X-Git-Url: http://www.privoxy.org/gitweb/?p=privoxy.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fsource%2Fuser-manual.sgml;h=798d439df91fbdfbd4f94b2f301c4b194fb2b108;hp=88a7e411412c482147fb77eb40a1d3d9535c4d1b;hb=025e7eebcecd0c8ac382b37c32e25e7516751540;hpb=46adfc8e72b8874fa6e5a9c61535f5137871cbeb diff --git a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml index 88a7e411..798d439d 100644 --- a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml +++ b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ + @@ -8,14 +8,18 @@ - + + + + + ]> + + Copyright &my-copy; 2001, 2002 by + Privoxy Developers + + + +$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes Exp $ + + - - - - By: Privoxy Developers - - - + @@ -70,7 +96,7 @@ The user manual gives users information on how to install, configure and use Privoxy. - + &p-intro; @@ -81,7 +107,7 @@ url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/. Please see the Contact section on how to contact the developers. - + @@ -91,16 +117,7 @@ - - - - - - - - Introduction - This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of Privoxy, v.&p-version;soon ;-)]]>. - + 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 @@ -123,16 +140,13 @@ ]]> - -New Features +Features In addition to Internet Junkbuster's traditional - feature of ad and banner blocking and cookie management, + features of ad and banner blocking and cookie management, Privoxy provides new features: - - &newfeatures; @@ -145,212 +159,207 @@ Installation - - Privoxy is available as raw source code (tarball - or via CVS), or pre-compiled binaries for various platforms. See the Privoxy Project Page for - the most up to date release information. - Privoxy is also available via CVS. - But - please be aware that CVS is constantly changing, and it may break in - mysterious ways. - - - - &supported; - - - -Source - - - - &buildsource; - - For Redhat and SuSE Linux RPM packages, see below. + 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. - - -Red Hat - To build Redhat RPM packages from source, install source as above. Then: + 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 - - autoheader - autoconf - ./configure - make redhat-dist - +How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system: - - This will create both binary and src RPMs in the usual places. Example: - + +Red Hat, SuSE RPMs and Conectiva -    /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i686/privoxy-&p-version;-1.i686.rpm - - -    /usr/src/redhat/SRPMS/privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm + RPMs can be installed with rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm, + and will use /etc/privoxy for the location + of configuration files. - To install, of course: + 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. - - rpm -Uvv /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i686/privoxy-&p-version;-1.i686.rpm - + 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. - This will place the Privoxy configuration - files in /etc/privoxy/, and log files in - /var/log/privoxy/. Run - chkconfig privoxy on to have - Privoxy start automatically during init. - + 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. - -SuSE - - To build SuSE RPM packages, install source as above. Then: - - - - - autoheader - autoconf - ./configure - make suse-dist - - - +Debian - This will create both binary and src RPMs in the usual places. Example: + FIXME. + - -    /usr/src/packages/RPMS/i686/privoxy-&p-version;-1.i686.rpm - - -    /usr/src/packages/SRPMS/privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm - + +Windows - To install, of course: + 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. + - - - rpm -Uvv /usr/src/packages/RPMS/i686/privoxy-&p-version;-1.i686.rpm - - + +Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX - This will place the Privoxy configuration - files in /etc/privoxy/, and log files in - /var/log/privoxy/. + Create a new directory, cd to it, then unzip and + untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where + things go. FIXME. - - OS/2 - + + First, make sure that no previous installations of + Junkbuster and / or + Privoxy are left on your + system. You can do this by + - Privoxy is packaged in a WarpIN self- - installing archive. The self-installing program will be named depending - on the release version, something like: - privoxyos2_setup_&p-version;.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 Privoxy - executable will be placed in your startup folder so it will start - automatically whenever OS/2 starts. + 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. The directory you choose to install Privoxy into will contain all of the configuration files. - - -Windows -Click-click. (I need help on this. Not a clue here. Also for -configuration section below. HB.) +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. -Other +AmigaOS - Some quick notes on other Operating Systems. + 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. - - 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. + 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). - - + +Building from Source - + + The most convenient way to obtain the Privoxy sources + is to download the source tarball from our project + page. + + + 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; + -Quickstart to Using <application>Privoxy</application> + + + + - + Note to Upgraders - There are very significant changes from older versions of - Junkbuster to the current - Privoxy. Configuration is substantially - changed. Junkbuster 2.0.x and earlier - configuration files will not migrate. The functionality of the old - blockfile, cookiefile and - imagelist, are now combined into the - actions file - (default.action for most installations). + There are very significant changes from earlier + Junkbuster versions to the current + Privoxy. The number, names, syntax, and + purposes of configuration files have substantially changed. + Junkbuster 2.0.x configuration + files will not migrate, Junkbuster 2.9.x + and Privoxy configurations will need to be + ported. The functionalities of the old blockfile, + cookiefile and imagelist + are now combined into the actions + files. + default.action, is the main actions file. Local + exceptions should best be put into user.action. - A filterfile (typically - default.filter) is new with - Privoxy 2.9.x, and provides some of the new - sophisticaton (explained below). config is - much the same. + A filter file (typically + default.filter) is new as of Privoxy + 2.9.x, and provides some of the new sophistication (explained + below). config is much the same as before. If upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will have to use the new config files, and possibly adapt any personal rules from your older files. - If upgrading from 2.9.x development versions, it is still recommended - to use the new configuration files. + When porting personal rules over from the old blockfile + to the new actions files, please note that even the pattern syntax has + changed. If upgrading from 2.9.x development versions, it is still + recommended to use the new configuration files. A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading: @@ -373,19 +382,22 @@ configuration section below. HB.) - Privoxy is reachable with a web browser - at the special URL: http://p.p/. Many + 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. Alternately, - http://config.privoxy.org - may work in some rare cases where the former does not. + Privoxy. - The primary configuration file for cookie management, ad and banner + The primary configuration files for cookie management, ad and banner blocking, and many other aspects of Privoxy - configuration is default.action. + 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. @@ -399,18 +411,260 @@ configuration section below. HB.) + + + +Quickstart to Using <application>Privoxy</application> + + + + + + 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. + + + + + + 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. + + + + + + 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! + + + + + + + + +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 blocking is surely common ground for everybody. + + + This section will provide a quick overview 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 recommeneded. + + + 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 a few + 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. + + + Secondly, a quick note on 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. + + + When you connect to a website, the full path of the URL will either match one + of actions as defined in Privoxy's configuration, + or not. If so, then Privoxy will perform the + action accordingly. If not, then nothing special happens. Futhermore, web + pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will + display as it parses the original page's HTML content. An ad image for + instance, is just a 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. If this is the only action that + matches for a particular URL, then Privoxy will + display its own BLOCKED page to let you now what has happened. + + + + + + handle-as-image - + forces Privoxy to treat this URL as if it were + an image. Privoxy knows about common image + types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this does not apply. + So we'll force it. This is particularly important for ad blocking, since + once we can treat it as an image, we can make more intelligent decisisions + on how to handle it. There are some limitations to this though. For + instance, you can't just force an image substituion 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 either be of a known image type, or + match an handle-as-image + action. + + + The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are: + + + +    pattern - a checkboard 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 URL of the + user's choosing. + + + + + + +]]> + + + + + - + Starting <application>Privoxy</application> - Before launching Privoxy for the first time, you - will want to configure your browser(s) to use Privoxy - as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is localhost for the proxy address, - and port 8118 (earlier versions used port 8000). This is the one required - configuration that must be done! + 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! @@ -420,93 +674,157 @@ configuration section below. HB.) 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. + 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include if HTTPS proxy support too. After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a - re-reading of all pages and get rid of any ads that may be cached. You + 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. + Privoxy! - Privoxy is typically started by specifying the - main configuration file to be used on the command line. Example Unix startup - command: + 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. + +RedHat, Conectiva and Debian + +We use a script. Note that RedHat does not start Privoxy upon booting per +default. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config as its +main configuration file. FIXME: Debian?? + + + + # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start + + + + + +SuSE + +We use a script. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config +as its main configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting +your PC. + + + + # rcprivoxy start + + + + + +Windows + +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 + +Example Unix startup command: + - # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config - - + + + +OS/2 - An init script is provided for SuSE and Redhat. +FIXME. + + +MAX OSX - For for SuSE: /etc/rc.d/privoxy start +FIXME. + + + +AmigaOS - For RedHat: /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start +FIXME. + + - + Command Line Options Privoxy may be invoked with the following @@ -554,7 +880,7 @@ configuration section below. HB.) --version - Print version info and exit, Unix only. + Print version info and exit. Unix only. @@ -562,7 +888,7 @@ configuration section below. HB.) --help - Print a short usage info and exit, Unix only. + Print short usage info and exit. Unix only. @@ -571,7 +897,7 @@ configuration section below. HB.) Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group - leader, don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only. + leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only. @@ -581,7 +907,7 @@ configuration section below. HB.) On startup, write the process ID to FILE. Delete the - FILE on exit. Failiure to create or 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. @@ -606,7 +932,8 @@ configuration section below. HB.) 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. + full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found, + Privoxy will fail to start. @@ -627,7 +954,6 @@ configuration section below. HB.) 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. - @@ -636,50 +962,59 @@ configuration section below. HB.) Controlling <application>Privoxy</application> with Your Web Browser - Privoxy can be reached by the special - URL http://p.p/ (or alternately - http://config.privoxy.org/), - which is an internal page. You will see the following section: + 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: - - - -Please choose from the following options: - - * Privoxy main page - * Show information about the current configuration - * Show the source code version numbers - * Show the request headers. - * Show which actions apply to a URL and why - * Toggle Privoxy on or off - * Edit the actions list + + + + Privoxy Menu + + + +         ▪  View & change the current configuration + + +         ▪  View the source code version numbers + + +         ▪  View the request headers. + + +         ▪  Look up which actions apply to a URL and why + + +         ▪  Toggle Privoxy on or off + + + + - - - 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 + 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. - Privoxy will automatically detect any changes - to these files. Note: one or two requests to the proxy might required to - wake up Privoxy, - and force a re-reading of the configuration. It is not necessarily - instantaneous. Toggle Privoxy 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 Privoxy + have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use + it as a test to see whether it is Privoxy causing the problem or not. Privoxy continues - to run as a proxy in this case, but all filtering is disabled. - + 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. @@ -691,7 +1026,7 @@ Please choose from the following options: - + Configuration Files Overview For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in @@ -703,9 +1038,9 @@ Please choose from the following options: - The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though possibly - aggressive by some standards. For the time being, there are only three - default configuration files (this may change in time): + 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: @@ -713,29 +1048,48 @@ Please choose from the following options: - The main configuration file is named config + The main configuration file is named config on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and config.txt - on Windows. + on Windows. This is a required file. - The default.