-
Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions
- By: Privoxy Developers
-
- $Id: faq.sgml,v 1.22 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa Exp $
-
- The FAQ document gives users and developers alike answers to
- frequently asked questions about Privoxy. Privoxy is a web proxy with
- advanced filtering capabilities for protecting privacy, filtering web
- page content, managing cookies, controlling access, and removing ads,
- banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious Internet Junk. Privoxy has a very
- flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs
- and tastes. Privoxy has application for both stand-alone systems and
- multi-user networks.
-
- You can find the latest version of the document at
- [1]http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/faq/. Please see the Contact section
- in the [2]user-manual if you want to contact the developers.
- _________________________________________________________________
+By: Privoxy Developers
+
+$Id: faq.sgml,v 1.27 2002/03/25 03:42:23 hal9 Exp $
+
+The FAQ document gives users and developers alike answers to frequently asked
+questions about Privoxy. Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering
+capabilities for protecting privacy, filtering web page content, managing
+cookies, controlling access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other
+obnoxious Internet Junk. Privoxy has a very flexible configuration and can be
+customized to suit individual needs and tastes. Privoxy has application for
+both stand-alone systems and multi-user networks.
+
+You can find the latest version of the document at http://
+ijbswa.sourceforge.net/faq/. Please see the Contact section in the user-manual
+if you want to contact the developers.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Table of Contents
+1. Frequently Asked Questions
- Table of Contents
- 1. [3]Frequently Asked Questions
-
- 1.1. [4]General Information
-
- 1.1.1. [5]What is this new version of Privoxy?
- 1.1.2. [6]How does it differ from the old Junkbuster?
- 1.1.3. [7]What are some of the new features?
- 1.1.4. [8]What is a "proxy"? How does Privoxy work?
- 1.1.5. [9]My browser does the same things as Privoxy. Why
- should I use Privoxy at all?
-
- 1.1.6. [10]Is there is a license or fee? What about a
- warranty? Registration?
-
- 1.1.7. [11]I would like to help you, what do I do?
-
- 1.2. [12]Installation
-
- 1.2.1. [13]Can I install the new Privoxy over the old one?
- 1.2.2. [14]I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything
- special I have to do now?
-
- 1.2.3. [15]What is the proxy address of Privoxy?
- 1.2.4. [16]I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is
- happening. All the ads are there. What's wrong?
-
- 1.3. [17]Configuration
-
- 1.3.1. [18]Can I use my old config files?
- 1.3.2. [19]What is an "actions" file?
- 1.3.3. [20]The "actions"concept confuses me. Please list
- some of these "actions".
-
- 1.3.4. [21]How are actions files configured? What is the
- easiest way to do this?
-
- 1.3.5. [22]What are the differences between
- intermediate.action, basic.action, etc.?
-
- 1.3.6. [23]Why can I change the configuration with a
- browser? Does that not raise security issues?
-
- 1.3.7. [24]How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for
- my LAN?
-
- 1.3.8. [25]Instead of ads, now I get a Privoxy logo [or
- checkerboard]. I don't want to see anything.
-
- 1.3.9. [26]Why would anybody want to see the logo or
- checkerboard?
-
- 1.3.10. [27]I see large red banners on some pages that say
- "Blocked". How do I get rid of this?
-
- 1.4. [28]Misc
-
- 1.4.1. [29]How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down?
- This has to add extra time to browsing.
-
- 1.4.2. [30]I noticed considerable delays in page requests
- compared to the old Junkbuster. What's wrong?
-
- 1.4.3. [31]What is the "http://i.j.b/"?
- 1.4.4. [32]Do you still maintain the blocklists?
- 1.4.5. [33]How can I submit new ads?
- 1.4.6. [34]How can I hide my IP address?
- 1.4.7. [35]Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?
- 1.4.8. [36]Might some things break because header
- information is being altered?
-
- 1.4.9. [37]Can Privoxy act as a "caching" proxy to speed up
- web browsing?
-
- 1.4.10. [38]What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect
- me?
-
- 1.4.11. [39]The Privoxy logo that replaces ads is very
- blocky and ugly looking. Can't a better font be
- used?
-
- 1.4.12. [40]I have large empty spaces now where ads used to
- be. Why does Privoxy leave these large gaps?
-
- 1.4.13. [41]How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?
- 1.4.14. [42]Privoxy runs as a "server". How secure is it?
- Do I need to take any special precautions?
-
- 1.4.15. [43]What is a "default.filter"?
-
- 1.5. [44]Troubleshooting
-
- 1.5.1. [45]I just upgraded and am getting "connection
- refused" with every web page?
-
- 1.5.2. [46]I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is
- still getting through. How?
-
- 1.5.3. [47]One of my favorite sites does not work with
- Privoxy. What can I do?
-
- 1.5.4. [48]What time is it?
-
- 2. [49]Contact the developers
- 3. [50]Copyright and History
- 4. [51]See also
-
+ 1.1. General Information
+
+ 1.1.1. What is this new version of Privoxy?
+ 1.1.2. How does it differ from the old Junkbuster?
+ 1.1.3. What are some of the new features?
+ 1.1.4. What is a "proxy"? How does Privoxy work?
+ 1.1.5. My browser does the same things as Privoxy. Why should I use
+ Privoxy at all?
+ 1.1.6. Is there is a license or fee? What about a warranty?
+ Registration?
+ 1.1.7. I would like to help you, what do I do?
+
+ 1.2. Installation
+
+ 1.2.1. Can I install the new Privoxy over the old one?
+ 1.2.2. I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything special I have to do
+ now?
+ 1.2.3. What is the proxy address of Privoxy?
+ 1.2.4. I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening. All the ads
+ are there. What's wrong?
+
+ 1.3. Configuration
+
+ 1.3.1. Can I use my old config files?
+ 1.3.2. What is an "actions" file?
+ 1.3.3. The "actions"concept confuses me. Please list some of these
+ "actions".
+ 1.3.4. How are actions files configured? What is the easiest way to do
+ this?
+ 1.3.5. What are the differences between intermediate.action,
+ basic.action, etc.?
+ 1.3.6. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not
+ raise security issues?
+ 1.3.7. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?
+ 1.3.8. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want
+ to see anything.
+ 1.3.9. Why would anybody want to see the checkerboard?
+ 1.3.10. I see large red banners on some pages that say "Blocked". How
+ do I get rid of this?
+
+ 1.4. Misc
+
+ 1.4.1. How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down? This has to add
+ extra time to browsing.
+ 1.4.2. I noticed considerable delays in page requests compared to the
+ old Junkbuster. What's wrong?
+ 1.4.3. What is the "http://p.p/"?
+ 1.4.4. Do you still maintain the blocklists?
+ 1.4.5. How can I submit new ads?
+ 1.4.6. How can I hide my IP address?
+ 1.4.7. Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?
+ 1.4.8. Might some things break because header information is being
+ altered?
+ 1.4.9. Can Privoxy act as a "caching" proxy to speed up web browsing?
+ 1.4.10. What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?
+ 1.4.11. The Privoxy logo that replaces ads is very blocky and ugly
+ looking. Can't a better font be used?
+ 1.4.12. I have large empty spaces now where ads used to be. Why does
+ Privoxy leave these large gaps?
+ 1.4.13. How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?
+ 1.4.14. Privoxy runs as a "server". How secure is it? Do I need to take
+ any special precautions?
+ 1.4.15. What is a "default.filter"?
+
+ 1.5. Troubleshooting
+
+ 1.5.1. I just upgraded and am getting "connection refused" with every
+ web page?
+ 1.5.2. I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is still getting
+ through. How?
+ 1.5.3. One of my favorite sites does not work with Privoxy. What can I
+ do?
+ 1.5.4. What time is it?
+
+2. Contact the developers
+3. Copyright and History
+4. See also
+
1. Frequently Asked Questions
1.1. General Information
1.1.1. What is this new version of Privoxy?
- The original Internet Junkbuster (tm) is a coyrighted product of
- [52]Junkbusters Corporation. Development of this effort stopped some
- time ago as of version 2.0.2. Stefan Waldherr started the ijbswa
- project on [53]Sourceforge to rekindle development. Other developers
- subsequently joined with Stefan, and have since added many new
- features, refinements and enhancements.
-
- The new Privoxy started with the same code base, but has changed
- significantly at this point.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+The original Internet Junkbuster (tm) is a copyrighted product of Junkbusters
+Corporation. Development of this effort stopped some time ago as of version
+2.0.2. Stefan Waldherr started the ijbswa project on Sourceforge to rekindle
+development. Other developers subsequently joined with Stefan, and have since
+added many new features, refinements and enhancements.
+
+The new Privoxy started with the same code base, but has changed significantly
+at this point.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.1.2. How does it differ from the old Junkbuster?
- All the old features remain. The new Privoxy still blocks ads and
- banners, still manages cookies, and still helps protect your privacy.
- But, these are all enhanced, and many new features have been added,
- all in the same vein.
-
- The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something
- that users will notice right off the bat. The "blocklist" file does
- not exist any more. This is replaced by "actions" files, such as
- default.actions. This is where most of the per site configuration is
- now.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+All the old features remain. The new Privoxy still blocks ads and banners,
+still manages cookies, and still helps protect your privacy. But, these are all
+enhanced, and many new features have been added, all in the same vein.
+
+The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something that
+users will notice right off the bat. The "blocklist" file does not exist any
+more. This is replaced by "actions" files, such as default.actions. This is
+where most of the per site configuration is now.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.1.3. What are some of the new features?
- * Integrated browser based configuration and control utility
- ([54]http://i.j.b). Browser-based tracing of rule and filter
- effects.
- * Blocking of annoying pop-up browser windows.
- * HTTP/1.1 compliant (most, but not all 1.1 features are supported).
- * Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the
- configuration files, and generally a more sophisticated and
- flexible configuration syntax over previous versions.
- * GIF de-animation.
- * Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size,
- invisible "web-bugs", JavaScript, pop-ups, status bar abuse, etc.)
- * Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
- * Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
- * Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
- * User-customizable HTML templates (e.g. 404 error page).
- * Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
- * Builds from source on most UNIX-like systems. Packages available
- for: Linux (RedHat, SuSE, or Debian), Windows, Sun Solaris, Mac
- OSX, OS/2, HP-UX 11 and AmigaOS.
- * In addition, the configuration is much more powerful and versatile
- over-all.
- _________________________________________________________________
+ * Integrated browser based configuration and control utility (http://p.p).
+ Browser-based tracing of rule and filter effects.
-1.1.4. What is a "proxy"? How does Privoxy work?
-
- When you connect to a web site with Privoxy, you are really connecting
- to your locally running version of Privoxy. Privoxy intercepts your
- requests for the web page, and relays that to the "real" web site. The
- web site sends the HTTP data stream back to Privoxy, where Privoxy can
- work its magic before it relays this data back to your web browser.
+ * Blocking of annoying pop-up browser windows.
- Since Privoxy sits between you and the WWW, it is in a position to
- intercept and completely manage all web traffic and HTTP content
- before it gets to your browser. Privoxy uses various programming
- methods to do this, all of which is under your control via the various
- configuration files and options.
+ * HTTP/1.1 compliant (most, but not all 1.1 features are supported).
- There are many kinds of proxies. Privoxy best fits the "filtering
- proxy" category.
- _________________________________________________________________
+ * Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the configuration files,
+ and generally a more sophisticated and flexible configuration syntax over
+ previous versions.
-1.1.5. My browser does the same things as Privoxy. Why should I use Privoxy
-at all?
-
- Modern browsers do indeed have some of the same functionality as
- Privoxy. Maybe this is adequate for you. But Privoxy is much more
- verstatile and powerful, and can do a number of things that browsers
- just can't.
+ * GIF de-animation.
- In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or
- have a LAN with multiple computers. This way all the configuration is
- in one place, and you don't have to maintain a similar configuration
- for possibly many browsers.
- _________________________________________________________________
+ * Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size, invisible
+ "web-bugs", JavaScript, pop-ups, status bar abuse, etc.)
-1.1.6. Is there is a license or fee? What about a warranty? Registration?
-
- Privoxy is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It is
- free to use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of
- this license. See [55]http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html for
- specifics.
+ * Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
- There is no warranty of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise.
- That is something that would cost real money ;-) There is no
- registration either. Privoxy really is free in every respect!
- _________________________________________________________________
+ * Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
+ * Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
+
+ * User-customizable HTML templates (e.g. 404 error page).
+
+ * Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
+
+ * Builds from source on most UNIX-like systems. Packages available for: Linux
+ (RedHat, SuSE, or Debian), Windows, Sun Solaris, Mac OSX, OS/2, HP-UX 11
+ and AmigaOS.
+
+ * In addition, the configuration is much more powerful and versatile
+ over-all.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.1.4. What is a "proxy"? How does Privoxy work?
+
+When you connect to a web site with Privoxy, you are really connecting to your
+locally running version of Privoxy. Privoxy intercepts your requests for the
+web page, and relays that to the "real" web site. The web site sends the HTTP
+data stream back to Privoxy, where Privoxy can work its magic before it relays
+this data back to your web browser.
+
+Since Privoxy sits between you and the WWW, it is in a position to intercept
+and completely manage all web traffic and HTTP content before it gets to your
+browser. Privoxy uses various programming methods to do this, all of which is
+under your control via the various configuration files and options.
+
+There are many kinds of proxies. Privoxy best fits the "filtering proxy"
+category.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.1.5. My browser does the same things as Privoxy. Why should I use Privoxy at
+all?
+
+Modern browsers do indeed have some of the same functionality as Privoxy. Maybe
+this is adequate for you. But Privoxy is much more versatile and powerful, and
+can do a number of things that browsers just can't.
+
+In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or have a LAN
+with multiple computers. This way all the configuration is in one place, and
+you don't have to maintain a similar configuration for possibly many browsers.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.1.6. Is there is a license or fee? What about a warranty? Registration?
+
+Privoxy is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It is free to
+use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of this license.
+See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html for specifics.
+
+There is no warranty of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise. That is
+something that would cost real money ;-) There is no registration either.
+Privoxy really is free in every respect!
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.1.7. I would like to help you, what do I do?
1.1.7.1. Money Money Money
- We, of course, welcome donations and use the money for domain
- registering, regular world-wide get-togethers (hahaha). Anyway, we'll
- soon describe the process how to donate money to the team.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+We, of course, welcome donations and use the money for domain registering,
+regular world-wide get-togethers (hahaha). Anyway, we'll soon describe the
+process how to donate money to the team.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.1.7.2. You want to work with us?
- Well, helping the team is always a good idea. We welcome new
- developers, RPM gurus or documentation makers. Simply get an account
- on sourceforge.net and mail your id to the developer mailing list.
- Then read the section Quickstart in the developers manual.
-
- Once we have added you to the team, you'll have write access to the
- CVS repository, and together we'll find a suitable task for you.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+Well, helping the team is always a good idea. We welcome new developers, RPM
+gurus or documentation makers. Simply get an account on sourceforge.net and
+mail your id to the developer mailing list. Then read the section Quickstart in
+the developers manual.
+
+Once we have added you to the team, you'll have write access to the CVS
+repository, and together we'll find a suitable task for you.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.2. Installation
1.2.1. Can I install the new Privoxy over the old one?
- We recommend you uninstall the old Junkbuster first to minimize
- conflicts and confusion. You may want to save your old configuration
- files for future reference. The configuration is substantially
- changed.
-
- See the [56]user-manual for platform specific installation
- instructions. [FIXME: This is meant for after the name change for
- 3.0!]
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+We recommend you uninstall the old Junkbuster first to minimize conflicts and
+confusion. You may want to save your old configuration files for future
+reference. The configuration is substantially changed.
+
+See the user-manual for platform specific installation instructions. [FIXME:
+This is meant for after the name change for 3.0!]
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.2.2. I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything special I have to do now?
- All browsers must be told to use Privoxy as a proxy by specifying the
- correct proxy address and port number in the appropriate configuration
- area for the browser. See below.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+All browsers must be told to use Privoxy as a proxy by specifying the correct
+proxy address and port number in the appropriate configuration area for the
+browser. See below.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.2.3. What is the proxy address of Privoxy?
- If you set up the Privoxy to run on the computer you browse from
- (rather than your ISP's server or some networked computer on a LAN),
- the proxy will be on "localhost" (which is the special name used by
- every computer on the Internet to refer to itself) and the port will
- be 8118 (unless you have Privoxy to run on a different port with the
- listen-address config option).
-
- When configuring your browser's proxy settings you typically enter the
- word "localhost" in the boxes next to "HTTP" and "Secure" (HTTPS) and
- then the number "8118" for "port". This tells your browser to send all
- web requests to Privoxy instead of directly to the Interenet.
-
- Privoxy can also be used to proxy for a Local Area Network. In this
- case, your would enter either the IP address of the LAN host where
- Privoxy is running, or the equivalent hostname. Port assignment would
- be same as above.
-
- Privoxy does not currently handle protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM,
- IRC, ICQ, or other Internet protocols.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+If you set up the Privoxy to run on the computer you browse from (rather than
+your ISP's server or some networked computer on a LAN), the proxy will be on
+"localhost" (which is the special name used by every computer on the Internet
+to refer to itself) and the port will be 8118 (unless you have Privoxy to run
+on a different port with the listen-address config option).
+
+When configuring your browser's proxy settings you typically enter the word
+"localhost" in the boxes next to "HTTP" and "Secure" (HTTPS) and then the
+number "8118" for "port". This tells your browser to send all web requests to
+Privoxy instead of directly to the Internet.
+
+Privoxy can also be used to proxy for a Local Area Network. In this case, your
+would enter either the IP address of the LAN host where Privoxy is running, or
+the equivalent hostname. Port assignment would be same as above.
+
+Privoxy does not currently handle protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM, IRC, ICQ, or
+other Internet protocols.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.2.4. I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening. All the ads are
there. What's wrong?
- Did you configure your browser to use Privoxy as a proxy? It does not
- sound like it. See above. You might also try flushing the browser's
- caches to force a full re-reading of pages. You can verify that
- Privoxy is running, and your browser is correctly configured by
- entering the special URL: [57]http://i.j.b/. This should give you a
- banner that says "This is Privoxy" and access to Privoxy's internal
- configuration. If you see this, then you are good to go. If not, the
- browser or Privoxy are not set up correctly.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+Did you configure your browser to use Privoxy as a proxy? It does not sound
+like it. See above. You might also try flushing the browser's caches to force a
+full re-reading of pages. You can verify that Privoxy is running, and your
+browser is correctly configured by entering the special URL: http://p.p/. This
+should give you a banner that says "This is Privoxy" and access to Privoxy's
+internal configuration. If you see this, then you are good to go. If not, the
+browser or Privoxy are not set up correctly.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.3. Configuration
1.3.1. Can I use my old config files?
- There are major changes to Junkbuster configuration from version 2.0.x
- to 2.9.x and later. The older files will not work at all. If this is
- the case, you will need to re-enter your old data into the new
- configuration structure. This is probably also a good recommendation
- even if upgrading from 2.9.x to 3.x since there were many minor
- changes along the way.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+There are major changes to Junkbuster configuration from version 2.0.x to 2.9.x
+and later. The older files will not work at all. If this is the case, you will
+need to re-enter your old data into the new configuration structure. This is
+probably also a good recommendation even if upgrading from 2.9.x to 3.x since
+there were many minor changes along the way.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.3.2. What is an "actions" file?
- "actions" files are where various actions that Privoxy might take, are
- configured. Typically, you would define a set of default actions that
- apply to all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults.
-
- Actions can be defined on a per site basis, or for groups of sites.
