1 <!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN" [
2 <!entity % dummy "IGNORE">
3 <!entity supported SYSTEM "supported.sgml">
4 <!entity newfeatures SYSTEM "newfeatures.sgml">
5 <!entity p-intro SYSTEM "privoxy.sgml">
6 <!entity seealso SYSTEM "seealso.sgml">
7 <!entity buildsource SYSTEM "buildsource.sgml">
8 <!entity contacting SYSTEM "contacting.sgml">
9 <!entity history SYSTEM "history.sgml">
10 <!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
11 <!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
12 <!entity p-authors SYSTEM "p-authors.sgml">
13 <!entity config SYSTEM "p-config.sgml">
14 <!entity p-version "3.0.9">
15 <!entity p-status "beta">
16 <!entity % p-authors-formal "INCLUDE"> <!-- include additional text, etc -->
17 <!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
18 <!entity % p-stable "IGNORE">
19 <!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
20 <!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
21 <!entity % p-readme "IGNORE">
22 <!entity % user-man "IGNORE">
23 <!entity % config-file "IGNORE">
24 <!entity % p-supp-userman "IGNORE"> <!-- Omit some from supported.sgml -->
25 <!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
26 <!entity % draft "IGNORE"> <!-- WIP stuff -->
27 <!entity my-app "<application>Privoxy</application>">
30 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
33 This file belongs into
34 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
36 $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.79 2008/06/27 18:00:53 markm68k Exp $
38 Copyright (C) 2001-2008 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
41 ========================================================================
42 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
43 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
44 ========================================================================
51 <title>Privoxy &p-version; User Manual</title>
55 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
56 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
57 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001 - 2008 by
58 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
62 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.79 2008/06/27 18:00:53 markm68k Exp $</pubdate>
66 Note: the following should generate a separate page, and a live link to it,
67 all nicely done. But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave
68 commented unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the
69 copyright/license declarations will be in their own sgml.
82 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
83 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
84 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
90 The <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
91 install, configure and use <ulink
92 url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>.
95 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
97 <!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
100 You can find the latest version of the <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> at <ulink
101 url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
102 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> on how to
103 contact the developers.
107 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
113 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
114 <sect1 label="1" id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
116 This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
117 <application>Privoxy</application>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
118 and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
119 time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
120 configuration files. Development of a new version is currently nearing
121 completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over
122 earlier versions. ]]>.
125 <!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
128 Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
129 documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
130 CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
135 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
136 <sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
138 In addition to the core
139 features of ad blocking and
140 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookie</ulink> management,
141 <application>Privoxy</application> provides many supplemental
142 features<![%p-not-stable;[, some of them currently under development]]>,
143 that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
145 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
147 <!-- end boilerplate -->
152 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
155 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
156 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
159 <application>Privoxy</application> is available both in convenient pre-compiled
160 packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
161 For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
162 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
168 On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if
169 found. (See below for your platform). In any case <emphasis>be sure to backup
170 your old configuration if it is valuable to you.</emphasis> See the <link
171 linkend="upgradersnote">note to upgraders</link> section below.
174 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
175 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
177 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
180 <!-- XXX: The installation sections should be sorted -->
182 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
183 <sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat and Fedora RPMs</title>
186 RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
187 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
188 of configuration files.
192 Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
193 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
194 need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
195 <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods.
199 If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
200 <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
201 will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
205 Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
206 on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
207 Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
208 automatically if found, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
212 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
213 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian and Ubuntu</title>
215 DEBs can be installed with <literal>apt-get install privoxy</literal>,
216 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of
221 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
222 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
225 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
226 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
227 in the same directory as you installed <application>Privoxy</application> in.
230 Version 3.0.5 beta introduced full <application>Windows</application> service
231 functionality. On Windows only, the <application>Privoxy</application>
232 program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
233 <application>Privoxy</application> as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>.
237 <term>Arguments:</term>
240 <replaceable class="parameter">--install</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
243 <replaceable class="parameter">--uninstall</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
249 After invoking <application>Privoxy</application> with
250 <command>--install</command>, you will need to bring up the
251 <application>Windows</application> service console to assign the user you
252 want <application>Privoxy</application> to run under, and whether or not you
253 want it to run whenever the system starts. You can start the
254 <application>Windows</application> services console with the following
255 command: <command>services.msc</command>. If you do not take the manual step
256 of modifying <application>Privoxy's</application> service settings, it will
257 not start. Note too that you will need to give Privoxy a user account that
258 actually exists, or it will not be permitted to
259 write to its log and configuration files.
264 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
265 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris <!--, NetBSD, HP-UX--></title>
268 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
269 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
270 things go. <!-- FIXME, more info needed? -->
274 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
275 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
278 First, make sure that no previous installations of
279 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
280 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
281 system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
282 or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
288 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
289 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
290 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
291 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
295 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
296 into will contain all of the configuration files.
300 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
301 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Mac OS X</title>
303 Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the zip file
304 icon from the Finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there).
305 Then, double-click on the package installer icon and follow the
306 installation process.
309 The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful
310 installation (in addition to every time your computer starts up). To
311 prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your
312 computer starts up, remove or rename the folder named
313 <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
316 To manually start or stop the privoxy service, use the Privoxy Utility
317 for Mac OS X. This application controls the privoxy service (e.g.
318 starting and stopping the service as well as uninstalling the software).
322 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
323 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
325 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
326 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
327 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
328 remove this directory.
332 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
333 <sect3 id="installation-tbz"><title>FreeBSD</title>
336 Privoxy is part of FreeBSD's Ports Collection, you can build and install
337 it with <literal>cd /usr/ports/www/privoxy; make install clean</literal>.
340 If you don't use the ports, you can fetch and install
341 the package with <literal>pkg_add -r privoxy</literal>.
344 The port skeleton and the package can also be downloaded from the
345 <ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">File Release
346 Page</ulink>, but there's no reason to use them unless you're interested in the
347 beta releases which are only available there.
351 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
352 <sect3 id="installattion-gentoo"><title>Gentoo</title>
354 Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for <application>Privoxy</application> are
355 contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page,
356 but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new
357 <application>Privoxy</application> Version is added to the Portage Tree).
360 Before installing <application>Privoxy</application> under Gentoo just do
361 first <literal>emerge rsync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
362 Portage tree. With <literal>emerge privoxy</literal> you install the latest
366 Configuration files are in <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename>, the
367 documentation is in <filename>/usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;</filename>
368 and the Log directory is in <filename>/var/log/privoxy</filename>.
374 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
375 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
378 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
379 is to download the source tarball from our
380 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&package_id=10571">project download
385 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
386 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
387 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
388 CVS repository</ulink>.
390 deprecated...out of business.
391 or simply download <ulink
392 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.bz2">the nightly CVS
397 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
399 <!-- end boilerplate -->
402 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
403 <sect2 id="installation-keepupdated"><title>Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date</title>
405 As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions
406 of both the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link> (as a <ulink
407 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&release_id=103670">separate
408 package</ulink>) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for
413 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
414 <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
415 url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
416 to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
420 In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
421 to the latest <literal>default.action</literal> file we <emphasis>strongly
422 recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> and
423 <literal>user.filter</literal> for your local
424 customizations of <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
425 linkend="actions-file">Chapter on actions files</link> for details.
433 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
435 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
436 <sect1 id="whatsnew">
437 <title>What's New in this Release</title>
439 There are many improvements and new features since <application>Privoxy 3.0.8</application>, the last stable release:
446 Added SOCKS5 support (with address resolution done by
447 the SOCKS5 server). Patch provided by Eric M. Hopper.
452 The "blocked" CGI pages include a block reason that was
453 provided as argument to the last-applying block action.
458 If enable-edit-actions is disabled (the default since 3.0.7 beta)
459 the show-status page hides the edit buttons and explains why.
460 Previously the user would get the "this feature has been disabled"
461 message after using the edit button.
