By: Privoxy Developers
-$Id: faq.sgml,v 1.49 2002/04/12 10:10:18 swa Exp $
+$Id: faq.sgml,v 1.51 2002/04/26 17:24:31 swa Exp $
This FAQ gives users and developers alike answers to frequently asked questions
about Privoxy .
3.3. The "actions" concept confuses me. Please list some of these
"actions".
3.4. How are actions files configured? What is the easiest way to do this?
- 3.5. What are the differences between intermediate.action, basic.action,
- etc.?
- 3.6. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not raise
+ 3.5. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not raise
security issues?
- 3.7. What is "default.filter"?
- 3.8. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?
- 3.9. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
+ 3.6. What is "default.filter"?
+ 3.7. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?
+ 3.8. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
anything.
- 3.10. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
- 3.11. I see large red banners on some pages that say "Blocked". Why and how
+ 3.9. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
+ 3.10. I see large red banners on some pages that say "Blocked". Why and how
do I get rid of this?
- 3.12. I cannot see all of the "Blocked" page banner. All I see is a bright
+ 3.11. I cannot see all of the "Blocked" page banner. All I see is a bright
red square.
- 3.13. Can Privoxy run as a service on Win2K/NT?
- 3.14. How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies like Squid?
+ 3.12. Can Privoxy run as a service on Win2K/NT?
+ 3.13. How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies like Squid?
4. Miscellaneous
5.2. I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is still getting through.
How?
5.3. One of my favorite sites does not work with Privoxy. What can I do?
- 5.4. Where can I get help? Report bugs? Feature Requests? Etc?
- 5.5. What time is it?
+ 5.4. What time is it?
7. Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
+
+ 7.1. Get Support
+ 7.2. Report bugs
+ 7.3. Request new features
+ 7.4. Report ads or other filter problems
+ 7.5. Other
+
8. Copyright and History
8.1. Copyright
1.4. What are some of the new features?
+ * FIXME: complete the list of features. change the order: most important
+ features to the top of the list. prefix new features with "NEW".
+
* 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.
* Improved signal handling, and a true daemon mode (Unix).
- * Builds from source on most UNIX-like systems. Packages available for: Linux
- (RedHat, SuSE, or Debian), Windows, Sun Solaris, Mac OSX, OS/2, HP-UX 11,
- NetBSD and AmigaOS.
-
* Every feature now controllable on a per-site or per-location basis,
configuration more powerful and versatile over-all.
2.2. Which operating systems are supported?
-At present, Privoxy is known to run on Win32, Mac OSX, OS/2, AmigaOS, Linux
-(RedHat, Suse, Debian), FreeBSD, NetBSD, BeOS, and many flavors of Unix.
+At present, Privoxy is known to run on Windows(95, 98, ME, 2000, XP), Linux
+(RedHat, Suse, Debian), Mac OSX, OS/2, AmigaOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, BeOS, and many
+more 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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.5. What are the differences between intermediate.action, basic.action, etc.?
-
-Configuring Privoxy is not easy. To help you get started, we provide you with
-three different default configurations. The following table shows you, which
-features are enabled in each configuration.
-
-Table 1. Default Configurations
-
-+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
-|Feature |default.action|basic.action |intermediate.action|advanced.action|
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|ad-filtering |? |x |x |x |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|blank image |? |x |x |x |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|de-animate GIFs |? |x |x |x |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|referer forging |? |x |x |x |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|jon's |? |x |x |x |
-|+no-cookies-keep | | | | |
-|(i.e. session | | | | |
-|cookies only) | | | | |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|no-popup windows |? | |x |x |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|fast redirects |? | |x |x |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|hide-referrer |? | |x |x |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|hide-useragent |? | |x |x |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|content-modification|? | | |x |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|feature-x |? | | | |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|feature-y |? | | | |
-|--------------------+--------------+--------------+-------------------+---------------|
-|feature-z |? | | | |
-+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-3.6. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not raise
+3.5. Why can I change the configuration with a browser? Does that not raise
security issues?
What I don't understand, is how I can browser edit the config file as a regular
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.7. What is "default.filter"?
+3.6. What is "default.filter"?
The "default.filter" file is used to "filter" any web page content. By
"filtering" we mean it can modify, remove, or change anything on the page,
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.8. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?
+3.7. How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN?
By default, Privoxy only responds to requests from localhost. To have it act as
a server for a network, this needs to be changed in the main config file where
and assign it the address of the LAN gateway interface, and port number to use:
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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.9. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
+3.8. Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see
anything.
This is a configuration option for images that Privoxy is stopping. You have
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.10. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
+3.9. Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?
