X-Git-Url: http://www.privoxy.org/gitweb/?p=privoxy.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fsource%2Fuser-manual.sgml;h=c41154ab7bd4d8a2afe6600c893e1023175a97b5;hp=b5e86ba5f619669c70293e3334b5317432fba6ce;hb=1e242ec7975d357c1bace952723da0804d360ab5;hpb=d7900699eb8ddd647aa6ac52c2a048ba3c130113 diff --git a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml index b5e86ba5..c41154ab 100644 --- a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml +++ b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ + @@ -8,14 +8,22 @@ - - - + + + + + + + + + + + ]> + + Copyright &my-copy; 2001, 2002 by + Privoxy Developers + + + +$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.7 2002/10/12 01:14:42 hal9 Exp $ + + - - - - By: Privoxy Developers - - - + @@ -67,21 +97,21 @@ ]]> - The user manual gives users information on how to install, configure and use - User Manual gives users information on how to + install, configure and use Privoxy. - + &p-intro; - You can find the latest version of the user manual at 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. - + @@ -91,46 +121,34 @@ - - - - - - - - Introduction This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of Privoxy, v.&p-version;soon ;-)]]>. + and is mostly complete at this point. + Development of version 3.2 is just beginning, + and will include many significant changes and enhancements over + earlier versions]]>. - + Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with CVS sources). And there may be bugs, though hopefully - not many! + not many! Please find them! ]]> - -New Features +Features In addition to Internet Junkbuster's traditional features of ad and banner blocking and cookie management, Privoxy provides new features: - &newfeatures; @@ -148,64 +166,64 @@ Privoxy is available both in convenient pre-compiled packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code. For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our - Privoxy Project Page. + Privoxy Project + Page. - If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using - possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute - version directly from the - CVS repository or simply download the nightly CVS - tarball. + 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. - - &supported; - - - + Binary Packages - - Note: If you have a previous Junkbuster or - Privoxy installation on your system, you - will either need to remove it, or that might be done by the setup - procedure. (See below for your platform). +How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system: + +Red Hat, SuSE and Conectiva RPMs + - In any case be sure to backup your old configuration - if it is valuable to you. In that case, also see the - note to upgraders. + RPMs can be installed with rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm, + and will use /etc/privoxy for the location + of configuration files. - 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. - -Red Hat and SuSE RPMs - - RPMs can be installed with rpm -Uvh <name-of-rpm.rpm>, - and will use /etc/privoxy for the location - of configuration files. + If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM: + rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm. This + will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version. - Note that if you have a Junkbuster RPM installed + 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. - future reference. Debian - FIXME. + DEBs can be installed with dpkg -i + privoxy_&p-version;-1.deb, and will use + /etc/privoxy for the location of configuration + files. @@ -214,7 +232,9 @@ Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through - the installation process. + 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. @@ -224,7 +244,7 @@ Create a new directory, cd to it, then unzip and untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where - things go. FIXME. + things go. @@ -235,7 +255,10 @@ First, make sure that no previous installations of Junkbuster and / or Privoxy are left on your - system. + system. Check that no Junkbuster + or Privoxy objects are in + your startup folder. + @@ -252,66 +275,154 @@ -Max OSX +Mac OSX - FIXME. + 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. AmigaOS - Unpack the .lha archive, then FIXME. + Copy and then unpack the lha archive to a suitable location. + All necessary files will be installed into Privoxy + directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just + remove this directory. + + + + +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. + Building from Source + + The most convenient way to obtain the Privoxy sources + is to download the source tarball from our project + page. + + + + If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using + possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute + version directly from the + CVS repository or simply download the nightly CVS + tarball. + + &buildsource; + + +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 loose your personal changes and adjustments when updating + to the latest default.action file we strongly + recommend that you use user.action for your + customization of Privoxy. See the Chapter on actions files for details. + + - -Quickstart to Using <application>Privoxy</application> + + - + Note to Upgraders - There are very significant changes from older versions of - Junkbuster to the current - Privoxy. Configuration is substantially - changed. Junkbuster 2.0.x and earlier - configuration files will not migrate. The functionality of the old - blockfile, cookiefile and - imagelist, are now combined into the - actions file (default.action - for most installations). + There are very significant changes from earlier + Junkbuster versions to the current + Privoxy. The number, names, syntax, and + purposes of configuration files have substantially changed. + Junkbuster 2.0.x configuration + files will not migrate, Junkbuster 2.9.x + and Privoxy configurations will need to be + ported. The functionalities of the old blockfile, + cookiefile and imagelist + are now combined into the actions + files. + default.action, is the main actions file. Local + exceptions should best be put into user.action. - A filter file (typically default.filter) - is new with Privoxy 2.9.x, and provides some - of the new sophistication (explained below). config is - much the same as before. + A filter file (typically + default.filter) is new as of Privoxy + 2.9.x, and provides some of the new sophistication (explained + below). config is much the same as before. If upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will have to use the new config files, and possibly adapt any personal rules from your older files. When porting personal rules over from the old blockfile - to the new actions file, please note that even the pattern syntax has - changed. - If upgrading from 2.9.x development versions, it is still recommended - to use the new configuration files. + to the new actions files, please note that even the pattern syntax has + changed. If upgrading from 2.9.x development versions, it is still + recommended to use the new configuration files. A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading: @@ -344,11 +455,12 @@ - The primary configuration file for cookie management, ad and banner + The primary configuration files for cookie management, ad and banner blocking, and many other aspects of Privoxy - configuration is default.action. It is strongly - recommended to become familiar with the new actions concept below, - before modifying this file. + 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. @@ -362,238 +474,356 @@ - - + - -Starting <application>Privoxy</application> - - Before launching Privoxy for the first time, you - will want to configure your browser(s) to use Privoxy - as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is localhost for the proxy address, - and port 8118 (earlier versions used port 8000). This is the one required - configuration that must be done! - - - - With Netscape (and - Mozilla), this can be set under Edit - -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy. - For Internet Explorer: Tools -> - Internet Properties -> Connections -> LAN Setting. Then, - check Use Proxy and fill in the appropriate info (Address: - localhost, Port: 8118). Include if HTTPS proxy support too. - - +Quickstart to Using <application>Privoxy</application> - After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a - re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. You - are now ready to start enjoying the benefits of using - Privoxy. - + + + + If upgrading, from versions before 2.9.16, please back up any configuration + files. See the Note to Upgraders Section. + + - - Privoxy is typically started by specifying the - main configuration file to be used on the command line. Example Unix startup - command: - + + + Install Privoxy. See the Installation Section below for platform specific + information. + + - - - - # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config - - - + + + Advanced users and those who want to offer Privoxy + service to more than just their local machine should check the main config file, especially the security-relevant options. These are + off by default. + + - - An init script is provided for SuSE and Red Hat. - + + + Start Privoxy, if the installation program has + not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section + Starting Privoxy. + + - - For for SuSE: rcprivoxy start - + + + Set your browser to use Privoxy as HTTP and + HTTPS (SSL) proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of + 127.0.0.1 and port 8118. + (Junkbuster and earlier versions of + Privoxy used port 8000.) See the section Starting Privoxy below + for more details on this. + + - - For Red Hat: /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start - + + + 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. + + + + + A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for + most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the + configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little + to no initial configuration is required in most cases. + + + See the Configuration section for more + configuration options, and how to customize your installation. + next section for a quick + introduction to how Privoxy blocks ads and + banners.]]> + + - - If no configuration file is specified on the command line, - Privoxy will look for a file named - config in the current directory. Except on Win32 where - it will try config.txt. If no file is specified on the - command line and no default configuration file can be found, - Privoxy will fail to start. - + + + If you experience ads that slipped through, innocent images that are + blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune + Privoxy's behaviour, take a look at the actions files. As a quick start, you might + find the richly commented examples + helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the web-based user interface. The + Appendix Anatomy of an + Action has hints how to debug actions that + misbehave. + + + + + Please see the section Contacting the + Developers on how to report bugs or problems with websites or to get + help. + + - - The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting - point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the - actions files. These are where various cookie actions are - defined, ad and banner blocking, and other aspects of - Privoxy configuration. There are several such - files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness. + + + Now enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy! + + + + - - You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites that require persistent - cookies, and add these to default.action as needed. By - default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser - session (aka session cookies), until you add them to the - configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need - to edit default.action and disable this feature. If you - use more than one browser, it would make more sense to let - Privoxy handle this. In which case, the - browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies. - - - Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted - sites is the popup-killing (through the +popup and - +filter{popups} actions), because your favorite shopping, - banking, or leisure site may need popups. - + + +Quickstart to Ad Blocking + - Privoxy is HTTP/1.1 compliant, but not all of - the optional 1.1 features are as yet supported. In the unlikely event that - you experience inexplicable problems with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default - (like Mozilla or recent versions of I.E.), you might - try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under Edit -> - Preferences -> Debug -> Networking. - Alternatively, set the +downgrade config option in - default.action which will downgrade your browser's HTTP - requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them. + Ad blocking is but one of Privoxy's + array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced + user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody. - - - After running Privoxy for a while, you can - start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site, - preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can - be customized. Actions (as specified in default.action) - can be adjusted by pointing your browser to - http://config.privoxy.org/ - (shortcut: http://p.p/), - and then follow the link to edit the actions list. - (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.) + + This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so + you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive + information provided below, though this is highly recommended. - - In fact, various aspects of Privoxy - configuration can be viewed from this page, including - current configuration parameters, source code version numbers, - the browser's request headers, and actions that apply - to a given URL. In addition to the default.action file - editor mentioned above, Privoxy can also - be turned on and off (toggled) from this page. + First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the + more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block + things that were not intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want + extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more + problem sites, and to spend more time adjusting the + configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is + not an easy way to eliminate all ads. Either take + the easy way and settle for most ads blocked with the + default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing + habits and preferences. - - If you encounter problems, try loading the page without - Privoxy. If that helps, enter the URL where - you have the problems into the browser - based rule tracing utility. See which rules apply and why, and - then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem - is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on - again. + Secondly, a brief explanation of Privoxy's + actions. Actions in this context, are + the directives we use to tell Privoxy to perform + some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell + Privoxy to take some action. Each + action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential + actions in Privoxy's + arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. Actions, and action + configuration files, are explained in depth below. - - If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to read more about the actions concept - or even dive deep into the Appendix - on actions. + Actions are specified in Privoxy's configuration, + followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs + can actually be URL type patterns that use + wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The + actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section. - - If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in - Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the - chapter "Contacting the Developers, .." below. + When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more + of the sections as defined in Privoxy's configuration, + or not. If so, then Privoxy will perform the + respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web + pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will + use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the + original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL + embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server, + or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many + such embedded URLs. - - - - - -Command Line Options - Privoxy may be invoked with the following - command-line options: + The actions we need to know about for ad blocking are: block, handle-as-image, and + set-image-blocker: - - - - --version - - - Print version info and exit, Unix only. - - + - --help - - - Print a short usage info and exit, Unix only. + 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. + - --no-daemon - - - Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group - leader, don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only. + handle-as-image - + tells Privoxy to treat this URL as an image. + Privoxy's default configuration already does this + for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this + is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly + important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of + some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the + Privoxy BLOCKED page (which would only result in + a broken image icon). There are some limitations to this + though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for + an entire HTML page in most situations. + - --pidfile FILE - - - - On startup, write the process ID to FILE. Delete the - FILE on exit. Failure to create or delete the - FILE is non-fatal. If no FILE - option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only. + set-image-blocker - tells + Privoxy what to display in place of an ad image that + has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a + block action somewhere in the + configuration, and, it must also match an + handle-as-image action. - - - --user USER[.GROUP] - + The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are: + + +    pattern - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad + replacement is obvious. This is the default. + + + + +    blank - A very small empty GIF image is displayed. + This is the so-called invisible configuration option. + + + + +    http://<URL> - A redirect to any image anywhere + of the user's choosing (advanced usage). + + + + + + + + + The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through + the special Privoxy editor at http://config.privoxy.org/show-status + (shortcut: http://p.p/show-status). This + is an internal page, and does not require Internet access. Select the + appropriate actions file, and click + Edit. It is best to put personal or + local preferences in user.action since this is not + meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in + other files. Here you can insert new actions, and URLs for ad + blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration. + Privoxy will detect these changes automatically. + + + + A quick and simple step by step example: + + + + + + + + Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select + Copy Link Location from the + pop-up menu. + + + + + Set your browser to + http://config.privoxy.org/show-status + + + + + Find user.action in the top section, and click + on Edit: + + + + +
Actions Files in Use + + + + + + [ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ] + + +
+ + + + - After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of - USER, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the - privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only. + You should have a section with only + block listed under + Actions:. + If not, click a Insert new section below + button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the + Edit button right under the word Actions:. + This will bring up a list of all actions. Find + block near the top, and click + in the Enabled column, then Submit + just below the list. - configfile + Now, in the block actions section, + click the Add button, and paste the URL the + browser got from Copy Link Location. + Remove the http:// at the beginning of the URL. Then, click + Submit (or + OK if in a pop-up window). + + - If no configfile is included on the command line, - Privoxy will look for a file named - config in the current directory (except on Win32 - where it will look for config.txt instead). Specify - full path to avoid confusion. + Now go back to the original page, and press SHIFT-Reload + (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now. - + + + This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a + wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same + site. For a more extensive explanation of patterns, and + the entire actions concept, see the Actions + section. + + + + For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want + to now go to the Actions Files Tutorial. + The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor. + + @@ -602,3014 +832,3929 @@ -<application>Privoxy</application> Configuration - - All Privoxy configuration is stored - in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor. - Many important aspects of Privoxy can - also be controlled easily with a web browser. + +Starting <application>Privoxy</application> + + Before launching Privoxy for the first time, you + will want to configure your browser(s) to use + Privoxy as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is + 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions + used port 8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done! + + + Please note that Privoxy can only proxy HTTP and + HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols. + + + +