466 Forbidden CONNECT requests are treated like blocks by default.
467 The now-pointless treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks action
473 Not enabling limit-connect now allows CONNECT requests to all ports.
474 In previous versions it would only allow CONNECT requests to port 443.
475 Use +limit-connect{443} if you think you need the old default behaviour.
480 The CGI editor gets turned off after three edit requests with invalid
481 file modification timestamps. This makes life harder for attackers
482 who can leverage browser bugs to send fake Referers and intend to
483 brute-force edit URLs.
488 Action settings for multiple patterns in the same section are
489 shared in memory. As a result these sections take up less space
490 (and are loaded slightly faster). Problem reported by Franz Schwartau.
495 Linear white space in HTTP headers will be normalized to single
496 spaces before parsing the header's content, headers split across
497 multiple lines get merged first.
502 Host information is gathered outside the main thread so it's less
503 likely to delay other incoming connections if the host is misconfigured.
508 New config option "hostname" to use a hostname other than
509 the one returned by the operating system. Useful to speed-up responses
510 for CGI requests on misconfigured systems. Requested by Max Khon.
515 The CGI editor supports the "disable all filters of this type"
516 directives "-client-header-filter", "-server-header-filter",
517 "-client-header-tagger" and "-server-header-tagger".
522 Fixed false-positives with the link-by-url filter and URLs that
523 contain the pattern "/jump/".
528 The less-download-windows filter no longer messes
529 "Content-Type: application/x-shockwave-flash" headers up.
534 In the show-url-info page's "Final results" section active and
535 inactive actions are listed separately. Patch provided by Lee.
540 The GNUmakefile supports the DESTDIR variable. Patch for
541 the install target submitted by Radoslaw Zielinski.
546 Embedding the content of configuration files in the show-status
547 page is significantly faster now. For a largish action file (1 MB)
548 a speedup of about 2450 times has been measured. This is mostly
549 interesting if you are using large action files or regularly use
550 Privoxy-Regression-Test while running Privoxy through Valgrind,
551 for stock configuration files it doesn't really matter.
556 If zlib support is unavailable and there are content
557 filters active but the prevent-compression action is disabled,
558 the show-url-info page includes a warning that compression
559 might prevent filtering.
564 The show-url-info page provides an OpenSearch Description that
565 allows to access the page through browser search plugins.
570 The obsolete kill-popups action has been removed as the
571 PCRS-based popup filters can do the same and are slightly
577 The inspect-jpegs action has been removed.
582 The send-wafer and send-vanilla-wafer actions have been removed.
583 They weren't particular useful and their behaviour could be emulated
584 with add-header anyway.
589 Privoxy-Regression-Test has been significantly improved.
594 Most sections in the default.action file contain tests for
595 Privoxy-Regression-Test to verify that they are working as intended.
600 Parts of Privoxy have been refactored to increase maintainability.
605 Building with zlib (if available) is done by default.
612 For a more detailed list of changes please have a look at the ChangeLog.
615 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
617 <sect2 id="upgradersnote">
618 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
621 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
622 versions of <application>Privoxy</application>:
630 The recommended way to upgrade &my-app; is to backup your old
631 configuration files, install the new ones, verify that &my-app;
632 is working correctly and finally merge back your changes using
633 <application>diff</application> and maybe <application>patch</application>.
636 There are a number of new features in each &my-app; release and
637 most of them have to be explicitly enabled in the configuration
638 files. Old configuration files obviously don't do that and due
639 to syntax changes using old configuration files with a new
640 &my-app; isn't always possible anyway.
645 Note that some installers remove earlier versions completely,
646 including configuration files, therefore you should really save
647 any important configuration files!
652 On the other hand, other installers don't overwrite existing configuration
653 files, thinking you will want to do that yourself.
658 <filename>standard.action</filename> now only includes the enabled actions.
659 Not all actions as before.
664 In the default configuration only fatal errors are logged now.
665 You can change that in the <link linkend="DEBUG">debug section</link>
666 of the configuration file. You may also want to enable more verbose
667 logging until you verified that the new &my-app; version is working
674 Three other config file settings are now off by default:
675 <link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link>,
676 <link linkend="enable-remote-http-toggle">enable-remote-http-toggle</link>,
677 and <link linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link>.
678 If you use or want these, you will need to explicitly enable them, and
679 be aware of the security issues involved.
685 The <quote>filter-client-headers</quote> and
686 <quote>filter-server-headers</quote> actions that were introduced with
687 <application>Privoxy 3.0.5</application> to apply content filters to
688 the headers have been removed and replaced with new actions.
690 linkend="whatsnew">What's New section</link> above.
698 What constitutes a <quote>default</quote> configuration has changed,
699 and you may want to review which actions are <quote>on</quote> by
700 default. This is primarily a matter of emphasis, but some features
701 you may have been used to, may now be <quote>off</quote> by default.
702 There are also a number of new actions and filters you may want to
703 consider, most of which are not fully incorporated into the default
704 settings as yet (see above).
711 The default actions setting is now <literal>Cautious</literal>. Previous
712 releases had a default setting of <literal>Medium</literal>. Experienced
713 users may want to adjust this, as it is fairly conservative by &my-app;
714 standards and past practices. See <ulink
715 url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
716 http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>. New users
717 should try the default settings for a while before turning up the volume.
723 The default setting has filtering turned <emphasis>off</emphasis>, which
724 subsequently means that compression is <emphasis>on</emphasis>. Remember
725 that filtering does not work on compressed pages, so if you use, or want to
726 use, filtering, you will need to force compression off. Example:
730 { +<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{google} +<link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link> }
734 Or if you use a number of filters, or filter many sites, you may just want
735 to turn off compression for all sites in
736 <filename>default.action</filename> (or
737 <filename>user.action</filename>).
744 Also, <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> is
745 off by default now. If you've liked this feature in the past, you may want
746 to turn it back on in <filename>user.action</filename> now.
753 Some installers may not automatically start
754 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
765 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
766 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using Privoxy</title>
772 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
773 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
780 Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
781 service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
782 linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
783 linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
790 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
791 not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
792 <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
798 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
799 HTTPS (SSL) <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>
800 by setting the proxy configuration for address of
801 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
802 <emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> activate proxying for <literal>FTP</literal> or
803 any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) unless you intend to prevent your
804 browser from using these protocols.
810 Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
811 If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage
812 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
813 you should remove any currently stored cookies too.
819 A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
820 most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
821 configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
822 to no initial configuration is required in most cases, you may want
824 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">web-based action editor</ulink> though.
825 Be sure to read the warnings first.
828 See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
829 configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
830 You might also want to look at the <link
831 linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
832 introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
839 If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are
840 blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
841 <application>Privoxy's</application> behavior, take a look at the <link
842 linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
843 find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
844 helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
845 url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
846 Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
847 Action</link></quote> has hints on how to understand and debug actions that
848 <quote>misbehave</quote>.
853 Did anyone test these lately?
857 For easy access to &my-app;'s most important controls, drag the provided
858 <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklets</link> into your browser's
866 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
867 Developers</link> on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get
874 Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
882 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
884 <sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
885 <title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
887 NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
888 want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
891 Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
892 array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
893 user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
896 This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
897 you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
898 information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
901 First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
902 more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
903 things that were not intended. And the more likely that some things
904 may not work as intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
905 extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
906 <quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
907 configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
908 not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
909 the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
910 default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
911 habits and preferences.
914 Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
915 <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
916 the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
917 some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
918 <application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
919 action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
920 <application>actions</application> in <application>Privoxy's</application>
921 arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. <link
922 linkend="actions">Actions</link>, and <link linkend="actions-file">action
923 configuration files</link>, are explained in depth below.
926 Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
927 followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
928 can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
929 wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
930 actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
933 When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
934 of the sections as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
935 or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
936 respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
937 pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
938 use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
939 original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
940 embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
941 or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
942 such embedded URLs. &my-app; can deal with each URL individually, so, for
943 instance, the main page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such
948 The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: <literal><link
949 linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
950 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
952 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal>,and
953 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
961 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this is perhaps
962 the single most used action, and is particularly important for ad blocking.
