X-Git-Url: http://www.privoxy.org/gitweb/?p=privoxy.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fsource%2Fuser-manual.sgml;h=76fcb620347976afe3fb3cf51f8ac24ae0ef3198;hp=16e2b4d083c836a1964381755be2bf9160a01ee8;hb=4755c62ad98c26bebd21d2c649689300809a7d76;hpb=64d6166ea65c879c4b7571f1075ce567bd209ecf diff --git a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml index 16e2b4d0..76fcb620 100644 --- a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml +++ b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml @@ -1,57 +1,116 @@ - + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +]> - -
-Foobar User Manual -$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9 Exp $ +Privoxy User Manual + + + + + + Copyright &my-copy; 2001, 2002 by + Privoxy Developers + + + +$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.125 2002/06/03 00:28:17 hal9 Exp $ + + - - - - By: Foobar Developers - - - + + - The user manual gives users information on how to install, configure and use - Foobar. Foobar is a - web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for protecting privacy, - filtering web page content, managing cookies, controlling access, and - removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious Internet - Junk. Foobar has a very flexible configuration - and can be customized to suit individual needs and - tastes. Foobar has application for both - stand-alone systems and multi-user networks. + + This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/ + If I knew enough to fix it, I would. + PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net + +]]> + + + The User Manual gives users information on how to + install, configure and use Privoxy. + + + + &p-intro; + + -You can find the latest version of the user manual at http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/user-manual/. + You can find the latest version of the User Manual at http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/. + Please see the Contact section on how to + contact the developers. @@ -61,151 +120,40 @@ You can find the latest version of the user manual at Introduction - - Foobar is a web proxy with advanced - filtering capabilities for protecting privacy, filtering and modifying web - page content, managing cookies, controlling access, and removing ads, - banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious Internet Junk. - Foobar has a very flexible configuration and - can be customized to suit individual needs and tastes. Foobar has application for both stand-alone systems and - multi-user networks. - - +Introduction - This documentation is included with the current BETA version of - Foobar and is mostly complete at this - point. The most up to date reference for the time being is still the comments - in the source files and in the individual configuration files. Development - of version 3.0 is currently nearing completion, and includes many significant - changes and enhancements over earlier versions. The target release date for - stable v3.0 is soon ;-) + This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of + Privoxy, v.&p-version;soon ;-)]]>. + + - Since this is a BETA version, not all new features are well tested. This + Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with CVS sources). And there may be bugs, though hopefully not many! - +]]> - -New Features +Features In addition to Internet Junkbuster's traditional - feature of ad and banner blocking and cookie management, - Foobar provides new features, some of them - currently under development: - - - - - - - - - Integrated browser based configuration and control utility (http://i.j.b). Browser-based tracing of rule - and filter effects. - - - - - - Blocking of annoying pop-up browser windows. - - - - - - HTTP/1.1 compliant (most, but not all 1.1 features are supported). - - - - - - Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the configuration files, and - generally a more sophisticated and flexible configuration syntax over - previous versions. - - - - - - GIF de-animation. - - - - - - Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size, - invisible web-bugs, JavaScript, pop-ups, status bar abuse, - etc.) - - - - - - Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection). - - - - - - - Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads). - - - - - - Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes. - - - - - - User-customizable HTML templates (e.g. 404 error page). - - - - - - Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies). - - - - - - Builds from source on most UNIX-like systems. Packages available for: Linux - (RedHat, SuSE, or Debian), Windows, Sun Solaris, Mac OSX, OS/2, HP-UX 11 and AmigaOS. - - - - - - - In addition, the configuration is much more powerful and versatile over-all. - - - - + features of ad and banner blocking and cookie management, + Privoxy provides new features: - + + &newfeatures; + @@ -215,327 +163,515 @@ You can find the latest version of the user manual at Installation - - Foobar is available as raw source code, or - pre-compiled binaries. See the Foobar Home Page - for binaries and current release info. Foobar - is also available via CVS. - This is the recommended approach at this time. But please be aware that CVS - is constantly changing, and it may break in mysterious ways. - - -Source - For gzipped tar archives, unpack the source: + Privoxy is available both in convenient pre-compiled + packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code. + For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our + Privoxy Project + Page. - - tar xzvf ijb_source_* [.tgz or .tar.gz] - cd ijb_source_2.9.11_beta - + Note: If you have a previous Junkbuster or + Privoxy installation on your system, you + will need to remove it. On some platforms, this may be done for you as part + of their installation procedure. (See below for your platform). In any case + be sure to backup your old configuration if it is valuable to + you. See the note to + upgraders section below. + +Binary Packages - For retrieving the current CVS sources, you'll need the CVS - package installed first. To download CVS source: +How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system: - - - cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa login - cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa co current - cd current - - + +Red Hat, SuSE and Conectiva RPMs - This will create a directory named current/, which will - contain the source tree. + RPMs can be installed with rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm, + and will use /etc/privoxy for the location + of configuration files. - Then, in either case, to build from tarball/CVS source: + 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. - - ./configure (--help to see options) - make (the make from gnu, gmake for *BSD) - su - make -n install (to see where all the files will go) - make install (to really install) - + If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM: + rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm. This + will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version. - For Redhat and SuSE Linux RPM packages, see below. + 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. - - - + -Red Hat +Debian - To build Redhat RPM packages, install source as above. Then: + DEBs can be installed with dpkg -i + privoxy_&p-version;-1.deb, and will use + /etc/privoxy for the location of configuration + files. + - - - autoheader [suggested for CVS source] - autoconf [suggested for CVS source] - ./configure - make redhat-dist - - + +Windows - This will create both binary and src RPMs in the usual places. Example: + 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. + - -    /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i686/foobar-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm - - -    /usr/src/redhat/SRPMS/foobar-2.9.11-1.src.rpm - + +Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX - To install, of course: + 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. + - - - rpm -Uvv /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i686/foobar-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm - - + +OS/2 - This will place the Foobar configuration - files in /etc/foobar/, and log files in - /var/log/foobar/. - - - + First, make sure that no previous installations of + Junkbuster and / or + Privoxy are left on your + system. Check that no Junkbuster + or Privoxy objects are in + your startup folder. - -SuSE - - To build SuSE RPM packages, install source as above. Then: - - autoheader [suggested for CVS source] - autoconf [suggested for CVS source] - ./configure - make suse-dist - + Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will + guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the + Privoxy executable will be placed in your + startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts. - This will create both binary and src RPMs in the usual places. Example: + The directory you choose to install Privoxy + into will contain all of the configuration files. + - -    /usr/src/packages/RPMS/i686/foobar-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm - - -    /usr/src/packages/SRPMS/foobar-2.9.11-1.src.rpm + +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. + + +AmigaOS - To install, of course: + Copy and then unpack the lha archive to a suitable location. + All necessary files will be installed into Privoxy + directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just + remove this directory. + + + + +Building from Source - - rpm -Uvv /usr/src/packages/RPMS/i686/foobar-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm - + The most convenient way to obtain the Privoxy sources + is to download the source tarball from our project + page. - This will place the Foobar configuration - files in /etc/foobar/, and log files in - /var/log/foobar/. + If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using + possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute + version directly from the + CVS repository or simply download the nightly CVS + tarball. - + +&buildsource; + + - -OS/2 + - + + + +Note to Upgraders - Foobar is packaged in a WarpIN self- - installing archive. The self-installing program will be named depending - on the release version, something like: - ijbos2_setup_1.2.3.exe. In order to install it, simply - run this executable or double-click on its icon and follow the WarpIN - installation panels. A shadow of the Foobar - executable will be placed in your startup folder so it will start - automatically whenever OS/2 starts. + 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. - - The directory you choose to install Foobar - into will contain all of the configuration files. + A filter file (typically + default.filter) is new as of Privoxy + 2.9.x, and provides some of the new sophistication (explained + below). config is much the same as before. - - If you would like to build binary images on OS/2 yourself, you will need - a few Unix-like tools: autoconf, autoheader and sh. These tools will be - used to create the required config.h file, which is not part of the - source distribution because it differs based on platform. You will also - need a compiler. - The distribution has been created using IBM VisualAge compilers, but you - can use any compiler you like. GCC/EMX has the disadvantage of needing - to be single-threaded due to a limitation of EMX's implementation of the - select() socket call. + 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. - - In addition to needing the source code distribution as outlined earlier, - you will want to extract the os2seutp directory from CVS: - - cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa login - cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa co os2setup - - This will create a directory named os2setup/, which will contain the - Makefile.vac makefile and os2build.cmd - which is used to completely create the binary distribution. The sequence - of events for building the executable for yourself goes something like this: - - cd current - autoheader - autoconf - sh configure - cd ..\os2setup - nmake -f Makefile.vac - - You will see this sequence laid out in os2build.cmd. + A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading: - + + + + + The default listening port is now 8118 due to a conflict with another + service (NAS). + + + + + Some installers may remove earlier versions completely. Save any + important configuration files! + + + + + Privoxy is controllable with a web browser + at the special URL: http://config.privoxy.org/ + (Shortcut: http://p.p/). Many + aspects of configuration can be done here, including temporarily disabling + Privoxy. + + + + + The primary configuration files for cookie management, ad and banner + blocking, and many other aspects of Privoxy + configuration are the actions + files. It is strongly recommended to become familiar with the new + actions concept below, before modifying these files. Locally defined rules + should go into user.action. + + + + + + + Some installers may not automatically start + Privoxy after installation. + + - -Windows -Click-click. (I need help on this. Not a clue here. Also for -configuration section below. HB.) + - + -Other - - Some quick notes on other Operating Systems. - - +Quickstart to Using <application>Privoxy</application> - For FreeBSD (and other *BSDs?), the build will require gmake - instead of the included make. gmake is - available from http://www.gnu.org. - The rest should be the same as above for Linux/Unix. - + - + + + If upgrading, from versions before 2.9.16, please back up any configuration + files. See the Note to Upgraders Section. + + - + + + Install Privoxy. See the Installation Section below for platform specific + information. + + - + + + Advanced users and those who want to offer Privoxy + service to more than just their local machine should check the main config file, especially the security-relevant options. These are + off by default. + + + + + Start Privoxy, if the installation program has + not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section + Starting Privoxy. + + - -<application>Foobar</application> Configuration - - All Foobar configuration is kept - in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor. - Many important aspects of Foobar can - also be controlled easily with a web browser. + + + 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 below + for more details on this. + + - + + + Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images. + + + + + A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for + most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the + configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little + to no initial configuration is required in most cases. + + + See the Configuration section for more + configuration options, and how to customize your installation. + next section for a quick + introduction to how Privoxy blocks ads and + banners.]]> + + - + + + If you experience ads that slipped through, innocent images that are + blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune + Privoxy's behaviour, take a look at the actions files. As a quick start, you might + find the richly commented examples + helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the web-based user interface. The + Appendix Anatomy of an + Action has hints how to debug actions that + misbehave. + + - -Controlling <application>Foobar</application> with Your Web Browser - - Foobar can be reached by the special - URL http://i.j.b/ (or alternately - http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/), - which is an internal page. You will see the following section: + + + Please see the section Contacting the + Developers on how to report bugs or problems with websites or to get + help. + + + + + Now enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy! + + + + - - -Please choose from the following options: - - * Show information about the current configuration - * Show the source code version numbers - * Show the client's request headers. - * Show which actions apply to a URL and why - * Toggle Foobar on or off - * Edit the actions list + - + +Quickstart to Ad Blocking + + + 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. + + + 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. - - This should be self-explanatory. Note the last item is an editor for the - actions list, which is where much of the ad, banner, cookie, - and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of - Foobar. This is an easy way to adjust various - aspects of Foobar configuration. The actions - file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below. - Foobar will automatically detect any changes - to these files. + 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. 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. - - Toggle Foobar On or Off is handy for sites that might - have problems with your current actions and filters, or just to test if - a site misbehaves, whether it is Foobar - causing the problem or not. Foobar continues - to run as a proxy in this case, but all filtering is disabled. - + 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. - - - + + The actions we need to know about for ad blocking are: block, handle-as-image, and + set-image-blocker: + + + + + + + block - 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. + + + + + 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. + + + + + 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). + + + - + + - -Configuration Files Overview - For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in - /etc/foobar/ by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and - AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the - Foobar executable. The name and number of - configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is subject to - change as development progresses. + 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. 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. - The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though possibly - aggressive by some standards. For the time being, there are only three - default configuration files (this will change in time): + A quick and simple step by step example: @@ -543,858 +679,965 @@ Please choose from the following options: - The main configuration file is named config - on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and config.txt - on Windows. + Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select + Copy Link Location from the + pop-up menu. - - The ijb.action file is used to define various - actions relating to images, banners, pop-ups, access - restrictions, banners and cookies. There is a CGI based editor for this - file that can be accessed via http://i.j.b. (Other actions - files are included as well with differing levels of filtering - and blocking, e.g. ijb-basic.action.) + Set your browser to + http://config.privoxy.org/show-status - - The re_filterfile 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. + 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. + + + - ijb.action and re_filterfile - can use Perl style regular expressions for maximum flexibility. All files use - the # character to denote a comment. Such - lines are not processed by Foobar. After - making any changes, there is no need to restart - Foobar in order for the changes to take - effect. Foobar should detect such changes - automatically. + 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. - While under development, the configuration content is subject to change. - The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this. - Also, what constitutes a default setting, may change, so - please check all your configuration files on important issues. + 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. + + - + - -The Main Configuration File + + + +Starting <application>Privoxy</application> - 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: + 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! - - - - - blockfile blocklist.ini - - - + + +
Proxy Configuration (Mozilla) + + + + + + [ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ] + + +
+ + + + With Netscape (and + Mozilla), this can be set under: + + + + + Edit + |_ + Preferences + |_ + Advanced + |_ + Proxies + |_ + HTTP Proxy + - Indicates that the blockfile is named blocklist.ini. (A - default installation does not use this.) + For Internet Explorer: + + + + Tools + |_ + Internet Properties + |_ + Connections + |_ + LAN Settings + + - A # indicates a comment. Any part of a - line following a # is ignored, except if - the # is preceded by a - \. + 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. - Thus, by placing a # at the start of an - existing configuration line, you can make it a comment and it will be treated - as if it weren't there. This is called commenting out an - option and can be useful to turn off features: If you comment out the - logfile line, Foobar will not - log to a file at all. Watch for the default: section in each - explanation to see what happens if the option is left unset (or commented - out). + 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! - Long lines can be continued on the next line by using a - \ as the very last character. + 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. + +Red Hat and Conectiva - There are various aspects of Foobar behavior - that can be tuned. + We use a script. Note that Red Hat does not start Privoxy upon booting per + default. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config as + its main configuration file. - - - - - -Defining Other Configuration Files - - Foobar can use a number of other files to tell it - what ads to block, what cookies to accept, etc. This section of the - configuration file tells Foobar where to find - all those other files. + + # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start + + + +Debian - On Windows and AmigaOS, - Foobar looks for these files in the same - directory as the executable. On Unix and OS/2, - Foobar looks for these files in the current - working directory. In either case, an absolute path name can be used to - avoid problems. + We use a script. Note that Debian starts Privoxy upon booting per + default. It will use the file + /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration + file. - - When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and - per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of confdir. - For now, only confdir/templates is used for storing HTML - templates for CGI results. + + # /etc/init.d/privoxy start + + + +SuSE - The location of the configuration files: +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. - - - - - confdir /etc/foobar # No trailing /, please. - - - + + # rcprivoxy start + + + +Windows - The directory where all logging (i.e. logfile and - jarfile) takes place. No trailing - /, please: +Click on the Privoxy Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is + specified on the command line, Privoxy will look + for a file named config.txt. Note that Windows will + automatically start Privoxy upon booting you PC. + + +Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others - - - - logdir /var/log/foobar - - - +Example Unix startup command: - - Note that all file specifications below are relative to - the above two directories! + + # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config + + + +OS/2 - The ijb.action file contains patterns to specify the actions - to apply to requests for each site. Default: Cookies to and from all - destinations are kept only during the current browser session (i.e. they are - not saved to disk). Pop-ups are disabled for all sites. All sites are - filtered through selected sections of re_filterfile. No sites - are blocked. The Foobar logo is displayed for - filtered ads and other images. The syntax of this file is explained in detail - below. Other actions files - are included, and you are free to use any of them. They have varying degrees - of aggressiveness. + 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 - - - - actionsfile ijb.action - - - + During installation, Privoxy is configured to + start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually + through the Terminal with these commands: - - The re_filterfile file contains content modification rules - that use regular expressions. These rules permit powerful - changes on the content of Web pages, e.g., you could disable your favorite - JavaScript annoyances, re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some - fun replacing Microsoft with MicroSuck wherever - it appears on a Web page. Default: whatever the developers are playing with - :-/ + + cd /Applications/Privoxy.app + ./privoxy + - - 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. + +AmigaOS + + 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). + + + + + + +Command Line Options - If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line - documentation about your blocking policy and to specify the URL(s) here. They - will appear on the page that your users receive when they try to access - untrusted content. Use multiple times for multiple URLs. Default: Don't - display links on the untrusted info page. + Privoxy may be invoked with the following + command-line options: - - - - trust-info-url http://www.your-site.com/why_we_block.html - trust-info-url http://www.your-site.com/what_we_allow.html - - - + + + + + --version + + + Print version info and exit. Unix only. + + + + + --help + + + Print short usage info and exit. Unix only. + + + + + --no-daemon + + + Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group + leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only. + + + + + --pidfile FILE + + + + On startup, write the process ID to FILE. Delete the + FILE on exit. Failure to create or delete the + FILE is non-fatal. If no FILE + option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only. + + + + + --user USER[.GROUP] + + + + After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of + USER, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the + privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only. + + + + + configfile + + + If no configfile is included on the command line, + Privoxy will look for a file named + config in the current directory (except on Win32 + where it will look for config.txt instead). Specify + full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found, + Privoxy will fail to start. + + + + - + - + + +<application>Privoxy</application> Configuration + + All Privoxy configuration is stored + in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor. + Many important aspects of Privoxy can + also be controlled easily with a web browser. + - -Other Configuration Options - - This part of the configuration file contains options that control how - Foobar operates. - + + +Controlling <application>Privoxy</application> with Your Web Browser - Admin-address should be set to the email address of the proxy - administrator. It is used in many of the proxy-generated pages. Default: - fill@me.in.please. - + Privoxy's user interface can be reached through the special + URL http://config.privoxy.org/ + (shortcut: http://p.p/), + which is a built-in page and works without Internet access. + You will see the following section: - - - - - #admin-address fill@me.in.please - - - - - Proxy-info-url can be set to a URL that contains more info - about this Foobar installation, it's - configuration and policies. It is used in many of the proxy-generated pages - and its use is highly recommended in multi-user installations, since your - users will want to know why certain content is blocked or modified. Default: - Don't show a link to on-line documentation. - + + + +     Privoxy Menu - - - - - proxy-info-url http://www.your-site.com/proxy.html - - - - + + +         ▪  View & change the current configuration + + +         ▪  View the source code version numbers + + +         ▪  View the request headers. + + +         ▪  Look up which actions apply to a URL and why + + +         ▪  Toggle Privoxy on or off + + + + - - Listen-address specifies the address and port where - Foobar will listen for connections from your - Web browser. The default is to listen on the localhost port 8118, and - this is suitable for most users. (In your web browser, under proxy - configuration, list the proxy server as localhost and the - port as 8118). - - If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to - serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well, you - will need to override the default. The syntax is - listen-address [<ip-address>]:<port>. If you leave - out the IP address, foobar will bind to all - interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable from the - Internet. In that case, consider using access control lists (acl's) (see - aclfile above), or a firewall. + This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the + actions files, which is where the ad, banner, + cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of + Privoxy. This is an easy way to adjust various + aspects of Privoxy configuration. The actions + file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below. - For example, suppose you are running Foobar 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: + Toggle Privoxy On or Off is handy for sites that might + have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use + it as a test to see whether it is Privoxy + causing the problem or not. Privoxy continues + to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e. + Privoxy acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There + is even a toggle Bookmarklet offered, so + that you can toggle Privoxy with one click from + your browser. - - - - - listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118 - - - - + - - If you want it to listen on all addresses (including the outside - connection): - + - - - - - listen-address :8118 - - - - - - If you do this, consider using ACLs (see aclfile above). Note: - you will need to point your browser(s) to the address and port that you have - configured here. Default: localhost:8118 (127.0.0.1:8118). - - - The debug option sets the level of debugging information to log in the - logfile (and to the console in the Windows version). A debug level of 1 is - informative because it will show you each request as it happens. Higher - levels of debug are probably only of interest to developers. - - - - - - debug 1 # GPC = show each GET/POST/CONNECT request - debug 2 # CONN = show each connection status - debug 4 # IO = show I/O status - debug 8 # HDR = show header parsing - debug 16 # LOG = log all data into the logfile - debug 32 # FRC = debug force feature - debug 64 # REF = debug regular expression filter - debug 128 # = debug fast redirects - debug 256 # = debug GIF de-animation - debug 512 # CLF = Common Log Format - debug 1024 # = debug kill pop-ups - debug 4096 # INFO = Startup banner and warnings. - debug 8192 # ERROR = Non-fatal errors - - - - + + +Configuration Files Overview - It is highly recommended that you enable ERROR - reporting (debug 8192), at least until v3.0 is released. + For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in + /etc/privoxy/ by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and + AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the + Privoxy executable. - The reporting of FATAL errors (i.e. ones which crash - Foobar) is always on and cannot be disabled. + The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though + some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the + principle configuration files are: - If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set debug - 512 ONLY, do not enable anything else. - + - - Multiple debug directives, are OK - they're logical-OR'd - together. - + + + The main configuration file is named config + on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and config.txt + on Windows. This is a required file. + + - - - - - debug 15 # same as setting the first 4 listed above - - - - - - - Default: - - - - - - - debug 1 # URLs - debug 4096 # Info - debug 8192 # Errors - *we highly recommended enabling this* - - - - - - - Foobar normally uses - multi-threading, a software technique that permits it to - handle many different requests simultaneously. In some cases you may wish to - disable this -- particularly if you're trying to debug a problem. The - single-threaded option forces - Foobar to handle requests sequentially. - Default: Multi-threaded mode. - - - - - - - #single-threaded - - - - - - - toggle allows you to temporarily disable all - Foobar's filtering. Just set toggle - 0. - - - - The Windows version of Foobar puts an icon in - the system tray, which also allows you to change this option. If you - right-click on that icon (or select the Options menu), one - choice is Enable. Clicking on enable toggles - Foobar on and off. This is useful if you want - to temporarily disable Foobar, e.g., to access - a site that requires cookies which you would otherwise have blocked. This can also - be toggled via a web browser at the Foobar - internal address of http://i.j.b on - any platform. - - - - toggle 1 means Foobar runs - normally, toggle 0 means that - Foobar becomes a non-anonymizing non-blocking - proxy. Default: 1 (on). - - - - - - - toggle 1 - - - - - - - For content filtering, i.e. the +filter and - +deanimate-gif actions, it is necessary that - Foobar buffers the entire document body. - This can be potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending - data indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust. With nasty consequences. - - - - The buffer-limit option lets you set the maximum - size in Kbytes that each buffer may use. When the documents buffer exceeds - this size, it is flushed to the client unfiltered and no further attempt to - filter the rest of it is made. Remember that there may multiple threads - running, which might require increasing the buffer-limit - Kbytes each, unless you have enabled - single-threaded above. - - - - - - - buffer-limit 4069 - - - - + + + default.action (the main actions file) + is used to define which actions relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups, + content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many + exceptions (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable + Privoxy to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on + as many websites as possible. + + + Multiple actions files may be defined in config. These + are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally + preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in + default.action (which you will most probably want + to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in + user.action, where you can preserve them across + upgrades. standard.action is for + Privoxy's internal use. + + + There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from + http://config.privoxy.org/show-status + (Shortcut: http://p.p/show-status) for the + various actions files. + + - - To enable the web-based ijb.action file editor set - enable-edit-actions to 1, or 0 to disable. Note - that you must have compiled Foobar with - support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect. This - internal page can be reached at http://i.j.b. - + + + default.filter (the filter + file) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including + viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else + lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here; + whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files. + + - - Security note: If this is enabled, anyone who can use the proxy - can edit the actions file, and their changes will affect all users. - For shared proxies, you probably want to disable this. Default: enabled. + - - - - enable-edit-actions 1 - - - + All files use the # character to denote a + comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation + through placing a backslash ("\") as the very last character + in a line. If the # is preceded by a backslash, it looses + its special function. Placing a # in front of an otherwise + valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting + out" that line. - Allow Foobar to be toggled on and off - remotely, using your web browser. Set enable-remote-toggleto - 1 to enable, and 0 to disable. Note that you must have compiled - Foobar with support for this feature, - otherwise this option has no effect. + The actions files and default.filter + can use Perl style regular expressions for + maximum flexibility. - Security note: If this is enabled, anyone who can use the proxy can toggle - it on or off (see http://i.j.b), and - their changes will affect all users. For shared proxies, you probably want to - disable this. Default: enabled. + After making any changes, there is no need to restart + Privoxy in order for the changes to take + effect. Privoxy detects such changes + automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional + requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address + of Privoxy, these wake up requests + must obviously be sent to the old listening address. + - - - - enable-remote-toggle 1 - - - + While under development, the configuration content is subject to change. + The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this. + Also, what constitutes a default setting, may change, so + please check all your configuration files on important issues. +]]> - - + + - + - -Access Control List (ACL) - - Access controls are included at the request of some ISPs and systems - administrators, and are not usually needed by individual users. Please note - the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute - for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security - weaknesses. - + + + + &config; + - - If no access settings are specified, the proxy talks to anyone that - connects. If any access settings file are specified, then the proxy - talks only to IP addresses permitted somewhere in this file and not - denied later in this file. - - - Summary -- if using an ACL: - + - - - Client must have permission to receive service. - - - - - LAST match in ACL wins. - - - - - Default behavior is to deny service. - - - - The syntax for an entry in the Access Control List is: - - - - - - ACTION SRC_ADDR[/SRC_MASKLEN] [ DST_ADDR[/DST_MASKLEN] ] - - - - + - - Where the individual fields are: - +Actions Files - - - - ACTION = permit-access or deny-access - - SRC_ADDR = client hostname or dotted IP address - SRC_MASKLEN = number of bits in the subnet mask for the source - - DST_ADDR = server or forwarder hostname or dotted IP address - DST_MASKLEN = number of bits in the subnet mask for the target - - - + The 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: + + + + + + + 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. + + + + + 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. + + + + + + + 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. - - The field separator (FS) is whitespace (space or tab). - - - - IMPORTANT NOTE: If Foobar is using a - forwarder (see below) or a gateway for a particular destination URL, the - DST_ADDR that is examined is the address of the forwarder - or the gateway and NOT the address of the ultimate - target. This is necessary because it may be impossible for the local - Foobar to determine the address of the - ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for). + 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 - Here are a few examples to show how the ACL features work: + 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. - localhost is OK -- no DST_ADDR implies that - ALL destination addresses are OK: + 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 - - - - permit-access localhost - - - + 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. - A silly example to illustrate permitting any host on the class-C subnet with - Foobar to go anywhere: + 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. + - - - - - permit-access www.foobar.com/24 - - - - + +How Actions are Applied to URLs - Except deny one particular IP address from using it at all: + 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. - - - - deny-access ident.foobar.com - - - + 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 a regular section with + a heading line of { + +handle-as-image }, + then later another one with just { + +block }, resulting + in both actions to apply. - You can also specify an explicit network address and subnet mask. - Explicit addresses do not have to be resolved to be used. + You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info. - - - - permit-access 207.153.200.0/24 - - - + More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, + Anatomy of an Action. + + + +Patterns - A subnet mask of 0 matches anything, so the next line permits everyone. + Generally, a pattern has the form <domain>/<path>, + where both the <domain> and <path> + are optional. (This is why the pattern / matches all URLs). - - - - - permit-access 0.0.0.0/0 - - - - + + + www.example.com/ + + + is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to www.example.com, + regardless of which document on that server is requested. + + + + + www.example.com + + + means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing / may + be omitted. + + + + + www.example.com/index.html + + + matches only the single document /index.html + on www.example.com. + + + + + /index.html + + + matches the document /index.html, regardless of the domain, + i.e. on any web server. + + + + + index.html + + + matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and + there is no top-level domain called .html. + + + + - - Note, you cannot say: - - - - - - permit-access .org - - - - + +The Domain Pattern - to allow all *.org domains. Every IP address listed must resolve fully. + 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: - - An ISP may want to provide a Foobar that is - accessible by the world and yet restrict use of some of their - private content to hosts on its internal network (i.e. its own subscribers). - Say, for instance the ISP owns the Class-B IP address block 123.124.0.0 (a 16 - bit netmask). This is how they could do it: - + + + .example.com + + + matches any domain that ENDS in + .example.com + + + + + www. + + + matches any domain that STARTS with + www. + + + + + .example. + + + matches any domain that CONTAINS .example. + (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains example as a domain.) + + + + - - - - permit-access 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 # other clients can go anywhere - # with the following exceptions: - - deny-access 0.0.0.0/0 123.124.0.0/16 # block all external requests for - # sites on the ISP's network - - permit 0.0.0.0/0 www.my_isp.com # except for the ISP's main - # web site - - permit 123.124.0.0/16 0.0.0.0/0 # the ISP's clients can go - # anywhere - - - + 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: - - Note that if some hostnames are listed with multiple IP addresses, - the primary value returned by DNS (via gethostbyname()) is used. Default: - Anyone can access the proxy. - + + + ad*.example.com + + + matches adserver.example.com, + ads.example.com, etc but not sfads.example.com + + + + + *ad*.example.com + + + matches all of the above, and then some. + + + + + .?pix.com + + + matches www.ipix.com, + pictures.epix.com, a.b.c.d.e.upix.com etc. + + + + + www[1-9a-ez].example.c* + + + matches www1.example.com, + www4.example.cc, wwwd.example.cy, + wwwz.example.com etc., but not + wwww.example.com. + + + + @@ -1402,1792 +1645,2783 @@ Please choose from the following options: - - -Forwarding - - - This feature allows chaining of HTTP requests via multiple proxies. - It can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when - accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains - to a special purpose filtering proxy such as lpwa.com. Or to use - a caching proxy to speed up browsing. - +The Path Pattern - It can also be used in an environment with multiple networks to route - requests via multiple gateways allowing transparent access to multiple - networks without having to modify browser configurations. + Privoxy uses Perl compatible regular expressions + (through the PCRE library) for + matching the path. - Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. Foobar - SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A. The difference is that SOCKS 4A will resolve the target - hostname using DNS on the SOCKS server, not our local DNS client. + 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. - The syntax of each line is: + 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). - - - - forward target_domain[:port] http_proxy_host[:port] - forward-socks4 target_domain[:port] socks_proxy_host[:port] http_proxy_host[:port] - forward-socks4a target_domain[:port] socks_proxy_host[:port] http_proxy_host[:port] - - - + 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. + - - If http_proxy_host is ., then requests are not forwarded to a - HTTP proxy but are made directly to the web servers. - + - - Lines are checked in sequence, and the last match wins. - + - - There is an implicit line equivalent to the following, which specifies that - anything not finding a match on the list is to go out without forwarding - or gateway protocol, like so: - - - - - - forward .* . # implicit - - - - + + +Actions - In the following common configuration, everything goes to Lucent's LPWA, - except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle): - + 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. - - - - - forward .* lpwa.com:8000 - forward :443 . - - - - - - Some users have reported difficulties related to LPWA's use of - . as the last element of the domain, and have said that this - can be fixed with this: - - - - - - - forward lpwa. lpwa.com:8000 - - - - - - - (NOTE: the syntax for specifying target_domain has changed since the - previous paragraph was written -- it will not work now. More information - is welcome.) + + 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. - - In this fictitious example, everything goes via an ISP's caching proxy, - except requests to that ISP: + + There are three classes of actions: - - - - forward .* caching.myisp.net:8000 - forward myisp.net . - - - - + + + + Boolean, i.e the action can only be enabled or + disabled. Syntax: + + + + +name # enable action name + -name # disable action name + + + Example: +block + + - - For the @home network, we're told the forwarding configuration is this: - + + + 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} + + - - - - - forward .* proxy:8080 - - - + - Also, we're told they insist on getting cookies and JavaScript, so you should - allow cookies from home.com. We consider JavaScript a potential security risk. - Java need not be enabled. + 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). - In this example direct connections are made to all internal - domains, but everything else goes through Lucent's LPWA by way of the - company's SOCKS gateway to the Internet. + 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! + - - - - forward-socks4 .* lpwa.com:8000 firewall.my_company.com:1080 - forward my_company.com . - - - + The list of valid Privoxy actions are: - - This is how you could set up a site that always uses SOCKS but no forwarders: - - - - - - forward-socks4a .* . firewall.my_company.com:1080 - - - - + + + + + - - An advanced example for network administrators: - - - If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content to - their subscribers, you can configure forwarding to pass requests to the - specific host that's connected to that ISP so that everybody can see all - of the content on all of the ISPs. - + - - This is a bit tricky, but here's an example: - + +add-header + + + Typical use: + + Confuse log analysis, custom applications + + - - host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.com. And host-b has a PPP connection to - isp-b.com. host-a can run a Foobar proxy with - forwarding like this: - + + Effect: + + + Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server. + + + - - - - - forward .* . - forward isp-b.com host-b:8118 - - - - + + Type: + + + Multi-value. + + + + + Parameter: + + + Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked. + It is recommended that you use the X- prefix + for custom headers. + + + + + + Notes: + + + This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple + headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what + HTTP headers are, you definitely don't need to worry about this + one. + + + - - host-b can run a Foobar proxy with forwarding - like this: - + + Example usage: + + + +add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks} + + + + + - - - - - forward .* . - forward isp-a.com host-a:8118 - - - - - - Now, anyone on the Internet (including users on host-a - and host-b) can set their browser's proxy to either - host-a or host-b and be able to browse the content on isp-a or isp-b. - + + +block - - Here's another practical example, for University of Kent at - Canterbury students with a network connection in their room, who - need to use the University's Squid web cache. - - - - - - - forward *. ssbcache.ukc.ac.uk:3128 # Use the proxy, except for: - forward .ukc.ac.uk . # Anything on the same domain as us - forward * . # Host with no domain specified - forward 129.12.*.* . # A dotted IP on our /16 network. - forward 127.*.*.* . # Loopback address - forward localhost.localdomain . # Loopback address - forward www.ukc.mirror.ac.uk . # Specific host - - - - + + + Typical use: + + Block ads or other obnoxious content + + - - If you intend to chain Foobar and - squid locally, then chain as - browser -> squid -> foobar is the recommended way. - + + 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. + + + - - Your squid configuration could then look like this: - + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + - - - - - # Define Foobar as parent cache - - cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 0 no-query - - # Define ACL for protocol FTP - acl FTP proto FTP + + Parameter: + + N/A + + + + + Notes: + + + Privoxy sends a special BLOCKED page + for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request + was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the + force feature enabled). The BLOCKED page adapts to the available + screen space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and text-only + if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using Privoxy + right now, you can take a look at the + BLOCKED + page. + + + A very important exception occurs if both + block and handle-as-image, + apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If + set-image-blocker + (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter, + if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent. + + + It is important to understand this process, in order + to understand how Privoxy deals with + ads and other unwanted content. + + + The filter + action can perform a very similar task, by blocking + banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the + document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place. + Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two. + + + - # Do not forward ACL FTP to foobar - always_direct allow FTP + + Example usage (section): + + + {+block} # Block and replace with "blocked" page +.nasty-stuff.example.com - # Do not forward ACL CONNECT (https) to foobar - always_direct allow CONNECT +{+block +handle-as-image} # Block and replace with image +.ad.doubleclick.net +.ads.r.us + + + - # Forward the rest to foobar - never_direct allow all - - - - + - - - + +crunch-incoming-cookies - -Windows GUI Options - - - Foobar has a number of options specific to the - Windows GUI interface: - + + + Typical use: + + + Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system + + + - - If activity-animation is set to 1, the - Foobar icon will animate when - Foobar is active. To turn off, set to 0. - + + Effect: + + + Deletes any Set-Cookie: HTTP headers from server replies. + + + - - - - - activity-animation 1 - - - - + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + - - If log-messages is set to 1, - Foobar will log messages to the console - window: - + + 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. + + + - - - - - log-messages 1 - - - - + + Example usage: + + + +crunch-incoming-cookies + + + + + - - If log-buffer-size is set to 1, the size of the log buffer, - i.e. the amount of memory used for the log messages displayed in the - console window, will be limited to log-max-lines (see below). - - - Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and - eat up all your memory! - + + +crunch-outgoing-cookies - - - - - log-buffer-size 1 - - - - + + + Typical use: + + + Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system + + + - - log-max-lines is the maximum number of lines held - in the log buffer. See above. - + + Effect: + + + Deletes any Cookie: HTTP headers from client requests. + + + - - - - - log-max-lines 200 - - - - + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + - - If log-highlight-messages is set to 1, - Foobar will highlight portions of the log - messages with a bold-faced font: - + + 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. + + + - - - - - log-highlight-messages 1 - - - - + + Example usage: + + + +crunch-outgoing-cookies + + + - - The font used in the console window: - + + - - - - - log-font-name Comic Sans MS - - - - - - Font size used in the console window: - + + +deanimate-gifs - - - - - log-font-size 8 - - - - + + + Typical use: + + Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images. + + - - show-on-task-bar controls whether or not - Foobar will appear as a button on the Task bar - when minimized: - + + Effect: + + + De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image. + + + - - - - - show-on-task-bar 0 - - - - + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + - - If close-button-minimizes is set to 1, the Windows close - button will minimize Foobar instead of closing - the program (close with the exit option on the File menu). - + + Parameter: + + + last or first + + + + + + Notes: + + + This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If + the option first is given, the first frame of the animation + is used as the replacement. If last is given, the last + frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for + most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire + last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame). + + + You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF + objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like + a GIF. + + + - - - - - close-button-minimizes 1 - - - - + + Example usage: + + + +deanimate-gifs{last} + + + + + - - The hide-console option is specific to the MS-Win console - version of Foobar. If this option is used, - Foobar will disconnect from and hide the - command console. - + + +downgrade-http-version - - - - - #hide-console - - - - + + + Typical use: + + Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1 + + - - + + Effect: + + + Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0. + + + - + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + + + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + + + + Notes: + + + This is a left-over from the time when Privoxy + didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the + unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server + out there. Not all (optional) HTTP/1.1 features are supported yet, so there + is a chance you might need this action. + + + + + Example usage (section): + + + {+downgrade-http-version} +problem-host.example.com + + + + + + - -The Actions File + +fast-redirects - - The ijb.action file (formerly - actionsfile) is used to define what actions - Foobar takes, and thus determines how images, - cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and transactions are - handled. Images can be anything you want, including ads, banners, or just - some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted - or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. - not written to disk). Changes to ijb.action should - be immediately visible to Foobar without - the need to restart. - + + + Typical use: + + Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links + + - - The easiest way to edit actions file is with a browser by - loading http://i.j.b/, and then select - Edit Actions List. A text editor can also be used. - + + Effect: + + + Cut off all but the last valid URL from requests. + + + - - To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is - compared to all patterns in this file. Every time it matches, the list of - applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated. You can trace - this process by visiting http://i.j.b/show-url-info. - + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + - - There are four types of lines in this file: comments (begin with a - # character), actions, aliases and patterns, all of which are - explained below, as well as the configuration file syntax that - Foobar understands. + + Notes: + + + Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they + will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a + parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs + resulting from this scheme typically look like: + http://some.place/click-tracker.cgi?target=http://some.where.else. + + + Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the + URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable, + since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go + to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your + browser ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds + the advertisers. + + + This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement. + It is likely to break some sites. You should expect to need possibly + many exceptions to this action, if it is enabled by default in + default.action. Some sites just don't work without + it. + + + - + + Example usage: + + + {+fast-redirects} + + + + + + - -URL Domain and Path Syntax - - Generally, a pattern has the form <domain>/<path>, where both the - <domain> and <path> part are optional. If you only specify a - domain part, the / can be left out: - + +filter - - www.example.com - is a domain only pattern and will match any request to - www.example.com. - + + + Typical use: + + Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size), do fun text replacements, etc. + + - - www.example.com/ - means exactly the same. - + + Effect: + + + Text documents, including HTML and JavaScript, to which this action applies, are filtered on-the-fly + through the specified regular expression based substitutions. + + + - - www.example.com/index.html - matches only the single - document /index.html on www.example.com. - + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + - - /index.html - matches the document /index.html, regardless of - the domain. - + + Parameter: + + + The name of a filter, as defined in the filter file + (typically default.filter, set by the + filterfile + option in the config file) + + + + + + Notes: + + + For your convenience, there are a bunch of pre-defined filters available + in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the example below for + a list. + + + This is potentially a very powerful feature! But rolling your own + filters requires a knowledge of regular expressions and HTML. + + + Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to + slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has + passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way + since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more + noticeable on slower connections. + + + At this time, Privoxy cannot (yet!) uncompress compressed + documents. If you want filtering to work on all documents, even those that + would normally be sent compressed, use the + prevent-compression + action in conjunction with filter. + + + Filtering can achieve some of the effects as the + block + action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. + + + Feedback with suggestions for new or improved filters is particularly + welcome! + + + - - index.html - matches nothing, since it would be - interpreted as a domain name and there is no top-level domain called - .html. - + + Example usage (with filters from the distribution default.filter file): + + + + +filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse. + + + + +filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse + + + + +filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size (very efficient!) + + + + +filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come sneaking in the HTML or JS content + + + + +filter{popups} # Kill all popups in JS and HTML + + + + +filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking) + + + + +filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun! + + + + +filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable + + + + +filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups) + + + + +filter{nimda} # Remove Nimda (virus) code. + + + + +filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects + + + + +filter{crude-parental} # Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez" + + + + + - - The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the - domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end. - For example: - - - .example.com - matches any domain that ENDS in - .example.com. - + + +handle-as-image - - www. - matches any domain that STARTS with - www. - + + + Typical use: + + Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images if they get blocked) + + - - Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names - themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: * - stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, ? stands for - any single character. And you can define character classes in square - brackets and they can be freely mixed: + + Effect: + + + This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images. + If the block action also applies, + the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML blocked + page, or a replacement image (as determined by the set-image-blocker action) will be sent to the + client as a substitute for the blocked content. + + + + + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + + + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + + + + Notes: + + + The below generic example section is actually part of default.action. + It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should + be left intact. + + + Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with + block, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't + reflect the file type, like in the second example section. + + + Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad + frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly. + Forcing handle-as-image in this situation will not replace the + ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages. + + + + + + Example usage (sections): + + + # Generic image extensions: +# +{+handle-as-image} +/.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$ + +# These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be +# blocked as images: +# +{+block +handle-as-image} +some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash + +# Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content? +ad.doubleclick.net + + + + + + + + + + +hide-forwarded-for-headers + + + + Typical use: + + Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request + + + + + Effect: + + + Deletes any existing X-Forwarded-for: HTTP header from client requests, + and prevents adding a new one. + + + + + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + + + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + + + + Notes: + + + It is fairly safe to leave this on. + + + This action is scheduled for improvement: It should be able to generate forged + X-Forwarded-for: headers using random IP addresses from a specified network, + to make successive requests from the same client look like requests from a pool of different + users sharing the same proxy. + + + + + + Example usage: + + + +hide-forwarded-for-headers + + + + + + + + + +hide-from-header + + + + Typical use: + + Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address + + + + + Effect: + + + Deletes any existing From: HTTP header, or replaces it with the + specified string. + + + + + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + + + + Parameter: + + + Keyword: block, or any user defined value. + + + + + + Notes: + + + The keyword block will completely remove the header + (not to be confused with the block + action). + + + Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web + server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that + is actually used by a real person. + + + This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send + From: headers anymore. + + + + + + Example usage: + + + +hide-from-header{block} or + +hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com} + + + + + + + + + +hide-referrer + + + + Typical use: + + Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site + + + + + Effect: + + + Deletes the Referer: (sic) HTTP header from the client request, + or replaces it with a forged one. + + + + + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + + + + Parameter: + + + + block to delete the header completely. + + + forge to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to. + + + Any other string to set a user defined referrer. + + + + + + + Notes: + + + forge is the preferred option here, since some servers will + not send images back otherwise, in an attempt to prevent their valuable + content from being embedded elsewhere (and hence, without being surrounded + by their banners). + + + hide-referer is an alternate spelling of + hide-referrer and the two can be can be freely + substituted with each other. (referrer is the + correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it + requires it to be spelled as referer.) + + + + + + Example usage: + + + +hide-referrer{forge} or + +hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/} + + + + + + + + + +hide-user-agent + + + + Typical use: + + Conceal your type of browser and client operating system + + + + + Effect: + + + Replaces the value of the User-Agent: HTTP header + in client requests with the specified value. + + + + + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + + + + Parameter: + + + Any user-defined string. + + + + + + Notes: + + + + This breaks many web sites that depend on looking at this header in order + to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the + way, is NOT a smart way to do + that!). + + + + 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 :-). + + + This action is scheduled for improvement. + + + + + + Example usage: + + + +hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)} + + + + + + + + + +kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"> + + + + Typical use: + + Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows + + + + + Effect: + + + While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens + pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly. + + + + + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + + + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + + + + Notes: + + + This action is easily confused with the built-in, hardwired filter + action, but there are important differences: For kill-popups, + the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while + downloading. But kill-popups doesn't catch as many pop-ups as + filter{popups} + does. + + + 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 is a dangerous business. Many shops and banks rely on + pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and killing only the unwanted pop-ups + would require artificial intelligence in Privoxy. + If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those + really nasty windows that appear when you close an other + one), you might want to use + filter{js-annoyances} + instead. + + + + + + + + Example usage: + + +kill-popups + + + + + + + + +limit-connect + + + + Typical use: + + Prevent abuse of Privoxy as a TCP proxy relay + + + + + Effect: + + + Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable. + + + + + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + + + + Parameter: + + + A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum + defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K). + + + + + + Notes: + + + By default, i.e. if no limit-connect action applies, + Privoxy only allows HTTP CONNECT + requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use + limit-connect if more fine-grained control is desired + for some or all destinations. + + + The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites + (https:// URLs) through proxies. It works very simply: + the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then + short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server. + This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be + abused as TCP relays very easily. + + + If you don't know what any of this means, there probably is no reason to + change this one, since the default is already very restrictive. + + + + + + Example usages: + + + + + + +limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified. ++limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK. ++limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK. ++limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK (gaping security hole!) + + + + + + + + +prevent-compression + + + + Typical use: + + + Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be + passed through filters + + + + + + Effect: + + + Adds a header to the request that asks for uncompressed transfer. + + + + + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + + + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + + + + Notes: + + + More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which + is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the filter, deanimate-gifs + and kill-popups actions to work, + Privoxy needs access to the uncompressed data. + Unfortunately, Privoxy can't yet(!) uncompress, filter, and + re-compress the content on the fly. So if you want to ensure that all websites, including + those that normally compress, can be filtered, you need to use this action. + + + This will slow down transfers from those websites, though. If you use any of the above-mentioned + actions, you will typically want to use prevent-compression in conjunction + with them. + + + Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed + documents correctly (they send an empty document body). If you use prevent-compression + per default, you'll have to add exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that. + + + + + + Example usage (sections): + + + # Set default: +# +{+prevent-compression} +/ # Match all sites + +# Make exceptions for ill sites: +# +{-prevent-compression} +www.debianhelp.org +www.pclinuxonline.com + + + + + + + + + + +send-vanilla-wafer + + + + Typical use: + + + Feed log analysis scripts with useless data. + + + + + + Effect: + + + Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any copyright + on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track you. + + + + + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + + + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + + + + Notes: + + + The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you. + + + This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration. + + + + + + Example usage: + + + +send-vanilla-wafer + + + + + + + + + + +send-wafer + + + + Typical use: + + + Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data. + + + + + + Effect: + + + Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request. + + + + + + Type: + + + Multi-value. + + + + + Parameter: + + + A string of the form name=value. + + + + + + Notes: + + + Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request, + resulting in multiple cookies being sent. + + + This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration. + + + + + Example usage (section): + + + {+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}} +my-internal-testing-server.void + + + + + + + + + +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. + + + + + + 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). + + + A good application of redirects is to use special Privoxy-built-in + URLs, which send the built-in images, as target-url. + This has the same visual effect as specifying blank or pattern in + the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting + it over and over again. + + + + + + + + Notes: + + + The URLs for the built-in images are http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=type, where type is + either blank or pattern. + + + There is a third (advanced) type, called auto. It is NOT to be + used in set-image-blocker, but meant for use from filters. + Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image. + + + + + + Example usage: + + + Built-in pattern: + + + +set-image-blocker{pattern} + + + Redirect to the BSD devil: + + + +set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif} + + + Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching: + + + +set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern} + + + + + + + + + +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. + This is likely to change in future versions of Privoxy. + + + + Now let's define some aliases... + + + + + # Useful custom aliases we can use later. + # + # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section + # must be at the top of the actions file! + # + {{alias}} + + # These aliases just save typing later: + # (Note that some already use other aliases!) + # + +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies + -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies + block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image + mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only + + # These aliases define combinations of actions + # that are useful for certain types of sites: + # + fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups + shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups + + # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-) + # + c0 = +crunch-all-cookies + c1 = -crunch-all-cookies + + + + ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an + actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further + up for the / pattern): + + + + + # These sites are either very complex or very keen on + # user data and require minimal interference to work: + # + {fragile} + .office.microsoft.com + .windowsupdate.microsoft.com + .nytimes.com + + # Shopping sites: + # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data) + # + {shop} + .quietpc.com + .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com + .scan.co.uk + + # These shops require pop-ups: + # + {shop -kill-popups -filter{popups}} + .dabs.com + .overclockers.co.uk + + + + Aliases like shop and fragile are often used for + problem sites that require some actions to be disabled + in order to function properly. + + + + + +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 <developers@privoxy.org> + + + +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 + +# These aliases define combinations of actions +# that are useful for certain types of sites: +# +fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups +shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups + + + + 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 real need to disable any actions here, but we will do that nonetheless, + to have a complete listing for your reference. (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: +########################################################################## + { \ + -add-header \ + -block \ + -crunch-incoming-cookies \ + -crunch-outgoing-cookies \ + +deanimate-gifs \ + -downgrade-http-version \ + +fast-redirects \ + +filter{html-annoyances} \ + +filter{js-annoyances} \ + -filter{content-cookies} \ + +filter{popups} \ + +filter{webbugs} \ + -filter{refresh-tags} \ + -filter{fun} \ + +filter{nimda} \ + +filter{banners-by-size} \ + -filter{shockwave-flash} \ + -filter{crude-parental} \ + -handle-as-image \ + +hide-forwarded-for-headers \ + +hide-from-header{block} \ + +hide-referrer{forge} \ + -hide-user-agent \ + -kill-popups \ + -limit-connect \ + +prevent-compression \ + -send-vanilla-wafer \ + -send-wafer \ + +session-cookies-only \ + +set-image-blocker{pattern} \ + } + / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns. + + + + The default behavior is now set. Note that some actions, like not hiding + the user agent, are part of a general policy that applies + universally and won't get any exceptions defined later. Other choices, + like not blocking (which is understandably the + default!) need exceptions, i.e. we need to specify explicitly what we + want to block in later sections. + We will also want to make exceptions from our general pop-up-killing, + and use our defined aliases for that. + + + + 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 + + + + 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 - ad*.example.com - matches adserver.example.com, - ads.example.com, etc but not sfads.example.com. + Then, there are sites which rely on pop-up windows (yuck!) to work. + Since we made pop-up-killing our default above, we need to make exceptions + now. Mozilla users, who + can turn on smart handling of unwanted pop-ups in their browsers, can + safely choose + -filter{popups} (and + -kill-popups) above + and hence don't need this section. Anyway, disabling an already disabled + action doesn't hurt, so we'll define our exceptions regardless of what was + chosen in the defaults section: - *ad*.example.com - matches all of the above, and then some. + +# These sites require pop-ups too :( +# +{ -kill-popups -filter{popups} } +.dabs.com +.overclockers.co.uk +.deutsche-bank-24.de - .?pix.com - matches www.ipix.com, - pictures.epix.com, a.b.c.d.e.upix.com, etc. + The fast-redirects + action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable + it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves: - www[1-9a-ez].example.com - matches www1.example.com, - www4.example.com, wwwd.example.com, - wwwz.example.com, etc., but not - wwww.example.com. + +{ -fast-redirects } +login.yahoo.com +edit.*.yahoo.com +.google.com +.altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http +.altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http +.nytimes.com - If Foobar was compiled with - pcre support (default), Perl compatible regular expressions - can be used. See the pcre/docs/ directory or man - perlre (also available on http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html) - for details. A brief discussion of regular expressions is in the - Appendix. For instance: + 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: - /.*/advert[0-9]+\.jpe?g - would match a URL from any - domain, with any path that includes advert followed - immediately by one or more digits, then a . and ending in - either jpeg or jpg. So we match - example.com/ads/advert2.jpg, and - www.example.com/ads/banners/advert39.jpeg, but not - www.example.com/ads/banners/advert39.gif (no gifs in the - example pattern). + +########################################################################## +# 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)$ - Please note that matching in the path is case - INSENSITIVE by default, but you can switch to case - sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the - (?-i) switch: + 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: - www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.* - will match only - documents whose path starts with PaTtErN in - exactly this capitalization. + +# Known ad generators: +# +{ block-as-image } +ar.atwola.com +.ad.doubleclick.net +.ad.*.doubleclick.net +.a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$ +.a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$ +bs*.gsanet.com +bs*.einets.com +.qkimg.net - - - - - - - - - -Actions - Actions are enabled if preceded with a +, and disabled if - preceded with a -. Actions are invoked by enclosing the - action name in curly braces (e.g. {+some_action}), followed by a list of - URLs to which the action applies. There are three classes of actions: + One of the most important jobs of Privoxy + is to block banners. A huge bunch of them are already blocked + by the filter{banners-by-size} + action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner + images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request + them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally + doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we + need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the + block action to them. - - - - - - Boolean (e.g. +/-block): - - - - - - {+name} # enable this action - {-name} # disable this action - - - - - + First comes a bunch of generic patterns, which do most of the work, by + matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes + a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here + to keep the example short: + + + +########################################################################## +# Block these fine banners: +########################################################################## +{ +block } - - - parameterized (e.g. +/-hide-user-agent): - - - - - - {+name{param}} # enable action and set parameter to param - {-name} # disable action - - - - - - - - - Multi-value (e.g. {+/-add-header{Name: value}}, {+/-wafer{name=value}}): - - - - - - {+name{param}} # enable action and add parameter param - {-name{param}} # remove the parameter param - {-name} # disable this action totally - - - - - +# 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 - If nothing is specified in this file, no actions are taken. - So in this case Foobar 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 ijb.action file will - give a good starting point). + You wouldn't believe how many advertisers actually call their banner + servers ads.company.com, or call the directory + in which the banners are stored simply banners. So the above + generic patterns are surprisingly effective. - - Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. For multi-valued - actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified. + 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. - - The list of valid Foobar actions are: + 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. - - - - - Add the specified HTTP header, which is not checked for validity. - You may specify this many times to specify many different headers: - - - - - - +add-header{Name: value} - - - - - - - - - - Block this URL totally. In a default installation, a blocked - URL will result in bright red banner that says BLOCKED, - with a reason why it is being blocked. - - - - - - +block - - - - - - - - - - De-animate all animated GIF images, i.e. reduce them to their last frame. - This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If - the option first is given, the first frame of the animation - is used as the replacement. If last is given, the last frame - of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for most - banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire last - frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame). - - - - - - +deanimate-gifs{last} - +deanimate-gifs{first} - - - - - - - - - +downgrade will downgrade HTTP/1.1 client requests to - HTTP/1.0 and downgrade the responses as well. Use this action for servers - that use HTTP/1.1 protocol features that - Foobar doesn't handle well yet. HTTP/1.1 - is only partially implemented. Default is not to downgrade requests. - - - - - - +downgrade - - - - - - - - - Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they - will link to some script on their own server, giving the destination as a - parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs resulting - from this scheme typically look like: - http://some.place/some_script?http://some.where-else. - - - 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. - - - The +fast-redirects option enables interception of these - requests by Foobar, who will cut off all but - the last valid URL in the request and send a local redirect back to your - browser without contacting the remote site. - - - - - - +fast-redirects - - - - - - - - - Apply the filters in the section_header - section of the re_filterfile file to the site(s). - Re_filterfile sections are grouped according to like - functionality. - - - - - - - +filter{section_header} - - - - - - - Filter sections that are pre-defined in the supplied - re_filterfile include: - - -
- - - html-annoyances: Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse. - - - - - js-annoyances: Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse - - - - - no-poups: Kill all popups in JS and HTML - - - - - frameset-borders: Give frames a border - - - - - webbugs: Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking) - - - - - no-refresh: Automatic refresh sucks on auto-dialup lines - - - - - fun: Text replacements for subversive browsing fun! - - - - - nimda: Remove (virus) Nimda code. - - - - - banners-by-size: Kill banners by size - - - - - crude-parental: Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez" - - -
- - - - - - Block any existing X-Forwarded-for header, and do not add a new one: - - - - - - +hide-forwarded - - - - - - - - - If the browser sends a From: header containing your e-mail - address, this either completely removes the header (block), or - changes it to the specified e-mail address. - - - - - - +hide-from{block} - +hide-from{spam@sittingduck.xqq} - - - - - - - - - Don't send the Referer: (sic) header to the web site. You - can block it, forge a URL to the same server as the request (which is - preferred because some sites will not send images otherwise) or set it to a - constant string of your choice. - - - - - - +hide-referer{block} - +hide-referer{forge} - +hide-referer{http://nowhere.com} - - - - - - - - - Alternative spelling of +hide-referer. It has the same - parameters, and can be freely mixed with, +hide-referer. - (referrer is the correct English spelling, however the HTTP - specification has a bug - it requires it to be spelled referer.) - - - - - - +hide-referrer{...} - - - - - - - - - Change the User-Agent: header so web servers can't tell your - browser type. Warning! This breaks many web sites. Specify the - user-agent value you want. Example, pretend to be using Netscape on - Linux: - - - - - - +hide-user-agent{Mozilla (X11; I; Linux 2.0.32 i586)} - - - - - - - - - - Treat this URL as an image. This only matters if it's also +blocked, - in which case a blocked image can be sent rather than a HTML page. - See +image-blocker{} below for the control over what is actually sent. - If you want invisible ads, they should be defined as - images and blocked. And also, - image-blocker should be set to blank. - - - - - - +image - - - - - - - - Decides what to do with URLs that end up tagged with {+block - +image}, e.g an advertizement. There are five options. - -image-blocker will send a HTML blocked page, - usually resulting in a broken image icon. - +image-blocker{logo} will send a - Foobar logo - image. +image-blocker{blank} will send a 1x1 transparent GIF - image. And finally, +image-blocker{http://xyz.com} will send - a HTTP temporary redirect to the specified image. This has the advantage of - the icon being being cached by the browser, which will speed up the display. - +image-blocker{pattern} will send a checkboard type pattern, - which scales better than the logo (which can get blocky if the browser - enlarges it too much). - - - - - - +image-blocker{logo} - +image-blocker{blank} - +image-blocker{pattern} - +image-blocker{http://i.j.b/send-banner} - - - - - - - - - By default (i.e. in the absence of a +limit-connect - action), Foobar will only allow CONNECT - requests to port 443, which is the standard port for https as a - precaution. - - - - The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites - (https:// URLs) through proxies. It works very simply: the proxy - connects to the server on the specified port, and then short-circuits - its connections to the client and to the remote proxy. - This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can - be abused as TCP relays very easily. - - - - If you want to allow CONNECT for more ports than this, or want to forbid - CONNECT altogether, you can specify a comma separated list of ports and - port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum defaulting to 0 and - max to 65K): - - - - - - - +limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need no be specified. - +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK. - +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Port less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 - #and above 500 are OK. - - - - - - - - - - +no-compression prevents the website from compressing the - data. Some websites do this, which can be a problem for - Foobar, since +filter, - +no-popup and +gif-deanimate will not work on - compressed data. This will slow down connections to those websites, - though. Default is nocompression is turned on. - + +########################################################################## +# Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns: +########################################################################## - - - - - +nocompression - - - - - - - - - If the website sets cookies, no-cookies-keep will make sure - they are erased when you exit and restart your web browser. This makes - profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so - that you can log in for transactions. Default: on. - - - - - - +no-cookies-keep - - - - - - - - - Prevent the website from reading cookies: - - - - - - +no-cookies-read - - - - - - - - - Prevent the website from setting cookies: - - - - - - +no-cookies-set - - - - - - - - - Filter the website through a built-in filter to disable those obnoxious - JavaScript pop-up windows via window.open(), etc. The two alternative - spellings are equivalent. - - - - - - +no-popup - +no-popups - - - - - - - - - This action only applies if you are using a jarfile - for saving cookies. It sends a cookie to every site stating that you do not - accept any copyright on cookies sent to you, and asking them not to track - you. Of course, this is a (relatively) unique header they could use to - track you. - - - - - - +vanilla-wafer - - - - - - - - - This allows you to add an arbitrary cookie. It can be specified multiple - times in order to add as many cookies as you like. - - - - - - +wafer{name=value} - - - - - +# By domain: +# +{ -block } +adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*) +adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads) +ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*) +.edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!)) +.*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc) - +# By path: +# +/.*loads/ + +# Site-specific: +# +www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced) +www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv - The meaning of any of the above is reversed by preceding the action with a - -, in place of the +. + 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! - Some examples: + +# Don't filter code! +# +{ -filter } +/.*cvs +.sourceforge.net - Turn off cookies by default, then allow a few through for specified sites: + The actual default.action is of course more + comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works. - + + + +user.action + - - - - # Turn off all persistent cookies - { +no-cookies-read } - { +no-cookies-set } - # Allow cookies for this browser session ONLY - { +no-cookies-keep } + 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. + + + + So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in + user.action: + - # Exceptions to the above, sites that benefit from persistent cookies - { -no-cookies-read } - { -no-cookies-set } - { -no-cookies-keep } - .javasoft.com - .sun.com - .yahoo.com - .msdn.microsoft.com - .redhat.com - # Alternative way of saying the same thing - {-no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-keep} - .sourceforge.net - .sf.net - - - + + + + +# My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com> - Now turn off fast redirects, and then we allow two exceptions: + 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: - - - - # Turn them off! - {+fast-redirects} + +# (Re-)define aliases for this file: +# +{{alias}} +-crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies +mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only +fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups +shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups +allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} # (see below) - # Reverse it for these two sites, which don't work right without it. - {-fast-redirects} - www.ukc.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wac\.cgi\? - login.yahoo.com - - - - Turn on page filtering according to rules in the defined sections - of refilterfile, and make one exception for - sourceforge: - + 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 + mercy-for-cookies alias defined above does exactly + that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and + processing of cookies to make them temporary. + - - - - # Run everything through the filter file, using only the - # specified sections: - +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups}\ - +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} - - # Then disable filtering of code from sourceforge! - {-filter} - .cvs.sourceforge.net - - - - - - - Now some URLs that we want blocked, ie we won't see them. - Many of these use regular expressions that will expand to match multiple - URLs: - - - - - - - # Blocklist: - {+block} - /.*/(.*[-_.])?ads?[0-9]?(/|[-_.].*|\.(gif|jpe?g)) - /.*/(.*[-_.])?count(er)?(\.cgi|\.dll|\.exe|[?/]) - /.*/(ng)?adclient\.cgi - /.*/(plain|live|rotate)[-_.]?ads?/ - /.*/(sponsor)s?[0-9]?/ - /.*/_?(plain|live)?ads?(-banners)?/ - /.*/abanners/ - /.*/ad(sdna_image|gifs?)/ - /.*/ad(server|stream|juggler)\.(cgi|pl|dll|exe) - /.*/adbanners/ - /.*/adserver - /.*/adstream\.cgi - /.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/ - /.*/banner_?ads/ - /.*/banners?/ - /.*/banners?\.cgi/ - /.*/cgi-bin/centralad/getimage - /.*/images/addver\.gif - /.*/images/marketing/.*\.(gif|jpe?g) - /.*/popupads/ - /.*/siteads/ - /.*/sponsor.*\.gif - /.*/sponsors?[0-9]?/ - /.*/advert[0-9]+\.jpg - /Media/Images/Adds/ - /ad_images/ - /adimages/ - /.*/ads/ - /bannerfarm/ - /grafikk/annonse/ - /graphics/defaultAd/ - /image\.ng/AdType - /image\.ng/transactionID - /images/.*/.*_anim\.gif # alvin brattli - /ip_img/.*\.(gif|jpe?g) - /rotateads/ - /rotations/ - /worldnet/ad\.cgi - /cgi-bin/nph-adclick.exe/ - /.*/Image/BannerAdvertising/ - /.*/ad-bin/ - /.*/adlib/server\.cgi - /autoads/ - - - + +{ mercy-for-cookies } +sunsolve.sun.com +slashdot.org +.yahoo.com +.msdn.microsoft.com +.redhat.com - Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to - misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways - a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header - content he may depend on. There is no way to have hard and fast rules - for all sites. See the Appendix - for a brief example on troubleshooting actions. - + Your bank needs popups and is allergic to some filter, but you don't + know which, so you disable them all: - + + +{ -filter -kill-popups } +.your-home-banking-site.com + - + + While browsing the web with Privoxy you + noticed some ads that sneaked through, but you were too lazy to + report them through our fine and easy feedback + system, so you have added them here: + + + +{ +block } +www.a-popular-site.com/some/unobvious/path +another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/ + - - -Aliases - Custom actions, known to Foobar - as aliases, can be defined by combining other actions. - These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions. - Currently, an alias can contain any character except space, tab, =, - { or }. But please use only a- - z, 0-9, +, and - -. Alias names are not case sensitive, and - must be defined before anything else in the - ijb.actionfile ! And there can only be one set of - aliases defined. + Note that, assuming the banners in the above example have regular image + extensions (most do), + +handle-as-image + need not be specified, since all URLs ending in these extensions will + already have been tagged as images in the relevant section of + default.action by now. - Now let's define a few aliases: + Then 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: - - - - # Useful customer aliases we can use later. These must come first! - {{alias}} - +no-cookies = +no-cookies-set +no-cookies-read - -no-cookies = -no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read - fragile = -block -no-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -no-popups - shop = -no-cookies -filter -fast-redirects - +imageblock = +block +image + +{ fragile } +.forbes.com + - #For people who don't like to type too much: ;-) - c0 = +no-cookies - c1 = -no-cookies - c2 = -no-cookies-set +no-cookies-read - c3 = +no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read - #... etc. Customize to your heart's content. - - - + + You like the fun text replacements in default.filter, + but it is disabled in the distributed actions file. (My colleagues on the team just + don't have a sense of humour, that's why! ;-). So you'd like to turn it on in your private, + update-safe config, once and for all: - Some examples using our shop and fragile - aliases from above: + +{ +filter{fun} } +/ # For ALL sites! - - - - # These sites are very complex and require - # minimal interference. - {fragile} - .office.microsoft.com - .windowsupdate.microsoft.com - .nytimes.com + 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. + - # Shopping sites - still want to block ads. - {shop} - .quietpc.com - .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com - .jungle.com - .scan.co.uk + + Finally, you might think 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: + - # These shops require pop-ups - {shop -no-popups} - .dabs.com - .overclockers.co.uk - - - + + +{ allow-ads } +.sourceforge.net +.slashdot.org +.osdn.net + + Note that allow-ads has been aliased to + -block + -filter{banners-by-size} + above. + + + + + + - - + 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 - re_filterfile, located in the config directory. + All text substitutions that can be invoked through the + filter action + must first be defined in the filter file, which is typically + called default.filter and which can be + selected through the + filterfile config + option. - 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. - + Typical reasons for doing such substitutions are to eliminate + common annoyances in HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows, + exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the + infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain + width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs), + or just to have fun. The possibilities are endless. - 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 re_filterfile: + Filtering works on any text-based document type, including plain + text, HTML, JavaScript, CSS etc. (all text/* + MIME types). Substitutions are made at the source level, so if + you want to roll your own filters, you should be + familiar with HTML syntax. - Stop web pages from displaying annoying messages in the status bar by - deleting such references: + Just like the actions files, the + filter file is organized in sections, which are called filters + here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with the + keyword FILTER:, followed by + the filter's name, and a short (one line) + description of what it does. Below that line + come the jobs, i.e. lines that define the actual + text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter + should describe what the filter eliminates. The + comment is used in the web-based + user interface. - - - - 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 - - - + 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. - + - Just for kicks, replace any occurrence of Microsoft with - MicroSuck, and have a little fun with topical buzzwords: + A filter header line for a filter called foo could look + like this: - - - - FILTER: fun - - s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/ig - - # Buzzword Bingo: - # - s/industry-leading|cutting-edge|award-winning/<font color=red><b>BINGO!</b></font>/ig - - - + FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar" - Kill those pesky little web-bugs: + Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that + define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified + in a syntax that imitates Perl's + s/// operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you + will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the + PCRS man page + for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most notably, the non-standard + option letter U is supported, which turns the default + to ungreedy matching. - - - - # 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 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. - - - + +Filter File Tutorial + + Now, let's complete our foo 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: + + + s/foo/bar/ + - + + But wait! Didn't the comment say that all occurrences + of foo should be replaced? Our current job will only take + care of the first foo on each page. For global substitution, + we'll need to add the g option: + - -Templates - When Foobar displays one of its internal - pages, such as a 404 Not Found error page, it uses the appropriate template. - On Linux, BSD, and Unix, these are located in - /etc/foobar/templates by default. These may be - customized, if desired. + s/foo/bar/g + + + Our complete filter now looks like this: + + + FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar" +s/foo/bar/g - - + + Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see + a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript + abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other: + - + + +FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse +# Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm +# +s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg + - -Quickstart to Using <application>Foobar</application> - Install package, then run and enjoy! Foobar - is typically started by specifying the main configuration file to be - used on the command line. Example Unix startup command: + 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 (\). - - - # /usr/sbin/foobar /etc/foobar/config - - + 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. - An init script is provided for SuSE and Redhat. + 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). -For for SuSE: /etc/rc.d/foobar start + 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. -For RedHat: /etc/rc.d/init.d/foobar start + 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. + + 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. + - If no configuration file is specified on the command line, - Foobar will look for a file named - config in the current directory. Except on Win32 where - it will try config.txt. If no file is specified on the - command line and no default configuration file can be found, - Foobar will fail to start. + 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!". - Be sure your browser is set to use the proxy which is by default at - localhost, port 8118. With Netscape (and - Mozilla), this can be set under Edit - -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy. - For Internet Explorer: Tools > - Internet Properties -> Connections -> LAN Setting. Then, - check Use Proxy and fill in the appropriate info (Address: - localhost, Port: 8118). Include if HTTPS proxy support too. + 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. - The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting - point, though may be somewhat aggressive in blocking junk. You will probably - want to keep an eye out for sites that require persistent cookies, and add these to - ijb.action as needed. By default, most of these will - be accepted only during the current browser session, until you add them to - the configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will - need to edit ijb.action and disable this feature. If you - use more than one browser, it would make more sense to let - Foobar handle this. In which case, the - browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies. + We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but + this time only point out the constructs of special interest: - If a particular site shows problems loading properly, try adding it - to the {fragile} section of - ijb.action. This will turn off most actions for - this site. + +# The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah +# +s/window\.status\s*=\s*['"].*?['"]/dUmMy=1/ig - Foobar is HTTP/1.1 compliant, but not all 1.1 - features are as yet implemented. If browsers that support HTTP/1.1 (like - Mozilla or recent versions of I.E.) experience - problems, you might try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look - under Edit -> Preferences -> Debug -> Networking. - Or set the +downgrade config option in - ijb.action. + \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. - After running Foobar for a while, you can - start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site, - preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can - be customized. Actions (as specified in ijb.action) - can be adjusted by pointing your browser to - http://i.j.b/, - and then follow the link to edit the actions list. - (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.) + 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. - In fact, various aspects of Foobar - configuration can be viewed from this page, including - current configuration parameters, source code version numbers, - the browser's request headers, and actions that apply - to a given URL. In addition to the ijb.action file - editor mentioned above, Foobar can also - be turned on and off from this page. + +# Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html +# +s/(<body .*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU - If you encounter problems, please verify it is a - Foobar bug, by disabling - Foobar, and then trying the same page. - Also, try another browser if possible to eliminate browser or site - problems. Before reporting it as a bug, see if there is not a configuration - option that is enabled that is causing the page not to load. You can - then add an exception for that page or site. If a bug, please report it to - the developers (see below). + 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. + + The last example is from the fun department: + + + +FILTER: fun Fun text replacements - +# Spice the daily news: +# +s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig + - -Command Line Options - Foobar may be invoked with the following - command-line options: + 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 messed, while + still replacing the word everywhere else. - - - - - --version - - - Print version info and exit, Unix only. - - - - - --help - - - Print a short usage info and exit, Unix only. - - - - - --no-daemon - - - Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group - leader, don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only. - - - - - --pidfile FILE - - - - On startup, write the process ID to FILE. Delete the - FILE on exit. Failiure to create or delete the - FILE is non-fatal. If no FILE - option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only. - - - - - --user USER[.GROUP] - - - - After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of - USER, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the - privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only. - - - - - configfile - - - If no configfile is included on the command line, - Foobar will look for a file named - config in the current directory (except on Win32 - where it will look for config.txt instead). Specify - full path to avoid confusion. - - + +# Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax) +# +s* industry[ -]leading \ +| cutting[ -]edge \ +| 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. + + You get the idea? + - @@ -3196,138 +4430,145 @@ For RedHat: /etc/rc.d/init.d/foobar start -Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature -Requests + +Templates -We value your feedback. However, to provide you with the best support, -please note: + 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.) + - + + These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the configuration + directory called templates. On Unixish platforms, + this is typically + /etc/privoxy/templates/. + - Use the Sourceforge support forum to get - help. - - Submit bugs only thru our Sourceforge bug - forum. -Make sure that the bug has not already been submitted. Please try to -verify that it is a Foobar bug, and not -a browser or site bug first. If you are using your own custom configuration, -please try the stock configs to see if the problem is a configuration -related bug. And if not using the latest development snapshot, please -try the latest one. Or even better, CVS sources. - + + The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols + or exports), which Privoxy fills at run time. You can + edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want to customize them. + (Not recommended for the casual user). Note that + just like in configuration files, lines starting with # are + ignored when the templates are filled in. + - - Submit feature requests only thru our Sourceforge feature request forum. + + 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. + + + + A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole + blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this + for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all + our user interface (CGI) pages when Privoxy + in in an alpha or beta development stage: + + + + +<!-- @if-unstable-start --> + ... beta warning HTML code goes here ... - +<!-- if-unstable-end@ --> + + + + 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: + + + <!-- --> -For any other issues, feel free to use the mailing lists. + 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 ;-) - Anyone interested in actively participating in development and related - discussions can join the appropriate mailing list - here. - Archives are available here too. + 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. + + + -Copyright and History - -License - - Foobar is free software; you can - redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public - License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the - License, or (at your option) any later version. - +Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature +Requests - - This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT - ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS - FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more - details, which is available from the Free Software Foundation, - Inc, 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. - + + &contacting; + - + +<application>Privoxy</application> Copyright, License and History - -History - - Junkbuster was originally written by Anonymous - Coders and Junkbuster's - Corporation, and was released as free open-source software under the - GNU GPL. Stefan - Waldherr made many improvements, and started the SourceForge project - Foobar to rekindle development. There are now several active - developers contributing. The last stable release was v2.0.2, which has now - grown whiskers ;-). - + + ©right; + + +License + + &license; + + - -See also - - - - -   http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa - - - - -   http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/ - - - - -   http://i.j.b/ - - - - -   http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html - - - - -   http://www.waldherr.org/junkbuster/ - - - - -   http://privacy.net/analyze/ - - - - -  http://www.squid-cache.org/ - - - +History + + &history; + + + +Authors + + &p-authors; + + + + + + + + + +See Also + + &seealso; + @@ -3340,30 +4581,29 @@ For any other issues, feel free to use the Regular Expressions - Foobar 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. @@ -3384,76 +4624,75 @@ For any other issues, feel free to use the - - 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 Foobar + can understand the default Privoxy configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on @@ -3564,6 +4793,11 @@ For any other issues, feel free to use the http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html + + For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications + in filters, please see the filter file tutorial + in this manual. + @@ -3571,24 +4805,24 @@ For any other issues, feel free to use the - Foobar main page: + Privoxy main page:
- http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/ + http://config.privoxy.org/
- Alternately, this may be reached at http://i.j.b/, - 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) - Show information about the current configuration: + Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and + editing of actions files:
- http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-status + http://config.privoxy.org/show-status
@@ -3629,18 +4864,18 @@ For any other issues, feel free to use the http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-version + http://config.privoxy.org/show-version - Show the client's request headers: + Show the browser's request headers:
- http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-request + http://config.privoxy.org/show-request
@@ -3651,18 +4886,19 @@ For any other issues, feel free to use the http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-url-info + http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info - Toggle Foobar on or off: + Toggle Privoxy on or off. In this case, Privoxy continues + to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking place:
- http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/toggle + http://config.privoxy.org/toggle
@@ -3670,33 +4906,217 @@ For any other issues, feel free to use the http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/toggle?set=disable + http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable
- http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/toggle?set=enable + http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable
+ + + - - - Edit the actions list file: - -
- - http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/edit-actions + + These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next. + + + + +Bookmarklets + + Below are some bookmarklets to allow you to easily access a + mini version of some of Privoxy's + special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work + equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support + JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by + clicking the links below (although that should work for testing). + + + To save them, right-click the link and choose Add to Favorites + (IE) or Add Bookmark (Netscape). You will get a warning that + the bookmark may not be safe - just click OK. Then you can run the + Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access, + you can put them on the Links bar (IE) or the Personal + Toolbar (Netscape), and run them with a single click. + + + + + + + + Privoxy - Enable -
- - + + + + + Privoxy - Disable + + + + + + Privoxy - Toggle Privoxy (Toggles between enabled and disabled) + + + + + + Privoxy- View Status + + + + + + Privoxy - Submit Actions File Feedback + + + + + Privoxy - Why? + + - These may be bookmarked for quick reference. + Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is + www.bookmarklets.com. They + have more information about bookmarklets. + + + + + + + + + + +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: + + + + + + First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send + the request to Privoxy, which will in turn, + relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following + tests: + + + + + Privoxy traps any request for its own internal CGI + pages (e.g http://p.p/) and sends the CGI page back to the browser. + + + + + Next, Privoxy checks to see if the URL + matches any +block patterns. If + so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted. + +handle-as-image + is then checked and if it does not match, an + HTML BLOCKED page is sent back. Otherwise, if it does match, + an image is returned. The type of image depends on the setting of +set-image-blocker + (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere). + + + + + Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the + trust file, then that is done. + + + + + If the URL pattern matches the +fast-redirects action, + it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped. + + + + + Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any + of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. +hide-user-agent, + etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and + their parameters. + + + + + Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web page and related + data). + + + + + First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other + things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then + filtered as deterimined by the + +crunch-incoming-cookies, + +session-cookies-only, + and +downgrade-http-version + actions. + + + + + If the +kill-popups + action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript document, the popup-code in the + response is filtered on-the-fly as it is received. + + + + + If a +filter + or +deanimate-gifs + action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is + read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from + default.filter) are processed against the buffered + content. Filters are applied in the order they are specified in the + default.filter file. Animated GIFs, if present, are + reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action + setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by + Privoxy back to your browser. + + + If neither +filter + or +deanimate-gifs + matches, then Privoxy passes the raw data through + to the client browser as it becomes available. + + + + + As the browser receives the now (probably filtered) page content, it + reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page + source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g. + frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a new + request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a + complex web page may have many such embedded URLs. + + + + @@ -3707,111 +5127,144 @@ For any other issues, feel free to use the http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-url-info - page that can show us very specifically how actions - are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting. - + The way Privoxy applies + actions and filters + to any given URL can be complex, and not always so + easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to + see just what Privoxy is + doing. Especially, if something Privoxy is doing + is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at + the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with + regular expressions whose consequences are not + always so obvious. + - First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then - Foobar will tell us - how current configuration will handle it. This will not - help with filtering effects from the re_filterfile! It - also will not tell you about any other URLs that may be embedded within the - URL you are testing. For instance, images such as ads are expressed as URLs - within the raw page source of HTML pages. So you will only get info for the - actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area -- not any sub-URLs. If you - want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you will have to dig those out of - the HTML source. Use your browser's View Page Source option - for this. + 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!). - Let's look at an example, google.com, - one section at a time: + Privoxy also provides the + http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info + page that can show us very specifically how actions + are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting. - - System default actions: - - { -add-header -block -deanimate-gifs -downgrade -fast-redirects -filter - -hide-forwarded -hide-from -hide-referer -hide-user-agent -image - -image-blocker -limit-connect -no-compression -no-cookies-keep - -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set -no-popups -vanilla-wafer -wafer } - - + First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then + Privoxy will tell us + how the current configuration will handle it. This will not + help with filtering effects (i.e. the +filter action) from + the default.filter file since this is handled very + differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other + URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images + such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So + you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area + -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you + will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's View + Page Source option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the + URL. - This is the top section, and only tells us of the compiled in defaults. This - is basically what Foobar would do if there - were not any actions defined, i.e. it does nothing. Every action - is disabled. This is not particularly informative for our purposes here. OK, - next section: + Let's try an example, google.com, + and look at it one section at a time: - Matches for http://google.com: - { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade +fast-redirects - +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups} - +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal} - +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded +hide-from{block} +hide-referer{forge} - -hide-user-agent -image +image-blocker{blank} +no-compression - +no-cookies-keep -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set +no-popups - -vanilla-wafer -wafer } - / - - { -no-cookies-keep -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set } - .google.com + In file: default.action [ View ] [ Edit ] + +{-add-header + -block + -crunch-outgoing-cookies + -crunch-incoming-cookies + +deanimate-gifs{last} + -downgrade-http-version + +fast-redirects + -filter{popups} + -filter{fun} + -filter{shockwave-flash} + -filter{crude-parental} + +filter{html-annoyances} + +filter{js-annoyances} + +filter{content-cookies} + +filter{webbugs} + +filter{refresh-tags} + +filter{nimda} + +filter{banners-by-size} + +hide-forwarded-for-headers + +hide-from-header{block} + +hide-referer{forge} + -hide-user-agent + -handle-as-image + -kill-popups + -limit-connect + +prevent-compression + -send-vanilla-wafer + -send-wafer + +session-cookies-only + +set-image-blocker{pattern} } +/ + + { -session-cookies-only } + .google.com { -fast-redirects } - .google.com + .google.com - +In file: user.action [ View ] [ Edit ] +(no matches in this file) + - This is much more informative, and tells us how we have defined our - actions, and which ones match for our example, - google.com. The first grouping shows our default - settings, which would apply to all URLs. If you look at your actions - file, this would be the section just below the aliases section - near the top. This applies to all URLs as signified by the single forward - slash -- /. - + 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 + -- /. - These are the default actions we have enabled. But we can define additional - actions that would be exceptions to these general rules, and then list - specific URLs that these exceptions would apply to. Last match wins. - Just below this then are two explict matches for .google.com. - The first is negating our various cookie blocking actions (i.e. we will allow - cookies here). The second is allowing fast-redirects. Note - that there is a leading dot here -- .google.com. This will - match any hosts and sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as - www.google.com. So, apparently, we have these actions defined - somewhere in the lower part of our actions file, and - google.com is referenced in these sections. + But we can define additional actions that would be exceptions to these general + rules, and then list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions would + apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit matches for + .google.com. The first is negating our previous cookie setting, + which was for +session-cookies-only + (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google. The + second turns off any + +fast-redirects + action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading + dot here -- .google.com. This will match any hosts and + sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as + www.google.com. So, apparently, we have these two actions + defined somewhere in the lower part of our default.action + file, and google.com is referenced somewhere in these latter + sections. + + + Then, for our user.action file, we again have no hits. - And now we pull it altogether in the bottom section and summarize how - Foobar is appying all its actions + And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how + Privoxy is applying all its actions to google.com: @@ -3820,16 +5273,43 @@ For any other issues, feel free to use the - { +block +image } + { +block +handle-as-image } .ad.doubleclick.net - { +block +image } + { +block +handle-as-image } ad*. - { +block +image } + { +block +handle-as-image } .doubleclick.net - - + We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is - matched three different times. Each as an +block +image, + matched three different times. Each as an +block +handle-as-image, which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as: - +imageblock. (Aliases are defined in the - first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more + +imageblock. (Aliases are defined in + the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more than one action.) @@ -3866,14 +5346,18 @@ For any other issues, feel free to use the +block + and an + +handle-as-image. + The custom alias +imageblock just simplifies the process and make + it more readable. One last example. Let's try http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/. - This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm... + This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ... @@ -3881,27 +5365,47 @@ For any other issues, feel free to use the + + + + + Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when + making such changes. Or, try using Shift+Reload. + + + + But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like + we did with: + + + + + + { +block +handle-as-image } + /ads + + + + + That actually was very telling and pointed us quickly to where the problem + was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default + rules in 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: + + + + + + {shop} + .quietpc.com + .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com + .jungle.com + .scan.co.uk + .forbes.com + + + + + {shop} is an alias that expands to + { -filter -session-cookies-only }. + Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering: + + + + + + + {-filter} + .forbes.com + - Now the page displays ;-) + This would probably be most appropriately put in user.action, + for local site exceptions. + + + {fragile} is an alias that disables most actions. This can be + used as a last resort for problem sites. Remember to flush caches! If this + still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining actions one by + one to find which one(s) is causing the problem. @@ -3943,6 +5507,278 @@ For any other issues, feel free to use the