Proxy Configuration (Mozilla) + + + + + + [ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ] + + +
+ + + With Netscape (and + Mozilla), this can be set under: + + + + + + Edit + |_ + Preferences + |_ + Advanced + |_ + Proxies + |_ + HTTP Proxy + + + For Internet Explorer: + - + + + + Tools + |_ + Internet Properties + |_ + Connections + |_ + LAN Settings + - -Controlling <application>Privoxy</application> with Your Web Browser - Privoxy's user interface can be reached through the special - URL http://config.privoxy.org/ - (shortcut: http://p.p/), - which is a built-in page and works without Internet access. - You will see the following section: - + 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. - - -Please choose from the following options: - - * Privoxy main page - * Show information about the current configuration - * Show the source code version numbers - * Show the request headers. - * Show which actions apply to a URL and why - * Toggle Privoxy on or off - * Edit the actions list - - + After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a + re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. You + are now ready to start enjoying the benefits of using + Privoxy! - This should be self-explanatory. Note the last item is an editor for the - actions list, which is where much of the ad, banner, cookie, - and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of - Privoxy. This is an easy way to adjust various - aspects of Privoxy configuration. The actions - file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below. + Privoxy is typically started by specifying the + main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration + file is specified on the command line, Privoxy + will look for a file named config in the current + directory. Except on Win32 where it will try config.txt. + +Red Hat and Conectiva - Toggle Privoxy On or Off is handy for sites that might - have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use - it as a test to see whether it is Privoxy - causing the problem or not. Privoxy continues - to run as a proxy in this case, but all filtering is disabled. There - is even a toggle Bookmarklet offered, so that you can toggle - Privoxy with one click from your browser. + 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. + + + + # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start + + + + +Debian + + We use a script. Note that Debian starts Privoxy upon booting per + default. It will use the file + /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration + file. + + + + # /etc/init.d/privoxy start + + + +SuSE + +We use a script. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config +as its main configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting +your PC. + + + + # rcprivoxy start + + - + +Windows + +Click on the Privoxy Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is + specified on the command line, Privoxy will look + for a file named config.txt. Note that Windows will + automatically start Privoxy upon booting you PC. + + + +Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others + +Example Unix startup command: + + + + # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config + + + + +OS/2 + + During installation, Privoxy is configured to + start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by + double-clicking on the Privoxy icon in the + Privoxy folder. + + + +Mac OSX + + During installation, Privoxy is configured to + start automatically when the system restarts. To start Privoxy by hand, + double-click on the StartPrivoxy.command icon in the + /Library/Privoxy folder. Or, type this command + in the Terminal: + + + + /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command + + + + You will be prompted for the administrator password. + + - - -Configuration Files Overview + +AmigaOS - For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in - /etc/privoxy/ by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and - AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the - Privoxy executable. + Start Privoxy (with RUN <>NIL:) in your + startnet script (AmiTCP), in + s:user-startup (RoadShow), as startup program in your + startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx). + Privoxy will automatically quit when you quit your + TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that + Privoxy is still running). + + +Gentoo - The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though possibly - aggressive by some standards. For the time being, there are only three - default configuration files (this may change in time): + A script is again used. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config + as its main configuration file. - - - - - - The main configuration file is named config - on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and config.txt - on Windows. - - - - - - default.action (the actions file) is used to define - which of a set of various actions relating to images, banners, - pop-ups, access restrictions, banners and cookies are to be applied where. - There is a web based editor for this file that can be accessed at http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions/ - (Shortcut: http://p.p/edit-actions/). - (Other actions files are included as well with differing levels of filtering - and blocking, e.g. basic.action.) - - + + /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 + + + - - - default.filter (the filter file) can be used to re-write the raw - page content, including viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, - and whatever else lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only - pre-defined here; whether to apply them or not is up to the actions file. - - + - - -The Main Configuration File - Again, the main configuration file is named config on - Linux/Unix/BSD and OS/2, and config.txt on Windows. - Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list of - values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or tabs). For - example: + After running Privoxy for a while, you can + start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site, + preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can + be customized. Actions + can be adjusted by pointing your browser to + http://config.privoxy.org/ + (shortcut: http://p.p/), + and then follow the link to View & Change the Current Configuration. + (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.) - - - - confdir /etc/privoxy - - - + In fact, various aspects of Privoxy + configuration can be viewed from this page, including + current configuration parameters, source code version numbers, + the browser's request headers, and actions that apply + to a given URL. In addition to the actions file + editor mentioned above, Privoxy can also + be turned on and off (toggled) from this page. - Assigns the value /etc/privoxy to the option - confdir and thus indicates that the configuration - directory is named /etc/privoxy/. + If you encounter problems, try loading the page without + Privoxy. If that helps, enter the URL where + you have the problems into the browser + based rule tracing utility. See which rules apply and why, and + then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem + is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on + again. - All options in the config file except for confdir and - logdir are optional. Watch out in the below description - for what happens if you leave them unset. + If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to read more about the actions concept + or even dive deep into the Appendix + on actions. - The main config file controls all aspects of Privoxy's - operation that are not location dependent (i.e. they apply universally, no matter - where you may be surfing). + If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in + Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the + section Contacting the + Developers below. +--> - - -Configuration and Log File Locations - + +Command Line Options - Privoxy can (and normally does) use a number of - other files for additional configuration and logging. - This section of the configuration file tells Privoxy - where to find those other files. + Privoxy may be invoked with the following + command-line options: + + -confdir - - - - Specifies: - - The directory where the other configuration files are located - + + + --version + + + Print version info and exit. Unix only. + + + + + --help + + + Print short usage info and exit. Unix only. + + + + + --no-daemon + + + Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group + leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only. + + + + + --pidfile FILE + + + + On startup, write the process ID to FILE. Delete the + FILE on exit. Failure to create or delete the + FILE is non-fatal. If no FILE + option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only. + + + + + --user USER[.GROUP] + + + + After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of + USER, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the + privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only. + + + + + configfile + + + If no configfile is included on the command line, + Privoxy will look for a file named + config in the current directory (except on Win32 + where it will look for config.txt instead). Specify + full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found, + Privoxy will fail to start. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<application>Privoxy</application> Configuration + + All Privoxy configuration is stored + in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor. + Many important aspects of Privoxy can + also be controlled easily with a web browser. + + + + + + +Controlling <application>Privoxy</application> with Your Web Browser + + Privoxy's user interface can be reached through the special + URL http://config.privoxy.org/ + (shortcut: http://p.p/), + which is a built-in page and works without Internet access. + You will see the following section: + + + + + + +     Privoxy Menu + + + +         ▪  View & change the current configuration + + +         ▪  View the source code version numbers + + +         ▪  View the request headers. + + +         ▪  Look up which actions apply to a URL and why + + +         ▪  Toggle Privoxy on or off + + +         ▪  Documentation + + + + + + + + This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the + actions files, which is where the ad, banner, + cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of + Privoxy. This is an easy way to adjust various + aspects of Privoxy configuration. The actions + file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below. + + + + Toggle Privoxy On or Off is handy for sites that might + have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use + it as a test to see whether it is Privoxy + causing the problem or not. Privoxy continues + to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e. + Privoxy acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There + is even a toggle Bookmarklet offered, so + that you can toggle Privoxy with one click from + your browser. + + + + + + + + + + + + +Configuration Files Overview + + For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in + /etc/privoxy/ by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and + AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the + Privoxy executable. + + + + The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though + some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the + principle configuration files are: + + + + + + + + The main configuration file is named config + on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and config.txt + on Windows. This is a required file. + + + + + + default.action (the main actions file) + is used to define which actions relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups, + content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many + exceptions (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable + Privoxy to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on + as many websites as possible. + + + Multiple actions files may be defined in config. These + are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally + preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in + default.action (which you will most probably want + to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in + user.action, where you can preserve them across + upgrades. standard.action is for + Privoxy's internal use. + + + There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from + http://config.privoxy.org/show-status + (Shortcut: http://p.p/show-status) for the + various actions files. + + + + + + default.filter (the filter + file) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including + viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else + lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here; + whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files. + + + + + + + + All files use the # character to denote a + comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation + through placing a backslash ("\") as the very last character + in a line. If the # is preceded by a backslash, it looses + its special function. Placing a # in front of an otherwise + valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting + out" that line. + + + + The actions files and default.filter + can use Perl style regular expressions for + maximum flexibility. + + + + After making any changes, there is no need to restart + Privoxy in order for the changes to take + effect. Privoxy detects such changes + automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional + requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address + of Privoxy, these wake up requests + must obviously be sent to the old listening address. + + + + While under development, the configuration content is subject to change. + The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this. + Also, what constitutes a default setting, may change, so + please check all your configuration files on important issues. + +]]> + + + + + + + + + + + + &config; + + + + + + + + + +Actions Files + + + The actions files are used to define what actions + Privoxy takes for which URLs, and thus determine + how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and + transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). There + are three such files included with Privoxy, with + differing purposes: + + + + + + + default.action - is the primary action file + that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to + provide a base level of functionality for + Privoxy's array of features. So it is + a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well for users everywhere. + This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and making available to users. + + + + + user.action - is intended to be for local site + preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank + has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of + thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded. + + + + + standard.action - is used by the web based editor, + to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section + in default.action. These have increasing levels of + aggressiveness and have no influence on your browsing unless + you select them explicitly in the editor. It is not recommend + to edit this file. + + + + + + + The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration + file, and are processed in the order they are defined. The content of these + can all be viewed and edited from http://config.privoxy.org/show-status. + + + + An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use + aliases in an actions file, you have to place the (optional) + alias section at the top of that file. + Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all + sites and pages (be very careful with using such a + universal set in user.action or any other actions file after + default.action, because it will override the result + from consulting any previous file). And then below that, + exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard + user.action as an appendix to default.action, + with the advantage that is a separate file, which makes preserving your + personal settings across Privoxy upgrades easier. + + + + Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or + just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted + or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not + written to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking + fooled, and much more. See below for a complete list + of actions. + + + + +Finding the Right Mix + + Note that some actions, like cookie suppression + or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these + techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and + certainly a matter of personal taste. In general, it can be said that the more + aggressive your default settings (in the top section of the + actions file) are, the more exceptions for trusted sites you + will have to make later. If, for example, you want to kill popup windows per + default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you + regularly use and that require popups for actually useful content, like maybe + your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper. + + + + We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the + distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these + things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing. + Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :). + + + + + +How to Edit + + The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by + using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from http://config.privoxy.org/show-status. + The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single feature on a + per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults like + Cautious, Medium or Radical. + Warning: the Radical setting is not only more aggressive, + but includes settings that are fun and subversive, and which some may find of + dubious merit! + + + + If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the + the actions files. Look at default.action which is richly + commented. + + + + + +How Actions are Applied to URLs + + Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections, + like the alias sections which will + be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a + heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist + of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces. + Below that, there is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line. + + + + To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is + compared to all patterns in each action file file. Every time it matches, the list of + applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading + of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for + the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not, + the effects are aggregated. E.g. a URL might match a regular section with + a heading line of { + +handle-as-image }, + then later another one with just { + +block }, resulting + in both actions to apply. + + + + You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info. + + + + More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, + Anatomy of an Action. + + + + + +Patterns + + 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 Privoxy 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! + + + + + www.example.com/ + + + is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to www.example.com, + regardless of which document on that server is requested. + + + + + www.example.com + + + means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing / may + be omitted. + + + + + www.example.com/index.html + + + matches only the single document /index.html + on www.example.com. + + - Type of value: + /index.html - Path name + + matches the document /index.html, regardless of the domain, + i.e. on any web server. + - Default value: + index.html - /etc/privoxy (Unix) or Privoxy installation dir (Windows) + + matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and + there is no top-level domain called .html. + + + + + +The Domain Pattern + + + The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the + domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end. + For example: + + + - Effect if unset: + .example.com - Mandatory + + matches any domain that ENDS in + .example.com (e.g. www.example.com) + - Notes: + www. + + + matches any domain that STARTS with + www. + + + + + .example. + + + matches any domain that CONTAINS .example. + (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains example as a domain.) + + + + + + + Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names + themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: * + stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, ? stands for + any single character, you can define character classes in square + brackets and all of that can be freely mixed: + + + + + ad*.example.com + + + matches adserver.example.com, + ads.example.com, etc but not sfads.example.com + + + + + *ad*.example.com + + + matches all of the above, and then some. + + + + + .?pix.com + + + matches www.ipix.com, + pictures.epix.com, a.b.c.d.e.upix.com etc. + + + + + www[1-9a-ez].example.c* + + + matches www1.example.com, + www4.example.cc, wwwd.example.cy, + wwwz.example.com etc., but not + wwww.example.com. + + + + + + + + + + + +The Path Pattern + + + Privoxy uses Perl compatible regular expressions + (through the PCRE library) for + matching the path. + + + + There is an Appendix with a brief quick-start into regular + expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line + at http://www.pcre.org/man.txt. + You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (man perlre) + useful, which is available on-line at http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html. + + + + Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the /, + i.e. it matches as if it would start with a ^ (regular expression speak + for the beginning of a line). + + + + Please also note that matching in the path is CASE INSENSITIVE + by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the + (?