specifics} + -filter {js-annoyances} + -filter {html-annoyances} + +filter {refresh-tags} + -filter {unsolicited-popups} + +filter {img-reorder} + +filter {banners-by-size} + +filter {webbugs} + +filter {jumping-windows} + +filter {ie-exploits} + -filter {google} + -filter {yahoo} + -filter {msn} + -filter {blogspot} + -filter {no-ping} + -force-text-mode + -handle-as-empty-document + -handle-as-image + -hide-accept-language + -hide-content-disposition + +hide-forwarded-for-headers + +hide-from-header{block} + +hide-referer{forge} + -hide-user-agent + -inspect-jpegs + -kill-popups + -overwrite-last-modified + +prevent-compression + -redirect + -send-vanilla-wafer + -send-wafer + -server-header-filter{xml-to-html} + -server-header-filter{html-to-xml} + +session-cookies-only + +set-image-blocker{blank} + -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks } / { +block +handle-as-image } @@ -6136,11 +8771,17 @@ Requests - Ooops, the /adsl/ is matching /ads! But - we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the blank page. We could - now add a new action below this that explicitly does not - block ({-block}) paths with adsl. There are - various ways to handle such exceptions. Example: + Ooops, the /adsl/ is matching /ads in our + configuration! But we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the + blank page. It is actually triggering two different actions here, and + the effects are aggregated so that the URL is blocked, and &my-app; is told + to treat the block as if it were an image. But this is, of course, all wrong. + We could now add a new action below this (or better in our own + user.action file) that explicitly + un blocks ( + {-block}) paths with + adsl in them (remember, last match in the configuration + wins). There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example: @@ -6152,8 +8793,10 @@ Requests - Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when - making such changes. Or, try using Shift+Reload. + Now the page displays ;-) + Remember to flush your browser's caches when making these kinds of changes to + your configuration to insure that you get a freshly delivered page! Or, try + using Shift+Reload. @@ -6170,18 +8813,21 @@ Requests - That actually was very telling and pointed us quickly to where the problem + That actually was very helpful and pointed us quickly to where the problem was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default - rules in the first section is causing the problem. This would require some - guesswork, and maybe a little trial and error to isolate the offending rule. - One likely cause would be one of the {+filter} actions. Try - adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off +filter: + rules in the first section of default.action is causing + the problem. This would require some guesswork, and maybe a little trial and + error to isolate the offending rule. One likely cause would be one of the + +filter actions. + These tend to be harder to troubleshoot. + Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off + +filter: - {shop} + { shop } .quietpc.com .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com .jungle.com @@ -6191,8 +8837,8 @@ Requests - {shop} is an alias that expands to - { -filter -session-cookies-only }. + { shop } is an alias that expands to + { -filter -session-cookies-only }. Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering: @@ -6200,21 +8846,55 @@ Requests - {-filter} + { -filter } + # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section .forbes.com + developer.ibm.com + localhost - This would probably be most appropriately put in user.action, - for local site exceptions. + This would turn off all filtering for these sites. This is best + put in user.action, for local site + exceptions. Note that when a simple domain pattern is used by itself (without + the subsequent path portion), all sub-pages within that domain are included + automatically in the scope of the action. + + + + Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the ++filter{banners-by-size} + rule, which assumes + that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well + most of the time since these tend to be standardized). + + + + { fragile } is an alias that disables most + actions that are the most likely to cause trouble. This can be used as a + last resort for problem sites. + + + + + { fragile } + # Handle with care: easy to break + mail.google. + mybank.example.com + - {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. + Remember to flush caches! Note that the + mail.google reference lacks the TLD portion (e.g. + .com). This will effectively match any TLD with + google in it, such as mail.google.de., + just as an example. + + + If this still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining + actions one by one to find which one(s) is causing the problem. @@ -6238,10 +8918,394 @@ Requests The GNU General