- Actions can also be grouped together and then applied to one or more
- sites. There are many possible actions that might apply to any given
- site. As an example, if we are blocking cookies as one of our default
- actions, but need to accept cookies from a given site, we would define
- this in our "actions" file.
-
- Privoxy comes with several default actions files, with varying degrees
- of filtering and blocking, as starting points for your own
- configuration (see below).
- _________________________________________________________________
-
-1.3.3. The "actions"concept confuses me. Please list some of these
-"actions".
+"actions" files are where various actions that Privoxy might take, are
+configured. Typically, you would define a set of default actions that apply to
+all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults.
+
+Actions can be defined on a per site basis, or for groups of sites. Actions can
+also be grouped together and then applied to one or more sites. There are many
+possible actions that might apply to any given site. As an example, if we are
+blocking cookies as one of our default actions, but need to accept cookies from
+a given site, we would define this in our "actions" file.
+
+Privoxy comes with several default actions files, with varying degrees of
+filtering and blocking, as starting points for your own configuration (see
+below).
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.3.3. The "actions"concept confuses me. Please list some of these "actions".
+
+These are all explained in the user-manual. Please refer to that.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- These are all explained in the [58]user-manual. Please refer to that.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
1.3.4. How are actions files configured? What is the easiest way to do this?
- The easiest way to do this, is to access Privoxy with your web browser
- at [59]http://i.j.b/, and then select "[60]Edit the actions list" from
- the selection list. You can also do this by editing the appropriate
- file with a text editor.
-
- Please see the [61]user-manual for a detailed explanation of these and
- other configuration files, and their various options and syntax.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+The easiest way to do this, is to access Privoxy with your web browser at http:
+//p.p/, and then select "Edit the actions list" from the selection list. You
+can also do this by editing the appropriate file with a text editor.
+
+Please see the user-manual for a detailed explanation of these and other
+configuration files, and their various options and syntax.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.3.5. What are the differences between intermediate.action, basic.action,
etc.?
- Configuring Privoxy is not easy. To help you get started, we provide
- you with three different default configurations. The following table
- shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
-
- Table 1. Default Configurations
- Feature default.action basic.action intermediate.action
- advanced.action
- ad-filtering ? x x x
- blank image ? x x x
- de-animate GIFs ? x x x
- referer forging ? x x x
- jon's +no-cookies-keep (i.e. session cookies only) ? x x x
- no-popup windows ? x x
- fast redirects ? x x
- hide-referrer ? x x
- hide-useragent ? x x
- content-modification ? x
- feature-x ?
- feature-y ?
- feature-z ?
- _________________________________________________________________
-
-1.3.6. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not
-raise security issues?
+Configuring Privoxy is not easy. To help you get started, we provide you with
+three different default configurations. The following table shows you, which
+features are enabled in each configuration.
+
+Table 1. Default Configurations
+
++--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|Feature |default.action|basic.action |intermediate.action|advanced.action|
+|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
+|ad-filtering |? |x |x |x |
+|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
+|blank image |? |x |x |x |
+|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
+|de-animate GIFs |? |x |x |x |
+|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
+|referer forging |? |x |x |x |
+|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
+|jon's |? |x |x |x |
+|+no-cookies-keep | | | | |
+|(i.e. session | | | | |
+|cookies only) | | | | |
+|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
+|no-popup windows |? | |x |x |
+|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
+|fast redirects |? | |x |x |
+|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
+|hide-referrer |? | |x |x |
+|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
+|hide-useragent |? | |x |x |
+|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
+|content-modification|? | | |x |
+|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
+|feature-x |? | | | |
+|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
+|feature-y |? | | | |
+|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
+|feature-z |? | | | |
++--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.3.6. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not raise
+security issues?
+
+What I don't understand, is how I can browser edit the config file as a regular
+user, while the whole /etc/privoxy hierarchy belongs to the user "privoxy",
+with only 644 perms.
+
+When you use the browser-based editor, Privoxy itself is writing to the config
+files. Because Privoxy is running as the user "privoxy", it can update the
+config files.
+
+If you don't like this, setting "enable-edit-actions 0" in the config file will
+disable the browser-based editor. If you're that paranoid, you should also
+consider setting "enable-remote-toggle 0" to prevent browser-based enabling/
+disabling of Privoxy.
+
+Note that normally only local users can connect to Privoxy, so this is not
+(normally) a security problem.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- What I don't understand, is how I can browser edit the config file as
- a regular user, while the whole /etc/privoxy hierarchy belongs to the
- user "privoxy", with only 644 perms.
-
- When you use the browser-based editor, Privoxy itself is writing to
- the config files. Because Privoxy is running as the user "privoxy", it
- can update the config files.
-
- If you don't like this, setting "enable-edit-actions 0" in the config
- file will disable the browser-based editor. If you're that paranoid,
- you should also consider setting "enable-remote-toggle 0" to prevent
- browser-based enabling/disabling of Privoxy.
-
- Note that normally only local users can connect to Privoxy, so this is
- not (normally) a security problem.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
1.3.7. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?
- By default, Privoxy only responds to requests from localhost. To have
- it act as a server for a network, this needs to be changed in the main
- config file where the Privoxy configuration is located. In that file
- is a "listen-address" option. It may be commented out with a "#"
- symbol. Make sure it is uncommented, and assign it the address of the
- LAN gateway interface, and port number to use:
-
- listen-address 192.168.1.1:8118
+By default, Privoxy only responds to requests from localhost. To have it act as
+a server for a network, this needs to be changed in the main config file where
+the Privoxy configuration is located. In that file is a "listen-address"
+option. It may be commented out with a "#" symbol. Make sure it is uncommented,
+and assign it the address of the LAN gateway interface, and port number to use:
- Save the file, and restart Privoxy. Configure all browsers on the
- network then to use this address and port number.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
-1.3.8. Instead of ads, now I get a Privoxy logo [or checkerboard]. I don't
-want to see anything.
+ listen-address 192.168.1.1:8118
+
- This is a configuration option for images that Privoxy is stopping.
- You have the choice of the Privoxy logo, a checkerboard pattern (this
- scales better), a transparent 1x1 GIF image, or a custom URL or your
- choice.
-
- If you want to see nothing, then change the "+image-blocker" action to
- "+image-blocker{blank}". This can be done from the "Edit Actions List"
- selection at [62]http://i.j.b/. Or by hand editing the appropriate
- actions file. This will only effect what is defined as "images"
- though.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
-1.3.9. Why would anybody want to see the logo or checkerboard?
+Save the file, and restart Privoxy. Configure all browsers on the network then
+to use this address and port number.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.3.8. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
+anything.
+
+This is a configuration option for images that Privoxy is stopping. You have
+the choice a checkerboard pattern (this scales better), a transparent 1x1 GIF
+image, or a custom URL or your choice.
+
+If you want to see nothing, then change the "+image-blocker" action to
+"+image-blocker{blank}". This can be done from the "Edit Actions List"
+selection at http://p.p/. Or by hand editing the appropriate actions file. This
+will only effect what is defined as "images" though.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.3.9. Why would anybody want to see the checkerboard?
+
+This can be helpful for troubleshooting problems. It might also be good for
+anyone new to Privoxy so that they can see if their favorite pages are
+displaying correctly, and Privoxy is not inadvertently removing something
+important.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.3.10. I see large red banners on some pages that say "Blocked". How do I get
+rid of this?
+
+These are URLs that match something in one of Privoxy's block actions (+block).
+It is meant to be a warning so that you know something has been blocked and an
+easy way for you to see why. These are handled differently than what has been
+defined as "images" (e.g. ad banners). If you want them to be treated as if
+they were images, so that they can be invisible, then move the offending URL
+from the "+block" section to the "+imageblock" section of your actions file.
+Alternately, you could modify the "block" HTML template that is used by Privoxy
+to display this, and make it something more to your liking.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- This can be helpful for troubleshooting problems. It might also be
- good for anyone new to Privoxy so that they can see if their favorite
- pages are displaying correctly, and Privoxy is not inadvertantly
- removing something important.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
-1.3.10. I see large red banners on some pages that say "Blocked". How do I
-get rid of this?
-
- These are URLs that match something in one of Privoxy's block actions
- (+block). It is meant to be a warning so that you know something has
- been blocked and an easy way for you to see why. These are handled
- differently than what has been defined as "images" (e.g. ad banners).
- If you want them to be treated as if they were images, so that they
- can be invisible, then move the offending URL from the "+block"
- section to the "+imageblock" section of your actions file.
- Alternately, you could modify the "block" HTML template that is used
- by Privoxy to display this, and make it something more to your liking.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
1.4. Misc
-1.4.1. How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down? This has to add extra
-time to browsing.
+1.4.1. How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down? This has to add extra time
+to browsing.
+
+It should not slow you down any in real terms, and may actually help speed
+things up since ads, banners and other junk are not being displayed. The actual
+processing time required by Privoxy itself for each page, is relatively small
+in the overall scheme of things, and happens very quickly. This is typically
+more than offset by time saved not downloading and rendering ad images.
+
+"Filtering" via the filterfile mechanism may cause a perceived slowdown, since
+the entire page is buffered before displaying. See below.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- It should not slow you down any in real terms, and may actually help
- speed things up since ads, banners and other junk are not being
- displayed. The actual processing time required by Privoxy itself for
- each page, is relatively small in the overall scheme of things, and
- happens very quickly. This is typically more than offset by time saved
- not downloading and rendering ad images.
-
- "Filtering" via the filterfile mechanism may cause a perceived
- slowdown, since the entire page is buffered before displaying. See
- below.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
1.4.2. I noticed considerable delays in page requests compared to the old
Junkbuster. What's wrong?
- Using the default filtering configuration, I noticed considerable
- delays in page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. Loading pages
- with large contents seemed to take forever, then suddenly delivering
- all the content at once.
-
- The whole content must be loaded in order to filter, and nothing is is
- sent to the browser during this time. The loading time does not really
- change in real numbers, but the feeling is different, because most
- browsers are able to start rendering incomplete content, giving the
- user a feeling of "it works".
-
- To modify the content of a page (i.e. make frames resizeable again,
- etc.) and not just replace ads, Privoxy needs to download the entire
- page first, do its content magic and then send the page to the
- browser.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
-1.4.3. What is the "http://i.j.b/"?
+Using the default filtering configuration, I noticed considerable delays in
+page requests compared to the old Junkbuster. Loading pages with large contents
+seemed to take forever, then suddenly delivering all the content at once.
+
+The whole content must be loaded in order to filter, and nothing is is sent to
+the browser during this time. The loading time does not really change in real
+numbers, but the feeling is different, because most browsers are able to start
+rendering incomplete content, giving the user a feeling of "it works".
+
+To modify the content of a page (i.e. make frames resize-able again, etc.) and
+not just replace ads, Privoxy needs to download the entire page first, do its
+content magic and then send the page to the browser.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.4.3. What is the "http://p.p/"?
+
+Since Privoxy sits between your web browser and the Internet, it can be
+programmed to handle certain pages specially.
+
+With recent versions of Privoxy (version 2.9.x), you can get some information
+about Privoxy and change some settings by going to http://p.p/ or,
+equivalently, http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/ (Note that p.p is far
+easier to type but may not work in some configurations).
+
+These pages are *not* forwarded to a server on the Internet - instead they are
+handled by a special web server which is built in to Privoxy.
+
+If you are not running Privoxy, then http://p.p/ will fail, and http://
+ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/ will return a web page telling you you're not
+running Privoxy.
+
+If you have version 2.0.2, then the equivalent is http://example.com/
+show-proxy-args (but you get far less information, and you should really
+consider upgrading to 2.9.x).
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Since Privoxy sits between your web browser and the Internet, it can
- be programmed to handle certain pages specially.
-
- With recent versions of Privoxy (version 2.9.x), you can get some
- information about Privoxy and change some settings by going to
- http://i.j.b/ or, equivalently, http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/
- (Note that i.j.b is far easier to type but may not work in some
- configurations).
-
- These pages are *not* forwarded to a server on the internet - instead
- they are handled by a special web server which is built in to Privoxy.
-
- If you are not running Privoxy, then http://i.j.b/ will fail, and
- http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/ will return a web page telling
- you you're not running Privoxy.
-
- If you have version 2.0.2, then the equivalent is
- http://example.com/show-proxy-args (but you get far less information,
- and you should really consider upgrading to 2.9.x).
- _________________________________________________________________
-
1.4.4. Do you still maintain the blocklists?
- No. The format of the blocklists has changed significantly in the
- versions 2.9.x. Once we have released the new version, there will
- again be blocklists that you can update automatically.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+No. The format of the blocklists has changed significantly in the versions
+2.9.x. Once we have released the new version, there will again be blocklists
+that you can update automatically.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.4.5. How can I submit new ads?
- As of now, please discontinue to submit new ad blocking infos. Once we
- have released the new version, there will again be a form on the
- website, which you can use to contribute new ads.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+As of now, please discontinue to submit new ad blocking infos. Once we have
+released the new version, there will again be a form on the website, which you
+can use to contribute new ads.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.4.6. How can I hide my IP address?
- You cannot hide your IP address with Privoxy or any other software,
- since the server needs to know your IP address to send the answer to
- you.
-
- Fortunately there are many publicly usable anonymous proxies out
- there, which solve the problem by providing a further level of
- indirection between you and the web server, shared by many people and
- thus letting your requests "drown" in white noise of unrelated
- requests as far as user tracking is concerned.
-
- Most of them will, however, log your IP address and make it available
- to the authorities in case you abuse that anonymity for criminal
- purposes. In fact you can't even rule out that some of them only exist
- to *collect* information on (those suspicious) people with a more than
- average preference for privacy.
-
- You can find a list of anonymous public proxies at [63]multiproxy.org
- and many more through Google.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+You cannot hide your IP address with Privoxy or any other software, since the
+server needs to know your IP address to send the answer to you.
+
+Fortunately there are many publicly usable anonymous proxies out there, which
+solve the problem by providing a further level of indirection between you and
+the web server, shared by many people and thus letting your requests "drown" in
+white noise of unrelated requests as far as user tracking is concerned.
+
+Most of them will, however, log your IP address and make it available to the
+authorities in case you abuse that anonymity for criminal purposes. In fact you
+can't even rule out that some of them only exist to *collect* information on
+(those suspicious) people with a more than average preference for privacy.
+
+You can find a list of anonymous public proxies at multiproxy.org and many more
+through Google.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.4.7. Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?
- No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are greatly improved, but
- unless you are an expert on Internet security it would be safest to
- assume that everything you do on the Web can be traced back to you.
-
- Privoxy can remove various information about you, and allows you more
- freedom to decide which sites you can trust. But it's still possible
- that web sites can find out who you are. Here's one way this can
- happen.
-
- A few browsers disclose the user's email address in certain
- situations, such as when transferring a file by FTP. Privoxy does not
- filter FTP. If you need this feature, or are concerned about the mail
- handler of your browser disclosing your email address, you might
- consider products such as NSClean.
-
- Browsers available only as binaries could use non-standard headers to
- give out any information they can have access to: see the
- manufacturer's license agreement. It's impossible to anticipate and
- prevent every breach of privacy that might occur. The professionally
- paranoid prefer browsers available as source code, because
- anticipating their behavior is easier. Trust the source, Luke!
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are greatly improved, but unless you
+are an expert on Internet security it would be safest to assume that everything
+you do on the Web can be traced back to you.
+
+Privoxy can remove various information about you, and allows you more freedom
+to decide which sites you can trust. But it's still possible that web sites can
+find out who you are. Here's one way this can happen.
+
+A few browsers disclose the user's email address in certain situations, such as
+when transferring a file by FTP. Privoxy does not filter FTP. If you need this
+feature, or are concerned about the mail handler of your browser disclosing
+your email address, you might consider products such as NSClean.
+
+Browsers available only as binaries could use non-standard headers to give out
+any information they can have access to: see the manufacturer's license
+agreement. It's impossible to anticipate and prevent every breach of privacy
+that might occur. The professionally paranoid prefer browsers available as
+source code, because anticipating their behavior is easier. Trust the source,
+Luke!
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.4.8. Might some things break because header information is being altered?
- Definitely. More and more sites use HTTP header content to decide what
- to display and how to display it. There is many ways that this can be
- handled, so having hard and fast rules, is tricky.
-
- "USER AGENT" in particular is often used in this way to identify the
- browser, and adjust content accordingly. Changing this now is not
- recommended, since so many sites do look for this. You may get
- undesirable results by changing this.
-
- For instance, different browsers use different encodings of Russian
- and Czech characters, certain web servers convert pages on-the-fly
- according to the User Agent header. Giving a "User Agent" with the
- wrong operating system or browser manufacturer causes some sites in
- these languages to be garbled; Surfers to Eastern European sites
- should change it to something closer. And then some page access
- counters work by looking at the "REFERER" header; they may fail or
- break if unavailable. The weather maps of Intellicast have been
- blocked by their server when no "REFERER" or cookie is provided, is
- another example. There are many, many other ways things can go wrong
- when trying to fool a web server.
-
- If you have problems with a site, you will have to adjust your
- configuration accordingly. Cookies are probably the most likely
- adjustment that may be required, but by no means the only one.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+Definitely. More and more sites use HTTP header content to decide what to
+display and how to display it. There is many ways that this can be handled, so
+having hard and fast rules, is tricky.
+
+"USER AGENT" in particular is often used in this way to identify the browser,
+and adjust content accordingly. Changing this now is not recommended, since so
+many sites do look for this. You may get undesirable results by changing this.
+
+For instance, different browsers use different encodings of Russian and Czech
+characters, certain web servers convert pages on-the-fly according to the User
+Agent header. Giving a "User Agent" with the wrong operating system or browser
+manufacturer causes some sites in these languages to be garbled; Surfers to
+Eastern European sites should change it to something closer. And then some page
+access counters work by looking at the "REFERER" header; they may fail or break
+if unavailable. The weather maps of Intellicast have been blocked by their
+server when no "REFERER" or cookie is provided, is another example. There are
+many, many other ways things can go wrong when trying to fool a web server.
+
+If you have problems with a site, you will have to adjust your configuration
+accordingly. Cookies are probably the most likely adjustment that may be
+required, but by no means the only one.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.4.9. Can Privoxy act as a "caching" proxy to speed up web browsing?
- No, it does not have this ability at all. You want something like
- [64]Squid for this. And, yes, before you ask, Privoxy can co-exist
- with other kinds of proxies like "Squid".
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+No, it does not have this ability at all. You want something like Squid for
+this. And, yes, before you ask, Privoxy can co-exist with other kinds of
+proxies like "Squid".
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.4.10. What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?
- Not in the way you mean, or in the way a true firewall can, or a proxy
- that has this specific capability. Privoxy can help protect your
- privacy, but not really protect you from intrusion attempts.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+Not in the way you mean, or in the way a true firewall can, or a proxy that has
+this specific capability. Privoxy can help protect your privacy, but not really
+protect you from intrusion attempts.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.4.11. The Privoxy logo that replaces ads is very blocky and ugly looking.
Can't a better font be used?
- This is not a font problem. The logo is an image that is created by
- Privoxy on the fly. So as to not waste memory, the image is rather
- small. The blockiness comes when the image is scaled to fill a largish
- area. There is not much to be done about this, other than to use one
- of the other "imageblock" directives: pattern, blank, or a URL of your
- chosing.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+This is not a font problem. The logo is an image that is created by Privoxy on
+the fly. So as to not waste memory, the image is rather small. The blockiness
+comes when the image is scaled to fill a largish area. There is not much to be
+done about this, other than to use one of the other "imageblock" directives:
+pattern, blank, or a URL of your choosing.
+
+Given the above problem, we have decided to remove the logo option entirely.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.4.12. I have large empty spaces now where ads used to be. Why does Privoxy
leave these large gaps?
- It would be easy enough to just eliminate this space altogether,
- rather than fill it with blank space. But, this would create problems
- with many pages that use the overall size of the ad to help organize
- the page layout and position the various components of the page where
- they were intended to be. It is best left this way.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+It would be easy enough to just eliminate this space altogether, rather than
+fill it with blank space. But, this would create problems with many pages that
+use the overall size of the ad to help organize the page layout and position
+the various components of the page where they were intended to be. It is best
+left this way.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.4.13. How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?
- This is a limitation since HTTPS transactions are encrypted SSL
- sessions between your browser and the secure site, and are meant to be
- reliably secure and private. This means that all cookies and HTTP
- header information are also encrypted from the time they leave your
- browser, to the site, and vice versa. Privoxy does not try to
- unencrypt this information, so it just passes through as is. Privoxy
- can still catch images and ads that are embedded in the SSL stream
- though.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+This is a limitation since HTTPS transactions are encrypted SSL sessions
+between your browser and the secure site, and are meant to be reliably secure
+and private. This means that all cookies and HTTP header information are also
+encrypted from the time they leave your browser, to the site, and vice versa.
+Privoxy does not try to unencrypt this information, so it just passes through
+as is. Privoxy can still catch images and ads that are embedded in the SSL
+stream though.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.4.14. Privoxy runs as a "server". How secure is it? Do I need to take any
special precautions?
- There are no known exploits that might effect Privoxy. On Unix-like
- systems, Privoxy can run as a non-privileged user, which is how we
- recommend it be run. Also, by default Privoxy only listens to requests
- from "localhost". It is not itself directly exposed to the Internet in
- this configuration. If you want to have Privoxy serve as a LAN proxy,
- this will have to be opened up to allow for LAN requests. In this
- case, we'd recommend you specify only the LAN gateway address, e.g.
- 192.168.1.1 in the main Privoxy config file. All LAN hosts can then
- use this as their proxy address in the browser proxy configuration. In
- this way, Privoxy will not listen on any external ports. Of course, a
- firewall is always good too. Better safe than sorry.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+There are no known exploits that might effect Privoxy. On Unix-like systems,
+Privoxy can run as a non-privileged user, which is how we recommend it be run.
+Also, by default Privoxy only listens to requests from "localhost". It is not
+itself directly exposed to the Internet in this configuration. If you want to
+have Privoxy serve as a LAN proxy, this will have to be opened up to allow for
+LAN requests. In this case, we'd recommend you specify only the LAN gateway
+address, e.g. 192.168.1.1 in the main Privoxy config file. All LAN hosts can
+then use this as their proxy address in the browser proxy configuration. In
+this way, Privoxy will not listen on any external ports. Of course, a firewall
+is always good too. Better safe than sorry.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.4.15. What is a "default.filter"?
- The "default.filter" is used to "filter" any page content. By
- "filtering" we mean it can modify, remove, or change anything on the
- page, including HTML tags, and JavaScript. Regular expressions are
- used to accomplish this. This is potentially a very powerful feature,
- but requires some expertise.
-
- If you are familiar with regular expressions, and HTML, you can look
- at the provided default.filter with a text editor and see some of
- things it can be used for.
-
- Presently, there is no GUI editor option for this part of the
- configuration.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+The "default.filter" is used to "filter" any page content. By "filtering" we
+mean it can modify, remove, or change anything on the page, including HTML
+tags, and JavaScript. Regular expressions are used to accomplish this. This is
+potentially a very powerful feature, but requires some expertise.
+
+If you are familiar with regular expressions, and HTML, you can look at the
+provided default.filter with a text editor and see some of things it can be
+used for.
+
+Presently, there is no GUI editor option for this part of the configuration.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.5. Troubleshooting
-1.5.1. I just upgraded and am getting "connection refused" with every web
-page?
+1.5.1. I just upgraded and am getting "connection refused" with every web page?
+
+Either Privoxy is not running, or your browser is configured for a different
+port than what Privoxy is using.
+
+The old Privoxy (and also Junkbuster) used port 8000 by default. This has been
+changed to port 8118 now, due to a conflict with NAS (Network Audio Service),
+which uses port 8000. If you haven't, you need to change your browser to the
+new port number, or alternately change Privoxy's "listen-address" setting in
+the config file used to start Privoxy.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.5.2. I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is still getting through.
+How?
+
+If the ad had been displayed before you added its URL, it will probably be held
+in the browser's cache for some time, so it will be displayed without the need
+for any request to the server, and Privoxy will not be in the picture. The best
+thing to do is try flushing the browser's caches. And then try again.
+
+If this doesn't help, you probably have an error in the rule you applied. Try
+pasting the full URL of the offending ad into http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/
+config/show-url-info and see if any actions match your new rule.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Either Privoxy is not running, or your browser is configured for a
- different port than what Privoxy is using.
-
- The old Privoxy used port 8000 by default. This has been changed to
- port 8118 now, due to a conflict with NAS (Network Audio Service),
- which uses port 8000. If you haven't, you need to change your browser
- to the new port number, or alternately change Privoxy's
- "listen-address" setting in the config file used to start Privoxy.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
-1.5.2. I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is still getting
-through. How?
-
- If the ad had been displayed before you added its URL, it will
- probably be held in the browser's cache for some time, so it will be
- displayed without the need for any request to the server, and Privoxy
- will not be in the picture. The best thing to do is try flusing the
- browser's caches. And then try again.
-
- If this doesn't help, you probably have an error in the rule you
- applied. Try pasting the full URL of the offending ad into
- [65]http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-url-info and see if any
- actions match your new rule.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
1.5.3. One of my favorite sites does not work with Privoxy. What can I do?
- First verify that it is indeed a Privoxy problem, by disabling Privoxy
- filtering and blocking. Go to [66]http://i.j.b/ and click on "Toggle
- Privoxy On or Off", then disable it. Now try that page again.
-
- If still a problem, go to "Show which actions apply to a URL and why"
- from [67]http://i.j.b/ and paste the full URL of the page in question
- into the prompt. See which actions are being applied to the URL. Now,
- armed with this information, go to "Edit the actions list". Here you
- should see various sections that have various Privoxy features
- disabled for specific sites. Disabled "actions" will have a "-" (minus
- sign) in front of them. Add your problem page URL to one of these
- sections that looks like it is disabling the feature that is causing
- the problem. Re-try the page. There might be some trial and error
- involved. This is discussed in a little more detail in the
- [68]user-manual appendix.
-
- Alternately, if you are comfortable with a text editor, you can
- accomplish the same thing by editing the appropriate "actions" file.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+First verify that it is indeed a Privoxy problem, by disabling Privoxy
+filtering and blocking. Go to http://p.p/ and click on "Toggle Privoxy On or
+Off", then disable it. Now try that page again.
+
+If still a problem, go to "Show which actions apply to a URL and why" from
+http://p.p/ and paste the full URL of the page in question into the prompt. See
+which actions are being applied to the URL. Now, armed with this information,
+go to "Edit the actions list". Here you should see various sections that have
+various Privoxy features disabled for specific sites. Disabled "actions" will
+have a "-" (minus sign) in front of them. Add your problem page URL to one of
+these sections that looks like it is disabling the feature that is causing the
+problem. Re-try the page. There might be some trial and error involved. This is
+discussed in a little more detail in the user-manual appendix.
+
+Alternately, if you are comfortable with a text editor, you can accomplish the
+same thing by editing the appropriate "actions" file.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
1.5.4. What time is it?
- Time for you to go!
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+Time for you to go!
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
2. Contact the developers
- Please see the user manual for information on how to contact the
- developers.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+Please see the user manual for information on how to contact the developers.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
3. Copyright and History
- Please see the user manual for information on Copyright and History.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+Please see the user manual for information on Copyright and History.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
4. See also
- Please see the user manual for information on references.
-
-References
-
- 1. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/faq/
- 2. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/user-manual/contact.html
- 3. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#QUESTIONS
- 4. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#GENERAL
- 5. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#NEWJB
- 6. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#DIFFERS
- 7. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#FEATURES
- 8. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#PROXYMORON
- 9. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#BROWSERS2
- 10. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#LICENSE
- 11. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#JOINTEAM
- 12. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#INSTALLATION
- 13. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#NEWINSTALL
- 14. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN124
- 15. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#LOCALHOST
- 16. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN149
- 17. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#CONFIGURATION
- 18. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#NEWCONFIG
- 19. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN165
- 20. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#ACTIONSS
- 21. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN183
- 22. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#CONFIGFILES
- 23. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#BROWSECONFIG
- 24. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN300
- 25. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN312
- 26. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN323
- 27. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN328
- 28. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#MISC
- 29. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN341
- 30. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#LOADINGTIMES
- 31. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#CONFIGURL
- 32. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#BLOCKLIST
- 33. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#NEWADS
- 34. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#IP
- 35. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN382
- 36. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN393
- 37. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN403
- 38. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN411
- 39. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN416
- 40. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN424
- 41. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN428
- 42. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN435
- 43. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN447
- 44. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN458
- 45. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN460
- 46. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN472
- 47. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN478
- 48. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN496
- 49. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#CONTACT
- 50. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#COPYRIGHT
- 51. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#SEEALSO
- 52. http://www.junkbusters.com/
- 53. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/
- 54. http://i.j.b/
- 55. http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
- 56. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/user-manual/
- 57. http://i.j.b/
- 58. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/user-manual/configuration.html#ACTIONSFILE
- 59. http://i.j.b/
- 60. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/edit-actions
- 61. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/user-manual/configuration.html#ACTIONSFILE
- 62. http://i.j.b/
- 63. http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm
- 64. http://www.squid-cache.org/
- 65. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-url-info
- 66. http://i.j.b/
- 67. http://i.j.b/
- 68. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/user-manual/appenix.html#ACTIONSANAT
+Please see the user manual for information on references.
+
-
Privoxy User Manual
- By: Privoxy Developers
-
- $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa Exp $
-
- The user manual gives users information on how to install, configure
- and use Privoxy. Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering
- capabilities for protecting privacy, filtering web page content,
- managing cookies, controlling access, and removing ads, banners,
- pop-ups and other obnoxious Internet Junk. Privoxy has a very flexible
- configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs and
- tastes. Privoxy has application for both stand-alone systems and
- multi-user networks.
-
- You can find the latest version of the user manual at
- [1]http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/user-manual/.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
- Table of Contents
- 1. [2]Introduction
-
- 1.1. [3]New Features
-
- 2. [4]Installation
-
- 2.1. [5]Source
- 2.2. [6]Red Hat
- 2.3. [7]SuSE
- 2.4. [8]OS/2
- 2.5. [9]Windows
- 2.6. [10]Other
-
- 3. [11]Privoxy Configuration
-
- 3.1. [12]Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser
- 3.2. [13]Configuration Files Overview
- 3.3. [14]The Main Configuration File
-
- 3.3.1. [15]Defining Other Configuration Files
- 3.3.2. [16]Other Configuration Options
- 3.3.3. [17]Access Control List (ACL)
- 3.3.4. [18]Forwarding
- 3.3.5. [19]Windows GUI Options
-
- 3.4. [20]The Actions File
-
- 3.4.1. [21]URL Domain and Path Syntax
- 3.4.2. [22]Actions
- 3.4.3. [23]Aliases
-
- 3.5. [24]The Filter File
- 3.6. [25]Templates
-
- 4. [26]Quickstart to Using Privoxy
-
- 4.1. [27]Command Line Options
-
- 5. [28]Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
- 6. [29]Copyright and History
-
- 6.1. [30]License
- 6.2. [31]History
-
- 7. [32]See also
- 8. [33]Appendix
-
- 8.1. [34]Regular Expressions
-
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
-
- 8.2. [35]Privoxy's Internal Pages
- 8.3. [36]Anatomy of an Action
-
-1. Introduction
+By: Privoxy Developers
- Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for
- protecting privacy, filtering and modifying web page content, managing
- cookies, controlling access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups and
- other obnoxious Internet Junk. Privoxy has a very flexible
- configuration and can be customized to suit individual needs and
- tastes. Privoxy has application for both stand-alone systems and
- multi-user networks.
-
- This documentation is included with the current BETA version of
- Privoxy and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date
- reference for the time being is still the comments in the source files
- and in the individual configuration files. Development of version 3.0
- is currently nearing completion, and includes many significant changes
- and enhancements over earlier versions. The target release date for
- stable v3.0 is "soon" ;-)
-
- Since this is a BETA 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!
- _________________________________________________________________
-
-1.1. New Features
+$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9 Exp $
- In addition to Internet Junkbuster's traditional feature of ad and
- banner blocking and cookie management, Privoxy provides new features,
- some of them currently under development:
-
- * Integrated browser based configuration and control utility
- ([37]http://i.j.b). Browser-based tracing of rule and filter
- effects.
- * Blocking of annoying pop-up browser windows.
- * HTTP/1.1 compliant (most, but not all 1.1 features are supported).
- * Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the
- configuration files, and generally a more sophisticated and
- flexible configuration syntax over previous versions.
- * GIF de-animation.
- * Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size,
- invisible "web-bugs", JavaScript, pop-ups, status bar abuse, etc.)
- * Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
- * Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
- * Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
- * User-customizable HTML templates (e.g. 404 error page).
- * Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
- * Builds from source on most UNIX-like systems. Packages available
- for: Linux (RedHat, SuSE, or Debian), Windows, Sun Solaris, Mac
- OSX, OS/2, HP-UX 11 and AmigaOS.
- * In addition, the configuration is much more powerful and versatile
- over-all.
- _________________________________________________________________
+The user manual gives users information on how to install, configure and use
+Privoxy. Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for
+protecting privacy, filtering web page content, managing cookies, controlling
+access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious Internet Junk.
+Privoxy has a very flexible configuration and can be customized to suit
+individual needs and tastes. Privoxy has application for both stand-alone
+systems and multi-user networks.
+
+You can find the latest version of the user manual at http://
+ijbswa.sourceforge.net/user-manual/.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Table of Contents
+1. Introduction
+
+ 1.1. New Features
2. Installation
-
- Privoxy is available as raw source code, or pre-compiled binaries. See
- the [38]Privoxy Home Page for binaries and current release info.
- Privoxy is also available via [39]CVS. This is the recommended
- approach at this time. But please be aware that CVS is constantly
- changing, and it may break in mysterious ways.
- _________________________________________________________________
-2.1. Source
-
- For gzipped tar archives, unpack the source:
+ 2.1. Source
+ 2.2. Red Hat
+ 2.3. SuSE
+ 2.4. OS/2
+ 2.5. Windows
+ 2.6. Other
- tar xzvf ijb_source_* [.tgz or .tar.gz]
- cd ijb_source_2.9.11_beta
-
- For retrieving the current CVS sources, you'll need the CVS package
- installed first. To download CVS source:
+3. Privoxy Configuration
- cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa login
- cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa co cu
-rrent
- cd current
-
- This will create a directory named current/, which will contain the
- source tree.
+ 3.1. Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser
+ 3.2. Configuration Files Overview
+ 3.3. The Main Configuration File
+
+ 3.3.1. Defining Other Configuration Files
+ 3.3.2. Other Configuration Options
+ 3.3.3. Access Control List (ACL)
+ 3.3.4. Forwarding
+ 3.3.5. Windows GUI Options
+
+ 3.4. The Actions File
+
+ 3.4.1. URL Domain and Path Syntax
+ 3.4.2. Actions
+ 3.4.3. Aliases
+
+ 3.5. The Filter File
+ 3.6. Templates
- Then, in either case, to build from tarball/CVS source:
+4. Quickstart to Using Privoxy
- ./configure (--help to see options)
- make (the make from gnu, gmake for *BSD)
- su
- make -n install (to see where all the files will go)
- make install (to really install)
-
- For Redhat and SuSE Linux RPM packages, see below.
- _________________________________________________________________
+ 4.1. Command Line Options
-2.2. Red Hat
-
- To build Redhat RPM packages, install source as above. Then:
+5. Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
+6. Copyright and History
+
+ 6.1. License
+ 6.2. History
+
+7. See also
+8. Appendix
+
+ 8.1. Regular Expressions
+ 8.2. Privoxy's Internal Pages
+ 8.3. Anatomy of an Action
- autoheader [suggested for CVS source]
- autoconf [suggested for CVS source]
- ./configure
- make redhat-dist
+1. Introduction
+
+Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for protecting
+privacy, filtering and modifying web page content, managing cookies,
+controlling access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious
+Internet Junk. Privoxy has a very flexible configuration and can be customized
+to suit individual needs and tastes. Privoxy has application for both
+stand-alone systems and multi-user networks.
- This will create both binary and src RPMs in the usual places.
- Example:
+Privoxy is derived from Internet Junkbuster by Junkbusters Corporation, which
+is no longer under development. Many enhancements and new features have been
+added.
+
+This documentation is included with the current BETA version of Privoxy and is
+mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the time being
+is still the comments in the source files and in the individual configuration
+files. Development of version 3.0 is currently nearing completion, and includes
+many significant changes and enhancements over earlier versions. The target
+release date for stable v3.0 is "soon" ;-)
+
+Since this is a BETA 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!
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+1.1. New Features
+
+In addition to Internet Junkbuster's traditional feature of ad and banner
+blocking and cookie management, Privoxy provides new features, some of them
+currently under development:
+
+ * Integrated browser based configuration and control utility (http://p.p).
+ Browser-based tracing of rule and filter effects.
- /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm
+ * Blocking of annoying pop-up browser windows.
- /usr/src/redhat/SRPMS/privoxy-2.9.11-1.src.rpm
+ * HTTP/1.1 compliant (most, but not all 1.1 features are supported).
- To install, of course:
+ * Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the configuration files,
+ and generally a more sophisticated and flexible configuration syntax over
+ previous versions.
- rpm -Uvv /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm
-
- This will place the Privoxy configuration files in /etc/privoxy/, and
- log files in /var/log/privoxy/.
- _________________________________________________________________
+ * GIF de-animation.
-2.3. SuSE
-
- To build SuSE RPM packages, install source as above. Then:
+ * Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size, invisible
+ "web-bugs", JavaScript, pop-ups, status bar abuse, etc.)
- autoheader [suggested for CVS source]
- autoconf [suggested for CVS source]
- ./configure
- make suse-dist
-
- This will create both binary and src RPMs in the usual places.
- Example:
+ * Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
- /usr/src/packages/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm
+ * Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
- /usr/src/packages/SRPMS/privoxy-2.9.11-1.src.rpm
+ * Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
- To install, of course:
+ * User-customizable HTML templates (e.g. 404 error page).
- rpm -Uvv /usr/src/packages/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm
-
- This will place the Privoxy configuration files in /etc/privoxy/, and
- log files in /var/log/privoxy/.
- _________________________________________________________________
+ * Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
+ * Builds from source on most UNIX-like systems. Packages available for: Linux
+ (RedHat, SuSE, or Debian), Windows, Sun Solaris, Mac OSX, OS/2, HP-UX 11
+ and AmigaOS.
+
+ * In addition, the configuration is much more powerful and versatile
+ over-all.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+2. Installation
+
+Privoxy is available as raw source code, or pre-compiled binaries. See the
+Privoxy Home Page for binaries and current release info. Privoxy is also
+available via CVS. This is the recommended approach at this time. But please be
+aware that CVS is constantly changing, and it may break in mysterious ways.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+2.1. Source
+
+For gzipped tar archives, unpack the source:
+
+ tar xzvf privoxy-2.9.13-beta-src* [.tgz or .tar.gz]
+ cd privoxy-2.9.13-beta
+
+
+For retrieving the current CVS sources, you'll need the CVS package installed
+first. To download CVS source:
+
+ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa login
+ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa co current
+ cd current
+
+
+This will create a directory named current/, which will contain the source
+tree.
+
+Then, in either case, to build from tarball/CVS source:
+
+ ./configure (--help to see options)
+ make (the make from gnu, gmake for *BSD)
+ su
+ make -n install (to see where all the files will go)
+ make install (to really install)
+
+
+For Redhat and SuSE Linux RPM packages, see below.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+2.2. Red Hat
+
+To build Redhat RPM packages, install source as above. Then:
+
+ autoheader
+ autoconf
+ ./configure
+ make redhat-dist
+
+
+This will create both binary and src RPMs in the usual places. Example:
+
+ /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm
+
+ /usr/src/redhat/SRPMS/privoxy-2.9.11-1.src.rpm
+
+To install, of course:
+
+ rpm -Uvv /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm
+
+
+This will place the Privoxy configuration files in /etc/privoxy/, and log files
+in /var/log/privoxy/.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+2.3. SuSE
+
+To build SuSE RPM packages, install source as above. Then:
+
+ autoheader
+ autoconf
+ ./configure
+ make suse-dist
+
+
+This will create both binary and src RPMs in the usual places. Example:
+
+ /usr/src/packages/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm
+
+ /usr/src/packages/SRPMS/privoxy-2.9.11-1.src.rpm
+
+To install, of course:
+
+ rpm -Uvv /usr/src/packages/RPMS/i686/privoxy-2.9.11-1.i686.rpm
+
+
+This will place the Privoxy configuration files in /etc/privoxy/, and log files
+in /var/log/privoxy/.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
2.4. OS/2
- Privoxy is packaged in a WarpIN self- installing archive. The
- self-installing program will be named depending on the release
- version, something like: ijbos2_setup_1.2.3.exe. In order to install
- it, simply run this executable or double-click on its icon and follow
- the WarpIN installation panels. A shadow of the Privoxy executable
- will be placed in your startup folder so it will start automatically
- whenever OS/2 starts.
-
- The directory you choose to install Privoxy into will contain all of
- the configuration files.
-
- If you would like to build binary images on OS/2 yourself, you will
- need a few Unix-like tools: autoconf, autoheader and sh. These tools
- will be used to create the required config.h file, which is not part
- of the source distribution because it differs based on platform. You
- will also need a compiler. The distribution has been created using IBM
- VisualAge compilers, but you can use any compiler you like. GCC/EMX
- has the disadvantage of needing to be single-threaded due to a
- limitation of EMX's implementation of the select() socket call.
-
- In addition to needing the source code distribution as outlined
- earlier, you will want to extract the os2seutp directory from CVS:
- cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa login
-
- cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa co os2
-setup
-
- This will create a directory named os2setup/, which will contain the
- Makefile.vac makefile and os2build.cmd which is used to completely
- create the binary distribution. The sequence of events for building
- the executable for yourself goes something like this:
- cd current
- autoheader
- autoconf
- sh configure
- cd ..\os2setup
- nmake -f Makefile.vac
-
- You will see this sequence laid out in os2build.cmd.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+Privoxy is packaged in a WarpIN self- installing archive. The self-installing
+program will be named depending on the release version, something like:
+ijbos2_setup_1.2.3.exe. In order to install it, simply run this executable or
+double-click on its icon and follow the WarpIN installation panels. A shadow of
+the Privoxy executable will be placed in your startup folder so it will start
+automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
+
+The directory you choose to install Privoxy into will contain all of the
+configuration files.
+
+If you would like to build binary images on OS/2 yourself, you will need a few
+Unix-like tools: autoconf, autoheader and sh. These tools will be used to
+create the required config.h file, which is not part of the source distribution
+because it differs based on platform. You will also need a compiler. The
+distribution has been created using IBM VisualAge compilers, but you can use
+any compiler you like. GCC/EMX has the disadvantage of needing to be
+single-threaded due to a limitation of EMX's implementation of the select()
+socket call.
+
+In addition to needing the source code distribution as outlined earlier, you
+will want to extract the os2seutp directory from CVS:
+
+ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa login
+ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa co os2setup
+
+
+This will create a directory named os2setup/, which will contain the
+Makefile.vac makefile and os2build.cmd which is used to completely create the
+binary distribution. The sequence of events for building the executable for
+yourself goes something like this:
+
+ cd current
+ autoheader
+ autoconf
+ sh configure
+ cd ..\os2setup
+ nmake -f Makefile.vac
+
+
+You will see this sequence laid out in os2build.cmd.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
2.5. Windows
- Click-click. (I need help on this. Not a clue here. Also for
- configuration section below. HB.)
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+Click-click. (I need help on this. Not a clue here. Also for configuration
+section below. HB.)
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
2.6. Other
- Some quick notes on other Operating Systems.
-
- For FreeBSD (and other *BSDs?), the build will require gmake instead
- of the included make. gmake is available from [40]http://www.gnu.org.
- The rest should be the same as above for Linux/Unix.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+Some quick notes on other Operating Systems.
+
+For FreeBSD (and other *BSDs?), the build will require gmake instead of the
+included make. gmake is available from http://www.gnu.org. The rest should be
+the same as above for Linux/Unix.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
3. Privoxy Configuration
- All Privoxy configuration is kept 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.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
-3.1. Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser
+All Privoxy configuration is kept 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.
- Privoxy can be reached by the special URL [41]http://i.j.b/ (or
- alternately [42]http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/), which is an
- internal page. You will see the following section:
-
-Please choose from the following options:
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- * Show information about the current configuration
- * Show the source code version numbers
- * Show the client's request headers.
- * Show which actions apply to a URL and why
- * Toggle Privoxy on or off
- * Edit the actions list
+3.1. Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser
+Privoxy can be reached by the special URL http://p.p/ (or alternately http://
+ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/), which is an internal page. You will see the
+following section:
+
+Please choose from the following options:
+
+ * Show information about the current configuration
+ * Show the source code version numbers
+ * Show the client's request headers.
+ * Show which actions apply to a URL and why
+ * Toggle Privoxy on or off
+ * Edit the actions list
+
+
+
+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 will
+automatically detect any changes to these files.
+
+"Toggle Privoxy On or Off" is handy for sites that might have problems with
+your current actions and filters, or just to test if a site misbehaves, whether
+it is Privoxy causing the problem or not. Privoxy continues to run as a proxy
+in this case, but all filtering is disabled.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- 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 will automatically detect any
- changes to these files.
-
- "Toggle Privoxy On or Off" is handy for sites that might have problems
- with your current actions and filters, or just to test if a site
- misbehaves, whether it is Privoxy causing the problem or not. Privoxy
- continues to run as a proxy in this case, but all filtering is
- disabled.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
3.2. 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 name and
- number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and
- is subject to change as development progresses.
-
- The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
- possibly aggressive by some standards. For the time being, there are
- only three default configuration files (this will change in time):
-
- * The main configuration file is named config on Linux, Unix, BSD,
- OS/2, and AmigaOS and config.txt on Windows.
- * The default.action file is used to define various "actions"
- relating to images, banners, pop-ups, access restrictions, banners
- and cookies. There is a CGI based editor for this file that can be
- accessed via [43]http://i.j.b. (Other actions files are included
- as well with differing levels of filtering and blocking, e.g.
- ijb-basic.action.)
- * The default.filter file can be used to re-write the raw page
- content, including viewable text as well as embedded HTML and
- JavaScript, and whatever else lurks on any given web page.
-
- default.action and default.filter can use Perl style regular
- expressions for maximum flexibility. All files use the "#" character
- to denote a comment. Such lines are not processed by Privoxy. After
- making any changes, there is no need to restart Privoxy in order for
- the changes to take effect. Privoxy should detect such changes
- automatically.
-
- 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.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
-3.3. The Main Configuration File
+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 name and number of configuration files
+has changed from previous versions, and is subject to change as development
+progresses.
- 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:
-
- blockfile blocklist.ini
-
- Indicates that the blockfile is named "blocklist.ini". (A default
- installation does not use this.)
-
- A "#" indicates a comment. Any part of a line following a "#" is
- ignored, except if the "#" is preceded by a "\".
+The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though possibly
+aggressive by some standards. For the time being, there are only three default
+configuration files (this will change in time):
+
+ * The main configuration file is named config on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and
+ AmigaOS and config.txt on Windows.
- Thus, by placing a "#" at the start of an existing configuration line,
- you can make it a comment and it will be treated as if it weren't
- there. This is called "commenting out" an option and can be useful to
- turn off features: If you comment out the "logfile" line, Privoxy will
- not log to a file at all. Watch for the "default:" section in each
- explanation to see what happens if the option is left unset (or
- commented out).
+ * The default.action file is used to define various "actions" relating to
+ images, banners, pop-ups, access restrictions, banners and cookies. There
+ is a CGI based editor for this file that can be accessed via http://p.p.
+ (Other actions files are included as well with differing levels of
+ filtering and blocking, e.g. ijb-basic.action.)
- Long lines can be continued on the next line by using a "\" as the
- very last character.
+ * The default.filter file can be used to re-write the raw page content,
+ including viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and
+ whatever else lurks on any given web page.
- There are various aspects of Privoxy behavior that can be tuned.
- _________________________________________________________________
+default.action and default.filter can use Perl style regular expressions for
+maximum flexibility. All files use the "#" character to denote a comment. Such
+lines are not processed by Privoxy. After making any changes, there is no need
+to restart Privoxy in order for the changes to take effect. Privoxy should
+detect such changes automatically.
+
+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.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+3.3. 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:
+
+ blockfile blocklist.ini
+
+Indicates that the blockfile is named "blocklist.ini". (A default installation
+does not use this.)
+
+A "#" indicates a comment. Any part of a line following a "#" is ignored,
+except if the "#" is preceded by a "\".
+
+Thus, by placing a "#" at the start of an existing configuration line, you can
+make it a comment and it will be treated as if it weren't there. This is called
+"commenting out" an option and can be useful to turn off features: If you
+comment out the "logfile" line, Privoxy will not log to a file at all. Watch
+for the "default:" section in each explanation to see what happens if the
+option is left unset (or commented out).
+
+Long lines can be continued on the next line by using a "\" as the very last
+character.
+
+There are various aspects of Privoxy behavior that can be tuned.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
3.3.1. Defining Other Configuration Files
- Privoxy can use a number of other files to tell it what ads to block,
- what cookies to accept, etc. This section of the configuration file
- tells Privoxy where to find all those other files.
-
- On Windows and AmigaOS, Privoxy looks for these files in the same
- directory as the executable. On Unix and OS/2, Privoxy looks for these
- files in the current working directory. In either case, an absolute
- path name can be used to avoid problems.
-
- When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and
- per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of "confdir". For
- now, only confdir/templates is used for storing HTML templates for CGI
- results.
-
- The location of the configuration files:
-
- confdir /etc/privoxy # No trailing /, please.
-
- The directory where all logging (i.e. logfile and jarfile) takes
- place. No trailing "/", please:
-
- logdir /var/log/privoxy
-
- Note that all file specifications below are relative to the above two
- directories!
-
- The "default.action" file contains patterns to specify the actions to
- apply to requests for each site. Default: Cookies to and from all
- destinations are kept only during the current browser session (i.e.
- they are not saved to disk). Pop-ups are disabled for all sites. All
- sites are filtered through selected sections of "default.filter". No
- sites are blocked. The Privoxy logo is displayed for filtered ads and
- other images. The syntax of this file is explained in detail
- [44]below. Other "actions" files are included, and you are free to use
- any of them. They have varying degrees of aggressiveness.
-
- actionsfile default.action
-
- The "default.filter" file contains content modification rules that use
- "regular expressions". These rules permit powerful changes on the
- content of Web pages, e.g., you could disable your favorite JavaScript
- annoyances, re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some fun
- replacing "Microsoft" with "MicroSuck" wherever it appears on a Web
- page. Default: whatever the developers are playing with :-/
-
- 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.
-
- filterfile default.filter
-
- The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The
- logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with Privoxy (e.g.,
- it's not blocking an ad you think it should block) but in most cases
- you probably will never look at it.
-
- Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to
- periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron
- job (see "man cron"). For Redhat, a logrotate script has been
- included.
-
- On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like "/var/log/privoxy.*
- +1024k 644 nobody.nogroup" in /etc/logfiles, with the effect that
- cron.daily will automatically archive, gzip, and empty the log, when
- it exceeds 1M size.
-
- Default: Log to the a file named logfile. Comment out to disable
- logging.
+Privoxy can use a number of other files to tell it what ads to block, what
+cookies to accept, etc. This section of the configuration file tells Privoxy
+where to find all those other files.
+
+On Windows and AmigaOS, Privoxy looks for these files in the same directory as
+the executable. On Unix and OS/2, Privoxy looks for these files in the current
+working directory. In either case, an absolute path name can be used to avoid
+problems.
+
+When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and per-user
+config will be stored in subdirectories of "confdir". For now, only confdir/
+templates is used for storing HTML templates for CGI results.
+
+The location of the configuration files:
+
+ confdir /etc/privoxy # No trailing /, please.
- logfile logfile
+
+The directory where all logging (i.e. logfile and jarfile) takes place. No
+trailing "/", please:
+
+ logdir /var/log/privoxy
- The "jarfile" defines where Privoxy stores the cookies it intercepts.
- Note that if you use a "jarfile", it may grow quite large. Default:
- Don't store intercepted cookies.
+
+Note that all file specifications below are relative to the above two
+directories!
+
+The "default.action" file contains patterns to specify the actions to apply to
+requests for each site. Default: Cookies to and from all destinations are kept
+only during the current browser session (i.e. they are not saved to disk).
+Pop-ups are disabled for all sites. All sites are filtered through selected
+sections of "default.filter". No sites are blocked. Privoxy displays a
+checkboard type pattern for filtered ads and other images. The syntax of this
+file is explained in detail below. Other "actions" files are included, and you
+are free to use any of them. They have varying degrees of aggressiveness.
+
+ actionsfile default.action
- #jarfile jarfile
+
+The "default.filter" file contains content modification rules that use "regular
+expressions". These rules permit powerful changes on the content of Web pages,
+e.g., you could disable your favorite JavaScript annoyances, re-write the
+actual displayed text, or just have some fun replacing "Microsoft" with
+"MicroSuck" wherever it appears on a Web page. Default: whatever the developers
+are playing with :-/
+
+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.
+
+ filterfile default.filter
- If you specify a "trustfile", Privoxy will only allow access to sites
- that are named in the trustfile. You can also mark sites as trusted
- referrers, with the effect that access to untrusted sites will be
- granted, if a link from a trusted referrer was used. The link target
- will then be added to the "trustfile". This is a very restrictive
- feature that typical users most probably want to leave disabled.
- Default: Disabled, don't use the trust mechanism.
+
+The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The logfile
+can be useful for tracking down a problem with Privoxy (e.g., it's not blocking
+an ad you think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look
+at it.
+
+Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to periodically
+remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job (see "man cron").
+For Redhat, a logrotate script has been included.
+
+On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like "/var/log/privoxy.* +1024k 644
+nobody.nogroup" in /etc/logfiles, with the effect that cron.daily will
+automatically archive, gzip, and empty the log, when it exceeds 1M size.
+
+Default: Log to the a file named logfile. Comment out to disable logging.
+
+ logfile logfile
- #trustfile trust
+
+The "jarfile" defines where Privoxy stores the cookies it intercepts. Note that
+if you use a "jarfile", it may grow quite large. Default: Don't store
+intercepted cookies.
+
+ #jarfile jarfile
- If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some
- on-line documentation about your blocking policy and to specify the
- URL(s) here. They will appear on the page that your users receive when
- they try to access untrusted content. Use multiple times for multiple
- URLs. Default: Don't display links on the "untrusted" info page.
+
+If you specify a "trustfile", Privoxy will only allow access to sites that are
+named in the trustfile. You can also mark sites as trusted referrers, with the
+effect that access to untrusted sites will be granted, if a link from a trusted
+referrer was used. The link target will then be added to the "trustfile". This
+is a very restrictive feature that typical users most probably want to leave
+disabled. Default: Disabled, don't use the trust mechanism.
+
+ #trustfile trust
- trust-info-url http://www.your-site.com/why_we_block.html
- trust-info-url http://www.your-site.com/what_we_allow.html
- _________________________________________________________________
+
+If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line
+documentation about your blocking policy and to specify the URL(s) here. They
+will appear on the page that your users receive when they try to access
+untrusted content. Use multiple times for multiple URLs. Default: Don't display
+links on the "untrusted" info page.
+
+ trust-info-url http://www.your-site.com/why_we_block.html
+ trust-info-url http://www.your-site.com/what_we_allow.html
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
3.3.2. Other Configuration Options
- This part of the configuration file contains options that control how
- Privoxy operates.
-
- "Admin-address" should be set to the email address of the proxy
- administrator. It is used in many of the proxy-generated pages.
- Default: fill@me.in.please.
-
- #admin-address fill@me.in.please
-
- "Proxy-info-url" can be set to a URL that contains more info about
- this Privoxy installation, it's configuration and policies. It is used
- in many of the proxy-generated pages and its use is highly recommended
- in multi-user installations, since your users will want to know why
- certain content is blocked or modified. Default: Don't show a link to
- on-line documentation.
-
- proxy-info-url http://www.your-site.com/proxy.html
-
- "Listen-address" specifies the address and port where Privoxy will
- listen for connections from your Web browser. The default is to listen
- on the localhost port 8118, and this is suitable for most users. (In
- your web browser, under proxy configuration, list the proxy server as
- "localhost" and the port as "8118").
-
- If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you
- want to serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local
- network) as well, you will need to override the default. The syntax is
- "listen-address [<ip-address>]:<port>". If you leave out the IP
- address, Privoxy will bind to all interfaces (addresses) on your
- machine and may become reachable from the Internet. In that case,
- consider using access control lists (acl's) (see "aclfile" above), or
- a firewall.
-
- For example, suppose you are running Privoxy on a machine which has
- the address 192.168.0.1 on your local private network (192.168.0.0)
- and has another outside connection with a different address. You want
- it to serve requests from inside only:
-
- listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
-
- If you want it to listen on all addresses (including the outside
- connection):
-
- listen-address :8118
-
- If you do this, consider using ACLs (see "aclfile" above). Note: you
- will need to point your browser(s) to the address and port that you
- have configured here. Default: localhost:8118 (127.0.0.1:8118).
-
- The debug option sets the level of debugging information to log in the
- logfile (and to the console in the Windows version). A debug level of
- 1 is informative because it will show you each request as it happens.
- Higher levels of debug are probably only of interest to developers.
-
- debug 1 # GPC = show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
- debug 2 # CONN = show each connection status
- debug 4 # IO = show I/O status
- debug 8 # HDR = show header parsing
- debug 16 # LOG = log all data into the logfile
- debug 32 # FRC = debug force feature
- debug 64 # REF = debug regular expression filter
- debug 128 # = debug fast redirects
- debug 256 # = debug GIF de-animation
- debug 512 # CLF = Common Log Format
- debug 1024 # = debug kill pop-ups
- debug 4096 # INFO = Startup banner and warnings.
- debug 8192 # ERROR = Non-fatal errors
-
- It is highly recommended that you enable ERROR reporting (debug 8192),
- at least until v3.0 is released.
-
- The reporting of FATAL errors (i.e. ones which crash Privoxy) is
- always on and cannot be disabled.
-
- If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set "debug 512"
- ONLY, do not enable anything else.
-
- Multiple "debug" directives, are OK - they're logical-OR'd together.
-
- debug 15 # same as setting the first 4 listed above
-
- Default:
-
- debug 1 # URLs
- debug 4096 # Info
- debug 8192 # Errors - *we highly recommended enabling this*
-
- Privoxy normally uses "multi-threading", a software technique that
- permits it to handle many different requests simultaneously. In some
- cases you may wish to disable this -- particularly if you're trying to
- debug a problem. The "single-threaded" option forces Privoxy to handle
- requests sequentially. Default: Multi-threaded mode.
-
- #single-threaded
-
- "toggle" allows you to temporarily disable all Privoxy's filtering.
- Just set "toggle 0".
-
- The Windows version of Privoxy puts an icon in the system tray, which
- also allows you to change this option. If you right-click on that icon
- (or select the "Options" menu), one choice is "Enable". Clicking on
- enable toggles Privoxy on and off. This is useful if you want to
- temporarily disable Privoxy, e.g., to access a site that requires
- cookies which you would otherwise have blocked. This can also be
- toggled via a web browser at the Privoxy internal address of
- [45]http://i.j.b on any platform.
-
- "toggle 1" means Privoxy runs normally, "toggle 0" means that Privoxy
- becomes a non-anonymizing non-blocking proxy. Default: 1 (on).
-
- toggle 1
-
- For content filtering, i.e. the "+filter" and "+deanimate-gif"
- actions, it is necessary that 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.
-
- The buffer-limit option lets you set the maximum size in Kbytes that
- each buffer may use. When the documents buffer exceeds this size, it
- is flushed to the client unfiltered and no further attempt to filter
- the rest of it is made. Remember that there may multiple threads
- running, which might require increasing the "buffer-limit" Kbytes
- each, unless you have enabled "single-threaded" above.
-
- buffer-limit 4069
-
- To enable the web-based default.action file editor set
- enable-edit-actions to 1, or 0 to disable. Note that you must have
- compiled Privoxy with support for this feature, otherwise this option
- has no effect. This internal page can be reached at [46]http://i.j.b.
-
- Security note: If this is enabled, anyone who can use the proxy can
- edit the actions file, and their changes will affect all users. For
- shared proxies, you probably want to disable this. Default: enabled.
-
- enable-edit-actions 1
-
- Allow Privoxy to be toggled on and off remotely, using your web
- browser. Set "enable-remote-toggle"to 1 to enable, and 0 to disable.
- Note that you must have compiled Privoxy with support for this
- feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
-
- Security note: If this is enabled, anyone who can use the proxy can
- toggle it on or off (see [47]http://i.j.b), and their changes will
- affect all users. For shared proxies, you probably want to disable
- this. Default: enabled.
-
- enable-remote-toggle 1
- _________________________________________________________________
-
-3.3.3. Access Control List (ACL)
+This part of the configuration file contains options that control how Privoxy
+operates.
- Access controls are included at the request of some ISPs and systems
- administrators, and are not usually needed by individual users. Please
- note the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a
- substitute for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing
- basic security weaknesses.
-
- If no access settings are specified, the proxy talks to anyone that
- connects. If any access settings file are specified, then the proxy
- talks only to IP addresses permitted somewhere in this file and not
- denied later in this file.
-
- Summary -- if using an ACL:
-
- Client must have permission to receive service.
-
- LAST match in ACL wins.
-
- Default behavior is to deny service.
-
- The syntax for an entry in the Access Control List is:
-
- ACTION SRC_ADDR[/SRC_MASKLEN] [ DST_ADDR[/DST_MASKLEN] ]
-
- Where the individual fields are:
-
- ACTION = "permit-access" or "deny-access"
- SRC_ADDR = client hostname or dotted IP address
- SRC_MASKLEN = number of bits in the subnet mask for the source
- DST_ADDR = server or forwarder hostname or dotted IP address
- DST_MASKLEN = number of bits in the subnet mask for the target
-
- The field separator (FS) is whitespace (space or tab).
+"Admin-address" should be set to the email address of the proxy administrator.
+It is used in many of the proxy-generated pages. Default: fill@me.in.please.
+
+ #admin-address fill@me.in.please
- IMPORTANT NOTE: If Privoxy is using a forwarder (see below) or a
- gateway for a particular destination URL, the DST_ADDR that is
- examined is the address of the forwarder or the gateway and NOT the
- address of the ultimate target. This is necessary because it may be
- impossible for the local Privoxy to determine the address of the
- ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for).
+
+"Proxy-info-url" can be set to a URL that contains more info about this Privoxy
+installation, it's configuration and policies. It is used in many of the
+proxy-generated pages and its use is highly recommended in multi-user
+installations, since your users will want to know why certain content is
+blocked or modified. Default: Don't show a link to on-line documentation.
+
+ proxy-info-url http://www.your-site.com/proxy.html
- Here are a few examples to show how the ACL features work:
+
+"Listen-address" specifies the address and port where Privoxy will listen for
+connections from your Web browser. The default is to listen on the localhost
+port 8118, and this is suitable for most users. (In your web browser, under
+proxy configuration, list the proxy server as "localhost" and the port as
+"8118").
+
+If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to
+serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well, you
+will need to override the default. The syntax is "listen-address
+[<ip-address>]:<port>". If you leave out the IP address, Privoxy will bind to
+all interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable from the
+Internet. In that case, consider using access control lists (acl's) (see
+"aclfile" above), or a firewall.
+
+For example, suppose you are running Privoxy on a machine which has the address
+192.168.0.1 on your local private network (192.168.0.0) and has another outside
+connection with a different address. You want it to serve requests from inside
+only:
+
+ listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
- "localhost" is OK -- no DST_ADDR implies that ALL destination
- addresses are OK:
+
+If you want it to listen on all addresses (including the outside connection):
+
+ listen-address :8118
- permit-access localhost
+
+If you do this, consider using ACLs (see "aclfile" above). Note: you will need
+to point your browser(s) to the address and port that you have configured here.
+Default: localhost:8118 (127.0.0.1:8118).
+
+The debug option sets the level of debugging information to log in the logfile
+(and to the console in the Windows version). A debug level of 1 is informative
+because it will show you each request as it happens. Higher levels of debug are
+probably only of interest to developers.
+
+ debug 1 # GPC = show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
+ debug 2 # CONN = show each connection status
+ debug 4 # IO = show I/O status
+ debug 8 # HDR = show header parsing
+ debug 16 # LOG = log all data into the logfile
+ debug 32 # FRC = debug force feature
+ debug 64 # REF = debug regular expression filter
+ debug 128 # = debug fast redirects
+ debug 256 # = debug GIF de-animation
+ debug 512 # CLF = Common Log Format
+ debug 1024 # = debug kill pop-ups
+ debug 4096 # INFO = Startup banner and warnings.
+ debug 8192 # ERROR = Non-fatal errors
+
+
+It is highly recommended that you enable ERROR reporting (debug 8192), at least
+until v3.0 is released.
+
+The reporting of FATAL errors (i.e. ones which crash Privoxy) is always on and
+cannot be disabled.
+
+If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set "debug 512" ONLY, do
+not enable anything else.
+
+Multiple "debug" directives, are OK - they're logical-OR'd together.
+
+ debug 15 # same as setting the first 4 listed above
- A silly example to illustrate permitting any host on the class-C
- subnet with Privoxy to go anywhere:
+
+Default:
+
+ debug 1 # URLs
+ debug 4096 # Info
+ debug 8192 # Errors - *we highly recommended enabling this*
- permit-access www.privoxy.com/24
+
+Privoxy normally uses "multi-threading", a software technique that permits it
+to handle many different requests simultaneously. In some cases you may wish to
+disable this -- particularly if you're trying to debug a problem. The
+"single-threaded" option forces Privoxy to handle requests sequentially.
+Default: Multi-threaded mode.
+
+ #single-threaded
- Except deny one particular IP address from using it at all:
+
+"toggle" allows you to temporarily disable all Privoxy's filtering. Just set
+"toggle 0".
+
+The Windows version of Privoxy puts an icon in the system tray, which also
+allows you to change this option. If you right-click on that icon (or select
+the "Options" menu), one choice is "Enable". Clicking on enable toggles Privoxy
+on and off. This is useful if you want to temporarily disable Privoxy, e.g., to
+access a site that requires cookies which you would otherwise have blocked.
+This can also be toggled via a web browser at the Privoxy internal address of
+http://p.p on any platform.
+
+"toggle 1" means Privoxy runs normally, "toggle 0" means that Privoxy becomes a
+non-anonymizing non-blocking proxy. Default: 1 (on).
+
+ toggle 1
- deny-access ident.privoxy.com
+
+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.
+
+The buffer-limit option lets you set the maximum size in Kbytes that each
+buffer may use. When the documents buffer exceeds this size, it is flushed to
+the client unfiltered and no further attempt to filter the rest of it is made.
+Remember that there may multiple threads running, which might require
+increasing the "buffer-limit" Kbytes each, unless you have enabled
+"single-threaded" above.
+
+ buffer-limit 4069
- You can also specify an explicit network address and subnet mask.
- Explicit addresses do not have to be resolved to be used.
+
+To enable the web-based default.action file editor set enable-edit-actions to
+1, or 0 to disable. Note that you must have compiled Privoxy with support for
+this feature, otherwise this option has no effect. This internal page can be
+reached at http://p.p.
+
+Security note: If this is enabled, anyone who can use the proxy can edit the
+actions file, and their changes will affect all users. For shared proxies, you
+probably want to disable this. Default: enabled.
+
+ enable-edit-actions 1
- permit-access 207.153.200.0/24
+
+Allow Privoxy to be toggled on and off remotely, using your web browser. Set
+"enable-remote-toggle"to 1 to enable, and 0 to disable. Note that you must have
+compiled Privoxy with support for this feature, otherwise this option has no
+effect.
+
+Security note: If this is enabled, anyone who can use the proxy can toggle it
+on or off (see http://p.p), and their changes will affect all users. For shared
+proxies, you probably want to disable this. Default: enabled.
+
+ enable-remote-toggle 1
- A subnet mask of 0 matches anything, so the next line permits
- everyone.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+3.3.3. Access Control List (ACL)
+
+Access controls are included at the request of some ISPs and systems
+administrators, and are not usually needed by individual users. Please note the
+warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute for a
+firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security weaknesses.
+
+If no access settings are specified, the proxy talks to anyone that connects.
+If any access settings file are specified, then the proxy talks only to IP
+addresses permitted somewhere in this file and not denied later in this file.
+
+Summary -- if using an ACL:
+
+Client must have permission to receive service.
+
+LAST match in ACL wins.
+
+Default behavior is to deny service.
+
+The syntax for an entry in the Access Control List is:
+
+ ACTION SRC_ADDR[/SRC_MASKLEN] [ DST_ADDR[/DST_MASKLEN] ]
- permit-access 0.0.0.0/0
+
+Where the individual fields are:
+
+ ACTION = "permit-access" or "deny-access"
+
+ SRC_ADDR = client hostname or dotted IP address
+ SRC_MASKLEN = number of bits in the subnet mask for the source
+
+ DST_ADDR = server or forwarder hostname or dotted IP address
+ DST_MASKLEN = number of bits in the subnet mask for the target
- Note, you cannot say:
+
+The field separator (FS) is whitespace (space or tab).
+
+IMPORTANT NOTE: If Privoxy is using a forwarder (see below) or a gateway for a
+particular destination URL, the DST_ADDR that is examined is the address of the
+forwarder or the gateway and NOT the address of the ultimate target. This is
+necessary because it may be impossible for the local Privoxy to determine the
+address of the ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for).
+
+Here are a few examples to show how the ACL features work:
+
+"localhost" is OK -- no DST_ADDR implies that ALL destination addresses are OK:
+
+ permit-access localhost
- permit-access .org
+
+A silly example to illustrate permitting any host on the class-C subnet with
+Privoxy to go anywhere:
+
+ permit-access www.privoxy.com/24
- to allow all *.org domains. Every IP address listed must resolve
- fully.
+
+Except deny one particular IP address from using it at all:
+
+ deny-access ident.privoxy.com
- An ISP may want to provide a Privoxy that is accessible by "the world"
- and yet restrict use of some of their private content to hosts on its
- internal network (i.e. its own subscribers). Say, for instance the ISP
- owns the Class-B IP address block 123.124.0.0 (a 16 bit netmask). This
- is how they could do it:
+
+You can also specify an explicit network address and subnet mask. Explicit
+addresses do not have to be resolved to be used.
+
+ permit-access 207.153.200.0/24
- permit-access 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 # other clients can go anywhere
- # with the following exceptions
- :
+
+A subnet mask of 0 matches anything, so the next line permits everyone.
+
+ permit-access 0.0.0.0/0
- deny-access 0.0.0.0/0 123.124.0.0/16 # block all external request
- s for
- # sites on the ISP's network
- permit 0.0.0.0/0 www.my_isp.com # except for the ISP's main
- # web site
- permit 123.124.0.0/16 0.0.0.0/0 # the ISP's clients can go
- # anywhere
+
+Note, you cannot say:
+
+ permit-access .org
- Note that if some hostnames are listed with multiple IP addresses, the
- primary value returned by DNS (via gethostbyname()) is used. Default:
- Anyone can access the proxy.
- _________________________________________________________________
+
+to allow all *.org domains. Every IP address listed must resolve fully.
+
+An ISP may want to provide a Privoxy that is accessible by "the world" and yet
+restrict use of some of their private content to hosts on its internal network
+(i.e. its own subscribers). Say, for instance the ISP owns the Class-B IP
+address block 123.124.0.0 (a 16 bit netmask). This is how they could do it:
+
+ permit-access 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 # other clients can go anywhere
+ # with the following exceptions:
+
+ deny-access 0.0.0.0/0 123.124.0.0/16 # block all external requests for
+ # sites on the ISP's network
+
+ permit 0.0.0.0/0 www.my_isp.com # except for the ISP's main
+ # web site
+
+ permit 123.124.0.0/16 0.0.0.0/0 # the ISP's clients can go
+ # anywhere
+
+Note that if some hostnames are listed with multiple IP addresses, the primary
+value returned by DNS (via gethostbyname()) is used. Default: Anyone can access
+the proxy.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
3.3.4. Forwarding
- This feature allows chaining of HTTP requests via multiple proxies. It
- can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when
- accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains to a
- special purpose filtering proxy such as lpwa.com. Or to use a caching
- proxy to speed up browsing.
-
- It can also be used in an environment with multiple networks to route
- requests via multiple gateways allowing transparent access to multiple
- networks without having to modify browser configurations.
-
- Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. Privoxy SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A.
- The difference is that SOCKS 4A will resolve the target hostname using
- DNS on the SOCKS server, not our local DNS client.
-
- The syntax of each line is:
-
- forward target_domain[:port] http_proxy_host[:port]
- forward-socks4 target_domain[:port] socks_proxy_host[:port]
- http_proxy_host[:port]
- forward-socks4a target_domain[:port] socks_proxy_host[:port]
- http_proxy_host[:port]
-
- If http_proxy_host is ".", then requests are not forwarded to a HTTP
- proxy but are made directly to the web servers.
-
- Lines are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
-
- There is an implicit line equivalent to the following, which specifies
- that anything not finding a match on the list is to go out without
- forwarding or gateway protocol, like so:
-
- forward .* . # implicit
-
- In the following common configuration, everything goes to Lucent's
- LPWA, except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle):
-
- forward .* lpwa.com:8000
- forward :443 .
-
- Some users have reported difficulties related to LPWA's use of "." as
- the last element of the domain, and have said that this can be fixed
- with this:
-
- forward lpwa. lpwa.com:8000
-
- (NOTE: the syntax for specifying target_domain has changed since the
- previous paragraph was written -- it will not work now. More
- information is welcome.)
-
- In this fictitious example, everything goes via an ISP's caching
- proxy, except requests to that ISP:
-
- forward .* caching.myisp.net:8000
- forward myisp.net .
-
- For the @home network, we're told the forwarding configuration is
- this:
-
- forward .* proxy:8080
-
- Also, we're told they insist on getting cookies and JavaScript, so you
- should allow cookies from home.com. We consider JavaScript a potential
- security risk. Java need not be enabled.
-
- In this example direct connections are made to all "internal" domains,
- but everything else goes through Lucent's LPWA by way of the company's
- SOCKS gateway to the Internet.
-
- forward-socks4 .* lpwa.com:8000 firewall.my_company.com:1080
- forward my_company.com .
-
- This is how you could set up a site that always uses SOCKS but no
- forwarders:
-
- forward-socks4a .* . firewall.my_company.com:1080
-
- An advanced example for network administrators:
-
- If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special
- content to their subscribers, you can configure forwarding to pass
- requests to the specific host that's connected to that ISP so that
- everybody can see all of the content on all of the ISPs.
-
- This is a bit tricky, but here's an example:
-
- host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.com. And host-b has a PPP
- connection to isp-b.com. host-a can run a Privoxy proxy with
- forwarding like this:
+This feature allows chaining of HTTP requests via multiple proxies. It can be
+used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when accessing specific
+domains by routing requests to those domains to a special purpose filtering
+proxy such as lpwa.com. Or to use a caching proxy to speed up browsing.
+
+It can also be used in an environment with multiple networks to route requests
+via multiple gateways allowing transparent access to multiple networks without
+having to modify browser configurations.
+
+Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. Privoxy SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A. The
+difference is that SOCKS 4A will resolve the target hostname using DNS on the
+SOCKS server, not our local DNS client.
+
+The syntax of each line is:
+
+ forward target_domain[:port] http_proxy_host[:port]
+ forward-socks4 target_domain[:port] socks_proxy_host[:port] http_proxy_host[:
+port]
+ forward-socks4a target_domain[:port] socks_proxy_host[:port] http_proxy_host[:
+port]
- forward .* .
- forward isp-b.com host-b:8118
+
+If http_proxy_host is ".", then requests are not forwarded to a HTTP proxy but
+are made directly to the web servers.
+
+Lines are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
+
+There is an implicit line equivalent to the following, which specifies that
+anything not finding a match on the list is to go out without forwarding or
+gateway protocol, like so:
+
+ forward .* . # implicit
- host-b can run a Privoxy proxy with forwarding like this:
+
+In the following common configuration, everything goes to Lucent's LPWA, except
+SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle):
+
+ forward .* lpwa.com:8000
+ forward :443 .
- forward .* .
- forward isp-a.com host-a:8118
+
+Some users have reported difficulties related to LPWA's use of "." as the last
+element of the domain, and have said that this can be fixed with this:
+
+ forward lpwa. lpwa.com:8000
- Now, anyone on the Internet (including users on host-a and host-b) can
- set their browser's proxy to either host-a or host-b and be able to
- browse the content on isp-a or isp-b.
+
+(NOTE: the syntax for specifying target_domain has changed since the previous
+paragraph was written -- it will not work now. More information is welcome.)
+
+In this fictitious example, everything goes via an ISP's caching proxy, except
+requests to that ISP:
+
+ forward .* caching.myisp.net:8000
+ forward myisp.net .
- Here's another practical example, for University of Kent at Canterbury
- students with a network connection in their room, who need to use the
- University's Squid web cache.
+
+For the @home network, we're told the forwarding configuration is this:
+
+ forward .* proxy:8080
- forward *. ssbcache.ukc.ac.uk:3128 # Use the proxy, except for:
- forward .ukc.ac.uk . # Anything on the same domain as us
- forward * . # Host with no domain specified
- forward 129.12.*.* . # A dotted IP on our /16 network.
- forward 127.*.*.* . # Loopback address
- forward localhost.localdomain . # Loopback address
- forward www.ukc.mirror.ac.uk . # Specific host
+
+Also, we're told they insist on getting cookies and JavaScript, so you should
+allow cookies from home.com. We consider JavaScript a potential security risk.
+Java need not be enabled.
+
+In this example direct connections are made to all "internal" domains, but
+everything else goes through Lucent's LPWA by way of the company's SOCKS
+gateway to the Internet.
+
+ forward-socks4 .* lpwa.com:8000 firewall.my_company.com:1080
+ forward my_company.com .
- If you intend to chain Privoxy and squid locally, then chain as
- browser -> squid -> privoxy is the recommended way.
+
+This is how you could set up a site that always uses SOCKS but no forwarders:
+
+ forward-socks4a .* . firewall.my_company.com:1080
- Your squid configuration could then look like this:
+
+An advanced example for network administrators:
+
+If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content to
+their subscribers, you can configure forwarding to pass requests to the
+specific host that's connected to that ISP so that everybody can see all of the
+content on all of the ISPs.
+
+This is a bit tricky, but here's an example:
+
+host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.com. And host-b has a PPP connection to
+isp-b.com. host-a can run a Privoxy proxy with forwarding like this:
+
+ forward .* .
+ forward isp-b.com host-b:8118
- # Define Privoxy as parent cache
+
+host-b can run a Privoxy proxy with forwarding like this:
+
+ forward .* .
+ forward isp-a.com host-a:8118
- cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 0 no-query
+
+Now, anyone on the Internet (including users on host-a and host-b) can set
+their browser's proxy to either host-a or host-b and be able to browse the
+content on isp-a or isp-b.
+
+Here's another practical example, for University of Kent at Canterbury students
+with a network connection in their room, who need to use the University's Squid
+web cache.
+
+ forward *. ssbcache.ukc.ac.uk:3128 # Use the proxy, except for:
+ forward .ukc.ac.uk . # Anything on the same domain as us
+ forward * . # Host with no domain specified
+ forward 129.12.*.* . # A dotted IP on our /16 network.
+ forward 127.*.*.* . # Loopback address
+ forward localhost.localdomain . # Loopback address
+ forward www.ukc.mirror.ac.uk . # Specific host
- # Define ACL for protocol FTP
- acl FTP proto FTP
- # Do not forward ACL FTP to privoxy
- always_direct allow FTP
- # Do not forward ACL CONNECT (https) to privoxy
- always_direct allow CONNECT
- # Forward the rest to privoxy
- never_direct allow all
- _________________________________________________________________
+
+If you intend to chain Privoxy and squid locally, then chain as browser ->
+squid -> privoxy is the recommended way.
+
+Your squid configuration could then look like this:
+
+ # Define Privoxy as parent cache
+
+ cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 0 no-query
+
+ # Define ACL for protocol FTP
+ acl FTP proto FTP
+
+ # Do not forward ACL FTP to privoxy
+ always_direct allow FTP
+
+ # Do not forward ACL CONNECT (https) to privoxy
+ always_direct allow CONNECT
+
+ # Forward the rest to privoxy
+ never_direct allow all
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
3.3.5. Windows GUI Options
- Privoxy has a number of options specific to the Windows GUI interface:
-
- If "activity-animation" is set to 1, the Privoxy icon will animate
- when "Privoxy" is active. To turn off, set to 0.
-
- activity-animation 1
-
- If "log-messages" is set to 1, Privoxy will log messages to the
- console window:
-
- log-messages 1
-
- If "log-buffer-size" is set to 1, the size of the log buffer, i.e. the
- amount of memory used for the log messages displayed in the console
- window, will be limited to "log-max-lines" (see below).
-
- Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow
- infinitely and eat up all your memory!
-
- log-buffer-size 1
-
- log-max-lines is the maximum number of lines held in the log buffer.
- See above.
-
- log-max-lines 200
-
- If "log-highlight-messages" is set to 1, Privoxy will highlight
- portions of the log messages with a bold-faced font:
-
- log-highlight-messages 1
-
- The font used in the console window:
+Privoxy has a number of options specific to the Windows GUI interface:
+
+If "activity-animation" is set to 1, the Privoxy icon will animate when
+"Privoxy" is active. To turn off, set to 0.
+
+ activity-animation 1
- log-font-name Comic Sans MS
+
+If "log-messages" is set to 1, Privoxy will log messages to the console window:
+
+ log-messages 1
- Font size used in the console window:
+
+If "log-buffer-size" is set to 1, the size of the log buffer, i.e. the amount
+of memory used for the log messages displayed in the console window, will be
+limited to "log-max-lines" (see below).
+
+Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and eat
+up all your memory!
+
+ log-buffer-size 1
- log-font-size 8
+
+log-max-lines is the maximum number of lines held in the log buffer. See above.
+
+ log-max-lines 200
- "show-on-task-bar" controls whether or not Privoxy will appear as a
- button on the Task bar when minimized:
+
+If "log-highlight-messages" is set to 1, Privoxy will highlight portions of the
+log messages with a bold-faced font:
+
+ log-highlight-messages 1
- show-on-task-bar 0
+
+The font used in the console window:
+
+ log-font-name Comic Sans MS
- 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).
+
+Font size used in the console window:
+
+ log-font-size 8
- close-button-minimizes 1
+
+"show-on-task-bar" controls whether or not Privoxy will appear as a button on
+the Task bar when minimized:
+
+ show-on-task-bar 0
- 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.
+
+If "close-button-minimizes" is set to 1, the Windows close button will minimize
+Privoxy instead of closing the program (close with the exit option on the File
+menu).
+
+ close-button-minimizes 1
- #hide-console
- _________________________________________________________________
+
+The "hide-console" option is specific to the MS-Win console version of Privoxy.
+If this option is used, Privoxy will disconnect from and hide the command
+console.
+
+ #hide-console
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
3.4. The Actions File
- The "default.action" file (formerly actionsfile) is used to define
- what actions Privoxy takes, and thus determines how images, cookies
- and various other aspects of HTTP content and transactions are
- handled. Images can be anything you want, including ads, banners, or
- just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be
- accepted or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser
- session (i.e. not written to disk). Changes to default.action should
- be immediately visible to Privoxy without the need to restart.
-
- The easiest way to edit "actions" file is with a browser by loading
- [48]http://i.j.b/, and then select "Edit Actions List". A text editor
- can also be used.
-
- To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request
- is compared to all patterns in this file. Every time it matches, the
- list of applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated. You
- can trace this process by visiting [49]http://i.j.b/show-url-info.
-
- There are four types of lines in this file: comments (begin with a "#"
- character), actions, aliases and patterns, all of which are explained
- below, as well as the configuration file syntax that Privoxy
- understands.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+The "default.action" file (formerly actionsfile or ijb.action) is used to
+define what actions Privoxy takes, and thus determines how images, cookies and
+various other aspects of HTTP content and transactions are handled. Images can
+be anything you want, including ads, banners, or just some obnoxious URL that
+you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted or rejected, or accepted only
+during the current browser session (i.e. not written to disk). Changes to
+default.action should be immediately visible to Privoxy without the need to
+restart.
+
+The easiest way to edit "actions" file is with a browser by loading http://p.p/
+, and then select "Edit Actions List". A text editor can also be used.
+
+To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
+compared to all patterns in this file. Every time it matches, the list of
+applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated. You can trace this
+process by visiting http://p.p/show-url-info.
+
+There are four types of lines in this file: comments (begin with a "#"
+character), actions, aliases and patterns, all of which are explained below, as
+well as the configuration file syntax that Privoxy understands.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
3.4.1. URL Domain and Path Syntax
- Generally, a pattern has the form <domain>/<path>, where both the
- <domain> and <path> part are optional. If you only specify a domain
- part, the "/" can be left out:
+Generally, a pattern has the form <domain>/<path>, where both the <domain> and
+<path> part are optional. If you only specify a domain part, the "/" can be
+left out:
+
+www.example.com - is a domain only pattern and will match any request to
+"www.example.com".
+
+www.example.com/ - means exactly the same.
+
+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.
+
+index.html - matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name
+and there is no top-level domain called ".html".
+
+The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the domain
+starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end. For example:
+
+.example.com - matches any domain that ENDS in ".example.com".
+
+www. - matches any domain that STARTS with "www".
+
+Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
+themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: "*" stands for zero
+or more arbitrary characters, "?" stands for any single character. And you can
+define character classes in square brackets and they can be freely mixed:
+
+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.com - matches "www1.example.com", "www4.example.com",
+"wwwd.example.com", "wwwz.example.com", etc., but not "wwww.example.com".
+
+If Privoxy was compiled with "pcre" support (default), Perl compatible regular
+expressions can be used. See the pcre/docs/ directory or "man perlre" (also
+available on http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html) for details. A
+brief discussion of regular expressions is in the Appendix. For instance:
+
+/.*/advert[0-9]+\.jpe?g - would match a URL from any domain, with any path that
+includes "advert" followed immediately by one or more digits, then a "." and
+ending in either "jpeg" or "jpg". So we match "example.com/ads/advert2.jpg",
+and "www.example.com/ads/banners/advert39.jpeg", but not "www.example.com/ads/
+banners/advert39.gif" (no gifs in the example pattern).
+
+Please note that matching in the path is case INSENSITIVE by default, but you
+can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the "(?-i)"
+switch:
+
+www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.* - will match only documents whose path starts
+with "PaTtErN" in exactly this capitalization.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+3.4.2. 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:
+
+ * Boolean (e.g. "+/-block"):
+
+ {+name} # enable this action
+ {-name} # disable this action
+
- www.example.com - is a domain only pattern and will match any request
- to "www.example.com".
+ * parameterized (e.g. "+/-hide-user-agent"):
- www.example.com/ - means exactly the same.
+ {+name{param}} # enable action and set parameter to "param"
+ {-name} # disable action
+
- www.example.com/index.html - matches only the single document
- "/index.html" on "www.example.com".
+ * Multi-value (e.g. "{+/-add-header{Name: value}}", "{+/-wafer{name=value}}
+ "):
- /index.html - matches the document "/index.html", regardless of the
- domain.
+ {+name{param}} # enable action and add parameter "param"
+ {-name{param}} # remove the parameter "param"
+ {-name} # disable this action totally
+
- index.html - matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a
- domain name and there is no top-level domain called ".html".
+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).
+
+Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. For multi-valued actions,
+the actions are applied in the order they are specified.
+
+The list of valid Privoxy "actions" are:
+
+ * Add the specified HTTP header, which is not checked for validity. You may
+ specify this many times to specify many different headers:
- 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:
+ +add-header{Name: value}
+
- .example.com - matches any domain that ENDS in ".example.com".
+ * 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.
- www. - matches any domain that STARTS with "www".
+ +block
+
- Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain
- names themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: "*"
- stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, "?" stands for any
- single character. And you can define character classes in square
- brackets and they can be freely mixed:
+ * 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).
- ad*.example.com - matches "adserver.example.com", "ads.example.com",
- etc but not "sfads.example.com".
+ +deanimate-gifs{last}
+ +deanimate-gifs{first}
+
- *ad*.example.com - matches all of the above, and then some.
+ * "+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.
- .?pix.com - matches "www.ipix.com", "pictures.epix.com",
- "a.b.c.d.e.upix.com", etc.
+ +downgrade
+
- www[1-9a-ez].example.com - matches "www1.example.com",
- "www4.example.com", "wwwd.example.com", "wwwz.example.com", etc., but
- not "wwww.example.com".
+ * 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.
- If Privoxy was compiled with "pcre" support (default), Perl compatible
- regular expressions can be used. See the pcre/docs/ directory or "man
- perlre" (also available on
- [50]http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html) for details. A
- brief discussion of regular expressions is in the [51]Appendix. For
- instance:
+ 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.
- /.*/advert[0-9]+\.jpe?g - would match a URL from any domain, with any
- path that includes "advert" followed immediately by one or more
- digits, then a "." and ending in either "jpeg" or "jpg". So we match
- "example.com/ads/advert2.jpg", and
- "www.example.com/ads/banners/advert39.jpeg", but not
- "www.example.com/ads/banners/advert39.gif" (no gifs in the example
- pattern).
+ The "+fast-redirects" option enables interception of these 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 remote
+ site.
- Please note that matching in the path is case INSENSITIVE by default,
- but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by
- using the "(?-i)" switch:
+ +fast-redirects
+
- www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.* - will match only documents whose path
- starts with "PaTtErN" in exactly this capitalization.
- _________________________________________________________________
+ * 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.
-3.4.2. 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:
+ +filter{section_header}
+
+
+ Filter sections that are pre-defined in the supplied default.filter
+ include:
- * Boolean (e.g. "+/-block"):
- {+name} # enable this action
- {-name} # disable this action
+ html-annoyances: Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.
- * parameterized (e.g. "+/-hide-user-agent"):
- {+name{param}} # enable action and set parameter to "param"
- {-name} # disable action
+ js-annoyances: Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
- * 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
+ no-poups: Kill all popups in JS and HTML
- 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).
-
- Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. For multi-valued
- actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified.
-
- The list of valid Privoxy "actions" are:
-
- * 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}
+ frameset-borders: Give frames a border
- * Block this URL totally. In a default installation, a "blocked" URL
- will result in bright red banner that says "BLOCKED", with a
- reason why it is being blocked.
- +block
+ webbugs: Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)
- * 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}
+ no-refresh: Automatic refresh sucks on auto-dialup lines
- * "+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
+ fun: Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!
- * Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites.
- Instead, they will link to some script on their own server, giving
- the destination as a parameter, which will then redirect you to
- the final target. URLs resulting from this scheme typically look
- like: http://some.place/some_script?http://some.where-else.
- Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded
- in the URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing
- more traceable, since the server from which you follow such a link
- can see where you go to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and
- time is wasted, while your browser ask the server for one redirect
- after the other. Plus, it feeds the advertisers.
- The "+fast-redirects" option enables interception of these
- requests by 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 remote site.
- +fast-redirects
+ nimda: Remove (virus) Nimda code.
- * 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.
- +filter{section_header}
+ banners-by-size: Kill banners by size
- Filter sections that are pre-defined in the supplied
- default.filter include:
+ crude-parental: Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or
+ "warez"
- html-annoyances: Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.
-
- js-annoyances: Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
-
- no-poups: Kill all popups in JS and HTML
-
- frameset-borders: Give frames a border
+ * Block any existing X-Forwarded-for header, and do not add a new one:
+
+ +hide-forwarded
+
+
+ * If the browser sends a "From:" header containing your e-mail address, this
+ either completely removes the header ("block"), or changes it to the
+ specified e-mail address.
+
+ +hide-from{block}
+ +hide-from{spam@sittingduck.xqq}
+
+
+ * Don't send the "Referer:" (sic) header to the web site. You can block it,
+ forge a URL to the same server as the request (which is preferred because
+ some sites will not send images otherwise) or set it to a constant string
+ of your choice.
+
+ +hide-referer{block}
+ +hide-referer{forge}
+ +hide-referer{http://nowhere.com}
+
+
+ * Alternative spelling of "+hide-referer". It has the same parameters, and
+ can be freely mixed with, "+hide-referer". ("referrer" is the correct
+ English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it requires it
+ to be spelled "referer".)
+
+ +hide-referrer{...}
+
+
+ * Change the "User-Agent:" header so web servers can't tell your browser
+ type. Warning! This breaks many web sites. Specify the user-agent value you
+ want. Example, pretend to be using Netscape on Linux:
- webbugs: Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)
+ +hide-user-agent{Mozilla (X11; I; Linux 2.0.32 i586)}
+
- no-refresh: Automatic refresh sucks on auto-dialup lines
+ * Treat this URL as an image. This only matters if it's also "+block"ed, in
+ which case a "blocked" image can be sent rather than a HTML page. See
+ "+image-blocker{}" below for the control over what is actually sent. If you
+ want invisible ads, they should be defined as images and blocked. And also,
+ "image-blocker" should be set to "blank".
+
+ +image
+
- fun: Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!
-
- nimda: Remove (virus) Nimda code.
-
- banners-by-size: Kill banners by size
+ * Decides what to do with URLs that end up tagged with "{+block +image}", e.g
+ an advertizement. There are five options. "-image-blocker" will send a HTML
+ "blocked" page, usually resulting in a "broken image" icon. "+image-blocker
+ {blank}" will send a 1x1 transparent GIF image. And finally,
+ "+image-blocker{http://xyz.com}" will send a HTTP temporary redirect to the
+ specified image. This has the advantage of the icon being being cached by
+ the browser, which will speed up the display. "+image-blocker{pattern}"
+ will send a checkboard type pattern
+
+ +image-blocker{blank}
+ +image-blocker{pattern}
+ +image-blocker{http://p.p/send-banner}
+
+
+ * By default (i.e. in the absence of a "+limit-connect" action), Privoxy will
+ only allow CONNECT requests to port 443, which is the standard port for
+ https as a precaution.
+
+ The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
+ (https:// URLs) through proxies. It works very simply: the proxy connects
+ to the server on the specified port, and then short-circuits its
+ connections to the client and to the remote proxy. This can be a big
+ security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be abused as TCP relays
+ very easily.
+
+ If you want to allow CONNECT for more ports than this, or want to forbid
+ CONNECT altogether, you can specify a comma separated list of ports and
+ port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum defaulting to 0 and
+ max to 65K):
+
+ +limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need no be specified.
+ +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
+ +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Port less than 3, 7, 20 to 100
+ #and above 500 are OK.
+
+
+ * "+no-compression" prevents the website from compressing the data. Some
+ websites do this, which can be a problem for 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
+ "nocompression" is turned on.
+
+ +nocompression
+
+
+ * If the website sets cookies, "no-cookies-keep" will make sure they are
+ erased when you exit and restart your web browser. This makes profiling
+ cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so that you
+ can log in for transactions. Default: on.
+
+ +no-cookies-keep
+
+
+ * Prevent the website from reading cookies:
+
+ +no-cookies-read
+
+
+ * Prevent the website from setting cookies:
+
+ +no-cookies-set
+
+
+ * Filter the website through a built-in filter to disable those obnoxious
+ JavaScript pop-up windows via window.open(), etc. The two alternative
+ spellings are equivalent.
+
+ +no-popup
+ +no-popups
+
+
+ * This action only applies if you are using a jarfile for saving cookies. It
+ sends a cookie to every site stating that you do not accept any copyright
+ on cookies sent to you, and asking them not to track you. Of course, this
+ is a (relatively) unique header they could use to track you.
+
+ +vanilla-wafer
+
+
+ * This allows you to add an arbitrary cookie. It can be specified multiple
+ times in order to add as many cookies as you like.
+
+ +wafer{name=value}
+
+
+The meaning of any of the above is reversed by preceding the action with a "-",
+in place of the "+".
+
+Some examples:
+
+Turn off cookies by default, then allow a few through for specified sites:
+
+ # Turn off all persistent cookies
+ { +no-cookies-read }
+ { +no-cookies-set }
+ # Allow cookies for this browser session ONLY
+ { +no-cookies-keep }
+
+ # Exceptions to the above, sites that benefit from persistent cookies
+ { -no-cookies-read }
+ { -no-cookies-set }
+ { -no-cookies-keep }
+ .javasoft.com
+ .sun.com
+ .yahoo.com
+ .msdn.microsoft.com
+ .redhat.com
+
+ # Alternative way of saying the same thing
+ {-no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-keep}
+ .sourceforge.net
+ .sf.net
+
+
+Now turn off "fast redirects", and then we allow two exceptions:
+
+ # 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
+
+
+Turn on page filtering according to rules in the defined sections of
+refilterfile, and make one exception for sourceforge:
+
+ # Run everything through the filter file, using only the
+ # specified sections:
+ +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups}\
+ +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size}
+
+ # Then disable filtering of code from sourceforge!
+ {-filter}
+ .cvs.sourceforge.net
+
+
+Now some URLs that we want "blocked", ie we won't see them. Many of these use
+regular expressions that will expand to match multiple URLs:
+
+ # Blocklist:
+ {+block}
+ /.*/(.*[-_.])?ads?[0-9]?(/|[-_.].*|\.(gif|jpe?g))
+ /.*/(.*[-_.])?count(er)?(\.cgi|\.dll|\.exe|[?/])
+ /.*/(ng)?adclient\.cgi
+ /.*/(plain|live|rotate)[-_.]?ads?/
+ /.*/(sponsor)s?[0-9]?/
+ /.*/_?(plain|live)?ads?(-banners)?/
+ /.*/abanners/
+ /.*/ad(sdna_image|gifs?)/
+ /.*/ad(server|stream|juggler)\.(cgi|pl|dll|exe)
+ /.*/adbanners/
+ /.*/adserver
+ /.*/adstream\.cgi
+ /.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/
+ /.*/banner_?ads/
+ /.*/banners?/
+ /.*/banners?\.cgi/
+ /.*/cgi-bin/centralad/getimage
+ /.*/images/addver\.gif
+ /.*/images/marketing/.*\.(gif|jpe?g)
+ /.*/popupads/
+ /.*/siteads/
+ /.*/sponsor.*\.gif
+ /.*/sponsors?[0-9]?/
+ /.*/advert[0-9]+\.jpg
+ /Media/Images/Adds/
+ /ad_images/
+ /adimages/
+ /.*/ads/
+ /bannerfarm/
+ /grafikk/annonse/
+ /graphics/defaultAd/
+ /image\.ng/AdType
+ /image\.ng/transactionID
+ /images/.*/.*_anim\.gif # alvin brattli
+ /ip_img/.*\.(gif|jpe?g)
+ /rotateads/
+ /rotations/
+ /worldnet/ad\.cgi
+ /cgi-bin/nph-adclick.exe/
+ /.*/Image/BannerAdvertising/
+ /.*/ad-bin/
+ /.*/adlib/server\.cgi
+ /autoads/
+
+
+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.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+3.4.3. 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.
+
+Now let's define a few aliases:
+
+ # Useful customer aliases we can use later. These must come first!
+ {{alias}}
+ +no-cookies = +no-cookies-set +no-cookies-read
+ -no-cookies = -no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read
+ fragile =
+ -block -no-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -no-popups
+ shop = -no-cookies -filter -fast-redirects
+ +imageblock = +block +image
+
+ #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.
- crude-parental: Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or
- "warez"
+
+Some examples using our "shop" and "fragile" aliases from above:
+
+ # These sites are very complex and require
+ # minimal interference.
+ {fragile}
+ .office.microsoft.com
+ .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
+ .nytimes.com
+
+ # Shopping sites - still want to block ads.
+ {shop}
+ .quietpc.com
+ .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+ .jungle.com
+ .scan.co.uk
+
+ # These shops require pop-ups
+ {shop -no-popups}
+ .dabs.com
+ .overclockers.co.uk
- * Block any existing X-Forwarded-for header, and do not add a new
- one:
- +hide-forwarded
-
- * If the browser sends a "From:" header containing your e-mail
- address, this either completely removes the header ("block"), or
- changes it to the specified e-mail address.
- +hide-from{block}
- +hide-from{spam@sittingduck.xqq}
-
- * Don't send the "Referer:" (sic) header to the web site. You can
- block it, forge a URL to the same server as the request (which is
- preferred because some sites will not send images otherwise) or
- set it to a constant string of your choice.
- +hide-referer{block}
- +hide-referer{forge}
- +hide-referer{http://nowhere.com}
-
- * Alternative spelling of "+hide-referer". It has the same
- parameters, and can be freely mixed with, "+hide-referer".
- ("referrer" is the correct English spelling, however the HTTP
- specification has a bug - it requires it to be spelled "referer".)
- +hide-referrer{...}
-
- * Change the "User-Agent:" header so web servers can't tell your
- browser type. Warning! This breaks many web sites. Specify the
- user-agent value you want. Example, pretend to be using Netscape
- on Linux:
- +hide-user-agent{Mozilla (X11; I; Linux 2.0.32 i586)}
-
- * Treat this URL as an image. This only matters if it's also
- "+block"ed, in which case a "blocked" image can be sent rather
- than a HTML page. See "+image-blocker{}" below for the control
- over what is actually sent. If you want invisible ads, they should
- be defined as images and blocked. And also, "image-blocker" should
- be set to "blank".
- +image
-
- * Decides what to do with URLs that end up tagged with "{+block
- +image}", e.g an advertizement. There are five options.
- "-image-blocker" will send a HTML "blocked" page, usually
- resulting in a "broken image" icon. "+image-blocker{logo}" will
- send a Privoxy logo image. "+image-blocker{blank}" will send a 1x1
- transparent GIF image. And finally,
- "+image-blocker{http://xyz.com}" will send a HTTP temporary
- redirect to the specified image. This has the advantage of the
- icon being being cached by the browser, which will speed up the
- display. "+image-blocker{pattern}" will send a checkboard type
- pattern, which scales better than the logo (which can get blocky
- if the browser enlarges it too much).
- +image-blocker{logo}
- +image-blocker{blank}
- +image-blocker{pattern}
- +image-blocker{http://i.j.b/send-banner}
-
- * By default (i.e. in the absence of a "+limit-connect" action),
- 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.
-
- * "+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 "nocompression" is turned on.
- +nocompression
-
- * If the website sets cookies, "no-cookies-keep" will make sure they
- are erased when you exit and restart your web browser. This makes
- profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require
- cookies so that you can log in for transactions. Default: on.
- +no-cookies-keep
-
- * Prevent the website from reading cookies:
- +no-cookies-read
-
- * Prevent the website from setting cookies:
- +no-cookies-set
-
- * Filter the website through a built-in filter to disable those
- obnoxious JavaScript pop-up windows via window.open(), etc. The
- two alternative spellings are equivalent.
- +no-popup
- +no-popups
-
- * This action only applies if you are using a jarfile for saving
- cookies. It sends a cookie to every site stating that you do not
- accept any copyright on cookies sent to you, and asking them not
- to track you. Of course, this is a (relatively) unique header they
- could use to track you.
- +vanilla-wafer
-
- * This allows you to add an arbitrary cookie. It can be specified
- multiple times in order to add as many cookies as you like.
- +wafer{name=value}
-
- The meaning of any of the above is reversed by preceding the action
- with a "-", in place of the "+".
-
- Some examples:
-
- Turn off cookies by default, then allow a few through for specified
- sites:
-
- # Turn off all persistent cookies
- { +no-cookies-read }
- { +no-cookies-set }
- # Allow cookies for this browser session ONLY
- { +no-cookies-keep }
- # Exceptions to the above, sites that benefit from persistent cookies
- { -no-cookies-read }
- { -no-cookies-set }
- { -no-cookies-keep }
- .javasoft.com
- .sun.com
- .yahoo.com
- .msdn.microsoft.com
- .redhat.com
- # Alternative way of saying the same thing
- {-no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-keep}
- .sourceforge.net
- .sf.net
-
- Now turn off "fast redirects", and then we allow two exceptions:
-
- # 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
-
- Turn on page filtering according to rules in the defined sections of
- refilterfile, and make one exception for sourceforge:
-
- # Run everything through the filter file, using only the
- # specified sections:
- +filter{html-annoyances} +filter{js-annoyances} +filter{no-popups}\
- +filter{webbugs} +filter{nimda} +filter{banners-by-size}
-
- # Then disable filtering of code from sourceforge!
- {-filter}
- .cvs.sourceforge.net
-
- Now some URLs that we want "blocked", ie we won't see them. Many of
- these use regular expressions that will expand to match multiple URLs:
-
- # Blocklist:
- {+block}
- /.*/(.*[-_.])?ads?[0-9]?(/|[-_.].*|\.(gif|jpe?g))
- /.*/(.*[-_.])?count(er)?(\.cgi|\.dll|\.exe|[?/])
- /.*/(ng)?adclient\.cgi
- /.*/(plain|live|rotate)[-_.]?ads?/
- /.*/(sponsor)s?[0-9]?/
- /.*/_?(plain|live)?ads?(-banners)?/
- /.*/abanners/
- /.*/ad(sdna_image|gifs?)/
- /.*/ad(server|stream|juggler)\.(cgi|pl|dll|exe)
- /.*/adbanners/
- /.*/adserver
- /.*/adstream\.cgi
- /.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/
- /.*/banner_?ads/
- /.*/banners?/
- /.*/banners?\.cgi/
- /.*/cgi-bin/centralad/getimage
- /.*/images/addver\.gif
- /.*/images/marketing/.*\.(gif|jpe?g)
- /.*/popupads/
- /.*/siteads/
- /.*/sponsor.*\.gif
- /.*/sponsors?[0-9]?/
- /.*/advert[0-9]+\.jpg
- /Media/Images/Adds/
- /ad_images/
- /adimages/
- /.*/ads/
- /bannerfarm/
- /grafikk/annonse/
- /graphics/defaultAd/
- /image\.ng/AdType
- /image\.ng/transactionID
- /images/.*/.*_anim\.gif # alvin brattli
- /ip_img/.*\.(gif|jpe?g)
- /rotateads/
- /rotations/
- /worldnet/ad\.cgi
- /cgi-bin/nph-adclick.exe/
- /.*/Image/BannerAdvertising/
- /.*/ad-bin/
- /.*/adlib/server\.cgi
- /autoads/
-
- 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 [52]Appendix for a brief example on
- troubleshooting actions.
- _________________________________________________________________
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+3.5. 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.
+
+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".
+
+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:
+
+Stop web pages from displaying annoying messages in the status bar by deleting
+such references:
+
+ 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
-3.4.3. 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.
-
- Now let's define a few aliases:
-
- # Useful customer aliases we can use later. These must come first!
- {{alias}}
- +no-cookies = +no-cookies-set +no-cookies-read
- -no-cookies = -no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read
- fragile = -block -no-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-refere
- r -no-popups
- shop = -no-cookies -filter -fast-redirects
- +imageblock = +block +image
- #For people who don't like to type too much: ;-)
- c0 = +no-cookies
- c1 = -no-cookies
- c2 = -no-cookies-set +no-cookies-read
- c3 = +no-cookies-set -no-cookies-read
- #... etc. Customize to your heart's content.
-
- Some examples using our "shop" and "fragile" aliases from above:
-
- # These sites are very complex and require
- # minimal interference.
- {fragile}
- .office.microsoft.com
- .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
- .nytimes.com
- # Shopping sites - still want to block ads.
- {shop}
- .quietpc.com
- .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
- .jungle.com
- .scan.co.uk
- # These shops require pop-ups
- {shop -no-popups}
- .dabs.com
- .overclockers.co.uk
- _________________________________________________________________
+Just for kicks, replace any occurrence of "Microsoft" with "MicroSuck", and
+have a little fun with topical buzzwords:
+
+ FILTER: fun
+
+ s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/ig
+
+ # Buzzword Bingo:
+ #
+ s/industry-leading|cutting-edge|award-winning/<font color=red><b>BINGO!</b></
+font>/ig
-3.5. 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.
-
- 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".
-
- 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:
-
- Stop web pages from displaying annoying messages in the status bar by
- deleting such references:
-
- FILTER: html-annoyances
- # New browser windows should be resizeable and have a location and st
- atus
- # 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
-
- Just for kicks, replace any occurrence of "Microsoft" with
- "MicroSuck", and have a little fun with topical buzzwords:
-
- FILTER: fun
- s/microsoft(?!.com)/MicroSuck/ig
- # Buzzword Bingo:
- #
- s/industry-leading|cutting-edge|award-winning/<font color=red><b>BING
- O!</b></font>/ig
-
- Kill those pesky little web-bugs:
-
- # 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
- _________________________________________________________________
+Kill those pesky little web-bugs:
+
+ # 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
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
3.6. 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.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+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.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
4. Quickstart to Using Privoxy
- Install package, then run and enjoy! Privoxy is typically started by
- specifying the main configuration file to be used on the command line.
- Example Unix startup command:
-
-
- # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
-
-
- An init script is provided for SuSE and Redhat.
-
- For for SuSE: /etc/rc.d/privoxy start
-
- For RedHat: /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
-
- 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.
-
- Be sure your browser is set to use the proxy which is by default at
- localhost, port 8118. With Netscape (and Mozilla), this can be set
- under Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy. For
- Internet Explorer: Tools > Internet Properties -> Connections -> LAN
- Setting. Then, check "Use Proxy" and fill in the appropriate info
- (Address: localhost, Port: 8118). Include if HTTPS proxy support too.
-
- The included default configuration files should give a reasonable
- starting point, though may be somewhat aggressive in blocking junk.
- You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites that require
- persistent cookies, and add these to default.action as needed. By
- default, most of these will be accepted only during the current
- browser session, until you add them to the configuration. If you want
- the browser to handle this instead, you will need to edit
- 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.
-
- If a particular site shows problems loading properly, try adding it to
- the {fragile} section of default.action. This will turn off most
- actions for this site.
-
- Privoxy is HTTP/1.1 compliant, but not all 1.1 features are as yet
- implemented. If browsers that support HTTP/1.1 (like Mozilla or recent
- versions of I.E.) experience problems, you might try to force HTTP/1.0
- compatibility. For Mozilla, look under Edit -> Preferences -> Debug ->
- Networking. Or set the "+downgrade" config option in default.action.
-
- 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 [53]http://i.j.b/, and then follow the link to "edit
- the actions list". (This is an internal page and does not require
- Internet access.)
-
- 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" from this
- page.
-
- If you encounter problems, please verify it is a Privoxy bug, by
- disabling Privoxy, and then trying the same page. Also, try another
- browser if possible to eliminate browser or site problems. Before
- reporting it as a bug, see if there is not a configuration option that
- is enabled that is causing the page not to load. You can then add an
- exception for that page or site. If a bug, please report it to the
- developers (see below).
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+Install package, then run and enjoy! Privoxy is typically started by specifying
+the main configuration file to be used on the command line. Example Unix
+startup command:
+
+
+ # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
+
+
+
+An init script is provided for SuSE and Redhat.
+
+For for SuSE: /etc/rc.d/privoxy start
+
+For RedHat: /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
+
+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.
+
+Be sure your browser is set to use the proxy which is by default at localhost,
+port 8118. With Netscape (and Mozilla), this can be set under Edit ->
+Preferences -> Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy. For Internet Explorer: Tools
+> Internet Properties -> Connections -> LAN Setting. Then, check "Use Proxy"
+and fill in the appropriate info (Address: localhost, Port: 8118). Include if
+HTTPS proxy support too.
+
+The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
+point, though may be somewhat aggressive in blocking junk. You will probably
+want to keep an eye out for sites that require persistent cookies, and add
+these to default.action as needed. By default, most of these will be accepted
+only during the current browser session, until you add them to the
+configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need to
+edit 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.
+
+If a particular site shows problems loading properly, try adding it to the
+{fragile} section of default.action. This will turn off most actions for this
+site.
+
+Privoxy is HTTP/1.1 compliant, but not all 1.1 features are as yet implemented.
+If browsers that support HTTP/1.1 (like Mozilla or recent versions of I.E.)
+experience problems, you might try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For
+Mozilla, look under Edit -> Preferences -> Debug -> Networking. Or set the
+"+downgrade" config option in default.action.
+
+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://p.p/, and then follow the
+link to "edit the actions list". (This is an internal page and does not require
+Internet access.)
+
+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" from this page.
+
+If you encounter problems, please verify it is a Privoxy bug, by disabling
+Privoxy, and then trying the same page. Also, try another browser if possible
+to eliminate browser or site problems. Before reporting it as a bug, see if
+there is not a configuration option that is enabled that is causing the page
+not to load. You can then add an exception for that page or site. If a bug,
+please report it to the developers (see below).
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
4.1. Command Line Options
- Privoxy may be invoked with the following command-line options:
-
- * --version
- Print version info and exit, Unix only.
- * --help
- Print a short usage info and exit, Unix only.
- * --no-daemon
- Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
- leader, don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
- * --pidfile FILE
- On startup, write the process ID to FILE. Delete the FILE on exit.
- Failiure to create or delete the FILE is non-fatal. If no FILE
- option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
- * --user USER[.GROUP]
- After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
- USER, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the privileges are
- not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
- * configfile
- If no configfile is included on the command line, 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.
- _________________________________________________________________
-
-5. Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
+Privoxy may be invoked with the following command-line options:
- We value your feedback. However, to provide you with the best support,
- please note:
-
- * Use the [54]Sourceforge support forum to get help.
- * Submit bugs only thru our [55]Sourceforge bug forum. Make sure
- that the bug has not already been submitted. Please try to verify
- that it is a Privoxy bug, and not a browser or site bug first. If
- you are using your own custom configuration, please try the stock
- configs to see if the problem is a configuration related bug. And
- if not using the latest development snapshot, please try the
- latest one. Or even better, CVS sources.
- * Submit feature requests only thru our [56]Sourceforge feature
- request forum.
-
- For any other issues, feel free to use the [57]mailing lists.
+ * --version
- Anyone interested in actively participating in development and related
- discussions can join the appropriate mailing list [58]here. Archives
- are available here too.
- _________________________________________________________________
+ Print version info and exit, Unix only.
-6. Copyright and History
-
-6.1. License
-
- Privoxy is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
- under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
- Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
- option) any later version.
+ * --help
- This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
- WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
- MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
- General Public License for more details, which is available from
- [59]the Free Software Foundation, Inc, 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
- Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
- _________________________________________________________________
+ Print a short usage info and exit, Unix only.
-6.2. History
-
- Junkbuster was originally written by Anonymous Coders and
- [60]Junkbuster's Corporation, and was released as free open-source
- software under the GNU GPL. [61]Stefan Waldherr made many
- improvements, and started the [62]SourceForge project Privoxy to
- rekindle development. There are now several active developers
- contributing. The last stable release was v2.0.2, which has now grown
- whiskers ;-).
- _________________________________________________________________
+ * --no-daemon
-7. See also
-
- [63]http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa
+ Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group leader,
+ don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
+
+ * --pidfile FILE
- [64]http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/
+ On startup, write the process ID to FILE. Delete the FILE on exit. Failiure
+ to create or delete the FILE is non-fatal. If no FILE option is given, no
+ PID file will be used. Unix only.
- [65]http://i.j.b/
+ * --user USER[.GROUP]
- [66]http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html
+ 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.
- [67]http://www.waldherr.org/junkbuster/
+ * 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.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+5. Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
+
+We value your feedback. However, to provide you with the best support, please
+note:
+
+ * Use the Sourceforge support forum to get help.
- [68]http://privacy.net/analyze/
+ * Submit bugs only thru our Sourceforge bug forum. Make sure that the bug has
+ not already been submitted. Please try to verify that it is a Privoxy bug,
+ and not a browser or site bug first. If you are using your own custom
+ configuration, please try the stock configs to see if the problem is a
+ configuration related bug. And if not using the latest development
+ snapshot, please try the latest one. Or even better, CVS sources.
- [69]http://www.squid-cache.org/
- _________________________________________________________________
+ * Submit feature requests only thru our Sourceforge feature request forum.
+
+
+For any other issues, feel free to use the mailing lists.
+
+Anyone interested in actively participating in development and related
+discussions can join the appropriate mailing list here. Archives are available
+here too.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+6. Copyright and History
+
+6.1. License
+
+Privoxy is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
+terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
+Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
+version.
+
+This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
+WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details, which
+is available from the Free Software Foundation, Inc, 59 Temple Place - Suite
+330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+6.2. History
+
+Privoxy is derived from the Internet Junkbuster, with many improvments and
+enhancements over the original.
+
+Junkbuster was originally written by Anonymous Coders and Junkbuster's
+Corporation, and was released as free open-source software under the GNU GPL.
+Stefan Waldherr made many improvements, and started the SourceForge project
+Privoxy to rekindle development. There are now several active developers
+contributing. The last stable release of Junkbuster was v2.0.2, which has now
+grown whiskers ;-).
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+7. See also
+
+ http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa
+
+ http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/
+
+ http://p.p/
+
+ http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html
+
+ http://www.waldherr.org/junkbuster/
+
+ http://privacy.net/analyze/
+
+ http://www.squid-cache.org/
+
+
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
8. Appendix
8.1. 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.
-
- 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 ;-)
-
- "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.
-
- To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use
- wild-card characters when listing files with the dir command in DOS.
- *.* matches all filenames. The "special" character here is the
- asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be more specific
- and use ? to match just individual characters. So "dir file?.text"
- would match "file1.txt", "file2.txt", etc. We are pattern matching,
- using a similar technique to "regular expressions"!
-
- Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much
- more powerful. There are many more "special characters" and ways of
- building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common
- ones, and then some examples:
-
- . - Matches any single character, e.g. "a", "A", "4", ":", or "@".
-
- ? - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
- times. Either/or.
-
- + - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
- times.
-
- * - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
- times.
-
- \ - The "escape" character denotes that the following character should
- be taken literally. This is used where one of the special characters
- (e.g. ".") needs to be taken literally and not as a special
- meta-character.
-
- [] - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if any of the
- enclosed characters are encountered.
-
- () - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression, or multiple
- sub-expressions.
-
- | - The "bar" character works like an "or" conditional statement. A
- match is successful if the sub-expression on either side of "|"
- matches.
-
- s/string1/string2/g - This is used to rewrite strings of text.
- "string1" is replaced by "string2" in this example.
-
- These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching
- URLs with Privoxy, and is a long way from a definitive list. This is
- enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may be more
- illuminating:
-
- /.*/banners/.* - A simple example that uses the common combination of
- "." and "*" to denote any character, zero or more times. In other
- words, any string at all. So we start with a literal forward slash,
- then our regular expression pattern (".*") another literal forward
- slash, the string "banners", another forward slash, and lastly another
- ".*". We are building a directory path here. This will match any file
- with the path that has a directory named "banners" in it. The ".*"
- matches any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward
- slashes, so it might expand into a much longer looking path. For
- example, this could match:
- "/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif", or just
- "/banners/annoying.html", or almost an infinite number of other
- possible combinations, just so it has "banners" in the path somewhere.
-
- A now something a little more complex:
-
- /.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/ - We have several literal
- forward slashes again ("/"), so we are building another expression
- that is a file path statement. We have another ".*", so we are
- matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so it matches our
- expression. The only true literal that must match our pattern is adv,
- together with the forward slashes. What comes after the "adv" string
- is the interesting part.
-
- Remember the "?" means the preceding expression (either a literal
- character or anything grouped with "(...)" in this case) can exist or
- not, since this means either zero or one match. So
- "((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))" is optional, as are the individual
- sub-expressions: "(er)", "(ing|ements?)", and the "s". The "|" means
- "or". We have two of those. For instance, "(ing|ements?)", can expand
- to match either "ing" OR "ements?". What is being done here, is an
- attempt at matching as many variations of "advertisement", and
- similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just "adv", or
- "advert", or "adverts", or "advertising", or "advertisement", or
- "advertisements". You get the idea. But it would not match
- "advertizements" (with a "z"). We could fix that by changing our
- regular expression to: "/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/",
- which would then match either spelling.
-
- /.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g) - Again another path statement with
- forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets "[]" can be matched.
- This is using "0-9" as a shorthand expression to mean any digit one
- through nine. It is the same as saying "0123456789". So any digit
- matches. The "+" means one or more of the preceding expression must be
- included. The preceding expression here is what is in the square
- brackets -- in this case, any digit one through nine. Then, at the
- end, we have a grouping: "(gif|jpe?g)". This includes a "|", so this
- needs to match the expression on either side of that bar character
- also. A simple "gif" on one side, and the other side will in turn
- match either "jpeg" or "jpg", since the "?" means the letter "e" is
- optional and can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an
- expression here to match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must
- include the literal string "advert", then one or more digits, and a
- "." (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is
- escaped with "\"), and lastly either "gif", or "jpeg", or "jpg". Some
- possible matches would include: "//advert1.jpg",
- "/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif", "/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg". It
- would not match "advert1.gif" (no leading slash), or "/adverts232.jpg"
- (the expression does not include an "s"), or "/advert1.jsp" ("jsp" is
- not 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 configuration files, and
- maybe use this knowledge to customize your own installation. There is
- much, much more that can be done with regular expressions. Now that
- you know enough to get started, you can learn more on your own :/
-
- More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
- [70]http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html
- _________________________________________________________________
-
+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.
+
+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 ;-)
+
+"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.
+
+To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
+characters when listing files with the dir command in DOS. *.* matches all
+filenames. The "special" character here is the asterisk which matches any and
+all characters. We can be more specific and use ? to match just individual
+characters. So "dir file?.text" would match "file1.txt", "file2.txt", etc. We
+are pattern matching, using a similar technique to "regular expressions"!
+
+Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
+powerful. There are many more "special characters" and ways of building complex
+patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones, and then some
+examples:
+
+. - Matches any single character, e.g. "a", "A", "4", ":", or "@".
+
+? - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE times. Either/
+or.
+
++ - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE times.
+
+* - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE times.
+
+\ - The "escape" character denotes that the following character should be taken
+literally. This is used where one of the special characters (e.g. ".") needs to
+be taken literally and not as a special meta-character.
+
+[] - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if any of the enclosed
+characters are encountered.
+
+() - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression, or multiple
+sub-expressions.
+
+| - The "bar" character works like an "or" conditional statement. A match is
+successful if the sub-expression on either side of "|" matches.
+
+s/string1/string2/g - This is used to rewrite strings of text. "string1" is
+replaced by "string2" in this example.
+
+These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
+Privoxy, and is a long way from a definitive list. This is enough to get us
+started with a few simple examples which may be more illuminating:
+
+/.*/banners/.* - A simple example that uses the common combination of "." and "
+*" to denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at
+all. So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression
+pattern (".*") another literal forward slash, the string "banners", another
+forward slash, and lastly another ".*". We are building a directory path here.
+This will match any file with the path that has a directory named "banners" in
+it. The ".*" matches any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward
+slashes, so it might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this
+could match: "/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif", or just "/
+banners/annoying.html", or almost an infinite number of other possible
+combinations, just so it has "banners" in the path somewhere.
+
+A now something a little more complex:
+
+/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/ - We have several literal forward
+slashes again ("/"), so we are building another expression that is a file path
+statement. We have another ".*", so we are matching against any conceivable
+sub-path, just so it matches our expression. The only true literal that must
+match our pattern is adv, together with the forward slashes. What comes after
+the "adv" string is the interesting part.
+
+Remember the "?" means the preceding expression (either a literal character or
+anything grouped with "(...)" in this case) can exist or not, since this means
+either zero or one match. So "((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))" is optional, as
+are the individual sub-expressions: "(er)", "(ing|ements?)", and the "s". The "
+|" means "or". We have two of those. For instance, "(ing|ements?)", can expand
+to match either "ing" OR "ements?". What is being done here, is an attempt at
+matching as many variations of "advertisement", and similar, as possible. So
+this would expand to match just "adv", or "advert", or "adverts", or
+"advertising", or "advertisement", or "advertisements". You get the idea. But
+it would not match "advertizements" (with a "z"). We could fix that by changing
+our regular expression to: "/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/", which
+would then match either spelling.
+
+/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g) - Again another path statement with forward
+slashes. Anything in the square brackets "[]" can be matched. This is using
+"0-9" as a shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the
+same as saying "0123456789". So any digit matches. The "+" means one or more of
+the preceding expression must be included. The preceding expression here is
+what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit one through nine.
+Then, at the end, we have a grouping: "(gif|jpe?g)". This includes a "|", so
+this needs to match the expression on either side of that bar character also. A
+simple "gif" on one side, and the other side will in turn match either "jpeg"
+or "jpg", since the "?" means the letter "e" is optional and can be matched
+once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to match image GIF or
+JPEG type image file. It must include the literal string "advert", then one or
+more digits, and a "." (which is now a literal, and not a special character,
+since it is escaped with "\"), and lastly either "gif", or "jpeg", or "jpg".
+Some possible matches would include: "//advert1.jpg", "/nasty/ads/
+advert1234.gif", "/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg". It would not match
+"advert1.gif" (no leading slash), or "/adverts232.jpg" (the expression does not
+include an "s"), or "/advert1.jsp" ("jsp" is not 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 configuration files, and maybe use this
+knowledge to customize your own installation. There is much, much more that can
+be done with regular expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you
+can learn more on your own :/
+
+More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions: http://www.perldoc.com/
+perl5.6/pod/perlre.html
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
8.2. Privoxy's Internal Pages
- Since Privoxy proxies each requested web page, it is easy for Privoxy
- to trap certain URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to Privoxy,
- and see how it is configured, see how our rules are being applied,
- change these rules and other configuration options, and even turn
- Privoxy's filtering off, all with a web browser.
-
- The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access to
- Privoxy. Of course, Privoxy must be running to access these. If not,
- you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
- necessary either.
+Since Privoxy proxies each requested web page, it is easy for Privoxy to trap
+certain URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to Privoxy, and see how it is
+configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these rules and other
+configuration options, and even turn Privoxy's filtering off, all with a web
+browser.
+
+The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access to Privoxy.
+Of course, Privoxy must be running to access these. If not, you will get a
+friendly error message. Internet access is not necessary either.
+
+ * Privoxy main page:
- * Privoxy main page:
-
- [71]http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/
- Alternately, this may be reached at [72]http://i.j.b/, but this
- variation may not work as reliably as the above in some
- configurations.
- * Show information about the current configuration:
-
- [73]http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-status
- * Show the source code version numbers:
+ http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/
- [74]http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-version
- * Show the client's request headers:
+ Alternately, this may be reached at http://p.p/, but this variation may not
+ work as reliably as the above in some configurations.
+
+ * Show information about the current configuration:
+
+ http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-status
- [75]http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-request
- * Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
+ * Show the source code version numbers:
+
+ http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-version
- [76]http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-url-info
- * Toggle Privoxy on or off:
+ * Show the client's request headers:
+
+ http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-request
- [77]http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/toggle
- Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
+ * Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
+
+ http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-url-info
- [78]http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/toggle?set=disable
+ * Toggle Privoxy on or off:
+
+ http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/toggle
- [79]http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/toggle?set=enable
- * Edit the actions list file:
+ Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
+
+ http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/toggle?set=disable
- [80]http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/edit-actions
+ http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/toggle?set=enable
- These may be bookmarked for quick reference.
- _________________________________________________________________
+ * Edit the actions list file:
+ http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/edit-actions
+
+These may be bookmarked for quick reference.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
8.3. Anatomy of an Action
- The way Privoxy applies "actions" to any given URL can be complex, and
- not always so easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we
- need to be able to see just what Privoxy is doing. Especially, if
- something Privoxy is doing is causing us a problem inadvertantly. It
- can be a little daunting to look at the actions files themselves,
- since they tend to be filled with "regular expressions" whose
- consequences are not always so obvious. Privoxy provides the
- [81]http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-url-info page that can
- show us very specifically how actions are being applied to any given
- URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
-
- First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then Privoxy
- will tell us how current configuration will handle it. This will not
- help with filtering effects from the default.filter! 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.
-
- Let's look at an example, [82]google.com, one section at a time:
-
- System default actions:
-
- { -add-header -block -deanimate-gifs -downgrade -fast-redirects -filter
- -hide-forwarded -hide-from -hide-referer -hide-user-agent -image
- -image-blocker -limit-connect -no-compression -no-cookies-keep
- -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set -no-popups -vanilla-wafer -wafer }
-
-
- This is the top section, and only tells us of the compiled in
- defaults. This is basically what Privoxy would do if there were not
- any "actions" defined, i.e. it does nothing. Every action is disabled.
- This is not particularly informative for our purposes here. OK, next
- section:
-
- Matches for http://google.com:
-
- { -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
-
- { -fast-redirects }
- .google.com
-
-
- 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 -- "/".
-
- These are the default actions we have enabled. But we can define
- additional actions that would be exceptions to these general rules,
- and then list specific URLs that these exceptions would apply to. Last
- match wins. Just below this then are two explict matches for
- ".google.com". The first is negating our various cookie blocking
- actions (i.e. we will allow cookies here). The second is allowing
- "fast-redirects". Note that there is a leading dot here --
- ".google.com". This will match any hosts and sub-domains, in the
- google.com domain also, such as "www.google.com". So, apparently, we
- have these actions defined somewhere in the lower part of our actions
- file, and "google.com" is referenced in these sections.
-
- And now we pull it altogether in the bottom section and summarize how
- Privoxy is appying all its "actions" to "google.com":
-
- 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
-
-
- Now another example, "ad.doubleclick.net":
-
- { +block +image }
- .ad.doubleclick.net
-
- { +block +image }
- ad*.
-
- { +block +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", 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 than one action.)
-
- Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an
- unwanted image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case
- effectively 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.
-
- 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...
-
- 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 }
- /
-
- { +block +image }
- /ads
-
-
- Ooops, the "/adsl/" is matching "/ads"! But we did not want this at
- all! Now we see why we get the blank page. We could now add a new
- action below this that explictly does not block (-block) pages with
- "adsl". There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
-
- { -block }
- /adsl
-
-
- Now the page displays ;-)
-
-References
-
- Visible links
- 1. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/user-manual/
- 2. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#INTRODUCTION
- 3. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN28
- 4. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#INSTALLATION
- 5. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#INSTALLATION-SOURCE
- 6. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#INSTALLATION-RH
- 7. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#INSTALLATION-SUSE
- 8. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#INSTALLATION-OS2
- 9. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#INSTALLATION-WIN
- 10. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#INSTALLATION-OTHER
- 11. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#CONFIGURATION
- 12. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN147
- 13. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN165
- 14. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN196
- 15. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN229
- 16. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN322
- 17. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN459
- 18. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN547
- 19. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN656
- 20. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#ACTIONSFILE
- 21. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN754
- 22. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN828
- 23. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN1148
- 24. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#FILTERFILE
- 25. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN1207
- 26. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#QUICKSTART
- 27. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN1263
- 28. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#CONTACT
- 29. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#COPYRIGHT
- 30. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN1322
- 31. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN1328
- 32. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#SEEALSO
- 33. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#APPENDIX
- 34. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#REGEX
- 35. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN1512
- 36. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#ACTIONSANAT
- 37. http://i.j.b/
- 38. http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/
- 39. http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/ijbswa/current/
- 40. http://www.gnu.org/
- 41. http://i.j.b/
- 42. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/
- 43. http://i.j.b/
- 44. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#ACTIONSFILE
- 45. http://i.j.b/
- 46. http://i.j.b/
- 47. http://i.j.b/
- 48. http://i.j.b/
- 49. http://i.j.b/show-url-info
- 50. http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html
- 51. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#REGEX
- 52. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#ACTIONSANAT
- 53. http://i.j.b/
- 54. http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=211118
- 55. http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=111118
- 56. http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=361118&group_id=11118&func=browse
- 57. http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=11118
- 58. http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=11118
- 59. http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
- 60. http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/ijbfaq.html
- 61. http://www.waldherr.org/junkbuster/
- 62. http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/
- 63. http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa
- 64. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/
- 65. http://i.j.b/
- 66. http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html
- 67. http://www.waldherr.org/junkbuster/
- 68. http://privacy.net/analyze/
- 69. http://www.squid-cache.org/
- 70. http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html
- 71. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/
- 72. http://i.j.b/
- 73. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-status
- 74. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-version
- 75. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-request
- 76. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-url-info
- 77. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/toggle
- 78. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/toggle?set=disable
- 79. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/toggle?set=enable
- 80. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/edit-actions
- 81. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-url-info
- 82. http://google.com/
-
- Hidden links:
- 83. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN1384
- 84. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN1392
- 85. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN1395
- 86. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN1398
- 87. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN1401
- 88. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN1406
- 89. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN1409
- 90. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN1412
- 91. file://localhost/home/swa/sf/current-org/doc/source/tmp.html#AEN1418
+The way Privoxy applies "actions" to any given URL can be complex, and not
+always so easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be
+able to see just what Privoxy is doing. Especially, if something Privoxy is
+doing is causing us a problem inadvertantly. It can be a little daunting to
+look at the actions files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
+"regular expressions" whose consequences are not always so obvious. Privoxy
+provides the http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/show-url-info page that can
+show us very specifically how actions are being applied to any given URL. This
+is a big help for troubleshooting.
+
+First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then Privoxy will tell
+us how the current configuration will handle it. This will not help with
+filtering effects from the default.filter file! It also will not tell you about
+any other URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For
+instance, images such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source
+of HTML pages. So you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into
+the prompt area -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs
+like ads, you will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's
+"View Page Source" option for this.
+
+Let's look at an example, google.com, one section at a time:
+
+ System default actions:
+
+ { -add-header -block -deanimate-gifs -downgrade -fast-redirects -filter
+ -hide-forwarded -hide-from -hide-referer -hide-user-agent -image
+ -image-blocker -limit-connect -no-compression -no-cookies-keep
+ -no-cookies-read -no-cookies-set -no-popups -vanilla-wafer -wafer }
+
+
+
+This is the top section, and only tells us of the compiled in defaults. This is
+basically what Privoxy would do if there were not any "actions" defined, i.e.
+it does nothing. Every action is disabled. This is not particularly informative
+for our purposes here. OK, next section:
+
+ Matches for http://google.com:
+
+ { -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
+
+ { -fast-redirects }
+ .google.com
+
+
+
+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 -- "
+/".
+
+These are the default actions we have enabled. But we can define additional
+actions that would be exceptions to these general rules, and then list specific
+URLs that these exceptions would apply to. Last match wins. Just below this
+then are two explict matches for ".google.com". The first is negating our
+various cookie blocking actions (i.e. we will allow cookies here). The second
+is allowing "fast-redirects". Note that there is a leading dot here --
+".google.com". This will match any hosts and sub-domains, in the google.com
+domain also, such as "www.google.com". So, apparently, we have these actions
+defined somewhere in the lower part of our actions file, and "google.com" is
+referenced in these sections.
+
+And now we pull it altogether in the bottom section and summarize how Privoxy
+is appying all its "actions" to "google.com":
+
+ 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
+
+
+
+Now another example, "ad.doubleclick.net":
+
+ { +block +image }
+ .ad.doubleclick.net
+
+ { +block +image }
+ ad*.
+
+ { +block +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", 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 than one action.)
+
+Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
+image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively 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.
+
+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...
+
+ 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 }
+ /
+
+ { +block +image }
+ /ads
+
+
+
+Ooops, the "/adsl/" is matching "/ads"! But we did not want this at all! Now we
+see why we get the blank page. We could now add a new action below this that
+explictly does not block (-block) pages with "adsl". There are various ways to
+handle such exceptions. Example:
+
+ { -block }
+ /adsl
+
+
+
+Now the page displays ;-)
+
projects / privoxy.git / commitdiff