X-Git-Url: http://www.privoxy.org/gitweb/?p=privoxy.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fsource%2Fuser-manual.sgml;h=7fd3f8353d949d61ba563ab0dc5f0f365b7d9021;hp=76fcb620347976afe3fb3cf51f8ac24ae0ef3198;hb=7bbee96637ad3a65a3ef35d37efc7fc059a96e5a;hpb=4755c62ad98c26bebd21d2c649689300809a7d76 diff --git a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml index 76fcb620..7fd3f835 100644 --- a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml +++ b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml @@ -11,11 +11,11 @@ - - + + - + @@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ +Privoxy"> ]> - Copyright &my-copy; 2001, 2002 by - Privoxy Developers + Copyright &my-copy; 2001 - 2007 by + Privoxy Developers -$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.125 2002/06/03 00:28:17 hal9 Exp $ +$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.31 2007/06/02 14:01:37 fabiankeil Exp $ @@ -97,9 +87,9 @@ Hal. ]]> - The User Manual gives users information on how to + The Privoxy User Manual gives users information on how to install, configure and use Privoxy. + url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy. @@ -107,9 +97,9 @@ Hal. - You can find the latest version of the User Manual at Privoxy User Manual at http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/. - Please see the Contact section on how to + Please see the Contact section on how to contact the developers. @@ -127,10 +117,9 @@ Hal. Privoxy, v.&p-version;soon ;-)]]>. + configuration files. Development of a new version is currently nearing + completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over + earlier versions. ]]>. @@ -146,10 +135,12 @@ Hal. Features - In addition to Internet Junkbuster's traditional - features of ad and banner blocking and cookie management, - Privoxy provides new features: + In addition to the core + features of ad blocking and + cookie management, + Privoxy provides many supplemental + features, + that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom: &newfeatures; @@ -173,13 +164,11 @@ Hal. - 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. + Note: + On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if + found. (See below for your platform). In any case be sure to backup + your old configuration if it is valuable to you. See the note to upgraders section below. @@ -188,8 +177,10 @@ Hal. How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system: + + -Red Hat, SuSE and Conectiva RPMs +Red Hat and Fedora RPMs RPMs can be installed with rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm, @@ -201,8 +192,7 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system: Note that on Red Hat, Privoxy will not be automatically started on system boot. You will need to enable that using chkconfig, - ntsysv, or similar methods. Note that SuSE will -automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. + ntsysv, or similar methods. @@ -215,17 +205,16 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. Also note that if you have a Junkbuster RPM installed on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict. Otherwise, RPM will try to remove Junkbuster - automatically, before installing Privoxy. + automatically if found, before installing Privoxy. Debian - DEBs can be installed with dpkg -i - privoxy_&p-version;-1.deb, and will use - /etc/privoxy for the location of configuration - files. + DEBs can be installed with apt-get install privoxy, + and will use /etc/privoxy for the location of + configuration files. @@ -235,13 +224,45 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through the installation process. You will find the configuration files - in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in. We do not - use the registry of Windows. + in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in. + + + Version 3.0.4 introduced full Windows service + functionality. On Windows only, the Privoxy + program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall + Privoxy as a service. + + + + Arguments: + + + --install[:service_name] + + + --uninstall[:service_name] + + + + + + After invoking Privoxy with + --install, you will need to bring up the + Windows service console to assign the user you + want Privoxy to run under, and whether or not you + want it to run whenever the system starts. You can start the + Windows services console with the following + command: services.msc. If you do not take the manual step + of modifying Privoxy's service settings, it will + not start. Note too that you will need to give Privoxy a user account that + actually exists, or it will not be permitted to + write to its log and configuration files. + -Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX +Solaris, NetBSD, HP-UX Create a new directory, cd to it, then unzip and @@ -277,17 +298,32 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. -Max OSX - - Unzip the downloaded package (you can either double-click on the file - in the finder, or on the desktop if you downloaded it there). Then, - double-click on the package installer icon and follow the installation - process. - Privoxy will be installed in the subdirectory - /Applications/Privoxy.app. - Privoxy will set itself up to start - automatically on system bring-up via - /System/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy. +Mac OSX + + Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the file + from the finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there). + Then, double-click on the package installer icon named + Privoxy.pkg + and follow the installation process. + Privoxy will be installed in the folder + /Library/Privoxy. + It will start automatically whenever you start up. To prevent it from + starting automatically, remove or rename the folder + /Library/StartupItems/Privoxy. + + + To start Privoxy by hand, double-click on + StartPrivoxy.command in the + /Library/Privoxy folder. + Or, type this command in the Terminal: + + + + /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command + + + + You will be prompted for the administrator password. @@ -300,6 +336,47 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. remove this directory. + + +FreeBSD + + + Privoxy is part of FreeBSD's Ports Collection, you can build and install + it with cd /usr/ports/www/privoxy; make install clean. + + + If you don't use the ports, you can fetch and install + the package with pkg_add -r privoxy. + + + The port skeleton and the package can also be downloaded from the + File Release + Page, but if you're interested in stable releases only you don't + gain anything by using them. + + + + +Gentoo + + Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for Privoxy are + contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page, + but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new + Privoxy Version is added to the Portage Tree). + + + Before installing Privoxy under Gentoo just do + first emerge rsync to get the latest changes from the + Portage tree. With emerge privoxy you install the latest + version. + + + Configuration files are in /etc/privoxy, the + documentation is in /usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version; + and the Log directory is in /var/log/privoxy. + + + @@ -307,7 +384,8 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. The most convenient way to obtain the Privoxy sources - is to download the source tarball from our project + is to download the source tarball from our + project download page. @@ -315,9 +393,13 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute version directly from the - CVS repository or simply download the nightly CVS + CVS repository. + @@ -325,82 +407,315 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. + +Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date + + As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions + of both the main actions file (as a separate + package) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for + download. + + + + If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of + Privoxy or the actions file, subscribe + to our announce mailing list, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net. + + + + In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating + to the latest default.action file we strongly + recommend that you use user.action and + user.filter for your local + customizations of Privoxy. See the Chapter on actions files for details. + + + + - -Note to Upgraders - - 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. - + +What's New in this Release - A filter file (typically - default.filter) is new as of Privoxy - 2.9.x, and provides some of the new sophistication (explained - below). config is much the same as before. + There are many improvements and new features since Privoxy 3.0.6, the last stable release: + - If upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will have to use the new config - files, and possibly adapt any personal rules from your older files. - When porting personal rules over from the old blockfile - to the new actions files, please note that even the pattern syntax has - changed. If upgrading from 2.9.x development versions, it is still - recommended to use the new configuration files. + + + + Header filtering can be done with dedicated header filters now. As a result + the actions filter-client-headers and filter-server-headers + that were introduced with Privoxy 3.0.5 to apply + the content filters to the headers as, well have been removed again. + + + + + + + + + + +Note to Upgraders + - A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading: + A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier + versions of Privoxy: - - The default listening port is now 8118 due to a conflict with another - service (NAS). + + Some installers may remove earlier versions completely, including + configuration files. Save any important configuration files! - + - Some installers may remove earlier versions completely. Save any - important configuration files! + On the other hand, other installers may not overwrite any existing configuration + files, thinking you will want to do that. You may want to manually check + your saved files against the newer versions to see if the improvements have + merit, or whether there are new options that you may want to consider. + There are a number of new features, but most won't be available unless + these features are incorporated into your configuration somehow. - - 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. - - + + See the full documentation on + fast-redirects + which has changed syntax, and will require adjustments to local configs, + such as user.action. You must reference the new + syntax: + + + + { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} } + .example.com + mybank.com + .google. + + + + + + The jarfile, + cookie logger, is off by default now. + + + + + What constitutes a default configuration has changed, + and you may want to review which actions are on by + default. This is primarily a matter of emphasis, but some features + you may have been used to, may now be off by default. + There are also a number of new actions and filters you may want to + consider, most of which are not fully incorporated into the default + settings as yet (see above). + + + + + + The default actions setting is now Cautious. Previous + releases had a default setting of Medium. Experienced + users may want to adjust this, as it is fairly conservative by &my-app; + standards and past practices. See + http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default. New users + should try the default settings for a while before turning up the volume. + + + + + + The default setting has filtering turned off, which + subsequently means that compression is on. Remember + that filtering does not work on compressed pages, so if you use, or want to + use, filtering, you will need to force compression off. Example: + + + + { +filter{google} +prevent-compression } + .google. + + + Or if you use a number of filters, or filter many sites, you may just want + to turn off compression for all sites in + default.action (or + user.action). + + + + + - The primary configuration files for cookie management, ad and banner - blocking, and many other aspects of Privoxy - configuration are the actions - files. It is strongly recommended to become familiar with the new - actions concept below, before modifying these files. Locally defined rules - should go into user.action. + Also, session-cookies-only is + off by default now. If you've liked this feature in the past, you may want + to turn it back on in user.action now. - + + + @@ -410,22 +725,17 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. + + -Quickstart to Using <application>Privoxy</application> +Quickstart to Using Privoxy - - - If upgrading, from versions before 2.9.16, please back up any configuration - files. See the Note to Upgraders Section. - - - Install Privoxy. See the Set your browser to use Privoxy as HTTP and - HTTPS proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of + HTTPS (SSL) 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. + DO NOT activate proxying for FTP or + any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)! It won't work! Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images. + If using Privoxy to manage + cookies, + you should remove any currently stored cookies too. @@ -480,39 +792,47 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. 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.]]> - + banners. + - If you experience ads that slipped through, innocent images that are + If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune - Privoxy's behaviour, take a look at the Privoxy's behavior, take a look at the actions files. As a quick start, you might find the richly commented examples helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the web-based user interface. The - Appendix Anatomy of an - Action has hints how to debug actions that + Appendix Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an + Action has hints on how to understand and debug actions that misbehave. + + + For easy access to &my-app;'s most important controls, drag the provided + Bookmarklets into your browser's + personal toolbar. + + + Please see the section Contacting the - Developers on how to report bugs or problems with websites or to get + Developers on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get help. - Now enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy! + Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy! @@ -541,7 +861,8 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block - things that were not intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want + things that were not intended. And the more likely that some things + may not work as intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more problem sites, and to spend more time adjusting the configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is @@ -554,7 +875,7 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. Secondly, a brief explanation of Privoxy's actions. Actions in this context, are the directives we use to tell Privoxy to perform - some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell + some task relating to WWW 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 @@ -579,13 +900,17 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server, or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many - such embedded URLs. + such embedded URLs. &my-app; can deal with each URL individually, so, for + instance, the main page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such + server are blocked. - The actions we need to know about for ad blocking are: block, handle-as-image, and + linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image, + handle-as-empty-document,and set-image-blocker: @@ -594,12 +919,14 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. - block - this action stops - any contact between your browser and any URL patterns that match this - action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads, but also anything - that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply stops any - communication with the remote server and sends Privoxy's - own built-in BLOCKED page instead to let you now what has happened. + block - this is perhaps + the single most used action, and is particularly important for ad blocking. + This action stops any contact between your browser and any URL patterns + that match this action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads, + but also anything that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply + stops any communication with the remote server and sends + Privoxy's own built-in BLOCKED page instead to + let you now what has happened (with some exceptions, see below). @@ -619,6 +946,15 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. + + + handle-as-empty-document - + sends an empty document instead of Privoxy's + normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither + HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files. + + + Actions Files in Use - + [ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ] @@ -759,6 +1095,13 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. to now go to the Actions Files Tutorial. The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor. + + There are also various + filters that can be used for ad blocking + (filters are a special subset of actions). These + fall into the advanced usage category, and are explained in + depth in later sections. + @@ -769,21 +1112,28 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. -Starting <application>Privoxy</application> +Starting Privoxy Before launching Privoxy for the first time, you will want to configure your browser(s) to use - Privoxy as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is + Privoxy as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) + proxy. The default is 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions - used port 8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done! + used port 8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done +! + + + Please note that Privoxy can only proxy HTTP and + HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols. -
Proxy Configuration (Mozilla) +
Proxy Configuration Showing + Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings - + [ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ] @@ -792,56 +1142,82 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