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://p.p. (Other actions - files are included as well with differing levels of filtering - and blocking, e.g. basic.action.) + 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. - The default.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. + 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. @@ -743,14 +1097,29 @@ Please choose from the following options: - default.action and default.filter - can use Perl style regular expressions for maximum flexibility. All files use - the # character to denote a comment. Such - lines are not processed by Privoxy. After - making any changes, there is no need to restart + 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. + + + + The actions files and default.filter + can use Perl style regular expressions for + maximum flexibility. + + + + After making any changes, there is no need to restart Privoxy in order for the changes to take - effect. Privoxy should detect such changes - automatically. + 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. ]]> + + + - + - + The Main Configuration File + Again, the main configuration file is named config on Linux/Unix/BSD and OS/2, and config.txt on Windows. @@ -780,255 +1153,426 @@ Please choose from the following options: - blockfile blocklist.ini - - - - - - - Indicates that the blockfile is named blocklist.ini. (A - default installation does not use this.) - - - - A # indicates a comment. Any part of a - line following a # is ignored, except if - the # is preceded by a - \. + confdir /etc/privoxy + + - 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, Privoxy 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). + Assigns the value /etc/privoxy to the option + confdir and thus indicates that the configuration + directory is named /etc/privoxy/. - Long lines can be continued on the next line by using a - \ as the very last character. + All options in the config file except for confdir and + logdir are optional. Watch out in the below description + for what happens if you leave them unset. - There are various aspects of Privoxy behavior - that can be tuned. + The main config file controls all aspects of Privoxy's + operation that are not location dependent (i.e. they apply universally, no matter + where you may be surfing). - -Defining Other Configuration Files - - - Privoxy can use a number of other files to tell it - what ads to block, what cookies to accept, and perform other functions. This - section of the configuration file tells Privoxy - where to find all those other files. - - - - On Windows and AmigaOS, - Privoxy looks for these files in the same - directory as the executable. On Unix and OS/2, - Privoxy looks for these files in the current - working directory. In either case, an absolute path name can be used to - avoid problems. - - - - 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. - - - - The location of the configuration files: - - - - - - - confdir /etc/privoxy # No trailing /, please. - - - - - - - The directory where all logging (i.e. logfile and - jarfile) takes place. No trailing - /, please: - - - - - - - logdir /var/log/privoxy - - - - - - - Note that all file specifications below are relative to - the above two directories! - - - - The default.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 default.filter. No sites - are blocked. Privoxy displays a checkboard type - pattern 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. - - - - - - - actionsfile default.action - - - - + +Configuration and Log File Locations - The default.filter file contains content modification rules - that use regular expressions. These rules permit powerful - changes on the content of Web pages, e.g., you could disable your favorite - JavaScript annoyances, re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some - fun replacing Microsoft with MicroSuck wherever - it appears on a Web page. Default: whatever the developers are playing with - :-/ + Privoxy can (and normally does) use a number of + other files for additional configuration, help and logging. + This section of the configuration file tells Privoxy + where to find those other files. - 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. - + The user running Privoxy, must have read permission for all + configuration files, and write permission to any files that would + be modified, such as log files. - - - - - filterfile default.filter - - - - +confdir - - The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The logfile - can be useful for tracking down a problem with - Privoxy (e.g., it's not blocking an ad you - think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look at it. - + + + Specifies: + + The directory where the other configuration files are located + + + + Type of value: + + Path name + + + + Default value: + + /etc/privoxy (Unix) or Privoxy installation dir (Windows) + + + + Effect if unset: + + Mandatory + + + + Notes: + + + No trailing /, please + + + When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and + per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of confdir. + For now, the configuration directory structure is flat, except for + confdir/templates, where the HTML templates for CGI + output reside (e.g. Privoxy's 404 error page). + + + + + - - Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to - periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job - (see man cron). For Redhat, a logrotate - script has been included. - - - On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like /var/log/privoxy.* - +1024k 644 nobody.nogroup in /etc/logfiles, with - the effect that cron.daily will automatically archive, gzip, and empty the - log, when it exceeds 1M size. - +logdir - - Default: Log to the a file named logfile. - Comment out to disable logging. - + + + Specifies: + + + The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where logfile and + jarfile are located) + + + + + Type of value: + + Path name + + + + Default value: + + /var/log/privoxy (Unix) or Privoxy installation dir (Windows) + + + + Effect if unset: + + Mandatory + + + + Notes: + + + No trailing /, please + + + + + - - - - - logfile logfile - - - - + +actionsfile + + + + + + + + Specifies: + + + The actions file(s) to use + + + + + Type of value: + + File name, relative to confdir, without the .action suffix + + + + Default values: + + + + standard # Internal purposes, no editing recommended + + + default # Main actions file + + + user # User customizations + + + + + + Effect if unset: + + + No actions are taken at all. Simple neutral proxying. + + + + + Notes: + + + Multiple actionsfile lines are permitted, and are in fact recommended! + + + The default values include standard.action, which is used for internal + purposes and should be loaded, default.action, which is the + main actions file maintained by the developers, and + user.action, where you can make your personal additions. + + + Actions files are where all the per site and per URL configuration is done for + ad blocking, cookie management, privacy considerations, etc. + There is no point in using Privoxy without at + least one actions file. + + + + + - - The jarfile defines where - Privoxy stores the cookies it intercepts. Note - that if you use a jarfile, it may grow quite large. Default: - Don't store intercepted cookies. - +filterfile + + + + Specifies: + + + The filter file to use + + + + + Type of value: + + File name, relative to confdir + + + + Default value: + + default.filter (Unix) or default.filter.txt (Windows) + + + + Effect if unset: + + + No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all + +filter{name} + actions in the actions files are turned neutral. + + + + + Notes: + + + The filter file contains content modification + rules that use regular expressions. These rules permit + powerful changes on the content of Web pages, e.g., you could disable your favorite + JavaScript annoyances, re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some + fun replacing Microsoft with MicroSuck wherever + it appears on a Web page. + + + The + +filter{name} + actions rely on the relevant filter (name) + to be defined in the filter file! + + + A pre-defined filter file called default.filter that contains + a bunch of handy filters for common problems is included in the distribution. + See the section on the filter + action for a list. + + + + + - - - - - #jarfile jarfile - - - - +logfile - - If you specify a trustfile, - Privoxy will only allow access to sites that - are named in the trustfile. You can also mark sites as trusted referrers, - with the effect that access to untrusted sites will be granted, if a link - from a trusted referrer was used. The link target will then be added to the - trustfile. This is a very restrictive feature that typical - users most probably want to leave disabled. Default: Disabled, don't use the - trust mechanism. - + + + Specifies: + + + The log file to use + + + + + Type of value: + + File name, relative to logdir + + + + Default value: + + logfile (Unix) or privoxy.log (Windows) + + + + Effect if unset: + + + No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (stderr). + + + + + Notes: + + + The windows version will additionally log to the console. + + + The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The level + of detail and number of messages are set with the debug + option (see below). The logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with + Privoxy (e.g., it's not blocking an ad you + think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look at it. + + + Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to + periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job + (see man cron). For Red Hat, a logrotate + script has been included. + + + On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like /var/log/privoxy.* + +1024k 644 nobody.nogroup in /etc/logfiles, with + the effect that cron.daily will automatically archive, gzip, and empty the + log, when it exceeds 1M size. + + + Any log files must be writable by whatever user Privoxy + is being run as (default on UNIX, user id is privoxy). + + + + + - - - - - #trustfile trust - - - - - - - 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. - +jarfile - - - - - trust-info-url http://www.example.com/why_we_block.html - trust-info-url http://www.example.com/what_we_allow.html - - - - + + + Specifies: + + + The file to store intercepted cookies in + + + + + Type of value: + + File name, relative to logdir + + + + Default value: + + jarfile (Unix) or privoxy.jar (Windows) + + + + Effect if unset: + + + Intercepted cookies are not stored at all. + + + + + Notes: + + + The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time. + + + + + +trustfile + + + Specifies: + + + The trust file to use + + + + + Type of value: + + File name, relative to confdir + + + + Default value: + + Unset (commented out). When activated: trust (Unix) or trust.txt (Windows) + + + + Effect if unset: + + + The whole trust mechanism is turned off. + + + + + Notes: + + + The trust mechanism is an experimental feature for building white-lists and should + be used with care. It is NOT recommended for the casual user. + + + If you specify a trust file, Privoxy will only allow + access to sites that are named in the trustfile. + You can also mark sites as trusted referrers (with +), with + the effect that access to untrusted sites will be granted, if a link from a + trusted referrer was used. + The link target will then be added to the trustfile. + Possible applications include limiting Internet access for children. + + + If you use + operator in the trust file, it may grow considerably over time. + + + + + @@ -1036,2166 +1580,4347 @@ Please choose from the following options: - -Other Configuration Options - - - This part of the configuration file contains options that control how - Privoxy operates. - + +Local Set-up Documentation - - 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. - + + If you intend to operate Privoxy for more users + than just yourself, it might be a good idea to let them know how to reach + you, what you block and why you do that, your policies, etc. + - - - +user-manual + + + Specifies: + + + Location of the Privoxy User Manual. + + + + + Type of value: + + A fully qualified URI + + + + Default value: + + Unset + + + + Effect if unset: + + + http://www.privoxy.org/version/user-manual/ + will be used, where version is the Privoxy version. + + + + + Notes: + + + The User Manual URI is used for help links from some of the internal CGI pages. + The manual itself is normally packaged with the binary distributions, so you probably want + to set this to a locally installed copy. For multi-user setups, you could provide a copy on + a local webserver for all your users and use the corresponding URL here. + + + Examples: + + + Unix, in local filesystem: + + + user-manual  file:///usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;/user-manual/ + + + Any platform, on local webserver (called local-webserver): + + + user-manual  http://local-webserver/privoxy-user-manual/ + + + + If set, this option should be the first option in the config file, because + it is used while the config file is being read. + + + + + + + +trust-info-url + + + + Specifies: + + + A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if access to an untrusted page is denied. + + + + + Type of value: + + URL + + + + Default value: + + Two example URL are provided + + + + Effect if unset: + + + No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page. + + + + + Notes: + + + The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust mechanism has been + activated. (See