This can be helpful for troubleshooting problems. It might also be good for
anyone new to Privoxy so that they can see if their favorite pages are
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.11. I see large red banners on some pages that say "Blocked". Why and how do
+3.10. I see large red banners on some pages that say "Blocked". Why and how do
I get rid of this?
These are URLs that match something in one of Privoxy's block actions (+block).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.12. I cannot see all of the "Blocked" page banner. All I see is a bright red
+3.11. I cannot see all of the "Blocked" page banner. All I see is a bright red
square.
There is not enough space to fit the entire page. Try right clicking on the
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.13. Can Privoxy run as a service on Win2K/NT?
+3.12. Can Privoxy run as a service on Win2K/NT?
Yes, it can run as a system service using srvany.exe. The only catch is that
this will effectively disable the Privoxy icon in the taskbar. You can have one
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3.14. How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies like Squid?
+3.13. How can I make Privoxy work with other proxies like Squid?
This can be done. See the user manual, which describes how to do this.
4.5. How can I submit new ads?
-Beginning with Privoxy v2.9.14, missed ads and banners and other actions file
-problems, can be submitted by accessing "actions file feedback system" from
-http://p.p/
+Please see the Contact section.
This process does not work with earlier versions of Privoxy or Junkbuster.
-There will soon be regularly updated actions files posted. These will be
-announced on the ijbswa-announce list.
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.6. How can I hide my IP address?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-5.4. Where can I get help? Report bugs? Feature Requests? Etc?
+5.4. What time is it?
-Feedback is encouraged, whether good, bad or ugly. Please see the contact page
-in the user-manual for details.
+Time for you to go!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-5.5. What time is it?
+7. Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
-Time for you to go!
+We value your feedback. However, to provide you with the best support, please
+note the following sections.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-7. Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
+7.1. Get Support
-We value your feedback. However, to provide you with the best support, please
-note:
+To get support, use the Sourceforge Support Forum:
- * Use the Sourceforge Support Forum to get help:
-
- http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=211118
-
-
- * Submit bugs only through our Sourceforge Bug Forum:
-
- http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=111118.
-
-
- Make sure that the bug has not already been submitted. Please try to verify
- that it is a Privoxy bug, and not a browser or site bug first. If you are
- using your own custom configuration, please try the stock configs to see if
- the problem is a configuration related bug. And if not using the latest
- development snapshot, please try the latest one. Or even better, CVS
- sources. Please be sure to include the Privoxy/Junkbuster version,
- platform, browser, any pertinent log data, any other relevant details
- (please be specific) and, if possible, some way to reproduce the bug.
+ http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=211118
- * Submit feature requests only through our Sourceforge feature request forum:
-
- http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=361118&group_id=11118&func=browse.
-
-
- * You can also send feedback on websites that Privoxy has problems with. Please bookmark
- the following link: "Privoxy - Submit Filter Feedback"
- . Once you surf to a page with problems, use the
- bookmark to send us feedback. We will look into the issue as soon as possible.
-
-
- * For any other issues, feel free to use the mailing lists:
-
- http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=11118.
-
-
- Anyone interested in actively participating in development and related
- discussions can also join the appropriate mailing list. Archives are
- available, too.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+7.2. Report bugs
+
+To submit bugs, use the Sourceforge Bug Forum:
+
+ http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=111118.
+
+
+Make sure that the bug has not already been submitted. Please try to verify
+that it is a Privoxy bug, and not a browser or site bug first. If you are using
+your own custom configuration, please try the stock configs to see if the
+problem is a configuration related bug. And if not using the latest development
+snapshot, please try the latest one. Or even better, CVS sources. Please be
+sure to include the Privoxy version, platform, browser, any pertinent log data,
+any other relevant details (please be specific) and, if possible, some way to
+reproduce the bug.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+7.3. Request new features
+
+To submit ideas on new features, use the Sourceforge feature request forum:
+
+ http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=361118&group_id=11118&func=browse.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+7.4. Report ads or other filter problems
+
+You can also send feedback on websites that Privoxy has problems with. Please
+bookmark the following link: "Privoxy - Submit Filter Feedback". Once you surf
+to a page with problems, use the bookmark to send us feedback. We will look
+into the issue as soon as possible.
+
+New, improved default.action files will occasionally be made available based on
+your feedback. These will be announced on the ijbswa-announce list.
+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+7.5. Other
+
+For any other issues, feel free to use the mailing lists:
+
+ http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=11118.
+
+
+Anyone interested in actively participating in development and related
+discussions can also join the appropriate mailing list. Archives are available,
+too. See the page on Sourceforge.
+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Copyright and History