+ + + With Firefox, this is typically set under: + + + + Tools -> Options -> General -> Connection Settings -> Manual Proxy Configuration + + + + + Or optionally on some platforms: + + + + Edit -> Preferences -> General -> Connection Settings -> Manual Proxy Configuration + + + + With Netscape (and Mozilla), this can be set under: - + + - Edit - |_ - Preferences - |_ - Advanced - |_ - Proxies - |_ - HTTP Proxy + Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy + - For Internet Explorer: + For Internet Explorer v.5-6: - - - Tools - |_ - Internet Properties - |_ - Connections - |_ - LAN Settings + Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN Settings Then, check Use Proxy and fill in the appropriate info (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS - proxy support too. + proxy support too (sometimes labeled Secure). Make sure any + checkboxes like Use the same proxy server for all protocols is + UNCHECKED. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)! + + +
Proxy Configuration Showing + Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings + + + + + + [ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ] + + +
+ + + After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a - re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. You - are now ready to start enjoying the benefits of using + re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove + any cookies, + if you want Privoxy to manage that. You are now + ready to start enjoying the benefits of using Privoxy! - Privoxy is typically started by specifying the + Privoxy itself is typically started by specifying the main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration file is specified on the command line, Privoxy will look for a file named config in the current @@ -849,23 +1225,31 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. -Red Hat and Conectiva +Red Hat and Fedora - We use a script. Note that Red Hat does not start Privoxy upon booting per - default. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config as - its main configuration file. + A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use + the file /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration + file. # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start + + Or ... + + + + # service privoxy start + + Debian - We use a script. Note that Debian starts Privoxy upon booting per + We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; upon booting per default. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration file. @@ -877,6 +1261,9 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process. + Windows -Click on the Privoxy Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is +Click on the &my-app; Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is specified on the command line, Privoxy will look for a file named config.txt. Note that Windows will - automatically start Privoxy upon booting you PC. + automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option + when installing. + + + Privoxy can run with full Windows service functionality. + On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments + to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the + Windows Installation + instructions for details. @@ -924,16 +1319,21 @@ Example Unix startup command: -MAX OSX +Mac OSX During installation, Privoxy is configured to - start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually - through the Terminal with these commands: + start automatically when the system restarts. To start &my-app; manually, + double-click on the StartPrivoxy.command icon in the + /Library/Privoxy folder. Or, type this command + in the Terminal: - cd /Applications/Privoxy.app - ./privoxy + /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command + + + + You will be prompted for the administrator password. @@ -951,11 +1351,34 @@ Example Unix startup command: + +Gentoo + + A script is again used. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config + as its main configuration file. + + + + /etc/init.d/privoxy start + + + + Note that Privoxy is not automatically started at + boot time by default. You can change this with the rc-update + command. + + + + rc-update add privoxy default + + + + @@ -1109,7 +1532,20 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph USER, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only. - + + + + --chroot + + + + Before changing to the user ID given in the --user option, + chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app; + process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit + the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy. + Unix only. + + configfile @@ -1127,6 +1563,14 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph + + On MS Windows only there are two additional + command-line options to allow Privoxy to install and + run as a service. See the +Window Installation section +for details. + + @@ -1135,7 +1579,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph -<application>Privoxy</application> Configuration +Privoxy Configuration All Privoxy configuration is stored in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor. @@ -1147,7 +1591,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph -Controlling <application>Privoxy</application> with Your Web Browser +Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser Privoxy's user interface can be reached through the special URL http://config.privoxy.org/ @@ -1178,7 +1622,11 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph         ▪  Toggle Privoxy on or off - + +         ▪  Documentation + + @@ -1257,7 +1705,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph default.action (which you will most probably want to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in user.action, where you can preserve them across - upgrades. standard.action is for + upgrades. standard.action is only for Privoxy's internal use. @@ -1272,17 +1720,32 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph - default.filter (the filter + Filter files (the filter file) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here; - whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files. + whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files. + default.filter includes various filters made + available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than + others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional + filter files in config as you can with + actions files. We suggest user.filter for any + locally defined filters or customizations. + + The syntax of all configuration files has remained the same throughout the + 3.x series. There have been enhancements, but no changes that would preclude + the use of any configuration file from one version to the next. (There is + one exception: +fast-redirects which + has enhanced syntax and will require updating any local configs from earlier + versions.) + + All files use the # character to denote a comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation @@ -1290,11 +1753,11 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph in a line. If the # is preceded by a backslash, it looses its special function. Placing a # in front of an otherwise valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting - out" that line. + out" that line. Blank lines are ignored. - The actions files and default.filter + The actions files and filter files can use Perl style regular expressions for maximum flexibility. @@ -1341,12 +1804,20 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph Actions Files - The actions files are used to define what actions - Privoxy takes for which URLs, and thus determine + The actions files are used to define what actions + Privoxy takes for which URLs, and thus determines how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and - transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). There - are three such files included with Privoxy (as of - version 2.9.15), with differing purposes: + transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). + There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality. + Each action does something a little different. + These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert + our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that + their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs. + + + There + are three action files included with Privoxy with + differing purposes: @@ -1357,9 +1828,13 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph 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. + a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well as-is for most users. + This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and making available to users. + The user's preferences as set in standard.action, + e.g. either Cautious (the default), + Medium, or Advanced (see + below). @@ -1372,23 +1847,188 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph - standard.action - is used by the web based editor, + standard.action - is used only by the web based editor + at + http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default, to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section - in default.action. 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. + in default.action. + + + Edit Set to Cautious Set to Medium Set to Advanced + + + These have increasing levels of aggressiveness and have no + influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the + editor. A default installation should be pre-set to + Cautious (versions prior to 3.0.5 were set to + Medium). New users should try this for a while before + adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive + the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites + not working as they should. + + + The Edit button allows you to turn each + action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The Cautious + button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate + ad blocking and a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently + there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The + Medium button sets the list to a medium level of + other features and a low level set of privacy features. The + Advanced button sets the list to a high level of + ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter + three buttons over-ride any changes via with the + Edit button. More fine-tuning can be done in the + lower sections of this internal page. + + + It is not recommend to edit the standard.action file + itself. + + The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in + standard.action are: + + + Default Configurations + + + + + + + + Feature + Cautious + Medium + Advanced + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Ad-blocking Aggressiveness + medium + high + high + + + + Ad-filtering by size + no + yes + yes + + + + Ad-filtering by link + no + no + yes + + + Pop-up killing + blocks only + blocks only + blocks only + + + + Privacy Features + low + medium + medium/high + + + + Cookie handling + none + session-only + kill + + + + Referer forging + no + yes + yes + + + + + GIF de-animation + no + yes + yes + + + + + Fast redirects + no + no + yes + + + + HTML taming + no + no + yes + + + + JavaScript taming + no + no + yes + + + + Web-bug killing + no + yes + yes + + + + Image tag reordering + no + no + yes + + + + +
+ + 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 default.action is typically processed before + user.action). The content of these can all be viewed and + edited from http://config.privoxy.org/show-status. - + The over-riding principle when applying actions, is that the last action that + matches a given URL, wins. The broadest, most general rules go first + (defined in default.action), + followed by any exceptions (typically also in + default.action), which are then followed lastly by any + local preferences (typically in user.action). + Generally, user.action has the last word. + An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use @@ -1421,13 +2061,14 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph 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 + certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring + refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that the more aggressive your default settings (in the top section of the actions file) are, the more exceptions for trusted sites you - will have to make later. If, for example, you want to kill popup windows per + will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you - regularly use and that require popups for actually useful content, like maybe - your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper. + regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe + your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper. @@ -1448,59 +2089,97 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single feature on a per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults like Cautious, Medium or Advanced. + Warning: the Advanced setting is more aggressive, and + will be more likely to cause problems for some sites. Experienced users only! If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the - the actions files. Look at default.action which is richly - commented. + the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at + default.action which is richly commented with many + good examples. -How Actions are Applied to URLs +How Actions are Applied to Requests Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections, like the alias sections which will be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces. - Below that, there is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line. + Below that, there is a list of URL and tag patterns, each on a separate line. To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is - compared to all patterns in each action file file. Every time it matches, the list of - applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading - of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for - the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not, - the effects are aggregated. E.g. a URL might match a regular section with - a heading line of { - +handle-as-image }, + compared to all URL patterns in each action file. + Every time it matches, the list of applicable actions for the request is + incrementally updated, using the heading of the section in which the + pattern is located. The same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on. + + + + If multiple applying sections set the same action differently, + the last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated. + E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading line of { + +handle-as-image }, then later another one with just { - +block }, resulting - in both actions to apply. + +block }, resulting + in both actions to apply. And there may well be + cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then + might look like: + + + { +handle-as-image +block } + # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page. + banners.example.com + media.example.com/.*banners + .example.com/images/ads/ + + - You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info. - More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, - Anatomy of an Action. + Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, + Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action section. Patterns + + As mentioned, Privoxy uses patterns + to determine what actions might apply to which sites and + pages your browser attempts to access. These patterns use wild + card type pattern matching to achieve a high degree of + flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match + against many similar patterns. + + + + Generally, a URL pattern has the form + <domain>/<path>, where both the + <domain> and <path> are + optional. (This is why the special / pattern matches all + URLs). Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g. + http://) should not be included in + the pattern. This is assumed already! + - Generally, a pattern has the form <domain>/<path>, - where both the <domain> and <path> - are optional. (This is why the pattern / matches all URLs). + The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of + the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique, + while the path part uses a more flexible + Regular + Expressions (PCRE) based syntax. @@ -1509,7 +2188,9 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to www.example.com, - regardless of which document on that server is requested. + regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in + this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a + simple example.com is different and would NOT match. @@ -1536,7 +2217,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph matches the document /index.html, regardless of the domain, - i.e. on any web server. + i.e. on any web server anywhere. @@ -1545,7 +2226,8 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and - there is no top-level domain called .html. + there is no top-level domain called .html. So its + a mistake. @@ -1584,8 +2266,14 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph .example. - matches any domain that CONTAINS .example. - (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains example as a domain.) + matches any domain that CONTAINS .example.. + And, by the way, also included would be any files or documents that exist + within that domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly + speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains example as + a domain.) This might be www.example.com, + news.example.de, or + www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl for instance. All these + cases are matched. @@ -1593,10 +2281,15 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph 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: + themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards: + * represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is + equivalent to the + Regular + Expression based syntax of .*), + ? represents any single character (this is equivalent to the + regular expression syntax of a simple .), and you can define + character classes in square brackets which is similar to + the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed: @@ -1639,6 +2332,10 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph + + While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax. + + @@ -1648,9 +2345,11 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph The Path Pattern - Privoxy uses Perl compatible regular expressions + Privoxy uses Perl compatible (PCRE) + Regular + Expression based syntax (through the PCRE library) for - matching the path. + matching the path portion (after the slash), and is thus more flexible. @@ -1659,7 +2358,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph 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. + url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html. @@ -1675,6 +2374,132 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph only documents whose path starts with PaTtErN in exactly this capitalization. + + + + .example.com/.* + + + Is equivalent to just .example.com, since any documents + within that domain are matched with or without the .