trustfile above.) + + + If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line + documentation about your trust policy and to specify the URL(s) here. + Use multiple times for multiple URLs. + + + The URL(s) should be added to the trustfile as well, so users don't end up + locked out from the information on why they were locked out in the first place! + + + + + + +admin-address + + + + Specifies: + + + An email address to reach the proxy administrator. + + + + + Type of value: + + Email address + + + + Default value: + + Unset + + + + Effect if unset: + + + No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface. + + + + + Notes: + + + If both admin-address and proxy-info-url + are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will + not be shown. + + + + + + +proxy-info-url + + + + Specifies: + + + A URL to documentation about the local Privoxy setup, + configuration or policies. + + + + + Type of value: + + URL + + + + Default value: + + Unset + + + + Effect if unset: + + + No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface. + + + + + Notes: + + + If both admin-address and proxy-info-url + are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will + not be shown. + + + This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-) + + + + + + + + + + + + +Debugging + + + These options are mainly useful when tracing a problem. + Note that you might also want to invoke + Privoxy with the --no-daemon + command line option when debugging. + + +debug + + + + Specifies: + + + Key values that determine what information gets logged to the + logfile. + + + + + Type of value: + + Integer values + + + + Default value: + + 12289 (i.e.: URLs plus informational and warning messages) + + + + Effect if unset: + + + Nothing gets logged. + + + + + Notes: + + + The available debug levels are: + + + + debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request + debug 2 # show each connection status + debug 4 # show I/O status + debug 8 # show header parsing + debug 16 # log all data into the logfile + debug 32 # debug force feature + debug 64 # debug regular expression filter + debug 128 # debug fast redirects + debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation + debug 512 # Common Log Format + debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups + debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings. + debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors + + + + To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or use + multiple debug lines. + + + A debug level of 1 is informative because it will show you each request + as it happens. 1, 4096 and 8192 are highly recommended + so that you will notice when things go wrong. The other levels are probably + only of interest if you are hunting down a specific problem. They can produce + a hell of an output (especially 16). + + + + The reporting of fatal errors (i.e. ones which crash + Privoxy) is always on and cannot be disabled. + + + If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set debug + 512 ONLY and not enable anything else. + + + + + + +single-threaded + + + + Specifies: + + + Whether to run only one server thread + + + + + Type of value: + + None + + + + Default value: + + Unset + + + + Effect if unset: + + + Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, i.e. the ability to + serve multiple requests simultaneously. + + + + + Notes: + + + This option is only there for debug purposes and you should never + need to use it. It will drastically reduce performance. + + + + + + + + + + + +Access Control and Security + + + This section of the config file controls the security-relevant aspects + of Privoxy's configuration. + + +listen-address + + + + Specifies: + + + The IP address and TCP port on which Privoxy will + listen for client requests. + + + + + Type of value: + + [IP-Address]:Port + + + + + Default value: + + 127.0.0.1:8118 + + + + Effect if unset: + + + Bind to 127.0.0.1 (localhost), port 8118. This is suitable and recommended for + home users who run Privoxy on the same machine as + their browser. + + + + + Notes: + + + You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address and port. + + + If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to + serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well, you + will need to override the default. + + + If you leave out the IP address, Privoxy will + bind to all interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable + from the Internet. In that case, consider using access control lists (ACL's) + (see ACLs below), or a firewall. + + + + + Example: + + + Suppose you are running Privoxy on + a machine which has the address 192.168.0.1 on your local private network + (192.168.0.0) and has another outside connection with a different address. + You want it to serve requests from inside only: + + + + listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118 + + + + + + + +toggle + + + + Specifies: + + + Initial state of "toggle" status + + + + + Type of value: + + 1 or 0 + + + + Default value: + + 1 + + + + Effect if unset: + + + Act as if toggled on + + + + + Notes: + + + If set to 0, Privoxy will start in + toggled off mode, i.e. behave like a normal, content-neutral + proxy where all ad blocking, filtering, etc are disabled. See + enable-remote-toggle below. This is not really useful + anymore, since toggling is much easier via the web interface than via + editing the conf file. + + + The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the system tray + if this option is present. + + + + + + + +enable-remote-toggle + + + Specifies: + + + Whether or not the web-based toggle + feature may be used + + + + + Type of value: + + 0 or 1 + + + + Default value: + + 1 + + + + Effect if unset: + + + The web-based toggle feature is disabled. + + + + + Notes: + + + When toggled off, Privoxy acts like a normal, + content-neutral proxy, i.e. it acts as if none of the actions applied to + any URL. + + + For the time being, access to the toggle feature can not be + controlled separately by ACLs or HTTP authentication, + so that everybody who can access Privoxy (see + ACLs and listen-address above) can + toggle it for all users. So this option is not recommended + for multi-user environments with untrusted users. + + + Note that you must have compiled Privoxy with + support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect. + + + + + + + +enable-edit-actions + + + Specifies: + + + Whether or not the web-based actions + file editor may be used + + + + + Type of value: + + 0 or 1 + + + + Default value: + + 1 + + + + Effect if unset: + + + The web-based actions file editor is disabled. + + + + + Notes: + + + For the time being, access to the editor can not be + controlled separately by ACLs or HTTP authentication, + so that everybody who can access Privoxy (see + ACLs and listen-address above) can + modify its configuration for all users. So this option is not + recommended for multi-user environments with untrusted users. + + + Note that you must have compiled Privoxy with + support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect. + + + + + + + +ACLs: permit-access and deny-access + + + + + + Specifies: + + + Who can access what. + + + + + Type of value: + + + src_addr[/src_masklen] + [dst_addr[/dst_masklen]] + + + Where src_addr and + dst_addr are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid + DNS names, and src_masklen and + dst_masklen are subnet masks in CIDR notation, i.e. integer + values from 2 to 30 representing the length (in bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole + destination part are optional. + + + + + Default value: + + Unset + + + + Effect if unset: + + + Don't restrict access further than implied by listen-address + + + + + Notes: + + + Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems + administrators, and are not usually needed by individual users. + For a typical home user, it will normally suffice to ensure that + Privoxy only listens on the localhost + (127.0.0.1) or internal (home) network address by means of the + listen-address + option. + + + Please see the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute + for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security + weaknesses. + + + Multiple ACL lines are OK. + If any ACLs are specified, then the Privoxy + talks only to IP addresses that match at least one permit-access line + and don't match any subsequent deny-access line. In other words, the + last match wins, with the default being deny-access. + + + If Privoxy is using a forwarder (see forward below) + for a particular destination URL, the dst_addr + that is examined is the address of the forwarder and NOT the address + of the ultimate target. This is necessary because it may be impossible for the local + Privoxy to determine the IP address of the + ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for). + + + You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because the address lookups take + time. All DNS names must resolve! You can not use domain patterns + like *.org or partial domain names. If a DNS name resolves to multiple + IP addresses, only the first one is used. + + + Denying access to particular sites by ACL may have undesired side effects + if the site in question is hosted on a machine which also hosts other sites. + + + + + Examples: + + + Explicitly define the default behavior if no ACL and + listen-address are set: localhost + is OK. The absence of a dst_addr implies that + all destination addresses are OK: + + + + permit-access localhost + + + + Allow any host on the same class C subnet as www.privoxy.org access to + nothing but www.example.com: + + + + permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32 + + + + Allow access from any host on the 26-bit subnet 192.168.45.64 to anywhere, + with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access www.dirty-stuff.example.com: + + + + permit-access 192.168.45.64/26 + deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com + + + + + + + +buffer-limit + + + + Specifies: + + + Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering. + + + + + Type of value: + + Size in Kbytes + + + + Default value: + + 4096 + + + + Effect if unset: + + + Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit. + + + + + Notes: + + + For content filtering, i.e. the +filter and + +deanimate-gif actions, it is necessary that + Privoxy buffers the entire document body. + This can be potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending + data indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust -- with nasty consequences. + Hence this option. + + + When a document buffer size reaches the buffer-limit, it is + flushed to the client unfiltered and no further attempt to + filter the rest of the document is made. Remember that there may be multiple threads + running, which might require up to buffer-limit Kbytes + each, unless you have enabled single-threaded + above. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Forwarding + + + This feature allows routing of HTTP requests through a chain of + multiple proxies. + It can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when + accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains + through an anonymous public proxy (see e.g. http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm) + Or to use a caching proxy to speed up browsing. Or chaining to a parent + proxy may be necessary because the machine that Privoxy + runs on has no direct Internet access. + + + + Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. Privoxy + supports the SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A protocols. + + +forward + + + Specifies: + + + To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed. + + + + + Type of value: + + + target_domain[:port] + http_parent[/port] + + + Where target_domain is a domain name pattern (see the + chapter on domain matching in the default.action file), + http_parent is the address of the parent HTTP proxy + as an IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or as a valid DNS name (or . to denote + no forwarding, and the optional + port parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer + values from 1 to 64535 + + + + + Default value: + + Unset + + + + Effect if unset: + + + Don't use parent HTTP proxies. + + + + + Notes: + + + If http_parent is ., then requests are not + forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made directly to the web servers. + + + Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins. + + + + + Examples: + + + Everything goes to an example anonymizing proxy, except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle): + + + + forward .* anon-proxy.example.org:8080 + forward :443 . + + + + Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for requests + to that ISP's sites: + + + + forward .*. caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000 + forward .example-isp.net . + + + + + + + + +forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a + + + + + + Specifies: + + + Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific requests should be routed. + + + + + Type of value: + + + target_domain[:port] + socks_proxy[/port] + http_parent[/port] + + + Where target_domain is a domain name pattern (see the + chapter on domain matching in the default.action file), + http_parent and socks_proxy + are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid DNS names (http_parent + may be . to denote no HTTP forwarding), and the optional + port parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1 to 64535 + + + + + Default value: + + Unset + + + + Effect if unset: + + + Don't use SOCKS proxies. + + + + + Notes: + + + Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins. + + + The difference between forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a + is that in the SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the target hostname happens on the SOCKS + server, while in SOCKS 4 it happens locally. + + + If http_parent is ., then requests are not + forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made (HTTP-wise) directly to the web servers, albeit through + a SOCKS proxy. + + + + + Examples: + + + From the company example.com, direct connections are made to all + internal domains, but everything outbound goes through + their ISP's proxy by way of example.com's corporate SOCKS 4A gateway to + the Internet. + + + + forward-socks4a .