-i) switch: www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.* will match + only documents whose path starts with PaTtErN in + exactly this capitalization. + + + + + + + + + + + +Actions + + All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled + somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a + +, and turned off if preceded with a -. So a + +action means do that action, e.g. + +block means please block URLs that match the + following patterns, and -block means don't + block URLs that match the following patterns, even if +block + previously applied. + + + + + Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and + separated by whitespace, like in + {+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}, + followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply. + Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section + of the actions file. + + + + There are three classes of actions: + + + + + + + Boolean, i.e the action can only be enabled or + disabled. Syntax: + + + + +name # enable action name + -name # disable action name + + + Example: +block + + + + + + + Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action. + Syntax: + + + + +name{param} # enable action and set parameter to param, + # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary + -name # disable action. The parameter can be omitted + + + Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action, + the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored. + + + Example: +hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 } + + + + + + Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions, + but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the + same URL, but with different parameters, all the parameters + from all matches are remembered. This is used for actions + that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple + headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax: + + + + +name{param} # enable action and add param to the list of parameters + -name{param} # remove the parameter param from the list of parameters + # If it was the last one left, disable the action. + -name # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list + + + Examples: +add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text} and + +filter{html-annoyances} + + + + + + + + If nothing is specified in any actions file, no actions are + taken. So in this case Privoxy would just be a + normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the + privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions + files will give a good starting point). + + + + Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions + to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or + in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files). For + multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified. + Actions files are processed in the order they are defined in + config (the default installation has three actions + files). It also quite possible for any given URL pattern to match more than + one pattern and thus more than one set of actions! + + + + + The list of valid Privoxy actions are: + + + + + + + + + + + + + +add-header + + + + Typical use: + + Confuse log analysis, custom applications + + + + + Effect: + + + Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server. + + + + + + Type: + + + Multi-value. + + + + + Parameter: - No trailing /, please + Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked. + It is recommended that you use the X- prefix + for custom headers. + + + + + Notes: + - When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and - per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of confdir. - For now, the configuration directory structure is flat, except for - confdir/templates, where the HTML templates for CGI - output reside (e.g. Privoxy's 404 error page). + This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple + headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what + HTTP headers are, you definitely don't need to worry about this + one. + + + + + + Example usage: + + + +add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks} - + -logdir + + +block - Specifies: + Typical use: + + Block ads or other obnoxious content + + + + + Effect: - The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where logfile and - jarfile are located) + Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the requests are not + forwarded to the remote server, but answered locally with a substitute page or image, + as determined by the handle-as-image + and set-image-blocker actions. + - Type of value: + Type: + - Path name + Boolean. + - Default value: + Parameter: + + N/A + + + + + Notes: - /var/log/privoxy (Unix) or Privoxy installation dir (Windows) + + Privoxy sends a special BLOCKED page + for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request + was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the + force feature enabled). The BLOCKED page adapts to the available + screen space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and text-only + if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using Privoxy + right now, you can take a look at the + BLOCKED + page. + + + A very important exception occurs if both + block and handle-as-image, + apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If + set-image-blocker + (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter, + if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent. + + + It is important to understand this process, in order + to understand how Privoxy deals with + ads and other unwanted content. + + + The filter + action can perform a very similar task, by blocking + banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the + document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place. + Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two. + + - Effect if unset: + Example usage (section): - Mandatory + + {+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 + + + + + + + + +crunch-incoming-cookies + + - Notes: + Typical use: - No trailing /, please + Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system - - - -actionsfile - - Specifies: + Effect: - The actions file to use + Deletes any Set-Cookie: HTTP headers from server replies. + - Type of value: + Type: + - File name, relative to confdir + Boolean. + - Default value: + Parameter: - default.action (Unix) or default.action.txt (Windows) + + N/A + + - Effect if unset: + Notes: - No action is taken at all. Simple neutral proxying. + This action is only concerned with incoming cookies. For + outgoing cookies, use + crunch-outgoing-cookies. + Use both to disable cookies completely. + + + It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction + with the session-cookies-only action, + since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also + filter-content-cookies. + - Notes: + Example usage: - There is no point in using Privoxy without - an actions file. There are three different actions files included in the - distribution, with varying degrees of aggressiveness: - default.action, intermediate.action and - advanced.action. + +crunch-incoming-cookies - + -filterfile + + + +crunch-outgoing-cookies - Specifies: + Typical use: - The filter file to use + Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system + - Type of value: + Effect: - File name, relative to confdir + + Deletes any Cookie: HTTP headers from client requests. + + - Default value: + Type: + - default.filter (Unix) or default.filter.txt (Windows) + Boolean. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all - +filter{name} - actions in the actions file are turned off + N/A + Notes: - The default.filter file contains content modification rules - that use regular expressions. These rules permit powerful - changes on the content of Web pages, e.g., you could disable your favorite - JavaScript annoyances, re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some - fun replacing Microsoft with MicroSuck wherever - it appears on a Web page. + This action is only concerned with outgoing cookies. For + incoming cookies, use + crunch-incoming-cookies. + Use both to disable cookies completely. + + + It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction + with the session-cookies-only action, + since it would prevent the session cookies from being read. + + + + + + Example usage: + + + +crunch-outgoing-cookies + - + + -logfile + + +deanimate-gifs - Specifies: + Typical use: - - The log file to use - + Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images. + - Type of value: + Effect: - File name, relative to logdir + + De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image. + + - Default value: + Type: + - logfile (Unix) or privoxy.log (Windows) + Parameterized. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (stderr). + last or first + Notes: - The windows version will additionally log to the console. - - - The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The level - of detail and number of messages are set with the debug - option (see below). The logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with - Privoxy (e.g., it's not blocking an ad you - think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look at it. + 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). - Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to - periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job - (see man cron). For Red Hat, a logrotate - script has been included. - - - On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like /var/log/privoxy.* - +1024k 644 nobody.nogroup in /etc/logfiles, with - the effect that cron.daily will automatically archive, gzip, and empty the - log, when it exceeds 1M size. + 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. + + + Example usage: + + + +deanimate-gifs{last} + + + - + -jarfile + + +downgrade-http-version - Specifies: + Typical use: - - The file to store intercepted cookies in - + Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1 + - Type of value: + Effect: - File name, relative to logdir + + Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0. + + - Default value: + Type: + - jarfile (Unix) or privoxy.jar (Windows) + Boolean. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - Intercepted cookies are not stored at all. + N/A - + + Notes: - The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time. + This is a left-over from the time when Privoxy + didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the + unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server + out there. Not all (optional) HTTP/1.1 features are supported yet, so there + is a chance you might need this action. + + + Example usage (section): + + + {+downgrade-http-version} +problem-host.example.com + + + + - + -trustfile + + +fast-redirects - Specifies: + Typical use: - - The trust file to use - + Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links + - Type of value: + Effect: - File name, relative to confdir + + Cut off all but the last valid URL from requests. + + - Default value: + Type: + - Unset (commented out). When activated: trust (Unix) or trust.txt (Windows) + Boolean. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - The whole trust mechanism is turned off. + 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. + - The trust mechanism is an experimental feature for building white-lists and should - be used with care. It is NOT recommended for the casual user. - - - If you specify a trust file, Privoxy will only allow - access to sites that are named in the trustfile. - You can also mark sites as trusted referrers (with +), with - the effect that access to untrusted sites will be granted, if a link from a - trusted referrer was used. - The link target will then be added to the trustfile. - Possible applications include limiting Internet access for children. + 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. - If you use + operator in the trust file, it may grow considerably over time. + This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement. + It is likely to break some sites. You should expect to need possibly + many exceptions to this action, if it is enabled by default in + default.action. Some sites just don't work without + it. - - - - - + + Example usage: + + + {+fast-redirects} + + + + + - - -Local Set-up Documentation - - - If you intend to operate Privoxy for more users - that just yourself, it might be a good idea to let them know how to reach - you, what you block and why you do that, your policies etc. - - -trust-info-url + +filter - Specifies: + Typical use: + + Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size), do fun text replacements, etc. + + + + + Effect: - A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if access to an untrusted page is denied. + Text documents, including HTML and JavaScript, to which this action + applies, are filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular expression + based substitutions. + - Type of value: + Type: + - URL + Parameterized. + - Default value: + Parameter: - Two example URL are provided + + The name of a filter, as defined in the filter file + (typically default.filter, set by the + filterfile + option in the config file). Filtering + can be completely disabled without the use of parameters. + + - Effect if unset: + Notes: - No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page. + 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. + + + 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. + + + 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. + Encrypted SSL data (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either since + this would violate the integrity of the secure transaction. + + + 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 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! + - Notes: + Example usage (with filters from the distribution default.filter file): - The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust mechanism has been - activated. (See trustfile above.) + + +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 based on their size for this page (very efficient!) + + + + +filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners based on the link they are contained in (experimental) + + + + +filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective + + + + +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" - If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line - documentation about your trust policy and to specify the URL(s) here. - Use multiple times for multiple URLs. + + +filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites) - The URL(s) should be added to the trustfile as well, so users don't end up - locked out from the information on why they were locked out in the first place! + + +filter{demoronizer} # Fix non-standard MS font extensions for non-MS browsers - + -admin-address + + + +handle-as-image - Specifies: + Typical use: + + Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images if they get blocked) + + + + + Effect: - An email address to reach the proxy administrator. + 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 of value: + Type: + - Email address + Boolean. + - Default value: + Parameter: - Unset + + N/A + + - Effect if unset: + Notes: - No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface. + 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. + - Notes: + Example usage (sections): - - If both admin-address and proxy-info-url - are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will - not be shown. - + + # 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 + + - + + -proxy-info-url + + +hide-forwarded-for-headers - Specifies: + Typical use: - - A URL to documentation about the local Privoxy setup, - configuration or policies. - + Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request + - Type of value: + Effect: - URL + + Deletes any existing X-Forwarded-for: HTTP header from client requests, + and prevents adding a new one. + + - Default value: + Type: + - Unset + Boolean. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface. + N/A + Notes: - If both admin-address and proxy-info-url - are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will - not be shown. - + It is fairly safe to leave this on. + - This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-) - + 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 + + + + - - - - - -Debugging - - These options are mainly useful when tracing a problem. - Note that you might also want to invoke - Privoxy with the --no-daemon - command line option when debugging. - -debug + + +hide-from-header - Specifies: + Typical use: - - Key values that determine what information gets logged. - + Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address + - Type of value: + Effect: - Integer values + + Deletes any existing From: HTTP header, or replaces it with the + specified string. + + - Default value: + Type: + - 12289 (i.e.: URLs plus informational and warning messages) + Parameterized. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - Nothing gets logged. + Keyword: block, or any user defined value. + Notes: - The available debug levels are: - - - - debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request - debug 2 # show each connection status - debug 4 # show I/O status - debug 8 # show header parsing - debug 16 # log all data into the logfile - debug 32 # debug force feature - debug 64 # debug regular expression filter - debug 128 # debug fast redirects - debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation - debug 512 # Common Log Format - debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups - debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings. - debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors - - - - To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or use - multiple debug lines. + The keyword block will completely remove the header + (not to be confused with the block + action). - A debug level of 1 is informative because it will show you each request - as it happens. 