* + regular expression. This is redundant + + + + + .example.com/.*/index.html + + + Will match any page in the domain of example.com that is + named index.html, and that is part of some path. For + example, it matches www.example.com/testing/index.html but + NOT www.example.com/index.html because the regular + expression called for at least two /'s, thus the path + requirement. It also would match + www.example.com/testing/index_html, because of the + special meta-character .. + + + + + .example.com/(.*/)?index\.html + + + This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page + named index.html regardless of path which in this case can + have one or more /'s. And this one must contain exactly + .html (but does not have to end with that!). + + + + + .example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk) + + + This regular expression will match any path of example.com + that contains any of the words ads, banner, + banners (because of the ?) or junk. + The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them. + + + + + .example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$ + + + This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either + .jpg, .jpeg, .gif or .png. So this + one is limited to common image formats. + + + + + + + There are many, many good examples to be found in default.action, + and more tutorials below in Appendix on regular expressions. + + + + + + + + +The Tag Pattern + + + Tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the + request's tags. Tags can be created with either the + client-header-tagger + or the server-header-tagger action. + + + + Tag patterns have to start with TAG:, so &my-app; + can tell them apart from URL patterns. Everything after the colon + including white space, is interpreted as a regular expression with + path patterns syntax, except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored + automatically (Privoxy doesn't silently add a ^, + you have to do it yourself if you need it). + + + + To match all requests that are tagged with foo + your pattern line should be TAG:^foo$, + TAG:foo would work as well, but it would also + match requests whose tags contain foo somewhere. + + + + Sections can contain URL and tag patterns at the same time, + but tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus + always overrule them, even if they are located before the URL patterns. + + + + Once a new tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's matched by one + of the tag patterns and updates the action settings accordingly. As a result + tags can be used to activate other tagger actions, as long as these other + taggers look for headers that haven't already be parsed. + + + + For example you could tag client requests which use the POST method, + use this tag to activate another tagger that adds a tag if cookies + are send, and then block based on the cookie tag. However if you'd + reverse the position of the described taggers, and activated the method + tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method tags would be created. + The method tagger would look for the request line, but at the time + the cookie tag is created the request line has already been parsed. + + + + While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of + indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't + make too much sense. + + @@ -1708,7 +2533,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph - There are three classes of actions: + Actions fall into three categories: @@ -1785,12 +2610,14 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph 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! + in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such + as user.action). For multi-valued actions, the actions + are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are processed in + the order they are defined in config (the default + installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any given + URL to match more than one pattern (because of wildcards and + regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last + match wins. @@ -1879,7 +2706,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph Typical use: - Block ads or other obnoxious content + Block ads or other unwanted content @@ -1887,10 +2714,16 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph 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. + Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the + requests are trapped by &my-app; and the requested URL is never retrieved, + but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by + the handle-as-image, + set-image-blocker, and + handle-as-empty-document actions. + @@ -1935,7 +2768,8 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph It is important to understand this process, in order to understand how Privoxy deals with - ads and other unwanted content. + ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one + upon which various other features depend. The filter @@ -1951,12 +2785,18 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph 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 + {+block} +# Block and replace with "blocked" page + .nasty-stuff.example.com + +{+block +handle-as-image} +# Block and replace with image + .ad.doubleclick.net + .ads.r.us/banners/ + +{+block +handle-as-empty-document} +# Block and then ignore + adserver.exampleclick.net/.*\.js$ @@ -1965,16 +2805,17 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph + - -crunch-incoming-cookies + +client-header-filter Typical use: - Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system + Rewrite or remove single client headers. @@ -1983,16 +2824,17 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph Effect: - Deletes any Set-Cookie: HTTP headers from server replies. + All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through + the specified regular expression based substitutions. Type: - + - Boolean. + Parameterized. @@ -2000,7 +2842,8 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph Parameter: - N/A + The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the + filter files. @@ -2009,41 +2852,49 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph Notes: - This action is only concerned with incoming cookies. For - outgoing cookies, use - crunch-outgoing-cookies. - Use both to disable cookies completely. + Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to + all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside + you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z. + You can do that by using tags though. - 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. + Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished + and use their output as input. - + + Please refer to the filter file chapter + to learn which client-header filters are available by default, and how to + create your own. + + - Example usage: + Example usage (section): - - +crunch-incoming-cookies - + + +{+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}} +.exit/ + + + - -crunch-outgoing-cookies + +client-header-tagger Typical use: - Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system + Block requests based on their headers. @@ -2052,16 +2903,18 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph Effect: - Deletes any Cookie: HTTP headers from client requests. + Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through + the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as + tag. Type: - + - Boolean. + Parameterized. @@ -2069,7 +2922,8 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph Parameter: - N/A + The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the + filter files. @@ -2078,25 +2932,27 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph Notes: - This action is only concerned with outgoing cookies. For - incoming cookies, use - crunch-incoming-cookies. - Use both to disable cookies completely. + Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own, + and as the header isn't modified, each tagger sees + the original. - 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. + Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed + and their tags can be used to control every other action. - + - Example usage: + Example usage (section): - - +crunch-outgoing-cookies - + + +# Tag every request with the User-Agent header +{+client-header-filter{user-agent}} +/ + + @@ -2105,14 +2961,17 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph - -deanimate-gifs + + +content-type-overwrite Typical use: - Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images. + Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode @@ -2120,14 +2979,14 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph Effect: - De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image. + Replaces the Content-Type: HTTP server header. Type: - + Parameterized. @@ -2137,8 +2996,8 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph Parameter: - last or first - + Any string. + @@ -2146,41 +3005,85 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph 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). + The Content-Type: HTTP server header is used by the + browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this + header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of + displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is + supported by the browser. - 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. + The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode + the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as text/html, + many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document. + If it is send as application/xml, browsers with + XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct. + + + If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets + Content-Type: text/html, you can use &my-app; + to overwrite it with application/xml and validate + the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser. + If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly. + + + You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints + error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared + as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with + text/html and have it rendered as broken HTML document. + + + By default content-type-overwrite only replaces + Content-Type: headers that look like some kind of text. + If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with + force-text-mode. + This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it. + + + Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom + server-header filter. + It allows you to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still + only replace the content types you aimed at. + + + Of course you can apply content-type-overwrite + to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot + more work to get the same precision. - Example usage: + Example usage (sections): - +deanimate-gifs{last} - + # Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML +{ +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} } +www.example.net/ + +# but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet +{-content-type-overwrite} +www.example.net/.*\.css$ +www.example.net/.*style + + + - -downgrade-http-version + + +crunch-client-header Typical use: - Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1 + Remove a client header Privoxy has no dedicated action for. @@ -2188,16 +3091,16 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph Effect: - Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0. + Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter. Type: - + - Boolean. + Parameterized. @@ -2205,21 +3108,36 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph Parameter: - N/A - + Any string. + - + 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. + This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated + Privoxy action exists. + Privoxy will remove every client header that + contains the string you supplied as parameter. + + + Regular expressions are not supported and you can't + use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless + they contain the same string. + + + crunch-client-header is only meant for quick tests. + If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify + parts of them, you should use a + client-header filter. + + + Don't block any header without understanding the consequences. + + @@ -2227,24 +3145,28 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph Example usage (section): - {+downgrade-http-version} -problem-host.example.com - + # Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header +{ +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} } +/ + + - - - -fast-redirects + + +crunch-if-none-match + Typical use: - Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links + Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions. @@ -2252,14 +3174,14 @@ problem-host.example.com Effect: - Cut off all but the last valid URL from requests. + Deletes the If-None-Match: HTTP client header. Type: - + Boolean. @@ -2270,60 +3192,64 @@ problem-host.example.com N/A - + - + 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. + Removing the If-None-Match: HTTP client header + is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real + reload instead of getting status code 304 which + would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page. - 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. + It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie + replacement. + + + Blocking the If-None-Match: header shouldn't cause any + caching problems, as long as the If-Modified-Since: header + isn't blocked as well. + + + It is recommended to use this action together with + hide-if-modified-since + and + overwrite-last-modified. - Example usage: + Example usage (section): - {+fast-redirects} - + # Let the browser revalidate cached documents without being tracked across sessions +{ +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \ + +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \ + +crunch-if-none-match} +/ + - - -filter + +crunch-incoming-cookies Typical use: - Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size), do fun text replacements, etc. + + Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system + @@ -2331,17 +3257,16 @@ problem-host.example.com Effect: - Text documents, including HTML and JavaScript, to which this action applies, are filtered on-the-fly - through the specified regular expression based substitutions. + Deletes any Set-Cookie: HTTP headers from server replies. Type: - + - Parameterized. + Boolean. @@ -2349,10 +3274,7 @@ problem-host.example.com Parameter: - The name of a filter, as defined in the filter file - (typically default.filter, set by the - filterfile - option in the config file) + N/A @@ -2361,90 +3283,25 @@ problem-host.example.com 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. + This action is only concerned with incoming cookies. For + outgoing cookies, use + crunch-outgoing-cookies. + Use both to disable cookies completely. - Feedback with suggestions for new or improved filters is particularly - welcome! + It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction + with the session-cookies-only action, + since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also + filter-content-cookies. - Example usage (with filters from the distribution default.filter file): + Example usage: - - +filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse. - - - - +filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse - - - - +filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size (very efficient!) - - - - +filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come sneaking in the HTML or JS content - - - - +filter{popups} # Kill all popups in JS and HTML - - - - +filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking) - - - - +filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun! - - - - +filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them 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" + +crunch-incoming-cookies @@ -2453,14 +3310,16 @@ problem-host.example.com - -handle-as-image - + +crunch-server-header + Typical use: - Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images if they get blocked) + Remove a server header Privoxy has no dedicated action for. @@ -2468,12 +3327,7 @@ problem-host.example.com Effect: - This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images. - If the block action also applies, - the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML blocked - page, or a replacement image (as determined by the set-image-blocker action) will be sent to the - client as a substitute for the blocked content. + Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter. @@ -2482,7 +3336,7 @@ problem-host.example.com Type: - Boolean. + Parameterized. @@ -2490,8 +3344,8 @@ problem-host.example.com Parameter: - N/A - + Any string. + @@ -2499,42 +3353,36 @@ problem-host.example.com Notes: - The below generic example section is actually part of default.action. - It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should - be left intact. + This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated + Privoxy action exists. Privoxy + will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter. - 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. + Regular expressions are not supported and you can't + use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless + they contain the same string. - Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad - frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly. - Forcing handle-as-image in this situation will not replace the - ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages. + crunch-server-header is only meant for quick tests. + If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify + parts of them, you should use a custom + server-header filter. + + + Don't block any header without understanding the consequences. + + - Example usage (sections): + Example usage (section): - - # 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 - + + # Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching +{ +crunch-server-header{no-cache} } +/ @@ -2543,14 +3391,16 @@ ad.doubleclick.net - -hide-forwarded-for-headers + +crunch-outgoing-cookies Typical use: - Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request + + Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system + @@ -2558,8 +3408,7 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Effect: - Deletes any existing X-Forwarded-for: HTTP header from client requests, - and prevents adding a new one. + Deletes any Cookie: HTTP headers from client requests. @@ -2585,13 +3434,15 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Notes: - It is fairly safe to leave this on. + This action is only concerned with outgoing cookies. For + incoming cookies, use + crunch-incoming-cookies. + Use both to disable cookies completely. - 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. + 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. @@ -2599,24 +3450,25 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Example usage: - - +hide-forwarded-for-headers + + +crunch-outgoing-cookies + - -hide-from-header + +deanimate-gifs Typical use: - Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address + Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images. @@ -2624,15 +3476,14 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Effect: - Deletes any existing From: HTTP header, or replaces it with the - specified string. + De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image. Type: - + Parameterized. @@ -2642,7 +3493,7 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Parameter: - Keyword: block, or any user defined value. + last or first @@ -2651,18 +3502,17 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Notes: - The keyword block will completely remove the header - (not to be confused with the block - action). - - - Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web - server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that - is actually used by a real person. + 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). - This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send - From: headers anymore. + 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. @@ -2670,25 +3520,23 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Example usage: - - +hide-from-header{block} or - +hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com} - + + +deanimate-gifs{last} + - - -hide-referrer - + +downgrade-http-version + Typical use: - Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site + Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1 @@ -2696,78 +3544,63 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Effect: - Deletes the Referer: (sic) HTTP header from the client request, - or replaces it with a forged one. + Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0. Type: - + - Parameterized. + Boolean. 