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080 + forward .example.com . + + + + A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no HTTP parent looks like this: + + + + forward-socks4 .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 . + + + + + + + +Advanced Forwarding Examples + + + If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content + only to their subscribers, you can configure multiple Privoxies + which have connections to the respective ISPs to act as forwarders to each other, so that + your users can see the internal content of all ISPs. + + + + Assume that host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.net. And host-b has a PPP connection to + isp-b.net. Both run Privoxy. Their forwarding + configuration can look like this: + + + + host-a: + + + + + forward .*. . + forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118 + + + + + host-b: + + + + + forward .*. . + forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118 + + + + + Now, your users can set their browser's proxy to use either + host-a or host-b and be able to browse the internal content + of both isp-a and isp-b. + + + + If you intend to chain Privoxy and + squid locally, then chain as + browser -> squid -> privoxy is the recommended way. + + + + Assuming that Privoxy and squid + run on the same box, your squid configuration could then look like this: + + + + + # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP) + cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query + + # Define ACL for protocol FTP + acl ftp proto FTP + + # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy + always_direct allow ftp + + # Forward all the rest to Privoxy + never_direct allow all + + + + You would then need to change your browser's proxy settings to squid's address and port. + Squid normally uses port 3128. If unsure consult http_port in squid.conf. + + + + + + + + + + + + +Windows GUI Options + + Privoxy has a number of options specific to the + Windows GUI interface: + + + + + If activity-animation is set to 1, the + Privoxy icon will animate when + Privoxy is active. To turn off, set to 0. + + + + + + + activity-animation 1 + + + + + + + + If log-messages is set to 1, + Privoxy will log messages to the console + window: + + + + + + + log-messages 1 + + + + + + + + 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! + + + + + + + log-buffer-size 1 + + + + + + + + log-max-lines is the maximum number of lines held + in the log buffer. See above. + + + + + + + log-max-lines 200 + + + + + + + + If log-highlight-messages is set to 1, + Privoxy will highlight portions of the log + messages with a bold-faced font: + + + + + + + log-highlight-messages 1 + + + + + + + + The font used in the console window: + + + + + + + log-font-name Comic Sans MS + + + + + + + + Font size used in the console window: + + + + + + + log-font-size 8 + + + + + + + + show-on-task-bar controls whether or not + Privoxy will appear as a button on the Task bar + when minimized: + + + + + + + show-on-task-bar 0 + + + + + + + + If close-button-minimizes is set to 1, the Windows close + button will minimize Privoxy instead of closing + the program (close with the exit option on the File menu). + + + + + + + close-button-minimizes 1 + + + + + + + + The hide-console option is specific to the MS-Win console + version of Privoxy. If this option is used, + Privoxy will disconnect from and hide the + command console. + + + + + - #admin-address fill@me.in.please + #hide-console + + + + + + + + + +Actions Files + + + The actions files are used to define what actions + Privoxy takes for which URLs, and thus determine + how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and + transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). There + are three such files included with Privoxy (as of + version 2.9.15), with differing purposes: + + + + + + + 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. + + + + Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or + just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted + or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not + written to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking + fooled, and much more. See below for a complete list + of actions. + + + + +Finding the Right Mix + + Note that some actions, like cookie suppression + or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these + techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and + certainly a matter of personal taste. In general, it can be said that the more + aggressive your default settings (in the top section of the + actions file) are, the more exceptions for trusted sites you + will have to make later. If, for example, you want to kill popup windows per + default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you + regularly use and that require popups for actually useful content, like maybe + your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper. + + - Proxy-info-url can be set to a URL that contains more info - about this Privoxy 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. + 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 - - - - proxy-info-url http://www.example.com/proxy.html - - - + 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. - Listen-address specifies the address and port where - Privoxy 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 prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the + the actions files. Look at default.action which is richly + commented. + + + +How Actions are Applied to URLs - 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, Privoxy will bind to all - interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable from the - Internet. In that case, consider using access control lists (acl's) (see - aclfile above), or a firewall. + 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. - For example, suppose you are running Privoxy on - a machine which has the address 192.168.0.1 on your local private network - (192.168.0.0) and has another outside connection with a different address. - You want it to serve requests from inside only: + To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is + compared to all patterns in each action file file. Every time it matches, the list of + applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading + of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for + the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not, + the effects are aggregated (e.g. a URL might match both the + +handle-as-image + and +block actions). + - - - - listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118 - - - + You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info. - If you want it to listen on all addresses (including the outside - connection): + More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, + Anatomy of an Action. + + + +Patterns - - - - listen-address :8118 - - - + Generally, a pattern has the form <domain>/<path>, + where both the <domain> and <path> + are optional. (This is why the pattern / matches all URLs). + + + + + www.example.com/ + + + is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to www.example.com, + regardless of which document on that server is requested. + + + + + www.example.com + + + means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing / may + be omitted. + + + + + www.example.com/index.html + + + matches only the single document /index.html + on www.example.com. + + + + + /index.html + + + matches the document /index.html, regardless of the domain, + i.e. on any web server. + + + + + index.html + + + matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and + there is no top-level domain called .html. + + + + + + + +The Domain Pattern + + + The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the + domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end. + For example: + + + + + .example.com + + + matches any domain that ENDS in + .example.com + + + + + www. + + + matches any domain that STARTS with + www. + + + + + .example. + + + matches any domain that CONTAINS .example. + (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains example as a domain.) + + + + + + + Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names + themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: * + stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, ? stands for + any single character, you can define character classes in square + brackets and all of that can be freely mixed: + + + + + ad*.example.com + + + 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. + + + + + + + + + + + +The Path Pattern + + + Privoxy uses Perl compatible regular expressions + (through the PCRE library) for + matching the path. + + + + There is an Appendix with a brief quick-start into regular + expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line + at http://www.pcre.org/man.txt. + You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (man perlre) + useful, which is available on-line at http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html. + + + + Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the /, + i.e. it matches as if it would start with a ^ (regular expression speak + for the beginning of a line). + + + + Please also note that matching in the path is case + INSENSITIVE by default, but you can switch to case + sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the + (?-i) switch: + www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.* will match only + documents whose path starts with PaTtErN in + exactly this capitalization. + + + + + + + + + + + +Actions + + All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled + somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a + +, and turned off if preceded with a -. So a + +action means do that action, e.g. + +block means please block URLs that match the + following patterns, and -block means don't + block URLs that match the following patterns, even if +block + previously applied. + + + + + Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and + separated by whitespace, like in + {+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}, + followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply. + Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section + of the actions file. + + + + There are three classes of actions: + + + + + + + Boolean, i.e the action can only be enabled or + disabled. Syntax: + + + + +name # enable action name + -name # disable action name + + + Example: +block + + + + + + + Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action. + Syntax: + + + + +name{param} # enable action and set parameter to param, + # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary + -name # disable action. The parameter can be omitted + + + Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action, + the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored. + + + Example: +hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 } + + + + + + Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions, + but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the + same URL, but with different parameters, all the parameters + from all matches are remembered. This is used for actions + that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple + headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax: + + + + +name{param} # enable action and add param to the list of parameters + -name{param} # remove the parameter param from the list of parameters + # If it was the last one left, disable the action. + -name # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list + + + Examples: +add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text} and + +filter{html-annoyances} + + + + + + + + If nothing is specified in any actions file, no actions are + taken. So in this case Privoxy would just be a + normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the + privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions + files will give a good starting point). + + + + Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions + to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or + in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files). For + multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified. + Actions files are processed in the order they are defined in + config (the default installation has three actions + files). It also quite possible for any given URL pattern to match more than + one pattern and thus more than one set of actions! + - 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 list of valid Privoxy actions are: - - 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 - - - - + + + + + + + + + + +<emphasis>add-header</emphasis> + + + + Typical use: + + Confuse log analysis, custom applications + + + + + Effect: + + + Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server. + + + + + + Type: + + + Multi-value. + + + + + Parameter: + + + Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked. + It is recommended that you use the X- prefix + for custom headers. + + + + + + Notes: + + + This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple + headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what + HTTP headers are, you definitely don't need to worry about this + one. + + + + + + Example usage: + + + +add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks} + + + + + + + + + +<emphasis>block</emphasis> + + + + Typical use: + + Block ads or other obnoxious content + + + + + Effect: + + + Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the requests are not + forwarded to the remote server, but answered locally with a substitute page or image, + as determined by the handle-as-image + and set-image-blocker actions. + + + + + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + + + + Parameter: + + N/A + + + + + Notes: + + + Privoxy sends a special BLOCKED page + for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request + was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the + 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. + + + + + + Example usage (section): + + + {+block} # Block and replace with "blocked" page +.nasty-stuff.example.com + +{+block +handle-as-image} # Block and replace with image +.ad.doubleclick.net +.ads.r.us + + + + + + + + + + +<emphasis>crunch-incoming-cookies</emphasis> + + + + Typical use: + + + Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system + + + + + + Effect: + + + Deletes any Set-Cookie: HTTP headers from server replies. + + + + + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + + + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + + + + Notes: + + + This action is only concerned with incoming cookies. For + outgoing cookies, use + crunch-outgoing-cookies. + Use both to disable cookies completely. + + + It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction + with the session-cookies-only action, + since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. + + + + + + Example usage: + + + +crunch-incoming-cookies + + + + + + + + + +<emphasis>crunch-outgoing-cookies</emphasis> + + + + Typical use: + + + Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system + + + + + + Effect: + + + Deletes any Cookie: HTTP headers from client requests. + + + + + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + + + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + + + + Notes: + + + This action is only concerned with outgoing cookies. For + incoming cookies, use + crunch-incoming-cookies. + Use both to disable cookies completely. + + + It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction + with the session-cookies-only action, + since it would prevent the session cookies from being read. + + + - - It is highly recommended that you enable ERROR - reporting (debug 8192), at least until v3.0 is released. - -]]> + + Example usage: + + + +crunch-outgoing-cookies + + + - - The reporting of FATAL errors (i.e. ones which crash - Privoxy) is always on and cannot be disabled. - + + - - If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set debug - 512 ONLY, do not enable anything else. - - - Multiple debug directives, are OK - they're logical-OR'd - together. - + + +<emphasis>deanimate-gifs</emphasis> - - - - - debug 15 # same as setting the first 4 listed above - - - - + + + Typical use: + + Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images. + + - - Default: - + + Effect: + + + De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image. + + + - - - - - debug 1 # URLs - debug 4096 # Info - debug 8192 # Errors - *we highly recommended enabling this* - - - - + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + - - Privoxy 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 - Privoxy to handle requests sequentially. - Default: Multi-threaded mode. - + + 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. + + + - - - - - #single-threaded - - - - + + Example usage: + + + +deanimate-gifs{last} + + + + + - - toggle allows you to temporarily disable all - Privoxy's filtering. Just set toggle - 0. - + + +<emphasis>downgrade-http-version</emphasis> - - The Windows version of Privoxy 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 - Privoxy on and off. This is useful if you want - to temporarily disable Privoxy, 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 Privoxy - internal address of http://p.p on - any platform. - + + + Typical use: + + Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1 + + - - toggle 1 means Privoxy runs - normally, toggle 0 means that - Privoxy becomes a non-anonymizing non-blocking - proxy. Default: 1 (on). - + + Effect: + + + Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0. + + + - - - - - toggle 1 - - - - + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + - - For content filtering, i.e. the +filter and - +deanimate-gif actions, it is necessary that - Privoxy buffers the entire document body. - This can be potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending - data indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust. With nasty consequences. - + + 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. + + + - - 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. - + + Example usage (section): + + + {+downgrade-http-version} +problem-host.example.com + + + + + + - - - - - buffer-limit 4096 - - - - + + +<emphasis>fast-redirects</emphasis> - - To enable the web-based default.action file editor set - enable-edit-actions to 1, or 0 to disable. Note - that you must have compiled Privoxy with - support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect. This - internal page can be reached at http://p.p. - + + + Typical use: + + Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links + + - - 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. - + + Effect: + + + Cut off all but the last valid URL from requests. + + + - - - - - enable-edit-actions 1 - - - - + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + - - Allow Privoxy 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 - Privoxy with support for this feature, - otherwise this option has no effect. - + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + - - Security note: If this is enabled, anyone who can use the proxy can toggle - it on or off (see http://p.p), and - their changes will affect all users. For shared proxies, you probably want to - disable this. Default: enabled. - + + 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. + + + - - - - - enable-remote-toggle 1 - - - - + + Example usage: + + + {+fast-redirects} + + + + - - + +<emphasis>filter</emphasis> - -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. - + + + Typical use: + + Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size), do fun text replacements, etc. + + - - 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. - + + Effect: + + + Text documents, including HTML and JavaScript, to which this action applies, are filtered on-the-fly + through the specified regular expression based substitutions. + + + - - Summary -- if using an ACL: - + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + - - - Client must have permission to receive service. - - - - - LAST match in ACL wins. - - - - - Default behavior is to deny service. - - + + 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! + + + - - The syntax for an entry in the Access Control List is: - + + 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" + + + + + - - - - - ACTION SRC_ADDR[/SRC_MASKLEN] [ DST_ADDR[/DST_MASKLEN] ] - - - - - - Where the individual fields are: - + + +<emphasis>handle-as-image</emphasis> - - - - - ACTION = permit-access or deny-access + + + Typical use: + + Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images if they get blocked) + + + + + 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. + + - SRC_ADDR = client hostname or dotted IP address - SRC_MASKLEN = number of bits in the subnet mask for the source + + 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, (inline) ad + frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly. + Forcing handle-as-image in this situation will not replace the + ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages. + + + - DST_ADDR = server or forwarder hostname or dotted IP address - DST_MASKLEN = number of bits in the subnet mask for the target - - - - + + 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 + + + + + + - - The field separator (FS) is whitespace (space or tab). - + + +<emphasis>hide-forwarded-for-headers</emphasis> - - IMPORTANT NOTE: If Privoxy 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 - Privoxy to determine the address of the - ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for). - + + + Typical use: + + Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request + + - - Here are a few examples to show how the ACL features work: - + + Effect: + + + Deletes any existing X-Forwarded-for: HTTP header from client requests, + and prevents adding a new one. + + + - - localhost is OK -- no DST_ADDR implies that - ALL destination addresses are OK: - + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + - - - - - permit-access localhost - - - - + + 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. + + + - - A silly example to illustrate permitting any host on the class-C subnet with - Privoxy to go anywhere: - + + Example usage: + + + +hide-forwarded-for-headers + + + + + - - - - - permit-access www.privoxy.com/24 - - - - - - Except deny one particular IP address from using it at all: - + + +<emphasis>hide-from-header</emphasis> - - - - - deny-access ident.privoxy.com - - - - + + + Typical use: + + Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address + + - - You can also specify an explicit network address and subnet mask. - Explicit addresses do not have to be resolved to be used. - + + Effect: + + + Deletes any existing From: HTTP header, or replaces it with the + specified string. + + + - - - - - permit-access 207.153.200.0/24 - - - - + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + - - A subnet mask of 0 matches anything, so the next line permits everyone. - + + 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. + + + - - - - - permit-access 0.0.0.0/0 - - - - + + Example usage: + + + +hide-from-header{block} or + +hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com} + + + + + - - Note, you cannot say: - - - - - - permit-access .org - - - - + + +<emphasis>hide-referrer</emphasis> + + + + Typical use: + + Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site + + - - to allow all *.org domains. Every IP address listed must resolve fully. - + + Effect: + + + Deletes the Referer: (sic) HTTP header from the client request, + or replaces it with a forged one. + + + - - An ISP may want to provide a Privoxy 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: - + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + - - - - - permit-access 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 # other clients can go anywhere - # with the following exceptions: + + 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. + + + + - deny-access 0.0.0.0/0 123.124.0.0/16 # block all external requests for - # sites on the ISP's network + + 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.) + + + - permit 0.0.0.0/0 www.my_isp.com # except for the ISP's main - # web site + + Example usage: + + + +hide-referrer{forge} or + +hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/} + + + + + - permit 123.124.0.0/16 0.0.0.0/0 # the ISP's clients can go - # anywhere - - - - - - Note that if some hostnames are listed with multiple IP addresses, - the primary value returned by DNS (via gethostbyname()) is used. Default: - Anyone can access the proxy. - + + +<emphasis>hide-user-agent</emphasis> - + + + 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. + + + - -Forwarding + + Example usage: + + + +hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)} + + + + + - - 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. - - - 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. - + + +<emphasis>kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"></emphasis> - - Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. Privoxy - 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. - + + + Typical use: + + Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows + + - - The syntax of each line is: - + + Effect: + + + While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens + pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly. + + + - - - - - 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] - - - - + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + - - If http_proxy_host is ., then requests are not forwarded to a - HTTP proxy but are made directly to the web servers. - + + 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. + - - 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: - + + Example usage: + + +kill-popups + + + + - - - - - forward .* . # implicit - - - - - - In the following common configuration, everything goes to Lucent's LPWA, - except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle): - + + +<emphasis>limit-connect</emphasis> - - - - - forward .* lpwa.com:8000 - forward :443 . - - - - + + + Typical use: + + Prevent abuse of Privoxy as a TCP proxy relay + + - - - 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.) - + + Effect: + + + Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable. + + + - - In this fictitious example, everything goes via an ISP's caching proxy, - except requests to that ISP: - + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + - - - - - forward .* caching.myisp.net:8000 - forward myisp.net . - - - - + + Parameter: + + + A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum + defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K). + + + + + + Notes: + + + By default, i.e. if no limit-connect action applies, + Privoxy only allows HTTP CONNECT + requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use + limit-connect if more fine-grained control is desired + for some or all destinations. + + + The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites + (https:// URLs) through proxies. It works very simply: + the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then + short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server. + This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be + abused as TCP relays very easily. + + + If you don't know what any of this means, there probably is no reason to + change this one, since the default is already very restrictive. + + + - - For the @home network, we're told the forwarding configuration is this: - + + Example usages: + + + + + + +limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified. ++limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK. ++limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK. ++limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK (gaping security hole!) + + + + + + + +<emphasis>prevent-compression</emphasis> - - - - - forward .* proxy:8080 - - - - + + + Typical use: + + + Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be + passed through filters + + + - - 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. - + + Effect: + + + Adds a header to the request that asks for uncompressed transfer. + + + - - 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. - + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + - - - - - forward-socks4 .* lpwa.com:8000 firewall.my_company.com:1080 - forward my_company.com . - - - - + + 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. + + + - - This is how you could set up a site that always uses SOCKS but no forwarders: - + + Example usage (sections): + + + # Set default: +# +{+prevent-compression} +/ # Match all sites + +# Make exceptions for ill sites: +# +{-prevent-compression} +www.debianhelp.org +www.pclinuxonline.com + + + - - - - - 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. - + + +<emphasis>send-vanilla-wafer</emphasis> - - This is a bit tricky, but here's an example: - + + + 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. + + + - - 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 Privoxy proxy with - forwarding like this: - + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + - - - - - forward .