1, 4096 and 8192 are highly recommended - so that you will notice when things go wrong. The other levels are probably - only of interest if you are hunting down a specific problem. They can produce - a hell of an output (especially 16). - + 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. - The reporting of fatal errors (i.e. ones which crash - Privoxy) is always on and cannot be disabled. + This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send + From: headers anymore. + + + + + Example usage: + - If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set debug - 512 ONLY and not enable anything else. + +hide-from-header{block} or + +hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com} - + -single-threaded + + +hide-referrer + - Specifies: + Typical use: + + Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site + + + + + Effect: - Whether to run only one server thread + Deletes the Referer: (sic) HTTP header from the client request, + or replaces it with a forged one. + - Type of value: + Type: + - None + Parameterized. + - Default value: + Parameter: - Unset + + + 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. + + + - Effect if unset: + Notes: - Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, i.e. the ability to - serve multiple requests simultaneously. + forge is the preferred option here, since some servers will + not send images back otherwise, in an attempt to prevent their valuable + content from being embedded elsewhere (and hence, without being surrounded + by their banners). + + hide-referer is an alternate spelling of + hide-referrer and the two can be can be freely + substituted with each other. (referrer is the + correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it + requires it to be spelled as referer.) + + - Notes: + Example usage: - This option is only there for debug purposes and you should never - need to use it. It will drastically reduce performance. + +hide-referrer{forge} or + +hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/} - - - - - -Access Control and Security - - - This section of the config file controls the security-relevant aspects - of Privoxy's configuration. - -listen-address + + +hide-user-agent - Specifies: + Typical use: - - The IP address and TCP port on which Privoxy will - listen for client requests. - + Conceal your type of browser and client operating system + - Type of value: + Effect: - [IP-Address]:Port + + Replaces the value of the User-Agent: HTTP header + in client requests with the specified value. + + - Default value: + Type: + - localhost:8118 + Parameterized. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - Bind to localhost (127.0.0.1), port 8118. This is suitable and recommended for - home users who run Privoxy on the same machine as - their browser. + Any user-defined string. + Notes: + + + This breaks many web sites that depend on looking at this header in order + to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the + way, is NOT a smart way to do + that!). + + - You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address and port. - - - If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to - serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well, you - will need to override the default. + 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 :-). - If you leave out the IP address, Privoxy will - bind to all interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable - from the Internet. In that case, consider using access control lists (acl's) - (see ACLs below), or a firewall. + This action is scheduled for improvement. - + + - Example: + Example usage: - Suppose you are running Privoxy on - a machine which has the address 192.168.0.1 on your local private network - (192.168.0.0) and has another outside connection with a different address. - You want it to serve requests from inside only: - - - - listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118 - + +hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)} - + + -toggle + + +kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"> - Specifies: + Typical use: - - Initial state of "toggle" status - + Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows + - Type of value: + Effect: - 1 or 0 + + While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens + pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly. + + - Default value: + Type: + - 1 + Boolean. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - Act as if toggled on + N/A + Notes: - If set to 0, Privoxy will start in - toggled off mode, i.e. behave like a normal, content-neutral - proxy. See enable-remote-toggle - below. This is not really useful anymore, since toggling is much easier - via the web - interface then via editing the conf file. + This action is easily confused with the built-in, hardwired filter + action, but there are important differences: For kill-popups, + the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while + downloading. But kill-popups doesn't catch as many pop-ups as + filter{popups} + does. + + + Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you + can use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make + sense to combine it with any filter action, + since as soon as one filter applies, + the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the advantage of + the kill-popups action over its filter equivalent. - The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the system tray - if this option is present. + Killing all pop-ups is a dangerous business. Many shops and banks rely on + pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and killing only the unwanted pop-ups + would require artificial intelligence in Privoxy. + If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those + really nasty windows that appear when you close an other + one), you might want to use + filter{js-annoyances} + instead. + + + + + + + + Example usage: + + +kill-popups - + -enable-remote-toggle + + +limit-connect + - Specifies: + Typical use: - - Whether or not the web-based toggle - feature may be used - + Prevent abuse of Privoxy as a TCP proxy relay + - Type of value: + Effect: - 0 or 1 + + Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable. + + - Default value: + Type: + - 1 + Parameterized. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - The web-based toggle feature is disabled. + 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: - When toggled off, Privoxy acts like a normal, - content-neutral proxy, i.e. it acts as if none of the actions applied to - any URL. + 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. - For the time being, access to the toggle feature can not be - controlled separately by ACLs or HTTP authentication, - so that everybody who can access Privoxy (see - ACLs and listen-address above) can - toggle it for all users. So this option is not recommended - for multi-user environments with untrusted users. - - - Note that you must have compiled Privoxy with - support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect. + The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites + (https:// URLs) through proxies. It works very simply: + the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then + short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server. + This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be + abused as TCP relays very easily. + + + If you don't know what any of this means, there probably is no reason to + change this one, since the default is already very restrictive. + + + + + + Example usages: + + + + + + +limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified. ++limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK. ++limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK. ++limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK (gaping security hole!) - + + + +prevent-compression -enable-edit-actions - Specifies: + Typical use: - Whether or not the web-based actions - file editor may be used + Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be + passed through filters + - Type of value: + Effect: - 0 or 1 + + Adds a header to the request that asks for uncompressed transfer. + + - Default value: + Type: + - 1 + Boolean. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - The web-based actions file editor is disabled. + N/A + Notes: - For the time being, access to the editor can not be - controlled separately by ACLs or HTTP authentication, - so that everybody who can access Privoxy (see - ACLs and listen-address above) can - modify its configuration for all users. So this option is not - recommended for multi-user environments with untrusted users. + More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which + is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the filter, deanimate-gifs + and kill-popups actions to work, + Privoxy needs access to the uncompressed data. + Unfortunately, Privoxy can't yet(!) uncompress, filter, and + re-compress the content on the fly. So if you want to ensure that all websites, including + those that normally compress, can be filtered, you need to use this action. + + + This will slow down transfers from those websites, though. If you use any of the above-mentioned + actions, you will typically want to use prevent-compression in conjunction + with them. - Note that you must have compiled Privoxy with - support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect. + 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. - - -ACLs: permit-access and deny-access - - Specifies: + Example usage (sections): - Who can access what. + # Set default: +# +{+prevent-compression} +/ # Match all sites + +# Make exceptions for ill sites: +# +{-prevent-compression} +www.debianhelp.org +www.pclinuxonline.com + + + + + + + +send-vanilla-wafer + + - Type of value: + Typical use: - src_addr[/src_masklen] - [dst_addr[/dst_masklen]] + Feed log analysis scripts with useless data. + + + + + Effect: + - Where src_addr and - dst_addr are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid - DNS names, and src_masklen and - dst_masklen are subnet masks in CIDR notation, i.e. integer - values from 2 to 30 representing the length (in bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole - destination part are optional. + 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. + - Default value: + Type: + - Unset + Boolean. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - Don't restrict access further than implied by listen-address + N/A + Notes: - Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems - administrators, and are not usually needed by individual users. - For a typical home user, it will normally suffice to ensure that - Privoxy only listens on the localhost or internal (home) - network address by means of the listen-address option. + The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you. - Please see the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute - for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security - weaknesses. - - - Multiple ACL lines are OK. - If any ACLs are specified, then the Privoxy - talks only to IP addresses that match at least one permit-access line - and don't match any subsequent deny-access line. In other words, the - last match wins, with the default being deny-access. - - - If Privoxy is using a forwarder (see forward below) - for a particular destination URL, the dst_addr - that is examined is the address of the forwarder and NOT the address - of the ultimate target. This is necessary because it may be impossible for the local - Privoxy to determine the IP address of the - ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for). - - - You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because the address lookups take - time. All DNS names must resolve! You can not use domain patterns - like *.org or partial domain names. If a DNS name resolves to multiple - IP addresses, only the first one is used. - - - Denying access to particular sites by ACL may have undesired side effects - if the site in question is hosted on a machine which also hosts other sites. + This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration. + - Examples: + Example usage: - Explicitly define the default behavior if no ACL and - listen-address are set: localhost - is OK. The absence of a dst_addr implies that - all destination addresses are OK: - - - - permit-access localhost - - - - Allow any host on the same class C subnet as www.privoxy.org access to - nothing but www.example.com: - - - - permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32 - - - - Allow access from any host on the 26-bit subnet 192.168.45.64 to anywhere, - with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access www.dirty-stuff.example.com: - - - - permit-access 192.168.45.64/26 - deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com - + +send-vanilla-wafer + - + + -buffer-limit + + +send-wafer - Specifies: + Typical use: - Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering. + Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data. + - Type of value: + Effect: - Size in Kbytes + + Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request. + + - Default value: + Type: + - 4096 + Multi-value. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit. + A string of the form name=value. + Notes: - For content filtering, i.e. the +filter and - +deanimate-gif actions, it is necessary that - Privoxy buffers the entire document body. - This can be potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending - data indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust -- with nasty consequences. - Hence this option. + Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request, + resulting in multiple cookies being sent. + + + This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration. + + + + Example usage (section): + - When a document buffer size reaches the buffer-limit, it is - flushed to the client unfiltered and no further attempt to - filter the rest of the document is made. Remember that there may be multiple threads - running, which might require up to buffer-limit Kbytes - each, unless you have enabled single-threaded - above. + {+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}} +my-internal-testing-server.void - - - - + +session-cookies-only - -Forwarding - - - This feature allows routing of HTTP requests through a chain of - multiple proxies. - It can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when - accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains - through an anonymous public proxy (see e.g. http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm) - Or to use a caching proxy to speed up browsing. Or chaining to a parent - proxy may be necessary because the machine that Privoxy - runs on has no direct Internet access. - - - - Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. Privoxy - supports the SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A protocols. - - -forward - Specifies: + Typical use: - To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed. + Allow only temporary session cookies (for the current browser session only). + - Type of value: + Effect: - target_domain[:port] - http_parent[/port] - - - Where target_domain is a domain name pattern (see the - chapter on domain matching in the actions file), - http_parent is the address of the parent HTTP proxy - as an IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or as a valid DNS name (or . to denote - no forwarding, and the optional - port parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer - values from 1 to 64535 + Deletes the expires field from Set-Cookie: server headers. + Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and forget them in between sessions. - - Default value: + + + Type: + - Unset + Boolean. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - Don't use parent HTTP proxies. + N/A + Notes: - If http_parent is ., then requests are not - forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made directly to the web servers. + This is less strict than crunch-incoming-cookies / + crunch-outgoing-cookies and allows you to browse + websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly. - Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins. + Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by + session-cookies-only and will forget about them between sessions. + This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so + that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all + sites, and is the recommended setting. - - - - Examples: - - Everything goes to an example anonymizing proxy, except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle): + It makes no sense at all to use session-cookies-only + together with crunch-incoming-cookies or + crunch-outgoing-cookies. If you do, cookies + will be plainly killed. - - forward .* anon-proxy.example.org:8080 - forward :443 . - + 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. - Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for requests - to that ISP's sites: + 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. - - forward .*. caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000 - forward .example-isp.net . - + Privoxy also uses + the content-cookies filter + to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by + session-cookies-only. - - -forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a - - Specifies: + Example usage: - Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific requests should be routed. + +session-cookies-only + + + + + + +set-image-blocker + + + + Typical use: + + Choose the replacement for blocked images + + + - Type of value: + Effect: - target_domain[:port] - socks_proxy[/port] - http_parent[/port] - - - Where target_domain is a domain name pattern (see the - chapter on domain matching in the actions file), - http_parent and socks_proxy - are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid DNS names (http_parent - may be . to denote no HTTP forwarding), and the optional - port parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1 to 64535 + This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If both + block and handle-as-image also + apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image, + then the parameter of this action decides what will be + sent as a replacement. + - Default value: + Type: + - Unset + Parameterized. + - Effect if unset: + Parameter: - - Don't use SOCKS proxies. - + + + + pattern to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually + decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted. + + + + + blank to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear + completely, but makes it hard to detect where Privoxy has blocked + images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if Privoxy + has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons. + + + + + target-url to + send a redirect to target-url. You can redirect + to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem (via file:/// URL). + + + A good application of redirects is to use special Privoxy-built-in + URLs, which send the built-in images, as target-url. + This has the same visual effect as specifying blank or pattern in + the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting + it over and over again. + + + + Notes: - Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins. - - - The difference between forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a - is that in the SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the target hostname happens on the SOCKS - server, while in SOCKS 4 it happens locally. + The URLs for the built-in images are http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=type, where type is + either blank or pattern. - If http_parent is ., then requests are not - forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made (HTTP-wise) directly to the web servers, albeit through - a SOCKS proxy. + There is a third (advanced) type, called auto. It is NOT to be + used in set-image-blocker, but meant for use from filters. + Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image. + - Examples: + Example usage: - From the company example.com, direct connections are made to all - internal domains, but everything outbound goes through - their ISP's proxy by way of example.com's corporate SOCKS 4A gateway to - the Internet. + Built-in pattern: - - forward-socks4a .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080 - forward .example.com . - + +set-image-blocker{pattern} - A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no HTTP parent looks like this: + Redirect to the BSD devil: - - forward-socks4 .*. socks-gw.example.com:1080 . - + +set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif} + + + Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching: + + + +set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern} - + -Advanced Forwarding Examples + + +Summary - If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content - only to their subscribers, you can configure multiple Privoxies - which have connections to the respective ISPs to act as forwarders to each other, so that - your users can see the internal content of all ISPs. + Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to + misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways + a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header + content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard + and fast rules for all sites. See the Appendix for a brief example on troubleshooting + actions. + + + + +Aliases - Assume that host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.net. And host-b has a PPP connection to - isp-b.net. Both run Privoxy. Their forwarding - configuration can look like this: + Custom actions, known to Privoxy + as aliases, can be defined by combining other actions. + These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions. + Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab, + =, + { and }, but we strongly + recommend that you only use a to z, + 0 to 9, +, and -. + Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a + + or - sign, since they are merely textually + expanded. - - host-a: + Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they must be + defined in a special section at the top of the file! + And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may + have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible + within that file. - - - forward .*. . - forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118 - + There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently + used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you + decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called + shop, you can later change your policy on shops in + one place, and your changes will take effect everywhere + in the actions file where the shop alias is used. Calling aliases + by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable. - - host-b: + Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though: + Privoxy's built-in web-based action file + editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands + them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved, + but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases + with it. + This is likely to change in future versions of Privoxy. - - forward .*. . - forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118 - + Now let's define some aliases... - Now, your users can set their browser's proxy to use either - host-a or host-b and be able to browse the internal content - of both isp-a and isp-b. - + + # Useful custom aliases we can use later. + # + # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section + # must be at the top of the actions file! + # + {{alias}} - - If you intend to chain Privoxy and - squid locally, then chain as - browser -> squid -> privoxy is the recommended way. + # These aliases just save typing later: + # (Note that some already use other aliases!) + # + +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies + -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies + block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image + mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only + + # These aliases define combinations of actions + # that are useful for certain types of sites: + # + fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups + shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups + + # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-) + # + c0 = +crunch-all-cookies + c1 = -crunch-all-cookies - Assuming that Privoxy and squid - run on the same box, your squid configuration could then look like this: + ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an + actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further + up for the / pattern): - # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP) - cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query - - # Define ACL for protocol FTP - acl ftp proto FTP + # These sites are either very complex or very keen on + # user data and require minimal interference to work: + # + {fragile} + .office.microsoft.com + .windowsupdate.microsoft.com + .nytimes.com - # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy - always_direct allow ftp + # Shopping sites: + # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data) + # + {shop} + .quietpc.com + .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com + .scan.co.uk - # Forward all the rest to Privoxy - never_direct allow all - + # These shops require pop-ups: + # + {shop -kill-popups -filter{popups}} + .dabs.com + .overclockers.co.uk - You would then need to change your browser's proxy settings to squid's address and port. - Squid normally uses port 3128. If unsure consult http_port in squid.conf. + Aliases like shop and fragile are often used for + problem sites that require some actions to be disabled + in order to function properly. - - - - - - - + - - -Windows GUI Options - + +Actions Files Tutorial - Privoxy has a number of options specific to the - Windows GUI interface: + The above chapters have shown which actions files + there are and how they are organized, how actions are specified and applied + to URLs, how patterns work, and how to + define and use aliases. Now, let's look at an + example default.action and user.action + file and see how all these pieces come together: +default.action + - If activity-animation is set to 1, the - Privoxy icon will animate when - Privoxy is active. To turn off, set to 0. +Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose: - - - - activity-animation 1 - - - + # Sample default.action file <developers@privoxy.org> - If log-messages is set to 1, - Privoxy will log messages to the console - window: +Then, since this is the default.action file, the +first section is a special section for internal use that you needn't +change or worry about: - - - - log-messages 1 - - - - + +########################################################################## +# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY. +########################################################################## - - If log-buffer-size is set to 1, the size of the log buffer, - i.e. the amount of memory used for the log messages displayed in the - console window, will be limited to log-max-lines (see below). +{{settings}} +for-privoxy-version=3.0 - Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and - eat up all your memory! +After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example +section from the above chapter on aliases, +that also explains why and how aliases are used: - - - - log-buffer-size 1 - - - + +########################################################################## +# Aliases +########################################################################## +{{alias}} + +# These aliases just save typing later: +# (Note that some already use other aliases!) +# ++crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies +-crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image +mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only + +# These aliases define combinations of actions +# that are useful for certain types of sites: +# +fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups +shop = mercy-for-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups - log-max-lines is the maximum number of lines held - in the log buffer. See above. + Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied + by URL patterns to which they apply. Remember all actions + are disabled when matching starts, so we have to explicitly + enable the ones we want. - - - - log-max-lines 200 - - - + The first regular section is probably the most important. It has only + one pattern, /, but this pattern + matches all URLs. Therefore, the + set of actions used in this default section will + be applied to all requests as a start. It can be partly or + wholly overridden by later matches further down this file, or in user.action, + but it will still be largely responsible for your overall browsing + experience. - If log-highlight-messages is set to 1, - Privoxy will highlight portions of the log - messages with a bold-faced font: - + Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is + no real need to disable any actions here, but we will do that nonetheless, + to have a complete listing for your reference. (Remember: a + + preceding the action name enables the action, a - disables!). + Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into + multiple lines with line continuation. + - - - - log-highlight-messages 1 - - - + +########################################################################## +# "Defaults" section: +########################################################################## + { \ + -add-header \ + -block \ + -crunch-incoming-cookies \ + -crunch-outgoing-cookies \ + +deanimate-gifs \ + -downgrade-http-version \ + +fast-redirects \ + +filter{html-annoyances} \ + +filter{js-annoyances} \ + -filter{content-cookies} \ + +filter{popups} \ + +filter{webbugs} \ + -filter{refresh-tags} \ + -filter{fun} \ + +filter{nimda} \ + +filter{banners-by-size} \ + -filter{banners-by-link} \ + -filter{img-reorder} \ + -filter{shockwave-flash} \ + -filter{crude-parental} \ + -filter{js-events} \ + -handle-as-image \ + +hide-forwarded-for-headers \ + +hide-from-header{block} \ + +hide-referrer{forge} \ + -hide-user-agent \ + -kill-popups \ + -limit-connect \ + +prevent-compression \ + -send-vanilla-wafer \ + -send-wafer \ + +session-cookies-only \ + +set-image-blocker{pattern} \ + } + / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns. + + + + The default behavior is now set. Note that some actions, like not hiding + the user agent, are part of a general policy that applies + universally and won't get any exceptions defined later. Other choices, + like not blocking (which is understandably the + default!) need exceptions, i.e. we need to specify explicitly what we + want to block in later sections. + We will also want to make exceptions from our general pop-up-killing, + and use our defined aliases for that. + + + + The first of our specialized sections is concerned with fragile + sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either + very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that + make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use + our pre-defined fragile alias instead of stating the list + of actions explicitly: - The font used in the console window: + +########################################################################## +# Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set: +########################################################################## + +# "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above): +# +{ fragile } +.office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise! +.windowsupdate.microsoft.com - - - - log-font-name Comic Sans MS - - - + Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically + require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping + carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias: - + - Font size used in the console window: + +# Shopping sites: +# +{ shop } +.quietpc.com +.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com +.jungle.com +.scan.co.uk - - - - log-font-size 8 - - - + Then, there are sites which rely on pop-up windows (yuck!) to work. + Since we made pop-up-killing our default above, we need to make exceptions + now. Mozilla users, who + can turn on smart handling of unwanted pop-ups in their browsers, can + safely choose + -filter{popups} (and + -kill-popups) above + and hence don't need this section. Anyway, disabling an already disabled + action doesn't hurt, so we'll define our exceptions regardless of what was + chosen in the defaults section: - - show-on-task-bar controls whether or not - Privoxy will appear as a button on the Task bar - when minimized: + + +# These sites require pop-ups too :( +# +{ -kill-popups -filter{popups} } +.dabs.com +.overclockers.co.uk +.deutsche-bank-24.de - - - - show-on-task-bar 0 - - - + The fast-redirects + action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable + it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves: - If close-button-minimizes is set to 1, the Windows close - button will minimize Privoxy instead of closing - the program (close with the exit option on the File menu). + +{ -fast-redirects } +login.yahoo.com +edit.*.yahoo.com +.google.com +.altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http +.altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http +.nytimes.com - - - - close-button-minimizes 1 - - - + It is important that Privoxy knows which + URLs belong to images, so that if they are to + be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page. + Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it + would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it + would feed the advertisers (in terms of money and + information). We can mark any URL as an image with the handle-as-image action, + and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a + good start: - The hide-console option is specific to the MS-Win console - version of Privoxy. If this option is used, - Privoxy will disconnect from and hide the - command console. + +########################################################################## +# Images: +########################################################################## + +# Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get +# blocked further down this file: +# +{ +handle-as-image } +/.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$ - - - - #hide-console - - - + And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to + generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the + request is for an image. Hence we block them and + mark them as images in one go, with the help of our + block-as-image alias defined above. (We could of + course just as well use +block + +handle-as-image here.) + Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the + set-image-blocker + action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its + +set-image-blocker{pattern} + action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated: - - - - - - - - -The Actions File + + +# Known ad generators: +# +{ block-as-image } +ar.atwola.com +.ad.doubleclick.net +.ad.*.doubleclick.net +.a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$ +.a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$ +bs*.gsanet.com +bs*.einets.com +.qkimg.net + - The actions file (default.action, formerly: - actionsfile or ijb.action) is used - to define what actions Privoxy takes for which - URLs, and thus determines how ad images, cookies and various other aspects - of HTTP content and transactions are handled on which sites (or even parts - thereof). + One of the most important jobs of Privoxy + is to block banners. A huge bunch of them are already blocked + by the filter{banners-by-size} + action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner + images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request + them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally + doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we + need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the + block action to them. + + + First comes a bunch of generic patterns, which do most of the work, by + matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes + a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here + to keep the example short: - - Anything you want can blocked, including ads, banners, or just some obnoxious - URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted or rejected, or - accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not written to disk), - content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking fooled, and much more. - See below for a complete list of available actions. + + +########################################################################## +# Block these fine banners: +########################################################################## +{ +block } + +# Generic patterns: +# +ad*. +.*ads. +banner?. +count*. +/.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?) +/(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/ + +# Site-specific patterns (abbreviated): +# +.hitbox.com - - -Finding the Right Mix - Note that some actions like cookie suppression or script disabling may - render some sites unusable, which rely on these techniques to work properly. - Finding the right mix of actions is not easy and certainly a matter of personal - taste. In general, it can be said that the more aggressive - your default settings (in the top section of the actions file) are, - the more exceptions for trusted sites you will have to - make later. If, for example, you want to kill popup windows per default, you'll - have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you regularly use - and that require popups for actually useful content, like maybe your bank, - favorite shop, or newspaper. + You wouldn't believe how many advertisers actually call their banner + servers ads.company.com, or call the directory + in which the banners are stored simply banners. So the above + generic patterns are surprisingly effective. - - We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the - distribution actions file. But there is no general rule of thumb on these - things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing. - Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter). + But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want + to block. The pattern .*ads. e.g. catches + nasty-ads.nasty-corp.com as intended, + but also downloads.sourcefroge.net or + adsl.some-provider.net. So here come some + well-known exceptions to the +block + section above. - - - - -How to Edit - The easiest way to edit the actions file is with a browser by - using our browser-based editor, which is available at http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions. + Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL + downloads.sourcefroge.net: Initially, all actions are deactivated, + so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the + URL, but just deactivates the block + action once again. Then it matches .*ads., an exception to the + general non-blocking policy, and suddenly + +block applies. And now, it'll match + .*loads., where -block + applies, so (unless it matches again further down) it ends up + with no block action applying. - If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the - default.action file. - - + +########################################################################## +# Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns: +########################################################################## +# By domain: +# +{ -block } +adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*) +adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads) +ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*) +.edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!)) +.*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc) - -How Actions are Applied to URLs - - The actions file is divided into sections. There are special sections, - like the alias sections which will be discussed later. For now let's - concentrate on regular sections: They have a heading line (often split - up to multiple lines for readability) which consist of a list of actions, - separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces. Below that, there - is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line. +# By path: +# +/.*loads/ + +# Site-specific: +# +www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced) +www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv - To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is - compared to all patterns in this file. Every time it matches, the list of - applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading - of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for - the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. + Filtering source code can have nasty side effects, + so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net, + and all paths with cvs in them. Note that + -filter + disables all filters in one fell swoop! - You can trace this process by visiting http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info. + +# Don't filter code! +# +{ -filter } +/.