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. - - + + N/A + - + 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). + 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. - - hide-referer is an alternate spelling of - hide-referrer and the two can be can be freely - substituted with each other. (referrer is the - correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it - requires it to be spelled as referer.) - - Example usage: + Example usage (section): - - +hide-referrer{forge} or - +hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/} - + + {+downgrade-http-version} +problem-host.example.com + + - - -hide-user-agent + +fast-redirects Typical use: - Conceal your type of browser and client operating system + Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links. @@ -2775,15 +3608,15 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Effect: - Replaces the value of the User-Agent: HTTP header - in client requests with the specified value. + Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting + the redirection server first. Type: - + Parameterized. @@ -2792,64 +3625,1544 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Parameter: - - Any user-defined string. - - - - + + + + simple-check to just search for the string http:// + to detect redirection URLs. + + + + + check-decoded-url to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching + for redirection URLs. + + + + + + + + Notes: + + + Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they + will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a + parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs + resulting from this scheme typically look like: + http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/. + + + Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the + URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable, + since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go + to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your + browser asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds + the advertisers. + + + This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement. + If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to + this action. It can lead to failures in several ways: + + + Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil. + Some sites offer a real service that requires this information to work. + For example a validation service needs to know, which document to validate. + fast-redirects assumes that every URL parameter that + looks like another URL is a redirection target, and will always redirect to + the last one. Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't, + the user gets redirected anyway. + + + Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter. + The URL: + http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar. + contains the redirection URL http://www.example.net/, + followed by another parameter. fast-redirects doesn't know that + and will cause a redirect to http://www.example.net/&foo=bar. + Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored + or lead to a page not found error. You can prevent this problem by + first using the redirect action + to remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort. + + + To detect a redirection URL, fast-redirects only + looks for the string http://, either in plain text + (invalid but often used) or encoded as http%3a//. + Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the address + of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses cases + fast-redirects is fooled and the request reaches the + redirection server where it probably gets logged. + + + + + + Example usage: + + + + { +fast-redirects{simple-check} } + .example.com + + { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} } + another.example.com/testing + + + + + + + + + + +filter + + + + Typical use: + + Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size), + do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc. + + + + + Effect: + + + All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which + this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular + expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents + are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the + text/plain MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.) + + + + + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + + + + Parameter: + + + The name of a content filter, as defined in the filter file. + Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the + filterfile + option in the config file. + default.filter is the collection of filters + supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go + in their own file, such as user.filter. + + + When used in its negative form, + and without parameters, all filtering is completely disabled. + + + + + + Notes: + + + For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available + in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for + a list. + + + Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to + slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has + passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way + since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more + noticeable on slower connections. + + + Rolling your own + filters requires a knowledge of + Regular + Expressions and + HTML. + This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive. + Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent + action is not available. + + + The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the + buffer-limit + option in the main config file. The + default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered + data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered. + + + Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all. + (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data + (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate + the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might + be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering + by defining appropriate -filter exceptions. + + + Compressed content can't be filtered either, unless &my-app; + is compiled with zlib support (requires at least &my-app; 3.0.7), + in which case &my-app; will decompress the content before filtering + it. + + + If you use a &my-app; version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on + as much documents as possible, even those that would normally be sent compressed, + you must use the prevent-compression + action in conjunction with filter. + + + Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the + block + action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism + works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners + based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat + standardized. + + + Feedback with suggestions for new or + improved filters is particularly welcome! + + + The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each + predefined filter. There are more + verbose explanations of what these filters do in the filter file chapter. + + + + + + Example usage (with filters from the distribution default.filter file). + See the Predefined Filters section for + more explanation on each: + + + + +filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse + + + + +filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites) + + + + +filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse + + + + +filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content + + + + +filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups) + + + + +filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability. + + + + +filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability. + + + + +filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective + + + + +filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size + + + + +filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers + + + + +filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking) + + + + +filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap + + + + +filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves + + + + +filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable + + + + +filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets + + + + +filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects + + + + +filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies savable + + + + +filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun! + + + + +filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering (demo only) + + + + +filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits + + + + +filter{site-specifics} # Custom filters for specific site related problems + + + + +filter{google} # Removes text ads and other Google specific improvements + + + + +filter{yahoo} # Removes text ads and other Yahoo specific improvements + + + + +filter{msn} # Removes text ads and other MSN specific improvements + + + + +filter{blogspot} # Cleans up Blogspot blogs + + + + +filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes from anchor and area tags + + + + + + + + + +force-text-mode + + + + Typical use: + + Force Privoxy to treat a document as if it was in some kind of text format. + + + + + Effect: + + + Declares a document as text, even if the Content-Type: isn't detected as such. + + + + + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + + + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + + + + Notes: + + + As explained above, + Privoxy tries to only filter files that are + in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to + content-type-overwrite. + force-text-mode declares a document as text, + without looking at the Content-Type: first. + + + + Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data + with regular expressions can cause file damage. + + + + + + + Example usage: + + + ++force-text-mode + + + + + + + + + + +forward-override + + + + Typical use: + + Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin + + + + + Effect: + + + Overrules the forward directives in the configuration files. + + + + + + Type: + + + Multi-value. + + + + + Parameter: + + + + forward . to use a direct connection without any additional proxies. + + + + forward 127.0.0.1:8123 to use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123. + + + + + forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 . to use the socks4a proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050. + Replace forward-socks4a with forward-socks4 to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS + resolution) instead. + + + + + forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 proxy.example.org:8000 to use the socks4a proxy + listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy listening at proxy.example.org port 8000. + Replace forward-socks4a with forward-socks4 to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS + resolution) instead. + + + + + + + + Notes: + + + This action takes parameters similar to the + forward directives in the configuration + file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used as replacement, but normally it's only + used in cases where matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient. + + + + Please read the description for the forward directives before + using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will reduce your privacy and increase the + chances of man-in-the-middle attacks. + + + If the ports are missing or invalid, default values will be used. This might change + in the future and you shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect syntax causes Privoxy + to exit. + + + Use the show-url-info CGI page + to verify that your forward settings do what you thought the do. + + + + + + + Example usage: + + + +# Always use direct connections for requests previously tagged as +# User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0 and make sure +# resuming downloads continues to work. +# This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing, +# without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates +# or downloads of bigger files like ISOs. +{+forward-override{forward .} \ + -hide-if-modified-since \ + -overwrite-last-modified \ +} +TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0$ + + + + + + + + + + +handle-as-empty-document + + + + Typical use: + + Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents if they get blocked + + + + + Effect: + + + This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs. + If the block action also applies, + the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML BLOCKED + page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content. + The empty document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space. + + + + + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + + + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + + + + Notes: + + + Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents + are blocked with Privoxy's + default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them. + And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the &my-app; + BLOCKED message in frames. + + + The content type for the empty document can be specified with + content-type-overwrite{}, + but usually this isn't necessary. + + + + + + Example usage: + + + # Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js", +# but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message. +{+block +handle-as-empty-document} +example.org/.*\.js$ + + + + + + + + + + +handle-as-image + + + + Typical use: + + Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images if they do get blocked, rather than HTML pages) + + + + + Effect: + + + This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images. + If the block action also applies, + the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML blocked + page, or a replacement image (as determined by the set-image-blocker action) will be sent to the + client as a substitute for the blocked content. + + + + + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + + + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + + + + Notes: + + + The below generic example section is actually part of default.action. + It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should + be left intact. + + + Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with + block, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't + reflect the file type, like in the second example section. + + + Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad + frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly. + Forcing handle-as-image in this situation will not replace the + ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages. + + + + + + Example usage (sections): + + + # Generic image extensions: +# +{+handle-as-image} +/.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$ + +# These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be +# blocked as images: +# +{+block +handle-as-image} +some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash + +# Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content? +ad.doubleclick.net + + + + + + + + + + +hide-accept-language + + + + Typical use: + + Pretend to use different language settings. + + + + + Effect: + + + Deletes or replaces the Accept-Language: HTTP header in client requests. + + + + + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + + + + Parameter: + + + Keyword: block, or any user defined value. + + + + + + Notes: + + + Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a + foreign User-Agent set with + hide-user-agent + more believable. + + + However some sites with content in different languages check the + Accept-Language: to decide which one to take by default. + Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without + changing the Accept-Language: header first. + + + Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the + Accept-Language: header to languages you understand, + or to languages that aren't wide spread. + + + Before setting the Accept-Language: header + to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to + make your requests unique and thus easier to trace. + If you don't plan to change this header frequently, + you should stick to a common language. + + + + + + Example usage (section): + + + # Pretend to use Canadian language settings. +{+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \ ++hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \ +} +/ + + + + + + + + + +hide-content-disposition + + + + Typical use: + + Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser. + + + + + Effect: + + + Deletes or replaces the Content-Disposition: HTTP header set by some servers. + + + + + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + + + + Parameter: + + + Keyword: block, or any user defined value. + + + + + + Notes: + + + Some servers set the Content-Disposition: HTTP header for + documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them. + The Content-Disposition: header contains the file name + the browser is supposed to use by default. + + + In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to + just view the document, without downloading it first, + even if it's just a simple text file or an image. + + + Removing the Content-Disposition: header helps + to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the + Content-Type: header, before they decide if they can + display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have + to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying + download menus. + + + It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion + to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set + it up. + + + + + + Example usage: + + + # Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker +{ -filter \ + +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\ + +hide-content-disposition{block} } + .