* . - forward isp-b.com host-b:8118 - - - - + + 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. + + + - - host-b can run a Privoxy proxy with forwarding - like this: - + + Example usage: + + + +send-vanilla-wafer + + + - - - - - 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. - - - 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. - + + +<emphasis>send-wafer</emphasis> - - - - - 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: + + + Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data. + + + - - If you intend to chain Privoxy and - squid locally, then chain as - browser -> squid -> privoxy is the recommended way. - + + Effect: + + + Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request. + + + - -Your squid configuration could then look like this (assuming that the IP -address of the box is 192.168.0.1 ): - + + Type: + + + Multi-value. + + - - - - - # Define Privoxy as parent cache - - cache_peer 192.168.0.1 parent 8118 0 no-query + + 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 + + + + + - # don't listen to the whole world - http_port 192.168.0.1:3128 - # define the local lan - acl mylocallan src 192.168.0.1-192.168.0.5/255.255.255.255 + + +<emphasis>session-cookies-only</emphasis> - # grant access for http to local lan - http_access allow mylocallan - - # Define ACL for protocol FTP - acl FTP proto FTP + + + Typical use: + + + Allow only temporary session cookies (for the current browser session only). + + + - # Do not forward ACL FTP to privoxy - always_direct allow FTP + + Effect: + + + Deletes the expires field from Set-Cookie: server headers. + Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and forget them in between sessions. + + + - # Do not forward ACL CONNECT (https) to privoxy - always_direct allow CONNECT + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + - # Forward the rest to privoxy - never_direct allow all - - - - + + 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 + + + + - - + +<emphasis>set-image-blocker</emphasis> - -Windows GUI Options - - - Privoxy has a number of options specific to the - Windows GUI interface: - + + + Typical use: + + Choose the replacement for blocked images + + - - If activity-animation is set to 1, the - Privoxy icon will animate when - Privoxy is active. To turn off, set to 0. - + + 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. + + + - - - - - activity-animation 1 - - - - + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + - - If log-messages is set to 1, - Privoxy will log messages to the console - window: - + + 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. + + + - - - - - log-messages 1 - - - - + + 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} + + + + + - - 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). - + + +Summary - Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and - eat up all your memory! + 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 - - - - log-buffer-size 1 - - - + 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. - - log-max-lines is the maximum number of lines held - in the log buffer. See above. + 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. - - - - - log-max-lines 200 - - - + 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. - - If log-highlight-messages is set to 1, - Privoxy will highlight portions of the log - messages with a bold-faced font: + 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. - - - - log-highlight-messages 1 - - - + Now let's define some aliases... - The font used in the console window: - + + # 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}} - - - - - log-font-name Comic Sans MS - - - + # 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 - Font size used in the console window: + ...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): - - - - log-font-size 8 - - - - + + # 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 - - show-on-task-bar controls whether or not - Privoxy will appear as a button on the Task bar - when minimized: - + # Shopping sites: + # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data) + # + {shop} + .quietpc.com + .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com + .scan.co.uk - - - - - show-on-task-bar 0 - - - + # These shops require pop-ups: + # + {shop -kill-popups -filter{popups}} + .dabs.com + .overclockers.co.uk - If close-button-minimizes is set to 1, the Windows close - button will minimize Privoxy instead of closing - the program (close with the exit option on the File menu). + 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 - - - - close-button-minimizes 1 - - - + 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 + - The hide-console option is specific to the MS-Win console - version of Privoxy. If this option is used, - Privoxy will disconnect from and hide the - command console. +Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose: - - - - #hide-console - - - + # Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org> - - - - - - - - -The Actions File - - The default.action file (formerly - actionsfile or ijb.action) is used - to define what actions Privoxy takes, and thus - determines how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content - and transactions are handled. These can be accepted or rejected for all - sites, or just those sites you choose. See below for a complete list of - actions. - - - Anything you want can blocked, including ads, banners, or just some obnoxious - URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted or rejected, or - accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not written to disk). - Changes to default.action should be immediately visible - to Privoxy without the need to restart. +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: - Note that some sites may misbehave, or possibly not work at all with some - actions. This may require some tinkering with the rules to get the most - mileage of Privoxy's features, and still be - able to see and enjoy just what you want to. There is no general rule of - thumb on these things. There just are too many variables, and sites are - always changing. + +########################################################################## +# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY. +########################################################################## +{{settings}} +for-privoxy-version=3.0 - The easiest way to edit the actions file is with a browser by - loading http://p.p/, and then select - Edit Actions List. A text editor can also be used. +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: - 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://p.p/show-url-info. - - + +########################################################################## +# Aliases +########################################################################## +{{alias}} - - 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 - Privoxy understands. +# 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 - - - -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: + 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. - www.example.com - is a domain only pattern and will match any request to - www.example.com. + 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. - www.example.com/ - means exactly the same. - + 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. + - www.example.com/index.html - matches only the single - document /index.html on www.example.com. + +########################################################################## +# "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: - /index.html - matches the document /index.html, - regardless of the domain. So would match any page named index.html - on any site. - + +########################################################################## +# Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set: +########################################################################## - - index.html - matches nothing, since it would be - interpreted as a domain name and there is no top-level domain called - .html. +# "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above): +# +{ fragile } +.office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise! +.windowsupdate.microsoft.com - 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: + 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: - + - .example.com - matches any domain or sub-domain that - ENDS in .example.com. + +# Shopping sites: +# +{ shop } +.quietpc.com +.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com +.jungle.com +.scan.co.uk - www. - matches any domain that STARTS with - www. + 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: - 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: + +# These sites require pop-ups too :( +# +{ -kill-popups -filter{popups} } +.dabs.com +.overclockers.co.uk +.deutsche-bank-24.de - ad*.example.com - matches adserver.example.com, - ads.example.com, etc but not sfads.example.com. + The fast-redirects + action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable + it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves: - *ad*.example.com - matches all of the above, and then some. + +{ -fast-redirects } +login.yahoo.com +edit.*.yahoo.com +.google.com +.altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http +.altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http +.nytimes.com - .?pix.com - matches www.ipix.com, - pictures.epix.com, a.b.c.d.e.upix.com, etc. + 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: - 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. + +########################################################################## +# 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)$ - If Privoxy was compiled with - pcre support (the default), Perl compatible regular expressions - can be used. These are more flexible and powerful than other types - of regular expressions. 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: + 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: - /.*/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). + +# 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 - 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: + 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. - - www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.* - will match only - documents whose path starts with PaTtErN in - exactly this capitalization. + First comes a bunch of generic patterns, which do most of the work, by + matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes + a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here + to keep the example short: - - - - + + +########################################################################## +# Block these fine banners: +########################################################################## +{ +block } +# Generic patterns: +# +ad*. +.*ads. +banner?. +count*. +/.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?) +/(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/ - +# Site-specific patterns (abbreviated): +# +.hitbox.com + - -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: + 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. - - - - - - Boolean (e.g. +/-block): - - - - - - {+name} # enable this action - {-name} # disable this action - - - - - - - - - - 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 - - - - - - - + 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. - - If nothing is specified in this 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 default.action file will - give a good starting point). + 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. - Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions - to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file. For - multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are - specified. + +########################################################################## +# Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns: +########################################################################## + +# By domain: +# +{ -block } +adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*) +adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads) +ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*) +.edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!)) +.*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc) + +# By path: +# +/.*loads/ + +# Site-specific: +# +www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced) +www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv - The list of valid Privoxy actions are: + 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! - - - - - 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, and an option to see it anyway. - The page displayed for this is the blocked template - file. - - - - - - +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 - Privoxy doesn't handle well yet. HTTP/1.1 - is only partially implemented. Default is not to downgrade requests. - - - - - - +downgrade - - - - - - - - - Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they - will link to some script on their own server, giving the destination as a - parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs resulting - from this scheme typically look like: - http://some.place/some_script?http://some.where-else. - - - 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 - types of requests by Privoxy, who will cut off - all but the last valid URL in the request and send a local redirect back to - your browser without contacting the intermediate site(s). - - - - - - +fast-redirects - - - - - + +# Don't filter code! +# +{ -filter } +/.*cvs +.sourceforge.net + - - - Apply the filters in the section_header - section of the default.filter file to the site(s). - default.filter sections are grouped according to like - functionality. Filters can be used to - re-write any of the raw page content. This is a potentially a - very powerful feature! - - - - - - - +filter{section_header} - - - - + + The actual default.action is of course more + comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works. + - - Filter sections that are pre-defined in the supplied - default.filter include: - + -
- - - html-annoyances: Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse. - - - - - js-annoyances: Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse - - - - - 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" - - -