*cvs +.sourceforge.net - More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, - Anatomy of an Action. + The actual default.action is of course more + comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works. + - - -Patterns +user.action - Generally, a pattern has the form <domain>/<path>, - where both the <domain> and <path> - are optional. (This is why the pattern / matches all URLs). + So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies, + which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now, + you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that + are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would + be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should + be placed in user.action, which is parsed after all other + actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously + defined actions. user.action is also a + safe place for your personal settings, since + default.action is actively maintained by the + Privoxy developers and you'll probably want + to install updated versions from time to time. - - - www.example.com/ - - - is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to www.example.com, - regardless of which document on that server is requested. - - - - - www.example.com - - - means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing / may - be omitted. - - - - - www.example.com/index.html - - - matches only the single document /index.html - on www.example.com. - - - - - /index.html - - - matches the document /index.html, regardless of the domain, - i.e. on any web server. - - - - - index.html - - - matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and - there is no top-level domain called .html. - - - - - -The Domain Pattern - - The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the - domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end. - For example: + So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in + user.action: - - - .example.com - - - matches any domain that ENDS in - .example.com - - - - - www. - - - matches any domain that STARTS with - www. - - - - - .example. - - - matches any domain that CONTAINS .example. - (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains example as a domain.) - - - - + + - Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names - themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: * - stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, ? stands for - any single character, you can define character classes in square - brackets and all of that can be freely mixed: + +# My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com> - - - ad*.example.com - - - matches adserver.example.com, - ads.example.com, etc but not sfads.example.com - - - - - *ad*.example.com - - - matches all of the above, and then some. - - - - - .?pix.com - - - matches www.ipix.com, - pictures.epix.com, a.b.c.d.e.upix.com etc. - - - - - www[1-9a-ez].example.c* - - - matches www1.example.com, - www4.example.cc, wwwd.example.cy, - wwwz.example.com etc., but not - wwww.example.com. - - - - + + As aliases are local to the actions + file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from + default.action, unless you repeat them here: + - + + +# Aliases are local to the file they are defined in. +# (Re-)define aliases for this file: +# +{{alias}} +# +# These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should +# be self explanatory. +# ++crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies +-crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies + allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only + allow-popups = -filter{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-referer -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} -The Path Pattern + + - Privoxy uses Perl compatible regular expressions - (through the PCRE library) for - matching the path. + Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and + you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like + to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The + allow-all-cookies alias defined above does exactly + that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the + processing of cookies to make them only temporary. - There is an Appendix with a brief quick-start into regular - expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line - at http://www.pcre.org/man.txt. - You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (man perlre) - useful, which is available on-line at http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html. + +{ allow-all-cookies } +sunsolve.sun.com +slashdot.org +.yahoo.com +.msdn.microsoft.com +.redhat.com - Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the /, - i.e. it matches as if it would start with a ^. + Your bank needs popups and is allergic to some filter, but you don't + know which, so you disable them all: - Please also note that matching in the path is case - INSENSITIVE by default, but you can switch to case - sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the - (?-i) switch: - www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.* will match only - documents whose path starts with PaTtErN in - exactly this capitalization. + +{ -filter -kill-popups } +.your-home-banking-site.com - - - - + + Some hosts and some file types you may not want to filter. + Privoxy makes no distinctions between regular web + pages and downloads done via your web browser if it is an html or text type + document. + + + +{ -filter } +localhost +apache_server.mylan +# A list of common file extensions that are likely to indicate raw text, and best +# if unfiltered. +/(.*/)?.*\.(pl|(s|p)?h|c(c|xx|pp)?|tcl|am|init?|cfg?|conf(ig)?|txt|rc|bat)$ - +# Documentation should not need filtering (at least on some sites). +.tldp.org + - -Actions - Actions are enabled if preceded with a +, and disabled if - preceded with a -. Actions are invoked by enclosing the - action name in curly braces (e.g. {+some_action}), followed by a list of - URLs to which the action applies. There are three classes of actions: + Example of a simple block action. Say you've + seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of. + You have right-clicked the image, selected copy image location + and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a + { +block } section. Note that { +handle-as-image + } need not be specified, since all URLs ending in + .gif will be tagged as images by the general rules as set + in default.action anyway: - + +{ +block } +www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.gif +another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/ - - - Boolean (e.g. +/-block): - - - - - - {+name} # enable this action - {-name} # disable this action - - - - - +# Here we found one that is not in Privoxy's default blocked list: +.adfactory.net + + + To force URLs that tend to have ad images, but it is difficult for + Privoxy to know this since the ultimate returned + object is obscured for one reason or another, we can try to force these to be + treated as images (and thus avoid Privoxy's + BLOCKED banner page). Note that if what is returned by the + server turns out NOT to be an image, then your browser typically will display + a broken icon image. Use cautiously. + - - - parameterized (e.g. +/-hide-user-agent): - - - - - - {+name{param}} # enable action and set parameter to param - {-name} # disable action - - - - - - - - - Multi-value (e.g. {+/-add-header{Name: value}}, {+/-wafer{name=value}}): - - - - - - {+name{param}} # enable action and add parameter param - {-name{param}} # remove the parameter param - {-name} # disable this action totally - - - - - + + +{ +block-as-image } +# A shockwave ad, very annoying. +.trip.com/.*\.swf +.doubleclick.net +/Realmedia/ads/ +adremote. + - + + Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine, + but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you + were again too lazy to give feedback, so + you just used the fragile alias on the site, and + -- whoa! -- it worked. The fragile + aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also, + good for testing purposes to see if it is Privoxy + that is causing the problem or not. - If nothing is specified in this file, no actions are taken. - So in this case Privoxy would just be a - normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically - enable the privacy and blocking features you need (although the - provided default default.action file will - give a good starting point). + +{ fragile } +.forbes.com - Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions - to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file. For - multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are - specified. + You like the fun text replacements in default.filter, + but it is disabled in the distributed actions file. (My colleagues on the team just + don't have a sense of humour, that's why! ;-). So you'd like to turn it on in your private, + update-safe config, once and for all: - The list of valid Privoxy actions are: + +{ +filter{fun} } +/ # For ALL sites! - - - - - Add the specified HTTP header, which is not checked for validity. - You may specify this many times to specify many different headers: - - - - - - +add-header{Name: value} - - - - - - - - - - Block this URL totally. In a default installation, a blocked - URL will result in bright red banner that says BLOCKED, - with a reason why it is being blocked, and an option to see it anyway. - The page displayed for this is the blocked template - file. - - - - - - +block - - - - - - - - - - De-animate all animated GIF images, i.e. reduce them to their last frame. - This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If - the option first is given, the first frame of the animation - is used as the replacement. If last is given, the last frame - of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for most - banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire last - frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame). - - - - - - +deanimate-gifs{last} - +deanimate-gifs{first} - - - - - - - - - +downgrade will downgrade HTTP/1.1 client requests to - HTTP/1.0 and downgrade the responses as well. Use this action for servers - that use HTTP/1.1 protocol features that - Privoxy doesn't handle well yet. HTTP/1.1 - is only partially implemented. Default is not to downgrade requests. - - - - - - +downgrade - - - - - - - - - Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they - will link to some script on their own server, giving the destination as a - parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs resulting - from this scheme typically look like: - http://some.place/some_script?http://some.where-else. - - - Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the - URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable, - since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go to. - Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your browser - ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds the - advertisers. - - - The +fast-redirects option enables interception of these - types of requests by Privoxy, who will cut off - all but the last valid URL in the request and send a local redirect back to - your browser without contacting the intermediate site(s). - - - - - - +fast-redirects - - - - - + Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions + to the filters in default.action for things that + really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since + user.action has the last word, these exceptions + won't be valid for the fun filtering specified here. + - - - Apply the filters in the section_header - section of the default.filter file to the site(s). - default.filter sections are grouped according to like - functionality. Filters can be used to - re-write any of the raw page content. This is a potentially a - very powerful feature! - - - - - - - +filter{section_header} - - - - + + 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: + - - Filter sections that are pre-defined in the supplied - default.filter include: - + + +{ allow-ads } +.sourceforge.net +.slashdot.org +.osdn.net + -
- - - html-annoyances: Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse. - - - - - js-annoyances: Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse - - - - - content-cookies: Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content - - - - - popups: Kill all popups in JS and HTML - - - - - frameset-borders: Give frames a border and make them resizable - - - - - webbugs: Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking) - - - - - refresh-tags: Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups) - - - - - fun: Text replacements for subversive browsing fun! - - - - - nimda: Remove Nimda (virus) code. - - - - - banners-by-size: Kill banners by size (very efficient!) - - - - - shockwave-flash: Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects - - - - - crude-parental: Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez" - - -
+ + Note that allow-ads has been aliased to + -block, + -filter{banners-by-size}, and + -filter{banners-by-link} above. + + + 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: + - - Note: Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to slow down - page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has passed - the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way since - the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more noticeable - on slower connections. + + +{ +set-image-blocker{blank} } +/ # ALL sites - + + - - - Block any existing X-Forwarded-for header, and do not add a new one: - - - - - - +hide-forwarded - - - - - + - - - If the browser sends a From: header containing your e-mail - address, this either completely removes the header (block), or - changes it to the specified e-mail address. - - - - - - +hide-from{block} - +hide-from{spam@sittingduck.xqq} - - - - - - - - - Don't send the Referer: (sic) header to the web site. You - can block it, forge a URL to the same server as the request (which is - preferred because some sites will not send images otherwise) or set it to a - constant, user defined string of your choice. - - - - - - +hide-referer{block} - +hide-referer{forge} - +hide-referer{http://nowhere.com} - - - - - - - - - Alternative spelling of +hide-referer. It has the same - parameters, and can be freely mixed with, +hide-referer. - (referrer is the correct English spelling, however the HTTP - specification has a bug - it requires it to be spelled referer.) - - - - - - +hide-referrer{...} - - - - - + - - - Change the User-Agent: header so web servers can't tell your - browser type. Warning! This breaks many web sites. Specify the - user-agent value you want. Example, pretend to be using Netscape on - Linux: - - - - - - +hide-user-agent{Mozilla (X11; I; Linux 2.0.32 i586)} - - - - - - + - - - Treat this URL as an image. This only matters if it's also +blocked, - in which case a blocked image can be sent rather than a HTML page. - See +image-blocker{} below for the control over what is actually sent. - If you want invisible ads, they should be defined as - images and blocked. And also, - image-blocker should be set to blank. Note you - cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, frames - require an HTML page to display. So a frame that is an ad, cannot be - treated as an image. Forcing an image in this - situation just will not work. - - - - - - +image - - - - - - - - Decides what to do with URLs that end up tagged with {+block - +image}, e.g an advertisement. There are four options. - -image-blocker will send a HTML blocked page, - usually resulting in a broken image icon. - - - -+image-blocker{blank} will send a 1x1 transparent GIF -image. And finally, +image-blocker{http://xyz.com} will send a -HTTP temporary redirect to the specified image. This has the advantage of the -icon being being cached by the browser, which will speed up the display. -+image-blocker{pattern} will send a checkerboard type pattern: - - - - - - - - - - +image-blocker{blank} - +image-blocker{pattern} - +image-blocker{http://p.p/send-banner} - - - - - - - - - By default (i.e. in the absence of a +limit-connect - action), Privoxy will only allow CONNECT - requests to port 443, which is the standard port for https as a - precaution. - - - - The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites - (https:// URLs) through proxies. It works very simply: the proxy - connects to the server on the specified port, and then short-circuits - its connections to the client and to the remote proxy. - This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can - be abused as TCP relays very easily. - - - - If you want to allow CONNECT for more ports than this, or want to forbid - CONNECT altogether, you can specify a comma separated list of ports and - port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum defaulting to 0 and - max to 65K): - + - - - - - +limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need no be specified. - +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK. - +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Port less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 - #and above 500 are OK. - - - - + +The Filter File - - - - - +no-compression prevents the website from compressing the - data. Some websites do this, which can be a problem for - Privoxy, since +filter, - +no-popup and +gif-deanimate will not work on - compressed data. This will slow down connections to those websites, - though. Default is no-compression is turned on. - + + 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. + - - - - - +nocompression - - - - - - - - - If the website sets cookies, no-cookies-keep will make sure - they are erased when you exit and restart your web browser. This makes - profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so - that you can log in for transactions. Default: on. - - - - - - +no-cookies-keep - - - - - - - - - Prevent the website from reading cookies: - - - - - - +no-cookies-read - - - - - - - - - Prevent the website from setting cookies: - - - - - - +no-cookies-set - - - - - - - - - Filter the website through a built-in filter to disable those obnoxious - JavaScript pop-up windows via window.open(), etc. The two alternative - spellings are equivalent. - - - - - - +no-popup - +no-popups - - - - - - - - - This action only applies if you are using a jarfile - for saving cookies. It sends a cookie to every site stating that you do not - accept any copyright on cookies sent to you, and asking them not to track - you. Of course, this is a (relatively) unique header they could use to - track you. - - - - - - +vanilla-wafer - - - - - - - - - This allows you to add an arbitrary cookie. It can be specified multiple - times in order to add as many cookies as you like. - - - - - - +wafer{name=value} - - - - - + + Typical reasons for doing such substitutions are to eliminate + common annoyances in HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows, + exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the + infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain + width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs), + or just to have fun. The possibilities are endless. + - + + Filtering works on any text-based document type, including plain + text, HTML, JavaScript, CSS etc. (all text/* + MIME types). Substitutions are made at the source level, so if + you want to roll your own filters, you should be + familiar with HTML syntax. + + + + Just like the actions files, the + filter file is organized in sections, which are called filters + here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with the + keyword FILTER:, followed by + the filter's name, and a short (one line) + description of what it does. Below that line + come the jobs, i.e. lines that define the actual + text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter + should describe what the filter eliminates. The + comment is used in the web-based + user interface. - The meaning of any of the above is reversed by preceding the action with a - -, in place of the +. + Once a filter called name has been defined + in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form + +filter{name} + in any actions file. + + + + A filter header line for a filter called foo could look + like this: - Some examples: + FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar" - Turn off cookies by default, then allow a few through for specified sites: + Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that + define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified + in a syntax that imitates Perl's + s/// operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you + will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the + PCRS man page + for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most notably, the non-standard + option letter U is supported, which turns the default + to ungreedy matching. - + - - - - # Turn off all persistent cookies - { +no-cookies-read } - { +no-cookies-set } - # Allow cookies for this browser session ONLY - { +no-cookies-keep } + If you are new to regular expressions, you might want to take a look at + the Appendix on regular expressions, and + see the Perl + manual for + the + s/// operator's syntax and Perl-style regular + expressions in general. + The below examples might also help to get you started. + - # Exceptions to the above, sites that benefit from persistent cookies - { -no-cookies-read } - { -no-cookies-set } - { -no-cookies-keep } - .javasoft.com - .sun.com - .yahoo.com - .msdn.microsoft.com - .redhat.com + - # Alternative way of saying the same thing - {-no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-keep} - .sourceforge.net - .sf.net - - - +Filter File Tutorial + + Now, let's complete our foo filter. We have already defined + the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace + foo with bar, there is only one (trivial) job + needed: - Now turn off fast redirects, and then we allow two exceptions: + s/foo/bar/ - - - - # Turn them off! - {+fast-redirects} - - # Reverse it for these two sites, which don't work right without it. - {-fast-redirects} - www.ukc.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wac\.cgi\? - login.yahoo.com - - - + But wait! Didn't the comment say that all occurrences + of foo should be replaced? Our current job will only take + care of the first foo on each page. For global substitution, + we'll need to add the g option: - Turn on page filtering according to rules in the defined sections - of default.filter, and make one exception for - Sourceforge: - + s/foo/bar/g + - - - - # Run everything through the filter file, using only the - # specified sections: - +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups}\ - +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} - - # Then disable filtering of code from sourceforge! - {-filter} - .cvs.sourceforge.net - - - - - - - Now some URLs that we want blocked (normally generates - the blocked banner). Many of these use regular expressions - that will expand to match multiple URLs: - - - - - - - # Blocklist: - {+block} - /.*/(.*[-_.])?ads?[0-9]?(/|[-_.].*|\.(gif|jpe?g)) - /.*/(.*[-_.])?count(er)?(\.cgi|\.dll|\.exe|[?/]) - /.*/(ng)?adclient\.cgi - /.*/(plain|live|rotate)[-_.]?ads?/ - /.*/(sponsor)s?[0-9]?/ - /.*/_?(plain|live)?ads?(-banners)?/ - /.*/abanners/ - /.*/ad(sdna_image|gifs?)/ - /.*/ad(server|stream|juggler)\.(cgi|pl|dll|exe) - /.*/adbanners/ - /.*/adserver - /.*/adstream\.cgi - /.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/ - /.*/banner_?ads/ - /.*/banners?/ - /.*/banners?\.cgi/ - /.*/cgi-bin/centralad/getimage - /.*/images/addver\.gif - /.*/images/marketing/.*\.(gif|jpe?g) - /.*/popupads/ - /.*/siteads/ - /.*/sponsor.*\.gif - /.*/sponsors?[0-9]?/ - /.*/advert[0-9]+\.jpg - /Media/Images/Adds/ - /ad_images/ - /adimages/ - /.*/ads/ - /bannerfarm/ - /grafikk/annonse/ - /graphics/defaultAd/ - /image\.ng/AdType - /image\.ng/transactionID - /images/.*/.*_anim\.gif # alvin brattli - /ip_img/.*\.(gif|jpe?g) - /rotateads/ - /rotations/ - /worldnet/ad\.cgi - /cgi-bin/nph-adclick.exe/ - /.*/Image/BannerAdvertising/ - /.*/ad-bin/ - /.*/adlib/server\.cgi - /autoads/ - - - + Our complete filter now looks like this: + + + FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar" +s/foo/bar/g - Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to - misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways - a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header - content he may depend on. There is no way to have hard and fast rules - for all sites. See the Appendix - for a brief example on troubleshooting actions. + Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see + a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript + abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other: - - + + +FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse +# Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm +# +s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg + - - -Aliases - Custom actions, known to Privoxy - as aliases, can be defined by combining other actions. - These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions. - Currently, an alias can contain any character except space, tab, =, - { or }. But please use only a- - z, 0-9, +, and - -. Alias names are not case sensitive, and - must be defined before anything else in the - default.actionfile! And there can only be one set of - aliases defined. + Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses + | as the delimiter instead of /, because + the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped + by a backslash (\). - Now let's define a few aliases: + Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <script.* + enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and * + means: Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself, this + matches <script, followed by any text, i.e. + it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag. - - - - # Useful custom aliases we can use later. These must come first! - {{alias}} - +no-cookies = +no-cookies-set +no-cookies-read - -no-cookies = -no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read - fragile = -block -no-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -no-popups - shop = -no-cookies -filter -fast-redirects - +imageblock = +block +image + That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: document\.referrer + matches only the exact string document.referrer. The dot needed to + be escaped, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its + special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is: + Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including, + the text document.referrer, if both are present + in the page (and appear in that order). + - #For people who don't like to type too much: ;-) - c0 = +no-cookies - c1 = -no-cookies - c2 = -no-cookies-set +no-cookies-read - c3 = +no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read - #... etc. Customize to your heart's content. - - - + + But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses, + is .*</script>. You already know what .* + means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script> + tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text + document.referrer appears somewhere in between. - Some examples using our shop and fragile - aliases from above: + This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses: + The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be + remembered and be available through the variables $1, $2, ... in + the substitute. The U option switches to ungreedy matching, which means + that the first .* in the pattern will only eat up all + text in between <script and the first occurrence + of document.referrer, and that the second .* will + only span the text up to the first </script> + tag. Furthermore, the s option says that the match may span + multiple lines in the page, and the g option again means that the + substitution is global. - - - - # These sites are very complex and require - # minimal interference. - {fragile} - .office.microsoft.com - .windowsupdate.microsoft.com - .nytimes.com + So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text + document.referrer. Remember the parts of the script from + (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string + document.referrer as $1, and the part following + that string, up to and including the closing tag, as $2. + - # Shopping sites - still want to block ads. - {shop} - .quietpc.com - .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com - .jungle.com - .scan.co.uk + + Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So + lets look at the substitute: $1"Not Your Business!"$2 is + easy to read: The text remembered as $1, followed by + "Not Your Business!" (including + the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as $2. + This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part + (the document.referrer) replaced by "Not Your + Business!". + - # These shops require pop-ups - {shop -no-popups} - .dabs.com - .overclockers.co.uk - - - + + The whole job now reads: Replace document.referrer by + "Not Your Business!" wherever it appears inside a + <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax, + since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid + string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer + information anymore. - The shop and fragile aliases are often used for - problem sites that require most actions to be disabled - in order to function properly. + We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but + this time only point out the constructs of special interest: + + + +# The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah +# +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 backreference to the first parenthesis just like $1 above, + with the difference that in the pattern, a backslash indicates + a backreference, 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: + - - -The Filter File - Any web page can be dynamically modified with the filter file. This - modification can be removal, or re-writing, of any web page content, - including tags and non-visible content. The default filter file is - default.filter, located in the config directory. + +FILTER: fun Fun text replacements + +# Spice the daily news: +# +s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig - This is potentially a very powerful feature, and requires knowledge of both - regular expression and HTML in order create custom - filters. But, there are a number of useful filters included with - Privoxy for many common situations. + 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. - The included example file is divided into sections. Each section begins - with the FILTER keyword, followed by the identifier - for that section, e.g. FILTER: webbugs. Each section performs - a similar type of filtering, such as html-annoyances. + +# 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 - This file uses regular expressions to alter or remove any string in the - target page. The expressions can only operate on one line at a time. Some - examples from the included default default.filter: + The x option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for + e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting. - Stop web pages from displaying annoying messages in the status bar by - deleting such references: + You get the idea? + + - - - - - FILTER: html-annoyances + - # New browser windows should be resizeable and have a location and status - # bar. Make it so. - # - s/resizable="?(no|0)"?/resizable=1/ig s/noresize/yesresize/ig - s/location="?(no|0)"?/location=1/ig s/status="?(no|0)"?/status=1/ig - s/scrolling="?(no|0|Auto)"?/scrolling=1/ig - s/menubar="?(no|0)"?/menubar=1/ig - # The <BLINK> tag was a crime! - # - s*<blink>|</blink>**ig - # Is this evil? - # - #s/framespacing="?(no|0)"?//ig - #s/margin(height|width)=[0-9]*//gi - - - - + + +Templates - Just for kicks, replace any occurrence of Microsoft with - MicroSuck, and have a little fun with topical buzzwords: + All Privoxy built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the + 404 - No Such Domain + error page, the BLOCKED + page + and all pages of its web-based + user interface, are generated from templates. + (Privoxy must be running for the above links to work as + intended.) - - - - FILTER: fun - - s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/ig - - # Buzzword Bingo: - # - s/industry-leading|cutting-edge|award-winning/<font color=red><b>BINGO!</b></font>/ig - - - + These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the configuration + directory called templates. On Unixish platforms, + this is typically + /etc/privoxy/templates/. - Kill those pesky little web-bugs: + The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols + or exports), which Privoxy fills at run time. You can + edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want to customize them. + (Not recommended for the casual user). Note that + just like in configuration files, lines starting with # are + ignored when the templates are filled in. - - - - # webbugs: Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking) - FILTER: webbugs - - s/<img\s+[^>]*?(width|height)\s*=\s*['"]?1\D[^>]*?(width|height)\s*=\s*['"]?1(\D[^>]*?)?>/<!-- Squished WebBug -->/sig - - - + The place-holders are of the form @name@, and you will + find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template, + in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not + always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML + code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with. - + + A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole + blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this + for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all + our user interface (CGI) pages when Privoxy + in in an alpha or beta development stage: + - + + +<!-- @if-unstable-start --> + ... beta warning HTML code goes here ... +<!-- if-unstable-end@ --> + - + + If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including + @if-unstable-start and if-unstable-end@ + will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment: + - -Templates - When Privoxy displays one of its internal - pages, such as a 404 Not Found error page, it uses the appropriate template. - On Linux, BSD, and Unix, these are located in - /etc/privoxy/templates by default. These may be - customized, if desired. cgi-style.css is - used to control the HTML attributes (fonts, etc). + <!-- --> + - The default Blocked banner page with the bright red top - banner, is called just blocked. This - may be customized or replaced with something else if desired. + There's also an if-then-else construct and an #include + mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the + templates ;-) + + + All templates refer to a style located at + http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet. + This is, of course, locally served by Privoxy + and the source for it can be found and edited in the + cgi-style.css template. - @@ -3626,49 +4771,24 @@ Requests &contacting; - - - -Submitting Ads and <quote>Action</quote> Problems - - Ads and banners that are not stopped by Privoxy - can be submitted to the developers by accessing a special page and filling - out the brief, required form. Conversely, you can also report pages, images, - etc. that Privoxy is blocking, but should not. - The form itself does require Internet access. - - - To do this, point your browser to Privoxy - at http://config.privoxy.org/ - (shortcut: http://p.p/), and then select - Actions file feedback system, - near the bottom of the page. Paste in the URL that is the cause of the - unwanted behavior, and follow the prompts. The developers will - try to incorporate a fix for the problem you reported into future versions. - - - - New default.actions files will occasionally be made - available based on your feedback. These - will be announced on the - ijbswa-announce - list. - - - + + -Copyright and History +<application>Privoxy</application> Copyright, License and History -Copyright ©right; - + +License + + &license; + + @@ -3679,8 +4799,18 @@ Requests &history; + +Authors + + &p-authors; + + + + + + See Also @@ -3698,30 +4828,29 @@ Requests Regular Expressions - Privoxy can use regular expressions - in various config files. Assuming support for pcre (Perl - Compatible Regular Expressions) is compiled in, which is the default. Such - configuration directives do not require regular expressions, but they can be - used to increase flexibility by matching a pattern with wild-cards against - URLs. + Privoxy uses Perl-style regular + expressions in its actions + files and filter file, + through the PCRE and + PCRS libraries. If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what regular expressions are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief - introduction only. A full explanation would require a book ;-) + introduction only. A full explanation would require a book ;-) - Regular expressions is a way of matching one character - expression against another to see if it matches or not. One of the - expressions is a literal string of readable characters - (letter, numbers, etc), and the other is a complex string of literal - characters combined with wild-cards, and other special characters, called - meta-characters. The meta-characters have special meanings and - are used to build the complex pattern to be matched against. Perl Compatible - Regular Expressions is an enhanced form of the regular expression language - with backward compatibility. + Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be + run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they + match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex) + strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special + characters, called meta-characters. The meta-characters have + special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against. + Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient + dialect of the regular expression language. @@ -3775,14 +4904,18 @@ Requests \ - The escape character denotes that the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the special characters (e.g. .) needs to be taken literally and - not as a special meta-character. + not as a special meta-character. Example: example\.com, makes + sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its + meta-character meaning of any single character). [] - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if - any of the enclosed characters are encountered. + any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, [0-9] + matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine + this with + to match any digit one of more times: [0-9]+. @@ -3797,15 +4930,10 @@ Requests | - The bar character works like an or conditional statement. A match is successful if the - sub-expression on either side of | matches. - - - - - - s/string1/string2/g - This is used to rewrite strings of text. - string1 is replaced by string2 in this - example. + sub-expression on either side of | matches. As an example: + /(this|that) example/ uses grouping and the bar character + and would match either this example or that + example, and nothing else. @@ -3898,16 +5026,6 @@ Requests in the expression anywhere). - - s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/i - This is - a substitution. MicroSuck will replace any occurrence of - microsoft. The i at the end of the expression - means ignore case. The (?!.com) means - the match should fail if microsoft is followed by - .com. In other words, this acts like a NOT - modifier. In case this is a hyperlink, we don't want to break it ;-). - - We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you can understand the default Privoxy @@ -3922,6 +5040,11 @@ Requests http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html + + For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications + in filters, please see the filter file tutorial + in this manual. + @@ -3964,15 +5087,16 @@ Requests - Alternately, this may be reached at http://p.p/, but this - variation may not work as reliably as the above in some configurations. + There is a shortcut: http://p.p/ (But it + doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not + sent through Privoxy) - Show information about the current configuration: + Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and + editing of actions files:
@@ -3994,7 +5118,7 @@ Requests - Show the client's request headers: + Show the browser's request headers:
@@ -4038,23 +5162,12 @@ Requests
- - - - Edit the actions list file: - -
- - http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions - -
- - These may be bookmarked for quick reference. + These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next. @@ -4082,42 +5195,48 @@ Requests - Enable Privoxy + Privoxy - Enable - Disable Privoxy + Privoxy - Disable - Toggle Privoxy (Toggles between enabled and disabled) + Privoxy - Toggle Privoxy (Toggles between enabled and disabled) - View Privoxy Status + Privoxy- View Status - Actions file feedback system + Privoxy - Submit Actions File Feedback + + + + + Privoxy - Why? - - - - Credit: The site which gave me the general idea for these bookmarklets is - www.bookmarklets.com. They + Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is + www.bookmarklets.com. They have more information about bookmarklets. @@ -4127,115 +5246,272 @@ Requests + + +Chain of Events + + Let's take a quick look at the basic sequence of events when a web page is + requested by your browser and Privoxy is on duty: + + + + + + + First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send + the request to Privoxy, which will in turn, + relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following + tests: + + + + + Privoxy traps any request for its own internal CGI + pages (e.g http://p.p/) and sends the CGI page back to the browser. + + + + + Next, Privoxy checks to see if the URL + matches any +block patterns. If + so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted. + +handle-as-image + is then checked and if it does not match, an + HTML BLOCKED page is sent back. Otherwise, if it does match, + an image is returned. The type of image depends on the setting of +set-image-blocker + (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere). + + + + + Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the + trust file, then that is done. + + + + + If the URL pattern matches the +fast-redirects action, + it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped. + + + + + Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any + of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. +hide-user-agent, + etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and + their parameters. + + + + + Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web page and related + data). + + + + + First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other + things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then + filtered as determined by the + +crunch-incoming-cookies, + +session-cookies-only, + and +downgrade-http-version + actions. + + + + + If the +kill-popups + action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript document, the popup-code in the + response is filtered on-the-fly as it is received. + + + + + If a +filter + or +deanimate-gifs + action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is + read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from + default.filter) are processed against the buffered + content. Filters are applied in the order they are specified in the + default.filter file. Animated GIFs, if present, are + reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action + setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by + Privoxy back to your browser. + + + If neither +filter + or +deanimate-gifs + matches, then Privoxy passes the raw data through + to the client browser as it becomes available. + + + + + As the browser receives the now (probably filtered) page content, it + reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page + source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g. + frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a new + request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a + complex web page may have many such embedded URLs. + + + + + + + + + Anatomy of an Action - The way Privoxy applies actions - and filters to any given URL can be complex, and not always so + The way Privoxy applies + actions and filters + to any given URL can be complex, and not always so easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to see just what Privoxy is doing. Especially, if something Privoxy is doing is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with - regular expressions whose consequences are not always - so obvious. Privoxy provides the - http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info - page that can show us very specifically how actions - are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting. - + regular expressions whose consequences are not + always so obvious. + - First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then - Privoxy will tell us - how the current configuration will handle it. This will not - help with filtering effects from the default.filter file! It - also will not tell you about any other URLs that may be embedded within the - URL you are testing (i.e. a web page). For instance, images such as ads are expressed as URLs - within the raw page source of HTML pages. So you will only get info for the - actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area -- not any sub-URLs. If you - want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you will have to dig those out of - the HTML source. Use your browser's View Page Source option - for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the URL. + 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!). Looking at the + logs is a good idea too. - Let's look at an example, google.com, - one section at a time: + Privoxy also provides the + http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info + page that can show us very specifically how actions + are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting. - - System default actions: - - { -add-header -block -deanimate-gifs -downgrade -fast-redirects -filter - -hide-forwarded -hide-from -hide-referer -hide-user-agent -image - -image-blocker -limit-connect -no-compression -no-cookies-keep - -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set -no-popups -vanilla-wafer -wafer } - - + First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then + Privoxy will tell us + how the current configuration will handle it. This will not + help with filtering effects (i.e. the +filter action) from + the default.filter file since this is handled very + differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other + URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images + such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So + you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area + -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you + will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's View + Page Source option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the + URL. - This is the top section, and only tells us of the compiled in defaults. This - is basically what Privoxy would do if there - were not any actions defined, i.e. it does nothing. Every action - is disabled. This is not particularly informative for our purposes here. OK, - next section: + Let's try an example, google.com, + and look at it one section at a time: - Matches for http://google.com: - { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade +fast-redirects - +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups} - +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal} - +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded +hide-from{block} +hide-referer{forge} - -hide-user-agent -image +image-blocker{blank} +no-compression - +no-cookies-keep -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set +no-popups - -vanilla-wafer -wafer } - / - - { -no-cookies-keep -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set } - .google.com + In file: default.action [ View ] [ Edit ] + +{-add-header + -block + -crunch-outgoing-cookies + -crunch-incoming-cookies + +deanimate-gifs{last} + -downgrade-http-version + +fast-redirects + -filter{popups} + -filter{fun} + -filter{shockwave-flash} + -filter{crude-parental} + +filter{html-annoyances} + +filter{js-annoyances} + +filter{content-cookies} + +filter{webbugs} + +filter{refresh-tags} + +filter{nimda} + +filter{banners-by-size} + +hide-forwarded-for-headers + +hide-from-header{block} + +hide-referer{forge} + -hide-user-agent + -handle-as-image + -kill-popups + -limit-connect + +prevent-compression + -send-vanilla-wafer + -send-wafer + +session-cookies-only + +set-image-blocker{pattern} } +/ + + { -session-cookies-only } + .google.com { -fast-redirects } - .google.com + .google.com - +In file: user.action [ View ] [ Edit ] +(no matches in this file) + - This is much more informative, and tells us how we have defined our - actions, and which ones match for our example, - google.com. The first grouping shows our default - settings, which would apply to all URLs. If you look at your actions - file, this would be the section just below the aliases section - near the top. This applies to all URLs as signified by the single forward - slash -- /. - + This tells us how we have defined our + actions, and + which ones match for our example, google.com. The first listing + is any matches for the standard.action file. No hits at + all here on standard. Then next is default, or + our default.action file. The large, multi-line listing, + is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default settings. + If you look at your actions file, this would be the section + just below the aliases section near the top. This will apply to + all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end of the listing + -- /. - These are the default actions we have enabled. But we can define additional - actions that would be exceptions to these general rules, and then list - specific URLs that these exceptions would apply to. Last match wins. - Just below this then are two explicit matches for .google.com. - The first is negating our various cookie blocking actions (i.e. we will allow - cookies here). The second is allowing fast-redirects. Note - that there is a leading dot here -- .google.com. This will - match any hosts and sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as - www.google.com. So, apparently, we have these actions defined - somewhere in the lower part of our actions file, and - google.com is referenced in these sections. + But we can define additional actions that would be exceptions to these general + rules, and then list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions would + apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit matches for + .google.com. The first is negating our previous cookie setting, + which was for +session-cookies-only + (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google. The + second turns off any + +fast-redirects + action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading + dot here -- .google.com. This will match any hosts and + sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as + www.google.com. So, apparently, we have these two actions + defined somewhere in the lower part of our default.action + file, and google.com is referenced somewhere in these latter + sections. + + + Then, for our user.action file, we again have no hits. - And now we pull it altogether in the bottom section and summarize how + And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how Privoxy is applying all its actions to google.com: @@ -4245,16 +5521,43 @@ Requests Final results: - - -add-header -block -deanimate-gifs -downgrade -fast-redirects - +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups} - +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal} - +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded +hide-from{block} +hide-referer{forge} - -hide-user-agent -image +image-blocker{blank} -limit-connect +no-compression - -no-cookies-keep -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set +no-popups -vanilla-wafer - -wafer - - + + -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} + + + + + Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to + fast-redirects and session-cookies-only. @@ -4264,24 +5567,24 @@ Requests - { +block +image } + { +block +handle-as-image } .ad.doubleclick.net - { +block +image } + { +block +handle-as-image } ad*. - { +block +image } + { +block +handle-as-image } .doubleclick.net - - + We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is - matched three different times. Each as an +block +image, + matched three different times. Each as an +block +handle-as-image, which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as: - +imageblock. (Aliases are defined in the - first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more + +imageblock. (Aliases are defined in + the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more than one action.) @@ -4291,14 +5594,18 @@ Requests would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious URL to be invisible, it should be defined as ad.doubleclick.net - is done here -- as both a +block and an - +image. The custom alias +imageblock does this - for us. + is done here -- as both a +block + and an + +handle-as-image. + The custom alias +imageblock just simplifies the process and make + it more readable. One last example. Let's try http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/. - This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm... + This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ... @@ -4306,27 +5613,47 @@ Requests Matches for http://www.rhapsodyk.net/adsl/HOWTO/: - { -add-header -block +deanimate-gifs -downgrade +fast-redirects - +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups} - +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size} +filter{hal} - +filter{fun} +hide-forwarded +hide-from{block} +hide-referer{forge} - -hide-user-agent -image +image-blocker{blank} +no-compression - +no-cookies-keep -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set +no-popups - -vanilla-wafer -wafer } + In file: default.action [ View ] [ Edit ] + + {-add-header + -block + -crunch-incoming-cookies + -crunch-outgoing-cookies + +deanimate-gifs + -downgrade-http-version + +fast-redirects + +filter{html-annoyances} + +filter{js-annoyances} + +filter{kill-popups} + +filter{webbugs} + +filter{nimda} + +filter{banners-by-size} + +filter{hal} + +filter{fun} + +hide-forwarded-for-headers + +hide-from-header{block} + +hide-referer{forge} + -hide-user-agent + -handle-as-image + +kill-popups + +prevent-compression + -send-vanilla-wafer + -send-wafer + +session-cookies-only + +set-image-blocker{blank} } / - { +block +image } + { +block +handle-as-image } /ads - - + Ooops, the /adsl/ is matching /ads! But we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the blank page. We could now add a new action below this that explicitly does not - block (-block) pages with adsl. There are various ways to - handle such exceptions. Example: + block ({-block}) paths with adsl. There are + various ways to handle such exceptions. Example: @@ -4334,8 +5661,7 @@ Requests { -block } /adsl - - + @@ -4351,10 +5677,9 @@ Requests - { -block } - /adsl - - + { +block +handle-as-image } + /ads + @@ -4362,8 +5687,9 @@ Requests 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: + 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: @@ -4375,14 +5701,13 @@ Requests .jungle.com .scan.co.uk .forbes.com - - + {shop} is an alias that expands to - { -filter -no-cookies -no-cookies-keep }. Or you could do - your own exception to negate filtering: + { -filter -session-cookies-only }. + Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering: @@ -4391,8 +5716,20 @@ Requests {-filter} .forbes.com - - + + + + + This would turn off all filtering for that site. This would probably be most + appropriately put in user.action, for local site + exceptions. + + + + 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). @@ -4427,6 +5764,227 @@ Requests Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $ + Revision 2.7 2002/10/12 01:14:42 hal9 + Updates for demoronizer filter, Radical profile, and the srvany.exe/icon + win32 fix. + + Revision 2.6 2002/10/10 04:10:38 hal9 + s/Advanced/Radical/ for standard.action change. + + Revision 2.5 2002/10/10 03:50:38 hal9 + Update cookie sections for pre-existing condition, and content cookies not + effected by session-cookies setting. + + Revision 2.4 2002/09/26 05:58:07 hal9 + Change development status from working on 3.0 to 3.2. + + Revision 2.3 2002/09/26 00:12:17 hal9 + Additional notes on Privoxy patterns, and filtering vs SSL. + + Revision 2.2 2002/09/05 05:45:30 hal9 + Syncing with 3.0. This should be it for doc sources. Not all builds tested + yet. No new content, just catching up. + + Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9 + Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match + CGIs. + + Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9 + Spell checked (only one typo this time!). + + Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt + Update to Mac OSX startup script name + + Revision 1.123.2.15 2002/08/07 17:32:11 oes + Converted some internal links from ulink to link for PDF creation; no content changed + + Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes + Nits re: actions file download + + Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff + Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections + + Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff + Added 2 Gentoo sections + + Revision 1.123.2.11 2002/07/26 15:20:31 oes + - Added version info to title + - Added info on new filters + - Revised parts of the filter file tutorial + - Added info on where to get updated actions files + + Revision 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9 + Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols. + + Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt + + Updated Mac OSX sections due to installation location change + + Revision 1.123.2.8 2002/06/09 16:36:32 hal9 + Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html. + + Revision 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9 + Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy. + + Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9 + Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs. + + Revision 1.123.2.5 2002/05/29 02:01:02 hal9 + This is break out of the entire config section from u-m, so it can + eventually be used to generate the comments, etc in the main config file + so that these are in sync with each other. + + Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9 + Ooops missed something from David. + + Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9 + Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and OSX startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat). + That's a wrap, I think. + + Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9 + Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section. + + Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9 + -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches + + Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9 + Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton. + Minor corrections/clarifications here and there. + + Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes + Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info + + Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes + - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the + style. + - Small fixes in the actions chapter + - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking + - Removed from s since the new doc CSS + renders them red (bad in TOC). + + Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro + Correct Debian specials (installation and startup). + + Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes + Added Security hint + + Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9 + -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking + -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout + + Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes + - Reworked & extended Templates chapter + - Small changes to Regex appendix + - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter + + Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9 + Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section. + + Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes + Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes + + Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes + More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section + + Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes + Extended and further commented the example actions files + + Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9 + Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and + clarification. + + Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes + Fixing the fixes + + Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes + Restored alphabetical order of actions + + Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes + Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs + + Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes + Completed proofreading the actions chapter + + Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9 + Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this + apparently an important distinction for some OS's. + + Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9 + This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs + are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright + changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ). + + Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9 + Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs. + + Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa + bumped version + + Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9 + -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in. + -Some minor additions to Quickstart. + + Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes + Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions + + Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9 + Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about + Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs. + + Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9 + Add clarification on differences of new actions files. + + Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa + more structure in starting section + + Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9 + This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This + will probably break links elsewhere :( + + Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9 + -Rewrite of Actions File example. + -Add section for user-manual directive in config. + + Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9 + -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action. + -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished). + + Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa + bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot + + Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9 + -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section. + -A few other minor corrections and touch up. + + Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9 + More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names. + Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications. + + Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9 + Add 'Chain of Events' section. + + Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9 + Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig. + + Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes + Added hint for startup on Red Hat + + Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9 + Add AmigaOS install stuff. + + Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt + Updated OSX installation section + Added a few English tweaks here an there + + Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9 + Re-write actions section. + + Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9 + Fix ugly typo (mine). + + Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9 + Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections. + Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes Added RPM install detail