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php + + + + + + + + + +hide-if-modified-since + + + + Typical use: + + Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions. + + + + + Effect: + + + Deletes the If-Modified-Since: HTTP client header or modifies its value. + + + + + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + + + + Parameter: + + + Keyword: block, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours. + + + + + + Notes: + + + Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real + reload instead of getting status code 304, which would cause the + browser to use a cached copy of the page. + + + Instead of removing the header, hide-if-modified-since can + also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value. + You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and + Privoxy does the rest. A negative value means + subtracting, a positive value adding. + + + Randomizing the value of the If-Modified-Since: makes + sure it isn't used as a cookie replacement, but you will run into + caching problems if the random range is too high. + + + It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let + overwrite-last-modified + handle the greater changes. + + + It is also recommended to use this action together with + crunch-if-none-match. + + + + + + Example usage (section): + + + # Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions +{ +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \ + +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \ + +crunch-if-none-match} +/ + + + + + + + + + +hide-forwarded-for-headers + + + + Typical use: + + Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request + + + + + Effect: + + + Deletes any existing X-Forwarded-for: HTTP header from client requests, + and prevents adding a new one. + + + + + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + + + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + + + + Notes: + + + It is fairly safe to leave this on. + + + This action is scheduled for improvement: It should be able to generate forged + X-Forwarded-for: headers using random IP addresses from a specified network, + to make successive requests from the same client look like requests from a pool of different + users sharing the same proxy. + + + + + + Example usage: + + + +hide-forwarded-for-headers + + + + + + + + + +hide-from-header + + + + Typical use: + + Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address + + + + + Effect: + + + Deletes any existing From: HTTP header, or replaces it with the + specified string. + + + + + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + + + + Parameter: + + + Keyword: block, or any user defined value. + + + + + + Notes: + + + The keyword block will completely remove the header + (not to be confused with the block + action). + + + Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web + server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that + is actually used by a real person. + + + This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send + From: headers anymore. + + + + + + Example usage: + + + +hide-from-header{block} or + +hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com} + + + + + + + + + +hide-referrer + + + + Typical use: + + Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site + + + + + Effect: + + + Deletes the Referer: (sic) HTTP header from the client request, + or replaces it with a forged one. + + + + + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + + + + Parameter: + + + + conditional-block to delete the header completely if the host has changed. + + + block to delete the header unconditionally. + + + forge to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to. + + + Any other string to set a user defined referrer. + + + + + + + Notes: + + + conditional-block is the only parameter, + that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the + referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or + typed in the address directly. + + + Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host + allows the server owner to see the visitor's click path, + but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing + other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't + a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between + different requests. + + + Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to + failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any + requests, in an attempt to prevent their valuable content from being + embedded or linked to elsewhere. + + + Both conditional-block and forge + will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page + are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case. + + + hide-referer is an alternate spelling of + hide-referrer and the two can be can be freely + substituted with each other. (referrer is the + correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it + requires it to be spelled as referer.) + + + + + + Example usage: + + + +hide-referrer{forge} or + +hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/} + + + + + + + + + +hide-user-agent + + + + Typical use: + + Conceal your type of browser and client operating system + + + + + Effect: + + + Replaces the value of the User-Agent: HTTP header + in client requests with the specified value. + + + + + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + + + + Parameter: + + + Any user-defined string. + + + + Notes: - This breaks many web sites that depend on looking at this header in order - to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the - way, is NOT a smart way to do + This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at this header in + order to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the + way, is NOT the right thing to do: good web sites + work browser-independently). + - 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 :-). + Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of + browsers will access the same Privoxy is + not recommended. In single-user, single-browser + setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from + the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your + OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access + sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good + reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not + let Mozilla enter, yet forging to a + Netscape 6.1 user-agent works just fine. + (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-). + + + This action is scheduled for improvement. + + + + + + Example usage: + + + +hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)} + + + + + + + + + +inspect-jpegs + + + + Typical use: + + To protect against the MS buffer over-run in JPEG processing + + + + + Effect: + + + Protect against a known exploit + + + + + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + + + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + + + + Notes: + + + See Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-028. JPEG images are one of the most + common image types found across the Internet. The exploit as described can + allow execution of code on the target system, giving an attacker access + to the system in question by merely planting an altered JPEG image, which + would have no obvious indications of what lurks inside. This action + prevents unwanted intrusion. + + + + + + + Example usage: + + +inspect-jpegs + + + + + + + + + + +kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"> + + + + Typical use: + + Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows (deprecated) + + + + + Effect: + + + While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens + pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly. + + + + + + Type: + + + Boolean. + + + + + Parameter: + + + N/A + + + + + + Notes: + + + This action is basically a built-in, hardwired special-purpose filter + action, but there are important differences: For kill-popups, + the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while + downloading. But kill-popups doesn't catch as many pop-ups as + filter{all-popups} + does and is not as smart as filter{unsolicited-popups} + is. + + + Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you + can use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make + sense to combine it with any filter action, + since as soon as one filter applies, + the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the advantage of + the kill-popups action over its filter equivalent. + + + Killing all pop-ups unconditionally is problematic. Many shops and banks rely on + pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and the filter{unsolicited-popups} + does a better job of catching only the unwanted ones. + + + If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those + really nasty windows that appear when you close an other + one), you might want to use + filter{js-annoyances} + instead. + + + This action is most appropriate for browsers that don't have any controls + for unwanted pop-ups. Not recommended for general usage. + + + Example usage: + + +kill-popups + + + + + + + + +limit-connect + + + + Typical use: + + Prevent abuse of Privoxy as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites + + + + + Effect: - +hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)} + Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable. + + + + + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + + + + Parameter: + + + A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum + defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K). + + + + + + Notes: + + + By default, i.e. if no limit-connect action applies, + Privoxy only allows HTTP CONNECT + requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use + limit-connect if more fine-grained control is desired + for some or all destinations. + + + The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites + (https:// URLs) through proxies. It works very simply: + the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then + short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server. + This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be + abused as TCP relays very easily. + + + Privoxy relays HTTPS traffic without seeing + the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent &my-app;'s + filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely. + If you plan to disable SSL by default, consider enabling + treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks + as well, to be able to quickly create exceptions. + + + + + + Example usages: + + + + + + +limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified. ++limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK. ++limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK. ++limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK ++limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed - - -kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"> + +prevent-compression Typical use: - Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows + + Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be + passed through filters. + @@ -2857,8 +5170,7 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Effect: - While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens - pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly. + Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer. @@ -2884,62 +5196,269 @@ ad.doubleclick.net 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. + More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which + is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the filter, deanimate-gifs + and kill-popups actions need + access to the uncompressed data. - 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. + When compiled with zlib support (available since &my-app; 3.0.7), content that should be + filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't have to worry about this action. + If you are using an older &my-app; version, or one that hasn't been compiled with zlib + support, this action can be used to convince the server to send the content uncompressed. - 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. + Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is seldom decreased by less than 50%, + for markup-heavy instances like news feeds saving more than 90% of the original size isn't + unusual. + + + Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should only + enable this action if you really need it. As of &my-app; 3.0.7 it's disabled in all + predefined action settings. + + + Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed + documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an empty document body, + some IIS versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable + prevent-compression per default, you might want to add + exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that. + + - + +overwrite-last-modified + + + + Typical use: + + Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions. + + + + + Effect: + + + Deletes the Last-Modified: HTTP server header or modifies its value. + + + + + + Type: + + + Parameterized. + + + + + Parameter: + + + One of the keywords: block, reset-to-request-time + and randomize + + + + + + Notes: + + + Removing the Last-Modified: header is useful for filter + testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status + code 304, which would cause the browser to reuse the old + version of the page. + + + The randomize option overwrites the value of the + Last-Modified: header with a randomly chosen time + between the original value and the current time. In theory the server + could send each document with a different Last-Modified: + header to track visits without using cookies. Randomize + makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents. + + + reset-to-request-time overwrites the value of the + Last-Modified: header with the current time. You could use + this option together with + hided-if-modified-since + to further customize your random range. + + + The preferred parameter here is randomize. It is safe + to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct. + If the server sets the Last-Modified: header to the time + of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same. + Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with + hided-if-modified-since, + just to be sure. + + + It is also recommended to use this action together with + crunch-if-none-match. - --> Example usage: - +kill-popups + + # Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions +{ +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \ + +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \ + +crunch-if-none-match} +/ + + + + + + + + + +redirect + + + + Typical use: + + + Redirect requests to other sites. + + + + + + Effect: + + + Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved + to another location and the browser should get it from there. + + + + + + Type: + + + Parameterized + + + + + Parameter: + + + An absolute URL or a single pcrs command. + + + + + + Notes: + + + Requests to which this action applies are answered with a + HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is + either provided as parameter, or derived by applying a + single pcrs command to the original URL. + + + This action will be ignored if you use it together with + block. + It can be combined with + fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} + to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL. + + + Use this action carefully, make sure not to create redirection loops + and be aware that using your own redirects might make it + possible to fingerprint your requests. + + + + + + Example usages: + + + # Replace example.com's style sheet with another one +{ +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} } + example.com/stylesheet\.css + +# Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site +# (relies on the browser accept and forward invalid URLs to &my-app;) +{ +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} } + a + +# Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles +# (Note the $ at the end of the URL pattern to make sure +# the request for the rewritten URL isn't redirected as well) +{+redirect{s@$@&mode=expanded@}} +undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$ + + - -limit-connect + +send-vanilla-wafer Typical use: - Prevent abuse of Privoxy as a TCP proxy relay + + Feed log analysis scripts with useless data. + @@ -2947,7 +5466,8 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Effect: - Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable. + 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. @@ -2956,7 +5476,7 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Type: - Parameterized. + Boolean. @@ -2964,8 +5484,7 @@ ad.doubleclick.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). + N/A @@ -2974,55 +5493,37 @@ ad.doubleclick.net 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 vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you. - 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. - + This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration. + - Example usages: + Example usage: - - - - - +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!) + + +send-vanilla-wafer + + - -prevent-compression + +send-wafer Typical use: - Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be - passed through filters + Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data. @@ -3031,7 +5532,7 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Effect: - Adds a header to the request that asks for uncompressed transfer. + Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request. @@ -3040,7 +5541,7 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Type: - Boolean. + Multi-value. @@ -3048,7 +5549,8 @@ ad.doubleclick.net Parameter: - N/A + A string of the form name=value. @@ -3057,60 +5559,37 @@ ad.doubleclick.net 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. + Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request, + resulting in multiple cookies being sent. - 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 action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration. - - Example usage (sections): + Example usage (section): - # Set default: -# -{+prevent-compression} -/ # Match all sites - -# Make exceptions for ill sites: -# -{-prevent-compression} -www.debianhelp.org -www.pclinuxonline.com + {+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}} +my-internal-testing-server.void - - -send-vanilla-wafer + +server-header-filter Typical use: - Feed log analysis scripts with useless data. + Rewrite or remove single server headers. @@ -3119,17 +5598,17 @@ www.pclinuxonline.com 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. + All server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly + through the specified regular expression based substitutions. Type: - + - Boolean. + Parameterized. @@ -3137,7 +5616,8 @@ www.pclinuxonline.com Parameter: - N/A + The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the + filter files. @@ -3146,20 +5626,34 @@ www.pclinuxonline.com Notes: - The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you. + Server-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to + all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside + you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z. + You can do that by using tags though. - This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration. + Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished + and use their output as input. + + + Please refer to the filter file chapter + to learn which server-header filters are available by default, and how to + create your own. - - Example usage: + Example usage (section): - - +send-vanilla-wafer - + + +{+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}} +example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html + +{+server-header-filter{xml-to-html}} +example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not + + @@ -3168,15 +5662,15 @@ www.pclinuxonline.com - -send-wafer + +server-header-tagger Typical use: - Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data. + Disable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header. @@ -3185,16 +5679,18 @@ www.pclinuxonline.com Effect: - Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request. + Server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through + the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as + tag. Type: - + - Multi-value. + Parameterized. @@ -3202,8 +5698,8 @@ www.pclinuxonline.com Parameter: - A string of the form name=value. + The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the + filter files. @@ -3212,23 +5708,37 @@ www.pclinuxonline.com Notes: - Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request, - resulting in multiple cookies being sent. + Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its own, + and as the header isn't modified, each tagger sees + the original. - This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration. + Server-header taggers are executed before all other header actions + that modify server headers. Their tags can be used to control + all of the other server-header actions, the content filters + and the crunch actions (redirect + and block). - + + Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header taggers + doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the server's log file. + + + Example usage (section): - - {+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}} -my-internal-testing-server.void - + + +# Tag every request with the declared content type +{+client-header-filter{content-type}} +/ + + + @@ -3242,7 +5752,8 @@ my-internal-testing-server.void Typical use: - Allow only temporary session cookies (for the current browser session only). + Allow only temporary session cookies (for the current + browser session only). @@ -3251,8 +5762,9 @@ my-internal-testing-server.void Effect: - Deletes the expires field from Set-Cookie: server headers. - Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and forget them in between sessions. + Deletes the expires field from Set-Cookie: + server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and + forget them in between sessions. @@ -3299,6 +5811,17 @@ my-internal-testing-server.void Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an expires field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure. + + This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored + previously by the browser before starting Privoxy. + These would have to be removed manually. + + + Privoxy also uses + the content-cookies filter + to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by + session-cookies-only. + @@ -3370,7 +5893,8 @@ my-internal-testing-server.void target-url to send a redirect to target-url. You can redirect - to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem (via file:/// URL). + to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via file:/// URL. + (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system). A good application of redirects is to use special Privoxy-built-in @@ -3410,7 +5934,7 @@ my-internal-testing-server.void +set-image-blocker{pattern} - Redirect to the BSD devil: + Redirect to the BSD daemon: +set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif} @@ -3427,6 +5951,81 @@ my-internal-testing-server.void + + +treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks + + + + Typical use: + + Block forbidden connects with an easy to find error message. + + + + + Effect: + + + If this action is enabled, Privoxy no longer + makes a difference between forbidden connects and ordinary blocks. + + + + + + Type: + + + Boolean + + + + + Parameter: + + N/A + + + + + Notes: + + + By default Privoxy answers + forbidden Connect requests + with a short error message inside the headers. If the browser doesn't display + headers (most don't), you just see an empty page. + + + With this action enabled, Privoxy displays + the message that is used for ordinary blocks instead. If you decide + to make an exception for the page in question, you can do so by + following the See why link. + + + For Connect requests the clients tell + Privoxy which host they are interested + in, but not which document they plan to get later. As a result, the + Go there anyway wouldn't work and is therefore suppressed. + + + + + + Example usage: + + + +treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks + + + + + + + Summary @@ -3481,7 +6080,6 @@ my-internal-testing-server.void 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. @@ -3500,16 +6098,17 @@ my-internal-testing-server.void # These aliases just save typing later: # (Note that some already use other aliases!) # - +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies - -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies - block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image - mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only + +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies + -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies + +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image + allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies} # These aliases define combinations of actions # that are useful for certain types of sites: # - fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups - shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups + fragile = -block -filter -crunch-all-cookies -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups -prevent-compression + + shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-) # @@ -3531,7 +6130,8 @@ my-internal-testing-server.void {fragile} .office.microsoft.com .windowsupdate.microsoft.com - .nytimes.com + # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com + mail.google.com # Shopping sites: # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data) @@ -3539,22 +6139,24 @@ my-internal-testing-server.void {shop} .quietpc.com .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com - .scan.co.uk + mybank.example.com # These shops require pop-ups: # - {shop -kill-popups -filter{popups}} + {-kill-popups -filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}} .dabs.com .overclockers.co.uk - Aliases like shop and fragile are often used for - problem sites that require some actions to be disabled + Aliases like shop and fragile are typically used for + problem sites that require more than one action to be disabled in order to function properly. - + Actions Files Tutorial @@ -3575,7 +6177,7 @@ Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose: - # Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org> + # Sample default.action file <ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net> @@ -3607,19 +6209,19 @@ that also explains why and how aliases are used: ########################################################################## {{alias}} -# These aliases just save typing later: -# (Note that some already use other aliases!) -# -+crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies --crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies -block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image -mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only + # These aliases just save typing later: + # (Note that some already use other aliases!) + # + +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies + -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies + +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image + mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies} -# These aliases define combinations of actions -# that are useful for certain types of sites: -# -fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups -shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups + # These aliases define combinations of actions + # that are useful for certain types of sites: + # + fragile = -block -filter -crunch-all-cookies -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups + shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups @@ -3656,35 +6258,65 @@ shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups ########################################################################## { \ -add-header \ + -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation} \ -block \ + -content-type-overwrite \ + -crunch-client-header \ + -crunch-if-none-match \ -crunch-incoming-cookies \ + -crunch-server-header \ -crunch-outgoing-cookies \ +deanimate-gifs \ -downgrade-http-version \ - +fast-redirects \ + -fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} \ + -filter{js-annoyances} \ + -filter{js-events} \ +filter{html-annoyances} \ - +filter{js-annoyances} \ -filter{content-cookies} \ - +filter{popups} \ + +filter{refresh-tags} \ + -filter{unsolicited-popups} \ + -filter{all-popups} \ + -filter{img-reorder} \ + -filter{banners-by-size} \ + -filter{banners-by-link} \ +filter{webbugs} \ - -filter{refresh-tags} \ - -filter{fun} \ - +filter{nimda} \ - +filter{banners-by-size} \ + -filter{tiny-textforms} \ + -filter{jumping-windows} \ + -filter{frameset-borders} \ + -filter{demoronizer} \ -filter{shockwave-flash} \ + -filter{quicktime-kioskmode} \ + -filter{fun} \ -filter{crude-parental} \ + +filter{ie-exploits} \ + -filter{google} \ + -filter{yahoo} \ + -filter{msn} \ + -filter{blogspot} \ + -filter{no-ping} \ + -force-text-mode \ + -handle-as-empty-document \ -handle-as-image \ + -hide-accept-language \ + -hide-content-disposition \ + -hide-if-modified-since \ +hide-forwarded-for-headers \ +hide-from-header{block} \ +hide-referrer{forge} \ -hide-user-agent \ + -inspect-jpegs \ -kill-popups \ -limit-connect \ +prevent-compression \ + -overwrite-last-modified \ + -redirect \ -send-vanilla-wafer \ -send-wafer \ + -server-header-filter{xml-to-html} \ + -server-header-filter{html-to-xml} \ +session-cookies-only \ +set-image-blocker{pattern} \ + -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks \ } / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns. @@ -3696,8 +6328,6 @@ shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups 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. @@ -3719,7 +6349,8 @@ shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups # { fragile } .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise! -.windowsupdate.microsoft.com +.windowsupdate.microsoft.com +mail.google.com @@ -3739,13 +6370,15 @@ shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups .scan.co.uk + + The fast-redirects action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable @@ -3810,7 +6445,7 @@ edit.*.yahoo.com 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 + +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 @@ -3824,20 +6459,19 @@ edit.*.yahoo.com # Known ad generators: # -{ block-as-image } +{ +block-as-image } ar.atwola.com .ad.doubleclick.net .ad.*.doubleclick.net .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$ .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$ bs*.gsanet.com -bs*.einets.com .qkimg.net One of the most important jobs of Privoxy - is to block banners. A huge bunch of them are already blocked + is to block banners. Many of these can be blocked by the filter{banners-by-size} action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request @@ -3847,7 +6481,7 @@ bs*.einets.com block action to them. - First comes a bunch of generic patterns, which do most of the work, by + First comes many generic patterns, which do most of the work, by matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here to keep the example short: @@ -3875,7 +6509,7 @@ count*. - You wouldn't believe how many advertisers actually call their banner + It's quite remarkable how many advertisers actually call their banner servers ads.company.com, or call the directory in which the banners are stored simply banners. So the above generic patterns are surprisingly effective. @@ -3913,6 +6547,7 @@ count*. { -block } adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*) adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads) +adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either) ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*) .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!)) .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc) @@ -3940,12 +6575,15 @@ www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv # Don't filter code! # { -filter } -/.*cvs +/(.*/)?cvs +bugzilla. +developer. +wiki. .sourceforge.net - The actual default.action is of course more + The actual default.action is of course much more comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works. @@ -3989,82 +6627,140 @@ www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv +# Aliases are local to the file they are defined in. # (Re-)define aliases for this file: # {{alias}} +# +# These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should +# be self explanatory. +# ++crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies -mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only -fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups -shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups -allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} # (see below) - + allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only + allow-popups = -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups ++block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image +-block-as-image = -block + +# These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for +# certain types of sites: +# +fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups +shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups + +# Allow ads for selected useful free sites: +# +allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link} + +# Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting +# MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents. +handle-as-text = -filter +-content-type-overwrite{text/plain} +-force-text-mode -hide-content-disposition + 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. + allow-all-cookies alias defined above does exactly + that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the + processing of cookies to make them only temporary. -{ mercy-for-cookies } -sunsolve.sun.com -slashdot.org -.yahoo.com -.msdn.microsoft.com -.redhat.com +{ allow-all-cookies } + sourceforge.net + .yahoo.com + .msdn.microsoft.com + .redhat.com + + + + Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all: + + + + +{ -filter } + .your-home-banking-site.com - Your bank needs popups and is allergic to some filter, but you don't - know which, so you disable them all: + Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons: -{ -filter -kill-popups } -.your-home-banking-site.com +# Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might +# erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters: +# +.tldp.org +/(.*/)?selfhtml/ + +# And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type, +# so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering: +# +stupid-server.example.com/ - 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: + Example of a simple block action. Say you've + seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of. + You have right-clicked the image, selected copy image location + and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a + { +block } section. Note that { +handle-as-image + } need not be specified, since all URLs ending in + .gif will be tagged as images by the general rules as set + in default.action anyway: { +block } -www.a-popular-site.com/some/unobvious/path -another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/ + www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif + another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/ + + + + The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner + farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which + makes it impossible for Privoxy to guess + the file type just by looking at the URL. + You can use the +block-as-image alias defined above for + these cases. + Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an + image are typically rendered as a broken image icon by the + browser. Use cautiously. - 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. + +{ +block-as-image } + .doubleclick.net + .fastclick.net + /Realmedia/ads/ + ar.atwola.com/ - Then you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine, + Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine, but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you were again too lazy to give feedback, so you just used the fragile alias on the site, and - -- whoa! -- it worked: + -- whoa! -- it worked. The fragile + aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also, + good for testing purposes to see if it is Privoxy + that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular sites + that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers: { fragile } -.forbes.com + .forbes.com + webmail.example.com + .mybank.com @@ -4077,7 +6773,7 @@ another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/ { +filter{fun} } -/ # For ALL sites! + / # For ALL sites! @@ -4089,7 +6785,7 @@ another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/ - Finally, you might think about how your favourite free websites are + You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those sites that you feel provide value to you: @@ -4098,17 +6794,47 @@ another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/ { allow-ads } -.sourceforge.net -.slashdot.org -.osdn.net + .sourceforge.net + .slashdot.org + .osdn.net Note that allow-ads has been aliased to - -block - -filter{banners-by-size} - above. + -block, + -filter{banners-by-size}, and + -filter{banners-by-link} above. + + + + Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type + application/x-sh which typically would open a download type + dialog. In my case, I want to look at the shell script, and then I can save + it should I choose to. + + + + +{ handle-as-text } + /.*\.sh$ + + + + user.action is generally the best place to define + exceptions and additions to the default policies of + default.action. Some actions are safe to have their + default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a + blank image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for + ALL sites. / of course matches all URL + paths and patterns: + + + + +{ +set-image-blocker{blank} } +/ # ALL sites + @@ -4118,44 +6844,74 @@ another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/ - + + + +Filter Files + + + On-the-fly text substitutions need + to be defined in a filter file. Once defined, they + can then be invoked as an action. + + + + &my-app; supports three different filter actions: + filter to + rewrite the content that is send to the client, + client-header-filter + to rewrite headers that are send by the client, and + server-header-filter + to rewrite headers that are send by the server, and + + + + &my-app; also supports two tagger actions: + client-header-tagger + and + server-header-tagger. + Taggers and filters use the same syntax in the filter files, the differnce + is that taggers don't modify the text they are filtering, but use a rewritten + version of the filtered text as tag. The tags can then be used to change the + applying actions through sections with tag-patterns. + - -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. + Multiple filter files can be defined through the filterfile config directive. The filters + as supplied by the developers will be found in + default.filter. It is recommended that any locally + defined or modified filters go in a separately defined file such as + user.filter. + - Typical reasons for doing such substitutions are to eliminate - common annoyances in HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows, + Command tasks for content filters are to eliminate common annoyances in + HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows, exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs), - or just to have fun. The possibilities are endless. + or just to have fun. - 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. + Content filtering works on any text-based document type, including + HTML, JavaScript, CSS etc. (all text/* + MIME types, except text/plain). + Substitutions are made at the source level, so if you want to roll + your own filters, you should first be familiar with HTML syntax, + and, of course, regular expressions. 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) + here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with one of the + keywords FILTER:, + CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER: or SERVER-HEADER-FILTER: + followed by the filter's name, and a short (one line) description of what it does. Below that line come the jobs, i.e. lines that define the actual text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter @@ -4172,7 +6928,9 @@ another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/ - A filter header line for a filter called foo could look + Filter definitions start with a header line that contains the filter + type, the filter name and the filter description. + A content filter header line for a filter called foo could look like this: @@ -4186,29 +6944,31 @@ another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/ 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. + PCRS documentation for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most + notably, the non-standard option letter U is supported, + which turns the default to ungreedy matching. - If you are new to regular expressions, you might want to take a look at + If you are new to + Regular + Expressions, you might want to take a look at the Appendix on regular expressions, and - see the Perl + see the Perl manual for - the + the s/// operator's syntax and Perl-style regular + url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">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 + Now, let's complete our foo content filter. We have already defined the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace foo with bar, there is only one (trivial) job needed: @@ -4337,90 +7097,571 @@ s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|U # The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah # -s/window\.status\s*=\s*['"].*?['"]/dUmMy=1/ig +s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=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. Finally, \1 is + a back-reference to the first parenthesis just like $1 above, + with the difference that in the pattern, a backslash indicates + a back-reference, whereas in the substitute, it's the dollar. + + + + 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. + + + + +# Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html +# +s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU + + + + Including the + OnUnload + event binding in the HTML DOM was a CRIME. + When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta. + This job replaces the onunload attribute in + <body> tags with the dummy word never. + Note that the i option makes the pattern matching + case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee + a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use [^>]* + instead of .* to prevent the match from exceeding the + <body> tag if it doesn't contain OnUnload, but the page's + content does. + + + + The last example is from the fun department: + + + + +FILTER: fun Fun text replacements + +# Spice the daily news: +# +s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig + + + + Note the (?!\.com) part (a so-called negative lookahead) + in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string + .com appears directly following microsoft + in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while + still replacing the word everywhere else. + + + + +# Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax) +# +s* industry[ -]leading \ +| cutting[ -]edge \ +| customer[ -]focused \ +| market[ -]driven \ +| award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \ +| high[ -]performance \ +| solutions[ -]based \ +| unmatched \ +| unparalleled \ +| unrivalled \ +*<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \ +*igx + + + + The x option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for + e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting. - - \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. - + + You get the idea? + + + + + +The Pre-defined Filters + + + + +The distribution default.filter file contains a selection of +pre-defined filters for your convenience: + + + + + js-annoyances + + + The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse. + To that end, it + + + + replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information + with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the hide-referrer action on the content level. + + + + + removes the bindings to the DOM's + unload + event which we feel has no right to exist and is responsible for most exit consoles, i.e. + nasty windows that pop up when you close another one. + + + + + removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being + full-screen, non-resizeable, without location, status or menu bar etc. + + + + + + Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that + rely heavily on JavaScript. + + + + + + js-events + + + This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event bindings, which + means that scripts can not react to user actions such as mouse movements or clicks, window + resizing etc, anymore. Use with caution! + + + We strongly discourage using this filter as a default since it breaks + many legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should you really + need to go there). + + + + + + html-annoyances + + + This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse. + + + The BLINK and MARQUEE tags + are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser windows will be created as + resizeable (as of course they should be!), and will have location, + scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise. + + + + + + content-cookies + + + Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialog, where they can be intercepted + by the + crunch-incoming-cookies + and crunch-outgoing-cookies + actions. But web sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript + to sneak cookies to the browser on the content level. + + + This filter disables most HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets + cookies. It cannot detect all clever uses of these types of code, so it + should not be relied on as an absolute fix. Use it wherever you would also + use the cookie crunch actions. + + + + + + refresh tags + + + Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so + that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful + for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature + annoying. + + + + + + unsolicited-popups + + + This filter attempts to prevent only unsolicited pop-up + windows from opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user + has explicitly chosen to open. It was added in version 3.0.1, + as an improvement over earlier such filters. + + + Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript + function to a dummy function, PrivoxyWindowOpen(), + during the loading and rendering phase of each HTML page access, and + restoring the function afterward. + + + This is recommended only for browsers that cannot perform this function + reliably themselves. And be aware that some sites require such windows + in order to function normally. Use with caution. + + + + + + all-popups + + + Attempt to prevent all pop-up windows from opening. + Note this should be used with even more discretion than the above, since + it is more likely to break some sites that require pop-ups for normal + usage. Use with caution. + + + + + + img-reorder + + + This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the + banners-by-size and banners-by-link + (see below) filters more effective and should be enabled together with them. + + + + + + banners-by-size + + + This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are. Fortunately + for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain standardized + sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad stripping purposes. + + + Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not ads, + but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes. + + + Recommended only for those who require extreme ad blocking. The default + block rules should catch 95+% of all ads without this filter enabled. + + + + + + banners-by-link + + + This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if + their URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently + not of much value and is not recommended for use by default. + + + + + + webbugs + + + Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that + are used to track users across websites, and collect information on them. + As an HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the + browser to contact a third-party site, disclosing the tracking information + through the requested URL and/or cookies for that third-party domain, without + the user ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party site. + HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email addresses. + + + This filter removes the HTML code that loads such webbugs. + + + + + + tiny-textforms + + + A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas (those + multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in them. + It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such boxes are + a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too. + + + It is not recommended to use this filter as a default. + + + + + + jumping-windows + + + Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This filter + neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might not display + or behave as intended when using this filter. Use with caution. + + + + + + frameset-borders + + + Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view their + web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution etc, + because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame sizes, + yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they be too + small to show their whole content. + + + This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to sites + which need it. + + + + + + demoronizer + + + Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions (read: + violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This can cause those + HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant platforms. + + + This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents. + It is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of + all documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly + worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if weird garbage characters + sometimes appear on some pages, or user agents that don't correct for this on + the fly. + + + + + + + shockwave-flash + + + A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips code + out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects. + + + + + + + + quicktime-kioskmode + + + Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which + prevents saving, is disabled. + + + + + + fun + + + Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite + Monopolist or play buzzword bingo. + + + - - 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. - + + crude-parental + + + A demonstration-only filter that shows how Privoxy + can be used to delete web content on a keyword basis. + + + - - -# Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html -# -s/(<body .*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU - + + ie-exploits + + + An experimental collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript + code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer. + + + Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug, and + would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection. + + + - - 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. - + + site-specifics + + + Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't apply + anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites. + + + This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be applied + to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied + default.action file does. Users shouldn't need to change + anything regarding this filter. + + + - - The last example is from the fun department: - + + google + + + A CSS based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation + and the toolbar advertisement. + + + + + + yahoo + + + Another CSS based block, this time for Yahoo text ads. And removes + a width limitation as well. + + + - - -FILTER: fun Fun text replacements + + msn + + + Another CSS based block, this time for MSN text ads. And removes + tracking URLs, as well as a width limitation. + + + -# Spice the daily news: -# -s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig - + + blogspot + + + Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this one! + + + This filter also intentionally removes some navigation stuff and sets the + page width to 100%. As a result, some rounded corners would + appear to early or not at all and as fixing this would require a browser + that understands background-size (CSS3), they are removed instead. + + + - - 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. - + + xml-to-html + + + Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from xml to html. + + + + + + html-to-xml + + + Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from html to xml. + + + - - -# 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 - + + no-ping + + + Removes the non-standard ping attribute from + anchor and area HTML tags. + + + - - 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. - + + hide-tor-exit-notation + + + Client-header filter to remove the Tor exit node notation + found in Host and Referer headers. + + + If &my-app; and Tor are chained and &my-app; + is configured to use socks4a, one can use http://www.example.org.foobar.exit/ + to access the host www.example.org through the + Tor exit node foobar. + + + As the HTTP client isn't aware of this notation, it treats the + whole string www.example.org.foobar.exit as host and uses it + for the Host and Referer headers. From the + server's point of view the resulting headers are invalid and can cause problems. + + + An invalid Referer header can trigger hot-linking + protections, an invalid Host header will make it impossible for + the server to find the right vhost (several domains hosted on the same IP address). + + + This client-header filter removes the foo.exit part in those headers + to prevent the mentioned problems. Note that it only modifies + the HTTP headers, it doesn't make it impossible for the server + to detect your Tor exit node based on the IP address + the request is coming from. + + + + + + - - You get the idea? - @@ -4431,7 +7672,7 @@ s* industry[ -]leading \ -Templates +Privoxy's Template Files All Privoxy built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the 404 - No Such Domain @@ -4473,7 +7714,7 @@ s* industry[ -]leading \ blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all our user interface (CGI) pages when Privoxy - in in an alpha or beta development stage: + is in an alpha or beta development stage: @@ -4530,7 +7771,7 @@ Requests -<application>Privoxy</application> Copyright, License and History +Privoxy Copyright, License and History ©right; @@ -4585,7 +7826,11 @@ Requests expressions in its actions files and filter file, through the PCRE and + + PCRS libraries. @@ -4665,7 +7910,7 @@ Requests - [] - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if + [ ] - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, [0-9] matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine this with + to match any digit one of more times: [0-9]+. @@ -4674,7 +7919,7 @@ Requests - () - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression, + ( ) - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression, or multiple sub-expressions. @@ -4716,7 +7961,7 @@ Requests - A now something a little more complex: + And now something a little more complex: @@ -4754,7 +7999,7 @@ Requests /.