+user.action - + + So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies, + which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now, + you'd maybe want to be more specific and have customized rules that + 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. + - - - Block any existing X-Forwarded-for header, and do not add a new one: - - - - - - +hide-forwarded - - - - - + + So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in + user.action: + - - - 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, user defined 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. Note you - cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, frames - require an HTML page to display. So a frame that is an ad, cannot be - treated as an image. Forcing an image in this - situation just will not work. - - - - - - +image - - - - - - - - Decides what to do with URLs that end up tagged with {+block - +image}, 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{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 - - - - - - - - - - +image-blocker{blank} - +image-blocker{pattern} - +image-blocker{http://p.p/send-banner} - - - - - - - - - By default (i.e. in the absence of a +limit-connect - action), Privoxy will only allow CONNECT - requests to port 443, which is the standard port for https as a - precaution. - - - - The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites - (https:// URLs) through proxies. It works very simply: the proxy - connects to the server on the specified port, and then short-circuits - its connections to the client and to the remote proxy. - This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can - be abused as TCP relays very easily. - - - - If you want to allow CONNECT for more ports than this, or want to forbid - CONNECT altogether, you can specify a comma separated list of ports and - port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum defaulting to 0 and - max to 65K): - + + +# My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com> + - - - - - +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. - - - - + + 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: + - + + +# (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) - - - +no-compression prevents the website from compressing the - data. Some websites do this, which can be a problem for - Privoxy, since +filter, - +no-popup and +gif-deanimate will not work on - compressed data. This will slow down connections to those websites, - though. Default is no-compression is turned on. - + - - - - - +nocompression - - - - - - - - - If the website sets cookies, no-cookies-keep will make sure - they are erased when you exit and restart your web browser. This makes - profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so - that you can log in for transactions. Default: on. - - - - - - +no-cookies-keep - - - - - - - - - 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} - - - - - + + 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. + - + + +{ mercy-for-cookies } +sunsolve.sun.com +slashdot.org +.yahoo.com +.msdn.microsoft.com +.redhat.com - The meaning of any of the above is reversed by preceding the action with a - -, in place of the +. + Your bank needs popups and is allergic to some filter, but you don't + know which, so you disable them all: - Some examples: + +{ -filter -kill-popups } +.your-home-banking-site.com - Turn off cookies by default, then allow a few through for specified sites: + 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: - + - - - - # Turn off all persistent cookies - { +no-cookies-read } - { +no-cookies-set } - # Allow cookies for this browser session ONLY - { +no-cookies-keep } - - # 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 - - - + +{ +block } +www.a-popular-site.com/some/unobvious/path +another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/ - Now turn off fast redirects, and then we allow two exceptions: + 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. - - - - # Turn them off! - {+fast-redirects} - - # Reverse it for these two sites, which don't work right without it. - {-fast-redirects} - www.ukc.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wac\.cgi\? - login.yahoo.com - - - + 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: - Turn on page filtering according to rules in the defined sections - of refilterfile, and make one exception for - sourceforge: - + +{ fragile } +.forbes.com + - - - - # 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 - - - + 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: - Now some URLs that we want blocked (normally generates - the blocked banner). Many of these use regular expressions - that will expand to match multiple URLs: + +{ +filter{fun} } +/ # For ALL sites! - - - - # Blocklist: - {+block} - /.*/(.*[-_.])?ads?[0-9]?(/|[-_.].*|\.(gif|jpe?g)) - /.*/(.*[-_.])?count(er)?(\.cgi|\.dll|\.exe|[?/]) - /.*/(ng)?adclient\.cgi - /.*/(plain|live|rotate)[-_.]?ads?/ - /.*/(sponsor)s?[0-9]?/ - /.*/_?(plain|live)?ads?(-banners)?/ - /.*/abanners/ - /.*/ad(sdna_image|gifs?)/ - /.*/ad(server|stream|juggler)\.(cgi|pl|dll|exe) - /.*/adbanners/ - /.*/adserver - /.*/adstream\.cgi - /.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/ - /.*/banner_?ads/ - /.*/banners?/ - /.*/banners?\.cgi/ - /.*/cgi-bin/centralad/getimage - /.*/images/addver\.gif - /.*/images/marketing/.*\.(gif|jpe?g) - /.*/popupads/ - /.*/siteads/ - /.*/sponsor.*\.gif - /.*/sponsors?[0-9]?/ - /.*/advert[0-9]+\.jpg - /Media/Images/Adds/ - /ad_images/ - /adimages/ - /.*/ads/ - /bannerfarm/ - /grafikk/annonse/ - /graphics/defaultAd/ - /image\.ng/AdType - /image\.ng/transactionID - /images/.*/.*_anim\.gif # alvin brattli - /ip_img/.*\.(gif|jpe?g) - /rotateads/ - /rotations/ - /worldnet/ad\.cgi - /cgi-bin/nph-adclick.exe/ - /.*/Image/BannerAdvertising/ - /.*/ad-bin/ - /.*/adlib/server\.cgi - /autoads/ - - - + Note that 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. - 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. + 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: + + + + +{ 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 + + + 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. + + + + 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. + + + + 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. + + + + 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. + + + + 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. + + + + A filter header line for a filter called foo could look + like this: + + + + FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar" + + + + Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that + define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified + in a syntax that imitates Perl's + s/// operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you + will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the + PCRS man page + for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most notably, the non-standard + option letter U is supported, which turns the default + to ungreedy matching. + + + + If you are new to regular expressions, you might want to take a look at + the 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: + - - -Aliases - Custom actions, known to Privoxy - as aliases, can be defined by combining other actions. - These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions. - Currently, an alias can contain any character except space, tab, =, - { or }. But please use only a- - z, 0-9, +, and - -. Alias names are not case sensitive, and - must be defined before anything else in the - default.actionfile! And there can only be one set of - aliases defined. + s/foo/bar/ - Now let's define a few aliases: + 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: - - - - # Useful custom aliases we can use later. These must come first! - {{alias}} - +no-cookies = +no-cookies-set +no-cookies-read - -no-cookies = -no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read - fragile = -block -no-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -no-popups - shop = -no-cookies -filter -fast-redirects - +imageblock = +block +image - - #For people who don't like to type too much: ;-) - c0 = +no-cookies - c1 = -no-cookies - c2 = -no-cookies-set +no-cookies-read - c3 = +no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read - #... etc. Customize to your heart's content. - - - + s/foo/bar/g - Some examples using our shop and fragile - aliases from above: + Our complete filter now looks like this: + + + FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar" +s/foo/bar/g - - - - # These sites are very complex and require - # minimal interference. - {fragile} - .office.microsoft.com - .windowsupdate.microsoft.com - .nytimes.com + 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: + - # Shopping sites - still want to block ads. - {shop} - .quietpc.com - .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com - .jungle.com - .scan.co.uk - # These shops require pop-ups - {shop -no-popups} - .dabs.com - .overclockers.co.uk - - - + + +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 - The shop and fragile aliases are often used for - problem sites that require most actions to be disabled - in order to function properly. - + 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 (\). - - + + 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. + - + + 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). + + + 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. + - - -The Filter File - Any web page can be dynamically modified with the filter file. This - modification can be removal, or re-writing, of any web page content, - including tags and non-visible content. The default filter file is - default.filter, located in the config directory. + This is 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. - This is potentially a very powerful feature, and requires knowledge of both - regular expression and HTML in order create custom - filters. But, there are a number of useful filters included with - Privoxy for many common situations. + 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. - 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. + 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!". - This file uses regular expressions to alter or remove any string in the - target page. The expressions can only operate on one line at a time. Some - examples from the included default default.filter: + 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. - Stop web pages from displaying annoying messages in the status bar by - deleting such references: + We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but + this time only point out the constructs of special interest: - - - - FILTER: html-annoyances + +# The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah +# +s/window\.status\s*=\s*['"].*?['"]/dUmMy=1/ig + - # 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 + + \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. + - # The <BLINK> tag was a crime! - # - s*<blink>|</blink>**ig + + 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. + - # Is this evil? - # - #s/framespacing="?(no|0)"?//ig - #s/margin(height|width)=[0-9]*//gi - - - + + +# Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html +# +s/(<body .*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU - Just for kicks, replace any occurrence of Microsoft with - MicroSuck, and have a little fun with topical buzzwords: + 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. - - - - FILTER: fun + The last example is from the fun department: + - s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/ig + + +FILTER: fun Fun text replacements - # Buzzword Bingo: - # - s/industry-leading|cutting-edge|award-winning/<font color=red><b>BINGO!</b></font>/ig - - - +# Spice the daily news: +# +s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig - Kill those pesky little web-bugs: + 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. - - - - # webbugs: Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking) - FILTER: webbugs + +# 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 + - s/<img\s+[^>]*?(width|height)\s*=\s*['"]?1\D[^>]*?(width|height)\s*=\s*['"]?1(\D[^>]*?)?>/<!-- Squished WebBug -->/sig - - - + + 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? + + @@ -3203,23 +5928,27 @@ icon being being cached by the browser, which will speed up the display. - + Templates When Privoxy displays one of its internal - pages, such as a 404 Not Found error page, it uses the appropriate template. - On Linux, BSD, and Unix, these are located in - /etc/privoxy/templates by default. These may be - customized, if desired. cgi-style.css is - used to control the HTML attributes (fonts, etc). + pages, such as a 404 Not Found error page + (Privoxy must be running for link to work as + intended), it uses the appropriate template. On Linux, BSD, and Unix, these + are located in /etc/privoxy/templates by default. These + may be customized, if desired. cgi-style.css is used to + control the HTML attributes (fonts, etc). - The default Blocked banner page with the bright red top - banner, is called just blocked. This - may be customized or replaced with something else if desired. - + The default + Blocked + (Privoxy needs to be running for page to + display) banner page with the bright red top banner, is called just + blocked. This may be customized or + replaced with something else if desired (not recommended for the casual + user). - @@ -3236,48 +5965,24 @@ Requests &contacting; - - - -Submitting Ads and <quote>Action</quote> Problems - - Ads and banners that are not stopped by Privoxy - can be submitted to the developers by accessing a special page and filling - out the brief, required form. Conversely, you can also report pages, images, - etc. that Privoxy is blocking, but should not. - The form itself does require Internet access. - - - To do this, point your browser to Privoxy - at http://p.p/, and then select - Actions file feedback system, - near the bottom of the page. Paste in the URL that is the cause of the - unwanted behavior, and follow the prompts. The developers will - try to incorporate your submission into future versions. - - - - New default.actions files will occasionally be made - available based on your feedback. These - will be announced on the - ijbswa-announce - list. - - - + + -Copyright and History +<application>Privoxy</application> Copyright, License and History -Copyright ©right; - + +License + + &license; + + @@ -3290,6 +5995,9 @@ Requests + + + See Also @@ -3351,72 +6059,79 @@ Requests and then some examples: - + . - Matches any single character, e.g. a, A, 4, :, or @. - + - + ? - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE times. Either/or. - + - + + - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE times. - + - + * - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE times. - + - + \ - The escape character denotes that the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the special characters (e.g. .) needs to be taken literally and - not as a special meta-character. + not as a special meta-character. Example: example\.com, makes + sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its + meta-character meaning of any single character). - + - + [] - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if - any of the enclosed characters are encountered. + any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, [0-9] + matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine + this with + to match any digit one of more times: [0-9]+. - + - + () - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression, or multiple sub-expressions. - + - + | - The bar character works like an or conditional statement. A match is successful if the - sub-expression on either side of | matches. + sub-expression on either side of | matches. As an example: + /(this|that) example/ uses grouping and the bar character + and would match either this example or that + example, and nothing else. - + - + s/string1/string2/g - This is used to rewrite strings of text. string1 is replaced by string2 in this - example. + example. There must of course be a match on string1 first. - + These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with @@ -3581,7 +6296,8 @@ Requests - Show information about the current configuration: + Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and + editing of actions files:
@@ -3603,7 +6319,7 @@ Requests - Show the client's request headers: + Show the browser's request headers:
@@ -3647,23 +6363,12 @@ Requests
- - - - Edit the actions list file: - -
- - http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions - -
- - These may be bookmarked for quick reference. + These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next. @@ -3681,7 +6386,7 @@ Requests 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 favourites/bookmarks. For even faster access, + 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. @@ -3691,31 +6396,35 @@ Requests - Enable Privoxy + Privoxy - Enable - Disable Privoxy + Privoxy - Disable - Toggle Privoxy (Toggles between enabled and disabled) + Privoxy - Toggle Privoxy (Toggles between enabled and disabled) - View Privoxy Status + Privoxy- View Status - Actions file feedback system + Privoxy - Submit Filter Feedback @@ -3736,116 +6445,254 @@ Requests + + +Chain of Events + + Let's take a quick look at the basic sequence of events when a web page is + requested by your browser and Privoxy is on duty: + + + + + + + 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 deterimed 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. + + + + + + + + + Anatomy of an Action - The way Privoxy applies actions - and filters to any given URL can be complex, and not always so + 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 inadvertantly. It can be a little daunting to look at + is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with regular expressions whose consequences are not always - so obvious. Privoxy provides the + so obvious. + + + + One quick test to see if Privoxy is causing a problem + or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting + step. See the Bookmarklets section on a quick + and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). + + + + Privoxy also provides the http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info page that can show us very specifically how actions are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting. - + First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then Privoxy will tell us how the current configuration will handle it. This will not - help with filtering effects from the default.filter file! It - also will not tell you about any other URLs that may be embedded within the - URL you are testing. 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. + 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. - Let's look at an example, google.com, - one section at a time: + Let's try an example, google.com, + and look at it one section at a time: - 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 } - - - - - - This is the top section, and only tells us of the compiled in defaults. This - is basically what Privoxy would do if there - were not any actions defined, i.e. it does nothing. Every action - is disabled. This is not particularly informative for our purposes here. OK, - next section: - + Matches for http://google.com: - - +--- File standard --- +(no matches in this file) - Matches for http://google.com: +--- File default --- - { -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 } - / +{ -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects + -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental} + +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies} + +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} + +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge} + -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect + +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -crunch-outgoing-cookies + -crunch-incoming-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer } +/ - { -no-cookies-keep -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set } - .google.com + { -session-cookies-only } + .google.com { -fast-redirects } - .google.com + .google.com - +--- File user --- +(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 - Privoxy 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: @@ -3854,16 +6701,20 @@ Requests Final results: + -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs{last} -downgrade-http-version -fast-redirects + -filter{popups} -filter{fun} -filter{shockwave-flash} -filter{crude-parental} + +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{content-cookies} + +filter{webbugs} +filter{refresh-tags} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} + +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge} + -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{pattern} -limit-connect + +prevent-compression -session-cookies-only -crunch-outgoing-cookies + -crunch-incoming-cookies -kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer + + - -add-header -block -deanimate-gifs -downgrade -fast-redirects - +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups} - +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal} - +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded +hide-from{block} +hide-referer{forge} - -hide-user-agent -image +image-blocker{blank} -limit-connect +no-compression - -no-cookies-keep -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set +no-popups -vanilla-wafer - -wafer - - + + Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to + fast-redirects and session-cookies-only. @@ -3873,24 +6724,24 @@ Requests - { +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.) @@ -3900,9 +6751,13 @@ Requests would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious URL to be invisible, it should be defined as ad.doubleclick.net - is done here -- as both a +block and an - +image. The custom alias +imageblock does this - for us. + is done here -- as both a +block + and an + +handle-as-image. + The custom alias +imageblock just simplifies the process and make + it more readable. @@ -3915,27 +6770,26 @@ Requests Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/: - { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade +fast-redirects - +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups} + { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade-http-version +fast-redirects + +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{kill-popups} +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal} - +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded +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 } + +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} + +hide-referer{forge} -hide-user-agent -handle-as-image +set-image-blocker{blank} + +prevent-compression +session-cookies-only -crunch-incoming-cookies + -crunch-outgoing-cookies +kill-popups -send-vanilla-wafer -send-wafer } / - { +block +image } + { +block +handle-as-image } /ads - - + Ooops, the /adsl/ is matching /ads! But we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the blank page. We could - now add a new action below this that explictly does not - block (-block) pages with adsl. There are various ways to - handle such exceptions. Example: + now add a new action below this that explicitly does not + block ({-block}) paths with adsl. There are + various ways to handle such exceptions. Example: @@ -3943,8 +6797,7 @@ Requests { -block } /adsl - - + @@ -3960,10 +6813,9 @@ Requests - { -block } - /adsl - - + { +block +handle-as-image } + /ads + @@ -3984,14 +6836,13 @@ Requests .jungle.com .scan.co.uk .forbes.com - - + {shop} is an alias that expands to - { -filter -no-cookies -no-cookies-keep }. Or you could do - your own exception to negate filtering: + { -filter -session-cookies-only }. + Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering: @@ -4000,8 +6851,12 @@ Requests {-filter} .forbes.com - - + + + + + This would probably be most appropriately put in user.action, + for local site exceptions. @@ -4036,6 +6891,136 @@ Requests Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $ + Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes + Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes + + Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes + More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section + + Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes + Extended and further commented the example actions files + + Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9 + Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and + clarification. + + Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes + Fixing the fixes + + Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes + Restored alphabetical order of actions + + Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes + Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs + + Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes + Completed proofreading the actions chapter + + Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9 + Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this + apparently an important distinction for some OS's. + + Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9 + This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs + are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright + changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ). + + Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9 + Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs. + + Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa + bumped version + + Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9 + -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in. + -Some minor additions to Quickstart. + + Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes + Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions + + Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9 + Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about + Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs. + + Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9 + Add clarification on differences of new actions files. + + Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa + more structure in starting section + + Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9 + This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This + will probably break links elsewhere :( + + Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9 + -Rewrite of Actions File example. + -Add section for user-manual directive in config. + + Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9 + -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action. + -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished). + + Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa + bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot + + Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9 + -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section. + -A few other minor corrections and touch up. + + Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9 + More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names. + Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications. + + Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9 + Add 'Chain of Events' section. + + Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9 + Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig. + + Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes + Added hint for startup on Red Hat + + Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9 + Add AmigaOS install stuff. + + Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt + Updated OSX installation section + Added a few English tweaks here an there + + Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9 + Re-write actions section. + + Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9 + Fix ugly typo (mine). + + Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9 + Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections. + + Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes + Added RPM install detail + + Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes + Cosmetics + + Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes + Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers + + Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes + Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details + + Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9 + Spellcheck, and minor touchups. + + Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes + Proofreading part 2 + + Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes + Proofreading, part one + + Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9 + -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section. + -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files. + Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual