Privoxy Developer Manual
-Copyright © 2001-2006 by Privoxy Developers
+[ Copyright 2001-2007 by Privoxy Developers ]
-$Id: developer-manual.sgml,v 2.11 2006/09/26 02:36:29 hal9 Exp $
+$Id: developer-manual.sgml,v 2.13 2007/10/30 17:59:31 fabiankeil Exp $
The developer manual provides guidance on coding, testing, packaging,
documentation and other issues of importance to those involved with Privoxy
development. It is mandatory (and helpful!) reading for anyone who wants to
-join the team.
+join the team. Note that it's currently out of date and may not be entirely
+correct. As always, patches are welcome.
Please note that this document is constantly evolving. This copy represents the
-state at the release of version 3.0.6. You can find the latest version of the
+state at the release of version 3.0.7. You can find the latest version of the
this manual at http://www.privoxy.org/developer-manual/. Please see the Contact
section on how to contact the developers.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction
-
+
1.1. Quickstart to Privoxy Development
-
+
2. The CVS Repository
-
+
2.1. Access to CVS
2.2. Branches
2.3. CVS Commit Guidelines
-
+
3. Documentation Guidelines
-
+
3.1. Quickstart to Docbook and SGML
3.2. Privoxy Documentation Style
3.3. Privoxy Custom Entities
-
+
4. Coding Guidelines
-
+
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Using Comments
-
+
4.2.1. Comment, Comment, Comment
4.2.2. Use blocks for comments
4.2.3. Keep Comments on their own line
4.2.5. Comment All Functions Thoroughly
4.2.6. Comment at the end of braces if the content is more than one
screen length
-
+
4.3. Naming Conventions
-
+
4.3.1. Variable Names
4.3.2. Function Names
4.3.3. Header file prototypes
4.3.4. Enumerations, and #defines
4.3.5. Constants
-
+
4.4. Using Space
-
+
4.4.1. Put braces on a line by themselves.
4.4.2. ALL control statements should have a block
4.4.3. Do not belabor/blow-up boolean expressions
4.4.5. Don't use white space around structure operators
4.4.6. Make the last brace of a function stand out
4.4.7. Use 3 character indentions
-
+
4.5. Initializing
-
+
4.5.1. Initialize all variables
-
+
4.6. Functions
-
+
4.6.1. Name functions that return a boolean as a question.
4.6.2. Always specify a return type for a function.
4.6.3. Minimize function calls when iterating by using variables
4.6.8. Use `extern "C"` when appropriate
4.6.9. Where Possible, Use Forward Struct Declaration Instead of
Includes
-
+
4.7. General Coding Practices
-
+
4.7.1. Turn on warnings
4.7.2. Provide a default case for all switch statements
4.7.3. Try to avoid falling through cases in a switch statement.
'free'
4.7.9. Add loaders to the `file_list' structure and in order
4.7.10. "Uncertain" new code and/or changes to existing code, use FIXME
-
+ or XXX
+
4.8. Addendum: Template for files and function comment blocks:
-
+
5. Testing Guidelines
-
+
5.1. Testplan for releases
5.2. Test reports
-
+
6. Releasing a New Version
-
+
6.1. Version numbers
6.2. Before the Release: Freeze
6.3. Building and Releasing the Packages
-
+
6.3.1. Note on Privoxy Packaging
6.3.2. Source Tarball
6.3.3. SuSE, Conectiva or Red Hat RPM
6.3.10. HP-UX 11
6.3.11. Amiga OS
6.3.12. AIX
-
+
6.4. Uploading and Releasing Your Package
6.5. After the Release
-
+
7. Update the Webserver
8. Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
-
+
8.1. Get Support
8.2. Reporting Problems
-
+
8.2.1. Reporting Ads or Other Configuration Problems
8.2.2. Reporting Bugs
-
+
8.3. Request New Features
8.4. Other
-
+
9. Privoxy Copyright, License and History
-
+
9.1. License
9.2. History
-
+
10. See also
1. Introduction
-Privoxy, as an heir to Junkbuster, is an Open Source project and licensed under
-the GPL. As such, Privoxy development is potentially open to anyone who has the
-time, knowledge, and desire to contribute in any capacity. Our goals are simply
-to continue the mission, to improve Privoxy, and to make it available to as
-wide an audience as possible.
+Privoxy, as an heir to Junkbuster, is a Free Software project and the code is
+licensed under the GPL. As such, Privoxy development is potentially open to
+anyone who has the time, knowledge, and desire to contribute in any capacity.
+Our goals are simply to continue the mission, to improve Privoxy, and to make
+it available to as wide an audience as possible.
-One does not have to be a programmer to contribute. Packaging, testing, and
-porting, are all important jobs as well.
+One does not have to be a programmer to contribute. Packaging, testing,
+documenting and porting, are all important jobs as well.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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1.1. Quickstart to Privoxy Development
refer to the extensive comments in the source code. In fact, reading the code
is recommended in any case.
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2. The CVS Repository
will need to set this up for you. Please read this chapter completely before
accessing via CVS.
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2.1. Access to CVS
ijbswa.cvs.sourceforge.net, the repository is called ijbswa, and the source
tree module is called current.
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2.2. Branches
prior to each stable series (e.g. 3.0.x), a branch is created just for stable
series releases (e.g. 3.0.0 -> 3.0.1 -> 3.0.2, etc). Once the initial stable
release of any stable branch has taken place, this branch is only used for
-bugfixes, which have had prior testing before being committed to CVS. (See
+bugfixes, which have had prior testing before being committed to CVS. (See
Version Numbers below for details on versioning.)
At one time there were two distinct branches: stable and unstable. The more
drastic changes were to be in the unstable branch. These branches have now been
merged to minimize time and effort of maintaining two branches.
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2.3. CVS Commit Guidelines
Basic Guidelines, for all branches:
- * Please don't commit even a small change without testing it thoroughly
+ • Please don't commit even a small change without testing it thoroughly
first. When we're close to a public release, ask a fellow developer to
review your changes.
-
- * Your commit message should give a concise overview of what you changed (no
+
+ • Your commit message should give a concise overview of what you changed (no
big details) and why you changed it Just check previous messages for good
examples.
-
- * Don't use the same message on multiple files, unless it equally applies to
+
+ • Don't use the same message on multiple files, unless it equally applies to
all those files.
-
- * If your changes span multiple files, and the code won't recompile unless
+
+ • If your changes span multiple files, and the code won't recompile unless
all changes are committed (e.g. when changing the signature of a function),
then commit all files one after another, without long delays in between. If
necessary, prepare the commit messages in advance.
-
- * Before changing things on CVS, make sure that your changes are in line with
+
+ • Before changing things on CVS, make sure that your changes are in line with
the team's general consensus on what should be done.
-
- * Note that near a major public release, we get more cautious. There is
+
+ • Note that near a major public release, we get more cautious. There is
always the possibility to submit a patch to the patch tracker instead.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
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3. Documentation Guidelines
All formal documents are maintained in Docbook SGML and located in the doc/
source/* directory. You will need Docbook, the Docbook DTD's and the Docbook
modular stylesheets (or comparable alternatives), and either jade or openjade
-(recommended) installed in order to build docs from source. Currently there is
+(recommended) installed in order to build docs from source. Currently there is
user-manual, FAQ, and, of course this, the developer-manual in this format. The
README, AUTHORS, INSTALL, privoxy.1 (man page), and config files are also now
maintained as Docbook SGML. These files, when built, in the top-level source
1. First, build the docs by running make dok (or alternately make redhat-dok).
For PDF docs, do make dok-pdf.
-
+
2. Run make webserver which copies all files from doc/webserver to the
sourceforge webserver via scp.
-
+
Finished docs should be occasionally submitted to CVS (doc/webserver/*/*.html)
so that those without the ability to build them locally, have access to them if
needed. This is especially important just prior to a new release! Please do
this after the $VERSION and other release specific data in configure.in has
been updated (this is done just prior to a new release).
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3.1. Quickstart to Docbook and SGML
Some common elements that you likely will use:
-<para></para>, paragraph delimiter. Most text needs to be within paragraph
-elements (there are some exceptions).
-<emphasis></emphasis>, the stylesheets make this italics.
-<filename></filename>, files and directories.
-<command></command>, command examples.
-<literallayout></literallayout>, like <pre>, more or less.
-<itemizedlist></itemizedlist>, list with bullets.
-<listitem></listitem>, member of the above.
-<screen></screen>, screen output, implies <literallayout>.
-<ulink url="example.com"></ulink>, like HTML <a> tag.
-<quote></quote>, for, doh, quoting text.
+<para></para>, paragraph delimiter. Most text needs to be within paragraph
+elements (there are some exceptions).
+<emphasis></emphasis>, the stylesheets make this italics.
+<filename></filename>, files and directories.
+<command></command>, command examples.
+<literallayout></literallayout>, like <pre>, more or less.
+<itemizedlist></itemizedlist>, list with bullets.
+<listitem></listitem>, member of the above.
+<screen></screen>, screen output, implies <literallayout>.
+<ulink url="example.com"></ulink>, like HTML <a> tag.
+<quote></quote>, for, doh, quoting text.
Look at any of the existing docs for examples of all these and more.
You might also find "Writing Documentation Using DocBook - A Crash Course"
useful.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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3.2. Privoxy Documentation Style
Here it is:
- * All tags should be lower case.
-
- * Tags delimiting a block of text (even small blocks) should be on their own
+ • All tags should be lower case.
+
+ • Tags delimiting a block of text (even small blocks) should be on their own
line. Like:
-
+
<para>
Some text goes here.
</para>
-
+
Tags marking individual words, or few words, should be in-line:
-
+
Just to <emphasis>emphasize</emphasis>, some text goes here.
-
- * Tags should be nested and step indented for block text like: (except
+
+ • Tags should be nested and step indented for block text like: (except
in-line tags)
-
+
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<para>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
-
+
This makes it easier to find the text amongst the tags ;-)
-
- * Use white space to separate logical divisions within a document, like
+
+ • Use white space to separate logical divisions within a document, like
between sections. Running everything together consistently makes it harder
to read and work on.
-
- * Do not hesitate to make comments. Comments can either use the <comment>
+
+ • Do not hesitate to make comments. Comments can either use the <comment>
element, or the <!-- --> style comment familiar from HTML. (Note in Docbook
v4.x <comment> is replaced by <remark>.)
-
- * We have an international audience. Refrain from slang, or English
+
+ • We have an international audience. Refrain from slang, or English
idiosyncrasies (too many to list :). Humor also does not translate well
sometimes.
-
- * Try to keep overall line lengths in source files to 80 characters or less
+
+ • Try to keep overall line lengths in source files to 80 characters or less
for obvious reasons. This is not always possible, with lengthy URLs for
instance.
-
- * Our documents are available in differing formats. Right now, they are just
+
+ • Our documents are available in differing formats. Right now, they are just
plain text, HTML, and PDF, but others are always a future possibility. Be
careful with URLs (<ulink>), and avoid this mistake:
-
+
My favorite site is <ulink url="http://example.com">here</ulink>.
-
+
This will render as "My favorite site is here", which is not real helpful
in a text doc. Better like this:
-
+
My favorite site is <ulink url="http://example.com">example.com</ulink>.
-
- * All documents should be spell checked occasionally. aspell can check SGML
+
+ • All documents should be spell checked occasionally. aspell can check SGML
with the -H option. (ispell I think too.)
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3.3. Privoxy Custom Entities
re-setting with each release (done by the Makefile). A sampling of custom
entities are listed below. See any of the main docs for examples.
- * Re- "boilerplate" text entities are defined like:
-
+ • Re- "boilerplate" text entities are defined like:
+
<!entity supported SYSTEM "supported.sgml">
-
+
In this example, the contents of the file, supported.sgml is available for
inclusion anywhere in the doc. To make this happen, just reference the now
defined entity: &supported; (starts with an ampersand and ends with a
semi-colon), and the contents will be dumped into the finished doc at that
point.
-
- * Commonly used "internal entities":
-
- p-version: the Privoxy version string, e.g. "3.0.6".
- p-status: the project status, either "alpha", "beta", or "stable".
- p-not-stable: use to conditionally include text in "not stable" releases
- (e.g. "beta").
- p-stable: just the opposite.
- p-text: this doc is only generated as text.
-
+
+ • Commonly used "internal entities":
+
+ p-version: the Privoxy version string, e.g. "3.0.7".
+ p-status: the project status, either "alpha", "beta", or "stable".
+ p-not-stable: use to conditionally include text in "not stable" releases
+ (e.g. "beta").
+ p-stable: just the opposite.
+ p-text: this doc is only generated as text.
+
There are others in various places that are defined for a specific purpose.
Read the source!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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4. Coding Guidelines
development and product efficiencies then we can solve more of the request for
changes/improvements and in general feel good about ourselves. ;->
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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4.2. Using Comments
Explanation:
Comment as much as possible without commenting the obvious. For example do not
-comment "aVariable is equal to bVariable". Instead explain why aVariable should
-be equal to the bVariable. Just because a person can read code does not mean
-they will understand why or what is being done. A reader may spend a lot more
-time figuring out what is going on when a simple comment or explanation would
-have prevented the extra research. Please help your brother IJB'ers out!
+comment "variable_a is equal to variable_b". Instead explain why variable_a
+should be equal to the variable_b. Just because a person can read code does not
+mean they will understand why or what is being done. A reader may spend a lot
+more time figuring out what is going on when a simple comment or explanation
+would have prevented the extra research. Please help your brother IJB'ers out!
The comments will also help justify the intent of the code. If the comment
describes something different than what the code is doing then maybe a
Example:
-/* if page size greater than 1k ... */
-if ( PageLength() > 1024 )
-{
- ... "block" the page up ...
-}
-
-/* if page size is small, send it in blocks */
-if ( PageLength() > 1024 )
-{
- ... "block" the page up ...
-}
-
-This demonstrates 2 cases of "what not to do". The first is a
-"syntax comment". The second is a comment that does not fit what
-is actually being done.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+/* if page size greater than 1k ... */
+if ( page_length() > 1024 )
+{
+ ... "block" the page up ...
+}
+
+/* if page size is small, send it in blocks */
+if ( page_length() > 1024 )
+{
+ ... "block" the page up ...
+}
+
+This demonstrates 2 cases of "what not to do". The first is a
+"syntax comment". The second is a comment that does not fit what
+is actually being done.
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.2.2. Use blocks for comments
Example:
-/*********************************************************************
- * This will stand out clearly in your code!
- *********************************************************************/
-if ( thisVariable == thatVariable )
-{
- DoSomethingVeryImportant();
-}
-
-
-/* unfortunately, this may not */
-if ( thisVariable == thatVariable )
-{
- DoSomethingVeryImportant();
-}
-
-
-if ( thisVariable == thatVariable ) /* this may not either */
-{
- DoSomethingVeryImportant();
-}
+/*********************************************************************
+ * This will stand out clearly in your code!
+ *********************************************************************/
+if ( this_variable == that_variable )
+{
+ do_something_very_important();
+}
+
+
+/* unfortunately, this may not */
+if ( this_variable == that_variable )
+{
+ do_something_very_important();
+}
+
+
+if ( this_variable == that_variable ) /* this may not either */
+{
+ do_something_very_important();
+}
+
Exception:
flow of the code, feel free to use a 1 line comment which is NOT on the same
line as the code.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.2.3. Keep Comments on their own line
Example:
-/*********************************************************************
- * This will stand out clearly in your code,
- * But the second example won't.
- *********************************************************************/
-if ( thisVariable == thatVariable )
-{
- DoSomethingVeryImportant();
-}
-
-if ( thisVariable == thatVariable ) /*can you see me?*/
-{
- DoSomethingVeryImportant(); /*not easily*/
-}
-
-
-/*********************************************************************
- * But, the encouraged exceptions:
- *********************************************************************/
-int urls_read = 0; /* # of urls read + rejected */
-int urls_rejected = 0; /* # of urls rejected */
-
-if ( 1 == X )
-{
- DoSomethingVeryImportant();
-}
-
-
-short DoSomethingVeryImportant(
- short firstparam, /* represents something */
- short nextparam /* represents something else */ )
-{
- ...code here...
-
-} /* -END- DoSomethingVeryImportant */
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+/*********************************************************************
+ * This will stand out clearly in your code,
+ * But the second example won't.
+ *********************************************************************/
+if ( this_variable == this_variable )
+{
+ do_something_very_important();
+}
+
+if ( this_variable == this_variable ) /*can you see me?*/
+{
+ do_something_very_important(); /*not easily*/
+}
+
+
+/*********************************************************************
+ * But, the encouraged exceptions:
+ *********************************************************************/
+int urls_read = 0; /* # of urls read + rejected */
+int urls_rejected = 0; /* # of urls rejected */
+
+if ( 1 == X )
+{
+ do_something_very_important();
+}
+
+
+short do_something_very_important(
+ short firstparam, /* represents something */
+ short nextparam /* represents something else */ )
+{
+ ...code here...
+
+} /* -END- do_something_very_important */
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.2.4. Comment each logical step
Most "for", "while", "do", etc... loops _probably_ need a comment. After all,
these are usually major logic containers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.2.5. Comment All Functions Thoroughly
should contain the information presented in the addendum section of this
document.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.2.6. Comment at the end of braces if the content is more than one screen
length
Example:
-if ( 1 == X )
-{
- DoSomethingVeryImportant();
- ...some long list of commands...
-} /* -END- if x is 1 */
-
-or:
-
-if ( 1 == X )
-{
- DoSomethingVeryImportant();
- ...some long list of commands...
-} /* -END- if ( 1 == X ) */
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+if ( 1 == X )
+{
+ do_something_very_important();
+ ...some long list of commands...
+} /* -END- if x is 1 */
+
+or:
+
+if ( 1 == X )
+{
+ do_something_very_important();
+ ...some long list of commands...
+} /* -END- if ( 1 == X ) */
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.3. Naming Conventions
Example:
-int ms_iis5_hack = 0;
+int ms_iis5_hack = 0;
+
Instead of:
-int msiis5hack = 0; int msIis5Hack = 0;
+int msiis5hack = 0; int msIis5Hack = 0;
+
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.3.2. Function Names
Example:
-int load_some_file( struct client_state *csp )
+int load_some_file( struct client_state *csp )
+
Instead of:
-int loadsomefile( struct client_state *csp )
-int loadSomeFile( struct client_state *csp )
+int loadsomefile( struct client_state *csp )
+int loadSomeFile( struct client_state *csp )
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.3.3. Header file prototypes
Example:
-(.h) extern int load_aclfile( struct client_state *csp );
-(.c) int load_aclfile( struct client_state *csp )
+(.h) extern int load_aclfile( struct client_state *csp );
+(.c) int load_aclfile( struct client_state *csp )
+
Instead of:
-(.h) extern int load_aclfile( struct client_state * ); or
-(.h) extern int load_aclfile();
-(.c) int load_aclfile( struct client_state *csp )
+(.h) extern int load_aclfile( struct client_state * ); or
+(.h) extern int load_aclfile();
+(.c) int load_aclfile( struct client_state *csp )
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.3.4. Enumerations, and #defines
Example:
-(enumeration) : enum Boolean { FALSE, TRUE };
-(#define) : #define DEFAULT_SIZE 100;
+(enumeration) : enum Boolean { FALSE, TRUE };
+(#define) : #define DEFAULT_SIZE 100;
+
Note: We have a standard naming scheme for #defines that toggle a feature in
the preprocessor: FEATURE_>, where > is a short (preferably 1 or 2 word)
Example:
-#define FEATURE_FORCE 1
-
-#ifdef FEATURE_FORCE
-#define FORCE_PREFIX blah
-#endif /* def FEATURE_FORCE */
+#define FEATURE_FORCE 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+#ifdef FEATURE_FORCE
+#define FORCE_PREFIX blah
+#endif /* def FEATURE_FORCE */
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.3.5. Constants
Example:
-#define USE_IMAGE_LIST 1
+#define USE_IMAGE_LIST 1
+
Instead of:
-#define USE_IMG_LST 1 or
-#define _USE_IMAGE_LIST 1 or
-#define USE_IMAGE_LIST_ 1 or
-#define use_image_list 1 or
-#define UseImageList 1
+#define USE_IMG_LST 1 or
+#define _USE_IMAGE_LIST 1 or
+#define USE_IMAGE_LIST_ 1 or
+#define use_image_list 1 or
+#define UseImageList 1
+
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.4. Using Space
Example:
-if ( this == that )
-{
- ...
-}
+if ( this == that )
+{
+ ...
+}
+
Instead of:
Example exception:
-while ( more lines are read )
-{
- /* Please document what is/is not a comment line here */
- if ( it's a comment ) continue;
-
- do_something( line );
-}
+while ( more lines are read )
+{
+ /* Please document what is/is not a comment line here */
+ if ( it's a comment ) continue;
+
+ do_something( line );
+}
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.4.2. ALL control statements should have a block
Example:
-if ( this == that )
-{
- DoSomething();
- DoSomethingElse();
-}
+if ( this == that )
+{
+ do_something();
+ do_something_else();
+}
+
Instead of:
-if ( this == that ) DoSomething(); DoSomethingElse();
+if ( this == that ) do_something(); do_something_else();
or
-if ( this == that ) DoSomething();
+if ( this == that ) do_something();
Note: The first example in "Instead of" will execute in a manner other than
that which the developer desired (per indentation). Using code braces would
have prevented this "feature". The "explanation" and "exception" from the point
above also applies.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.4.3. Do not belabor/blow-up boolean expressions
Example:
-structure->flag = ( condition );
+structure->flag = ( condition );
+
Instead of:
Please assume that any developer new to the project has at least a "good"
knowledge of C/C++. (Hope I do not offend by that last comment ... 8-)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.4.4. Use white space freely because it is free
Example:
-int firstValue = 0;
-int someValue = 0;
-int anotherValue = 0;
-int thisVariable = 0;
-
-if ( thisVariable == thatVariable )
-
-firstValue = oldValue + ( ( someValue - anotherValue ) - whatever )
+int first_value = 0;
+int some_value = 0;
+int another_value = 0;
+int this_variable = 0;
+
+if ( this_variable == this_variable )
+
+first_value = old_value + ( ( some_value - another_value ) - whatever )
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.4.5. Don't use white space around structure operators
Example:
-aStruct->aMember;
-aStruct.aMember;
-FunctionName();
+a_struct->a_member;
+a_struct.a_member;
+function_name();
+
-Instead of: aStruct -> aMember; aStruct . aMember; FunctionName ();
+Instead of: a_struct -> a_member; a_struct . a_member; function_name ();
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.4.6. Make the last brace of a function stand out
Example:
-int function1( ... )
-{
- ...code...
- return( retCode );
-
-} /* -END- function1 */
-
-
-int function2( ... )
-{
-} /* -END- function2 */
+int function1( ... )
+{
+ ...code...
+ return( ret_code );
+
+} /* -END- function1 */
+
+
+int function2( ... )
+{
+} /* -END- function2 */
+
Instead of:
-int function1( ... ) { ...code... return( retCode ); } int function2( ... ) { }
+int function1( ... ) { ...code... return( ret_code ); } int function2( ... ) {
+}
Note: Use 1 blank line before the closing brace and 2 lines afterward. This
makes the end of function standout to the most casual viewer. Although function
Status: developer-discretion on the number of blank lines. Enforced is the end
of function comments.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.4.7. Use 3 character indentions
Explanation:
-If some use 8 character TABs and some use 3 character TABs, the code can look *
-very* ragged. So use 3 character indentions only. If you like to use TABs, pass
-your code through a filter such as "expand -t3" before checking in your code.
+If some use 8 character TABs and some use 3 character TABs, the code can look
+*very* ragged. So use 3 character indentions only. If you like to use TABs,
+pass your code through a filter such as "expand -t3" before checking in your
+code.
Example:
-static const char * const url_code_map[256] =
-{
- NULL, ...
-};
-
-
-int function1( ... )
-{
- if ( 1 )
- {
- return( ALWAYS_TRUE );
- }
- else
- {
- return( HOW_DID_YOU_GET_HERE );
- }
-
- return( NEVER_GETS_HERE );
-
-}
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+static const char * const url_code_map[256] =
+{
+ NULL, ...
+};
+
+
+int function1( ... )
+{
+ if ( 1 )
+ {
+ return( ALWAYS_TRUE );
+ }
+ else
+ {
+ return( HOW_DID_YOU_GET_HERE );
+ }
+
+ return( NEVER_GETS_HERE );
+
+}
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.5. Initializing
Example:
-short anShort = 0;
-float aFloat = 0;
-struct *ptr = NULL;
+short a_short = 0;
+float a_float = 0;
+struct *ptr = NULL;
+
Note: It is much easier to debug a SIGSEGV if the message says you are trying
-to access memory address 00000000 and not 129FA012; or arrayPtr[20] causes a
-SIGSEV vs. arrayPtr[0].
+to access memory address 00000000 and not 129FA012; or array_ptr[20] causes a
+SIGSEV vs. array_ptr[0].
Status: developer-discretion if and only if the variable is assigned a value
"shortly after" declaration.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.6. Functions
Example:
-ShouldWeBlockThis();
-ContainsAnImage();
-IsWebPageBlank();
+should_we_block_this();
+contains_an_image();
+is_web_page_blank();
+
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.6.2. Always specify a return type for a function.
return for a function when the return has a purpose, and create a void return
type if the function does not need to return anything.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.6.3. Minimize function calls when iterating by using variables
Example:
-for ( size_t cnt = 0; cnt < blockListLength(); cnt ++ )
-{
- ....
-}
+for ( size_t cnt = 0; cnt < block_list_length(); cnt++ )
+{
+ ....
+}
+
Note: Unfortunately, this makes a function call for each and every iteration.
This increases the overhead in the program, because the compiler has to look up
the function each time, call it, and return a value. Depending on what occurs
-in the blockListLength() call, it might even be creating and destroying
+in the block_list_length() call, it might even be creating and destroying
structures with each iteration, even though in each case it is comparing "cnt"
-to the same value, over and over. Remember too - even a call to blockListLength
-() is a function call, with the same overhead.
+to the same value, over and over. Remember too - even a call to
+block_list_length() is a function call, with the same overhead.
Instead of using a function call during the iterations, assign the value to a
variable, and evaluate using the variable.
Example:
-size_t len = blockListLength();
-
-for ( size_t cnt = 0; cnt < len; cnt ++ )
-{
- ....
-}
+size_t len = block_list_length();
+
+for ( size_t cnt = 0; cnt < len; cnt++ )
+{
+ ....
+}
-Exceptions: if the value of blockListLength() *may* change or could *
-potentially* change, then you must code the function call in the for/while
+
+Exceptions: if the value of block_list_length() *may* change or could
+*potentially* change, then you must code the function call in the for/while
loop.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.6.4. Pass and Return by Const Reference
Both these pointers are *const*! If the c runtime library maintainers do it, we
should too.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.6.5. Pass and Return by Value
would not work. So, to be consistent, we should declare all prototypes with
"pass by value": int load_aclfile( struct client_state *csp )
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.6.6. Names of include files
Example:
-#include <iostream.h> /* This is not a local include */
-#include "config.h" /* This IS a local include */
+#include <iostream.h> /* This is not a local include */
+#include "config.h" /* This IS a local include */
+
Exception:
-/* This is not a local include, but requires a path element. */
-#include <sys/fileName.h>
+/* This is not a local include, but requires a path element. */
+#include <sys/fileName.h>
+
Note: Please! do not add "-I." to the Makefile without a _very_ good reason.
This duplicates the #include "file.h" behavior.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.6.7. Provide multiple inclusion protection
Example:
-#ifndef PROJECT_H_INCLUDED
-#define PROJECT_H_INCLUDED
- ...
-#endif /* ndef PROJECT_H_INCLUDED */
+#ifndef PROJECT_H_INCLUDED
+#define PROJECT_H_INCLUDED
+ ...
+#endif /* ndef PROJECT_H_INCLUDED */
+
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.6.8. Use `extern "C"` when appropriate
Example:
-#ifdef __cplusplus
-extern "C"
-{
-#endif /* def __cplusplus */
-
-... function definitions here ...
-
-#ifdef __cplusplus
-}
-#endif /* def __cplusplus */
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+extern "C"
+{
+#endif /* def __cplusplus */
+
+... function definitions here ...
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+}
+#endif /* def __cplusplus */
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.6.9. Where Possible, Use Forward Struct Declaration Instead of Includes
Example:
-/*********************************************************************
- * We're avoiding an include statement here!
- *********************************************************************/
-struct file_list;
-extern file_list *xyz;
+/*********************************************************************
+ * We're avoiding an include statement here!
+ *********************************************************************/
+struct file_list;
+extern file_list *xyz;
+
Note: If you declare "file_list xyz;" (without the pointer), then including the
proper header file is necessary. If you only want to prototype a pointer,
Status: Use with discretion.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.7. General Coding Practices
as possible. With GCC, the switch is "-Wall". Try and fix as many warnings as
possible.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.7.2. Provide a default case for all switch statements
Example:
-switch( hash_string( cmd ) )
-{
- case hash_actions_file :
- ... code ...
- break;
-
- case hash_confdir :
- ... code ...
- break;
-
- default :
- log_error( ... );
- ... anomaly code goes here ...
- continue; / break; / exit( 1 ); / etc ...
-
-} /* end switch( hash_string( cmd ) ) */
+switch( hash_string( cmd ) )
+{
+ case hash_actions_file :
+ ... code ...
+ break;
+
+ case hash_confdir :
+ ... code ...
+ break;
+
+ default :
+ log_error( ... );
+ ... anomaly code goes here ...
+ continue; / break; / exit( 1 ); / etc ...
+
+} /* end switch( hash_string( cmd ) ) */
+
Note: If you already have a default condition, you are obviously exempt from
this point. Of note, most of the WIN32 code calls `DefWindowProc' after the
Another Note: This is not so much a readability issue as a robust programming
issue. The "anomaly code goes here" may be no more than a print to the STDERR
-stream (as in load_config). Or it may really be an ABEND condition.
+stream (as in load_config). Or it may really be an abort condition.
Status: Programmer discretion is advised.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.7.3. Try to avoid falling through cases in a switch statement.
If you choose to allow fall through, you should comment both the fact of the
fall through and reason why you felt it was necessary.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.7.4. Use 'long' or 'short' Instead of 'int'
forget the exact typedefs now). Should we add these to IJB now that we have a
"configure" script?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.7.5. Don't mix size_t and other types
The type of size_t varies across platforms. Do not make assumptions about
whether it is signed or unsigned, or about how long it is. Do not compare a
size_t against another variable of a different type (or even against a
-constant) without casting one of the values. Try to avoid using size_t if you
-can.
+constant) without casting one of the values.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.7.6. Declare each variable and struct on its own line.
Example:
-long a = 0;
-long b = 0;
-long c = 0;
+long a = 0;
+long b = 0;
+long c = 0;
+
Instead of:
eliminate
Exceptions: when you want to declare a bunch of loop variables or other trivial
-variables; feel free to declare them on 1 line. You should, although, provide a
-good comment on their functions.
+variables; feel free to declare them on one line. You should, although, provide
+a good comment on their functions.
Status: developer-discretion.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.7.7. Use malloc/zalloc sparingly
Example:
-If a function creates a struct and stores a pointer to it in a
-list, then it should definitely be allocated via `malloc'.
+If a function creates a struct and stores a pointer to it in a
+list, then it should definitely be allocated via `malloc'.
+
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.7.8. The Programmer Who Uses 'malloc' is Responsible for Ensuring 'free'
Example:
-int load_re_filterfile( struct client_state *csp ) { ... }
-static void unload_re_filterfile( void *f ) { ... }
+int load_re_filterfile( struct client_state *csp ) { ... }
+static void unload_re_filterfile( void *f ) { ... }
+
Exceptions:
Status: developer-discretion. The "main" use of this standard is for allocating
and freeing data structures (complex or nested).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.7.9. Add loaders to the `file_list' structure and in order
coming before PCRS tests. But since POPUPs can also be referred to as
KILLPOPUPs, it is clear that it should come first.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-4.7.10. "Uncertain" new code and/or changes to existing code, use FIXME
+4.7.10. "Uncertain" new code and/or changes to existing code, use FIXME or XXX
Explanation:
will be easier to identify and include in the project (or conversely exclude
from the project).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.8. Addendum: Template for files and function comment blocks:
Example for file comments:
-const char FILENAME_rcs[] = "$Id: developer-manual.sgml,v 2.11 2006/09/26 02:36:29 hal9 Exp $";
-/*********************************************************************
- *
- * File : $Source$
- *
- * Purpose : (Fill me in with a good description!)
- *
- * Copyright : Written by and Copyright (C) 2001-2006 the SourceForge
- * Privoxy team. http://www.privoxy.org/
- *
- * Based on the Internet Junkbuster originally written
- * by and Copyright (C) 1997 Anonymous Coders and
- * Junkbusters Corporation. http://www.junkbusters.com
- *
- * This program 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.
- *
- * The GNU General Public License should be included with
- * this file. If not, you can view it at
- * http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
- * or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
- * 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 ,
- * USA
- *
- * Revisions :
- * $Log$
- *
- *********************************************************************/
-
-
-#include "config.h"
-
- ...necessary include files for us to do our work...
-
-const char FILENAME_h_rcs[] = FILENAME_H_VERSION;
+const char FILENAME_rcs[] = "$Id: developer-manual.sgml,v 2.13 2007/10/30 17:59:31 fabiankeil Exp $";
+/*********************************************************************
+ *
+ * File : $Source$
+ *
+ * Purpose : (Fill me in with a good description!)
+ *
+ * Copyright : Written by and Copyright (C) 2001-2007 the SourceForge
+ * Privoxy team. http://www.privoxy.org/
+ *
+ * Based on the Internet Junkbuster originally written
+ * by and Copyright (C) 1997 Anonymous Coders and
+ * Junkbusters Corporation. http://www.junkbusters.com
+ *
+ * This program 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.
+ *
+ * The GNU General Public License should be included with
+ * this file. If not, you can view it at
+ * http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
+ * or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+ * 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 ,
+ * USA
+ *
+ * Revisions :
+ * $Log$
+ *
+ *********************************************************************/
+
+
+#include "config.h"
+
+ ...necessary include files for us to do our work...
+
+const char FILENAME_h_rcs[] = FILENAME_H_VERSION;
+
Note: This declares the rcs variables that should be added to the
"show-proxy-args" page. If this is a brand new creation by you, you are free to
Example for file header comments:
-#ifndef _FILENAME_H
-#define _FILENAME_H
-#define FILENAME_H_VERSION "$Id: developer-manual.sgml,v 2.11 2006/09/26 02:36:29 hal9 Exp $"
-/*********************************************************************
- *
- * File : $Source$
- *
- * Purpose : (Fill me in with a good description!)
- *
- * Copyright : Written by and Copyright (C) 2001-2006 the SourceForge
- * Privoxy team. http://www.privoxy.org/
- *
- * Based on the Internet Junkbuster originally written
- * by and Copyright (C) 1997 Anonymous Coders and
- * Junkbusters Corporation. http://www.junkbusters.com
- *
- * This program 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.
- *
- * The GNU General Public License should be included with
- * this file. If not, you can view it at
- * http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
- * or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
- * 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 ,
- * USA
- *
- * Revisions :
- * $Log$
- *
- *********************************************************************/
-
-
-#include "project.h"
-
-#ifdef __cplusplus
-extern "C" {
-#endif
-
- ... function headers here ...
-
-
-/* Revision control strings from this header and associated .c file */
-extern const char FILENAME_rcs[];
-extern const char FILENAME_h_rcs[];
-
-
-#ifdef __cplusplus
-} /* extern "C" */
-#endif
-
-#endif /* ndef _FILENAME_H */
-
-/*
- Local Variables:
- tab-width: 3
- end:
-*/
+#ifndef _FILENAME_H
+#define _FILENAME_H
+#define FILENAME_H_VERSION "$Id: developer-manual.sgml,v 2.13 2007/10/30 17:59:31 fabiankeil Exp $"
+/*********************************************************************
+ *
+ * File : $Source$
+ *
+ * Purpose : (Fill me in with a good description!)
+ *
+ * Copyright : Written by and Copyright (C) 2001-2007 the SourceForge
+ * Privoxy team. http://www.privoxy.org/
+ *
+ * Based on the Internet Junkbuster originally written
+ * by and Copyright (C) 1997 Anonymous Coders and
+ * Junkbusters Corporation. http://www.junkbusters.com
+ *
+ * This program 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.
+ *
+ * The GNU General Public License should be included with
+ * this file. If not, you can view it at
+ * http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
+ * or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+ * 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 ,
+ * USA
+ *
+ * Revisions :
+ * $Log$
+ *
+ *********************************************************************/
+
+
+#include "project.h"
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
+ ... function headers here ...
+
+
+/* Revision control strings from this header and associated .c file */
+extern const char FILENAME_rcs[];
+extern const char FILENAME_h_rcs[];
+
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+} /* extern "C" */
+#endif
+
+#endif /* ndef _FILENAME_H */
+
+/*
+ Local Variables:
+ tab-width: 3
+ end:
+*/
+
Example for function comments:
-/*********************************************************************
- *
- * Function : FUNCTION_NAME
- *
- * Description : (Fill me in with a good description!)
- *
- * parameters :
- * 1 : param1 = pointer to an important thing
- * 2 : x = pointer to something else
- *
- * Returns : 0 => Ok, everything else is an error.
- *
- *********************************************************************/
-int FUNCTION_NAME( void *param1, const char *x )
-{
- ...
- return( 0 );
-
-}
+/*********************************************************************
+ *
+ * Function : FUNCTION_NAME
+ *
+ * Description : (Fill me in with a good description!)
+ *
+ * parameters :
+ * 1 : param1 = pointer to an important thing
+ * 2 : x = pointer to something else
+ *
+ * Returns : 0 => Ok, everything else is an error.
+ *
+ *********************************************************************/
+int FUNCTION_NAME( void *param1, const char *x )
+{
+ ...
+ return( 0 );
+
+}
+
Note: If we all follow this practice, we should be able to parse our code to
create a "self-documenting" web page.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5. Testing Guidelines
To be filled.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.1. Testplan for releases
Explain release numbers. major, minor. developer releases. etc.
1. Remove any existing rpm with rpm -e
-
+
2. Remove any file that was left over. This includes (but is not limited to)
-
- + /var/log/privoxy
-
- + /etc/privoxy
-
- + /usr/sbin/privoxy
-
- + /etc/init.d/privoxy
-
- + /usr/doc/privoxy*
-
+
+ □ /var/log/privoxy
+
+ □ /etc/privoxy
+
+ □ /usr/sbin/privoxy
+
+ □ /etc/init.d/privoxy
+
+ □ /usr/doc/privoxy*
+
3. Install the rpm. Any error messages?
-
+
4. start,stop,status Privoxy with the specific script (e.g. /etc/rc.d/init/
privoxy stop). Reboot your machine. Does autostart work?
-
+
5. Start browsing. Does Privoxy work? Logfile written?
-
+
6. Remove the rpm. Any error messages? All files removed?
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.2. Test reports
Please submit test reports only with the test form at sourceforge. Three simple
steps:
- * Select category: the distribution you test on.
-
- * Select group: the version of Privoxy that we are about to release.
-
- * Fill the Summary and Detailed Description with something intelligent (keep
+ • Select category: the distribution you test on.
+
+ • Select group: the version of Privoxy that we are about to release.
+
+ • Fill the Summary and Detailed Description with something intelligent (keep
it short and precise).
-
+
Do not mail to the mailing list (we cannot keep track on issues there).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6. Releasing a New Version
The following programs are required to follow this process: ncftpput (ncftp),
scp, ssh (ssh), gmake (GNU's version of make), autoconf, cvs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.1. Version numbers
version numbers consist of three numbers, separated by dots, like in X.Y.Z
(e.g. 3.0.0), where:
- * X, the version major, is rarely ever changed. It is increased by one if
+ • X, the version major, is rarely ever changed. It is increased by one if
turning a development branch into stable substantially changes the
functionality, user interface or configuration syntax. Majors 1 and 2 were
Junkbuster, and 3 will be the first stable Privoxy release.
-
- * Y, the version minor, represents the branch within the major version. At
+
+ • Y, the version minor, represents the branch within the major version. At
any point in time, there are two branches being maintained: The stable
branch, with an even minor, say, 2N, in which no functionality is being
added and only bug-fixes are made, and 2N+1, the development branch, in
point where it can be turned into stable, the old stable branch 2N is given
up (i.e. no longer maintained), the former development branch 2N+1 becomes
the new stable branch 2N+2, and a new development branch 2N+3 is opened.
-
- * Z, the point or sub version, represents a release of the software within a
+
+ • Z, the point or sub version, represents a release of the software within a
branch. It is therefore incremented immediately before each code freeze. In
development branches, only the even point versions correspond to actual
releases, while the odd ones denote the evolving state of the sources on
thereafter. This ensures that builds from CVS snapshots are easily
distinguished from released versions. The point version is reset to zero
when the minor changes.
-
+
Stable branches work a little differently, since there should be little to
no development happening in such branches. Remember, only bugfixes, which
presumably should have had some testing before being committed. Stable
between releases when changes are being added. This is to denote that this
code is not for release. Then as the release nears, the version is bumped
according: e.g. 3.0.1 -> 0.0.0 -> 3.0.2.
-
+
In summary, the main CVS trunk is the development branch where new features are
being worked on for the next stable series. This should almost always be where
the most activity takes place. There is always at least one stable branch from
main trunk, and the stable release branch, which is v_3_0_branch at the
moment).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.2. Before the Release: Freeze
The following must be done by one of the developers prior to each new release.
- * Make sure that everybody who has worked on the code in the last couple of
+ • Make sure that everybody who has worked on the code in the last couple of
days has had a chance to yell "no!" in case they have pending changes/fixes
in their pipelines. Announce the freeze so that nobody will interfere with
last minute changes.
-
- * Increment the version number (point from odd to even in development
+
+ • Increment the version number (point from odd to even in development
branches!) in configure.in. (RPM spec files will need to be incremented as
well.)
-
- * If default.action has changed since last release (i.e. software release or
+
+ • If default.action has changed since last release (i.e. software release or
standalone actions file release), bump up its version info to A.B in this
line:
-
- {+add-header{X-Actions-File-Version: A.B} -filter -no-popups}
-
+
+ {+add-header{X-Actions-File-Version: A.B} -filter -no-popups}
+
+
Then change the version info in doc/webserver/actions/index.php, line:
'$required_actions_file_version = "A.B";'
-
- * All documentation should be rebuild after the version bump. Finished docs
+
+ • All documentation should be rebuild after the version bump. Finished docs
should be then be committed to CVS (for those without the ability to build
these). Some docs may require rather obscure processing tools. config, the
man page (and the html version of the man page), and the PDF docs fall in
committed to CVS for other packagers. The formal docs should be uploaded to
the webserver. See the Section "Updating the webserver" in this manual for
details.
-
- * The User Manual is also used for context sensitive help for the CGI editor.
+
+ • The User Manual is also used for context sensitive help for the CGI editor.
This is version sensitive, so that the user will get appropriate help for
his/her release. So with each release a fresh version should be uploaded to
the webserver (this is in addition to the main User Manual link from the
The CGI pages will link to something like http://privoxy.org/$(VERSION)/
user-manual/. This will need to be updated for each new release. There is
no Makefile target for this at this time!!! It needs to be done manually.
-
- * All developers should look at the ChangeLog and make sure noteworthy
+
+ • All developers should look at the ChangeLog and make sure noteworthy
changes are referenced.
-
- * Commit all files that were changed in the above steps!
-
- * Tag all files in CVS with the version number with "cvs tag v_X_Y_Z". Don't
+
+ • Commit all files that were changed in the above steps!
+
+ • Tag all files in CVS with the version number with "cvs tag v_X_Y_Z". Don't
use vX_Y_Z, ver_X_Y_Z, v_X.Y.Z (won't work) etc.
-
- * If the release was in a development branch, increase the point version from
+
+ • If the release was in a development branch, increase the point version from
even to odd (X.Y.(Z+1)) again in configure.in and commit your change.
-
- * On the webserver, copy the user manual to a new top-level directory called
+
+ • On the webserver, copy the user manual to a new top-level directory called
X.Y.Z. This ensures that help links from the CGI pages, which have the
version as a prefix, will go into the right version of the manual. If this
is a development branch release, also symlink X.Y.(Z-1) to X.Y.Z and X.Y.
(Z+1) to . (i.e. dot).
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.3. Building and Releasing the Packages
that you build from clean sources by exporting the right version from CVS into
an empty directory (just press return when asked for a password):
- mkdir dist # delete or choose different name if it already exists
- cd dist
- cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@ijbswa.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa login
+ mkdir dist # delete or choose different name if it already exists
+ cd dist
+ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@ijbswa.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa login
cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@ijbswa.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa export -r v_X_Y_Z current
+
Do NOT change a single bit, including, but not limited to version information
after export from CVS. This is to make sure that all release packages, and with
them, all future bug reports, are based on exactly the same code.
-+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
-| Warning |
-|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|Every significant release of Privoxy has included at least one package that |
-|either had incorrect versions of files, missing files, or incidental |
-|leftovers from a previous build process that gave unknown numbers of users |
-|headaches to try to figure out what was wrong. PLEASE, make sure you are |
-|using pristene sources, and are following the prescribed process! |
-+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
+│ Warning │
+├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
+│Every significant release of Privoxy has included at least one package that │
+│either had incorrect versions of files, missing files, or incidental │
+│leftovers from a previous build process that gave unknown numbers of users │
+│headaches to try to figure out what was wrong. PLEASE, make sure you are │
+│using pristene sources, and are following the prescribed process! │
+└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Please find additional instructions for the source tarball and the individual
platform dependent binary packages below. And details on the Sourceforge
release process below that.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.3.1. Note on Privoxy Packaging
Please keep these general guidelines in mind when putting together your
package. These apply to all platforms!
- * Privoxy requires write access to: all *.action files, all logfiles, and the
+ • Privoxy requires write access to: all *.action files, all logfiles, and the
trust file. You will need to determine the best way to do this for your
platform.
-
- * Please include up to date documentation. At a bare minimum:
-
+
+ • Please include up to date documentation. At a bare minimum:
+
LICENSE (top-level directory)
-
+
README (top-level directory)
-
+
AUTHORS (top-level directory)
-
+
man page (top-level directory, Unix-like platforms only)
-
+
The User Manual (doc/webserver/user-manual/)
-
+
FAQ (doc/webserver/faq/)
-
+
Also suggested: Developer Manual (doc/webserver/developer-manual) and
ChangeLog (top-level directory). FAQ and the manuals are HTML docs. There
are also text versions in doc/text/ which could conceivably also be
included.
-
+
The documentation has been designed such that the manuals are linked to
each other from parallel directories, and should be packaged that way.
privoxy-index.html can also be included and can serve as a focal point for
included for better presentation: p_doc.css. This should be in the same
directory with privoxy-index.html, (i.e. one level up from the manual
directories).
-
- * user.action and user.filter are designed for local preferences. Make sure
+
+ • user.action and user.filter are designed for local preferences. Make sure
these do not get overwritten! config should not be overwritten either. This
has especially important configuration data in it. trust should be left in
tact as well.
-
- * Other configuration files (default.action, default.filter and
+
+ • Other configuration files (default.action, default.filter and
standard.action) should be installed as the new defaults, but all
previously installed configuration files should be preserved as backups.
This is just good manners :-) These files are likely to change between
releases and contain important new features and bug fixes.
-
- * Please check platform specific notes in this doc, if you haven't done
+
+ • Please check platform specific notes in this doc, if you haven't done
"Privoxy" packaging before for other platform specific issues. Conversely,
please add any notes that you know are important for your platform (or
contact one of the doc maintainers to do this if you can't).
-
- * Packagers should do a "clean" install of their package after building it.
+
+ • Packagers should do a "clean" install of their package after building it.
So any previous installs should be removed first to ensure the integrity of
the newly built package. Then run the package for a while to make sure
there are no obvious problems, before uploading.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.3.2. Source Tarball
First, make sure that you have freshly exported the right version into an empty
directory. (See "Building and releasing packages" above). Then run:
- cd current
- autoheader && autoconf && ./configure
+ cd current
+ autoheader && autoconf && ./configure
+
Then do:
- make tarball-dist
+ make tarball-dist
+
To upload the package to Sourceforge, simply issue
- make tarball-upload
+ make tarball-upload
+
Go to the displayed URL and release the file publicly on Sourceforge. For the
change log field, use the relevant section of the ChangeLog file.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.3.3. SuSE, Conectiva or Red Hat RPM
Then run:
- cd current
- autoheader && autoconf && ./configure
+ cd current
+ autoheader && autoconf && ./configure
+
Then do
- make dist-dist
+ make dist-dist
+
To upload the package to Sourceforge, simply issue
- make dist-upload rpm_packagerev
+ make dist-upload rpm_packagerev
+
where rpm_packagerev is the RPM release number as determined above. Go to the
displayed URL and release the file publicly on Sourceforge. Use the release
notes and change log from the source tarball package.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.3.4. OS/2
cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@ijbswa.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa co os2setup
+
You will need a mix of development tools. The main compilation takes place with
IBM Visual Age C++. Some ancillary work takes place with GNU tools, available
from various sources like hobbes.nmsu.edu. Specificially, you will need
Change directory to the os2setup directory. Edit the os2build.cmd file to set
the final executable filename. For example,
- installExeName='privoxyos2_setup_X.Y.Z.exe'
+ installExeName='privoxyos2_setup_X.Y.Z.exe'
+
Next, edit the IJB.wis file so the release number matches in the PACKAGEID
section:
- PACKAGEID="Privoxy Team\Privoxy\Privoxy Package\X\Y\Z"
+ PACKAGEID="Privoxy Team\Privoxy\Privoxy Package\X\Y\Z"
+
You're now ready to build. Run:
- os2build
+ os2build
+
You will find the WarpIN-installable executable in the ./files directory.
Upload this anonymously to uploads.sourceforge.net/incoming, create a release
for it, and you're done. Use the release notes and Change Log from the source
tarball package.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.3.5. Solaris
Login to Sourceforge's compilefarm via ssh:
- ssh cf.sourceforge.net
+ ssh cf.sourceforge.net
+
Choose the right operating system (not the Debian one). When logged in, make
sure that you have freshly exported the right version into an empty directory.
(See "Building and releasing packages" above). Then run:
- cd current
- autoheader && autoconf && ./configure
+ cd current
+ autoheader && autoconf && ./configure
+
Then run
- gmake solaris-dist
+ gmake solaris-dist
+
which creates a gzip'ed tar archive. Sadly, you cannot use make solaris-upload
on the Sourceforge machine (no ncftpput). You now have to manually upload the
archive to Sourceforge's ftp server and release the file publicly. Use the
release notes and Change Log from the source tarball package.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.3.6. Windows
cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@ijbswa.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa co winsetup
+
Then you can build the package. This is fully automated, and is controlled by
winsetup/GNUmakefile. All you need to do is:
- cd winsetup
- make
+ cd winsetup
+ make
+
Now you can manually rename privoxy_setup.exe to privoxy_setup_X_Y_Z.exe, and
upload it to SourceForge. When releasing the package on SourceForge, use the
release notes and Change Log from the source tarball package.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.3.7. Debian
directory. (See "Building and releasing packages" above). Then add a log entry
to debian/changelog, if it is not already there, for example by running:
- debchange -v 3.0.6-stable-1 "New upstream version"
+ debchange -v 3.0.7-beta-1 "New upstream version"
+
Then, run:
- dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -us -uc -b
+ dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -us -uc -b
-This will create ../privoxy_3.0.6-stable-1_i386.deb which can be uploaded. To
+
+This will create ../privoxy_3.0.7-beta-1_i386.deb which can be uploaded. To
upload the package to Sourceforge, simply issue
- make debian-upload
+ make debian-upload
+
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.3.8. Mac OSX
cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@ijbswa.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa co osxsetup
+
Then run:
- cd osxsetup
- build
+ cd osxsetup
+ build
+
This will run autoheader, autoconf and configure as well as make. Finally, it
will copy over the necessary files to the ./osxsetup/files directory for
specify ./Privoxy.pkg as the output package name, you can then create the
distributable zip file with the command:
- zip -r privoxyosx_setup_x.y.z.zip Privoxy.pkg
+ zip -r privoxyosx_setup_x.y.z.zip Privoxy.pkg
+
You can then upload privoxyosx_setup_x.y.z.zip anonymously to
uploads.sourceforge.net/incoming, create a release for it, and you're done. Use
the release notes and Change Log from the source tarball package.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.3.9. FreeBSD
Login to Sourceforge's compile-farm via ssh:
- ssh cf.sourceforge.net
+ ssh cf.sourceforge.net
+
Choose the right operating system. When logged in, make sure that you have
freshly exported the right version into an empty directory. (See "Building and
releasing packages" above). Then run:
- cd current
- autoheader && autoconf && ./configure
+ cd current
+ autoheader && autoconf && ./configure
+
Then run:
- gmake freebsd-dist
+ gmake freebsd-dist
+
which creates a gzip'ed tar archive. Sadly, you cannot use make freebsd-upload
on the Sourceforge machine (no ncftpput). You now have to manually upload the
archive to Sourceforge's ftp server and release the file publicly. Use the
release notes and Change Log from the source tarball package.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.3.10. HP-UX 11
First, make sure that you have freshly exported the right version into an empty
directory. (See "Building and releasing packages" above). Then run:
- cd current
- autoheader && autoconf && ./configure
+ cd current
+ autoheader && autoconf && ./configure
+
Then do FIXME.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.3.11. Amiga OS
First, make sure that you have freshly exported the right version into an empty
directory. (See "Building and releasing packages" above). Then run:
- cd current
- autoheader && autoconf && ./configure
+ cd current
+ autoheader && autoconf && ./configure
+
Then do FIXME.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.3.12. AIX
Login to Sourceforge's compilefarm via ssh:
- ssh cf.sourceforge.net
+ ssh cf.sourceforge.net
+
Choose the right operating system. When logged in, make sure that you have
freshly exported the right version into an empty directory. (See "Building and
releasing packages" above). Then run:
- cd current
- autoheader && autoconf && ./configure
+ cd current
+ autoheader && autoconf && ./configure
+
Then run:
- make aix-dist
+ make aix-dist
+
which creates a gzip'ed tar archive. Sadly, you cannot use make aix-upload on
the Sourceforge machine (no ncftpput). You now have to manually upload the
archive to Sourceforge's ftp server and release the file publicly. Use the
release notes and Change Log from the source tarball package.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.4. Uploading and Releasing Your Package
After the package is ready, it is time to upload it to SourceForge, and go
through the release steps. The upload is done via FTP:
- * Upload to: ftp://upload.sourceforge.net/incoming
-
- * user: anonymous
-
- * password: ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net
-
+ • Upload to: ftp://upload.sourceforge.net/incoming
+
+ • user: anonymous
+
+ • password: ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net
+
Or use the make targets as described above.
Once this done go to http://sourceforge.net/project/admin/editpackages.php?
group_id=11118, making sure you are logged in. Find your target platform in the
second column, and click Add Release. You will then need to create a new
release for your package, using the format of $VERSION ($CODE_STATUS), e.g.
-3.0.6 (beta).
+3.0.7 (beta).
Now just follow the prompts. Be sure to add any appropriate Release notes. You
should see your freshly uploaded packages in "Step 2. Add Files To This
If you have made errors, or need to make changes, you can go through
essentially the same steps, but select Edit Release, instead of Add Release.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.5. After the Release
update the Home page and docs linked from the Home page (see below). Other news
sites and release oriented sites, such as Freshmeat, should also be notified.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7. Update the Webserver
make dok dok-pdf # (or 'make redhat-dok dok-pdf' if 'make dok' doesn't work for you)
+
That will generate doc/webserver/user-manual, doc/webserver/developer-manual,
doc/webserver/faq, doc/pdf/*.pdf and doc/webserver/index.html automatically.
Next, commit any changes from the above steps to CVS. All set? If these are
docs in the stable branch, then do:
- make webserver
+ make webserver
+
This will do the upload to the webserver (www.privoxy.org) and ensure all files
and directories there are group writable.
branches or versions. The publicly posted docs should be in sync with the last
official release.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8. Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
configuration. However, please note the following hints, so we can provide you
with the best support:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8.1. Get Support
-For casual users, our support forum at SourceForge is probably best suited:
+For casual users, our support forum at SourceForge is probably best suited:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=211118
All users are of course welcome to discuss their issues on the users mailing
list, where the developers also hang around.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Note that the Privoxy mailing lists are moderated. Posts from unsubscribed
+addresses have to be accepted manually by a moderator. This may cause a delay
+of several days and if you use a subject that doesn't clearly mention Privoxy
+or one of its features, your message may be accidentally discarded as spam.
+
+If you aren't subscribed, you should therefore spend a few seconds to come up
+with a proper subject. Additionally you should make it clear that you want to
+get CC'd. Otherwise some responses will be directed to the mailing list only,
+and you won't see them.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8.2. Reporting Problems
"Problems" for our purposes, come in two forms:
- * Configuration issues, such as ads that slip through, or sites that don't
+ • Configuration issues, such as ads that slip through, or sites that don't
function properly due to one Privoxy "action" or another being turned "on".
-
- * "Bugs" in the programming code that makes up Privoxy, such as that might
+
+ • "Bugs" in the programming code that makes up Privoxy, such as that might
cause a crash.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8.2.1. Reporting Ads or Other Configuration Problems
your feedback. These will be announced on the ijbswa-announce list and
available from our the files section of our project page.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8.2.2. Reporting Bugs
-Please report all bugs only through our bug tracker: http://sourceforge.net/
-tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=111118.
+Please report all bugs through our bug tracker: http://sourceforge.net/tracker
+/?group_id=11118&atid=111118.
Before doing so, please make sure that the bug has not already been submitted
and observe the additional hints at the top of the submit form. If already
submitted, please feel free to add any info to the original report that might
help to solve the issue.
-Please try to verify that it is a Privoxy bug, and not a browser or site bug
-first. If unsure, try toggling off Privoxy, and see if the problem persists. If
-you are using your own custom configuration, please try the stock configs to
-see if the problem is configuration related.
+Please try to verify that it is a Privoxy bug, and not a browser or site bug or
+documented behaviour that just happens to be different than what you expected.
+If unsure, try toggling off Privoxy, and see if the problem persists.
-If not using the latest version, the bug may have been found and fixed in the
-meantime. We would appreciate if you could take the time to upgrade to the
-latest version (or even the latest CVS snapshot) and verify your bug.
+If you are using your own custom configuration, please try the stock configs to
+see if the problem is configuration related. If you're having problems with a
+feature that is disabled by default, please ask around on the mailing list if
+others can reproduce the problem.
+
+If you aren't using the latest Privoxy version, the bug may have been found and
+fixed in the meantime. We would appreciate if you could take the time to
+upgrade to the latest version (or even the latest CVS snapshot) and verify that
+your bug still exists.
Please be sure to provide the following information:
- * The exact Privoxy version of the proxy software (if you got the source from
- CVS, please also provide the source code revisions as shown in http://
+ • The exact Privoxy version you are using (if you got the source from CVS,
+ please also provide the source code revisions as shown in http://
config.privoxy.org/show-version).
-
- * The operating system and versions you run Privoxy on, (e.g. Windows XP
+
+ • The operating system and versions you run Privoxy on, (e.g. Windows XP
SP2), if you are using a Unix flavor, sending the output of "uname -a"
- should do.
-
- * The name, platform, and version of the browser you were using (e.g.
+ should do, in case of GNU/Linux, please also name the distribution.
+
+ • The name, platform, and version of the browser you were using (e.g.
Internet Explorer v5.5 for Mac).
-
- * The URL where the problem occurred, or some way for us to duplicate the
+
+ • The URL where the problem occurred, or some way for us to duplicate the
problem (e.g. http://somesite.example.com/?somethingelse=123).
-
- * Whether your version of Privoxy is one supplied by the developers of
- Privoxy via SourceForge, or somewhere else.
-
- * Whether you are using Privoxy in tandem with another proxy such as Tor. If
- so, please try disabling the other proxy.
-
- * Whether you are using a personal firewall product. If so, does Privoxy work
+
+ • Whether your version of Privoxy is one supplied by the Privoxy developers
+ via SourceForge, or if you got your copy somewhere else.
+
+ • Whether you are using Privoxy in tandem with another proxy such as Tor. If
+ so, please temporary disable the other proxy to see if the symptoms change.
+
+ • Whether you are using a personal firewall product. If so, does Privoxy work
without it?
-
- * Any other pertinent information to help identify the problem such as config
+
+ • Any other pertinent information to help identify the problem such as config
or log file excerpts (yes, you should have log file entries for each action
taken).
-
- * Please provide your SF login, or email address, in case we need to contact
- you.
-
+
+You don't have to tell us your actual name when filing a problem report, but
+please use a nickname so we can differentiate between your messages and the
+ones entered by other "anonymous" users that may respond to your request if
+they have the same problem or already found a solution.
+
+Please also check the status of your request a few days after submitting it, as
+we may request additional information. If you use a SF id, you should
+automatically get a mail when someone responds to your request.
+
The appendix of the Privoxy User Manual also has helpful information on
understanding actions, and action debugging.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8.3. Request New Features
improvement through our feature request tracker at http://sourceforge.net/
tracker/?atid=361118&group_id=11118.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8.4. Other
mailing lists, including list archives, at: http://sourceforge.net/mail/?
group_id=11118.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
9. Privoxy Copyright, License and History
-Copyright © 2001 - 2006 by Privoxy Developers <
+Copyright 2001 - 2007 by Privoxy Developers <
ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net>
-Some source code is based on code Copyright © 1997 by Anonymous Coders and
+Some source code is based on code Copyright 1997 by Anonymous Coders and
Junkbusters, Inc. and licensed under the GNU General Public License.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
9.1. License
Boston, MA 02110-1301
USA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
9.2. History
-A long time ago, there was the Internet Junkbuster, by Anonymous Coders and
+A long time ago, there was the Internet Junkbuster, by Anonymous Coders and
Junkbusters Corporation. This saved many users a lot of pain in the early days
of web advertising and user tracking.
The result of this is Privoxy, whose first stable version, 3.0, was released
August, 2002.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
10. See also
http://www.privoxy.org/faq/, the Privoxy FAQ.
-http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/, the Project Page for Privoxy on
-SourceForge.
+http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/, the Project Page for Privoxy on
+SourceForge.
-http://config.privoxy.org/, the web-based user interface. Privoxy must be
-running for this to work. Shortcut: http://p.p/
+http://config.privoxy.org/, the web-based user interface. Privoxy must be
+running for this to work. Shortcut: http://p.p/
-http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288, to submit "misses"
-and other configuration related suggestions to the developers.
+http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288, to submit "misses"
+and other configuration related suggestions to the developers.
-http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html, an explanation how cookies are
-used to track web users.
+http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html, an explanation how cookies are
+used to track web users.
http://www.junkbusters.com/ijb.html, the original Internet Junkbuster.
-http://privacy.net/, a useful site to check what information about you is
-leaked while you browse the web.
+http://privacy.net/, a useful site to check what information about you is
+leaked while you browse the web.
+
+http://www.squid-cache.org/, a popular caching proxy, which is often used
+together with Privoxy.
-http://www.squid-cache.org/, a very popular caching proxy, which is often used
-together with Privoxy.
+http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/software/polipo/, Polipo is a caching proxy with
+advanced features like pipelining, multiplexing and caching of partial
+instances. In many setups it can be used as Squid replacement.
-http://tor.eff.org/, Tor can help anonymize web browsing, web publishing,
-instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications.
+http://tor.eff.org/, Tor can help anonymize web browsing, web publishing,
+instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications.
http://www.privoxy.org/developer-manual/, the Privoxy developer manual.
Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions
-Copyright © 2001-2006 by Privoxy Developers
+[ Copyright 2001-2007 by Privoxy Developers ]
-$Id: faq.sgml,v 2.23 2006/10/21 22:19:52 hal9 Exp $
+$Id: faq.sgml,v 2.33 2007/11/15 03:30:20 hal9 Exp $
This FAQ gives quick answers to frequently asked questions about Privoxy. It is
not a substitute for the Privoxy User Manual.
What is Privoxy?
-Privoxy is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for protecting
-privacy, modifying web page data, 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.
+Privoxy is a non-caching web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for
+enhancing privacy, modifying web page data, managing HTTP cookies, controlling
+access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious Internet junk.
+Privoxy has a flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual
+needs and tastes. Privoxy has application for both stand-alone systems and
+multi-user networks.
Privoxy is based on Internet Junkbuster (tm).
Please note that this document is a work in progress. This copy represents the
-state at the release of version 3.0.6. You can find the latest version of the
+state at the release of version 3.0.7. You can find the latest version of the
document at http://www.privoxy.org/faq/. Please see the Contact section if you
want to contact the developers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Table of Contents
1. General Information
-
+
1.1. Who should use Privoxy?
1.2. Is Privoxy the best choice for me?
1.3. What is a "proxy"? How does Privoxy work?
1.15. Can Privoxy remove spyware? Adware? Viruses?
1.16. Can I use Privoxy with other ad-blocking software?
1.17. I would like to help you, what can I do?
-
+
1.17.1. Would you like to participate?
1.17.2. Contribute!
1.17.3. Software
-
+
2. Installation
-
+
2.1. Which browsers are supported by Privoxy?
2.2. Which operating systems are supported?
2.3. Can I use Privoxy with my email client?
- 2.4. Can I install Privoxy over Junkbuster?
- 2.5. I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything special I have to do now?
- 2.6. What is the proxy address of Privoxy?
- 2.7. I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening. All the ads are
+ 2.4. I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything special I have to do now?
+ 2.5. What is the proxy address of Privoxy?
+ 2.6. I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening. All the ads are
there. What's wrong?
- 2.8. I get a "Privoxy is not being used" dummy page although Privoxy is
+ 2.7. I get a "Privoxy is not being used" dummy page although Privoxy is
running and being used.
-
+
3. Configuration
-
+
3.1. What exactly is an "actions" file?
3.2. The "actions" concept confuses me. Please list some of these
"actions".
3.13. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
anything.
3.14. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
- 3.15. I see some images being replaced by a text instead of the
+ 3.15. I see some images being replaced with text instead of the
checkerboard image. Why and how do I get rid of this?
3.16. Can Privoxy run as a service on Win2K/NT/XP?
3.17. How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies like Squid or Tor?
3.18. Can I just set Privoxy to use port 80 and thus avoid individual
browser configuration?
3.19. Can Privoxy run as a "transparent" proxy?
- 3.20. How can I configure Privoxy for use with Outlook Express?
- 3.21. How can I have separate rules just for HTML mail?
- 3.22. I sometimes notice cookies sneaking through. How?
- 3.23. Are all cookies bad? Why?
- 3.24. How can I allow permanent cookies for my trusted sites?
- 3.25. Can I have separate configurations for different users?
- 3.26. Can I set-up Privoxy as a whitelist of "good" sites?
- 3.27. How can I turn off ad-blocking?
- 3.28. How can I have custom template pages, like the BLOCKED page?
- 3.29. How can I remove the "Go There Anyway" link from the BLOCKED page?
-
+ 3.20. Can Privoxy run as a "intercepting" proxy?
+ 3.21. How can I configure Privoxy for use with Outlook Express?
+ 3.22. How can I have separate rules just for HTML mail?
+ 3.23. I sometimes notice cookies sneaking through. How?
+ 3.24. Are all cookies bad? Why?
+ 3.25. How can I allow permanent cookies for my trusted sites?
+ 3.26. Can I have separate configurations for different users?
+ 3.27. Can I set-up Privoxy as a whitelist of "good" sites?
+ 3.28. How can I turn off ad-blocking?
+ 3.29. How can I have custom template pages, like the BLOCKED page?
+ 3.30. How can I remove the "Go There Anyway" link from the BLOCKED page?
+
4. Miscellaneous
-
+
4.1. How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down? This has to add extra
time to browsing.
- 4.2. I notice considerable delays in page requests compared to the old
- Junkbuster. What's wrong?
+ 4.2. I notice considerable delays in page requests. What's wrong?
4.3. What are "http://config.privoxy.org/" and "http://p.p/"?
4.4. How can I submit new ads, or report problems?
4.5. If I do submit missed ads, will they be included in future updates?
4.24. Where can I find more information about Privoxy and related issues?
4.25. I've noticed that Privoxy changes "Microsoft" to "MicroSuck"! Why are
you manipulating my browsing?
-
+ 4.26. Does Privoxy produce "valid" HTML (or XHTML)?
+
5. Troubleshooting
-
+
5.1. I cannot connect to any websites. Or, I am getting "connection
refused" message with every web page. Why?
5.2. Why am I getting a 503 Error (WSAECONNREFUSED) on every page?
5.19. I just installed Privoxy, and all my browsing has slowed to a crawl.
What gives?
5.20. Why do my filters work on some sites but not on others?
-
+
6. Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
-
+
6.1. Get Support
6.2. Reporting Problems
-
+
6.2.1. Reporting Ads or Other Configuration Problems
6.2.2. Reporting Bugs
-
+
6.3. Request New Features
6.4. Other
-
+
7. Privoxy Copyright, License and History
-
+
7.1. License
7.2. History
-
+
1. General Information
1.1. Who should use Privoxy?
Anyone that is interested in security, privacy, or in finer-grained control
over their web and Internet experience. Everyone is encouraged to try Privoxy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1.2. Is Privoxy the best choice for me?
areas where configuration is done using a text editor to edit configuration
files.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1.3. What is a "proxy"? How does Privoxy work?
Being a proxy also makes it easier to share configurations among multiple
browsers and/or users.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1.4. Does Privoxy do anything more than ad blocking?
Yes, ad blocking is but one possible use. There are many, many ways Privoxy can
be used to sanitize and customize web browsing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1.5. What is this new version of "Junkbuster"?
-A long time ago, there was the Internet Junkbuster, by Anonymous Coders and
+A long time ago, there was the Internet Junkbuster, by Anonymous Coders and
Junkbusters Corporation. This saved many users a lot of pain in the early days
of web advertising and user tracking.
The result of this is Privoxy, whose first stable version, 3.0, was released
August, 2002.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1.6. Why "Privoxy"? Why change the name from Junkbuster at all?
junk suppression gives you, the user, more control, more freedom, and allows
you to browse your personal and "private edition" of the web.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1.7. How does Privoxy differ from the old Junkbuster?
Privoxy's new features include:
- * Integrated browser based configuration and control utility at http://
+ • Integrated browser based configuration and control utility at http://
config.privoxy.org/ (shortcut: http://p.p/). Browser-based tracing of rule
and filter effects. Remote toggling.
-
- * Web page filtering (text replacements, removes banners based on size,
+
+ • Web page filtering (text replacements, removes banners based on size,
invisible "web-bugs", JavaScript and HTML annoyances, pop-up windows,
header manipulation, etc.)
-
- * Modularized configuration that allows for standard settings and user
+
+ • Modularized configuration that allows for standard settings and user
settings to reside in separate files, so that installing updated actions
files won't overwrite individual user settings.
-
- * HTTP/1.1 compliant (but not all optional 1.1 features are supported).
-
- * Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the configuration files,
+
+ • Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the configuration files,
and generally a more sophisticated and flexible configuration syntax over
previous versions.
-
- * Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
-
- * GIF de-animation.
-
- * Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
-
- * Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
-
- * User-customizable HTML templates for all proxy-generated pages (e.g.
+
+ • Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
+
+ • GIF de-animation.
+
+ • Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
+
+ • Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
+
+ • User-customizable HTML templates for all proxy-generated pages (e.g.
"blocked" page).
-
- * Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
-
- * Improved signal handling, and a true daemon mode (Unix).
-
- * Every feature now controllable on a per-site or per-location basis,
+
+ • Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
+
+ • Improved signal handling, and a true daemon mode (Unix).
+
+ • Every feature now controllable on a per-site or per-location basis,
configuration more powerful and versatile over-all.
-
- * Many smaller new features added, limitations and bugs removed, and security
+
+ • Many smaller new features added, limitations and bugs removed, and security
holes fixed.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1.8. How does Privoxy know what is an ad, and what is not?
Both of this involves a certain amount of guesswork and is, of course, freely
and readily configurable.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1.9. Can Privoxy make mistakes? This does not sound very scientific.
can be addressed as needed, allowing you to customize your installation. (See
the Troubleshooting section below.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1.10. Will I have to configure Privoxy before I can use it?
your individual situation. And we would encourage you to do this. This is where
the real power of Privoxy lies!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1.11. Can Privoxy run as a server on a network?
more than one client. See How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN
below.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1.12. My browser does the same things as Privoxy. Why should I use Privoxy at
all?
all the configuration is in one place, and you don't have to maintain a similar
configuration for possibly many browsers or users.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1.13. Why should I trust Privoxy?
control everything. You can check every line of every configuration file
yourself. You can check every last bit of source code should you desire. And
even if you can't read code, there should be some comfort in knowing that
-thousands of other people can, and do read it. You can build the software from
-scratch, if you want, so that you know the executable is clean, and that it is
-yours. In fact, we encourage this level of scrutiny. It is one reason we use
-Privoxy ourselves.
+thousands of other people can, and some of them do read it. You can build the
+software from scratch, if you want, so that you know the executable is clean,
+and that it is yours. In fact, we encourage this level of scrutiny. It is one
+reason we use Privoxy ourselves.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1.14. 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.
-Please see the Copyright section for more information on the license and
-copyright. Or the LICENSE file that should be included.
+Privoxy is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2. It is
+free to use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of this
+license. Please see the Copyright section for more information on the license
+and copyright. Or the LICENSE file that should be included.
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!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1.15. Can Privoxy remove spyware? Adware? Viruses?
-No. Privoxy cannot remove anything. It is not a removal tool. It is a
-preventative. Privoxy can help prevent contact from sites that use such tactics
+No, at least not reliable enough to trust it. Privoxy is not designed to be a
+malware removal tool and the default configuration doesn't even try to filter
+out any malware.
+
+Privoxy could help prevent contact from (known) sites that use such tactics
with appropriate configuration rules, and thus could conceivably prevent
contamination from such sites.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1.16. Can I use Privoxy with other ad-blocking software?
would be better to choose one software or the other and work a little to tweak
its configuration to your liking.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1.17. I would like to help you, what can I do?
mundane things that need to be done, like checking the Tracker feedback
sections.
-So first thing, get an account on SourceForge.net and mail your id to the
+So first thing, get an account on SourceForge.net and mail your id to the
developers mailing list. Then, please read the Developer's Manual, at least the
pertinent sections.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1.17.2. Contribute!
get-togethers (hahaha). If you enjoy the software and feel like helping us with
a donation, just drop us a note.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1.17.3. Software
however, guarantee that we will fix all potential compatibility issues as a
result.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
2. Installation
2.1. Which browsers are supported by Privoxy?
Any browser that can be configured to use a proxy, which should be virtually
-all browsers, including Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Opera among others.
-Direct browser support is not an absolute requirement since Privoxy runs as a
-separate application and talks to the browser in the standardized HTTP
-protocol, just like a web server does.
+all browsers, including Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Safari among
+others. Direct browser support is not an absolute requirement since Privoxy
+runs as a separate application and talks to the browser in the standardized
+HTTP protocol, just like a web server does.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
2.2. Which operating systems are supported?
-At present, Privoxy is known to run on Windows(95, 98, ME, 2000, XP), Linux
-(RedHat, SuSE, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, Slackware and others), Mac OSX, OS/2,
-AmigaOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, and various other flavors of Unix.
+At present, Privoxy is known to run on Windows(95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista),
+GNU/Linux (RedHat, SuSE, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, Slackware and others), Mac
+OSX, OS/2, AmigaOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, and various other
+flavors of Unix.
But any operating system that runs TCP/IP, can conceivably take advantage of
Privoxy in a networked situation where Privoxy would run as a server on a LAN
Source code is freely available, so porting to other operating systems is
always a possibility.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
2.3. Can I use Privoxy with my email client?
recommend using email clients that can be configured to convert HTML to plain
text for these reasons.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-2.4. Can I install Privoxy over Junkbuster?
-
-We recommend you un-install Junkbuster first to minimize conflicts and
-confusion. You may want to save your old configuration files for future
-reference. The configuration files and syntax have substantially changed, so
-you will need to manually port your old patterns. See the note to upgraders and
-installation chapter in the User Manual for details.
-
-Note: Some installers may automatically un-install Junkbuster, if present!
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-2.5. I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything special I have to do now?
+2.4. 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's memory and disk cache to get rid of any cached junk items, and remove
any stored cookies.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-2.6. What is the proxy address of Privoxy?
+2.5. 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
IRC, ICQ, etc. Be sure that proxying any of these other protocols is not
activated.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-2.7. I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening. All the ads are there.
+2.6. 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
starting Privoxy and browser configuration, see the chapter on starting Privoxy
in the User Manual.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-2.8. I get a "Privoxy is not being used" dummy page although Privoxy is running
+2.7. I get a "Privoxy is not being used" dummy page although Privoxy is running
and being used.
-First, make sure that Privoxy is really running and being used by visiting
+First, make sure that Privoxy is really running and being used by visiting
http://p.p/. You should see the Privoxy main page. If not, see the chapter on
starting Privoxy in the User Manual.
Firefox users would click Tools --> Options --> Privacy --> Cache and then
click "Clear Cache Now".
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3. Configuration
Actions can be defined on a URL pattern basis, i.e. for single URLs, whole web
sites, groups or parts thereof etc. Actions can also be grouped together and
then applied to requests matching one or more patterns. There are many possible
-actions that might apply to any given site. As an example, if you are blocking
+actions that might apply to any given site. As an example, if you are blocking
cookies as one of your default actions, but need to accept cookies from a given
site, you would need to define an exception for this site in one of your
actions files, preferably in user.action.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3.2. The "actions" concept confuses me. Please list some of these "actions".
-For a comprehensive discussion of the actions concept, please refer to the
+For a comprehensive discussion of the actions concept, please refer to the
actions file chapter in the User Manual. It includes a list of all actions and
an actions file tutorial to get you started.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3.3. How are actions files configured? What is the easiest way to do this?
Actions files are just text files in a special syntax and can be edited with a
text editor. But probably the easiest way is to access Privoxy's user interface
with your web browser at http://config.privoxy.org/ (Shortcut: http://p.p/) and
-then select "View & change the current configuration" from the menu.
+then select "View & change the current configuration" from the menu. Note that
+this feature must be explicitly enabled in the main config file (see
+enable-edit-actions).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3.4. There are several different "actions" files. What are the differences?
The new scheme allows for greater flexibility of local configuration, and for
browser based selection of pre-defined "aggressiveness" levels.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3.5. Where can I get updated Actions Files?
Privoxy or the actions file, subscribe to our announce mailing list,
ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3.6. Can I use my old config files?
-The syntax and purpose of configuration files has remained the same throughout
-the 3.x series. Although each release contains updated, "improved" versions and
-it is recommended to use the newer configuration files. If upgrading from
-version prior to 3.0.4 the syntax for fast-redirects has changed. See the
-What's New section of the User Manual for details.
-
-But all configuration files have substantially changed from the Junkbuster
-days, and early versions of Privoxy 2.x. The old files, like blocklist will not
-work at all.
-
-Refer to the What's New page for information on configuration changes that may
-occur from one release to another.
+The syntax and purpose of configuration files has remained roughly the same
+throughout the 3.x series, but backwards compatibility is not guaranteed. Also
+each release contains updated, "improved" versions and it is therefore strongly
+recommended to use the newer configuration files.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3.7. Why is the configuration so complicated?
there between power vs. easy-of-use. Furthermore, anyone is welcome to
contribute ideas and implementations to enhance Privoxy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3.8. How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/Gmail account work?
turn off all cookie handling for them in the user.action file. An example for
yahoo might look like:
-# Allow all cookies for Yahoo login:
-#
-{ -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies -session-cookies-only }
-.login.yahoo.com
+# Allow all cookies for Yahoo login:
+#
+{ -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies -session-cookies-only }
+.login.yahoo.com
+
These kinds of sites are often quite complex and heavy with Javascript and thus
"fragile". So if still a problem, we have an alias just for such sticky
situations:
-# Gmail is a _fragile_ site:
-#
-{ fragile }
- # Gmail is ...
- mail.google.com
+# Gmail is a _fragile_ site:
+#
+{ fragile }
+ # Gmail is ...
+ mail.google.com
+
Be sure to flush your browser's caches whenever making these kinds of changes,
just to make sure the changes "take".
your configuration settings. Note that above it is not referenced as gmail.com,
which is a valid domain name.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3.9. What's the difference between the "Cautious", "Medium" and "Advanced"
defaults?
"Adventuresome" profile) is more aggressive, and will make use of some of
Privoxy's advanced features. Use at your own risk!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3.10. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not raise
security issues?
"privoxy", with only 644 permissions.
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
+files. Because Privoxy is running as the user "privoxy", it can update its own
config files.
If you run Privoxy for multiple untrusted users (e.g. in a LAN), you will
-probably want to turn the web-based editor and remote toggle features off by
-setting "enable-edit-actions 0" and "enable-remote-toggle 0" in the main
-configuration file.
+probably want to make sure that the the web-based editor and remote toggle
+features are "off" by setting "enable-edit-actions 0" and "enable-remote-toggle
+0" in the main configuration file.
Note that in the default configuration, only local users (i.e. those on
-"localhost") can connect to Privoxy, so this is not (normally) a security
+"localhost") can connect to Privoxy, so this is (normally) not a security
problem.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3.11. What is the default.filter file? What is a "filter"?
number of pre-defined filters to deal with common annoyances. The filters are
only defined here, to invoke them, you need to use the filter action in one of
the actions files. Filtering is automatically disabled for inappropriate MIME
-types.
+types. Filters should not be confused with blocks, which is a completely
+different action, and is more typically used to block ads and unwanted sites.
If you are familiar with regular expressions, and HTML, you can look at the
provided default.filter with a text editor and define your own filters. This is
There is no GUI editor option for this part of the configuration, but you can
disable/enable the various pre-defined filters of the included default.filter
-file with the web-based actions file editor.
+file with the web-based actions file editor Note that the custom actions editor
+must be explicitly enabled in the main config file (see enable-edit-actions).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3.12. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?
is 192.168.1.1 and you wish to run Privoxy on port 8118, this line should look
like:
- listen-address 192.168.1.1:8118
+ listen-address 192.168.1.1:8118
+
Save the file, and restart Privoxy. Configure all browsers on the network then
to use this address and port number.
Alternately, you can have Privoxy listen on all available interfaces:
- listen-address :8118
+ listen-address :8118
+
And then use Privoxy's permit-access feature to limit connections. A firewall
in this situation is recommended as well.
If you run Privoxy on a LAN with untrusted users, we recommend that you
double-check the access control and security options!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3.13. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
anything.
URLs match both a handle-as-image and block action.
If you want to see nothing, then change the set-image-blocker action to
-"blank". This can be done by editing the user.action file, or through the
+"blank". This can be done by editing the user.action file, or through the
web-based actions file editor.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3.14. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
recommended for new users so they can "see" what is happening. Some people
might also enjoy seeing how many banners they don't have to see.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-3.15. I see some images being replaced by a text instead of the checkerboard
+3.15. I see some images being replaced with text instead of the checkerboard
image. Why and how do I get rid of this?
This happens when the banners are not embedded in the HTML code of the page
will try to load the actual banner images and the usual image blocking will
(hopefully!) kick in.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3.16. Can Privoxy run as a service on Win2K/NT/XP?
discussion at http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=361118&aid=
485617&group_id=11118, for details, and a sample configuration.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3.17. How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies like Squid or Tor?
describes how to do this, and the How do I use Privoxy together with Tor
section below.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3.18. Can I just set Privoxy to use port 80 and thus avoid individual browser
configuration?
No, its more complicated than that. This only works with special kinds of
-proxies known as "transparent" proxies (see below).
+proxies known as "intercepting" proxies (see below).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3.19. Can Privoxy run as a "transparent" proxy?
-No, Privoxy currently does not have this ability, though it may be added in a
-future release. Transparent proxies require special handling of the request
-headers beyond what Privoxy is now capable of.
+The whole idea of Privoxy is to modify client requests and server responses in
+all sorts of ways and therefore it's not a transparent proxy as described in
+RFC 2616.
+
+However, some people say "transparent proxy" when they mean "intercepting
+proxy". If you are one of them, please read the next entry.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+3.20. Can Privoxy run as a "intercepting" proxy?
+
+Privoxy can't intercept traffic itself, but it can handle requests that where
+intercepted and redirected with a packet filter (like PF or iptables), as long
+as the Host header is present.
-Chaining Privoxy behind another proxy that has this ability should work though.
-See the forwarding chapter in the User Manual. As a transparent proxy to be
-used for chaining we suggest Transproxy (http://transproxy.sourceforge.net/).
+As the Host header is required by HTTP/1.1 and as most web sites don't work if
+it isn't set, this limitation shouldn't be a problem.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Please refer to your packet filter's documentation to learn how to intercept
+and redirect traffic into Privoxy. Afterward you just have to configure Privoxy
+to accept intercepted requests.
-3.20. How can I configure Privoxy for use with Outlook Express?
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+3.21. How can I configure Privoxy for use with Outlook Express?
Outlook Express uses Internet Explorer components to both render HTML, and
fetch any HTTP requests that may be embedded in an HTML email. So however you
have Privoxy configured to work with IE, this configuration should
automatically be shared.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-3.21. How can I have separate rules just for HTML mail?
+3.22. How can I have separate rules just for HTML mail?
The short answer is, you can't. Privoxy has no way of knowing which particular
application makes a request, so there is no way to distinguish between web
security issues), see http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=211118&
aid=629518&group_id=11118.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-3.22. I sometimes notice cookies sneaking through. How?
+3.23. I sometimes notice cookies sneaking through. How?
Cookies can be set in several ways. The classic method is via the Set-Cookie
HTTP header. This is straightforward, and an easy one to manipulate, such as
All in all, Privoxy can help manage cookies in general, can help minimize the
loss of privacy posed by cookies, but can't realistically stop all cookies.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-3.23. Are all cookies bad? Why?
+3.24. Are all cookies bad? Why?
No, in fact there are many beneficial uses of cookies. Cookies are just a
method that browsers can use to store data between pages, or between browser
advantage of this layer of trust, and using the data they glean from you and
your browsing habits for their own purposes, and maybe to your potential
detriment. Such sites are using you and storing their data on your system. That
-is why the security conscious watch from whom those cookies come, and why they
+is why the privacy conscious watch from whom those cookies come, and why they
really need to be there.
See the Wikipedia cookie definition for more.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-3.24. How can I allow permanent cookies for my trusted sites?
+3.25. How can I allow permanent cookies for my trusted sites?
There are several actions that relate to cookies. The default behavior is to
allow only "session cookies", which means the cookies only last for the current
browser session. This eliminates most kinds of abuse related to cookies. But
-there may be cases where we want cookies to last.
+there may be cases where you want cookies to last.
To disable all cookie actions, so that cookies are allowed unrestricted, both
in and out, for example.com:
- { -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies} }
- .example.com
+ { -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies} }
+ .example.com
+
-Place the above in user.action. Note some of these may be off by default
+Place the above in user.action. Note that some of these may be off by default
anyway, so this might be redundant, but there is no harm being explicit in what
you want to happen. user.action includes an alias for this situation, called
allow-all-cookies.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-3.25. Can I have separate configurations for different users?
+3.26. Can I have separate configurations for different users?
Each instance of Privoxy has its own configuration, including such attributes
as the TCP port that it listens on. What you can do is run multiple instances
Simple enough for a few users, but for large installations, consider having
groups of users that might share like configurations.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-3.26. Can I set-up Privoxy as a whitelist of "good" sites?
+3.27. Can I set-up Privoxy as a whitelist of "good" sites?
Sure. There are a couple of things you can do for simple white-listing. Here's
one real easy one:
- ############################################################
- # Blacklist
- ############################################################
- { +block }
- / # Block *all* URLs
-
- ############################################################
- # Whitelist
- ############################################################
- { -block }
- kids.example.com
- toys.example.com
- games.example.com
+ ############################################################
+ # Blacklist
+ ############################################################
+ { +block }
+ / # Block *all* URLs
+
+ ############################################################
+ # Whitelist
+ ############################################################
+ { -block }
+ kids.example.com
+ toys.example.com
+ games.example.com
+
This allows access to only those three sites by first blocking all URLs, and
then subsequently allowing three specific exceptions.
elsewhere here and in the User Manual) so that users can't modify their own
configuration and easily circumvent the whitelist.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-3.27. How can I turn off ad-blocking?
+3.28. How can I turn off ad-blocking?
-Ad blocking is achieved through a complex application of various Privoxy
+Ad blocking is achieved through a complex application of various Privoxy
actions. These actions are deployed against simple images, banners, flash
animations, text pages, JavaScript, pop-ups and pop-unders, etc., so its not as
simple as just turning one or two actions off. The various actions that make up
the additional blocks that are done for privacy reasons, you can very easily
over-ride all blocking with the following very simple rule in your user.action:
- # Unblock everybody, everywhere
- { -block }
- / # UN-Block *all* URLs
+ # Unblock everybody, everywhere
+ { -block }
+ / # UN-Block *all* URLs
+
Or even a more comprehensive reversing of various ad related actions:
- # Unblock everybody, everywhere, and turn off appropriate filtering, etc
- { -block \
- -filter{banners-by-size} \
- -filter{banners-by-link} \
- allow-popups \
- }
- / # UN-Block *all* URLs and allow ads
+ # Unblock everybody, everywhere, and turn off appropriate filtering, etc
+ { -block \
+ -filter{banners-by-size} \
+ -filter{banners-by-link} \
+ allow-popups \
+ }
+ / # UN-Block *all* URLs and allow ads
+
This last "action" in this compound statement, allow-popups, is an alias that
disables various pop-up blocking features.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-3.28. How can I have custom template pages, like the BLOCKED page?
+3.29. How can I have custom template pages, like the BLOCKED page?
Privoxy "templates" are specialized text files utilized by Privoxy for various
purposes and can easily be modified using any text editor. All the template
pages are installed in a sub-directory appropriately named: templates. Knowing
-something about HTML syntax will of course be helpful. You cannot rename any of
-these files, or create completely new templates, that is not possible. But you
-can change the page content to whatever you like. Be forewarned that these
-files are subject to being overwritten during upgrades, so be sure to save any
-customizations.
+something about HTML syntax will of course be helpful. Be forewarned that the
+default templates are subject to being overwritten during upgrades. You can,
+however, create completely new templates by specifying an alternate path for
+them in the main config, see the templdir option.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-3.29. How can I remove the "Go There Anyway" link from the BLOCKED page?
+3.30. How can I remove the "Go There Anyway" link from the BLOCKED page?
+
+There is more than one way to do it.
Editing the BLOCKED template page (see above) may dissuade some users, but this
method is easily circumvented. Where you need this level of control, you should
build Privoxy from source, and enable various features that are available as
compile-time options. You should configure the sources as follows:
- ./configure --disable-toggle --disable-editor --disable-force
+ ./configure --disable-toggle --disable-editor --disable-force
+
This will create an executable with hard-coded security features so that
Privoxy does not allow easy bypassing of blocked sites, or changing the current
-configuration via any connected user's web browser. Some of these features can
-also be toggled on/off via options in Privoxy's main config file. But
-compiled-in compliance is a much better method of ensuring that a block is
-really a block.
+configuration via any connected user's web browser.
-Default builds of Privoxy are typically built with these features disabled.
+Note that all of these features can also be toggled on/off via options in
+Privoxy's main config file which means you don't have to recompile anything.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4. Miscellaneous
retrieved and 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 (if ad blocking is being used).
+and rendering ad images and other junk content (if ad blocking is being used).
-"Filtering" content via the filter or deanimate-gifs actions will certainly
-cause a perceived slowdown, since the entire document needs to be buffered
-before displaying. And on very large documents, filtering may have some
-measurable impact. How much depends on the page size, the actual definition of
-the filter(s), etc. See below. Most other actions have little to no impact on
-speed.
+"Filtering" content via the filter or deanimate-gifs actions may cause a
+perceived slowdown, since the entire document needs to be buffered before
+displaying. And on very large documents, filtering may have some measurable
+impact. How much depends on the page size, the actual definition of the filter
+(s), etc. See below. Most other actions have little to no impact on speed.
-Also, when filtering is enabled, typically there is a disabling of compression,
-(see prevent-compression). This can have an impact on speed as well. Again, the
-page size, etc. will determine how much of an impact.
+Also, when filtering is enabled but zlib support isn't available, compression
+is often disabled (see prevent-compression). This can have an impact on speed
+as well. Again, the page size, etc. will determine how much of an impact.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-4.2. I notice considerable delays in page requests compared to the old
-Junkbuster. What's wrong?
+4.2. I notice considerable delays in page requests. What's wrong?
If you use any filter action, such as filtering banners by size, web-bugs etc,
or the deanimate-gifs action, the entire document must be loaded into memory in
if the web server mis-reports the MIME type, then content that should not be
filtered, could be. Privoxy only knows how to differentiate filterable content
because of the MIME type as reported by the server, or because of some
-configuration setting that enables/disables filtering.
+configuration setting that enables/disables filtering.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.3. What are "http://config.privoxy.org/" and "http://p.p/"?
not be intercepted, and you have accessed the real web site at
config.privoxy.org.
-With recent versions of Privoxy (version 2.9.x and later), the user interface
-features information on the run time status, the configuration, and even a
-built-in editor for the actions files.
-
-Note that the built-in URLs from earlier versions of Junkbuster / Privoxy,
-http://example.com/show-proxy-args and http://i.j.b/, are no longer supported.
-If you still use such an old version, you should really consider upgrading to
-3.0.6.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.4. How can I submit new ads, or report problems?
Please see the Contact section for various ways to interact with the
developers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.5. If I do submit missed ads, will they be included in future updates?
impact are much less, they are best handled by inclusion in the user's
user.action, and thus would be unlikely to be included.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.6. Why doesn't anyone answer my support request?
times already, or because not enough information was provided to help us help
you. Your efforts are not wasted, and we do appreciate them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.7. How can I hide my IP address?
There are many publicly usable "anonymous" proxies out there, which provide a
further level of indirection between you and the web server.
-However, these proxies are called "anonymous" because you don't need a
-password, not because they would offer any real anonymity. Most of them will
-log your IP address and make it available to the authorities in case you
+However, these proxies are called "anonymous" because you don't need to
+authenticate, not because they would offer any real anonymity. Most of them
+will log your IP address and make it available to the authorities in case you
violate the law of the country they run in. 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.
system. The configuration details can be found in How do I use Privoxy together
with Tor section just below.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.8. Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?
-No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are greatly improved, but unless you
+No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are greatly improved, but unless you
chain Privoxy with Tor or a similar system and know what you're doing when it
comes to configuring the rest of your system, it would be safest to assume that
everything you do on the Web can be traced back to you.
find out who you are, even if you are using a strict Privoxy configuration and
chained it with Tor.
-Most of Privoxy's protection can be easily subverted by an insecure browser
-configuration, therefore you should use a browser that can be configured to
-only execute code from trusted sites, and be careful which sites you trust. For
-example there is no point in having Privoxy modify the User-Agent header, if
-websites can get all the information they want through JavaScript, ActiveX,
-Flash, Java etc.
+Most of Privoxy's privacy-enhancing features can be easily subverted by an
+insecure browser configuration, therefore you should use a browser that can be
+configured to only execute code from trusted sites, and be careful which sites
+you trust. For example there is no point in having Privoxy modify the
+User-Agent header, if websites can get all the information they want through
+JavaScript, ActiveX, Flash, Java etc.
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
source code, because anticipating their behavior is easier. Trust the source,
Luke!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.9. A test site says I am not using a Proxy.
Good! Actually, they are probably testing for some other kinds of proxies.
Hiding yourself completely would require additional steps.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.10. How do I use Privoxy together with Tor?
-Before you configure Privoxy to use Tor (http://tor.eff.org/), please follow
-the User Manual chapters 2. Installation and 5. Startup to make sure Privoxy
-itself is setup correctly.
+Before you configure Privoxy to use Tor, please follow the User Manual chapters
+2. Installation and 5. Startup to make sure Privoxy itself is setup correctly.
If it is, refer to Tor's extensive documentation to learn how to install Tor,
and make sure Tor's logfile says that "Tor has successfully opened a circuit"
If you verified that Privoxy and Tor are working, it is time to connect them.
As far as Privoxy is concerned, Tor is just another proxy that can be reached
by socks4 or socks4a. Most likely you are interested in Tor to increase your
-anonymity level, therefore you should use socks4a, to make sure Privoxy's DNS
-requests are done through Tor and thus invisible to your local network.
+anonymity level, therefore you should use socks4a, to make sure DNS requests
+are done through Tor and thus invisible to your local network.
Since Privoxy 3.0.5, its main configuration file is already prepared for Tor,
if you are using a default Tor configuration and run it on the same system as
Privoxy, you just have to edit the forwarding section and uncomment the line:
-# forward-socks4a / 127.0.0.1:9050 .
-
+# forward-socks4a / 127.0.0.1:9050 .
+
+
+
+This is enough to reach the Internet, but additionally you might want to
+uncomment the following forward rules, to make sure your local network is still
+reachable through Privoxy:
+
+# forward 192.168.*.*/ .
+# forward 10.*.*.*/ .
+# forward 127.*.*.*/ .
-This is enough to reach the Internet, but additionally you should uncomment the
-following forward rules, to make sure your local network is still reachable
-through Privoxy:
-# forward 192.168.*.*/ .
-# forward 10.*.*.*/ .
-# forward 127.*.*.*/ .
-
Unencrypted connections to systems in these address ranges will be as (un)
-secure as the local network is, but the alternative is that you can't reach the
-network at all. If you also want to be able to reach servers in your local
-network by using their names, you will need additional exceptions that look
-like this:
+secure as the local network is, but the alternative is that your browser can't
+reach the network at all. Then again, that may actually be desired and if you
+don't know for sure that your browser has to be able to reach the local
+network, there's no reason to allow it.
+
+If you want your browser to be able to reach servers in your local network by
+using their names, you will need additional exceptions that look like this:
+
+# forward localhost/ .
+
-# forward localhost/ .
-
Save the modified configuration file and open http://config.privoxy.org/
show-status/ in your browser, confirm that Privoxy has reloaded its
for application level security, and why you shouldn't use it for unencrypted
logins.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.11. Might some things break because header information or content is being
altered?
very different. There are many, many ways that this can be handled, so having
hard and fast rules, is tricky.
-"User-Agent" is often used in this way to identify the browser, and adjust
-content accordingly. Changing this now (at least not further than removing the
-OS information) is not recommended, since so many sites do look for it. You may
-get undesirable results by changing just this one aspect.
+The "User-Agent" is sometimes used in this way to identify the browser, and
+adjust content accordingly.
Also, different browsers use different encodings of Russian and Czech
characters, certain web servers convert pages on-the-fly according to the User
accordingly. Cookies are probably the most likely adjustment that may be
required, but by no means the only one.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.12. 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 Squid for
-this. And, yes, before you ask, Privoxy can co-exist with other kinds of
-proxies like Squid. See the forwarding chapter in the user manual for details.
+No, it does not have this ability at all. You want something like Squid or
+Polipo for this. And, yes, before you ask, Privoxy can co-exist with other
+kinds of proxies like Squid. See the forwarding chapter in the user manual for
+details.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.13. What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?
-Not in the way you mean, or in the way a true firewall can. Privoxy can help
-protect your privacy, but not protect you from intrusion attempts. It is, of
-course, perfectly possible and recommended to use both.
+Not in the way you mean, or in the way some firewall vendors claim they can.
+Privoxy can help protect your privacy, but can't protect your system from
+intrusion attempts. It is, of course, perfectly possible to use both.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.14. I have large empty spaces / a checkerboard pattern now where ads used to
be. Why?
So the developers won't support this in the default configuration, but you can
of course define appropriate filters yourself to achieve this.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.15. How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?
to block under these conditions. Fortunately, this does not seem to be a very
common scenario since most cookies come by traditional means.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.16. Privoxy runs as a "server". How secure is it? Do I need to take any
special precautions?
-There are no known exploits that might affect 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" only. The
-server aspect of Privoxy 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
+On Unix-like systems, Privoxy can run as a non-privileged user, which is how we
+recommend it be run. Also, by default Privoxy listens to requests from
+"localhost" only.
+
+The server aspect of Privoxy 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
configuration file and check all access control and security options. All LAN
hosts can then use this as their proxy address in the browser proxy
configuration, but Privoxy will not listen on any external interfaces. ACLs can
be defined in addition, and using a firewall is always good too. Better safe
than sorry.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.17. How can I temporarily disable Privoxy?
The easiest way is to access Privoxy with your browser by using the remote
toggle URL: http://config.privoxy.org/toggle. See the Bookmarklets section of
-the User Manual for an easy way to access this feature.
+the User Manual for an easy way to access this feature. Note that this is a
+feature that may need to be enabled in the main config file.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.18. When "disabled" is Privoxy totally out of the picture?
-No, this just means all filtering and actions are disabled. Privoxy is still
-acting as a proxy, but just not doing any of the things that Privoxy would
-normally be expected to do. It is still a "middle-man" in the interaction
+No, this just means all optional filtering and actions are disabled. Privoxy is
+still acting as a proxy, but just not doing any of the things that Privoxy
+would normally be expected to do. It is still a "middle-man" in the interaction
between your browser and web sites. See below to bypass the proxy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.19. How can I tell Privoxy to totally ignore certain sites?
configuration issue, not a Privoxy issue. Modern browsers typically do have
settings for not proxying certain sites. Check your browser's help files.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.20. My logs show Privoxy "crunches" ads, but also its own internal CGI pages.
What is a "crunch"?
not go out to the 'net), and the familiar CGI configuration is returned to the
browser, and the log consequently will show a "crunch".
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Since version 3.0.7, Privoxy will also log the crunch reason. If you are using
+an older version you might want to upgrade.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.21. Can Privoxy effect files that I download from a webserver? FTP server?
"good" content that we do want. Privoxy is blind to the differences, and can
only distinguish "good from bad" by the configuration parameters we give it.
-Privoxy knows the differences in files according to the "Document Type" as
+Privoxy knows the differences in files according to the "Content Type" as
reported by the webserver. If this is reported accurately (e.g. "application/
zip" for a zip archive), then Privoxy knows to ignore these where appropriate.
Privoxy potentially can filter HTML as well as plain text documents, subject to
Note that versions later than 3.0.2 do NOT filter document types reported as
"text/plain". Prior to this, Privoxy did filter this document type.
-In short, filtering is "ON" if a) the Document Type as reported by the
-webserver is appropriate and b) the configuration allows it (or at least does
-not disallow it). That's it. There is no magic cookie anywhere to say this is
-"good" and this is "bad". It's the configuration that let's it all happen or
+In short, filtering is "ON" if a) the content type as reported by the webserver
+is appropriate and b) the configuration allows it (or at least does not
+disallow it). That's it. There is no magic cookie anywhere to say this is
+"good" and this is "bad". It's the configuration that lets it all happen or
not.
If you download text files, you probably do not want these to be filtered,
Privoxy does not do FTP at all, only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) protocols, so please
don't try.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.22. I just downloaded a Perl script, and Privoxy altered it! Yikes, what is
wrong!
Please read above.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.23. Should I continue to use a "HOSTS" file for ad-blocking?
There is no reason to use this technique in conjunction with Privoxy. Privoxy
does essentially the same thing, much more elegantly and with much more
flexibility. A large HOSTS file, in fact, not only duplicates effort, but may
-get in the way. It is recommended to remove such entries from your HOSTS file.
-If you think your hosts list is neglected by Privoxy's configuration, consider
-adding your list to your user.action file:
+get in the way and seriously slow down your system. It is recommended to remove
+such entries from your HOSTS file. If you think your hosts list is neglected by
+Privoxy's configuration, consider adding your list to your user.action file:
+
+ { +block }
+ www.ad.example1.com
+ ad.example2.com
+ ads.galore.example.com
+ etc.example.com
- { +block }
- www.ad.example1.com
- ad.example2.com
- ads.galore.example.com
- etc.example.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.24. Where can I find more information about Privoxy and related issues?
http://www.privoxy.org/faq/, the Privoxy FAQ.
-http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/, the Project Page for Privoxy on
-SourceForge.
+http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/, the Project Page for Privoxy on
+SourceForge.
-http://config.privoxy.org/, the web-based user interface. Privoxy must be
-running for this to work. Shortcut: http://p.p/
+http://config.privoxy.org/, the web-based user interface. Privoxy must be
+running for this to work. Shortcut: http://p.p/
-http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288, to submit "misses"
-and other configuration related suggestions to the developers.
+http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288, to submit "misses"
+and other configuration related suggestions to the developers.
-http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html, an explanation how cookies are
-used to track web users.
+http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html, an explanation how cookies are
+used to track web users.
http://www.junkbusters.com/ijb.html, the original Internet Junkbuster.
-http://privacy.net/, a useful site to check what information about you is
-leaked while you browse the web.
+http://privacy.net/, a useful site to check what information about you is
+leaked while you browse the web.
+
+http://www.squid-cache.org/, a popular caching proxy, which is often used
+together with Privoxy.
-http://www.squid-cache.org/, a very popular caching proxy, which is often used
-together with Privoxy.
+http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/software/polipo/, Polipo is a caching proxy with
+advanced features like pipelining, multiplexing and caching of partial
+instances. In many setups it can be used as Squid replacement.
-http://tor.eff.org/, Tor can help anonymize web browsing, web publishing,
-instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications.
+http://tor.eff.org/, Tor can help anonymize web browsing, web publishing,
+instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications.
http://www.privoxy.org/developer-manual/, the Privoxy developer manual.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.25. I've noticed that Privoxy changes "Microsoft" to "MicroSuck"! Why are you
manipulating my browsing?
" or you are using an older Privoxy version and have implicitly activated it by
choosing the "Adventuresome" profile in the web-based editor. Please upgrade!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+4.26. Does Privoxy produce "valid" HTML (or XHTML)?
+
+Privoxy generates HTML in both its own "templates", and possibly whenever there
+are text substitutions via a Privoxy filter. While this should always conform
+to the HTML 4.01 specifications, it has not been validated against this or any
+other standard.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5. Troubleshooting
There are several possibilities:
- * Privoxy is not running. Solution: verify that Privoxy is installed
- correctly, has not crashed, and is indeed running. Look at Privoxy's logs
- to see what they say.
-
- * Or your browser is configured for a different port than what Privoxy is
+ • Privoxy is not running. Solution: verify that Privoxy is installed
+ correctly, has not crashed, and is indeed running. Turn on Privoxy's
+ logging, and look at the logs to see what they say.
+
+ • Or your browser is configured for a different port than what Privoxy is
using. Solution: verify that Privoxy and your browser are set to the same
port (listen-address).
-
- * Or if using a forwarding rule, you have a configuration problem or a
+
+ • Or if using a forwarding rule, you have a configuration problem or a
problem with a host in the forwarding chain. Solution: temporarily alter
your configuration and take the forwarders out of the equation.
-
- * Or you have a firewall that is interfering and blocking you. Solution: try
+
+ • Or you have a firewall that is interfering and blocking you. Solution: try
disabling or removing the firewall as a simple test.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.2. Why am I getting a 503 Error (WSAECONNREFUSED) on every page?
something better behaved in its place. Other personal firewall type products
may cause similar type problems if not configured correctly.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.3. I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is still getting through.
How?
different from the site URL itself. Most ads are hosted on different servers
than the main site itself. If you right-click on the ad, you should be able to
get all the relevant information you need. Alternately, you can find the
-correct URL by looking at Privoxy's logs.
+correct URL by looking at Privoxy's logs (you may need to enable logging in the
+main config file if its disabled).
Below is a slightly modified real-life log snippet that originates with one
requested URL: www.example.com (name of site was changed for this example, the
making our job a little easier. Privoxy has "crunched" (meaning caught and
BLOCKED) quite a few items in this example, but perhaps missed a few as well.
-Request: www.example.com/
-Request: www.example.com/favicon.ico
-Request: img.example.com/main.css
-Request: img.example.com/sr.js
-Request: example.betamarker.com/example.html
-Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/bestsellers/skyscraper.php?likref=BSellers
-Request: img.example.com/pb.png
-Request: www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js crunch!
-Request: www.advertising-department.com/ats/switch.ps.php?26856 crunch!
-Request: img.example.com/p.gif
-Request: www.popuptraffic.com/assign.php?l=example&mode=behind crunch!
-Request: www.popuptraffic.com/scripts/popup.php?hid=5c3cf&tmpl=PBa.tmpl crunch!
-Request: www.popuptraffic.com/assign.php?l=example crunch!
-Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/best_sellers/best_sellers.css
-Request: www.adtrak.net/adx.js crunch!
-Request: img.example.com/hbg.gif
-Request: img.example.com/example.jpg
-Request: img.example.com/mt.png
-Request: img.example.com/mm.png
-Request: img.example.com/mb.png
-Request: www.popuptraffic.com/scripts/popup.php?hid=a71b91fa5&tmpl=Ua.tmp crunch!
-Request: www.example.com/tracker.js
-Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/best_sellers/lsi_head.gif
-Request: www.adtrak.net/adjs.php?n=020548130&what=zone:61 crunch!
-Request: www.adtrak.net/adjs.php?n=463594413&what=zone:58&source=Ua crunch!
-Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/best_sellers/bottomani.swf
-Request: mmm.elitemediagroup.net/install.php?allowpop=no&popupmincook=0&allowsp2=1 crunch!
-Request: www.example.com/tracker.js?screen=1400x1050&win=962x693
-Request: www.adtrak.net/adlog.php?bannerid=1309&clientid=439&zoneid=61 crunch!
-Request: 66.70.21.80/scripts/click.php?hid=5c3cf599a9efd0320d26&si
-Request: 66.70.21.80/img/pixel.gif
-Request: www.adtrak.net/adlog.php?bannerid=1309&clientid=439&zoneid=58&source=Ua&block=86400 crunch!
-Request: 66.70.21.80/scripts/click.php?hid=a71b9f6504b0c5681fa5&si=Ua
+Request: www.example.com/
+Request: www.example.com/favicon.ico
+Request: img.example.com/main.css
+Request: img.example.com/sr.js
+Request: example.betamarker.com/example.html
+Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/bestsellers/skyscraper.php?likref=BSellers
+Request: img.example.com/pb.png
+Request: www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js crunch!
+Request: www.advertising-department.com/ats/switch.ps.php?26856 crunch!
+Request: img.example.com/p.gif
+Request: www.popuptraffic.com/assign.php?l=example&mode=behind crunch!
+Request: www.popuptraffic.com/scripts/popup.php?hid=5c3cf&tmpl=PBa.tmpl crunch!
+Request: www.popuptraffic.com/assign.php?l=example crunch!
+Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/best_sellers/best_sellers.css
+Request: www.adtrak.net/adx.js crunch!
+Request: img.example.com/hbg.gif
+Request: img.example.com/example.jpg
+Request: img.example.com/mt.png
+Request: img.example.com/mm.png
+Request: img.example.com/mb.png
+Request: www.popuptraffic.com/scripts/popup.php?hid=a71b91fa5&tmpl=Ua.tmp crunch!
+Request: www.example.com/tracker.js
+Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/best_sellers/lsi_head.gif
+Request: www.adtrak.net/adjs.php?n=020548130&what=zone:61 crunch!
+Request: www.adtrak.net/adjs.php?n=463594413&what=zone:58&source=Ua crunch!
+Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/best_sellers/bottomani.swf
+Request: mmm.elitemediagroup.net/install.php?allowpop=no&popupmincook=0&allowsp2=1 crunch!
+Request: www.example.com/tracker.js?screen=1400x1050&win=962x693
+Request: www.adtrak.net/adlog.php?bannerid=1309&clientid=439&zoneid=61 crunch!
+Request: 66.70.21.80/scripts/click.php?hid=5c3cf599a9efd0320d26&si
+Request: 66.70.21.80/img/pixel.gif
+Request: www.adtrak.net/adlog.php?bannerid=1309&clientid=439&zoneid=58&source=Ua&block=86400 crunch!
+Request: 66.70.21.80/scripts/click.php?hid=a71b9f6504b0c5681fa5&si=Ua
+
Despite 12 out of 32 requests being blocked, the page looked, and seemed to
behave perfectly "normal" (minus some ads, of course).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.4. One of my favorite sites does not work with Privoxy. What can I do?
First verify that it is indeed a Privoxy problem, by toggling off Privoxy
-through http://config.privoxy.org/toggle, and then shift-reloading the problem
-page (i.e. holding down the shift key while clicking reload. Alternatively,
-flush your browser's disk and memory caches).
+through http://config.privoxy.org/toggle (the toggle feature may need to be
+enabled in the main config), and then shift-reloading the problem page (i.e.
+holding down the shift key while clicking reload. Alternatively, flush your
+browser's disk and memory caches).
If the problem went away, we know we have a configuration related problem. Now
go to http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info and paste the full URL of the
page in question into the prompt. See which actions are being applied to the
URL, and which matches in which actions files are responsible for that. It
might be helpful also to look at your logs for this site too, to see what else
-might be happening. Many sites are complex and require a number of related
-pages to help present their content. Look at what else might be used by the
-page in question, and what of that might be required. Now, armed with this
-information, go to http://config.privoxy.org/show-status and select the
-appropriate actions files for editing.
+might be happening (note: logging may need to be enabled in the main config
+file). Many sites are complex and require a number of related pages to help
+present their content. Look at what else might be used by the page in question,
+and what of that might be required. Now, armed with this information, go to
+http://config.privoxy.org/show-status and select the appropriate actions files
+for editing.
You can now either look for a section which disables the actions that you
suspect to cause the problem and add a pattern for your site there, or make up
As a last resort, you can always see if your browser has a setting that will
bypass the proxy setting for selective sites. Modern browsers can do this.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.5. After installing Privoxy, I have to log in every time I start IE. What
gives?
[Thanks to Ray Griffith for this submission.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.6. I cannot connect to any FTP sites. Privoxy is blocking me.
Will Privoxy ever proxy FTP traffic? Unlikely. There just is not much reason,
and the work to make this happen is more than it may seem.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.7. In Mac OSX, I can't configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use Privoxy
as the HTTP proxy.
the entry field. Enter 8118 in the Port field. The next time you start IE, it
should reflect these values.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.8. In Mac OSX, I dragged the Privoxy folder to the trash in order to
uninstall it. Now the finder tells me I don't have sufficient privileges to
The trash may still appear full after this command; emptying the trash from the
desktop should make it appear empty again.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.9. In Mac OSX Panther (10.3), images often fail to load and/or I experience
random delays in page loading. I'm using localhost as my browser's proxy
understand the issue yet. In any case, changing the proxy setting to 127.0.0.1
instead of localhost works around the problem.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.10. I get a completely blank page at one site. "View Source" shows only:
<html><body></body></html>. Without Privoxy the page loads fine.
To find out if this is in fact the source of the problem, try adding the site
to a -prevent-compression section in user.action:
- # Make exceptions for ill-behaved sites:
- #
- {-prevent-compression}
- .example.com
+ # Make exceptions for ill-behaved sites:
+ #
+ {-prevent-compression}
+ .example.com
+
If that works, you may also want to report the problem to the site's
webmasters, telling them to use zlib.output_compression instead of ob_gzhandler
in their PHP applications (workaround) or upgrade to PHP 4.2.3 or later (fix).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.11. My logs show many "Unable to get my own hostname" lines. Why?
sure whatever name(s) are used for the local system, that they resolve both
ways.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.12. When I try to launch Privoxy, I get an error message "port 8118 is
already in use" (or similar wording). Why?
different ports.) How and why this might happen varies from platform to
platform, but you need to check your installation and start-up procedures.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.13. Pages with UTF-8 fonts are garbled.
This is caused by the "demoronizer" filter. You should either upgrade Privoxy,
-or at least upgrade to the most recent default.action file available from
+or at least upgrade to the most recent default.action file available from
SourceForge. Or you can simply disable the demoronizer filter.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.14. Why are binary files (such as images) corrupted when Privoxy is used?
This may also be caused by the "demoronizer" filter, in conjunction with a web
-server that is misreporting a file type. Binary files are exempted from
+server that is misreporting the content type. Binary files are exempted from
Privoxy's filtering (unless the web server by mistake says the file is
something else). Either upgrade Privoxy, or go to the most recent
default.action file available from SourceForge.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.15. What is the "demoronizer" and why is it there?
corruption of the fonts, and thus should not be on.
On the other hand, if you use non-Microsoft products, and you occasionally
-notice wierd characters on pages, you might want to try it.
+notice weird characters on pages, you might want to try it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.16. Why do I keep seeing "PrivoxyWindowOpen()" in raw source code?
you should set an exception for this site or page such that the integrity of
the page stays in tact by disabling all filtering.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.17. I am getting too many DNS errors like "404 No Such Domain". Why can't
Privoxy do this better?
In any case, newer versions include various improvements to help Privoxy better
handle these cases.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.18. At one site Privoxy just hangs, and starts taking all CPU. Why is this?
filtering on these pages, particularly the js-annoyances and unsolicited-popups
filters.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.19. I just installed Privoxy, and all my browsing has slowed to a crawl. What
gives?
or similar components. Try disabling (or uninstalling) these one at a time and
see if that helps.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.20. Why do my filters work on some sites but not on others?
It's probably due to compression. It is a common practice for web servers to
send their content "compressed" in order to speed things up, and then let the
-browser "uncompress" them. Privoxy does not (yet) support compression. But we
-can force the web server to bend to our will ;-) So for filtering, make sure
-you have prevent-compression turned ON!
+browser "uncompress" them. When compiled with zlib support Privoxy can
+decompress content before filtering, otherwise you may want to enable
+prevent-compression.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6. Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
configuration. However, please note the following hints, so we can provide you
with the best support:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.1. Get Support
-For casual users, our support forum at SourceForge is probably best suited:
+For casual users, our support forum at SourceForge is probably best suited:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=211118
All users are of course welcome to discuss their issues on the users mailing
list, where the developers also hang around.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Note that the Privoxy mailing lists are moderated. Posts from unsubscribed
+addresses have to be accepted manually by a moderator. This may cause a delay
+of several days and if you use a subject that doesn't clearly mention Privoxy
+or one of its features, your message may be accidentally discarded as spam.
+
+If you aren't subscribed, you should therefore spend a few seconds to come up
+with a proper subject. Additionally you should make it clear that you want to
+get CC'd. Otherwise some responses will be directed to the mailing list only,
+and you won't see them.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.2. Reporting Problems
"Problems" for our purposes, come in two forms:
- * Configuration issues, such as ads that slip through, or sites that don't
+ • Configuration issues, such as ads that slip through, or sites that don't
function properly due to one Privoxy "action" or another being turned "on".
-
- * "Bugs" in the programming code that makes up Privoxy, such as that might
+
+ • "Bugs" in the programming code that makes up Privoxy, such as that might
cause a crash.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.2.1. Reporting Ads or Other Configuration Problems
your feedback. These will be announced on the ijbswa-announce list and
available from our the files section of our project page.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.2.2. Reporting Bugs
-Please report all bugs only through our bug tracker: http://sourceforge.net/
-tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=111118.
+Please report all bugs through our bug tracker: http://sourceforge.net/tracker
+/?group_id=11118&atid=111118.
Before doing so, please make sure that the bug has not already been submitted
and observe the additional hints at the top of the submit form. If already
submitted, please feel free to add any info to the original report that might
help to solve the issue.
-Please try to verify that it is a Privoxy bug, and not a browser or site bug
-first. If unsure, try toggling off Privoxy, and see if the problem persists. If
-you are using your own custom configuration, please try the stock configs to
-see if the problem is configuration related.
+Please try to verify that it is a Privoxy bug, and not a browser or site bug or
+documented behaviour that just happens to be different than what you expected.
+If unsure, try toggling off Privoxy, and see if the problem persists.
-If not using the latest version, the bug may have been found and fixed in the
-meantime. We would appreciate if you could take the time to upgrade to the
-latest version (or even the latest CVS snapshot) and verify your bug.
+If you are using your own custom configuration, please try the stock configs to
+see if the problem is configuration related. If you're having problems with a
+feature that is disabled by default, please ask around on the mailing list if
+others can reproduce the problem.
+
+If you aren't using the latest Privoxy version, the bug may have been found and
+fixed in the meantime. We would appreciate if you could take the time to
+upgrade to the latest version (or even the latest CVS snapshot) and verify that
+your bug still exists.
Please be sure to provide the following information:
- * The exact Privoxy version of the proxy software (if you got the source from
- CVS, please also provide the source code revisions as shown in http://
+ • The exact Privoxy version you are using (if you got the source from CVS,
+ please also provide the source code revisions as shown in http://
config.privoxy.org/show-version).
-
- * The operating system and versions you run Privoxy on, (e.g. Windows XP
+
+ • The operating system and versions you run Privoxy on, (e.g. Windows XP
SP2), if you are using a Unix flavor, sending the output of "uname -a"
- should do.
-
- * The name, platform, and version of the browser you were using (e.g.
+ should do, in case of GNU/Linux, please also name the distribution.
+
+ • The name, platform, and version of the browser you were using (e.g.
Internet Explorer v5.5 for Mac).
-
- * The URL where the problem occurred, or some way for us to duplicate the
+
+ • The URL where the problem occurred, or some way for us to duplicate the
problem (e.g. http://somesite.example.com/?somethingelse=123).
-
- * Whether your version of Privoxy is one supplied by the developers of
- Privoxy via SourceForge, or somewhere else.
-
- * Whether you are using Privoxy in tandem with another proxy such as Tor. If
- so, please try disabling the other proxy.
-
- * Whether you are using a personal firewall product. If so, does Privoxy work
+
+ • Whether your version of Privoxy is one supplied by the Privoxy developers
+ via SourceForge, or if you got your copy somewhere else.
+
+ • Whether you are using Privoxy in tandem with another proxy such as Tor. If
+ so, please temporary disable the other proxy to see if the symptoms change.
+
+ • Whether you are using a personal firewall product. If so, does Privoxy work
without it?
-
- * Any other pertinent information to help identify the problem such as config
+
+ • Any other pertinent information to help identify the problem such as config
or log file excerpts (yes, you should have log file entries for each action
taken).
-
- * Please provide your SF login, or email address, in case we need to contact
- you.
-
+
+You don't have to tell us your actual name when filing a problem report, but
+please use a nickname so we can differentiate between your messages and the
+ones entered by other "anonymous" users that may respond to your request if
+they have the same problem or already found a solution.
+
+Please also check the status of your request a few days after submitting it, as
+we may request additional information. If you use a SF id, you should
+automatically get a mail when someone responds to your request.
+
The appendix of the Privoxy User Manual also has helpful information on
understanding actions, and action debugging.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.3. Request New Features
improvement through our feature request tracker at http://sourceforge.net/
tracker/?atid=361118&group_id=11118.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.4. Other
mailing lists, including list archives, at: http://sourceforge.net/mail/?
group_id=11118.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7. Privoxy Copyright, License and History
-Copyright © 2001 - 2006 by Privoxy Developers <
+Copyright 2001 - 2007 by Privoxy Developers <
ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net>
-Some source code is based on code Copyright © 1997 by Anonymous Coders and
+Some source code is based on code Copyright 1997 by Anonymous Coders and
Junkbusters, Inc. and licensed under the GNU General Public License.
Portions of this document are "borrowed" from the original Junkbuster (tm) FAQ,
and modified as appropriate for Privoxy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.1. License
Boston, MA 02110-1301
USA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.2. History
-A long time ago, there was the Internet Junkbuster, by Anonymous Coders and
+A long time ago, there was the Internet Junkbuster, by Anonymous Coders and
Junkbusters Corporation. This saved many users a lot of pain in the early days
of web advertising and user tracking.
-Privoxy 3.0.6 User Manual
+Privoxy 3.0.7 User Manual
-Copyright © 2001 - 2006 by Privoxy Developers
+[ Copyright 2001 - 2007 by Privoxy Developers ]
-$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.26 2006/10/24 11:16:44 hal9 Exp $
+$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.44 2007/11/15 03:30:20 hal9 Exp $
The Privoxy 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, modifying web page data, 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.
+Privoxy is a non-caching web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for
+enhancing privacy, modifying web page data, managing HTTP cookies, controlling
+access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious Internet junk.
+Privoxy has a flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual
+needs and tastes. Privoxy has application for both stand-alone systems and
+multi-user networks.
Privoxy is based on Internet Junkbuster (tm).
www.privoxy.org/user-manual/. Please see the Contact section on how to contact
the developers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
-
+
1.1. Features
-
+
2. Installation
-
+
2.1. Binary Packages
-
+
2.1.1. Red Hat and Fedora RPMs
2.1.2. Debian
2.1.3. Windows
- 2.1.4. Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX
+ 2.1.4. Solaris
2.1.5. OS/2
2.1.6. Mac OSX
2.1.7. AmigaOS
- 2.1.8. Gentoo
-
+ 2.1.8. FreeBSD
+ 2.1.9. Gentoo
+
2.2. Building from Source
2.3. Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date
-
+
3. What's New in this Release
-
+
3.1. Note to Upgraders
-
+
4. Quickstart to Using Privoxy
-
+
4.1. Quickstart to Ad Blocking
-
+
5. Starting Privoxy
-
+
5.1. Red Hat and Fedora
5.2. Debian
5.3. Windows
5.7. AmigaOS
5.8. Gentoo
5.9. Command Line Options
-
+
6. Privoxy Configuration
-
+
6.1. Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser
6.2. Configuration Files Overview
-
+
7. The Main Configuration File
-
+
7.1. Local Set-up Documentation
-
+
7.1.1. user-manual
7.1.2. trust-info-url
7.1.3. admin-address
7.1.4. proxy-info-url
-
+
7.2. Configuration and Log File Locations
-
+
7.2.1. confdir
- 7.2.2. logdir
- 7.2.3. actionsfile
- 7.2.4. filterfile
- 7.2.5. logfile
- 7.2.6. jarfile
- 7.2.7. trustfile
-
+ 7.2.2. templdir
+ 7.2.3. logdir
+ 7.2.4. actionsfile
+ 7.2.5. filterfile
+ 7.2.6. logfile
+ 7.2.7. jarfile
+ 7.2.8. trustfile
+
7.3. Debugging
-
+
7.3.1. debug
7.3.2. single-threaded
-
+
7.4. Access Control and Security
-
+
7.4.1. listen-address
7.4.2. toggle
7.4.3. enable-remote-toggle
7.4.4. enable-remote-http-toggle
7.4.5. enable-edit-actions
- 7.4.6. ACLs: permit-access and deny-access
- 7.4.7. buffer-limit
-
+ 7.4.6. enforce-blocks
+ 7.4.7. ACLs: permit-access and deny-access
+ 7.4.8. buffer-limit
+
7.5. Forwarding
-
+
7.5.1. forward
7.5.2. forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a
7.5.3. Advanced Forwarding Examples
7.5.4. forwarded-connect-retries
-
+ 7.5.5. accept-intercepted-requests
+ 7.5.6. allow-cgi-request-crunching
+ 7.5.7. split-large-forms
+
7.6. Windows GUI Options
-
+
8. Actions Files
-
+
8.1. Finding the Right Mix
8.2. How to Edit
- 8.3. How Actions are Applied to URLs
+ 8.3. How Actions are Applied to Requests
8.4. Patterns
-
+
8.4.1. The Domain Pattern
8.4.2. The Path Pattern
-
+ 8.4.3. The Tag Pattern
+
8.5. Actions
-
+
8.5.1. add-header
8.5.2. block
- 8.5.3. content-type-overwrite
- 8.5.4. crunch-client-header
- 8.5.5. crunch-if-none-match
- 8.5.6. crunch-incoming-cookies
- 8.5.7. crunch-server-header
- 8.5.8. crunch-outgoing-cookies
- 8.5.9. deanimate-gifs
- 8.5.10. downgrade-http-version
- 8.5.11. fast-redirects
- 8.5.12. filter
- 8.5.13. filter-client-headers
- 8.5.14. filter-server-headers
+ 8.5.3. client-header-filter
+ 8.5.4. client-header-tagger
+ 8.5.5. content-type-overwrite
+ 8.5.6. crunch-client-header
+ 8.5.7. crunch-if-none-match
+ 8.5.8. crunch-incoming-cookies
+ 8.5.9. crunch-server-header
+ 8.5.10. crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ 8.5.11. deanimate-gifs
+ 8.5.12. downgrade-http-version
+ 8.5.13. fast-redirects
+ 8.5.14. filter
8.5.15. force-text-mode
- 8.5.16. handle-as-empty-document
- 8.5.17. handle-as-image
- 8.5.18. hide-accept-language
- 8.5.19. hide-content-disposition
- 8.5.20. hide-if-modified-since
- 8.5.21. hide-forwarded-for-headers
- 8.5.22. hide-from-header
- 8.5.23. hide-referrer
- 8.5.24. hide-user-agent
- 8.5.25. inspect-jpegs
- 8.5.26. kill-popups
- 8.5.27. limit-connect
- 8.5.28. prevent-compression
- 8.5.29. overwrite-last-modified
- 8.5.30. redirect
- 8.5.31. send-vanilla-wafer
- 8.5.32. send-wafer
- 8.5.33. session-cookies-only
- 8.5.34. set-image-blocker
- 8.5.35. treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks
- 8.5.36. Summary
-
+ 8.5.16. forward-override
+ 8.5.17. handle-as-empty-document
+ 8.5.18. handle-as-image
+ 8.5.19. hide-accept-language
+ 8.5.20. hide-content-disposition
+ 8.5.21. hide-if-modified-since
+ 8.5.22. hide-forwarded-for-headers
+ 8.5.23. hide-from-header
+ 8.5.24. hide-referrer
+ 8.5.25. hide-user-agent
+ 8.5.26. inspect-jpegs
+ 8.5.27. kill-popups
+ 8.5.28. limit-connect
+ 8.5.29. prevent-compression
+ 8.5.30. overwrite-last-modified
+ 8.5.31. redirect
+ 8.5.32. send-vanilla-wafer
+ 8.5.33. send-wafer
+ 8.5.34. server-header-filter
+ 8.5.35. server-header-tagger
+ 8.5.36. session-cookies-only
+ 8.5.37. set-image-blocker
+ 8.5.38. treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks
+ 8.5.39. Summary
+
8.6. Aliases
8.7. Actions Files Tutorial
-
+
8.7.1. default.action
8.7.2. user.action
-
+
9. Filter Files
-
+
9.1. Filter File Tutorial
9.2. The Pre-defined Filters
-
+
10. Privoxy's Template Files
11. Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
-
+
11.1. Get Support
11.2. Reporting Problems
-
+
11.2.1. Reporting Ads or Other Configuration Problems
11.2.2. Reporting Bugs
-
+
11.3. Request New Features
11.4. Other
-
+
12. Privoxy Copyright, License and History
-
+
12.1. License
12.2. History
12.3. Authors
-
+
13. See Also
14. Appendix
-
+
14.1. Regular Expressions
14.2. Privoxy's Internal Pages
-
+
14.2.1. Bookmarklets
-
+
14.3. Chain of Events
14.4. Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action
-
+
1. Introduction
-This documentation is included with the current stable version of Privoxy,
-v.3.0.6.
+This documentation is included with the current beta version of Privoxy,
+v.3.0.7, 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 a new version is currently
+nearing completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over
+earlier versions. .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+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. Features
In addition to the core features of ad blocking and cookie management, Privoxy
-provides many supplemental features, that give the end-user more control, more
-privacy and more freedom:
+provides many supplemental features, some of them currently under development,
+that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
- * Integrated browser based configuration and control utility at http://
+ • Integrated browser based configuration and control utility at http://
config.privoxy.org/ (shortcut: http://p.p/). Browser-based tracing of rule
and filter effects. Remote toggling.
-
- * Web page filtering (text replacements, removes banners based on size,
+
+ • Web page filtering (text replacements, removes banners based on size,
invisible "web-bugs", JavaScript and HTML annoyances, pop-up windows,
header manipulation, etc.)
-
- * Modularized configuration that allows for standard settings and user
+
+ • Modularized configuration that allows for standard settings and user
settings to reside in separate files, so that installing updated actions
files won't overwrite individual user settings.
-
- * HTTP/1.1 compliant (but not all optional 1.1 features are supported).
-
- * Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the configuration files,
+
+ • Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the configuration files,
and generally a more sophisticated and flexible configuration syntax over
previous versions.
-
- * Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
-
- * GIF de-animation.
-
- * Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
-
- * Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
-
- * User-customizable HTML templates for all proxy-generated pages (e.g.
+
+ • Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
+
+ • GIF de-animation.
+
+ • Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
+
+ • Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
+
+ • User-customizable HTML templates for all proxy-generated pages (e.g.
"blocked" page).
-
- * Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
-
- * Improved signal handling, and a true daemon mode (Unix).
-
- * Every feature now controllable on a per-site or per-location basis,
+
+ • Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
+
+ • Improved signal handling, and a true daemon mode (Unix).
+
+ • Every feature now controllable on a per-site or per-location basis,
configuration more powerful and versatile over-all.
-
- * Many smaller new features added, limitations and bugs removed, and security
+
+ • Many smaller new features added, limitations and bugs removed, and security
holes fixed.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
2. Installation
backup your old configuration if it is valuable to you. See the note to
upgraders section below.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
2.1. Binary Packages
How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
2.1.1. Red Hat and Fedora RPMs
-RPMs can be installed with rpm -Uvh privoxy-3.0.6-1.rpm, and will use /etc/
+RPMs can be installed with rpm -Uvh privoxy-3.0.7-1.rpm, and will use /etc/
privoxy for the location of configuration files.
Note that on Red Hat, Privoxy will not be automatically started on system boot.
You will need to enable that using chkconfig, ntsysv, or similar methods.
If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM: rpm
---rebuild privoxy-3.0.6-1.src.rpm. This will use your locally installed
+--rebuild privoxy-3.0.7-1.src.rpm. This will use your locally installed
libraries and RPM version.
Also note that if you have a Junkbuster RPM installed on your system, you need
to remove it first, because the packages conflict. Otherwise, RPM will try to
remove Junkbuster automatically if found, before installing Privoxy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
2.1.2. Debian
DEBs can be installed with apt-get install privoxy, and will use /etc/privoxy
for the location of configuration files.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
2.1.3. Windows
process. You will find the configuration files in the same directory as you
installed Privoxy in.
-Version 3.0.4 introduced full Windows service functionality. On Windows only,
-the Privoxy program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
-Privoxy as a service.
+Version 3.0.5 beta introduced full Windows service functionality. On Windows
+only, the Privoxy program has two new command line arguments to install and
+uninstall Privoxy as a service.
Arguments:
-
+
--install[:service_name]
-
+
--uninstall[:service_name]
-
+
After invoking Privoxy with --install, you will need to bring up the Windows
service console to assign the user you want Privoxy to run under, and whether
or not you want it to run whenever the system starts. You can start the Windows
exists, or it will not be permitted to write to its log and configuration
files.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-2.1.4. Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX
+2.1.4. Solaris
Create a new directory, cd to it, then unzip and untar the archive. For the
most part, you'll have to figure out where things go.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
2.1.5. OS/2
The directory you choose to install Privoxy into will contain all of the
configuration files.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
2.1.6. Mac OSX
To start Privoxy by hand, double-click on StartPrivoxy.command in the /Library/
Privoxy folder. Or, type this command in the Terminal:
- /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
-
+ /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
+
+
You will be prompted for the administrator password.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
2.1.7. AmigaOS
files will be installed into Privoxy directory, including all configuration and
log files. To uninstall, just remove this directory.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-2.1.8. Gentoo
+2.1.8. FreeBSD
+
+Privoxy is part of FreeBSD's Ports Collection, you can build and install it
+with cd /usr/ports/www/privoxy; make install clean.
+
+If you don't use the ports, you can fetch and install the package with pkg_add
+-r privoxy.
+
+The port skeleton and the package can also be downloaded from the File Release
+Page, but there's no reason to use them unless you're interested in the beta
+releases which are only available there.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+2.1.9. Gentoo
Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for Privoxy are contained in the Gentoo
Portage Tree (they are not on the download page, but there is a Gentoo section,
latest version.
Configuration files are in /etc/privoxy, the documentation is in /usr/share/doc
-/privoxy-3.0.6 and the Log directory is in /var/log/privoxy.
+/privoxy-3.0.7 and the Log directory is in /var/log/privoxy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
2.2. Building from Source
When building from a source tarball, first unpack the source:
- tar xzvf privoxy-3.0.6-src* [.tgz or .tar.gz]
- cd privoxy-3.0.6
+ tar xzvf privoxy-3.0.7-beta-src* [.tgz or .tar.gz]
+ cd privoxy-3.0.7-beta
+
For retrieving the current CVS sources, you'll need a CVS client installed.
Note that sources from CVS are typically development quality, and may not be
stable, or well tested. To download CVS source, check the Sourceforge
documentation, which might give commands like:
- cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@ijbswa.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa login
- cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@ijbswa.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa co current
- cd current
+ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@ijbswa.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa login
+ cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@ijbswa.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ijbswa co current
+ cd current
+
This will create a directory named current/, which will contain the source
tree.
It is also strongly recommended to not run Privoxy as root. You should
configure/install/run Privoxy as an unprivileged user, preferably by creating a
"privoxy" user and group just for this purpose. See your local documentation
-for the correct command line to do add new users and groups (something like
+for the correct command line to do add new users and groups (something like
adduser, but the command syntax may vary from platform to platform).
/etc/passwd might then look like:
- privoxy:*:7777:7777:privoxy proxy:/no/home:/no/shell
+ privoxy:*:7777:7777:privoxy proxy:/no/home:/no/shell
+
And then /etc/group, like:
- privoxy:*:7777:
+ privoxy:*:7777:
+
Some binary packages may do this for you.
Then, to build from either unpacked tarball or CVS source:
- autoheader
- autoconf
- ./configure # (--help to see options)
- make # (the make from GNU, sometimes called gmake)
- su # Possibly required
- make -n install # (to see where all the files will go)
- make -s install # (to really install, -s to silence output)
+ autoheader
+ autoconf
+ ./configure # (--help to see options)
+ make # (the make from GNU, sometimes called gmake)
+ su # Possibly required
+ make -n install # (to see where all the files will go)
+ make -s install # (to really install, -s to silence output)
+
Using GNU make, you can have the first four steps automatically done for you by
just typing:
- make
+ make
+
in the freshly downloaded or unpacked source directory.
easily bypass the proxy (e.g. "Go There Anyway"), or alter their own
configurations, configure like this:
- ./configure --disable-toggle --disable-editor --disable-force
+ ./configure --disable-toggle --disable-editor --disable-force
+
-Then build as above.
+Then build as above. In Privoxy 3.0.7 and later, all of these options can also
+be disabled through the configuration file.
WARNING: If installing as root, the install will fail unless a non-root user or
group is specified, or a privoxy user and group already exist on the system. If
Alternately, you can specify user and group on the make command line, but be
sure both already exist:
- make -s install USER=privoxy GROUP=privoxy
+ make -s install USER=privoxy GROUP=privoxy
+
The default installation path for make install is /usr/local. This may of
course be customized with the various ./configure path options. If you are
self-extracting installers, building on platforms with special requirements
etc, please consult the developer manual.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
2.3. Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date
user.filter for your local customizations of Privoxy. See the Chapter on
actions files for details.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3. What's New in this Release
-There are many improvements and new features since Privoxy 3.0.3, the last
+There are many improvements and new features since Privoxy 3.0.6, the last
stable release:
- * Multiple filter files can now be specified in config. This allows for
- locally defined filters that can be maintained separately from the filters
- as supplied by the developers, i.e. default.filter.
-
- * There are a number of new actions:
-
- + content-type-overwrite
-
- + crunch-client-header
-
- + crunch-if-none-match
-
- + crunch-server-header
-
- + filter-client-headers
-
- + filter-server-headers
-
- + force-text-mode
-
- + handle-as-empty-document
-
- + hide-accept-language
-
- + hide-content-disposition
-
- + hide-if-modified-since
-
- + inspect-jpegs
-
- + overwrite-last-modified
-
- + redirect
-
- + treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks
-
- In addition, fast-redirects has been significantly improved with enhanced
- syntax.
-
- And hide-referrer has a new option, conditional block.
-
- * MS-Windows versions can now be installed and started as a Windows service.
-
- * config has two new options: enable-remote-http-toggle, and
- forwarded-connect-retries.
-
- And there is improved handling of the user-manual option, for placing
- documentation and help files on the local system.
-
- * There are six new filters.
-
- * Actions files problems and suggestions are now being directed to: http://
- sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288. Please use this to
- report such configuration related problems as missed ads, sites that don't
- function properly due to one action or another, innocent images being
- blocked, etc.
-
- * In addition, there are numerous bug fixes and significant enhancements,
- including error pages should no longer be cached if the problem is fixed,
- much better DNS error handling, various logging improvements, and
- configuration updates for better ad blocking and junk elimination.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ • Two new actions server-header-tagger and client-header-tagger that can be
+ used to create arbitrary "tags" based on client and server headers. These
+ "tags" can then subsequently be used to control the other actions used for
+ the current request, greatly increasing Privoxy's flexibility and
+ selectivity. See tag patterns for more information on tags.
+
+ • Header filtering is done with dedicated header filters now. As a result the
+ actions "filter-client-headers" and "filter-server-headers" that were
+ introduced with Privoxy 3.0.5 to apply content filters to the headers have
+ been removed. See the new actions server-header-filter and
+ client-header-filter for details.
+
+ • There are four new options for the main config file:
+
+ □ allow-cgi-request-crunching which allows requests for Privoxy's
+ internal CGI pages to be blocked, redirected or (un)trusted like
+ ordinary requests.
+
+ □ split-large-forms that will work around a browser bug that caused IE6
+ and IE7 to ignore the Submit button on the Privoxy's
+ edit-actions-for-url CGI page.
+
+ □ accept-intercepted-requests which allows to combine Privoxy with any
+ packet filter to create an intercepting proxy for HTTP/1.1 requests
+ (and for HTTP/1.0 requests with Host header set). This means clients
+ can be forced to use Privoxy even if their proxy settings are
+ configured differently.
+
+ □ templdir to designate an alternate location for Privoxy's locally
+ customized CGI templates so that these are not overwritten during
+ upgrades.
+
+ • A new command line option --pre-chroot-nslookup hostname to initialize the
+ resolver library before chroot'ing. On some systems this reduces the number
+ of files that must be copied into the chroot tree. (Patch provided by
+ Stephen Gildea)
+
+ • The forward-override action allows changing of the forwarding settings
+ through the actions files. Combined with tags, this allows to choose the
+ forwarder based on client headers like the User-Agent, or the request
+ origin.
+
+ • The redirect action can now use regular expression substitutions against
+ the original URL.
+
+ • zlib support is now available as a compile time option to filter compressed
+ content. Patch provided by Wil Mahan.
+
+ • Improve various filters, and add new ones.
+
+ • Include support for RFC 3253 so that Subversion works with Privoxy. Patch
+ provided by Petr Kadlec.
+
+ • Logging can be completely turned off by not specifying a logfile directive.
+
+ • A number of improvements to Privoxy's internal CGI pages, including the use
+ of favicons for error and control pages.
+
+ • Many bugfixes, memory leaks addressed, code improvements, and logging
+ improvements.
+
+For a more detailed list of changes please have a look at the ChangeLog.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
3.1. Note to Upgraders
A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier versions of
Privoxy:
- * Some installers may remove earlier versions completely, including
+ • Some installers may remove earlier versions completely, including
configuration files. Save any important configuration files!
-
- * On the other hand, other installers may not overwrite any existing
+
+ • On the other hand, other installers may not overwrite any existing
configuration files, thinking you will want to do that. You may want to
manually check your saved files against the newer versions to see if the
improvements have merit, or whether there are new options that you may want
to consider. There are a number of new features, but most won't be
available unless these features are incorporated into your configuration
somehow.
-
- * See the full documentation on fast-redirects which has changed syntax, and
- will require adjustments to local configs, such as user.action. You must
- reference the new syntax:
-
- { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
- .example.com
- mybank.com
- .google.
-
- * The jarfile, cookie logger, is off by default now.
-
- * What constitutes a "default" configuration has changed, and you may want to
- review which actions are "on" by default. This is primarily a matter of
- emphasis, but some features you may have been used to, may now be "off" by
- default. There are also a number of new actions and filters you may want to
- consider, most of which are not fully incorporated into the default
- settings as yet (see above).
-
- * The default actions setting is now Cautious. Previous releases had a
- default setting of Medium. Experienced users may want to adjust this, as it
- is fairly conservative by Privoxy standards and past practices. See http://
- config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default. New users should try the
- default settings for a while before turning up the volume.
-
- * The default setting has filtering turned off, which subsequently means that
- compression is on. Remember that filtering does not work on compressed
- pages, so if you use, or want to use, filtering, you will need to force
- compression off. Example:
-
- { +filter{google} +prevent-compression }
- .google.
-
- Or if you use a number of filters, or filter many sites, you may just want
- to turn off compression for all sites in default.action (or user.action).
-
- * Also, session-cookies-only is off by default now. If you've liked this
- feature in the past, you may want to turn it back on in user.action now.
-
- * Some installers may not automatically start Privoxy after installation.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ • standard.action now only includes the enabled actions. Not all actions as
+ before.
+
+ • Logging is off by default now. If you need logging, it can be turned on in
+ the config file.
+
+ • Three other config file settings are now off by default:
+ enable-remote-toggle, enable-remote-http-toggle, and enable-edit-actions.
+ If you use or want these, you will need to explicitly enable them, and be
+ aware of the security issues involved.
+
+ • The "filter-client-headers" and "filter-server-headers" actions that were
+ introduced with Privoxy 3.0.5 to apply content filters to the headers have
+ been removed and replaced with new actions. See the What's New section
+ above.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4. Quickstart to Using Privoxy
- * Install Privoxy. See the Installation Section below for platform specific
+ • Install Privoxy. See the Installation Section below for platform specific
information.
-
- * Advanced users and those who want to offer Privoxy service to more than
- just their local machine should check the main config file, especially the
+
+ • Advanced users and those who want to offer Privoxy service to more than
+ just their local machine should check the main config file, especially the
security-relevant options. These are off by default.
-
- * Start Privoxy, if the installation program has not done this already (may
+
+ • Start Privoxy, if the installation program has not done this already (may
vary according to platform). See the section Starting Privoxy.
-
- * Set your browser to use Privoxy as HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) proxy by setting
+
+ • Set your browser to use Privoxy as HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) proxy by setting
the proxy configuration for address of 127.0.0.1 and port 8118. DO NOT
- activate proxying for FTP or any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)! It
- won't work!
-
- * Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad
+ activate proxying for FTP or any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)
+ unless you intend to prevent your browser from using these protocols.
+
+ • Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad
images. If using Privoxy to manage cookies, you should remove any currently
stored cookies too.
-
- * A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for most.
+
+ • A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for most.
There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little to no
- initial configuration is required in most cases.
-
+ initial configuration is required in most cases, you may want to enable the
+ web-based action editor though. Be sure to read the warnings first.
+
See the Configuration section for more configuration options, and how to
customize your installation. You might also want to look at the next
section for a quick introduction to how Privoxy blocks ads and banners.
-
- * If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are blocked,
+
+ • If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are blocked,
or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune Privoxy's behavior, take a look at
the actions files. As a quick start, you might find the richly commented
- examples helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the
+ examples helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the
web-based user interface. The Appendix "Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
Action" has hints on how to understand and debug actions that "misbehave".
-
- * For easy access to Privoxy's most important controls, drag the provided
- Bookmarklets into your browser's personal toolbar.
-
- * Please see the section Contacting the Developers on how to report bugs,
+
+ • Please see the section Contacting the Developers on how to report bugs,
problems with websites or to get help.
-
- * Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ • Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
4.1. Quickstart to Ad Blocking
Secondly, a brief explanation of Privoxy's "actions". "Actions" in this
context, are the directives we use to tell Privoxy to perform some task
-relating to WWW transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell Privoxy to take some
+relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell Privoxy to take some
"action". Each action has a unique name and function. While there are many
-potential actions in Privoxy's arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking.
+potential actions in Privoxy's arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking.
Actions, and action configuration files, are explained in depth below.
Actions are specified in Privoxy's configuration, followed by one or more URLs
URLs. Privoxy can deal with each URL individually, so, for instance, the main
page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such server are blocked.
-The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: block, handle-as-image,
+The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: block, handle-as-image,
handle-as-empty-document,and set-image-blocker:
- * block - this is perhaps the single most used action, and is particularly
+ • block - this is perhaps the single most used action, and is particularly
important for ad blocking. This action stops any contact between your
browser and any URL patterns that match this action's configuration. It can
be used for blocking ads, but also anything that is determined to be
unwanted. By itself, it simply stops any communication with the remote
server and sends Privoxy's own built-in BLOCKED page instead to let you now
what has happened (with some exceptions, see below).
-
- * handle-as-image - tells Privoxy to treat this URL as an image. Privoxy's
+
+ • handle-as-image - tells Privoxy to treat this URL as an image. Privoxy's
default configuration already does this for all common image types (e.g.
GIF), but there are many situations where this is not so easy to determine.
So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly important for ad
page (which would only result in a "broken image" icon). There are some
limitations to this though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an
image substitution for an entire HTML page in most situations.
-
- * handle-as-empty-document - sends an empty document instead of Privoxy's
+
+ • handle-as-empty-document - sends an empty document instead of Privoxy's
normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither
HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files.
-
- * set-image-blocker - tells Privoxy what to display in place of an ad image
+
+ • set-image-blocker - tells Privoxy what to display in place of an ad image
that has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
- block action somewhere in the configuration, and, it must also match an
+ block action somewhere in the configuration, and, it must also match an
handle-as-image action.
-
+
The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
-
- pattern - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad replacement is obvious.
- This is the default.
-
+
+ pattern - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad replacement is obvious.
+ This is the default.
+
blank - A very small empty GIF image is displayed. This is the so-called
- "invisible" configuration option.
-
- http://<URL> - A redirect to any image anywhere of the user's choosing
- (advanced usage).
-
+ "invisible" configuration option.
+
+ http://<URL> - A redirect to any image anywhere of the user's choosing
+ (advanced usage).
+
The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
-the special Privoxy editor at http://config.privoxy.org/show-status (shortcut:
+the special Privoxy editor at http://config.privoxy.org/show-status (shortcut:
http://p.p/show-status). This is an internal page, and does not require
-Internet access. Select the appropriate "actions" file, and click "Edit". It is
-best to put personal or local preferences in user.action since this is not
-meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
-other files. Here you can insert new "actions", and URLs for ad blocking or
-other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration. Privoxy will
-detect these changes automatically.
+Internet access.
+
+Note that as of Privoxy 3.0.7 beta the action editor is disabled by default.
+Check the enable-edit-actions section in the configuration file to learn why
+and in which cases it's safe to enable again.
+
+If you decided to enable the action editor, select the appropriate "actions"
+file, and click "Edit". It is best to put personal or local preferences in
+user.action since this is not meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will
+over-ride the settings in other files. Here you can insert new "actions", and
+URLs for ad blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the
+configuration. Privoxy will detect these changes automatically.
A quick and simple step by step example:
- * Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select "Copy Link Location"
+ • Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select "Copy Link Location"
from the pop-up menu.
-
- * Set your browser to http://config.privoxy.org/show-status
-
- * Find user.action in the top section, and click on "Edit":
-
+
+ • Set your browser to http://config.privoxy.org/show-status
+
+ • Find user.action in the top section, and click on "Edit":
+
Figure 1. Actions Files in Use
-
+
[files-in-u]
-
- * You should have a section with only block listed under "Actions:". If not,
+
+ • You should have a section with only block listed under "Actions:". If not,
click a "Insert new section below" button, and in the new section that just
appeared, click the Edit button right under the word "Actions:". This will
bring up a list of all actions. Find block near the top, and click in the
"Enabled" column, then "Submit" just below the list.
-
- * Now, in the block actions section, click the "Add" button, and paste the
+
+ • Now, in the block actions section, click the "Add" button, and paste the
URL the browser got from "Copy Link Location". Remove the http:// at the
beginning of the URL. Then, click "Submit" (or "OK" if in a pop-up window).
-
- * Now go back to the original page, and press SHIFT-Reload (or flush all
+
+ • Now go back to the original page, and press SHIFT-Reload (or flush all
browser caches). The image should be gone now.
-
+
This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
site. For a more extensive explanation of "patterns", and the entire actions
special subset of actions). These fall into the "advanced" usage category, and
are explained in depth in later sections.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5. Starting Privoxy
command line, Privoxy will look for a file named config in the current
directory. Except on Win32 where it will try config.txt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.1. Red Hat and Fedora
A default Red Hat installation may not start Privoxy upon boot. It will use the
file /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration file.
- # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
+ # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
+
Or ...
- # service privoxy start
+ # service privoxy start
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.2. Debian
default. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration
file.
- # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
+ # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
+
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.3. Windows
Privoxy program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
Privoxy as a service. See the Windows Installation instructions for details.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.4. Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others
Example Unix startup command:
- # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
+ # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.5. OS/2
system restarts. You can start it manually by double-clicking on the Privoxy
icon in the Privoxy folder.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.6. Mac OSX
StartPrivoxy.command icon in the /Library/Privoxy folder. Or, type this command
in the Terminal:
- /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
-
+ /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
+
+
You will be prompted for the administrator password.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.7. AmigaOS
-Start Privoxy (with RUN <>NIL:) in your startnet script (AmiTCP), in s:
-user-startup (RoadShow), as startup program in your startup script (Genesis),
+Start Privoxy (with RUN <>NIL:) in your startnet script (AmiTCP), in
+s:user-startup (RoadShow), as startup program in your startup script (Genesis),
or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx). Privoxy will automatically quit when
you quit your TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack
may display that Privoxy is still running).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.8. Gentoo
A script is again used. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config as its main
configuration file.
- /etc/init.d/privoxy start
-
+ /etc/init.d/privoxy start
+
+
Note that Privoxy is not automatically started at boot time by default. You can
change this with the rc-update command.
- rc-update add privoxy default
-
+ rc-update add privoxy default
+
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
5.9. Command Line Options
Privoxy may be invoked with the following command-line options:
- * --version
-
+ • --version
+
Print version info and exit. Unix only.
-
- * --help
-
+
+ • --help
+
Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
-
- * --no-daemon
-
+
+ • --no-daemon
+
Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group leader, and
don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
-
- * --pidfile FILE
-
+
+ • --pidfile FILE
+
On startup, write the process ID to FILE. Delete the FILE on exit. Failure
to create or delete the FILE is non-fatal. If no FILE option is given, no
PID file will be used. Unix only.
-
- * --user USER[.GROUP]
-
+
+ • --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.
-
- * --chroot
-
+
+ • --chroot
+
Before changing to the user ID given in the --user option, chroot to that
user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the Privoxy process
that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
the impact of possible vulnerabilities in Privoxy to the files contained in
that hierarchy. Unix only.
-
- * configfile
-
+
+ • --pre-chroot-nslookup hostname
+
+ Specifies a hostname to look up before doing a chroot. On some systems,
+ initializing the resolver library involves reading config files from /etc
+ and/or loading additional shared libraries from /lib. On these systems,
+ doing a hostname lookup before the chroot reduces the number of files that
+ must be copied into the chroot tree.
+
+ For fastest startup speed, a good value is a hostname that is not in /etc/
+ hosts but that your local name server (listed in /etc/resolv.conf) can
+ resolve without recursion (that is, without having to ask any other name
+ servers). The hostname need not exist, but if it doesn't, an error message
+ (which can be ignored) will be output.
+
+ • configfile
+
If no configfile is included on the command line, Privoxy will look for a
file named "config" in the current directory (except on Win32 where it will
look for "config.txt" instead). Specify full path to avoid confusion. If no
config file is found, Privoxy will fail to start.
-
+
On MS Windows only there are two additional command-line options to allow
Privoxy to install and run as a service. See the Window Installation section
for details.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6. Privoxy Configuration
with a text editor. Many important aspects of Privoxy can also be controlled
easily with a web browser.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.1. Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser
config.privoxy.org/ (shortcut: http://p.p/), which is a built-in page and works
without Internet access. You will see the following section:
- Privoxy Menu
- ? View & change the current configuration
- ? View the source code version numbers
- ? View the request headers.
- ? Look up which actions apply to a URL and why
- ? Toggle Privoxy on or off
- ? Documentation
-
+ Privoxy Menu
+ ▪ View & change the current configuration
+ ▪ View the source code version numbers
+ ▪ View the request headers.
+ ▪ Look up which actions apply to a URL and why
+ ▪ Toggle Privoxy on or off
+ ▪ Documentation
+
This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
actions files, which is where the ad, banner, cookie, and URL blocking magic is
normal forwarding proxy. There is even a toggle Bookmarklet offered, so that
you can toggle Privoxy with one click from your browser.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Note that several of the features described above are disabled by default in
+Privoxy 3.0.7 beta and later. Check the configuration file to learn why and in
+which cases it's safe to enable them again.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
6.2. 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.
+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 some
settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the principle
configuration files are:
- * The main configuration file is named config on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and
+ • The main configuration file is named config on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and
AmigaOS and config.txt on Windows. This is a required file.
-
- * default.action (the main actions file) is used to define which "actions"
+
+ • default.action (the main actions file) is used to define which "actions"
relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups, content modification, cookie
handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many exceptions
(both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
Privoxy to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on as many
websites as possible.
-
+
Multiple actions files may be defined in config. These are processed in the
order they are defined. Local customizations and locally preferred
exceptions to the default policies as defined in default.action (which you
will most probably want to define sooner or later) are probably best
applied in user.action, where you can preserve them across upgrades.
standard.action is only for Privoxy's internal use.
-
+
There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from http://
config.privoxy.org/show-status (Shortcut: http://p.p/show-status) for the
various actions files.
-
- * "Filter files" (the filter file) can be used to re-write the raw page
+
+ • "Filter files" (the filter file) can be used to re-write the raw page
content, including viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript,
and whatever else lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only
pre-defined here; whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
used with caution. You may define additional filter files in config as you
can with actions files. We suggest user.filter for any locally defined
filters or customizations.
-
-The syntax of all configuration files has remained the same throughout the 3.x
-series. There have been enhancements, but no changes that would preclude the
-use of any configuration file from one version to the next. (There is one
-exception: +fast-redirects which has enhanced syntax and will require updating
-any local configs from earlier versions.)
+
+The syntax of the configuration and filter files may change between different
+Privoxy versions, unfortunately some enhancements cost backwards compatibility.
All files use the "#" character to denote a comment (the rest of the line will
be ignored) and understand line continuation through placing a backslash ("\")
effect. When changing the listening address of Privoxy, these "wake up"
requests must obviously be sent to the old listening address.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+While under development, the configuration content is subject to change. The
+below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this. Also, what
+constitutes a "default" setting, may change, so please check all your
+configuration files on important issues.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7. The Main Configuration File
location dependent (i.e. they apply universally, no matter where you may be
surfing).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.1. Local Set-up Documentation
a good idea to let them know how to reach you, what you block and why you do
that, your policies, etc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.1.1. user-manual
Specifies:
-
+
Location of the Privoxy User Manual.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
A fully qualified URI
-
+
Default value:
-
+
Unset
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
http://www.privoxy.org/version/user-manual/ will be used, where version is
the Privoxy version.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
The User Manual URI is the single best source of information on Privoxy,
and is used for help links from some of the internal CGI pages. The manual
itself is normally packaged with the binary distributions, so you probably
want to set this to a locally installed copy.
-
+
Examples:
-
+
The best all purpose solution is simply to put the full local PATH to where
the User Manual is located:
-
- user-manual /usr/share/doc/privoxy/user-manual
-
- The User Manual is then available to anyone with access to the proxy, by
+
+ user-manual /usr/share/doc/privoxy/user-manual
+
+
+ The User Manual is then available to anyone with access to Privoxy, by
following the built-in URL: http://config.privoxy.org/user-manual/ (or the
shortcut: http://p.p/user-manual/).
-
+
If the documentation is not on the local system, it can be accessed from a
remote server, as:
-
- user-manual http://example.com/privoxy/user-manual/
-
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
- | Warning |
- |-----------------------------------------------------------------|
- |If set, this option should be the first option in the config |
- |file, because it is used while the config file is being read on |
- |start-up. |
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ user-manual http://example.com/privoxy/user-manual/
+
+
+ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
+ │ Warning │
+ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
+ │If set, this option should be the first option in the config │
+ │file, because it is used while the config file is being read on │
+ │start-up. │
+ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.1.2. trust-info-url
Specifies:
-
+
A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if access to an
untrusted page is denied.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
URL
-
+
Default value:
-
- Two example URL are provided
-
+
+ Two example URLs are provided
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust mechanism
- has been activated. (See trustfile above.)
-
+ has been activated. (See trustfile below.)
+
If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line
documentation about your trust policy and to specify the URL(s) here. Use
multiple times for multiple URLs.
-
+
The URL(s) should be added to the trustfile as well, so users don't end up
locked out from the information on why they were locked out in the first
place!
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.1.3. admin-address
Specifies:
-
- An email address to reach the proxy administrator.
-
+
+ An email address to reach the Privoxy administrator.
+
Type of value:
-
+
Email address
-
+
Default value:
-
+
Unset
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
If both admin-address and proxy-info-url are unset, the whole "Local
Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will not be shown.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.1.4. proxy-info-url
Specifies:
-
+
A URL to documentation about the local Privoxy setup, configuration or
policies.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
URL
-
+
Default value:
-
+
Unset
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and the CGI user
interface.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
If both admin-address and proxy-info-url are unset, the whole "Local
Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will not be shown.
-
+
This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-)
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.2. Configuration and Log File Locations
files, and write permission to any files that would be modified, such as log
files and actions files.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.2.1. confdir
Specifies:
-
- The directory where the other configuration files are located
-
+
+ The directory where the other configuration files are located.
+
Type of value:
-
+
Path name
-
+
Default value:
-
+
/etc/privoxy (Unix) or Privoxy installation dir (Windows)
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Mandatory
-
+
Notes:
-
- No trailing "/", please
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.2.2. logdir
+ No trailing "/", please.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+7.2.2. templdir
Specifies:
-
+
+ An alternative directory where the templates are loaded from.
+
+Type of value:
+
+ Path name
+
+Default value:
+
+ unset
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ The templates are assumed to be located in confdir/template.
+
+Notes:
+
+ Privoxy's original templates are usually overwritten with each update. Use
+ this option to relocate customized templates that should be kept. As
+ template variables might change between updates, you shouldn't expect
+ templates to work with Privoxy releases other than the one they were part
+ of, though.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+7.2.3. logdir
+
+Specifies:
+
The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where logfile and jarfile
- are located)
-
+ are located).
+
Type of value:
-
+
Path name
-
+
Default value:
-
+
/var/log/privoxy (Unix) or Privoxy installation dir (Windows)
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Mandatory
-
+
Notes:
-
- No trailing "/", please
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.2.3. actionsfile
+ No trailing "/", please.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+7.2.4. actionsfile
Specifies:
-
+
The actions file(s) to use
-
+
Type of value:
-
- File name, relative to confdir, without the .action suffix
-
+
+ Complete file name, relative to confdir
+
Default values:
-
- standard # Internal purposes, no editing recommended
-
- default # Main actions file
-
- user # User customizations
-
+
+ standard.action # Internal purposes, no editing recommended
+
+ default.action # Main actions file
+
+ user.action # User customizations
+
Effect if unset:
-
- No actions are taken at all. Simple neutral proxying.
-
+
+ No actions are taken at all. More or less neutral proxying.
+
Notes:
-
+
Multiple actionsfile lines are permitted, and are in fact recommended!
-
+
The default values include standard.action, which is used for internal
purposes and should be loaded, default.action, which is the "main" actions
file maintained by the developers, and user.action, where you can make your
personal additions.
-
- Actions files are where all the per site and per URL configuration is done
- for ad blocking, cookie management, privacy considerations, etc. There is
- no point in using Privoxy without at least one actions file.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.2.4. filterfile
+ Actions files contain all the per site and per URL configuration for ad
+ blocking, cookie management, privacy considerations, etc. There is no point
+ in using Privoxy without at least one actions file.
+
+ Note that since Privoxy 3.0.7, the complete filename, including the
+ ".action" extension has to be specified. The syntax change was necessary to
+ be consistent with the other file options and to allow previously forbidden
+ characters.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+7.2.5. filterfile
Specifies:
-
+
The filter file(s) to use
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
File name, relative to confdir
-
+
Default value:
-
+
default.filter (Unix) or default.filter.txt (Windows)
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all +filter{name} actions in
the actions files are turned neutral.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
Multiple filterfile lines are permitted.
-
+
The filter files contain content modification rules that use regular
expressions. These rules permit powerful changes on the content of Web
- pages, and optionally the headers as well, e.g., you could disable your
- favorite JavaScript annoyances, re-write the actual displayed text, or just
- have some fun playing buzzword bingo with web pages.
-
+ pages, and optionally the headers as well, e.g., you could try to disable
+ your favorite JavaScript annoyances, re-write the actual displayed text, or
+ just have some fun playing buzzword bingo with web pages.
+
The +filter{name} actions rely on the relevant filter (name) to be defined
in a filter file!
-
+
A pre-defined filter file called default.filter that contains a number of
useful filters for common problems is included in the distribution. See the
section on the filter action for a list.
-
+
It is recommended to place any locally adapted filters into a separate
file, such as user.filter.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.2.5. logfile
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+7.2.6. logfile
Specifies:
-
+
The log file to use
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
File name, relative to logdir
-
+
Default value:
-
- logfile (Unix) or privoxy.log (Windows)
-
+
+ Unset (commented out). When activated: logfile (Unix) or privoxy.log
+ (Windows).
+
Effect if unset:
-
- No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (STDERR).
-
+
+ Logging is disabled unless --no-daemon mode is used.
+
Notes:
-
+
The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The level
of detail and number of messages are set with the debug option (see below).
The logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with Privoxy (e.g.,
- it's not blocking an ad you think it should block) but in most cases you
- probably will never look at it.
-
+ it's not blocking an ad you think it should block) and it can help you to
+ monitor what your browser is doing.
+
+ Many users will never look at it, however, and it's a privacy risk if third
+ parties can get access to it. It is therefore disabled by default in
+ Privoxy 3.0.7 and later.
+
+ For troubleshooting purposes, you will have to explicitly enable it. Please
+ don't file any support requests without trying to reproduce the problem
+ with logging enabled first. Once you read the log messages, you may even be
+ able to solve the problem on your own.
+
Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to
periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job
- (see "man cron"). For Red Hat, a logrotate script has been included.
-
- On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like "/var/log/privoxy.* +1024k
- 644 nobody.nogroup" in /etc/logfiles, with the effect that cron.daily will
- automatically archive, gzip, and empty the log, when it exceeds 1M size.
-
- Any log files must be writable by whatever user Privoxy is being run as
- (default on UNIX, user id is "privoxy").
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ (see "man cron"). For Red Hat based Linux distributions, a logrotate script
+ has been included.
+
+ Any log files must be writable by whatever user Privoxy is being run as (on
+ Unix, default user id is "privoxy").
-7.2.6. jarfile
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+7.2.7. jarfile
Specifies:
-
+
The file to store intercepted cookies in
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
File name, relative to logdir
-
+
Default value:
-
+
Unset (commented out). When activated: jarfile (Unix) or privoxy.jar
- (Windows)
-
+ (Windows).
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Intercepted cookies are not stored in a dedicated log file.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time.
-
- If debug 8 (show header parsing) is enabled, cookies are written to the
- logfile with the rest of the headers.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.2.7. trustfile
+ If debug 8 (show header parsing) is enabled, cookies are also written to
+ the logfile with the rest of the headers. Therefore this option isn't very
+ useful and may be removed in future releases. Please report to the
+ developers if you are still using it.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+7.2.8. trustfile
Specifies:
-
+
The name of the trust file to use
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
File name, relative to confdir
-
+
Default value:
-
+
Unset (commented out). When activated: trust (Unix) or trust.txt (Windows)
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
The entire trust mechanism is disabled.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
The trust mechanism is an experimental feature for building white-lists and
should be used with care. It is NOT recommended for the casual user.
-
+
If you specify a trust file, Privoxy will only allow access to sites that
are specified in the trustfile. Sites can be listed in one of two ways:
-
+
Prepending a ~ character limits access to this site only (and any sub-paths
within this site), e.g. ~www.example.com allows access to ~www.example.com/
features/news.html, etc.
-
+
Or, you can designate sites as trusted referrers, by prepending the name
with a + character. The effect is that access to untrusted sites will be
granted -- but only if a link from this trusted referrer was used to get
not become trusted referrers themselves (i.e. they are added with a ~
designation). There is a limit of 512 such entries, after which new entries
will not be made.
-
+
If you use the + operator in the trust file, it may grow considerably over
time.
-
+
It is recommended that Privoxy be compiled with the --disable-force,
--disable-toggle and --disable-editor options, if this feature is to be
used.
-
+
Possible applications include limiting Internet access for children.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.3. Debugging
also want to invoke Privoxy with the --no-daemon command line option when
debugging.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.3.1. debug
Specifies:
-
+
Key values that determine what information gets logged to the logfile.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
Integer values
-
+
Default value:
-
+
12289 (i.e.: URLs plus informational and warning messages)
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Nothing gets logged.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
The available debug levels are:
-
- debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
- debug 2 # show each connection status
- debug 4 # show I/O status
- debug 8 # show header parsing
- debug 16 # log all data into the logfile
- debug 32 # debug force feature
- debug 64 # debug regular expression filter
- debug 128 # debug fast redirects
- debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation
- debug 512 # Common Log Format
- debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups
- debug 2048 # CGI user interface
- debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
- debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
-
+
+ debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
+ debug 2 # show each connection status
+ debug 4 # show I/O status
+ debug 8 # show header parsing
+ debug 16 # log all data written to the network into the logfile
+ debug 32 # debug force feature
+ debug 64 # debug regular expression filters
+ debug 128 # debug redirects
+ debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation
+ debug 512 # Common Log Format
+ debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups
+ debug 2048 # CGI user interface
+ debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
+ debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
+
+
To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or use multiple
debug lines.
-
+
A debug level of 1 is informative because it will show you each request as
it happens. 1, 4096 and 8192 are highly recommended so that you will notice
when things go wrong. The other levels are probably only of interest if you
are hunting down a specific problem. They can produce a hell of an output
(especially 16).
-
- The reporting of fatal errors (i.e. ones which crash Privoxy) is always on
- and cannot be disabled.
-
+
If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set "debug 512" ONLY
and not enable anything else.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ Privoxy has a hard-coded limit for the length of log messages. If it's
+ reached, messages are logged truncated and marked with "... [too long,
+ truncated]".
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.3.2. single-threaded
Specifies:
-
- Whether to run only one server thread
-
+
+ Whether to run only one server thread.
+
Type of value:
-
+
None
-
+
Default value:
-
+
Unset
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, i.e. the ability
to serve multiple requests simultaneously.
-
+
Notes:
-
- This option is only there for debug purposes and you should never need to
- use it. It will drastically reduce performance.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ This option is only there for debugging purposes. It will drastically
+ reduce performance.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.4. Access Control and Security
This section of the config file controls the security-relevant aspects of
Privoxy's configuration.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.4.1. listen-address
Specifies:
-
+
The IP address and TCP port on which Privoxy will listen for client
requests.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
[IP-Address]:Port
-
+
Default value:
-
+
127.0.0.1:8118
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Bind to 127.0.0.1 (localhost), port 8118. This is suitable and recommended
for home users who run Privoxy on the same machine as their browser.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address and port.
-
+
If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to
serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well,
you will need to override the default.
-
+
If you leave out the IP address, Privoxy will bind to all interfaces
(addresses) on your machine and may become reachable from the Internet. In
that case, consider using access control lists (ACL's, see below), and/or a
firewall.
-
- If you open Privoxy to untrusted users, you will also want to turn off the
- enable-edit-actions and enable-remote-toggle options!
-
+
+ If you open Privoxy to untrusted users, you will also want to make sure
+ that the following actions are disabled: enable-edit-actions and
+ enable-remote-toggle
+
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
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.4.2. toggle
Specifies:
-
+
Initial state of "toggle" status
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
1 or 0
-
+
Default value:
-
+
1
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Act as if toggled on
-
+
Notes:
-
- If set to 0, Privoxy will start in "toggled off" mode, i.e. behave like a
- normal, content-neutral proxy where all ad blocking, filtering, etc are
- disabled. See enable-remote-toggle below. This is not really useful
- anymore, since toggling is much easier via the web interface than via
- editing the conf file.
-
+
+ If set to 0, Privoxy will start in "toggled off" mode, i.e. mostly behave
+ like a normal, content-neutral proxy with both ad blocking and content
+ filtering disabled. See enable-remote-toggle below.
+
The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the system tray if
this option is present.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.4.3. enable-remote-toggle
Specifies:
-
+
Whether or not the web-based toggle feature may be used
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
0 or 1
-
+
Default value:
-
- 1
-
+
+ 0
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
The web-based toggle feature is disabled.
-
+
Notes:
-
- When toggled off, Privoxy acts like a normal, content-neutral proxy, i.e.
- it acts as if none of the actions applied to any URL.
-
- For the time being, access to the toggle feature can not be controlled
- separately by "ACLs" or HTTP authentication, so that everybody who can
- access Privoxy (see "ACLs" and listen-address above) can toggle it for all
- users. So this option is not recommended for multi-user environments with
- untrusted users.
-
+
+ When toggled off, Privoxy mostly acts like a normal, content-neutral proxy,
+ i.e. doesn't block ads or filter content.
+
+ Access to the toggle feature can not be controlled separately by "ACLs" or
+ HTTP authentication, so that everybody who can access Privoxy (see "ACLs"
+ and listen-address above) can toggle it for all users. So this option is
+ not recommended for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
+
+ Note that malicious client side code (e.g Java) is also capable of using
+ this option.
+
+ As a lot of Privoxy users don't read documentation, this feature is
+ disabled by default.
+
Note that you must have compiled Privoxy with support for this feature,
otherwise this option has no effect.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.4.4. enable-remote-http-toggle
Specifies:
-
+
Whether or not Privoxy recognizes special HTTP headers to change its
behaviour.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
0 or 1
-
+
Default value:
-
- 1
-
+
+ 0
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Privoxy ignores special HTTP headers.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
When toggled on, the client can change Privoxy's behaviour by setting
special HTTP headers. Currently the only supported special header is
"X-Filter: No", to disable filtering for the ongoing request, even if it is
enabled in one of the action files.
-
- If you are using Privoxy in a multi-user environment or with untrustworthy
- clients and want to enforce filtering, you will have to disable this
- option, otherwise you can ignore it.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ This feature is disabled by default. If you are using Privoxy in a
+ environment with trusted clients, you may enable this feature at your
+ discretion. Note that malicious client side code (e.g Java) is also capable
+ of using this feature.
+
+ This option will be removed in future releases as it has been obsoleted by
+ the more general header taggers.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.4.5. enable-edit-actions
Specifies:
-
+
Whether or not the web-based actions file editor may be used
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
0 or 1
-
+
Default value:
-
- 1
-
+
+ 0
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
The web-based actions file editor is disabled.
-
+
Notes:
-
- For the time being, access to the editor can not be controlled separately
- by "ACLs" or HTTP authentication, so that everybody who can access Privoxy
- (see "ACLs" and listen-address above) can modify its configuration for all
- users. So this option is not recommended for multi-user environments with
- untrusted users.
-
+
+ Access to the editor can not be controlled separately by "ACLs" or HTTP
+ authentication, so that everybody who can access Privoxy (see "ACLs" and
+ listen-address above) can modify its configuration for all users.
+
+ This option is not recommended for environments with untrusted users and as
+ a lot of Privoxy users don't read documentation, this feature is disabled
+ by default.
+
+ Note that malicious client side code (e.g Java) is also capable of using
+ the actions editor and you shouldn't enable this options unless you
+ understand the consequences and are sure your browser is configured
+ correctly.
+
Note that you must have compiled Privoxy with support for this feature,
otherwise this option has no effect.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.4.6. ACLs: permit-access and deny-access
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+7.4.6. enforce-blocks
Specifies:
-
- Who can access what.
-
+
+ Whether the user is allowed to ignore blocks and can "go there anyway".
+
Type of value:
-
- src_addr[/src_masklen] [dst_addr[/dst_masklen]]
-
- Where src_addr and dst_addr are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or
- valid DNS names, and src_masklen and dst_masklen are subnet masks in CIDR
- notation, i.e. integer values from 2 to 30 representing the length (in
- bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole destination part are
- optional.
-
+
+ 0 or 1
+
Default value:
-
+
+ 0
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ Blocks are not enforced.
+
+Notes:
+
+ Privoxy is mainly used to block and filter requests as a service to the
+ user, for example to block ads and other junk that clogs the pipes.
+ Privoxy's configuration isn't perfect and sometimes innocent pages are
+ blocked. In this situation it makes sense to allow the user to enforce the
+ request and have Privoxy ignore the block.
+
+ In the default configuration Privoxy's "Blocked" page contains a "go there
+ anyway" link to adds a special string (the force prefix) to the request
+ URL. If that link is used, Privoxy will detect the force prefix, remove it
+ again and let the request pass.
+
+ Of course Privoxy can also be used to enforce a network policy. In that
+ case the user obviously should not be able to bypass any blocks, and that's
+ what the "enforce-blocks" option is for. If it's enabled, Privoxy hides the
+ "go there anyway" link. If the user adds the force prefix by hand, it will
+ not be accepted and the circumvention attempt is logged.
+
+Examples:
+
+ enforce-blocks 1
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+7.4.7. ACLs: permit-access and deny-access
+
+Specifies:
+
+ Who can access what.
+
+Type of value:
+
+ src_addr[/src_masklen] [dst_addr[/dst_masklen]]
+
+ Where src_addr and dst_addr are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or
+ valid DNS names, and src_masklen and dst_masklen are subnet masks in CIDR
+ notation, i.e. integer values from 2 to 30 representing the length (in
+ bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole destination part are
+ optional.
+
+Default value:
+
Unset
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Don't restrict access further than implied by listen-address
-
+
Notes:
-
+
Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems
administrators, and are not usually needed by individual users. For a
typical home user, it will normally suffice to ensure that Privoxy only
listens on the localhost (127.0.0.1) or internal (home) network address by
means of the listen-address option.
-
- Please see the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a
+
+ Please see the warnings in the FAQ that Privoxy is not intended to be a
substitute for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic
security weaknesses.
-
- Multiple ACL lines are OK. If any ACLs are specified, then the Privoxy
- talks only to IP addresses that match at least one permit-access line and
- don't match any subsequent deny-access line. In other words, the last match
- wins, with the default being deny-access.
-
+
+ Multiple ACL lines are OK. If any ACLs are specified, Privoxy only talks to
+ IP addresses that match at least one permit-access line and don't match any
+ subsequent deny-access line. In other words, the last match wins, with the
+ default being deny-access.
+
If Privoxy is using a forwarder (see forward below) for a particular
destination URL, the dst_addr that is examined is the address of the
forwarder and NOT the address of the ultimate target. This is necessary
because it may be impossible for the local Privoxy to determine the IP
address of the ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for).
-
+
You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because the address
lookups take time. All DNS names must resolve! You can not use domain
patterns like "*.org" or partial domain names. If a DNS name resolves to
multiple IP addresses, only the first one is used.
-
+
Denying access to particular sites by ACL may have undesired side effects
- if the site in question is hosted on a machine which also hosts other
- sites.
-
+ if the site in question is hosted on a machine which also hosts other sites
+ (most sites are).
+
Examples:
-
+
Explicitly define the default behavior if no ACL and listen-address are
set: "localhost" is OK. The absence of a dst_addr implies that all
destination addresses are OK:
-
- permit-access localhost
-
+
+ permit-access localhost
+
+
Allow any host on the same class C subnet as www.privoxy.org access to
- nothing but www.example.com:
-
- permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32
-
+ nothing but www.example.com (or other domains hosted on the same system):
+
+ permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32
+
+
Allow access from any host on the 26-bit subnet 192.168.45.64 to anywhere,
- with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access
+ with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access the IP address behind
www.dirty-stuff.example.com:
-
- permit-access 192.168.45.64/26
- deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.4.7. buffer-limit
+ permit-access 192.168.45.64/26
+ deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+7.4.8. buffer-limit
Specifies:
-
+
Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
Size in Kbytes
-
+
Default value:
-
+
4096
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
For content filtering, i.e. the +filter and +deanimate-gif actions, it is
necessary that Privoxy buffers the entire document body. This can be
potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending data
indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust -- with nasty consequences.
Hence this option.
-
+
When a document buffer size reaches the buffer-limit, it is flushed to the
client unfiltered and no further attempt to filter the rest of the document
is made. Remember that there may be multiple threads running, which might
require up to buffer-limit Kbytes each, unless you have enabled
"single-threaded" above.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.5. Forwarding
This feature allows routing of HTTP requests through a chain of multiple
-proxies. It can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when
-accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains through an
-anonymous public proxy. Or to use a caching proxy to speed up browsing. Or
-chaining to a parent proxy may be necessary because the machine that Privoxy
-runs on has no direct Internet access.
+proxies.
+
+Forwarding can be used to chain Privoxy with a caching proxy to speed up
+browsing. Using a parent proxy may also be necessary if the machine that
+Privoxy runs on has no direct Internet access.
+
+Note that parent proxies can severely decrease your privacy level. For example
+a parent proxy could add your IP address to the request headers and if it's a
+caching proxy it may add the "Etag" header to revalidation requests again, even
+though you configured Privoxy to remove it. It may also ignore Privoxy's header
+time randomization and use the original values which could be used by the
+server as cookie replacement to track your steps between visits.
Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. Privoxy supports the SOCKS 4 and SOCKS
4A protocols.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.5.1. forward
Specifies:
-
+
To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
target_pattern http_parent[:port]
-
+
where target_pattern is a URL pattern that specifies to which requests
(i.e. URLs) this forward rule shall apply. Use / to denote "all URLs".
http_parent[:port] is the DNS name or IP address of the parent HTTP proxy
through which the requests should be forwarded, optionally followed by its
listening port (default: 8080). Use a single dot (.) to denote "no
forwarding".
-
+
Default value:
-
+
Unset
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Don't use parent HTTP proxies.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
If http_parent is ".", then requests are not forwarded to another HTTP
proxy but are made directly to the web servers.
-
+
Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match
wins.
-
+
Examples:
-
- Everything goes to an example anonymizing proxy, except SSL on port 443
- (which it doesn't handle):
-
- forward / anon-proxy.example.org:8080
- forward :443 .
-
+
+ Everything goes to an example parent proxy, except SSL on port 443 (which
+ it doesn't handle):
+
+ forward / parent-proxy.example.org:8080
+ forward :443 .
+
+
Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for requests to
that ISP's sites:
-
- forward / caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000
- forward .example-isp.net .
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ forward / caching-proxy.isp.example.net:8000
+ forward .isp.example.net .
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.5.2. forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a
Specifies:
-
- Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific
- requests should be routed.
-
+
+ Through which SOCKS proxy (and optionally to which parent HTTP proxy)
+ specific requests should be routed.
+
Type of value:
-
+
target_pattern socks_proxy[:port] http_parent[:port]
-
+
where target_pattern is a URL pattern that specifies to which requests
(i.e. URLs) this forward rule shall apply. Use / to denote "all URLs".
http_parent and socks_proxy are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or
valid DNS names (http_parent may be "." to denote "no HTTP forwarding"),
and the optional port parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1
to 64535
-
+
Default value:
-
+
Unset
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
+
Don't use SOCKS proxies.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match
wins.
-
+
The difference between forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a is that in the
SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the target hostname happens on the
SOCKS server, while in SOCKS 4 it happens locally.
-
+
If http_parent is ".", then requests are not forwarded to another HTTP
proxy but are made (HTTP-wise) directly to the web servers, albeit through
a SOCKS proxy.
-
+
Examples:
-
+
From the company example.com, direct connections are made to all "internal"
domains, but everything outbound goes through their ISP's proxy by way of
example.com's corporate SOCKS 4A gateway to the Internet.
-
- forward-socks4a / socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080
- forward .example.com .
-
+
+ forward-socks4a / socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.isp.example.net:8080
+ forward .example.com .
+
+
A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no HTTP parent
looks like this:
-
- forward-socks4 / socks-gw.example.com:1080 .
-
- To chain Privoxy and Tor, both running on the same system, you should use
- the rule:
-
- forward-socks4 / 127.0.0.1:9050 .
-
- The public Tor network can't be used to reach your local network, therefore
- it's a good idea to make some exceptions:
-
- forward 192.168.*.*/ .
- forward 10.*.*.*/ .
- forward 127.*.*.*/ .
-
+
+ forward-socks4 / socks-gw.example.com:1080 .
+
+
+ To chain Privoxy and Tor, both running on the same system, you would use
+ something like:
+
+ forward-socks4a / 127.0.0.1:9050 .
+
+
+ The public Tor network can't be used to reach your local network, if you
+ need to access local servers you therefore might want to make some
+ exceptions:
+
+ forward 192.168.*.*/ .
+ forward 10.*.*.*/ .
+ forward 127.*.*.*/ .
+
+
Unencrypted connections to systems in these address ranges will be as (un)
secure as the local network is, but the alternative is that you can't reach
- the network at all.
-
+ the local network through Privoxy at all. Of course this may actually be
+ desired and there is no reason to make these exceptions if you aren't sure
+ you need them.
+
If you also want to be able to reach servers in your local network by using
their names, you will need additional exceptions that look like this:
-
- forward localhost/ .
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ forward localhost/ .
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.5.3. Advanced Forwarding Examples
to the respective ISPs to act as forwarders to each other, so that your users
can see the internal content of all ISPs.
-Assume that host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.net. And host-b has a PPP
-connection to isp-b.net. Both run Privoxy. Their forwarding configuration can
-look like this:
+Assume that host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.example.net. And host-b has a
+PPP connection to isp-b.example.org. Both run Privoxy. Their forwarding
+configuration can look like this:
host-a:
- forward / .
- forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118
+ forward / .
+ forward .isp-b.example.net host-b:8118
+
host-b:
- forward / .
- forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118
+ forward / .
+ forward .isp-a.example.org host-a:8118
+
Now, your users can set their browser's proxy to use either host-a or host-b
and be able to browse the internal content of both isp-a and isp-b.
-If you intend to chain Privoxy and squid locally, then chain as browser ->
+If you intend to chain Privoxy and squid locally, then chaining as browser ->
squid -> privoxy is the recommended way.
Assuming that Privoxy and squid run on the same box, your squid configuration
could then look like this:
- # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP)
- cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query
-
- # Define ACL for protocol FTP
- acl ftp proto FTP
-
- # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy
- always_direct allow ftp
-
- # Forward all the rest to Privoxy
- never_direct allow all
+ # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP)
+ cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query
+
+ # Define ACL for protocol FTP
+ acl ftp proto FTP
+
+ # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy
+ always_direct allow ftp
+
+ # Forward all the rest to Privoxy
+ never_direct allow all
+
You would then need to change your browser's proxy settings to squid's address
and port. Squid normally uses port 3128. If unsure consult http_port in
squid.conf.
-You could just as well decide to only forward requests for Windows executables
-through a virus-scanning parent proxy, say, on antivir.example.com, port 8010:
+You could just as well decide to only forward requests you suspect of leading
+to Windows executables through a virus-scanning parent proxy, say, on
+antivir.example.com, port 8010:
- forward / .
- forward /.*\.(exe|com|dll|zip)$ antivir.example.com:8010
+ forward / .
+ forward /.*\.(exe|com|dll|zip)$ antivir.example.com:8010
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
7.5.4. forwarded-connect-retries
Specifies:
-
+
How often Privoxy retries if a forwarded connection request fails.
-
+
Type of value:
-
+
Number of retries.
-
+
Default value:
-
+
0
-
+
Effect if unset:
-
- Forwarded connections are treated like direct connections and no retry
- attempts are made.
-
+
+ Connections forwarded through other proxies are treated like direct
+ connections and no retry attempts are made.
+
Notes:
-
+
forwarded-connect-retries is mainly interesting for socks4a connections,
where Privoxy can't detect why the connections failed. The connection might
have failed because of a DNS timeout in which case a retry makes sense, but
it might also have failed because the server doesn't exist or isn't
reachable. In this case the retry will just delay the appearance of
Privoxy's error message.
-
- Only use this option, if you are getting many forwarding related error
- messages, that go away when you try again manually. Start with a small
- value and check Privoxy's logfile from time to time, to see how many
- retries are usually needed.
-
+
+ Note that in the context of this option, "forwarded connections" includes
+ all connections that Privoxy forwards through other proxies. This option is
+ not limited to the HTTP CONNECT method.
+
+ Only use this option, if you are getting lots of forwarding-related error
+ messages that go away when you try again manually. Start with a small value
+ and check Privoxy's logfile from time to time, to see how many retries are
+ usually needed.
+
Examples:
-
+
forwarded-connect-retries 1
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7.6. Windows GUI Options
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-Privoxy has a number of options specific to the Windows GUI interface:
+7.5.5. accept-intercepted-requests
-If "activity-animation" is set to 1, the Privoxy icon will animate when
-"Privoxy" is active. To turn off, set to 0.
+Specifies:
- activity-animation 1
-
+ Whether intercepted requests should be treated as valid.
-If "log-messages" is set to 1, Privoxy will log messages to the console window:
+Type of value:
- log-messages 1
-
+ 0 or 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).
+Default value:
-Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and eat
-up all your memory!
+ 0
- log-buffer-size 1
-
+Effect if unset:
-log-max-lines is the maximum number of lines held in the log buffer. See above.
+ Only proxy requests are accepted, intercepted requests are treated as
+ invalid.
- log-max-lines 200
-
+Notes:
-If "log-highlight-messages" is set to 1, Privoxy will highlight portions of the
-log messages with a bold-faced font:
+ If you don't trust your clients and want to force them to use Privoxy,
+ enable this option and configure your packet filter to redirect outgoing
+ HTTP connections into Privoxy.
- log-highlight-messages 1
-
+ Make sure that Privoxy's own requests aren't redirected as well.
+ Additionally take care that Privoxy can't intentionally connect to itself,
+ otherwise you could run into redirection loops if Privoxy's listening port
+ is reachable by the outside or an attacker has access to the pages you
+ visit.
-The font used in the console window:
+Examples:
- log-font-name Comic Sans MS
-
+ accept-intercepted-requests 1
-Font size used in the console window:
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
- log-font-size 8
-
+7.5.6. allow-cgi-request-crunching
-"show-on-task-bar" controls whether or not Privoxy will appear as a button on
-the Task bar when minimized:
+Specifies:
+
+ Whether requests to Privoxy's CGI pages can be blocked or redirected.
+
+Type of value:
+
+ 0 or 1
+
+Default value:
+
+ 0
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ Privoxy ignores block and redirect actions for its CGI pages.
+
+Notes:
+
+ By default Privoxy ignores block or redirect actions for its CGI pages.
+ Intercepting these requests can be useful in multi-user setups to implement
+ fine-grained access control, but it can also render the complete web
+ interface useless and make debugging problems painful if done without care.
+
+ Don't enable this option unless you're sure that you really need it.
+
+Examples:
+
+ allow-cgi-request-crunching 1
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+7.5.7. split-large-forms
+
+Specifies:
+
+ Whether the CGI interface should stay compatible with broken HTTP clients.
+
+Type of value:
+
+ 0 or 1
+
+Default value:
+
+ 0
+
+Effect if unset:
+
+ The CGI form generate long GET URLs.
+
+Notes:
+
+ Privoxy's CGI forms can lead to rather long URLs. This isn't a problem as
+ far as the HTTP standard is concerned, but it can confuse clients with
+ arbitrary URL length limitations.
+
+ Enabling split-large-forms causes Privoxy to divide big forms into smaller
+ ones to keep the URL length down. It makes editing a lot less convenient
+ and you can no longer submit all changes at once, but at least it works
+ around this browser bug.
+
+ If you don't notice any editing problems, there is no reason to enable this
+ option, but if one of the submit buttons appears to be broken, you should
+ give it a try.
+
+Examples:
+
+ split-large-forms 1
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+7.6. Windows GUI Options
+
+Privoxy has a number of options specific to the Windows GUI interface:
+
+If "activity-animation" is set to 1, the Privoxy icon will animate when
+"Privoxy" is active. To turn off, set to 0.
+
+ activity-animation 1
+
+
+If "log-messages" is set to 1, Privoxy will log messages to the console window:
+
+ log-messages 1
+
+
+If "log-buffer-size" is set to 1, the size of the log buffer, i.e. the amount
+of memory used for the log messages displayed in the console window, will be
+limited to "log-max-lines" (see below).
+
+Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and eat
+up all your memory!
+
+ log-buffer-size 1
+
+
+log-max-lines is the maximum number of lines held in the log buffer. See above.
+
+ log-max-lines 200
+
+
+If "log-highlight-messages" is set to 1, Privoxy will highlight portions of the
+log messages with a bold-faced font:
+
+ log-highlight-messages 1
+
+
+The font used in the console window:
+
+ log-font-name Comic Sans MS
+
+
+Font size used in the console window:
+
+ log-font-size 8
+
+
+"show-on-task-bar" controls whether or not Privoxy will appear as a button on
+the Task bar when minimized:
show-on-task-bar 0
#hide-console
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8. Actions Files
There are three action files included with Privoxy with differing purposes:
- * default.action - is the primary action file that sets the initial values
+ • default.action - is the primary action file that sets the initial values
for all actions. It is intended to provide a base level of functionality
for Privoxy's array of features. So it is a set of broad rules that should
work reasonably well as-is for most users. This is the file that the
developers are keeping updated, and making available to users. The user's
preferences as set in standard.action, e.g. either Cautious (the default),
Medium, or Advanced (see below).
-
- * user.action - is intended to be for local site preferences and exceptions.
+
+ • user.action - is intended to be for local site preferences and exceptions.
As an example, if your ISP or your bank has specific requirements, and need
special handling, this kind of thing should go here. This file will not be
upgraded.
-
- * standard.action - is used only by the web based editor at http://
+
+ • standard.action - is used only by the web based editor at http://
config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default, to set various pre-defined
sets of rules for the default actions section in default.action.
-
+
Edit Set to Cautious Set to Medium Set to Advanced
-
+
These have increasing levels of aggressiveness and have no influence on
your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the editor. A default
installation should be pre-set to Cautious (versions prior to 3.0.5 were
settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive the settings, then
the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites not working as they
should.
-
+
The Edit button allows you to turn each action on/off individually for
fine-tuning. The Cautious button changes the actions list to low/safe
settings which will activate ad blocking and a minimal set of Privoxy's
the chart below. The latter three buttons over-ride any changes via with
the Edit button. More fine-tuning can be done in the lower sections of this
internal page.
-
+
It is not recommend to edit the standard.action file itself.
-
+
The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
standard.action are:
-
+
Table 1. Default Configurations
-
- +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- |Feature |Cautious |Medium |Advanced |
- |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
- |Ad-blocking |medium |high |high |
- |Aggressiveness | | | |
- |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
- |Ad-filtering by |no |yes |yes |
- |size | | | |
- |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
- |Ad-filtering by |no |no |yes |
- |link | | | |
- |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
- |Pop-up killing |blocks only |blocks only |blocks only |
- |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
- |Privacy Features |low |medium |medium/high |
- |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
- |Cookie handling |none |session-only |kill |
- |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
- |Referer forging |no |yes |yes |
- |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
- |GIF de-animation |no |yes |yes |
- |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
- |Fast redirects |no |no |yes |
- |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
- |HTML taming |no |no |yes |
- |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
- |JavaScript taming |no |no |yes |
- |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
- |Web-bug killing |no |yes |yes |
- |------------------+-----------------+------------------+-----------------|
- |Image tag |no |no |yes |
- |reordering | | | |
- +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
-
+
+ ┌──────────────────────────┬───────────┬────────────┬───────────┐
+ │ Feature │ Cautious │ Medium │ Advanced │
+ ├──────────────────────────┼───────────┼────────────┼───────────┤
+ │Ad-blocking Aggressiveness│medium │high │high │
+ ├──────────────────────────┼───────────┼────────────┼───────────┤
+ │Ad-filtering by size │no │yes │yes │
+ ├──────────────────────────┼───────────┼────────────┼───────────┤
+ │Ad-filtering by link │no │no │yes │
+ ├──────────────────────────┼───────────┼────────────┼───────────┤
+ │Pop-up killing │blocks only│blocks only │blocks only│
+ ├──────────────────────────┼───────────┼────────────┼───────────┤
+ │Privacy Features │low │medium │medium/high│
+ ├──────────────────────────┼───────────┼────────────┼───────────┤
+ │Cookie handling │none │session-only│kill │
+ ├──────────────────────────┼───────────┼────────────┼───────────┤
+ │Referer forging │no │yes │yes │
+ ├──────────────────────────┼───────────┼────────────┼───────────┤
+ │GIF de-animation │no │yes │yes │
+ ├──────────────────────────┼───────────┼────────────┼───────────┤
+ │Fast redirects │no │no │yes │
+ ├──────────────────────────┼───────────┼────────────┼───────────┤
+ │HTML taming │no │no │yes │
+ ├──────────────────────────┼───────────┼────────────┼───────────┤
+ │JavaScript taming │no │no │yes │
+ ├──────────────────────────┼───────────┼────────────┼───────────┤
+ │Web-bug killing │no │yes │yes │
+ ├──────────────────────────┼───────────┼────────────┼───────────┤
+ │Image tag reordering │no │no │yes │
+ └──────────────────────────┴───────────┴────────────┴───────────┘
+
The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g. default.action is
-typically process before user.action). The content of these can all be viewed
+typically processed before user.action). The content of these can all be viewed
and edited from http://config.privoxy.org/show-status. The over-riding
principle when applying actions, is that the last action that matches a given
-URL, wins. The broadest, most general rules go first (defined in
+URL wins. The broadest, most general rules go first (defined in
default.action), followed by any exceptions (typically also in default.action),
which are then followed lastly by any local preferences (typically in
user.action). Generally, user.action has the last word.
user.action or any other actions file after default.action, because it will
override the result from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard user.action as an
-appendix to default.action, with the advantage that is a separate file, which
-makes preserving your personal settings across Privoxy upgrades easier.
+appendix to default.action, with the advantage that it is a separate file,
+which makes preserving your personal settings across Privoxy upgrades easier.
Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or just
-some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted or
-rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not written
-to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking fooled, and
-much more. See below for a complete list of actions.
+some obnoxious URL whose content you would rather not see. Cookies can be
+accepted or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e.
+not written to disk), content can be modified, some JavaScripts tamed,
+user-tracking fooled, and much more. See below for a complete list of actions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8.1. Finding the Right Mix
Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again
:).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8.2. How to Edit
The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by using our
browser-based editor, which can be reached from http://config.privoxy.org/
-show-status. The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single
+show-status. Note: the config file option enable-edit-actions must be enabled
+for this to work. The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single
feature on a per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults
like "Cautious", "Medium" or "Advanced". Warning: the "Advanced" setting is
more aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites.
the the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at default.action
which is richly commented with many good examples.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-8.3. How Actions are Applied to URLs
+8.3. How Actions are Applied to Requests
Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections, like the "
alias" sections which will be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on
regular sections: They have a heading line (often split up to multiple lines
for readability) which consist of a list of actions, separated by whitespace
-and enclosed in curly braces. Below that, there is a list of URL patterns, each
-on a separate line.
+and enclosed in curly braces. Below that, there is a list of URL and tag
+patterns, each on a separate line.
To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
-compared to all patterns in each "action file" file. Every time it matches, the
-list of applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the
-heading of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for
-the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not, the
-effects are aggregated. E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading
-line of { +handle-as-image }, then later another one with just { +block },
-resulting in both actions to apply. And there may well be cases where you will
-want to combine actions together. Such a section then might look like:
-
- { +handle-as-image +block }
- # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
- banners.example.com
- media.example.com/.*banners
- .example.com/images/ads/
-
-You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting http://
-config.privoxy.org/show-url-info.
+compared to all URL patterns in each "action file". Every time it matches, the
+list of applicable actions for the request is incrementally updated, using the
+heading of the section in which the pattern is located. The same is done again
+for tags and tag patterns later on.
+
+If multiple applying sections set the same action differently, the last match
+wins. If not, the effects are aggregated. E.g. a URL might match a regular
+section with a heading line of { +handle-as-image }, then later another one
+with just { +block }, resulting in both actions to apply. And there may well be
+cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
+might look like:
+
+ { +handle-as-image +block }
+ # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
+ banners.example.com
+ media.example.com/.*banners
+ .example.com/images/ads/
+
+
+You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by visiting http:
+//config.privoxy.org/show-url-info.
Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, Troubleshooting:
Anatomy of an Action section.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8.4. Patterns
allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match against many similar
patterns.
-Generally, a Privoxy pattern has the form <domain>/<path>, where both the
-<domain> and <path> are optional. (This is why the special / pattern matches
-all URLs). Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g. http://)
-should not be included in the pattern. This is assumed already!
+Generally, an URL pattern has the form <domain>/<path>, where both the <domain>
+and <path> are optional. (This is why the special / pattern matches all URLs).
+Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g. http://) should not be
+included in the pattern. This is assumed already!
The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of the
URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique, while the
path part uses a more flexible "Regular Expressions (PCRE)" based syntax.
www.example.com/
-
+
is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to www.example.com,
regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in
this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
simple example.com is different and would NOT match.
-
+
www.example.com
-
+
means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing / may be
omitted.
-
-www.example.com/index.html
-
+
+www.example.com/index.html$
+
+ matches all the documents on www.example.com whose name starts with /
+ index.html.
+
+www.example.com/index.html$
+
matches only the single document /index.html on www.example.com.
-
-/index.html
-
+
+/index.html$
+
matches the document /index.html, regardless of the domain, i.e. on any web
server anywhere.
-
+
index.html
-
+
matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and there
is no top-level domain called .html. So its a mistake.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8.4.1. The Domain Pattern
starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end. For example:
.example.com
-
+
matches any domain that ENDS in .example.com
-
+
www.
-
+
matches any domain that STARTS with www.
-
+
.example.
-
+
matches any domain that CONTAINS .example.. And, by the way, also included
would be any files or documents that exist within that domain since no path
limitations are specified. (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that
contains example as a domain.) This might be www.example.com,
news.example.de, or www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl for instance. All these
cases are matched.
-
+
Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards: "*"
-represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is equivalent to the
+represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is equivalent to the
"Regular Expression" based syntax of ".*"), "?" represents any single character
(this is equivalent to the regular expression syntax of a simple "."), and you
can define "character classes" in square brackets which is similar to the same
regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:
ad*.example.com
-
+
matches "adserver.example.com", "ads.example.com", etc but not
"sfads.example.com"
-
+
*ad*.example.com
-
+
matches all of the above, and then some.
-
+
.?pix.com
-
+
matches www.ipix.com, pictures.epix.com, a.b.c.d.e.upix.com etc.
-
+
www[1-9a-ez].example.c*
-
+
matches www1.example.com, www4.example.cc, wwwd.example.cy,
wwwz.example.com etc., but not wwww.example.com.
-
+
While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based
syntax.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8.4.2. The Path Pattern
path starts with PaTtErN in exactly this capitalization.
.example.com/.*
-
+
Is equivalent to just ".example.com", since any documents within that
domain are matched with or without the ".*" regular expression. This is
redundant
-
-.example.com/.*/index.html
-
+
+.example.com/.*/index.html$
+
Will match any page in the domain of "example.com" that is named
"index.html", and that is part of some path. For example, it matches
"www.example.com/testing/index.html" but NOT "www.example.com/index.html"
because the regular expression called for at least two "/'s", thus the path
requirement. It also would match "www.example.com/testing/index_html",
because of the special meta-character ".".
-
-.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html
-
+
+.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$
+
This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page named
"index.html" regardless of path which in this case can have one or more "/
's". And this one must contain exactly ".html" (but does not have to end
with that!).
-
+
.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)
-
+
This regular expression will match any path of "example.com" that contains
any of the words "ads", "banner", "banners" (because of the "?") or "junk".
The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
-
+
.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$
-
+
This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
".jpg", ".jpeg", ".gif" or ".png". So this one is limited to common image
formats.
-
+
There are many, many good examples to be found in default.action, and more
tutorials below in Appendix on regular expressions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.4.3. The Tag Pattern
+
+Tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the request's
+tags. Tags can be created with either the client-header-tagger or the
+server-header-tagger action.
+
+Tag patterns have to start with "TAG:", so Privoxy can tell them apart from URL
+patterns. Everything after the colon including white space, is interpreted as a
+regular expression with path pattern syntax, except that tag patterns aren't
+left-anchored automatically (Privoxy doesn't silently add a "^", you have to do
+it yourself if you need it).
+
+To match all requests that are tagged with "foo" your pattern line should be
+"TAG:^foo$", "TAG:foo" would work as well, but it would also match requests
+whose tags contain "foo" somewhere. "TAG: foo" wouldn't work as it requires
+white space.
+
+Sections can contain URL and tag patterns at the same time, but tag patterns
+are checked after the URL patterns and thus always overrule them, even if they
+are located before the URL patterns.
+
+Once a new tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's matched by one of
+the tag patterns and updates the action settings accordingly. As a result tags
+can be used to activate other tagger actions, as long as these other taggers
+look for headers that haven't already be parsed.
+
+For example you could tag client requests which use the POST method, then use
+this tag to activate another tagger that adds a tag if cookies are sent, and
+then use a block action based on the cookie tag. This allows the outcome of one
+action, to be input into a subsequent action. However if you'd reverse the
+position of the described taggers, and activated the method tagger based on the
+cookie tagger, no method tags would be created. The method tagger would look
+for the request line, but at the time the cookie tag is created, the request
+line has already been parsed.
+
+While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of indirection is
+seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't make too much sense.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8.5. Actions
Actions fall into three categories:
- * Boolean, i.e the action can only be "enabled" or "disabled". Syntax:
-
- +name # enable action name
- -name # disable action name
-
+ • Boolean, i.e the action can only be "enabled" or "disabled". Syntax:
+
+ +name # enable action name
+ -name # disable action name
+
+
Example: +block
-
- * Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of
+
+ • Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of
action. Syntax:
-
- +name{param} # enable action and set parameter to param,
- # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
- -name # disable action. The parameter can be omitted
-
+
+ +name{param} # enable action and set parameter to param,
+ # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
+ -name # disable action. The parameter can be omitted
+
+
Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized
action, the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are
simply ignored.
-
- Example: +hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 }
-
- * Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions, but they behave
+
+ Example: +hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US;
+ rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070602 Firefox/2.0.0.4}
+
+ • Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions, but they behave
differently: If the action applies multiple times to the same URL, but with
different parameters, all the parameters from all matches are remembered.
This is used for actions that can be executed for the same request
repeatedly, like adding multiple headers, or filtering through multiple
filters. Syntax:
-
- +name{param} # enable action and add param to the list of parameters
- -name{param} # remove the parameter param from the list of parameters
- # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
+
+ +name{param} # enable action and add param to the list of parameters
+ -name{param} # remove the parameter param from the list of parameters
+ # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
-name # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list
-
+
+
Examples: +add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text} and +filter{html-annoyances}
-
+
If nothing is specified in any actions file, no "actions" are taken. So in this
-case Privoxy would just be a normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You
+case Privoxy would just be a normal, non-blocking, non-filtering proxy. You
must specifically enable the privacy and blocking features you need (although
the provided default actions files will give a good starting point).
-Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions to any rules
-you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or in a file that is
-processed later when using multiple actions files such as user.action). For
-multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified.
-Actions files are processed in the order they are defined in config (the
-default installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any
-given URL to match more than one "pattern" (because of wildcards and regular
-expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last match
-wins.
+Later defined action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the same type.
+So exceptions to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file
+(or in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such as
+user.action). For multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order
+they are specified. Actions files are processed in the order they are defined
+in config (the default installation has three actions files). It also quite
+possible for any given URL to match more than one "pattern" (because of
+wildcards and regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of
+actions! Last match wins.
The list of valid Privoxy actions are:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8.5.1. add-header
Typical use:
-
+
Confuse log analysis, custom applications
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Multi-value.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not
checked. It is recommended that you use the "X-" prefix for custom headers.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
"HTTP headers" are, you definitely don't need to worry about this one.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- +add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ +add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8.5.2. block
Typical use:
-
+
Block ads or other unwanted content
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
requests are trapped by Privoxy and the requested URL is never retrieved,
but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
the handle-as-image, set-image-blocker, and handle-as-empty-document
actions.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
Privoxy sends a special "BLOCKED" page for requests to blocked pages. This
page contains links to find out why the request was blocked, and a
click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the
space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and
text-only if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using Privoxy
right now, you can take a look at the "BLOCKED" page.
-
+
A very important exception occurs if both block and handle-as-image, apply
- to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
+ to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
set-image-blocker (see below) also applies, the type of image will be
determined by its parameter, if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is
sent.
-
+
It is important to understand this process, in order to understand how
Privoxy deals with ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core
feature, and one upon which various other features depend.
-
+
The filter action can perform a very similar task, by "blocking" banner
images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse
the two.
-
+
Example usage (section):
-
- {+block}
- # Block and replace with "blocked" page
- .nasty-stuff.example.com
-
- {+block +handle-as-image}
- # Block and replace with image
- .ad.doubleclick.net
- .ads.r.us/banners/
-
- {+block +handle-as-empty-document}
- # Block and then ignore
- adserver.exampleclick.net/.*\.js$
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.3. content-type-overwrite
+ {+block}
+ # Block and replace with "blocked" page
+ .nasty-stuff.example.com
+
+ {+block +handle-as-image}
+ # Block and replace with image
+ .ad.doubleclick.net
+ .ads.r.us/banners/
+
+ {+block +handle-as-empty-document}
+ # Block and then ignore
+ adserver.exampleclick.net/.*\.js$
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.3. client-header-filter
Typical use:
-
+
+ Rewrite or remove single client headers.
+
+Effect:
+
+ All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly
+ through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
+
+Type:
+
+ Parameterized.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the filter files.
+
+Notes:
+
+ Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to all at
+ once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside you
+ can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z. You
+ can do that by using tags though.
+
+ Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have
+ finished and use their output as input.
+
+ Please refer to the filter file chapter to learn which client-header
+ filters are available by default, and how to create your own.
+
+Example usage (section):
+
+ {+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
+ .exit/
+
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.4. client-header-tagger
+
+Typical use:
+
+ Block requests based on their headers.
+
+Effect:
+
+ Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
+ the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
+ tag.
+
+Type:
+
+ Parameterized.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the filter files.
+
+Notes:
+
+ Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own, and as the
+ header isn't modified, each tagger "sees" the original.
+
+ Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed and their
+ tags can be used to control every other action.
+
+Example usage (section):
+
+ # Tag every request with the User-Agent header
+ {+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
+ /
+
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.5. content-type-overwrite
+
+Typical use:
+
Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's
rendering mode
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Replaces the "Content-Type:" HTTP server header.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
Any string.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
The "Content-Type:" HTTP server header is used by the browser to decide
what to do with the document. The value of this header can cause the
browser to open a download menu instead of displaying the document by
itself, even if the document's format is supported by the browser.
-
+
The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode the browser
chooses. If XHTML is delivered as "text/html", many browsers treat it as
yet another broken HTML document. If it is send as "application/xml",
browsers with XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
-
+
If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
"Content-Type: text/html", you can use Privoxy to overwrite it with
"application/xml" and validate the web master's claim inside your
XHTML-supporting browser. If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will
complain loudly.
-
+
You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints error
messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared as XHTML, you can
overwrite the content type with "text/html" and have it rendered as broken
HTML document.
-
+
By default content-type-overwrite only replaces "Content-Type:" headers
that look like some kind of text. If you want to overwrite it
unconditionally, you have to combine it with force-text-mode. This
limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
-
- Most of the time it's easier to enable filter-server-headers and replace
- this action with a custom regular expression. It allows you to activate it
- for every document of a certain site and it will still only replace the
- content types you aimed at.
-
+
+ Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom
+ server-header filter. It allows you to activate it for every document of a
+ certain site and it will still only replace the content types you aimed at.
+
Of course you can apply content-type-overwrite to a whole site and then
make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot more work to get the same
precision.
-
+
Example usage (sections):
-
- # Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
- { +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
- www.example.net/
-
- # but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
- {-content-type-overwrite}
- www.example.net/*.\.css$
- www.example.net/*.style
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.4. crunch-client-header
+ # Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
+ { +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
+ www.example.net/
+
+ # but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
+ {-content-type-overwrite}
+ www.example.net/.*\.css$
+ www.example.net/.*style
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.6. crunch-client-header
Typical use:
-
+
Remove a client header Privoxy has no dedicated action for.
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user
supplied as parameter.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
Any string.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
Privoxy action exists. Privoxy will remove every client header that
contains the string you supplied as parameter.
-
+
Regular expressions are not supported and you can't use this action to
block different headers in the same request, unless they contain the same
string.
-
+
crunch-client-header is only meant for quick tests. If you have to block
several different headers, or only want to modify parts of them, you should
- enable filter-client-headers and create your own filter.
-
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
- | Warning |
- |-----------------------------------------------------------------|
- |Don't block any header without understanding the consequences. |
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+ use a client-header filter.
+
+ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
+ │ Warning │
+ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
+ │Don't block any header without understanding the consequences. │
+ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Example usage (section):
-
- # Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
- { +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
- /
-
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.5. crunch-if-none-match
+ # Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
+ { +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
+ /
+
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.7. crunch-if-none-match
Typical use:
-
+
Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Deletes the "If-None-Match:" HTTP client header.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
Removing the "If-None-Match:" HTTP client header is useful for filter
testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
code "304" which would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
-
+
It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
- replacement.
-
+ replacement (unlikely but possible).
+
Blocking the "If-None-Match:" header shouldn't cause any caching problems,
- as long as the "If-Modified-Since:" header isn't blocked as well.
-
+ as long as the "If-Modified-Since:" header isn't blocked or missing as
+ well.
+
It is recommended to use this action together with hide-if-modified-since
and overwrite-last-modified.
-
+
Example usage (section):
-
- # Let the browser revalidate cached documents without being tracked across sessions
- { +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
- +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
- +crunch-if-none-match}
- /
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.6. crunch-incoming-cookies
+ # Let the browser revalidate cached documents but don't
+ # allow the server to use the revalidation headers for user tracking.
+ {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
+ +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
+ +crunch-if-none-match}
+ /
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.8. crunch-incoming-cookies
Typical use:
-
- Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system
-
+
+ Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your system
+
Effect:
-
+
Deletes any "Set-Cookie:" HTTP headers from server replies.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
- This action is only concerned with incoming cookies. For outgoing cookies,
- use crunch-outgoing-cookies. Use both to disable cookies completely.
-
- It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction with the
+
+ This action is only concerned with incoming HTTP cookies. For outgoing HTTP
+ cookies, use crunch-outgoing-cookies. Use both to disable HTTP cookies
+ completely.
+
+ It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction with the
session-cookies-only action, since it would prevent the session cookies
from being set. See also filter-content-cookies.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- +crunch-incoming-cookies
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.7. crunch-server-header
+ +crunch-incoming-cookies
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.9. crunch-server-header
Typical use:
-
+
Remove a server header Privoxy has no dedicated action for.
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user
supplied as parameter.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
Any string.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
Privoxy action exists. Privoxy will remove every server header that
contains the string you supplied as parameter.
-
+
Regular expressions are not supported and you can't use this action to
block different headers in the same request, unless they contain the same
string.
-
+
crunch-server-header is only meant for quick tests. If you have to block
several different headers, or only want to modify parts of them, you should
- enable filter-server-headers and create your own filter.
-
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
- | Warning |
- |-----------------------------------------------------------------|
- |Don't block any header without understanding the consequences. |
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+ use a custom server-header filter.
+
+ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
+ │ Warning │
+ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
+ │Don't block any header without understanding the consequences. │
+ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Example usage (section):
-
- # Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
- { +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
- /
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.8. crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ # Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
+ { +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
+ /
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.10. crunch-outgoing-cookies
Typical use:
-
- Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system
-
+
+ Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from your system
+
Effect:
-
+
Deletes any "Cookie:" HTTP headers from client requests.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
- This action is only concerned with outgoing cookies. For incoming cookies,
- use crunch-incoming-cookies. Use both to disable cookies completely.
-
- It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction with the
+
+ This action is only concerned with outgoing HTTP cookies. For incoming HTTP
+ cookies, use crunch-incoming-cookies. Use both to disable HTTP cookies
+ completely.
+
+ It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction with the
session-cookies-only action, since it would prevent the session cookies
from being read.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- +crunch-outgoing-cookies
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.9. deanimate-gifs
+ +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.11. deanimate-gifs
Typical use:
-
+
Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.
-
+
Effect:
-
+
De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
"last" or "first"
-
+
Notes:
-
+
This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
the option "first" is given, the first frame of the animation is used as
the replacement. If "last" is given, the last frame of the animation is
used instead, which probably makes more sense for most banner animations,
but also has the risk of not showing the entire last frame (if it is only a
delta to an earlier frame).
-
+
You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
a GIF.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- +deanimate-gifs{last}
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.10. downgrade-http-version
+ +deanimate-gifs{last}
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.12. downgrade-http-version
Typical use:
-
+
Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
This is a left-over from the time when Privoxy didn't support important
HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the unlikely case that you
experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server out there. Not all
- (optional) HTTP/1.1 features are supported yet, so there is a chance you
- might need this action.
-
+ HTTP/1.1 features and requirements are supported yet, so there is a chance
+ you might need this action.
+
Example usage (section):
-
- {+downgrade-http-version}
- problem-host.example.com
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.11. fast-redirects
+ {+downgrade-http-version}
+ problem-host.example.com
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.13. fast-redirects
Typical use:
-
+
Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting the
redirection server first.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
- + "simple-check" to just search for the string "http://" to detect
+
+ □ "simple-check" to just search for the string "http://" to detect
redirection URLs.
-
- + "check-decoded-url" to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching for
+
+ □ "check-decoded-url" to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching for
redirection URLs.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs resulting
from this scheme typically look like: "http://www.example.org/
click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/".
-
+
Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go to.
Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your browser
asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds the
advertisers.
-
+
This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
-
+
Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil. Some sites offer a
real service that requires this information to work. For example a
validation service needs to know, which document to validate.
is a redirection target, and will always redirect to the last one. Most of
the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't, the user gets
redirected anyway.
-
+
Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL
parameter. The URL: "http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//
www.example.net/&foo=bar". contains the redirection URL "http://
www.example.net/", followed by another parameter. fast-redirects doesn't
know that and will cause a redirect to "http://www.example.net/&foo=bar".
Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be
- silently ignored or lead to a "page not found" error. It is possible to fix
- these redirected requests with filter-client-headers but it requires a
- little effort.
-
+ silently ignored or lead to a "page not found" error. You can prevent this
+ problem by first using the redirect action to remove the last part of the
+ URL, but it requires a little effort.
+
To detect a redirection URL, fast-redirects only looks for the string
"http://", either in plain text (invalid but often used) or encoded as
"http%3a//". Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the
address of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses
cases fast-redirects is fooled and the request reaches the redirection
server where it probably gets logged.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
- .example.com
-
- { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
- another.example.com/testing
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.12. filter
+ { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
+ one.example.com
+
+ { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
+ another.example.com/testing
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.14. filter
Typical use:
-
+
Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.
-
+
Effect:
-
- All files of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
- this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified
+
+ All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to
+ which this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified
regular expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain
text documents are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use
- the text/plain MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.) By
- default, filtering works only on the raw document content itself (that
- which can be seen with View Source), not the headers.
-
+ the text/plain MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
- The name of a filter, as defined in the filter file. Filters can be defined
- in one or more files as defined by the filterfile option in the config file
- . default.filter is the collection of filters supplied by the developers.
- Locally defined filters should go in their own file, such as user.filter.
-
+
+ The name of a content filter, as defined in the filter file. Filters can be
+ defined in one or more files as defined by the filterfile option in the
+ config file. default.filter is the collection of filters supplied by the
+ developers. Locally defined filters should go in their own file, such as
+ user.filter.
+
When used in its negative form, and without parameters, all filtering is
completely disabled.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below
for a list.
-
+
Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to slow
down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has passed
the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way since the
page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more noticeable
on slower connections.
-
+
"Rolling your own" filters requires a knowledge of "Regular Expressions"
and "HTML". This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent "action" is
not available.
-
+
The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the buffer-limit
option in the main config file. The default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this
limit is exceeded, the buffered data, and all pending data, is passed
through unfiltered.
-
+
Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
(Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data (from
HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate the
integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might be
necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering by
defining appropriate -filter exceptions.
-
- At this time, Privoxy cannot uncompress compressed documents. If you want
- filtering to work on all documents, even those that would normally be sent
- compressed, you must use the prevent-compression action in conjunction with
- filter.
-
- Filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the block action, i.e. it
- can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism works quite
+
+ Compressed content can't be filtered either, unless Privoxy is compiled
+ with zlib support (requires at least Privoxy 3.0.7), in which case Privoxy
+ will decompress the content before filtering it.
+
+ If you use a Privoxy version without zlib support, but want filtering to
+ work on as much documents as possible, even those that would normally be
+ sent compressed, you must use the prevent-compression action in conjunction
+ with filter.
+
+ Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the block action,
+ i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism works quite
differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners based on their size
(see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat standardized.
-
+
Feedback with suggestions for new or improved filters is particularly
welcome!
-
+
The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
predefined filter. There are more verbose explanations of what these
filters do in the filter file chapter.
-
+
Example usage (with filters from the distribution default.filter file). See the
Predefined Filters section for more explanation on each:
-
+
+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
-
+
+
+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites)
-
+
+
+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse
-
+
+
+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content
-
+
+
+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)
-
+
+
+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.
-
+
+
+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.
-
+
+
+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective
-
- +filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size
-
+
+
+ +filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size
+
+
+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers
-
+
+
+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)
-
+
+
+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap
-
+
+
+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves
-
+
+
+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable
-
+
+
+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets
-
+
+
+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects
-
- +filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies savable
-
+
+
+ +filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies savable
+
+
+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!
-
+
+
+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering (demo only)
-
- +filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits
-
+
+
+ +filter{ie-exploits} # Disable a known Internet Explorer bug exploits
+
+
+filter{site-specifics} # Custom filters for specific site related problems
-
+
+
+filter{google} # Removes text ads and other Google specific improvements
-
+
+
+filter{yahoo} # Removes text ads and other Yahoo specific improvements
-
+
+
+filter{msn} # Removes text ads and other MSN specific improvements
-
- +filter{blogspot} # Cleans up Blogspot blogs
-
- +filter{html-to-xml} # Header filter to change the Content-Type from html to xml
-
- +filter{xml-to-html} # Header filter to change the Content-Type from xml to html
-
+
+
+ +filter{blogspot} # Cleans up Blogspot blogs
+
+
+filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes from anchor and area tags
-
- +filter{hide-tor-exit-notation} # Header filter to remove the Tor exit node notation in Host and Referer headers
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.13. filter-client-headers
-Typical use:
-
- To apply filtering to the client's (browser's) headers
-
-Effect:
-
- By default, Privoxy's filters only apply to the document content itself.
- This will extend those filters to include the client's headers as well.
-
-Type:
-
- Boolean.
-
-Parameter:
-
- N/A
-
-Notes:
-
- Regular expressions can be used to filter headers as well. Check your
- filters closely before activating this action, as it can easily lead to
- broken requests.
-
- These filters are applied to each header on its own, not to them all at
- once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside you
- can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
-
- The filters are used after the other header actions have finished and can
- use their output as input.
-
- Whenever possible one should specify ^, $, the whole header name and the
- colon, to make sure the filter doesn't cause havoc to other headers or the
- page itself. For example if you want to transform Galeon User-Agents to
- Firefox User-Agents you shouldn't use:
-
- s@Galeon/\d\.\d\.\d @@
-
- but:
-
- s@^(User-Agent:.*) Galeon/\d\.\d\.\d (Firefox/\d\.\d\.\d\.\d)$@$1 $2@
-
-Example usage (section):
-
- {+filter-client-headers +filter{test_filter}}
- problem-host.example.com
-
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
-8.5.14. filter-server-headers
+8.5.15. force-text-mode
Typical use:
-
- To apply filtering to the server's headers
-
+
+ Force Privoxy to treat a document as if it was in some kind of text format.
+
Effect:
-
- By default, Privoxy's filters only apply to the document content itself.
- This will extend those filters to include the server's headers as well.
-
+
+ Declares a document as text, even if the "Content-Type:" isn't detected as
+ such.
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
- Similar to filter-client-headers, but works on the server instead. To
- filter both server and client, use both.
-
- As with filter-client-headers, check your filters before activating this
- action, as it can easily lead to broken requests.
-
- These filters are applied to each header on its own, not to them all at
- once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside you
- can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
-
- The filters are used after the other header actions have finished and can
- use their output as input.
-
- Remember too, whenever possible one should specify ^, $, the whole header
- name and the colon, to make sure the filter doesn't cause havoc to other
- headers or the page itself. See above for example.
-
-Example usage (section):
-
- {+filter-server-headers +filter{test_filter}}
- problem-host.example.com
-
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.15. force-text-mode
+ As explained above, Privoxy tries to only filter files that are in some
+ kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to content-type-overwrite.
+ force-text-mode declares a document as text, without looking at the
+ "Content-Type:" first.
+
+ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
+ │ Warning │
+ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
+ │Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data │
+ │with regular expressions can cause file damage. │
+ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
+Example usage:
+
+ +force-text-mode
+
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.16. forward-override
Typical use:
-
- Force Privoxy to treat a document as if it was in some kind of text format.
-
+
+ Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin
+
Effect:
-
- Declares a document as text, even if the "Content-Type:" isn't detected as
- such.
-
+
+ Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file.
+
Type:
-
- Boolean.
-
+
+ Multi-value.
+
Parameter:
-
- N/A
-
+
+ □ "forward ." to use a direct connection without any additional proxies.
+
+ □ "forward 127.0.0.1:8123" to use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1
+ port 8123.
+
+ □ "forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 ." to use the socks4a proxy listening
+ at 127.0.0.1 port 9050. Replace "forward-socks4a" with "forward-socks4"
+ to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS resolution) instead.
+
+ □ "forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 proxy.example.org:8000" to use the
+ socks4a proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy
+ listening at proxy.example.org port 8000. Replace "forward-socks4a"
+ with "forward-socks4" to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS
+ resolution) instead.
+
Notes:
-
- As explained above, Privoxy tries to only filter files that are in some
- kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to content-type-overwrite.
- force-text-mode declares a document as text, without looking at the
- "Content-Type:" first.
-
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
- | Warning |
- |-----------------------------------------------------------------|
- |Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data |
- |with regular expressions can cause file damage. |
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+ This action takes parameters similar to the forward directives in the
+ configuration file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used as
+ replacement, but normally it's only used in cases where matching based on
+ the request URL isn't sufficient.
+
+ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
+ │ Warning │
+ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
+ │Please read the description for the forward directives before │
+ │using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will reduce │
+ │your privacy and increase the chances of man-in-the-middle │
+ │attacks. │
+ │ │
+ │If the ports are missing or invalid, default values will be used.│
+ │This might change in the future and you shouldn't rely on it. │
+ │Otherwise incorrect syntax causes Privoxy to exit. │
+ │ │
+ │Use the show-url-info CGI page to verify that your forward │
+ │settings do what you thought the do. │
+ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Example usage:
-
- +force-text-mode
-
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.16. handle-as-empty-document
+ # Always use direct connections for requests previously tagged as
+ # "User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0" and make sure
+ # resuming downloads continues to work.
+ # This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing,
+ # without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates
+ # or downloads of bigger files like ISOs.
+ {+forward-override{forward .} \
+ -hide-if-modified-since \
+ -overwrite-last-modified \
+ }
+ TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$
+
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.17. handle-as-empty-document
Typical use:
-
+
Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents if they get blocked
-
+
Effect:
-
+
This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs. If
the block action also applies, the presence or absence of this mark decides
whether an HTML "BLOCKED" page, or an empty document will be sent to the
client as a substitute for the blocked content. The empty document isn't
literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents are
blocked with Privoxy's default HTML page; this option can be used to
silence them. And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the
Privoxy BLOCKED message in frames.
-
- The content type for the empty document can be specified with
+
+ The content type for the empty document can be specified with
content-type-overwrite{}, but usually this isn't necessary.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- # Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
- # but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
- {+block +handle-as-empty-document}
- example.org/.*\.js$
-
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.17. handle-as-image
+ # Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
+ # but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
+ {+block +handle-as-empty-document}
+ example.org/.*\.js$
+
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.18. handle-as-image
Typical use:
-
+
Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images if they
do get blocked, rather than HTML pages)
-
+
Effect:
-
+
This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as
images. If the block action also applies, the presence or absence of this
mark decides whether an HTML "blocked" page, or a replacement image (as
determined by the set-image-blocker action) will be sent to the client as a
substitute for the blocked content.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
The below generic example section is actually part of default.action. It
marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and
should be left intact.
-
+
Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in
conjunction with block, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
-
+
Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For
instance, (in-line) ad frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they
won't display properly. Forcing handle-as-image in this situation will not
replace the ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
-
+
Example usage (sections):
-
- # Generic image extensions:
- #
- {+handle-as-image}
- /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
-
- # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
- # blocked as images:
- #
- {+block +handle-as-image}
- some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash
-
- # Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
- ad.doubleclick.net
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.18. hide-accept-language
+ # Generic image extensions:
+ #
+ {+handle-as-image}
+ /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
+
+ # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
+ # blocked as images:
+ #
+ {+block +handle-as-image}
+ some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash
+
+ # Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
+ ad.doubleclick.net
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.19. hide-accept-language
Typical use:
-
+
Pretend to use different language settings.
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Deletes or replaces the "Accept-Language:" HTTP header in client requests.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
Keyword: "block", or any user defined value.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a foreign
User-Agent set with hide-user-agent more believable.
-
+
However some sites with content in different languages check the
"Accept-Language:" to decide which one to take by default. Sometimes it
isn't possible to later switch to another language without changing the
"Accept-Language:" header first.
-
+
Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the "Accept-Language:"
header to languages you understand, or to languages that aren't wide
spread.
-
+
Before setting the "Accept-Language:" header to a rare language, you should
consider that it helps to make your requests unique and thus easier to
trace. If you don't plan to change this header frequently, you should stick
to a common language.
-
+
Example usage (section):
-
- # Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
- {+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
- +hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
- }
- /
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.19. hide-content-disposition
+ # Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
+ {+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
+ +hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
+ }
+ /
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.20. hide-content-disposition
Typical use:
-
+
Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Deletes or replaces the "Content-Disposition:" HTTP header set by some
servers.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
Keyword: "block", or any user defined value.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
Some servers set the "Content-Disposition:" HTTP header for documents they
assume you want to save locally before viewing them. The
"Content-Disposition:" header contains the file name the browser is
supposed to use by default.
-
+
In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
just view the document, without downloading it first, even if it's just a
simple text file or an image.
-
+
Removing the "Content-Disposition:" header helps to prevent this annoyance,
but some browsers additionally check the "Content-Type:" header, before
they decide if they can display a document without saving it first. In
these cases, you have to change this header as well, before the browser
stops displaying download menus.
-
+
It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion to another
one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set it up.
-
+
+ This action will probably be removed in the future, use server-header
+ filters instead.
+
Example usage:
-
- # Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
- { -filter \
- +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
- +hide-content-disposition{block} }
- .sourceforge.net/tracker/download.php
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.20. hide-if-modified-since
+ # Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
+ { -filter \
+ +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
+ +hide-content-disposition{block} }
+ .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.21. hide-if-modified-since
Typical use:
-
+
Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Deletes the "If-Modified-Since:" HTTP client header or modifies its value.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
Keyword: "block", or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force
a real reload instead of getting status code "304", which would cause the
browser to use a cached copy of the page.
-
+
Instead of removing the header, hide-if-modified-since can also add or
subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value. You specify a
range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and Privoxy
does the rest. A negative value means subtracting, a positive value adding.
-
+
Randomizing the value of the "If-Modified-Since:" makes sure it isn't used
as a cookie replacement, but you will run into caching problems if the
random range is too high.
-
- It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
+
+ It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
overwrite-last-modified handle the greater changes.
-
- It is also recommended to use this action together with
+
+ It is also recommended to use this action together with
crunch-if-none-match.
-
+
Example usage (section):
-
- # Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
- { +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
- +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
- +crunch-if-none-match}
- /
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.21. hide-forwarded-for-headers
+ # Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
+ { +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
+ +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
+ +crunch-if-none-match}
+ /
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.22. hide-forwarded-for-headers
Typical use:
-
- Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request
-
+
+ Improve privacy by not embedding the source of the request in the HTTP
+ headers.
+
Effect:
-
+
Deletes any existing "X-Forwarded-for:" HTTP header from client requests,
and prevents adding a new one.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
- It is fairly safe to leave this on.
-
- This action is scheduled for improvement: It should be able to generate
- forged "X-Forwarded-for:" headers using random IP addresses from a
- specified network, to make successive requests from the same client look
- like requests from a pool of different users sharing the same proxy.
-
+
+ It is safe to leave this on.
+
Example usage:
-
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.22. hide-from-header
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.23. hide-from-header
Typical use:
-
+
Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Deletes any existing "From:" HTTP header, or replaces it with the specified
string.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
Keyword: "block", or any user defined value.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
The keyword "block" will completely remove the header (not to be confused
with the block action).
-
+
Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
is actually used by a real person.
-
+
This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send "From:"
headers anymore.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- +hide-from-header{block}
-
+
+ +hide-from-header{block}
+
+
or
-
- +hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.23. hide-referrer
+ +hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.24. hide-referrer
Typical use:
-
+
Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Deletes the "Referer:" (sic) HTTP header from the client request, or
replaces it with a forged one.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
- + "conditional-block" to delete the header completely if the host has
+
+ □ "conditional-block" to delete the header completely if the host has
changed.
-
- + "block" to delete the header unconditionally.
-
- + "forge" to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are
+
+ □ "block" to delete the header unconditionally.
+
+ □ "forge" to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are
talking to.
-
- + Any other string to set a user defined referrer.
-
+
+ □ Any other string to set a user defined referrer.
+
Notes:
-
+
conditional-block is the only parameter, that isn't easily detected in the
server's log file. If it blocks the referrer, the request will look like
the visitor used a bookmark or typed in the address directly.
-
+
Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host allows the
server owner to see the visitor's "click path", but in most cases she could
also get that information by comparing other parts of the log file: for
example the User-Agent if it isn't a very common one, or the user's IP
address if it doesn't change between different requests.
-
+
Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to failures
on servers that check the referrer before they answer any requests, in an
attempt to prevent their valuable content from being embedded or linked to
elsewhere.
-
+
Both conditional-block and forge will work with referrer checks, as long as
content and valid referring page are on the same host. Most of the time
that's the case.
-
+
hide-referer is an alternate spelling of hide-referrer and the two can be
can be freely substituted with each other. ("referrer" is the correct
English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it requires it
to be spelled as "referer".)
-
+
Example usage:
-
- +hide-referrer{forge}
-
+
+ +hide-referrer{forge}
+
+
or
-
- +hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.24. hide-user-agent
+ +hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.25. hide-user-agent
Typical use:
-
+
Conceal your type of browser and client operating system
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Replaces the value of the "User-Agent:" HTTP header in client requests with
the specified value.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
Any user-defined string.
-
+
Notes:
-
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
- | Warning |
- |-----------------------------------------------------------------|
- |This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at |
- |this header in order to customize their content for different |
- |browsers (which, by the way, is NOT the right thing to do: good |
- |web sites work browser-independently). |
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
-
+
+ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
+ │ Warning │
+ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
+ │This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at │
+ │this header in order to customize their content for different │
+ │browsers (which, by the way, is NOT the right thing to do: good │
+ │web sites work browser-independently). │
+ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
+
Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
browsers will access the same Privoxy is not recommended. In single-user,
single-browser setups, you might use it to delete your OS version
reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not let Mozilla
enter, yet forging to a Netscape 6.1 user-agent works just fine. (Must be
just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
-
- This action is scheduled for improvement.
-
+
+ More information on known user-agent strings can be found at http://
+ www.user-agents.org/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent.
+
Example usage:
-
- +hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.25. inspect-jpegs
+ +hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.26. inspect-jpegs
Typical use:
-
+
To protect against the MS buffer over-run in JPEG processing
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Protect against a known exploit
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
See Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-028. JPEG images are one of the most
common image types found across the Internet. The exploit as described can
allow execution of code on the target system, giving an attacker access to
the system in question by merely planting an altered JPEG image, which
would have no obvious indications of what lurks inside. This action
- prevents unwanted intrusion.
-
+ prevents this exploit.
+
+ Note that the described exploit is only one of many, using this action does
+ not mean that you no longer have to patch the client.
+
Example usage:
-
- +inspect-jpegs
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.26. kill-popups
+ +inspect-jpegs
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.27. kill-popups
Typical use:
-
+
Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows (deprecated)
-
+
Effect:
-
+
While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens pop-up
windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
This action is basically a built-in, hardwired special-purpose filter
action, but there are important differences: For kill-popups, the document
need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while
downloading. But kill-popups doesn't catch as many pop-ups as filter
{all-popups} does and is not as smart as filter{unsolicited-popups} is.
-
+
Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you can
use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make sense
to combine it with any filter action, since as soon as one filter applies,
the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the
advantage of the kill-popups action over its filter equivalent.
-
+
Killing all pop-ups unconditionally is problematic. Many shops and banks
rely on pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and the filter
{unsolicited-popups} does a better job of catching only the unwanted ones.
-
+
If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those
really nasty windows that appear when you close an other one), you might
want to use filter{js-annoyances} instead.
-
+
This action is most appropriate for browsers that don't have any controls
for unwanted pop-ups. Not recommended for general usage.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- +kill-popups
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.27. limit-connect
+ +kill-popups
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.28. limit-connect
Typical use:
-
+
Prevent abuse of Privoxy as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted
sites
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes,
with the minimum defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
-
+
Notes:
-
+
By default, i.e. if no limit-connect action applies, Privoxy only allows
HTTP CONNECT requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
limit-connect if more fine-grained control is desired for some or all
destinations.
-
+
The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
("https://" URLs) through proxies. It works very simply: the proxy connects
to the server on the specified port, and then short-circuits its
connections to the client and to the remote server. This can be a big
security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be abused as TCP relays
very easily.
-
+
Privoxy relays HTTPS traffic without seeing the decoded content. Websites
can leverage this limitation to circumvent Privoxy's filters. By specifying
an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely. If you plan to
- disable SSL by default, consider enabling
+ disable SSL by default, consider enabling
treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks as well, to be able to quickly create
exceptions.
-
+
Example usages:
-
- +limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
- +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
- +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
- +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
- +limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.28. prevent-compression
+ +limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
+ +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
+ +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
+ +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
+ +limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.29. prevent-compression
Typical use:
-
+
Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be passed
through filters.
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed
transfer.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which is
- generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the filter,
- deanimate-gifs and kill-popups actions to work, Privoxy needs access to the
- uncompressed data. Unfortunately, Privoxy can't yet(!) uncompress, filter,
- and re-compress the content on the fly. So if you want to ensure that all
- websites, including those that normally compress, can be filtered, you need
- to use this action.
-
- This will slow down transfers from those websites, though. If you use any
- of the above-mentioned actions, you will typically want to use
- prevent-compression in conjunction with them.
-
+ generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the filter, deanimate-gifs
+ and kill-popups actions need access to the uncompressed data.
+
+ When compiled with zlib support (available since Privoxy 3.0.7), content
+ that should be filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't have to
+ worry about this action. If you are using an older Privoxy version, or one
+ that hasn't been compiled with zlib support, this action can be used to
+ convince the server to send the content uncompressed.
+
+ Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is seldom decreased
+ by less than 50%, for markup-heavy instances like news feeds saving more
+ than 90% of the original size isn't unusual.
+
+ Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should
+ only enable this action if you really need it. As of Privoxy 3.0.7 it's
+ disabled in all predefined action settings.
+
Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for
- uncompressed documents correctly (they send an empty document body). If you
- use prevent-compression per default, you'll have to add exceptions for
- those sites. See the example for how to do that.
-
+ uncompressed documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an
+ empty document body, some IIS versions only send the beginning of the
+ content. If you enable prevent-compression per default, you might want to
+ add exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
+
Example usage (sections):
-
- # Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
- #
- { +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
- # Match only these sites
- .google.
- sourceforge.net
- sf.net
-
- # Or instead, we could set a universal default:
- #
- { +prevent-compression }
- / # Match all sites
-
- # Then maybe make exceptions for ill-behaved sites:
- #
- { -prevent-compression }
- .debianhelp.org
- www.pclinuxonline.com
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.29. overwrite-last-modified
+ # Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
+ #
+ { +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
+ # Match only these sites
+ .google.
+ sourceforge.net
+ sf.net
+
+ # Or instead, we could set a universal default:
+ #
+ { +prevent-compression }
+ / # Match all sites
+
+ # Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites:
+ #
+ { -prevent-compression }
+ .compusa.com/
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.30. overwrite-last-modified
Typical use:
-
+
Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Deletes the "Last-Modified:" HTTP server header or modifies its value.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
One of the keywords: "block", "reset-to-request-time" and "randomize"
-
+
Notes:
-
+
Removing the "Last-Modified:" header is useful for filter testing, where
you want to force a real reload instead of getting status code "304", which
would cause the browser to reuse the old version of the page.
-
+
The "randomize" option overwrites the value of the "Last-Modified:" header
with a randomly chosen time between the original value and the current
time. In theory the server could send each document with a different
"Last-Modified:" header to track visits without using cookies. "Randomize"
makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
-
+
"reset-to-request-time" overwrites the value of the "Last-Modified:" header
- with the current time. You could use this option together with
+ with the current time. You could use this option together with
hided-if-modified-since to further customize your random range.
-
+
The preferred parameter here is "randomize". It is safe to use, as long as
the time settings are more or less correct. If the server sets the
"Last-Modified:" header to the time of the request, the random range
becomes zero and the value stays the same. Therefore you should later
randomize it a second time with hided-if-modified-since, just to be sure.
-
- It is also recommended to use this action together with
+
+ It is also recommended to use this action together with
crunch-if-none-match.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- # Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
- { +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
- +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
- +crunch-if-none-match}
- /
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.30. redirect
+ # Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
+ { +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
+ +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
+ +crunch-if-none-match}
+ /
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.31. redirect
Typical use:
-
+
Redirect requests to other sites.
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved to another
location and the browser should get it from there.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized
-
+
Parameter:
-
- Any URL.
-
+
+ An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
+
Notes:
-
- This action is useful to replace whole documents with ones of your
- choosing. This can be used to enforce safe surfing, or just as a simple
- convenience.
-
- You can do the same by combining the actions block, handle-as-image and
- set-image-blocker{URL}. It doesn't sound right for non-image documents, and
- that's why this action was created.
-
- This action will be ignored if you use it together with block.
-
+
+ Requests to which this action applies are answered with a HTTP redirect to
+ URLs of your choosing. The new URL is either provided as parameter, or
+ derived by applying a single pcrs command to the original URL.
+
+ This action will be ignored if you use it together with block. It can be
+ combined with fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} to redirect to a decoded
+ version of a rewritten URL.
+
+ Use this action carefully, make sure not to create redirection loops and be
+ aware that using your own redirects might make it possible to fingerprint
+ your requests.
+
Example usages:
-
- # Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
- { +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
- example.com/stylesheet.css
-
- # Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
- { +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
- a
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.31. send-vanilla-wafer
+ # Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
+ { +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
+ example.com/stylesheet\.css
+
+ # Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
+ # (relies on the browser accept and forward invalid URLs to Privoxy)
+ { +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
+ a
+
+ # Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles
+ # (Note the $ at the end of the URL pattern to make sure
+ # the request for the rewritten URL isn't redirected as well)
+ {+redirect{s@$@&mode=expanded@}}
+ undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.32. send-vanilla-wafer
Typical use:
-
+
Feed log analysis scripts with useless data.
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any
copyright on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track
you.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be
used to track you.
-
+
This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- +send-vanilla-wafer
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.32. send-wafer
+ +send-vanilla-wafer
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.33. send-wafer
Typical use:
-
+
Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless
data.
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Multi-value.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
A string of the form "name=value".
-
+
Notes:
-
+
Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same
request, resulting in multiple cookies being sent.
-
+
This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
-
+
Example usage (section):
-
- {+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
- my-internal-testing-server.void
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.33. session-cookies-only
+ {+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
+ my-internal-testing-server.void
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.34. server-header-filter
Typical use:
-
+
+ Rewrite or remove single server headers.
+
+Effect:
+
+ All server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly
+ through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
+
+Type:
+
+ Parameterized.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the filter files.
+
+Notes:
+
+ Server-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to all at
+ once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside you
+ can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z. You
+ can do that by using tags though.
+
+ Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have
+ finished and use their output as input.
+
+ Please refer to the filter file chapter to learn which server-header
+ filters are available by default, and how to create your own.
+
+Example usage (section):
+
+ {+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}}
+ example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html
+
+ {+server-header-filter{xml-to-html}}
+ example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not
+
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.35. server-header-tagger
+
+Typical use:
+
+ Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
+
+Effect:
+
+ Server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
+ the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
+ tag.
+
+Type:
+
+ Parameterized.
+
+Parameter:
+
+ The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the filter files.
+
+Notes:
+
+ Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its own, and as the
+ header isn't modified, each tagger "sees" the original.
+
+ Server-header taggers are executed before all other header actions that
+ modify server headers. Their tags can be used to control all of the other
+ server-header actions, the content filters and the crunch actions (redirect
+ and block).
+
+ Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header taggers doesn't
+ prevent the request from showing up in the server's log file.
+
+Example usage (section):
+
+ # Tag every request with the content type declared by the server
+ {+server-header-tagger{content-type}}
+ /
+
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.36. session-cookies-only
+
+Typical use:
+
Allow only temporary "session" cookies (for the current browser session
only).
-
+
Effect:
-
+
Deletes the "expires" field from "Set-Cookie:" server headers. Most
browsers will not store such cookies permanently and forget them in between
sessions.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean.
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
This is less strict than crunch-incoming-cookies / crunch-outgoing-cookies
and allows you to browse websites that insist or rely on setting cookies,
without compromising your privacy too badly.
-
+
Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed
by session-cookies-only and will forget about them between sessions. This
makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require
cookies so that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned
on for all sites, and is the recommended setting.
-
- It makes no sense at all to use session-cookies-only together with
+
+ It makes no sense at all to use session-cookies-only together with
crunch-incoming-cookies or crunch-outgoing-cookies. If you do, cookies will
be plainly killed.
-
+
Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an
"expires" field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out
to be sure.
-
+
This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
previously by the browser before starting Privoxy. These would have to be
removed manually.
-
+
Privoxy also uses the content-cookies filter to block some types of
cookies. Content cookies are not effected by session-cookies-only.
-
+
Example usage:
-
- +session-cookies-only
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.34. set-image-blocker
+ +session-cookies-only
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.37. set-image-blocker
Typical use:
-
+
Choose the replacement for blocked images
-
+
Effect:
-
- This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If both block and
+
+ This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If both block and
handle-as-image also apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an
image, then the parameter of this action decides what will be sent as a
replacement.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
-
+
Parameter:
-
- + "pattern" to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is
+
+ □ "pattern" to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is
visually decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners
were busted.
-
- + "blank" to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners
+
+ □ "blank" to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners
disappear completely, but makes it hard to detect where Privoxy has
blocked images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if
Privoxy has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
-
- + "target-url" to send a redirect to target-url. You can redirect to any
+
+ □ "target-url" to send a redirect to target-url. You can redirect to any
image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via "file:///" URL. (But
note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
-
+
A good application of redirects is to use special Privoxy-built-in
URLs, which send the built-in images, as target-url. This has the same
visual effect as specifying "blank" or "pattern" in the first place,
but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of
requesting it over and over again.
-
+
Notes:
-
+
The URLs for the built-in images are "http://config.privoxy.org/
send-banner?type=type", where type is either "blank" or "pattern".
-
+
There is a third (advanced) type, called "auto". It is NOT to be used in
set-image-blocker, but meant for use from filters. Auto will select the
type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an
image.
-
+
Example usage:
-
+
Built-in pattern:
-
- +set-image-blocker{pattern}
-
- Redirect to the BSD devil:
-
- +set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}
-
+
+ +set-image-blocker{pattern}
+
+
+ Redirect to the BSD daemon:
+
+ +set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}
+
+
Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
-
+
+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.35. treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.38. treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks
Typical use:
-
+
Block forbidden connects with an easy to find error message.
-
+
Effect:
-
+
If this action is enabled, Privoxy no longer makes a difference between
forbidden connects and ordinary blocks.
-
+
Type:
-
+
Boolean
-
+
Parameter:
-
+
N/A
-
+
Notes:
-
+
By default Privoxy answers forbidden "Connect" requests with a short error
message inside the headers. If the browser doesn't display headers (most
don't), you just see an empty page.
-
+
With this action enabled, Privoxy displays the message that is used for
ordinary blocks instead. If you decide to make an exception for the page in
question, you can do so by following the "See why" link.
-
+
For "Connect" requests the clients tell Privoxy which host they are
interested in, but not which document they plan to get later. As a result,
- the "Go there anyway" link becomes rather useless: it lets the client
- request the home page of the forbidden host through unencrypted HTTP, still
- using the port of the last request.
-
- If you previously configured Privoxy to do the request through a SSL
- tunnel, everything will work. Most likely you haven't and the server will
- respond with an error message because it is expecting HTTPS (SSL).
-
+ the "Go there anyway" wouldn't work and is therefore suppressed.
+
Example usage:
-
- +treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-8.5.36. Summary
+ +treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks
+
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
+
+8.5.39. Summary
Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways a site
criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard and fast rules for all
sites. See the Appendix for a brief example on troubleshooting actions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8.6. Aliases
Now let's define some aliases...
- # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
- #
- # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
- # must be at the top of the actions file!
- #
- {{alias}}
-
- # These aliases just save typing later:
- # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
- #
- +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
- allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies}
-
- # These aliases define combinations of actions
- # that are useful for certain types of sites:
- #
- fragile = -block -filter -crunch-all-cookies -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups -prevent-compression
-
- shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
-
- # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
- #
- c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
- c1 = -crunch-all-cookies
+ # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
+ #
+ # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
+ # must be at the top of the actions file!
+ #
+ {{alias}}
+
+ # These aliases just save typing later:
+ # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
+ #
+ +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
+ allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies}
+
+ # These aliases define combinations of actions
+ # that are useful for certain types of sites:
+ #
+ fragile = -block -filter -crunch-all-cookies -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups -prevent-compression
+
+ shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
+
+ # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
+ #
+ c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
+ c1 = -crunch-all-cookies
+
...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
up for the "/" pattern):
- # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
- # user data and require minimal interference to work:
- #
- {fragile}
- .office.microsoft.com
- .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
- # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com
- mail.google.com
-
- # Shopping sites:
- # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
- #
- {shop}
- .quietpc.com
- .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
- mybank.example.com
-
- # These shops require pop-ups:
- #
- {-kill-popups -filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
- .dabs.com
- .overclockers.co.uk
+ # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
+ # user data and require minimal interference to work:
+ #
+ {fragile}
+ .office.microsoft.com
+ .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
+ # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com
+ mail.google.com
+
+ # Shopping sites:
+ # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
+ #
+ {shop}
+ .quietpc.com
+ .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+ mybank.example.com
+
+ # These shops require pop-ups:
+ #
+ {-kill-popups -filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
+ .dabs.com
+ .overclockers.co.uk
+
Aliases like "shop" and "fragile" are typically used for "problem" sites that
require more than one action to be disabled in order to function properly.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
8.7. Actions Files Tutorial
and how to define and use aliases. Now, let's look at an example default.action
and user.action file and see how all these pieces come together:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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8.7.1. default.action
Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:
-# Sample default.action file <ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net>
+# Sample default.action file <ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net>
+
Then, since this is the default.action file, the first section is a special
section for internal use that you needn't change or worry about:
-##########################################################################
-# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
-##########################################################################
-
-{{settings}}
-for-privoxy-version=3.0
+##########################################################################
+# Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
+##########################################################################
+
+{{settings}}
+for-privoxy-version=3.0
+
After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example section
from the above chapter on aliases, that also explains why and how aliases are
used:
-##########################################################################
-# Aliases
-##########################################################################
-{{alias}}
-
- # These aliases just save typing later:
- # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
- #
- +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
- mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies}
-
- # These aliases define combinations of actions
- # that are useful for certain types of sites:
- #
- fragile = -block -filter -crunch-all-cookies -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
- shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
+##########################################################################
+# Aliases
+##########################################################################
+{{alias}}
+
+ # These aliases just save typing later:
+ # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
+ #
+ +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
+ mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies}
+
+ # These aliases define combinations of actions
+ # that are useful for certain types of sites:
+ #
+ fragile = -block -filter -crunch-all-cookies -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
+ shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
+
Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied by URL
patterns to which they apply. Remember all actions are disabled when matching
enables the action, a "-" disables!). Also note how this long line has been
made more readable by splitting it into multiple lines with line continuation.
-##########################################################################
-# "Defaults" section:
-##########################################################################
- { \
- -add-header \
- -block \
- -content-type-overwrite \
- -crunch-client-header \
- -crunch-if-none-match \
- -crunch-incoming-cookies \
- -crunch-server-header \
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies \
- +deanimate-gifs \
- -downgrade-http-version \
- -fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} \
- -filter{js-annoyances} \
- -filter{js-events} \
- +filter{html-annoyances} \
- -filter{content-cookies} \
- +filter{refresh-tags} \
- -filter{unsolicited-popups} \
- -filter{all-popups} \
- -filter{img-reorder} \
- -filter{banners-by-size} \
- -filter{banners-by-link} \
- +filter{webbugs} \
- -filter{tiny-textforms} \
- -filter{jumping-windows} \
- -filter{frameset-borders} \
- -filter{demoronizer} \
- -filter{shockwave-flash} \
- -filter{quicktime-kioskmode} \
- -filter{fun} \
- -filter{crude-parental} \
- +filter{ie-exploits} \
- -filter-client-headers \
- -filter-server-headers \
- -filter-google \
- -filter-yahoo \
- -filter-msn \
- -filter-blogspot \
- -filter-xml-to-html \
- -filter-html-to-xml \
- -filter-no-ping \
- -filter-hide-tor-exit-notation \
- -force-text-mode \
- -handle-as-empty-document \
- -handle-as-image \
- -hide-accept-language \
- -hide-content-disposition \
- -hide-if-modified-since \
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers \
- +hide-from-header{block} \
- +hide-referrer{forge} \
- -hide-user-agent \
- -inspect-jpegs \
- -kill-popups \
- -limit-connect \
- +prevent-compression \
- -overwrite-last-modified \
- -redirect \
- -send-vanilla-wafer \
- -send-wafer \
- +session-cookies-only \
- +set-image-blocker{pattern} \
- -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks \
- }
- / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.
+##########################################################################
+# "Defaults" section:
+##########################################################################
+ { \
+ -add-header \
+ -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation} \
+ -block \
+ -content-type-overwrite \
+ -crunch-client-header \
+ -crunch-if-none-match \
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies \
+ -crunch-server-header \
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies \
+ +deanimate-gifs \
+ -downgrade-http-version \
+ -fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} \
+ -filter{js-annoyances} \
+ -filter{js-events} \
+ +filter{html-annoyances} \
+ -filter{content-cookies} \
+ +filter{refresh-tags} \
+ -filter{unsolicited-popups} \
+ -filter{all-popups} \
+ -filter{img-reorder} \
+ -filter{banners-by-size} \
+ -filter{banners-by-link} \
+ +filter{webbugs} \
+ -filter{tiny-textforms} \
+ -filter{jumping-windows} \
+ -filter{frameset-borders} \
+ -filter{demoronizer} \
+ -filter{shockwave-flash} \
+ -filter{quicktime-kioskmode} \
+ -filter{fun} \
+ -filter{crude-parental} \
+ +filter{ie-exploits} \
+ -filter{google} \
+ -filter{yahoo} \
+ -filter{msn} \
+ -filter{blogspot} \
+ -filter{no-ping} \
+ -force-text-mode \
+ -handle-as-empty-document \
+ -handle-as-image \
+ -hide-accept-language \
+ -hide-content-disposition \
+ -hide-if-modified-since \
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers \
+ +hide-from-header{block} \
+ +hide-referrer{forge} \
+ -hide-user-agent \
+ -inspect-jpegs \
+ -kill-popups \
+ -limit-connect \
+ +prevent-compression \
+ -overwrite-last-modified \
+ -redirect \
+ -send-vanilla-wafer \
+ -send-wafer \
+ -server-header-filter{xml-to-html} \
+ -server-header-filter{html-to-xml} \
+ +session-cookies-only \
+ +set-image-blocker{pattern} \
+ -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks \
+ }
+ / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.
+
The default behavior is now set. Note that some actions, like not hiding the
user agent, are part of a "general policy" that applies universally and won't
unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use our
pre-defined fragile alias instead of stating the list of actions explicitly:
-##########################################################################
-# Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
-##########################################################################
-
-# "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
-#
-{ fragile }
-.office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
-.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
-mail.google.com
+##########################################################################
+# Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
+##########################################################################
+
+# "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
+#
+{ fragile }
+.office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
+.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
+mail.google.com
+
Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically require cookies to log
in, and pop-up windows for shopping carts or item details. Again, we'll use a
pre-defined alias:
-# Shopping sites:
-#
-{ shop }
-.quietpc.com
-.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
-.jungle.com
-.scan.co.uk
+# Shopping sites:
+#
+{ shop }
+.quietpc.com
+.worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+.jungle.com
+.scan.co.uk
+
The fast-redirects action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some
sites. So disable it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
-{ -fast-redirects }
-login.yahoo.com
-edit.*.yahoo.com
-.google.com
-.altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
-.altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
-.nytimes.com
+{ -fast-redirects }
+login.yahoo.com
+edit.*.yahoo.com
+.google.com
+.altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
+.altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
+.nytimes.com
+
It is important that Privoxy knows which URLs belong to images, so that if they
are to be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
image with the handle-as-image action, and marking all URLs that end in a known
image file extension is a good start:
-##########################################################################
-# Images:
-##########################################################################
-
-# Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
-# blocked further down this file:
-#
-{ +handle-as-image }
-/.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$
+##########################################################################
+# Images:
+##########################################################################
+
+# Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
+# blocked further down this file:
+#
+{ +handle-as-image }
+/.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$
+
And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to generate the
banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the request is for an image.
default section with its +set-image-blocker{pattern} action before, it still
applies and needn't be repeated:
-# Known ad generators:
-#
-{ +block-as-image }
-ar.atwola.com
-.ad.doubleclick.net
-.ad.*.doubleclick.net
-.a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
-.a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
-bs*.gsanet.com
-.qkimg.net
+# Known ad generators:
+#
+{ +block-as-image }
+ar.atwola.com
+.ad.doubleclick.net
+.ad.*.doubleclick.net
+.a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
+.a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
+bs*.gsanet.com
+.qkimg.net
+
One of the most important jobs of Privoxy is to block banners. Many of these
can be "blocked" by the filter{banners-by-size} action, which we enabled above,
individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here to keep the
example short:
-##########################################################################
-# Block these fine banners:
-##########################################################################
-{ +block }
-
-# Generic patterns:
-#
-ad*.
-.*ads.
-banner?.
-count*.
-/.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
-/(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
-
-# Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
-#
-.hitbox.com
+##########################################################################
+# Block these fine banners:
+##########################################################################
+{ +block }
+
+# Generic patterns:
+#
+ad*.
+.*ads.
+banner?.
+count*.
+/.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
+/(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
+
+# Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
+#
+.hitbox.com
+
It's quite remarkable how many advertisers actually call their banner servers
ads.company.com, or call the directory in which the banners are stored simply
now, it'll match .*loads., where -block applies, so (unless it matches again
further down) it ends up with no block action applying.
-##########################################################################
-# Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
-##########################################################################
-
-# By domain:
-#
-{ -block }
-adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
-adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
-adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
-ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
-.edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
-.*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
-
-# By path:
-#
-/.*loads/
-
-# Site-specific:
-#
-www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
-www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv
+##########################################################################
+# Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
+##########################################################################
+
+# By domain:
+#
+{ -block }
+adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
+adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
+adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
+ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
+.edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
+.*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
+
+# By path:
+#
+/.*loads/
+
+# Site-specific:
+#
+www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
+www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv
+
Filtering source code can have nasty side effects, so make an exception for our
friends at sourceforge.net, and all paths with "cvs" in them. Note that -filter
disables all filters in one fell swoop!
-# Don't filter code!
-#
-{ -filter }
-/(.*/)?cvs
-bugzilla.
-developer.
-wiki.
-.sourceforge.net
+# Don't filter code!
+#
+{ -filter }
+/(.*/)?cvs
+bugzilla.
+developer.
+wiki.
+.sourceforge.net
+
The actual default.action is of course much more comprehensive, but we hope
this example made clear how it works.
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8.7.2. user.action
So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
user.action:
-# My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com>
+# My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com>
+
As aliases are local to the actions file that they are defined in, you can't
use the ones from default.action, unless you repeat them here:
-# Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
-# (Re-)define aliases for this file:
-#
-{{alias}}
-#
-# These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
-# be self explanatory.
-#
-+crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
--crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
- allow-popups = -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
-+block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
--block-as-image = -block
-
-# These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
-# certain types of sites:
-#
-fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
-shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
-
-# Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
-#
-allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
-
-# Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
-# MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
+# Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
+# (Re-)define aliases for this file:
+#
+{{alias}}
+#
+# These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
+# be self explanatory.
+#
++crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+-crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
+ allow-popups = -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
++block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
+-block-as-image = -block
+
+# These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
+# certain types of sites:
+#
+fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
+shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
+
+# Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
+#
+allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
+
+# Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
+# MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
handle-as-text = -filter +-content-type-overwrite{text/plain} +-force-text-mode -hide-content-disposition
+
Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and you don't
that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
processing of cookies to make them only temporary.
-{ allow-all-cookies }
- sourceforge.net
- .yahoo.com
- .msdn.microsoft.com
- .redhat.com
+{ allow-all-cookies }
+ sourceforge.net
+ .yahoo.com
+ .msdn.microsoft.com
+ .redhat.com
+
Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable
them all:
-{ -filter }
- .your-home-banking-site.com
+{ -filter }
+ .your-home-banking-site.com
+
Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
-# Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
-# erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
-#
-.tldp.org
-/(.*/)?selfhtml/
-
-# And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
-# so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
-#
-stupid-server.example.com/
+# Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
+# erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
+#
+.tldp.org
+/(.*/)?selfhtml/
+
+# And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
+# so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
+#
+stupid-server.example.com/
+
Example of a simple block action. Say you've seen an ad on your favourite page
on example.com that you want to get rid of. You have right-clicked the image,
not be specified, since all URLs ending in .gif will be tagged as images by the
general rules as set in default.action anyway:
-{ +block }
- www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.gif
- another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/
+{ +block }
+ www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
+ another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/
+
The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner farms,
often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which makes it
objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an image are
typically rendered as a "broken image" icon by the browser. Use cautiously.
-{ +block-as-image }
- .doubleclick.net
- .fastclick.net
- /Realmedia/ads/
- ar.atwola.com/
+{ +block-as-image }
+ .doubleclick.net
+ .fastclick.net
+ /Realmedia/ads/
+ ar.atwola.com/
+
Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine, but you
were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you were again too
that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular sites that
misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:
-{ fragile }
- .forbes.com
- webmail.example.com
- .mybank.com
+{ fragile }
+ .forbes.com
+ webmail.example.com
+ .mybank.com
+
You like the "fun" text replacements in default.filter, but it is disabled in
the distributed actions file. (My colleagues on the team just don't have a
sense of humour, that's why! ;-). So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
update-safe config, once and for all:
-{ +filter{fun} }
- / # For ALL sites!
+{ +filter{fun} }
+ / # For ALL sites!
+
Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions to the
filters in default.action for things that really shouldn't be filtered, like
might want to specifically allow banners for those sites that you feel provide
value to you:
-{ allow-ads }
- .sourceforge.net
- .slashdot.org
- .osdn.net
+{ allow-ads }
+ .sourceforge.net
+ .slashdot.org
+ .osdn.net
+
Note that allow-ads has been aliased to -block, -filter{banners-by-size}, and -
filter{banners-by-link} above.
x-sh which typically would open a download type dialog. In my case, I want to
look at the shell script, and then I can save it should I choose to.
-{ handle-as-text }
- /.*\.sh$
+{ handle-as-text }
+ /.*\.sh$
+
user.action is generally the best place to define exceptions and additions to
the default policies of default.action. Some actions are safe to have their
"blank" image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for ALL sites. "/" of
course matches all URL paths and patterns:
-{ +set-image-blocker{blank} }
-/ # ALL sites
+{ +set-image-blocker{blank} }
+/ # ALL sites
+
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
9. Filter Files
-On-the-fly text substitutions that can be invoked through the filter action
-need to be defined in a "filter file". Once defined, they can then be invoked
-as an "action". Multiple filter files can be defined through the filterfile
-config directive. The filters as supplied by the developers will be found in
-default.filter. It is recommended that any locally defined or modified filters
-go in a separately defined file such as user.filter.
-
-Typical reasons for doing these kinds of substitutions are to eliminate common
-annoyances in HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows, exit consoles,
-crippled windows without navigation tools, the infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to
-suppress images with certain width and height attributes (standard banner sizes
-or web-bugs), or just to have fun. The possibilities are endless.
-
-Filtering works on any text-based document type, including HTML, JavaScript,
-CSS etc. (all text/* MIME types, except text/plain). Substitutions are made at
-the source level, so if you want to "roll your own" filters, you should first
-be familiar with HTML syntax, and, of course, regular expressions. By default,
-filters are only applied to the raw document content, but can be extended to
-the HTTP headers with the supplemental actions: filter-client-headers and
-filter-server-headers.
+On-the-fly text substitutions need to be defined in a "filter file". Once
+defined, they can then be invoked as an "action".
+
+Privoxy supports three different filter actions: filter to rewrite the content
+that is send to the client, client-header-filter to rewrite headers that are
+send by the client, and server-header-filter to rewrite headers that are send
+by the server, and
+
+Privoxy also supports two tagger actions: client-header-tagger and
+server-header-tagger. Taggers and filters use the same syntax in the filter
+files, the difference is that taggers don't modify the text they are filtering,
+but use a rewritten version of the filtered text as tag. The tags can then be
+used to change the applying actions through sections with tag-patterns.
+
+Multiple filter files can be defined through the filterfile config directive.
+The filters as supplied by the developers will be found in default.filter. It
+is recommended that any locally defined or modified filters go in a separately
+defined file such as user.filter.
+
+Command tasks for content filters are to eliminate common annoyances in HTML
+and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows, exit consoles, crippled windows without
+navigation tools, the infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
+width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs), or just to
+have fun.
+
+Content filtering works on any text-based document type, including HTML,
+JavaScript, CSS etc. (all text/* MIME types, except text/plain). Substitutions
+are made at the source level, so if you want to "roll your own" filters, you
+should first be familiar with HTML syntax, and, of course, regular expressions.
Just like the actions files, the filter file is organized in sections, which
are called filters here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts
-with the keyword FILTER:, followed by the filter's name, and a short (one line)
+with one of the keywords FILTER:, CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER: or
+SERVER-HEADER-FILTER: followed by the filter's name, and a short (one line)
description of what it does. Below that line come the jobs, i.e. lines that
define the actual text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
-should describe what the filter eliminates. The comment is used in the
+should describe what the filter eliminates. The comment is used in the
web-based user interface.
Once a filter called name has been defined in the filter file, it can be
invoked by using an action of the form +filter{name} in any actions file.
-A filter header line for a filter called "foo" could look like this:
+Filter definitions start with a header line that contains the filter type, the
+filter name and the filter description. A content filter header line for a
+filter called "foo" could look like this:
+
+FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
-FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that define what
text replacements the filter executes. They are specified in a syntax that
the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most notably, the non-standard option
letter U is supported, which turns the default to ungreedy matching.
-If you are new to "Regular Expressions", you might want to take a look at the
+If you are new to "Regular Expressions", you might want to take a look at the
Appendix on regular expressions, and see the Perl manual for the s///
operator's syntax and Perl-style regular expressions in general. The below
examples might also help to get you started.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
9.1. Filter File Tutorial
-Now, let's complete our "foo" filter. We have already defined the heading, but
-the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace "foo" with "bar",
-there is only one (trivial) job needed:
+Now, let's complete our "foo" content filter. We have already defined the
+heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace "foo"
+with "bar", there is only one (trivial) job needed:
+
+s/foo/bar/
-s/foo/bar/
But wait! Didn't the comment say that all occurrences of "foo" should be
replaced? Our current job will only take care of the first "foo" on each page.
For global substitution, we'll need to add the g option:
-s/foo/bar/g
+s/foo/bar/g
+
Our complete filter now looks like this:
-FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
-s/foo/bar/g
+FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
+s/foo/bar/g
+
Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see a
filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
-FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
-
-# Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
-#
-s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg
+FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
+
+# Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
+#
+s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg
+
Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses |
as the delimiter instead of /, because the pattern contains a forward slash,
in parentheses, will be remembered and be available through the variables $1,
$2, ... in the substitute. The U option switches to ungreedy matching, which
means that the first .* in the pattern will only "eat up" all text in between "
-<script" and the first occurrence of "document.referrer", and that the second .
-* will only span the text up to the first "</script>" tag. Furthermore, the s
+<script" and the first occurrence of "document.referrer", and that the second
+.* will only span the text up to the first "</script>" tag. Furthermore, the s
option says that the match may span multiple lines in the page, and the g
option again means that the substitution is global.
We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but this
time only point out the constructs of special interest:
-# The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
-#
-s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig
+# The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
+#
+s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig
+
\s stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline, carriage return, form
feed), so that \s* means: "zero or more whitespace". The ? in .*? makes this
displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when you move your mouse
over links.
-# Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
-#
-s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU
+# Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
+#
+s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU
+
Including the OnUnload event binding in the HTML DOM was a CRIME. When I close
a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta. This job replaces the
The last example is from the fun department:
-FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
-
-# Spice the daily news:
-#
-s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig
+FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
+
+# Spice the daily news:
+#
+s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig
+
Note the (?!\.com) part (a so-called negative lookahead) in the job's pattern,
which means: Don't match, if the string ".com" appears directly following
"microsoft" in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being
trashed, while still replacing the word everywhere else.
-# Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
-#
-s* industry[ -]leading \
-| cutting[ -]edge \
-| customer[ -]focused \
-| market[ -]driven \
-| award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
-| high[ -]performance \
-| solutions[ -]based \
-| unmatched \
-| unparalleled \
-| unrivalled \
-*<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
-*igx
+# Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
+#
+s* industry[ -]leading \
+| cutting[ -]edge \
+| customer[ -]focused \
+| market[ -]driven \
+| award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
+| high[ -]performance \
+| solutions[ -]based \
+| unmatched \
+| unparalleled \
+| unrivalled \
+*<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
+*igx
+
The x option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for e.g. the
liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
You get the idea?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
9.2. The Pre-defined Filters
filters for your convenience:
js-annoyances
-
+
The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying
JavaScript abuse. To that end, it
-
- + replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
- with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the
+
+ □ replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
+ with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the
hide-referrer action on the content level.
-
- + removes the bindings to the DOM's unload event which we feel has no
+
+ □ removes the bindings to the DOM's unload event which we feel has no
right to exist and is responsible for most "exit consoles", i.e. nasty
windows that pop up when you close another one.
-
- + removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired
+
+ □ removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired
properties, such as being full-screen, non-resizeable, without
location, status or menu bar etc.
-
+
Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that
rely heavily on JavaScript.
-
+
js-events
-
+
This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event
bindings, which means that scripts can not react to user actions such as
mouse movements or clicks, window resizing etc, anymore. Use with caution!
-
+
We strongly discourage using this filter as a default since it breaks many
legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should
you really need to go there).
-
+
html-annoyances
-
+
This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
-
+
The BLINK and MARQUEE tags are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser
windows will be created as resizeable (as of course they should be!), and
will have location, scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
-
+
content-cookies
-
+
Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialog, where they can be intercepted by
the crunch-incoming-cookies and crunch-outgoing-cookies actions. But web
sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript to sneak
cookies to the browser on the content level.
-
+
This filter disables most HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets
cookies. It cannot detect all clever uses of these types of code, so it
should not be relied on as an absolute fix. Use it wherever you would also
use the cookie crunch actions.
-
+
refresh tags
-
+
Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
annoying.
-
+
unsolicited-popups
-
+
This filter attempts to prevent only "unsolicited" pop-up windows from
opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user has explicitly chosen
to open. It was added in version 3.0.1, as an improvement over earlier such
filters.
-
+
Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
function to a dummy function, PrivoxyWindowOpen(), during the loading and
rendering phase of each HTML page access, and restoring the function
afterward.
-
+
This is recommended only for browsers that cannot perform this function
reliably themselves. And be aware that some sites require such windows in
order to function normally. Use with caution.
-
+
all-popups
-
+
Attempt to prevent all pop-up windows from opening. Note this should be
used with even more discretion than the above, since it is more likely to
break some sites that require pop-ups for normal usage. Use with caution.
-
+
img-reorder
-
+
This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the
banners-by-size and banners-by-link (see below) filters more effective and
should be enabled together with them.
-
+
banners-by-size
-
+
This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are.
Fortunately for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain
standardized sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad
stripping purposes.
-
+
Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not
ads, but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes.
-
+
Recommended only for those who require extreme ad blocking. The default
block rules should catch 95+% of all ads without this filter enabled.
-
+
banners-by-link
-
+
This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if their
URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently
not of much value and is not recommended for use by default.
-
+
webbugs
-
+
Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that are
used to track users across websites, and collect information on them. As an
HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the
without the user ever becoming aware of the interaction with the
third-party site. HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify
email addresses.
-
+
This filter removes the HTML code that loads such "webbugs".
-
+
tiny-textforms
-
+
A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas
(those multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in
them. It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such
boxes are a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too.
-
+
It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
-
+
jumping-windows
-
+
Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This
filter neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might
not display or behave as intended when using this filter. Use with caution.
-
+
frameset-borders
-
+
Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view
their web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution
etc, because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame
sizes, yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they
be too small to show their whole content.
-
+
This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to
sites which need it.
-
+
demoronizer
-
+
Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions
(read: violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This can
cause those HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant
platforms.
-
+
This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents. It
is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of all
documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly
worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if weird garbage characters
sometimes appear on some pages, or user agents that don't correct for this
on the fly.
-
+
shockwave-flash
-
+
A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips
code out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects.
-
+
quicktime-kioskmode
-
+
Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
prevents saving, is disabled.
-
+
fun
-
+
Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
-
+
crude-parental
-
+
A demonstration-only filter that shows how Privoxy can be used to delete
web content on a keyword basis.
-
+
ie-exploits
-
+
An experimental collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML
and JavaScript code that exploits known security holes in Internet
Explorer.
-
+
Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug,
and would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
-
+
site-specifics
-
+
Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't
apply anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
-
+
This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be
applied to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
default.action file does. Users shouldn't need to change anything regarding
this filter.
-
+
google
-
+
A CSS based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation and
the toolbar advertisement.
-
+
yahoo
-
+
Another CSS based block, this time for Yahoo text ads. And removes a width
limitation as well.
-
+
msn
-
+
Another CSS based block, this time for MSN text ads. And removes tracking
URLs, as well as a width limitation.
-
+
blogspot
-
+
Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this one!
-
+
This filter also intentionally removes some navigation stuff and sets the
page width to 100%. As a result, some rounded "corners" would appear to
early or not at all and as fixing this would require a browser that
understands background-size (CSS3), they are removed instead.
-
+
xml-to-html
-
- Header filter to change the Content-Type from xml to html.
-
+
+ Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from xml to html.
+
html-to-xml
-
- Header filter to change the Content-Type from html to xml.
-
+
+ Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from html to xml.
+
no-ping
-
+
Removes the non-standard ping attribute from anchor and area HTML tags.
-
+
hide-tor-exit-notation
-
- Header filter to remove the Tor exit node notation found in Host and
+
+ Client-header filter to remove the Tor exit node notation found in Host and
Referer headers.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+ If Privoxy and Tor are chained and Privoxy is configured to use socks4a,
+ one can use "http://www.example.org.foobar.exit/" to access the host
+ "www.example.org" through the Tor exit node "foobar".
+
+ As the HTTP client isn't aware of this notation, it treats the whole string
+ "www.example.org.foobar.exit" as host and uses it for the "Host" and
+ "Referer" headers. From the server's point of view the resulting headers
+ are invalid and can cause problems.
+
+ An invalid "Referer" header can trigger "hot-linking" protections, an
+ invalid "Host" header will make it impossible for the server to find the
+ right vhost (several domains hosted on the same IP address).
+
+ This client-header filter removes the "foo.exit" part in those headers to
+ prevent the mentioned problems. Note that it only modifies the HTTP
+ headers, it doesn't make it impossible for the server to detect your Tor
+ exit node based on the IP address the request is coming from.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
10. Privoxy's Template Files
templates/.
The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called
-symbols or exports), which Privoxy fills at run time. You can edit the
-templates with a normal text editor, should you want to customize them. (Not
-recommended for the casual user). Note that just like in configuration files,
-lines starting with # are ignored when the templates are filled in.
+symbols or exports), which Privoxy fills at run time. It is possible to edit
+the templates with a normal text editor, should you want to customize them.
+(Not recommended for the casual user). Should you create your own custom
+templates, you should use the config setting templdir to specify an alternate
+location, so your templates do not get overwritten during upgrades.
+
+Note that just like in configuration files, lines starting with # are ignored
+when the templates are filled in.
The place-holders are of the form @name@, and you will find a list of available
symbols, which vary from template to template, in the comments at the start of
purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all our user
interface (CGI) pages when Privoxy is in an alpha or beta development stage:
-<!-- @if-unstable-start -->
-
- ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
-
-<!-- if-unstable-end@ -->
+<!-- @if-unstable-start -->
+
+ ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
+
+<!-- if-unstable-end@ -->
+
If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
@if-unstable-start and if-unstable-end@ will disappear, leaving nothing but an
empty comment:
-<!-- -->
+<!-- -->
+
There's also an if-then-else construct and an #include mechanism, but you'll
sure find out if you are inclined to edit the templates ;-)
send-stylesheet. This is, of course, locally served by Privoxy and the source
for it can be found and edited in the cgi-style.css template.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
11. Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
configuration. However, please note the following hints, so we can provide you
with the best support:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
11.1. Get Support
-For casual users, our support forum at SourceForge is probably best suited:
+For casual users, our support forum at SourceForge is probably best suited:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=211118
All users are of course welcome to discuss their issues on the users mailing
list, where the developers also hang around.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Note that the Privoxy mailing lists are moderated. Posts from unsubscribed
+addresses have to be accepted manually by a moderator. This may cause a delay
+of several days and if you use a subject that doesn't clearly mention Privoxy
+or one of its features, your message may be accidentally discarded as spam.
+
+If you aren't subscribed, you should therefore spend a few seconds to come up
+with a proper subject. Additionally you should make it clear that you want to
+get CC'd. Otherwise some responses will be directed to the mailing list only,
+and you won't see them.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
11.2. Reporting Problems
"Problems" for our purposes, come in two forms:
- * Configuration issues, such as ads that slip through, or sites that don't
+ • Configuration issues, such as ads that slip through, or sites that don't
function properly due to one Privoxy "action" or another being turned "on".
-
- * "Bugs" in the programming code that makes up Privoxy, such as that might
+
+ • "Bugs" in the programming code that makes up Privoxy, such as that might
cause a crash.
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
11.2.1. Reporting Ads or Other Configuration Problems
your feedback. These will be announced on the ijbswa-announce list and
available from our the files section of our project page.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
11.2.2. Reporting Bugs
-Please report all bugs only through our bug tracker: http://sourceforge.net/
-tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=111118.
+Please report all bugs through our bug tracker: http://sourceforge.net/tracker
+/?group_id=11118&atid=111118.
Before doing so, please make sure that the bug has not already been submitted
and observe the additional hints at the top of the submit form. If already
submitted, please feel free to add any info to the original report that might
help to solve the issue.
-Please try to verify that it is a Privoxy bug, and not a browser or site bug
-first. If unsure, try toggling off Privoxy, and see if the problem persists. If
-you are using your own custom configuration, please try the stock configs to
-see if the problem is configuration related.
+Please try to verify that it is a Privoxy bug, and not a browser or site bug or
+documented behaviour that just happens to be different than what you expected.
+If unsure, try toggling off Privoxy, and see if the problem persists.
-If not using the latest version, the bug may have been found and fixed in the
-meantime. We would appreciate if you could take the time to upgrade to the
-latest version (or even the latest CVS snapshot) and verify your bug.
+If you are using your own custom configuration, please try the stock configs to
+see if the problem is configuration related. If you're having problems with a
+feature that is disabled by default, please ask around on the mailing list if
+others can reproduce the problem.
+
+If you aren't using the latest Privoxy version, the bug may have been found and
+fixed in the meantime. We would appreciate if you could take the time to
+upgrade to the latest version (or even the latest CVS snapshot) and verify that
+your bug still exists.
Please be sure to provide the following information:
- * The exact Privoxy version of the proxy software (if you got the source from
- CVS, please also provide the source code revisions as shown in http://
+ • The exact Privoxy version you are using (if you got the source from CVS,
+ please also provide the source code revisions as shown in http://
config.privoxy.org/show-version).
-
- * The operating system and versions you run Privoxy on, (e.g. Windows XP
+
+ • The operating system and versions you run Privoxy on, (e.g. Windows XP
SP2), if you are using a Unix flavor, sending the output of "uname -a"
- should do.
-
- * The name, platform, and version of the browser you were using (e.g.
+ should do, in case of GNU/Linux, please also name the distribution.
+
+ • The name, platform, and version of the browser you were using (e.g.
Internet Explorer v5.5 for Mac).
-
- * The URL where the problem occurred, or some way for us to duplicate the
+
+ • The URL where the problem occurred, or some way for us to duplicate the
problem (e.g. http://somesite.example.com/?somethingelse=123).
-
- * Whether your version of Privoxy is one supplied by the developers of
- Privoxy via SourceForge, or somewhere else.
-
- * Whether you are using Privoxy in tandem with another proxy such as Tor. If
- so, please try disabling the other proxy.
-
- * Whether you are using a personal firewall product. If so, does Privoxy work
+
+ • Whether your version of Privoxy is one supplied by the Privoxy developers
+ via SourceForge, or if you got your copy somewhere else.
+
+ • Whether you are using Privoxy in tandem with another proxy such as Tor. If
+ so, please temporary disable the other proxy to see if the symptoms change.
+
+ • Whether you are using a personal firewall product. If so, does Privoxy work
without it?
-
- * Any other pertinent information to help identify the problem such as config
+
+ • Any other pertinent information to help identify the problem such as config
or log file excerpts (yes, you should have log file entries for each action
taken).
-
- * Please provide your SF login, or email address, in case we need to contact
- you.
-
+
+You don't have to tell us your actual name when filing a problem report, but
+please use a nickname so we can differentiate between your messages and the
+ones entered by other "anonymous" users that may respond to your request if
+they have the same problem or already found a solution.
+
+Please also check the status of your request a few days after submitting it, as
+we may request additional information. If you use a SF id, you should
+automatically get a mail when someone responds to your request.
+
The appendix of the Privoxy User Manual also has helpful information on
understanding actions, and action debugging.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
11.3. Request New Features
improvement through our feature request tracker at http://sourceforge.net/
tracker/?atid=361118&group_id=11118.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
11.4. Other
mailing lists, including list archives, at: http://sourceforge.net/mail/?
group_id=11118.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
12. Privoxy Copyright, License and History
-Copyright © 2001 - 2006 by Privoxy Developers <
+Copyright 2001 - 2007 by Privoxy Developers <
ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net>
-Some source code is based on code Copyright © 1997 by Anonymous Coders and
+Some source code is based on code Copyright 1997 by Anonymous Coders and
Junkbusters, Inc. and licensed under the GNU General Public License.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
12.1. License
Boston, MA 02110-1301
USA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
12.2. History
-A long time ago, there was the Internet Junkbuster, by Anonymous Coders and
+A long time ago, there was the Internet Junkbuster, by Anonymous Coders and
Junkbusters Corporation. This saved many users a lot of pain in the early days
of web advertising and user tracking.
The result of this is Privoxy, whose first stable version, 3.0, was released
August, 2002.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
12.3. Authors
Current Privoxy Team:
- Fabian Keil, developer
+ Fabian Keil, lead developer
David Schmidt, developer
Hal Burgiss
- Ian Cummings
Roland Rosenfeld
+ J rg Strohmayer
Former Privoxy Team Members:
Johny Agotnes
Rodrigo Barbosa
Moritz Barsnick
+ Ian Cummings
Brian Dessent
Jon Foster
Karsten Hopp
Alexander Lazic
Daniel Leite
- Gábor Lipták
+ G bor Lipt k
Adam Lock
Guy Laroche
Mark Martinec
+ Justin McMurtry
Andreas Oesterhelt
Haroon Rafique
Georg Sauthoff
Thomas Steudten
- Joerg Strohmayer
Rodney Stromlund
Sviatoslav Sviridov
Sarantis Paskalis
Ken Arromdee
Devin Bayer
+ Gergely Bor
Reiner Buehl
Andrew J. Caines
Clifford Caoile
- Frédéric Crozat
+ Fr d ric Crozat
Michael T. Davis
Mattes Dolak
- Peter E
+ Peter E.
Florian Effenberger
+ Markus Elfring
Dean Gaudet
+ Stephen Gildea
+ Daniel Griscom
+ Felix Gr bert
Aaron Hamid
Darel Henman
Magnus Holmgren
+ Ralf Horstmann
+ Stefan Huehner
+ Peter Hyman
Derek Jennings
+ Petr Kadlec
David Laight
+ Bert van Leeuwen
Don Libes
Paul Lieverse
+ Toby Lyward
+ Wil Mahan
Jindrich Makovicka
David Mediavilla
Raphael Moll
- Oliver Stoeneberg
- Martin Thomas
+ Amuro Namie
+ Adam Piggott
+ Dan Price
+ Lee R.
Roberto Ragusa
- Félix Rauch
+ F lix Rauch
Maynard Riley
- Spinor S
+ Chung-chieh Shan
+ Spinor S.
Bart Schelstraete
- Bobby G. Vinyard
- Jörg Weinmann
+ Oliver Stoeneberg
+ Peter Thoenen
+ Martin Thomas
+ Song Weijia
+ J rg Weinmann
Darren Wiebe
+ Bobby G. Vinyard
Anduin Withers
Oliver Yeoh
Jamie Zawinski
-Privoxy is based in part on code originally developed by:
+Privoxy is based in part on code originally developed by Junkbusters Corp. and
+Anonymous Coders.
+
+Privoxy heavily relies on Philip Hazel's PCRE.
- Junkbusters Corp.
- Anonymous Coders
- Ulrich Drepper
- Philip Hazel
+The code to filter compressed content makes use of zlib which is written by
+Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+On systems that lack snprintf(), Privoxy is using a version written by Mark
+Martinec. On systems that lack strptime(), Privoxy is using the one from the
+GNU C Library written by Ulrich Drepper.
+
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
13. See Also
http://www.privoxy.org/faq/, the Privoxy FAQ.
-http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/, the Project Page for Privoxy on
-SourceForge.
+http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/, the Project Page for Privoxy on
+SourceForge.
-http://config.privoxy.org/, the web-based user interface. Privoxy must be
-running for this to work. Shortcut: http://p.p/
+http://config.privoxy.org/, the web-based user interface. Privoxy must be
+running for this to work. Shortcut: http://p.p/
-http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288, to submit "misses"
-and other configuration related suggestions to the developers.
+http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288, to submit "misses"
+and other configuration related suggestions to the developers.
-http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html, an explanation how cookies are
-used to track web users.
+http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html, an explanation how cookies are
+used to track web users.
http://www.junkbusters.com/ijb.html, the original Internet Junkbuster.
-http://privacy.net/, a useful site to check what information about you is
-leaked while you browse the web.
+http://privacy.net/, a useful site to check what information about you is
+leaked while you browse the web.
+
+http://www.squid-cache.org/, a popular caching proxy, which is often used
+together with Privoxy.
-http://www.squid-cache.org/, a very popular caching proxy, which is often used
-together with Privoxy.
+http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/software/polipo/, Polipo is a caching proxy with
+advanced features like pipelining, multiplexing and caching of partial
+instances. In many setups it can be used as Squid replacement.
-http://tor.eff.org/, Tor can help anonymize web browsing, web publishing,
-instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications.
+http://tor.eff.org/, Tor can help anonymize web browsing, web publishing,
+instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications.
http://www.privoxy.org/developer-manual/, the Privoxy developer manual.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
14. Appendix
. - Matches any single character, e.g. "a", "A", "4", ":", or "@".
? - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE times. Either/
-or.
+or.
+ - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE 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. Example: "example
-\.com", makes sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded
-to its meta-character meaning of any single character).
+be taken literally and not as a special meta-character. Example: "example
+\.com", makes sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded
+to its meta-character meaning of any single character).
-[ ] - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if any of the enclosed
-characters are encountered. For instance, "[0-9]" matches any numeric digit
-(zero through nine). As an example, we can combine this with "+" to match any
-digit one of more times: "[0-9]+".
+[ ] - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if any of the enclosed
+characters are encountered. For instance, "[0-9]" matches any numeric digit
+(zero through nine). As an example, we can combine this with "+" to match any
+digit one of more times: "[0-9]+".
-( ) - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression, or multiple
-sub-expressions.
+( ) - 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. As an example:
-"/(this|that) example/" uses grouping and the bar character and would match
-either "this example" or "that example", and nothing else.
+| - The "bar" character works like an "or" conditional statement. A match is
+successful if the sub-expression on either side of "|" matches. As an example:
+"/(this|that) example/" uses grouping and the bar character and would match
+either "this example" or "that example", and nothing else.
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
+/.*/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.
For information on regular expression based substitutions and their
applications in filters, please see the filter file tutorial in this manual.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
14.2. Privoxy's Internal Pages
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:
+
http://config.privoxy.org/
-
+
There is a shortcut: http://p.p/ (But it doesn't provide a fall-back to a
real page, in case the request is not sent through Privoxy)
-
- * Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
+
+ • Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
editing of actions files:
-
+
http://config.privoxy.org/show-status
-
- * Show the source code version numbers:
-
+
+ • Show the source code version numbers:
+
http://config.privoxy.org/show-version
-
- * Show the browser's request headers:
-
+
+ • Show the browser's request headers:
+
http://config.privoxy.org/show-request
-
- * Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
-
+
+ • Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
+
http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info
-
- * Toggle Privoxy on or off. In this case, "Privoxy" continues to run, but
- only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking place:
-
+
+ • Toggle Privoxy on or off. This feature can be turned off/on in the main
+ config file. When toggled "off", "Privoxy" continues to run, but only as a
+ pass-through proxy, with no actions taking place:
+
http://config.privoxy.org/toggle
-
+
Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
-
+
http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable
-
+
http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable
-
+
These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
14.2.1. Bookmarklets
bar (IE) or the "Personal Toolbar" (Netscape), and run them with a single
click.
- * Privoxy - Enable
-
- * Privoxy - Disable
-
- * Privoxy - Toggle Privoxy (Toggles between enabled and disabled)
-
- * Privoxy- View Status
-
- * Privoxy - Why?
-
-Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
+ • Privoxy - Enable
+
+ • Privoxy - Disable
+
+ • Privoxy - Toggle Privoxy (Toggles between enabled and disabled)
+
+ • Privoxy- View Status
+
+ • Privoxy - Why?
+
+Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
www.bookmarklets.com. They have more information about bookmarklets.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
14.3. Chain of Events
and the ensuing sequence of events when a web page is requested by your
browser:
- * First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send the
+ • First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send the
request to Privoxy, which will in turn, relay the request to the remote web
server after passing the following tests:
-
- * Privoxy traps any request for its own internal CGI pages (e.g http://p.p/)
+
+ • Privoxy traps any request for its own internal CGI pages (e.g http://p.p/)
and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
-
- * Next, Privoxy checks to see if the URL matches any "+block" patterns. If
+
+ • Next, Privoxy checks to see if the URL matches any "+block" patterns. If
so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be
contacted. "+handle-as-image" and "+handle-as-empty-document" are then
checked, and if there is no match, an HTML "BLOCKED" page is sent back to
former, and an empty text document for the latter. The type of image would
depend on the setting of "+set-image-blocker" (blank, checkerboard pattern,
or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
-
- * Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the trust file, then
+
+ • Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the trust file, then
that is done.
-
- * If the URL pattern matches the "+fast-redirects" action, it is then
+
+ • If the URL pattern matches the "+fast-redirects" action, it is then
processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
-
- * Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
+
+ • Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. "+hide-user-agent", etc.),
headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and their
parameters.
-
- * Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web
+
+ • Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web
page).
-
- * First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
+
+ • First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
- filtered as determined by the "+crunch-incoming-cookies",
+ filtered as determined by the "+crunch-incoming-cookies",
"+session-cookies-only", and "+downgrade-http-version" actions.
-
- * If the "+kill-popups" action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript
+
+ • If the "+kill-popups" action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript
document, the popup-code in the response is filtered on-the-fly as it is
received.
-
- * If any "+filter" action or "+deanimate-gifs" action applies (and the
+
+ • If any "+filter" action or "+deanimate-gifs" action applies (and the
document type fits the action), the rest of the page is read into memory
(up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from default.filter
and any other filter files) are processed against the buffered content.
files. Animated GIFs, if present, are reduced to either the first or last
frame, depending on the action setting.The entire page, which is now
filtered, is then sent by Privoxy back to your browser.
-
+
If neither a "+filter" action or "+deanimate-gifs" matches, then Privoxy
passes the raw data through to the client browser as it becomes available.
-
- * As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it reads
+
+ • As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it reads
and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page source,
e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a
will have many, many such embedded URLs. If these secondary requests are to
a different server, then quite possibly a very differing set of actions is
triggered.
-
+
NOTE: This is somewhat of a simplistic overview of what happens with each URL
request. For the sake of brevity and simplicity, we have focused on Privoxy's
core features only.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
14.4. Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action
One quick test to see if Privoxy is causing a problem or not, is to disable it
temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting step. See the
Bookmarklets section on a quick and easy way to do this (be sure to flush
-caches afterward!). Looking at the logs is a good idea too.
+caches afterward!). Looking at the logs is a good idea too. (Note that both the
+toggle feature and logging are enabled via config file settings, and may need
+to be turned "on".)
Another easy troubleshooting step to try is if you have done any customization
of your installation, revert back to the installed defaults and see if that
Let's try an example, google.com, and look at it one section at a time in a
sample configuration (your real configuration may vary):
- Matches for http://google.com:
-
- In file: default.action [ View ] [ Edit ]
-
- {-add-header
- -block
- -content-type-overwrite
- -crunch-client-header
- -crunch-if-none-match
- -crunch-incoming-cookies
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-server-header
- +deanimate-gifs {last}
- -downgrade-http-version
- +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
- -filter {js-events}
- -filter {content-cookies}
- -filter {all-popups}
- -filter {banners-by-link}
- -filter {tiny-textforms}
- -filter {frameset-borders}
- -filter {demoronizer}
- -filter {shockwave-flash}
- -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
- -filter {fun}
- -filter {crude-parental}
- -filter {site-specifics}
- -filter {js-annoyances}
- -filter {html-annoyances}
- +filter {refresh-tags}
- -filter {unsolicited-popups}
- +filter {img-reorder}
- +filter {banners-by-size}
- +filter {webbugs}
- +filter {jumping-windows}
- +filter {ie-exploits}
- -filter {google}
- -filter {yahoo}
- -filter {msn}
- -filter {blogspot}
- -filter {xml-to-html}
- -filter {html-to-xml}
- -filter {no-ping}
- -filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
- -filter-client-headers
- -filter-server-headers
- -force-text-mode
- -handle-as-empty-document
- -handle-as-image
- -hide-accept-language
- -hide-content-disposition
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers
- +hide-from-header {block}
- -hide-if-modified-since
- +hide-referrer {forge}
- -hide-user-agent
- -inspect-jpegs
- -kill-popups
- -limit-connect
- -overwrite-last-modified
- +prevent-compression
- -redirect
- -send-vanilla-wafer
- -send-wafer
- +session-cookies-only
- +set-image-blocker {pattern}
- -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks }
-/
-
- { -session-cookies-only }
- .google.com
-
- { -fast-redirects }
- .google.com
-
-In file: user.action [ View ] [ Edit ]
-(no matches in this file)
+ Matches for http://www.google.com:
+
+ In file: default.action [ View ] [ Edit ]
+
+ {+deanimate-gifs {last}
+ +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
+ +filter {refresh-tags}
+ +filter {img-reorder}
+ +filter {banners-by-size}
+ +filter {webbugs}
+ +filter {jumping-windows}
+ +filter {ie-exploits}
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers
+ +hide-from-header {block}
+ +hide-referrer {forge}
+ +session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker {pattern}
+/
+
+ { -session-cookies-only }
+ .google.com
+
+ { -fast-redirects }
+ .google.com
+
+In file: user.action [ View ] [ Edit ]
+(no matches in this file)
+
This is telling us how we have defined our "actions", and which ones match for
our test case, "google.com". Displayed is all the actions that are available to
And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
Privoxy is applying all its "actions" to "google.com":
- Final results:
-
- -add-header
- -block
- -content-type-overwrite
- -crunch-client-header
- -crunch-if-none-match
- -crunch-incoming-cookies
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-server-header
- +deanimate-gifs {last}
- -downgrade-http-version
- +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
- -filter {js-events}
- -filter {content-cookies}
- -filter {all-popups}
- -filter {banners-by-link}
- -filter {tiny-textforms}
- -filter {frameset-borders}
- -filter {demoronizer}
- -filter {shockwave-flash}
- -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
- -filter {fun}
- -filter {crude-parental}
- -filter {site-specifics}
- -filter {js-annoyances}
- -filter {html-annoyances}
- +filter {refresh-tags}
- -filter {unsolicited-popups}
- +filter {img-reorder}
- +filter {banners-by-size}
- +filter {webbugs}
- +filter {jumping-windows}
- +filter {ie-exploits}
- -filter {google}
- -filter {yahoo}
- -filter {msn}
- -filter {blogspot}
- -filter {xml-to-html}
- -filter {html-to-xml}
- -filter {no-ping}
- -filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
- -filter-client-headers
- -filter-server-headers
- -force-text-mode
- -handle-as-empty-document
- -handle-as-image
- -hide-accept-language
- -hide-content-disposition
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers
- +hide-from-header {block}
- -hide-if-modified-since
- +hide-referrer {forge}
- -hide-user-agent
- -inspect-jpegs
- -kill-popups
- -limit-connect
- -overwrite-last-modified
- +prevent-compression
- -redirect
- -send-vanilla-wafer
- -send-wafer
- -session-cookies-only
- +set-image-blocker {pattern}
- -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks
+ Final results:
+
+ -add-header
+ -block
+ -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
+ -content-type-overwrite
+ -crunch-client-header
+ -crunch-if-none-match
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-server-header
+ +deanimate-gifs {last}
+ -downgrade-http-version
+ -fast-redirects
+ -filter {js-events}
+ -filter {content-cookies}
+ -filter {all-popups}
+ -filter {banners-by-link}
+ -filter {tiny-textforms}
+ -filter {frameset-borders}
+ -filter {demoronizer}
+ -filter {shockwave-flash}
+ -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
+ -filter {fun}
+ -filter {crude-parental}
+ -filter {site-specifics}
+ -filter {js-annoyances}
+ -filter {html-annoyances}
+ +filter {refresh-tags}
+ -filter {unsolicited-popups}
+ +filter {img-reorder}
+ +filter {banners-by-size}
+ +filter {webbugs}
+ +filter {jumping-windows}
+ +filter {ie-exploits}
+ -filter {google}
+ -filter {yahoo}
+ -filter {msn}
+ -filter {blogspot}
+ -filter {no-ping}
+ -force-text-mode
+ -handle-as-empty-document
+ -handle-as-image
+ -hide-accept-language
+ -hide-content-disposition
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers
+ +hide-from-header {block}
+ -hide-if-modified-since
+ +hide-referrer {forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -inspect-jpegs
+ -kill-popups
+ -limit-connect
+ -overwrite-last-modified
+ -prevent-compression
+ -redirect
+ -send-vanilla-wafer
+ -send-wafer
+ -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
+ -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
+ -session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker {pattern}
+ -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks
+
Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to "fast-redirects"
and "session-cookies-only", which are activated specifically for this site in
Now another example, "ad.doubleclick.net":
- { +block }
- ad*.
-
- { +block }
- .ad.
-
- { +block +handle-as-image }
- .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
+ { +block }
+ ad*.
+
+ { +block }
+ .ad.
+
+ { +block +handle-as-image }
+ .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
+
We'll just show the interesting part here - the explicit matches. It is matched
three different times. Two "+block" sections, and a "+block +handle-as-image",
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
+defined as "ad.doubleclick.net" is done here -- as both a "+block" and an
"+handle-as-image". The custom alias "+block-as-image" just simplifies the
process and make it more readable.
One last example. Let's try "http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/". This one is
giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
- Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
-
- In file: default.action [ View ] [ Edit ]
-
- {-add-header
- -block
- -content-type-overwrite
- -crunch-client-header
- -crunch-if-none-match
- -crunch-incoming-cookies
- -crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-server-header
- +deanimate-gifs
- -downgrade-http-version
- +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
- -filter {js-events}
- -filter {content-cookies}
- -filter {all-popups}
- -filter {banners-by-link}
- -filter {tiny-textforms}
- -filter {frameset-borders}
- -filter {demoronizer}
- -filter {shockwave-flash}
- -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
- -filter {fun}
- -filter {crude-parental}
- -filter {site-specifics}
- -filter {js-annoyances}
- -filter {html-annoyances}
- +filter {refresh-tags}
- -filter {unsolicited-popups}
- +filter {img-reorder}
- +filter {banners-by-size}
- +filter {webbugs}
- +filter {jumping-windows}
- +filter {ie-exploits}
- -filter {google}
- -filter {yahoo}
- -filter {msn}
- -filter {blogspot}
- -filter {xml-to-html}
- -filter {html-to-xml}
- -filter {no-ping}
- -filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
- -filter-client-headers
- -filter-server-headers
- -force-text-mode
- -handle-as-empty-document
- -handle-as-image
- -hide-accept-language
- -hide-content-disposition
- +hide-forwarded-for-headers
- +hide-from-header{block}
- +hide-referer{forge}
- -hide-user-agent
- -inspect-jpegs
- -kill-popups
- -overwrite-last-modified
- +prevent-compression
- -redirect
- -send-vanilla-wafer
- -send-wafer
- +session-cookies-only
- +set-image-blocker{blank}
- -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks }
- /
-
- { +block +handle-as-image }
- /ads
+ Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
+
+ In file: default.action [ View ] [ Edit ]
+
+ {-add-header
+ -block
+ -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
+ -content-type-overwrite
+ -crunch-client-header
+ -crunch-if-none-match
+ -crunch-incoming-cookies
+ -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-server-header
+ +deanimate-gifs
+ -downgrade-http-version
+ +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
+ -filter {js-events}
+ -filter {content-cookies}
+ -filter {all-popups}
+ -filter {banners-by-link}
+ -filter {tiny-textforms}
+ -filter {frameset-borders}
+ -filter {demoronizer}
+ -filter {shockwave-flash}
+ -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
+ -filter {fun}
+ -filter {crude-parental}
+ -filter {site-specifics}
+ -filter {js-annoyances}
+ -filter {html-annoyances}
+ +filter {refresh-tags}
+ -filter {unsolicited-popups}
+ +filter {img-reorder}
+ +filter {banners-by-size}
+ +filter {webbugs}
+ +filter {jumping-windows}
+ +filter {ie-exploits}
+ -filter {google}
+ -filter {yahoo}
+ -filter {msn}
+ -filter {blogspot}
+ -filter {no-ping}
+ -force-text-mode
+ -handle-as-empty-document
+ -handle-as-image
+ -hide-accept-language
+ -hide-content-disposition
+ +hide-forwarded-for-headers
+ +hide-from-header{block}
+ +hide-referer{forge}
+ -hide-user-agent
+ -inspect-jpegs
+ -kill-popups
+ -overwrite-last-modified
+ +prevent-compression
+ -redirect
+ -send-vanilla-wafer
+ -send-wafer
+ -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
+ -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
+ +session-cookies-only
+ +set-image-blocker{blank}
+ -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks }
+ /
+
+ { +block +handle-as-image }
+ /ads
+
Ooops, the "/adsl/" is matching "/ads" in our configuration! But we did not
want this at all! Now we see why we get the blank page. It is actually
{-block}") paths with "adsl" in them (remember, last match in the configuration
wins). There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
- { -block }
- /adsl
+ { -block }
+ /adsl
+
Now the page displays ;-) Remember to flush your browser's caches when making
these kinds of changes to your configuration to insure that you get a freshly
But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like we did
with:
- { +block +handle-as-image }
- /ads
+ { +block +handle-as-image }
+ /ads
+
That actually was very helpful and pointed us quickly to where the problem was.
If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default rules in
harder to troubleshoot. Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that
turn off "+filter":
- { shop }
- .quietpc.com
- .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
- .jungle.com
- .scan.co.uk
- .forbes.com
+ { shop }
+ .quietpc.com
+ .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
+ .jungle.com
+ .scan.co.uk
+ .forbes.com
+
"{ shop }" is an "alias" that expands to "{ -filter -session-cookies-only }".
Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
- { -filter }
- # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
- .forbes.com
- developer.ibm.com
- localhost
+ { -filter }
+ # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
+ .forbes.com
+ developer.ibm.com
+ localhost
+
This would turn off all filtering for these sites. This is best put in
user.action, for local site exceptions. Note that when a simple domain pattern
"{ fragile }" is an alias that disables most actions that are the most likely
to cause trouble. This can be used as a last resort for problem sites.
- { fragile }
- # Handle with care: easy to break
- mail.google.
- mybank.example.com
+ { fragile }
+ # Handle with care: easy to break
+ mail.google.
+ mybank.example.com
+
Remember to flush caches! Note that the mail.google reference lacks the TLD
portion (e.g. ".com". This will effectively match any TLD with google in it,
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