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g) - Again another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets - [] can be matched. This is using 0-9 as a + [ ] can be matched. This is using 0-9 as a shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as saying 0123456789. So any digit matches. The + means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding @@ -4790,7 +8035,7 @@ Requests More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions: - http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html + http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html @@ -4805,7 +8050,7 @@ Requests -<application>Privoxy</application>'s Internal Pages +Privoxy's Internal Pages Since Privoxy proxies each requested @@ -4973,12 +8218,13 @@ Requests url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y','ijbstatus','width=250,height=2,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy- View Status - + Privoxy - Why? @@ -4989,7 +8235,7 @@ Requests Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is - www.bookmarklets.com. They + www.bookmarklets.com. They have more information about bookmarklets. @@ -5003,8 +8249,9 @@ Requests Chain of Events - Let's take a quick look at the basic sequence of events when a web page is - requested by your browser and Privoxy is on duty: + Let's take a quick look at how some of Privoxy's + core features are triggered, and the ensuing sequence of events when a web + page is requested by your browser: @@ -5020,7 +8267,7 @@ Requests Privoxy traps any request for its own internal CGI - pages (e.g http://p.p/) and sends the CGI page back to the browser. + pages (e.g http://p.p/) and sends the CGI page back to the browser. @@ -5030,10 +8277,13 @@ Requests linkend="BLOCK">+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 + and + +handle-as-empty-document + are then checked, and if there is no match, an + HTML BLOCKED page is sent back to the browser. Otherwise, if + it does match, an image is returned for the former, and an empty text + document for the latter. The type of image would depend on the setting of + +set-image-blocker (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere). @@ -5061,15 +8311,15 @@ Requests - Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web page and related - data). + Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web + page). First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then - filtered as deterimined by the + filtered as determined by the +crunch-incoming-cookies, +session-cookies-only, and +downgrade-http-version @@ -5085,20 +8335,20 @@ Requests - If a +filter + If any +filter action or +deanimate-gifs action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from - default.filter) are processed against the buffered - content. Filters are applied in the order they are specified in the - default.filter file. Animated GIFs, if present, are - reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action + default.filter and any other filter files) are + processed against the buffered content. Filters are applied in the order + they are specified in one of the filter files. Animated GIFs, if present, + are reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by Privoxy back to your browser. - If neither +filter + If neither a +filter action or +deanimate-gifs matches, then Privoxy passes the raw data through @@ -5107,24 +8357,32 @@ Requests - As the browser receives the now (probably filtered) page content, it + As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g. - frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a new - request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a - complex web page may have many such embedded URLs. + frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a + separate request (this is easily viewable in Privoxy's + logs). And each such request is in turn processed just as above. Note that a + complex web page will have many, many such embedded URLs. If these + secondary requests are to a different server, then quite possibly a very + differing set of actions is triggered. + + NOTE: This is somewhat of a simplistic overview of what happens with each URL + request. For the sake of brevity and simplicity, we have focused on + Privoxy's core features only. + -Anatomy of an Action +Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action The way Privoxy applies @@ -5143,7 +8401,15 @@ Requests One quick test to see if Privoxy is causing a problem or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting step. See the Bookmarklets section on a quick - and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). + and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the + logs is a good idea too. + + + Another easy troubleshooting step to try is if you have done any + customization of your installation, revert back to the installed + defaults and see if that helps. There are times the developers get complaints + about one thing or another, and the problem is more related to a customized + configuration issue. @@ -5159,7 +8425,7 @@ Requests how the current configuration will handle it. This will not help with filtering effects (i.e. the +filter action) from - the default.filter file since this is handled very + one of the filter files since this is handled very differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So @@ -5172,7 +8438,8 @@ Requests Let's try an example, google.com, - and look at it one section at a time: + and look at it one section at a time in a sample configuration (your real + configuration may vary): @@ -5181,38 +8448,69 @@ Requests In file: default.action [ View ] [ Edit ] -{-add-header - -block - -crunch-outgoing-cookies - -crunch-incoming-cookies - +deanimate-gifs{last} - -downgrade-http-version - +fast-redirects - -filter{popups} - -filter{fun} - -filter{shockwave-flash} - -filter{crude-parental} - +filter{html-annoyances} - +filter{js-annoyances} - +filter{content-cookies} - +filter{webbugs} - +filter{refresh-tags} - +filter{nimda} - +filter{banners-by-size} - +hide-forwarded-for-headers - +hide-from-header{block} - +hide-referer{forge} - -hide-user-agent - -handle-as-image - -kill-popups - -limit-connect - +prevent-compression - -send-vanilla-wafer - -send-wafer - +session-cookies-only - +set-image-blocker{pattern} } + {-add-header + -block + -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation} + -content-type-overwrite + -crunch-client-header + -crunch-if-none-match + -crunch-incoming-cookies + -crunch-outgoing-cookies + -crunch-server-header + +deanimate-gifs {last} + -downgrade-http-version + +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url} + -filter {js-events} + -filter {content-cookies} + -filter {all-popups} + -filter {banners-by-link} + -filter {tiny-textforms} + -filter {frameset-borders} + -filter {demoronizer} + -filter {shockwave-flash} + -filter {quicktime-kioskmode} + -filter {fun} + -filter {crude-parental} + -filter {site-specifics} + -filter {js-annoyances} + -filter {html-annoyances} + +filter {refresh-tags} + -filter {unsolicited-popups} + +filter {img-reorder} + +filter {banners-by-size} + +filter {webbugs} + +filter {jumping-windows} + +filter {ie-exploits} + -filter {google} + -filter {yahoo} + -filter {msn} + -filter {blogspot} + -filter {no-ping} + -force-text-mode + -handle-as-empty-document + -handle-as-image + -hide-accept-language + -hide-content-disposition + +hide-forwarded-for-headers + +hide-from-header {block} + -hide-if-modified-since + +hide-referrer {forge} + -hide-user-agent + -inspect-jpegs + -kill-popups + -limit-connect + -overwrite-last-modified + +prevent-compression + -redirect + -send-vanilla-wafer + -send-wafer + -server-header-filter{xml-to-html} + -server-header-filter{html-to-xml} + +session-cookies-only + +set-image-blocker {pattern} + -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks } / - + { -session-cookies-only } .google.com @@ -5225,41 +8523,53 @@ In file: user.action [ View ] [ Edit ] - This tells us how we have defined our + This is telling 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 - -- /. - - - - 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 google.com. + Displayed is all the actions that are available to us. Remember, + the + sign denotes on. - + denotes off. So some are on here, but many + are off. Each example we try may provide a slightly different + end result, depending on our configuration directives. + + + The first listing + is for our default.action file. The large, multi-line + listing, is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default + settings. If you look at your actions file, this would be the + section just below the aliases section near the top. This + will apply to all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end + of the listing -- / . + + + + But we have defined additional actions that would be exceptions to these general + rules, and then we list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions + would apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit + matches for .google.com. The first is negating our previous + cookie setting, which was for +session-cookies-only - (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google. The - second turns off any - off any +fast-redirects action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading dot here -- .google.com. This will match any hosts and sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as - www.google.com. So, apparently, we have these two actions - defined somewhere in the lower part of our default.action - file, and google.com is referenced somewhere in these latter - sections. + www.google.com or mail.google.com. But it would not + match www.google.de! So, apparently, we have these two actions + defined as exceptions to the general rules at the top somewhere in the lower + part of our default.action file, and + google.com is referenced somewhere in these latter sections. Then, for our user.action file, we again have no hits. + So there is nothing google-specific that we might have added to our own, local + configuration. If there was, those actions would over-rule any actions from + previously processed files, such as default.action. + user.action typically has the last word. This is the + best place to put hard and fast exceptions, @@ -5274,42 +8584,74 @@ In file: user.action [ View ] [ Edit ] + -server-header-filter{xml-to-html} + -server-header-filter{html-to-xml} + -session-cookies-only + +set-image-blocker {pattern} + -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to - fast-redirects and session-cookies-only. + fast-redirects and session-cookies-only, + which are activated specifically for this site in our configuration, + and thus show in the Final Results. @@ -5319,22 +8661,23 @@ In file: user.action [ View ] [ Edit ] - { +block +handle-as-image } - .ad.doubleclick.net - - { +block +handle-as-image } + { +block } ad*. + { +block } + .ad. + { +block +handle-as-image } - .doubleclick.net + .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net - We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is - matched three different times. Each as an +block +handle-as-image, + We'll just show the interesting part here - the explicit matches. It is + matched three different times. Two +block sections, + and a +block +handle-as-image, which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as: - +imageblock. (+block-as-image. (Aliases are defined in the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more than one action.) @@ -5349,50 +8692,82 @@ In file: user.action [ View ] [ Edit ]+block and an - +handle-as-image. - The custom alias +imageblock just simplifies the process and make - it more readable. + +handle-as-image. + The custom alias +block-as-image just + simplifies the process and make it more readable. - One last example. Let's try http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/. + One last example. Let's try http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/. This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ... - Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/: + Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/: In file: default.action [ View ] [ Edit ] {-add-header - -block - -crunch-incoming-cookies - -crunch-outgoing-cookies + -block + -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation} + -content-type-overwrite + -crunch-client-header + -crunch-if-none-match + -crunch-incoming-cookies + -crunch-outgoing-cookies + -crunch-server-header +deanimate-gifs -downgrade-http-version - +fast-redirects - +filter{html-annoyances} - +filter{js-annoyances} - +filter{kill-popups} - +filter{webbugs} - +filter{nimda} - +filter{banners-by-size} - +filter{hal} - +filter{fun} + +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url} + -filter {js-events} + -filter {content-cookies} + -filter {all-popups} + -filter {banners-by-link} + -filter {tiny-textforms} + -filter {frameset-borders} + -filter {demoronizer} + -filter {shockwave-flash} + -filter {quicktime-kioskmode} + -filter {fun} + -filter {crude-parental} + -filter {site-specifics} + -filter {js-annoyances} + -filter {html-annoyances} + +filter {refresh-tags} + -filter {unsolicited-popups} + +filter {img-reorder} + +filter {banners-by-size} + +filter {webbugs} + +filter {jumping-windows} + +filter {ie-exploits} + -filter {google} + -filter {yahoo} + -filter {msn} + -filter {blogspot} + -filter {no-ping} + -force-text-mode + -handle-as-empty-document + -handle-as-image + -hide-accept-language + -hide-content-disposition +hide-forwarded-for-headers +hide-from-header{block} +hide-referer{forge} -hide-user-agent - -handle-as-image - +kill-popups + -inspect-jpegs + -kill-popups + -overwrite-last-modified +prevent-compression + -redirect -send-vanilla-wafer - -send-wafer + -send-wafer + -server-header-filter{xml-to-html} + -server-header-filter{html-to-xml} +session-cookies-only - +set-image-blocker{blank} } + +set-image-blocker{blank} + -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks } / { +block +handle-as-image } @@ -5401,11 +8776,17 @@ In file: user.action [ View ] [ Edit ] - Ooops, the /adsl/ is matching /ads! But - we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the blank page. We could - now add a new action below this that explicitly does not - block ({-block}) paths with adsl. There are - various ways to handle such exceptions. Example: + Ooops, the /adsl/ is matching /ads in our + configuration! But we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the + blank page. It is actually triggering two different actions here, and + the effects are aggregated so that the URL is blocked, and &my-app; is told + to treat the block as if it were an image. But this is, of course, all wrong. + We could now add a new action below this (or better in our own + user.action file) that explicitly + un blocks ( + {-block}) paths with + adsl in them (remember, last match in the configuration + wins). There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example: @@ -5417,8 +8798,10 @@ In file: user.action [ View ] [ Edit ] - Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when - making such changes. Or, try using Shift+Reload. + Now the page displays ;-) + Remember to flush your browser's caches when making these kinds of changes to + your configuration to insure that you get a freshly delivered page! Or, try + using Shift+Reload. @@ -5435,18 +8818,21 @@ In file: user.action [ View ] [ Edit ] - That actually was very telling and pointed us quickly to where the problem + That actually was very helpful and pointed us quickly to where the problem was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default - rules in the first section is causing the problem. This would require some - guesswork, and maybe a little trial and error to isolate the offending rule. - One likely cause would be one of the {+filter} actions. Try - adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off +filter: + rules in the first section of default.action is causing + the problem. This would require some guesswork, and maybe a little trial and + error to isolate the offending rule. One likely cause would be one of the + +filter actions. + These tend to be harder to troubleshoot. + Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off + +filter: - {shop} + { shop } .quietpc.com .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com .jungle.com @@ -5456,8 +8842,8 @@ In file: user.action [ View ] [ Edit ] - {shop} is an alias that expands to - { -filter -session-cookies-only }. + { shop } is an alias that expands to + { -filter -session-cookies-only }. Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering: @@ -5465,21 +8851,55 @@ In file: user.action [ View ] [ Edit ] - {-filter} + { -filter } + # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section .forbes.com + developer.ibm.com + localhost - This would probably be most appropriately put in user.action, - for local site exceptions. + This would turn off all filtering for these sites. This is best + put in user.action, for local site + exceptions. Note that when a simple domain pattern is used by itself (without + the subsequent path portion), all sub-pages within that domain are included + automatically in the scope of the action. + + + + Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the ++filter{banners-by-size} + rule, which assumes + that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well + most of the time since these tend to be standardized). + + + + { fragile } is an alias that disables most + actions that are the most likely to cause trouble. This can be used as a + last resort for problem sites. + + + + + { fragile } + # Handle with care: easy to break + mail.google. + mybank.example.com + - {fragile} is an alias that disables most actions. This can be - used as a last resort for problem sites. Remember to flush caches! If this - still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining actions one by - one to find which one(s) is causing the problem. + Remember to flush caches! Note that the + mail.google reference lacks the TLD portion (e.g. + .com. This will effectively match any TLD with + google in it, such as mail.google.de, + just as an example. + + + If this still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining + actions one by one to find which one(s) is causing the problem. @@ -5503,12 +8923,221 @@ In file: user.action [ View ] [ Edit ]