Public License should be included with this file. If not, you can view it at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html - or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 - Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. + or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., + 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, + USA $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $ + Revision 2.57 2008/02/03 19:10:14 fabiankeil + Mention forward-socks5. + + Revision 2.56 2008/01/31 19:11:35 fabiankeil + Let the +client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation} example apply + to all requests as "tainted" Referers aren't limited to exit TLDs. + + Revision 2.55 2008/01/19 21:26:37 hal9 + Add IE7 to configuration section per Gerry. + + Revision 2.54 2008/01/19 17:52:39 hal9 + Re-commit to fix various minor issues for new release. + + Revision 2.53 2008/01/19 15:03:05 hal9 + Doc sources tagged for 3.0.8 release. + + Revision 2.52 2008/01/17 01:49:51 hal9 + Change copyright notice for docs s/2007/2008/. All these will be rebuilt soon + enough. + + Revision 2.51 2007/12/23 16:48:24 fabiankeil + Use more precise example descriptions for the mysterious domain patterns. + + Revision 2.50 2007/12/08 12:44:36 fabiankeil + - Remove already commented out pre-3.0.7 changes. + - Update the "new log defaults" paragraph. + + Revision 2.49 2007/12/06 18:21:55 fabiankeil + Update hide-forwarded-for-headers description. + + Revision 2.48 2007/11/24 19:07:17 fabiankeil + - Mention request rewriting. + - Enable the conditional-forge paragraph. + - Minor rewordings. + + Revision 2.47 2007/11/18 14:59:47 fabiankeil + A few "Note to Upgraders" updates. + + Revision 2.46 2007/11/17 17:24:44 fabiankeil + - Use new action defaults. + - Minor fixes and rewordings. + + Revision 2.45 2007/11/16 11:48:46 hal9 + Fix one typo, and add a couple of small refinements. + + Revision 2.44 2007/11/15 03:30:20 hal9 + Results of spell check. + + Revision 2.43 2007/11/14 18:45:39 fabiankeil + - Mention some more contributors in the "New in this Release" list. + - Minor rewordings. + + Revision 2.42 2007/11/12 03:32:40 hal9 + Updates for "What's New" and "Notes to Upgraders". Various other changes in + preparation for new release. User Manual is almost ready. + + Revision 2.41 2007/11/11 16:32:11 hal9 + This is primarily syncing What's New and Note to Upgraders sections with the many + new features and changes (gleaned from memory but mostly from ChangeLog). + + Revision 2.40 2007/11/10 17:10:59 fabiankeil + In the first third of the file, mention several times that + the action editor is disabled by default in 3.0.7 beta and later. + + Revision 2.39 2007/11/05 02:34:49 hal9 + Various changes in preparation for the upcoming release. Much yet to be done. + + Revision 2.38 2007/09/22 16:01:42 fabiankeil + Update embedded show-url-info output. + + Revision 2.37 2007/08/27 16:09:55 fabiankeil + Fix pre-chroot-nslookup description which I failed to + copy and paste properly. Reported by Stephen Gildea. + + Revision 2.36 2007/08/26 16:47:14 fabiankeil + Add Stephen Gildea's pre-chroot-nslookup patch [#1276666], + extensive comments moved to user manual. + + Revision 2.35 2007/08/26 14:59:49 fabiankeil + Minor rewordings and fixes. + + Revision 2.34 2007/08/05 15:19:50 fabiankeil + - Don't claim HTTP/1.1 compliance. + - Use $ in some of the path pattern examples. + - Use a hide-user-agent example argument without + leading and trailing space. + - Make it clear that the cookie actions work with + HTTP cookies only. + - Rephrase the inspect-jpegs text to underline + that it's only meant to protect against a single + exploit. + + Revision 2.33 2007/07/27 10:57:35 hal9 + Add references for user-agent strings for hide-user-agenet + + Revision 2.32 2007/06/07 12:36:22 fabiankeil + Apply Roland's 29_usermanual.dpatch to fix a bunch + of syntax errors I collected over the last months. + + Revision 2.31 2007/06/02 14:01:37 fabiankeil + Start to document forward-override{}. + + Revision 2.30 2007/04/25 15:10:36 fabiankeil + - Describe installation for FreeBSD. + - Start to document taggers and tag patterns. + - Don't confuse devils and daemons. + + Revision 2.29 2007/04/05 11:47:51 fabiankeil + Some updates regarding header filtering, + handling of compressed content and redirect's + support for pcrs commands. + + Revision 2.28 2006/12/10 23:42:48 hal9 + Fix various typos reported by Adam P. Thanks. + + Revision 2.27 2006/11/14 01:57:47 hal9 + Dump all docs prior to 3.0.6 release. Various minor changes to faq and user + manual. + + Revision 2.26 2006/10/24 11:16:44 hal9 + Add new filters. + + Revision 2.25 2006/10/18 10:50:33 hal9 + Add note that since filters are off in Cautious, compression is ON. Turn off + compression to make filters work on all sites. + + Revision 2.24 2006/10/03 11:13:54 hal9 + More references to the new filters. Include html this time around. + + Revision 2.23 2006/10/02 22:43:53 hal9 + Contains new filter definitions from Fabian, and few other miscellaneous + touch-ups. + + Revision 2.22 2006/09/22 01:27:55 hal9 + Final commit of probably various minor changes here and there. Unless + something changes this should be ready for pending release. + + Revision 2.21 2006/09/20 03:21:36 david__schmidt + Just the tiniest tweak. Wafer thin! + + Revision 2.20 2006/09/10 14:53:54 hal9 + Results of spell check. User manual has some updates to standard.actions file + info. + + Revision 2.19 2006/09/08 12:19:02 fabiankeil + Adjust hide-if-modified-since example values + to reflect the recent changes. + + Revision 2.18 2006/09/08 02:38:57 hal9 + Various changes: + -Fix a number of broken links. + -Migrate the new Windows service command line options, and reference as + needed. + -Rebuild so that can be used with the new "user-manual" config capabilities. + -Etc. + + Revision 2.17 2006/09/05 13:25:12 david__schmidt + Add Windows service invocation stuff (duplicated) in FAQ and in user manual under Windows startup. One probably ought to reference the other. + + Revision 2.16 2006/09/02 12:49:37 hal9 + Various small updates for new actions, filterfiles, etc. + + Revision 2.15 2006/08/30 11:15:22 hal9 + More work on the new actions, especially filter-*-headers, and What's New + section. User Manual is close to final form for 3.0.4 release. Some tinkering + and proof reading left to do. + + Revision 2.14 2006/08/29 10:59:36 hal9 + Add a "Whats New in this release" Section. Further work on multiple filter + files, and assorted other minor changes. + + Revision 2.13 2006/08/22 11:04:59 hal9 + Silence warnings and errors. This should build now. New filters were only + stubbed in. More to be done. + + Revision 2.12 2006/08/14 08:40:39 fabiankeil + Documented new actions that were part of + the "minor Privoxy improvements". + + Revision 2.11 2006/07/18 14:48:51 david__schmidt + Reorganizing the repository: swapping out what was HEAD (the old 3.1 branch) + with what was really the latest development (the v_3_0_branch branch) + + Revision 1.123.2.43 2005/05/23 09:59:10 hal9 + Fix typo 'loose' + + Revision 1.123.2.42 2004/12/04 14:39:57 hal9 + Fix two minor typos per bug SF report. + + Revision 1.123.2.41 2004/03/23 12:58:42 oes + Fixed an inaccuracy + + Revision 1.123.2.40 2004/02/27 12:48:49 hal9 + Add comment re: redirecting to local file system for set-image-blocker may + is dependent on browser. + + Revision 1.123.2.39 2004/01/30 22:31:40 oes + Added a hint re bookmarklets to Quickstart section + + Revision 1.123.2.38 2004/01/30 16:47:51 oes + Some minor clarifications + + Revision 1.123.2.37 2004/01/29 22:36:11 hal9 + Updates for no longer filtering text/plain, and demoronizer default settings, + and copyright notice dates. + + Revision 1.123.2.36 2003/12/10 02:26:26 hal9 + Changed the demoronizer filter description. + + Revision 1.123.2.35 2003/11/06 13:36:37 oes + Updated link to nightly CVS tarball + + Revision 1.123.2.34 2003/06/26 23:50:16 hal9 + Add a small bit on filtering and problems re: source code being corrupted. + + Revision 1.123.2.33 2003/05/08 18:17:33 roro + Use apt-get instead of dpkg to install Debian package, which is more + solid, uses the correct and most recent Debian version automatically. + + Revision 1.123.2.32 2003/04/11 03:13:57 hal9 + Add small note about only one filterfile (as opposed to multiple actions + files). + + Revision 1.123.2.31 2003/03/26 02:03:43 oes + Updated hard-coded copyright dates + + Revision 1.123.2.30 2003/03/24 12:58:56 hal9 + Add new section on Predefined Filters. + + Revision 1.123.2.29 2003/03/20 02:45:29 hal9 + More problems with \-\-chroot causing markup problems :( + + Revision 1.123.2.28 2003/03/19 00:35:24 hal9 + Manual edit of revision log because 'chroot' (even inside a comment) was + causing Docbook to hang here (due to double hyphen and the processor thinking + it was a comment). + + Revision 1.123.2.27 2003/03/18 19:37:14 oes + s/Advanced|Radical/Adventuresome/g to avoid complaints re fun filter + + Revision 1.123.2.26 2003/03/17 16:50:53 oes + Added documentation for new chroot option + + Revision 1.123.2.25 2003/03/15 18:36:55 oes + Adapted to the new filters + + Revision 1.123.2.24 2002/11/17 06:41:06 hal9 + Move default profiles table from FAQ to U-M, and other minor related changes. + Add faq on cookies. + + Revision 1.123.2.23 2002/10/21 02:32:01 hal9 + Updates to the user.action examples section. A few new ones. + + Revision 1.123.2.22 2002/10/12 00:51:53 hal9 + Add demoronizer to filter section. + + Revision 1.123.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 hal9 + s/Advanced/Radical/ and added very brief note. + + Revision 1.123.2.20 2002/10/10 03:49:21 hal9 + Add notes to session-cookies-only and Quickstart about pre-existing + cookies. Also, note content-cookies work differently. + + Revision 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9 + More explanation on Privoxy patterns, more on content-cookies and SSL. + + Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9 + Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match + CGIs. + + Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9 + Spell checked (only one typo this time!). + + Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt + Update to Mac OS X startup script name + + Revision 1.123.2.15 2002/08/07 17:32:11 oes + Converted some internal links from ulink to link for PDF creation; no content changed + + Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes + Nits re: actions file download + + Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff + Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections + + Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff + Added 2 Gentoo sections + + Revision 1.123.2.11 2002/07/26 15:20:31 oes + - Added version info to title + - Added info on new filters + - Revised parts of the filter file tutorial + - Added info on where to get updated actions files + + Revision 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9 + Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols. + + Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt + + Updated Mac OS X sections due to installation location change + + Revision 1.123.2.8 2002/06/09 16:36:32 hal9 + Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html. + + Revision 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9 + Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy. + + Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9 + Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs. + + Revision 1.123.2.5 2002/05/29 02:01:02 hal9 + This is break out of the entire config section from u-m, so it can + eventually be used to generate the comments, etc in the main config file + so that these are in sync with each other. + + Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9 + Ooops missed something from David. + + Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9 + Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and Mac OS X startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat). + That's a wrap, I think. + + Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9 + Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section. + + Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9 + -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches + + Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9 + Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton. + Minor corrections/clarifications here and there. + + Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes + Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info + + Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes + - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the + style. + - Small fixes in the actions chapter + - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking + - Removed from s since the new doc CSS + renders them red (bad in TOC). + + Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro + Correct Debian specials (installation and startup). + + Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes + Added Security hint + + Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9 + -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking + -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout + + Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes + - Reworked & extended Templates chapter + - Small changes to Regex appendix + - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter + + Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9 + Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section. + + Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes + Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes + + Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes + More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section + + Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes + Extended and further commented the example actions files + + Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9 + Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and + clarification. + + Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes + Fixing the fixes + + Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes + Restored alphabetical order of actions + + Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes + Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs + Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes Completed proofreading the actions chapter @@ -6313,7 +9377,7 @@ Requests Add AmigaOS install stuff. Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt - Updated OSX installation section + Updated Mac OS X installation section Added a few English tweaks here an there Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9