963 This action stops any contact between your browser and any URL patterns
964 that match this action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads,
965 but also anything that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply
966 stops any communication with the remote server and sends
967 <application>Privoxy</application>'s own built-in BLOCKED page instead to
968 let you now what has happened (with some exceptions, see below).
974 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
975 tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
976 <application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
977 for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
978 is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
979 important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
980 some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
981 <application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
982 a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
983 though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
984 an entire HTML page in most situations.
990 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> -
991 sends an empty document instead of <application>Privoxy's</application>
992 normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither
993 HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files.
1000 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> - tells
1001 <application>Privoxy</application> what to display in place of an ad image that
1002 has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
1003 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action somewhere in the
1004 configuration, <emphasis>and</emphasis>, it must also match an
1005 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action.
1008 The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
1012 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
1013 replacement is obvious. This is the default.
1018 <emphasis>blank</emphasis> - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
1019 This is the so-called <quote>invisible</quote> configuration option.
1024 <emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any image anywhere
1025 of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
1034 Advanced users will eventually want to explore &my-app;
1035 <literal><link linkend="filter">filters</link></literal> as well. Filters
1036 are very different from <literal><link
1037 linkend="block">blocks</link></literal>.
1038 A <quote>block</quote> blocks a site, page, or unwanted contented. Filters
1039 are a way of filtering or modifying what is actually on the page. An example
1040 filter usage: a text replacement of <quote>no-no</quote> for
1041 <quote>nasty-word</quote>. That is a very simple example. This process can be
1042 used for ad blocking, but it is more in the realm of advanced usage and has
1043 some pitfalls to be wary off.
1047 The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
1048 the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
1049 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1050 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
1051 is an internal page, and does not require Internet access.
1055 Note that as of <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta the
1056 action editor is disabled by default. Check the
1057 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions
1058 section in the configuration file</ulink> to learn why and in which
1059 cases it's safe to enable again.
1063 If you decided to enable the action editor, select the appropriate
1064 <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
1065 <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
1066 local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
1067 meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
1068 other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
1069 blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
1070 <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
1074 A quick and simple step by step example:
1082 Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
1083 <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
1091 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1096 Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
1097 on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
1100 <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
1102 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
1105 <imagedata fileref="files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
1108 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
1117 You should have a section with only
1118 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
1119 <quote>Actions:</quote>.
1120 If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
1121 button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
1122 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
1123 This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
1124 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
1125 in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
1126 just below the list.
1131 Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
1132 click the <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
1133 browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote>.
1134 Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
1135 <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
1136 <quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
1141 Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
1142 (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
1150 This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
1151 wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
1152 site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
1153 the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
1158 For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
1159 to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
1160 The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
1163 There are also various
1164 <link linkend="filter">filters</link> that can be used for ad blocking
1165 (filters are a special subset of actions). These
1166 fall into the <quote>advanced</quote> usage category, and are explained in
1167 depth in later sections.
1174 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1177 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1178 <sect1 id="startup">
1179 <title>Starting Privoxy</title>
1181 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
1182 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
1183 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)
1184 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>. The default is
1185 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
1186 used port 8000). This is the one configuration step <emphasis>that must be done
1190 Please note that <application>Privoxy</application> can only proxy HTTP and
1191 HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
1194 <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
1196 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1197 Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings</title>
1200 <imagedata fileref="proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
1203 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
1211 With <application>Firefox</application>, this is typically set under:
1215 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Network</guibutton> -><guibutton>Connection</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Settings</guibutton>
1220 Or optionally on some platforms:
1224 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>General</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connection Settings</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Manual Proxy Configuration</guibutton>
1230 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
1231 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
1236 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
1237 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
1238 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton> -> <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
1243 For <application>Internet Explorer v.5-7</application>:
1247 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Internet Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connections</guibutton> -> <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
1251 Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
1252 (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
1253 proxy support too (sometimes labeled <quote>Secure</quote>). Make sure any
1254 checkboxes like <quote>Use the same proxy server for all protocols</quote> is
1255 <emphasis>UNCHECKED</emphasis>. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
1258 <!-- image of IE Proxy configuration -->
1260 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1261 Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings</title>
1264 <imagedata fileref="proxy2.jpg" format="jpg">
1267 <phrase>[ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
1275 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
1276 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
1277 any <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
1278 if you want <application>Privoxy</application> to manage that. You are now
1279 ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
1280 <application>Privoxy</application>!
1284 <application>Privoxy</application> itself is typically started by specifying the
1285 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
1286 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
1287 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
1288 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
1291 <sect2 id="start-redhat">
1292 <title>Red Hat and Fedora</title>
1294 A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use
1295 the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
1300 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
1308 # service privoxy start
1313 <sect2 id="start-debian">
1314 <title>Debian</title>
1316 We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; upon booting per
1317 default. It will use the file
1318 <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
1323 # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1328 <sect2 id="start-windows">
1329 <title>Windows</title>
1331 Click on the &my-app; Icon to start <application>Privoxy</application>. If no configuration file is
1332 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
1333 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
1334 automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option
1338 <application>Privoxy</application> can run with full Windows service functionality.
1339 On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments
1340 to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
1341 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Windows Installation
1342 instructions</link> for details.
1346 <sect2 id="start-unices">
1347 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
1349 Example Unix startup command:
1353 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
1358 <sect2 id="start-os2">
1361 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
1362 start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
1363 double-clicking on the <application>Privoxy</application> icon in the
1364 <application>Privoxy</application> folder.
1368 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
1369 <title>Mac OS X</title>
1371 After downloading the privoxy software, unzip the downloaded file by
1372 double-clicking on the zip file icon. Then, double-click on the
1373 installer package icon and follow the installation process.
1376 The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful
1377 installation. In addition, the privoxy service will automatically
1378 start every time your computer starts up.
1381 To prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your
1382 computer starts up, remove or rename the folder named
1383 /Library/StartupItems/Privoxy.
1386 A simple application named Privoxy Utility has been created which
1387 enables administrators to easily start and stop the privoxy service.
1390 In addition, the Privoxy Utility presents a simple way for
1391 administrators to edit the various privoxy config files. A method
1392 to uninstall the software is also available.
1395 An administrator username and password must be supplied in order for
1396 the Privoxy Utility to perform any of the tasks.
1401 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
1402 <title>AmigaOS</title>
1404 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
1405 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
1406 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
1407 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
1408 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
1409 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
1410 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
1414 <sect2 id="start-gentoo">
1415 <title>Gentoo</title>
1417 A script is again used. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config
1418 </filename> as its main configuration file.
1422 /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1426 Note that <application>Privoxy</application> is not automatically started at
1427 boot time by default. You can change this with the <literal>rc-update</literal>
1432 rc-update add privoxy default
1440 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
1444 must find a better place for this paragraph
1447 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
1448 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
1449 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
1450 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
1451 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
1452 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
1456 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
1457 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
1458 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
1459 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
1460 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
1461 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
1462 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
1463 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
1464 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
1468 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
1469 sites is the popup-killing (through <ulink
1470 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>),
1471 because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
1472 popups (explained below).
1476 <application>Privoxy</application> does not support all of the optional HTTP/1.1
1477 features yet. In the unlikely event that you experience inexplicable problems
1478 with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
1479 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
1480 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
1481 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
1482 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
1483 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
1484 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
1488 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
1489 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
1490 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
1491 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
1492 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
1493 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1494 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1495 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
1496 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
1500 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
1501 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
1502 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
1503 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
1504 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
1505 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
1506 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
1510 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
1511 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
1512 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
1513 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
1514 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
1515 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
1520 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <link
1521 linkend="actions-file">read more about the actions concept</link>
1522 or even dive deep into the <link linkend="actionsanat">Appendix
1527 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
1528 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
1529 section <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
1530 Developers</quote></link> below.
1535 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1536 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
1537 <title>Command Line Options</title>
1539 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
1540 command-line options:
1548 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
1551 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
1556 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
1559 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
1564 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
1567 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
1568 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
1573 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
1576 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
1577 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
1578 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
1579 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
1584 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
1587 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
1588 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
1589 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
1594 <emphasis>--chroot</emphasis>
1597 Before changing to the user ID given in the <emphasis>--user</emphasis> option,
1598 chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
1599 process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
1600 the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy.
1606 <emphasis>--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname</emphasis>
1609 Specifies a hostname to look up before doing a chroot. On some systems, initializing the
1610 resolver library involves reading config files from /etc and/or loading additional shared
1611 libraries from /lib. On these systems, doing a hostname lookup before the chroot reduces
1612 the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree.
1615 For fastest startup speed, a good value is a hostname that is not in /etc/hosts but that
1616 your local name server (listed in /etc/resolv.conf) can resolve without recursion
1617 (that is, without having to ask any other name servers). The hostname need not exist,
1618 but if it doesn't, an error message (which can be ignored) will be output.
1624 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
1627 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
1628 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
1629 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
1630 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
1631 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
1632 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
1640 On <application>MS Windows</application> only there are two additional
1641 command-line options to allow <application>Privoxy</application> to install and
1642 run as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>. See the
1643 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Window Installation section</link>
1651 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1654 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1655 <sect1 id="configuration"><title>Privoxy Configuration</title>
1657 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
1658 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
1659 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
1660 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
1664 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1667 <title>Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser</title>
1669 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
1670 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1671 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1672 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
1673 You will see the following section:
1677 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
1680 <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
1684 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
1687 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
1690 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
1693 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
1696 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
1699 ▪ <ulink
1700 url="http://www.privoxy.org/&p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
1708 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
1709 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
1710 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
1711 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
1712 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
1713 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
1717 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
1718 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
1719 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
1720 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
1721 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
1722 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
1723 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
1724 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
1729 Note that several of the features described above are disabled by default
1730 in <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta and later.
1732 <ulink url="config.html">configuration file</ulink> to learn why
1733 and in which cases it's safe to enable them again.
1738 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1743 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1745 <sect2 id="confoverview">
1746 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
1748 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
1749 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
1750 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
1751 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
1752 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
1753 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
1757 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
1758 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
1759 principle configuration files are:
1767 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
1768 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
1769 on Windows. This is a required file.
1775 <filename>default.action</filename> (the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>)
1776 is used to define which <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
1777 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many
1778 exceptions (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
1779 <application>Privoxy</application> to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on
1780 as many websites as possible.
1783 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
1784 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
1785 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
1786 <filename>default.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
1787 to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in
1788 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can preserve them across
1789 upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is only for
1790 <application>Privoxy's</application> internal use.
1793 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
1795 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1797 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
1798 various actions files.
1804 <quote>Filter files</quote> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
1805 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
1806 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
1807 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
1808 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
1809 <filename>default.filter</filename> includes various filters made
1810 available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
1811 others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
1812 filter files in <filename>config</filename> as you can with
1813 actions files. We suggest <filename>user.filter</filename> for any
1814 locally defined filters or customizations.
1822 The syntax of the configuration and filter files may change between different
1823 Privoxy versions, unfortunately some enhancements cost backwards compatibility.
1824 <!-- Add link to documentation-->
1828 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
1829 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
1830 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
1831 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
1832 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
1833 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
1834 out" that line. Blank lines are ignored.
1838 The actions files and filter files
1839 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
1840 maximum flexibility.
1844 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
1845 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
1846 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
1847 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
1848 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
1849 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
1850 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
1855 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
1856 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
1857 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
1858 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
1864 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1867 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1869 <!-- **************************************************** -->
1870 <!-- Include config.sgml here -->
1871 <!-- This is where the entire config file is detailed. -->
1873 <!-- end include -->
1876 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1880 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1882 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
1885 The actions files are used to define what <emphasis>actions</emphasis>
1886 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determines
1887 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
1888 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof).
1889 There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
1890 Each action does something a little different.
1891 These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
1892 our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that
1893 their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.
1897 are three action files included with <application>Privoxy</application> with
1905 <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
1906 that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
1907 provide a base level of functionality for
1908 <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
1909 a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well as-is for most users.
1910 This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and <link
1911 linkend="installation-keepupdated">making available to users</link>.
1912 The user's preferences as set in <filename>standard.action</filename>,
1913 e.g. either <literal>Cautious</literal> (the default),
1914 <literal>Medium</literal>, or <literal>Advanced</literal> (see
1920 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
1921 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
1922 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
1923 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
1928 <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used only by the web based editor
1929 at <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
1930 http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>,
1931 to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
1932 in <filename>default.action</filename>.
1935 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Cautious</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Medium</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Advanced</guibutton>
1938 These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no
1939 influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
1940 editor</emphasis>. A default installation should be pre-set to
1941 <literal>Cautious</literal> (versions prior to 3.0.5 were set to
1942 <literal>Medium</literal>). New users should try this for a while before
1943 adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
1944 the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
1945 not working as they should.
1948 The <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button allows you to turn each
1949 action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <guibutton>Cautious</guibutton>
1950 button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
1951 ad blocking and a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently
1952 there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
1953 <guibutton>Medium</guibutton> button sets the list to a medium level of
1954 other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
1955 <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> button sets the list to a high level of
1956 ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter
1957 three buttons over-ride any changes via with the
1958 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
1959 lower sections of this internal page.
1962 It is not recommend to edit the <filename>standard.action</filename> file
1966 The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
1967 <filename>standard.action</filename> are:
1970 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
1971 <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
1972 <colspec colname=c1>
1973 <colspec colname=c2>
1974 <colspec colname=c3>
1975 <colspec colname=c4>
1978 <entry>Feature</entry>
1979 <entry>Cautious</entry>
1980 <entry>Medium</entry>
1981 <entry>Advanced</entry>
1986 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
1987 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
1988 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
1989 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
1995 <entry>Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</entry>
1996 <entry>medium</entry>
2002 <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
2009 <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
2015 <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
2016 <entry>blocks only</entry>
2017 <entry>blocks only</entry>
2018 <entry>blocks only</entry>
2022 <entry>Privacy Features</entry>
2024 <entry>medium</entry>
2025 <entry>medium/high</entry>
2029 <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
2031 <entry>session-only</entry>
2036 <entry>Referer forging</entry>
2044 <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
2052 <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
2059 <entry>HTML taming</entry>
2066 <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
2073 <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
2080 <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
2096 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
2097 file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
2098 <filename>default.action</filename> is typically processed before
2099 <filename>user.action</filename>). The content of these can all be viewed and
2101 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2102 The over-riding principle when applying actions, is that the last action that
2103 matches a given URL wins. The broadest, most general rules go first
2104 (defined in <filename>default.action</filename>),
2105 followed by any exceptions (typically also in
2106 <filename>default.action</filename>), which are then followed lastly by any
2107 local preferences (typically in <emphasis>user</emphasis><filename>.action</filename>).
2108 Generally, <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word.
2112 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
2113 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
2114 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
2115 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
2116 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
2117 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
2118 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
2119 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
2120 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
2121 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
2122 with the advantage that it is a separate file, which makes preserving your
2123 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
2127 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
2128 just some obnoxious URL whose content you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
2129 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
2130 written to disk), content can be modified, some JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
2131 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
2135 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2137 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
2139 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
2140 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
2141 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
2142 certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring
2143 refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that the more
2144 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
2145 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
2146 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per
2147 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
2148 regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe
2149 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
2153 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
2154 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
2155 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
2156 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
2160 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2162 <title>How to Edit</title>
2164 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
2165 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
2166 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2167 Note: the config file option <link
2168 linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link> must be enabled for
2169 this to work. The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single
2170 feature on a per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults
2171 like <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or
2172 <quote>Advanced</quote>. Warning: the <quote>Advanced</quote> setting is more
2173 aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites.
2174 Experienced users only!
2178 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
2179 the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at
2180 <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly commented with many
2186 <sect2 id="actions-apply">
2187 <title>How Actions are Applied to Requests</title>
2189 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
2190 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
2191 be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
2192 heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
2193 of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
2194 Below that, there is a list of URL and tag patterns, each on a separate line.
2198 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
2199 compared to all URL patterns in each <quote>action file</quote>.
2200 Every time it matches, the list of applicable actions for the request is
2201 incrementally updated, using the heading of the section in which the
2202 pattern is located. The same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on.
2206 If multiple applying sections set the same action differently,
2207 the last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated.
2208 E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading line of <literal>{
2209 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> }</literal>,
2210 then later another one with just <literal>{
2211 +<link linkend="block">block</link> }</literal>, resulting
2212 in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply. And there may well be
2213 cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
2219 { +<literal>handle-as-image</literal> +<literal>block{Banner ads.}</literal> }
2220 # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
2222 media.example.com/.*banners
2223 .example.com/images/ads/</screen>
2227 You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by visiting <ulink
2228 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
2232 Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
2233 Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</link> section.
2237 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2238 <sect2 id="af-patterns">
2239 <title>Patterns</title>
2241 As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
2242 to determine what <emphasis>actions</emphasis> might apply to which sites and
2243 pages your browser attempts to access. These <quote>patterns</quote> use wild
2244 card type <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> matching to achieve a high degree of
2245 flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
2246 against many similar patterns.
2250 Generally, an URL pattern has the form
2251 <literal><domain>/<path></literal>, where both the
2252 <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal> are
2253 optional. (This is why the special <literal>/</literal> pattern matches all
2254 URLs). Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g.
2255 <literal>http://</literal>) should <emphasis>not</emphasis> be included in
2256 the pattern. This is assumed already!
2259 The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of
2260 the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
2261 while the path part uses more flexible
2262 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2263 Expressions</quote></ulink> (POSIX 1003.2).
2268 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
2271 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2272 regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in
2273 this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
2274 simple <literal>example.com</literal> is different and would NOT match.
2279 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
2282 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
2288 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html$</literal></term>
2291 matches all the documents on <literal>www.example.com</literal>
2292 whose name starts with <literal>/index.html</literal>.
2297 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html$</literal></term>
2300 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
2301 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
2306 <term><literal>/index.html$</literal></term>
2309 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
2310 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server anywhere.
2315 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
2318 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
2319 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>. So its
2327 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2328 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
2331 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
2332 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
2338 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
2341 matches any domain with first-level domain <literal>com</literal>
2342 and second-level domain <literal>example</literal>.
2343 For example <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2344 <literal>example.com</literal> and <literal>foo.bar.baz.example.com</literal>.
2345 Note that it wouldn't match if the second-level domain was <literal>another-example</literal>.
2350 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
2353 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
2354 <literal>www.</literal> (It also matches the domain
2355 <literal>www</literal> but most of the time that doesn't matter.)
2360 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
2363 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>.
2364 And, by the way, also included would be any files or documents that exist
2365 within that domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly
2366 speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as
2367 a domain.) This might be <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2368 <literal>news.example.de</literal>, or
2369 <literal>www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</literal> for instance. All these
2377 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
2378 themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
2379 <quote>*</quote> represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
2381 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2382 Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax of <quote>.*</quote>),
2383 <quote>?</quote> represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
2384 regular expression syntax of a simple <quote>.</quote>), and you can define
2385 <quote>character classes</quote> in square brackets which is similar to
2386 the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:
2391 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2394 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
2395 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
2400 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2403 matches all of the above, and then some.
2408 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
2411 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
2412 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
2417 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
2420 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
2421 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
2422 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
2423 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
2430 While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax.
2435 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2438 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2439 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
2442 <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>modern</quote> POSIX 1003.2
2443 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2444 Expressions</quote></ulink> for matching the path portion (after the slash),
2445 and is thus more flexible.
2449 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
2450 expressions, you also might want to have a look at your operating system's documentation
2451 on regular expressions (try <literal>man re_format</literal>).
2455 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
2456 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
2457 for the beginning of a line).
2461 Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
2462 by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
2463 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
2464 only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
2465 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
2470 <term><literal>.example.com/.*</literal></term>
2473 Is equivalent to just <quote>.example.com</quote>, since any documents
2474 within that domain are matched with or without the <quote>.*</quote>
2475 regular expression. This is redundant
2480 <term><literal>.example.com/.*/index.html$</literal></term>
2483 Will match any page in the domain of <quote>example.com</quote> that is
2484 named <quote>index.html</quote>, and that is part of some path. For
2485 example, it matches <quote>www.example.com/testing/index.html</quote> but
2486 NOT <quote>www.example.com/index.html</quote> because the regular
2487 expression called for at least two <quote>/'s</quote>, thus the path
2488 requirement. It also would match
2489 <quote>www.example.com/testing/index_html</quote>, because of the
2490 special meta-character <quote>.</quote>.
2495 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$</literal></term>
2498 This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page
2499 named <quote>index.html</quote> regardless of path which in this case can
2500 have one or more <quote>/'s</quote>. And this one must contain exactly
2501 <quote>.html</quote> (but does not have to end with that!).
2506 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</literal></term>
2509 This regular expression will match any path of <quote>example.com</quote>
2510 that contains any of the words <quote>ads</quote>, <quote>banner</quote>,
2511 <quote>banners</quote> (because of the <quote>?</quote>) or <quote>junk</quote>.
2512 The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
2517 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</literal></term>
2520 This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
2521 <quote>.jpg</quote>, <quote>.jpeg</quote>, <quote>.gif</quote> or <quote>.png</quote>. So this
2522 one is limited to common image formats.
2529 There are many, many good examples to be found in <filename>default.action</filename>,
2530 and more tutorials below in <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>.
2535 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2538 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2539 <sect3 id="tag-pattern"><title>The Tag Pattern</title>
2542 Tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the
2543 request's tags. Tags can be created with either the
2544 <link linkend="CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER">client-header-tagger</link>
2545 or the <link linkend="SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER">server-header-tagger</link> action.
2549 Tag patterns have to start with <quote>TAG:</quote>, so &my-app;
2550 can tell them apart from URL patterns. Everything after the colon
2551 including white space, is interpreted as a regular expression with
2552 path pattern syntax, except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored
2553 automatically (&my-app; doesn't silently add a <quote>^</quote>,
2554 you have to do it yourself if you need it).
2558 To match all requests that are tagged with <quote>foo</quote>
2559 your pattern line should be <quote>TAG:^foo$</quote>,
2560 <quote>TAG:foo</quote> would work as well, but it would also
2561 match requests whose tags contain <quote>foo</quote> somewhere.
2562 <quote>TAG: foo</quote> wouldn't work as it requires white space.
2566 Sections can contain URL and tag patterns at the same time,
2567 but tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus
2568 always overrule them, even if they are located before the URL patterns.
2572 Once a new tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's matched by one
2573 of the tag patterns and updates the action settings accordingly. As a result
2574 tags can be used to activate other tagger actions, as long as these other
2575 taggers look for headers that haven't already be parsed.
2579 For example you could tag client requests which use the
2580 <literal>POST</literal> method,
2581 then use this tag to activate another tagger that adds a tag if cookies
2582 are sent, and then use a block action based on the cookie tag. This allows
2583 the outcome of one action, to be input into a subsequent action. However if
2584 you'd reverse the position of the described taggers, and activated the
2585 method tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method tags would be created.
2586 The method tagger would look for the request line, but at the time
2587 the cookie tag is created, the request line has already been parsed.
2591 While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of
2592 indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't
2593 make too much sense.
2600 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2603 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2605 <sect2 id="actions">
2606 <title>Actions</title>
2608 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
2609 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
2610 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
2611 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
2612 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
2613 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
2614 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
2615 previously applied.</quote>
2620 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
2621 separated by whitespace, like in
2622 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
2623 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
2624 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
2625 of the actions file.
2629 Actions fall into three categories:
2636 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
2637 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
2641 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
2642 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
2645 Example: <literal>+handle-as-image</literal>
2652 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
2657 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
2658 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
2659 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
2662 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
2663 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
2666 Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070602 Firefox/2.0.0.4}</literal>
2672 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
2673 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
2674 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
2675 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
2676 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
2677 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
2681 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
2682 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
2683 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
2684 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
2687 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
2688 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
2696 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
2697 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
2698 normal, non-blocking, non-filtering proxy. You must specifically enable the
2699 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
2700 files will give a good starting point).
2704 Later defined action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the same type.
2705 So exceptions to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
2706 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such
2707 as <filename>user.action</filename>). For multi-valued actions, the actions
2708 are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are processed in
2709 the order they are defined in <filename>config</filename> (the default
2710 installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any given
2711 URL to match more than one <quote>pattern</quote> (because of wildcards and
2712 regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last
2716 <!-- start actions listing -->
2718 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
2722 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2723 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
2724 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
2726 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2729 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2731 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
2732 <title>add-header</title>
2736 <term>Typical use:</term>
2738 <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
2743 <term>Effect:</term>
2746 Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
2753 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2755 <para>Multi-value.</para>
2760 <term>Parameter:</term>
2763 Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
2764 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
2774 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
2775 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
2776 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
2783 <term>Example usage:</term>
2786 <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
2794 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2795 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
2796 <title>block</title>
2800 <term>Typical use:</term>
2802 <para>Block ads or other unwanted content</para>
2807 <term>Effect:</term>
2810 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
2811 requests are trapped by &my-app; and the requested URL is never retrieved,
2812 but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
2814 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2816 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>, and
2818 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> actions.
2826 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2828 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2833 <term>Parameter:</term>
2835 <para>A block reason that should be given to the user.</para>
2843 <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
2844 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains the block reason given as
2845 parameter, a link to find out why the block action applies, and a click-through
2846 to the blocked content (the latter only if the force feature is available and
2850 A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
2851 <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2852 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
2853 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
2854 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
2855 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
2858 It is important to understand this process, in order
2859 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
2860 ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
2861 upon which various other features depend.
2864 The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
2865 action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
2866 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
2867 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
2868 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
2874 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2877 <screen>{+block{No nasty stuff for you.}}
2878 # Block and replace with "blocked" page
2879 .nasty-stuff.example.com
2881 {+block{Doubleclick banners.} +handle-as-image}
2882 # Block and replace with image
2886 {+block{Layered ads.} +handle-as-empty-document}
2887 # Block and then ignore
2888 adserver.example.net/.*\.js$</screen>
2898 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2899 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-filter">
2900 <title>client-header-filter</title>
2904 <term>Typical use:</term>
2907 Rewrite or remove single client headers.
2913 <term>Effect:</term>
2916 All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
2917 the specified regular expression based substitutions.
2924 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2926 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2931 <term>Parameter:</term>
2934 The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the
2935 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
2944 Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
2945 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
2946 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
2947 You can do that by using tags though.
2950 Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
2951 and use their output as input.
2954 If the request URL gets changed, &my-app; will detect that and use the new
2955 one. This can be used to rewrite the request destination behind the client's
2956 back, for example to specify a Tor exit relay for certain requests.
2959 Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
2960 to learn which client-header filters are available by default, and how to
2968 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2972 # Hide Tor exit notation in Host and Referer Headers
2973 {+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
2984 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2985 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-tagger">
2986 <title>client-header-tagger</title>
2990 <term>Typical use:</term>
2993 Block requests based on their headers.
2999 <term>Effect:</term>
3002 Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
3003 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
3011 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3013 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3018 <term>Parameter:</term>
3021 The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the
3022 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
3031 Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
3032 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
3036 Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed
3037 and their tags can be used to control every other action.
3043 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3047 # Tag every request with the User-Agent header
3048 {+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
3051 # Tagging itself doesn't change the action
3052 # settings, sections with TAG patterns do:
3054 # If it's a download agent, use a different forwarding proxy,
3055 # show the real User-Agent and make sure resume works.
3056 {+forward-override{forward-socks5 10.0.0.2:2222 .} \
3057 -hide-if-modified-since \
3058 -overwrite-last-modified \
3063 TAG:^User-Agent: NetBSD-ftp/
3064 TAG:^User-Agent: Novell ZYPP Installer
3065 TAG:^User-Agent: RPM APT-HTTP/
3066 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/
3067 TAG:^User-Agent: Ubuntu APT-HTTP/
3068 TAG:^User-Agent: MPlayer/
3078 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3079 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="content-type-overwrite">
3080 <title>content-type-overwrite</title>
3084 <term>Typical use:</term>
3086 <para>Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode</para>
3091 <term>Effect:</term>
3094 Replaces the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header.
3101 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3103 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3108 <term>Parameter:</term>
3120 The <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header is used by the
3121 browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this
3122 header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of
3123 displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is
3124 supported by the browser.
3127 The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
3128 the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <quote>text/html</quote>,
3129 many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
3130 If it is send as <quote>application/xml</quote>, browsers with
3131 XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
3134 If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
3135 <quote>Content-Type: text/html</quote>, you can use &my-app;
3136 to overwrite it with <quote>application/xml</quote> and validate
3137 the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
3138 If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
3141 You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints
3142 error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared
3143 as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
3144 <quote>text/html</quote> and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
3147 By default <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal> only replaces
3148 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> headers that look like some kind of text.
3149 If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
3150 <literal><link linkend="force-text-mode">force-text-mode</link></literal>.
3151 This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
3154 Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom
3155 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
3156 It allows you to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
3157 only replace the content types you aimed at.
3160 Of course you can apply <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal>
3161 to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
3162 more work to get the same precision.
3168 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
3171 <screen># Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
3172 { +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
3175 # but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
3176 {-content-type-overwrite}
3177 www.example.net/.*\.css$
3178 www.example.net/.*style
3187 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3188 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-client-header">
3192 <title>crunch-client-header</title>
3196 <term>Typical use:</term>
3198 <para>Remove a client header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
3203 <term>Effect:</term>
3206 Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
3213 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3215 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3220 <term>Parameter:</term>
3232 This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
3233 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists.
3234 <application>Privoxy</application> will remove every client header that
3235 contains the string you supplied as parameter.
3238 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
3239 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
3240 they contain the same string.
3243 <literal>crunch-client-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
3244 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
3245 parts of them, you should use a
3246 <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header filter</link></literal>.
3250 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
3257 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3260 <screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
3261 { +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
3271 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3272 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-if-none-match">
3273 <title>crunch-if-none-match</title>
3279 <term>Typical use:</term>
3281 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
3286 <term>Effect:</term>
3289 Deletes the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header.
3296 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3298 <para>Boolean.</para>
3303 <term>Parameter:</term>
3315 Removing the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header
3316 is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
3317 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote> which
3318 would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
3321 It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
3322 replacement (unlikely but possible).
3325 Blocking the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> header shouldn't cause any
3326 caching problems, as long as the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> header
3327 isn't blocked or missing as well.
3330 It is recommended to use this action together with
3331 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
3333 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>.
3339 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3342 <screen># Let the browser revalidate cached documents but don't
3343 # allow the server to use the revalidation headers for user tracking.
3344 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
3345 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
3346 +crunch-if-none-match}
3355 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3356 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
3357 <title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
3361 <term>Typical use:</term>
3364 Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your system
3370 <term>Effect:</term>
3373 Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
3380 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3382 <para>Boolean.</para>
3387 <term>Parameter:</term>
3399 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
3400 <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
3401 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
3402 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
3405 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3406 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3407 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
3408 <literal><link linkend="filter-content-cookies">filter-content-cookies</link></literal>.
3414 <term>Example usage:</term>
3417 <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
3425 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3426 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-server-header">
3427 <title>crunch-server-header</title>
3433 <term>Typical use:</term>
3435 <para>Remove a server header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
3440 <term>Effect:</term>
3443 Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
3450 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3452 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3457 <term>Parameter:</term>
3469 This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
3470 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists. <application>Privoxy</application>
3471 will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
3474 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
3475 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
3476 they contain the same string.
3479 <literal>crunch-server-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
3480 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
3481 parts of them, you should use a custom
3482 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
3486 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
3493 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3496 <screen># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
3497 { +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
3506 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3507 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
3508 <title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
3512 <term>Typical use:</term>
3515 Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from your system
3521 <term>Effect:</term>
3524 Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
3531 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3533 <para>Boolean.</para>
3538 <term>Parameter:</term>
3550 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
3551 <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
3552 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
3553 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
3556 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3557 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3558 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
3564 <term>Example usage:</term>
3567 <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
3576 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3577 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
3578 <title>deanimate-gifs</title>
3582 <term>Typical use:</term>
3584 <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
3589 <term>Effect:</term>
3592 De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
3599 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3601 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3606 <term>Parameter:</term>
3609 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
3618 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
3619 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
3620 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
3621 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
3622 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
3623 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
3626 You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
3627 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
3634 <term>Example usage:</term>
3637 <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
3644 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3645 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
3646 <title>downgrade-http-version</title>
3650 <term>Typical use:</term>
3652 <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
3657 <term>Effect:</term>
3660 Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
3667 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3669 <para>Boolean.</para>
3674 <term>Parameter:</term>
3686 This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
3687 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
3688 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
3689 out there. Not all HTTP/1.1 features and requirements are supported yet,
3690 so there is a chance you might need this action.
3696 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3699 <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
3700 problem-host.example.com</screen>
3708 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3709 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
3710 <title>fast-redirects</title>
3714 <term>Typical use:</term>
3716 <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.</para>
3721 <term>Effect:</term>
3724 Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting
3725 the redirection server first.
3732 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3734 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3739 <term>Parameter:</term>
3744 <quote>simple-check</quote> to just search for the string <quote>http://</quote>
3745 to detect redirection URLs.
3750 <quote>check-decoded-url</quote> to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching
3751 for redirection URLs.
3762 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
3763 will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
3764 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
3765 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
3766 <quote>http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/</quote>.
3769 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
3770 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
3771 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
3772 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
3773 browser asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
3777 This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
3778 If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
3779 this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
3782 Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil.
3783 Some sites offer a real service that requires this information to work.
3784 For example a validation service needs to know, which document to validate.
3785 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> assumes that every URL parameter that
3786 looks like another URL is a redirection target, and will always redirect to
3787 the last one. Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't,
3788 the user gets redirected anyway.
3791 Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter.
3793 <quote>http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
3794 contains the redirection URL <quote>http://www.example.net/</quote>,
3795 followed by another parameter. <literal>fast-redirects</literal> doesn't know that
3796 and will cause a redirect to <quote>http://www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
3797 Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
3798 or lead to a <quote>page not found</quote> error. You can prevent this problem by
3799 first using the <literal><link linkend="redirect">redirect</link></literal> action
3800 to remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort.
3803 To detect a redirection URL, <literal>fast-redirects</literal> only
3804 looks for the string <quote>http://</quote>, either in plain text
3805 (invalid but often used) or encoded as <quote>http%3a//</quote>.
3806 Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the address
3807 of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses cases
3808 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> is fooled and the request reaches the
3809 redirection server where it probably gets logged.
3815 <term>Example usage:</term>
3819 { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
3822 { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
3823 another.example.com/testing</screen>
3832 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3833 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
3834 <title>filter</title>
3838 <term>Typical use:</term>
3840 <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
3841 do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.</para>
3846 <term>Effect:</term>
3849 All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
3850 this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular
3851 expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents
3852 are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
3853 <literal>text/plain</literal> MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
3860 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3862 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3867 <term>Parameter:</term>
3870 The name of a content filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>.
3871 Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
3872 <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
3873 option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>.
3874 <filename>default.filter</filename> is the collection of filters
3875 supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
3876 in their own file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>.
3879 When used in its negative form,
3880 and without parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> filtering is completely disabled.
3889 For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
3890 in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
3894 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
3895 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
3896 passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
3897 since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
3898 noticeable on slower connections.
3901 <quote>Rolling your own</quote>
3902 filters requires a knowledge of
3903 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
3904 Expressions</quote></ulink> and
3905 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"><quote>HTML</quote></ulink>.
3906 This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
3907 Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent
3908 <quote>action</quote> is not available.
3911 The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
3912 <literal><link linkend="buffer-limit">buffer-limit</link></literal>
3913 option in the main <link linkend="config">config file</link>. The
3914 default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
3915 data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
3918 Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
3919 (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data
3920 (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate
3921 the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might
3922 be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering
3923 by defining appropriate <literal>-filter</literal> exceptions.
3926 Compressed content can't be filtered either, unless &my-app;
3927 is compiled with zlib support (requires at least &my-app; 3.0.7),
3928 in which case &my-app; will decompress the content before filtering
3932 If you use a &my-app; version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on
3933 as much documents as possible, even those that would normally be sent compressed,
3934 you must use the <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
3935 action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
3938 Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
3939 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
3940 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
3941 works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
3942 based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
3946 <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or
3947 improved filters is particularly welcome!
3950 The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
3951 predefined filter. There are <link linkend="predefined-filters">more
3952 verbose explanations</link> of what these filters do in the <link
3953 linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>.
3959 <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file).
3960 See <link linkend="PREDEFINED-FILTERS">the Predefined Filters section</link> for
3961 more explanation on each:</term>
3964 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
3965 <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.</screen>
3968 <anchor id="filter-js-events">
3969 <screen>+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings and timers (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites).</screen>
3972 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
3973 <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</screen>
3976 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
3977 <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content.</screen>
3980 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
3981 <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups).</screen>
3984 <anchor id="filter-unsolicited-popups">
3985 <screen>+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
3988 <anchor id="filter-all-popups">
3989 <screen>+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
3992 <anchor id="filter-img-reorder">
3993 <screen>+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective.</screen>
3996 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
3997 <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size.</screen>
4000 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-link">
4001 <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers.</screen>
4004 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
4005 <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking).</screen>
4008 <anchor id="filter-tiny-textforms">
4009 <screen>+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap.</screen>
4012 <anchor id="filter-jumping-windows">
4013 <screen>+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves.</screen>
4016 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
4017 <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizable.</screen>
4020 <anchor id="filter-demoronizer">
4021 <screen>+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets.</screen>
4024 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
4025 <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects.</screen>
4028 <anchor id="filter-quicktime-kioskmode">
4029 <screen>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies saveable.</screen>
4032 <anchor id="filter-fun">
4033 <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
4036 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
4037 <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering. Note that this filter doesn't work reliably.</screen>
4040 <anchor id="filter-ie-exploits">
4041 <screen>+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits.</screen>
4044 <anchor id="filter-site-specifics">
4045 <screen>+filter{site-specifics} # Cure for site-specific problems. Don't apply generally!</screen>
4048 <anchor id="filter-no-ping">
4049 <screen>+filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes in <a> and <area> tags.</screen>
4052 <anchor id="filter-google">
4053 <screen>+filter{google} # CSS-based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation and the toolbar advertisement.</screen>
4056 <anchor id="filter-yahoo">
4057 <screen>+filter{yahoo} # CSS-based block for Yahoo text ads. Also removes a width limitation.</screen>
4060 <anchor id="filter-msn">
4061 <screen>+filter{msn} # CSS-based block for MSN text ads. Also removes tracking URLs and a width limitation.</screen>
4064 <anchor id="filter-blogspot">
4065 <screen>+filter{blogspot} # Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this.</screen>
4073 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4074 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="force-text-mode">
4075 <title>force-text-mode</title>
4081 <term>Typical use:</term>
4083 <para>Force <application>Privoxy</application> to treat a document as if it was in some kind of <emphasis>text</emphasis> format. </para>
4088 <term>Effect:</term>
4091 Declares a document as text, even if the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> isn't detected as such.
4098 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4100 <para>Boolean.</para>
4105 <term>Parameter:</term>
4117 As explained <literal><link linkend="filter">above</link></literal>,
4118 <application>Privoxy</application> tries to only filter files that are
4119 in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to
4120 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite</link></literal>.
4121 <literal>force-text-mode</literal> declares a document as text,
4122 without looking at the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> first.
4126 Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
4127 with regular expressions can cause file damage.
4134 <term>Example usage:</term>
4147 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4148 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward-override">
4149 <title>forward-override</title>
4155 <term>Typical use:</term>
4157 <para>Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin</para>
4162 <term>Effect:</term>
4165 Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file.
4172 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4174 <para>Multi-value.</para>
4179 <term>Parameter:</term>
4183 <para><quote>forward .</quote> to use a direct connection without any additional proxies.</para>
4187 <quote>forward 127.0.0.1:8123</quote> to use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123.
4192 <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 .</quote> to use the socks4a proxy listening at
4193 127.0.0.1 port 9050. Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote>
4194 to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
4195 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
4200 <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 proxy.example.org:8000</quote> to use the socks4a proxy
4201 listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy listening at proxy.example.org port 8000.
4202 Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote> to use a socks4 connection
4203 (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
4204 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
4215 This action takes parameters similar to the
4216 <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives in the configuration
4217 file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used as replacement, but normally it's only
4218 used in cases where matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient.
4222 Please read the description for the <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives before
4223 using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will reduce your privacy and increase the
4224 chances of man-in-the-middle attacks.
4227 If the ports are missing or invalid, default values will be used. This might change
4228 in the future and you shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect syntax causes Privoxy
4232 Use the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">show-url-info CGI page</ulink>
4233 to verify that your forward settings do what you thought the do.
4240 <term>Example usage:</term>
4244 # Always use direct connections for requests previously tagged as
4245 # <quote>User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0</quote> and make sure
4246 # resuming downloads continues to work.
4247 # This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing,
4248 # without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates
4249 # or downloads of bigger files like ISOs.
4250 # Note that HTTP headers are easy to fake and therefore their
4251 # values are as (un)trustworthy as your clients and users.
4252 {+forward-override{forward .} \
4253 -hide-if-modified-since \
4254 -overwrite-last-modified \
4256 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$
4265 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4266 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-empty-document">
4267 <title>handle-as-empty-document</title>
4273 <term>Typical use:</term>
4275 <para>Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis></para>
4280 <term>Effect:</term>
4283 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
4284 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
4285 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote>
4286 page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
4287 The <emphasis>empty</emphasis> document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
4294 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4296 <para>Boolean.</para>
4301 <term>Parameter:</term>
4313 Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
4314 are blocked with <application>Privoxy's</application>
4315 default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
4316 And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the &my-app;
4317 BLOCKED message in frames.
4320 The content type for the empty document can be specified with
4321 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{}</link></literal>,
4322 but usually this isn't necessary.
4328 <term>Example usage:</term>
4331 <screen># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
4332 # but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
4333 {+block{Blocked JavaScript} +handle-as-empty-document}
4343 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4344 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
4345 <title>handle-as-image</title>
4349 <term>Typical use:</term>
4351 <para>Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <emphasis>if they do get blocked</emphasis>, rather than HTML pages)</para>
4356 <term>Effect:</term>
4359 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
4360 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
4361 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
4362 page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
4363 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
4364 client as a substitute for the blocked content.
4371 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4373 <para>Boolean.</para>
4378 <term>Parameter:</term>
4390 The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
4391 It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
4395 Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
4396 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
4397 reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
4400 Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
4401 frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
4402 Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
4403 ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
4409 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
4412 <screen># Generic image extensions:
4415 /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
4417 # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
4418 # blocked as images:
4420 {+block{Nasty banners.} +handle-as-image}
4421 nasty-banner-server.example.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash
4430 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4431 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-accept-language">
4432 <title>hide-accept-language</title>
4438 <term>Typical use:</term>
4440 <para>Pretend to use different language settings.</para>
4445 <term>Effect:</term>
4448 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> HTTP header in client requests.
4455 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4457 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4462 <term>Parameter:</term>
4465 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4474 Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
4475 foreign User-Agent set with
4476 <literal><link linkend="hide-user-agent">hide-user-agent</link></literal>
4480 However some sites with content in different languages check the
4481 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> to decide which one to take by default.
4482 Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
4483 changing the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header first.
4486 Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
4487 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header to languages you understand,
4488 or to languages that aren't wide spread.
4491 Before setting the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header
4492 to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to
4493 make your requests unique and thus easier to trace.
4494 If you don't plan to change this header frequently,
4495 you should stick to a common language.
4501 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4504 <screen># Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
4505 {+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
4506 +hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
4516 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4517 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-content-disposition">
4518 <title>hide-content-disposition</title>
4524 <term>Typical use:</term>
4526 <para>Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.</para>
4531 <term>Effect:</term>
4534 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header set by some servers.
4541 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4543 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4548 <term>Parameter:</term>
4551 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4560 Some servers set the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header for
4561 documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
4562 The <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header contains the file name
4563 the browser is supposed to use by default.
4566 In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
4567 <emphasis>just view</emphasis> the document, without downloading it first,
4568 even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
4571 Removing the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header helps
4572 to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
4573 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> header, before they decide if they can
4574 display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have
4575 to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
4579 It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion
4580 to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set
4584 This action will probably be removed in the future,
4585 use server-header filters instead.
4591 <term>Example usage:</term>
4594 <screen># Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
4596 +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
4597 +hide-content-disposition{block} }
4598 .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php</screen>
4606 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4607 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-if-modified-since">
4608 <title>hide-if-modified-since</title>
4614 <term>Typical use:</term>
4616 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
4621 <term>Effect:</term>
4624 Deletes the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> HTTP client header or modifies its value.
4631 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4633 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4638 <term>Parameter:</term>
4641 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
4650 Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
4651 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the
4652 browser to use a cached copy of the page.
4655 Instead of removing the header, <literal>hide-if-modified-since</literal> can
4656 also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value.
4657 You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and
4658 <application>Privoxy</application> does the rest. A negative value means
4659 subtracting, a positive value adding.
4662 Randomizing the value of the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> makes
4663 it less likely that the server can use the time as a cookie replacement,
4664 but you will run into caching problems if the random range is too high.
4667 It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
4668 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
4669 handle the greater changes.
4672 It is also recommended to use this action together with
4673 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>,
4674 otherwise it's more or less pointless.
4680 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4683 <screen># Let the browser revalidate but make tracking based on the time less likely.
4684 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
4685 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
4686 +crunch-if-none-match}
4695 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4696 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
4697 <title>hide-forwarded-for-headers</title>
4700 <term>Typical use:</term>
4702 <para>Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request in the HTTP headers.</para>
4707 <term>Effect:</term>
4710 Deletes any existing <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> HTTP header from client requests.
4717 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4719 <para>Boolean.</para>
4724 <term>Parameter:</term>
4736 It is safe and recommended to leave this on.
4742 <term>Example usage:</term>
4745 <screen>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</screen>
4753 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4754 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
4755 <title>hide-from-header</title>
4759 <term>Typical use:</term>
4761 <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
4766 <term>Effect:</term>
4769 Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
4777 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4779 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4784 <term>Parameter:</term>
4787 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4796 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
4797 (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
4801 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
4802 server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
4803 is actually used by a real person.
4806 This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
4807 <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
4813 <term>Example usage:</term>
4816 <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
4817 <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
4825 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4826 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
4827 <title>hide-referrer</title>
4828 <anchor id="hide-referer">
4831 <term>Typical use:</term>
4833 <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
4838 <term>Effect:</term>
4841 Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
4842 or replaces it with a forged one.
4849 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4851 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4856 <term>Parameter:</term>
4860 <para><quote>conditional-block</quote> to delete the header completely if the host has changed.</para>
4863 <para><quote>conditional-forge</quote> to forge the header if the host has changed.</para>
4866 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header unconditionally.</para>
4869 <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
4872 <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
4882 <literal>conditional-block</literal> is the only parameter,
4883 that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the
4884 referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or
4885 typed in the address directly.
4888 Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
4889 allows the server owner to see the visitor's <quote>click path</quote>,
4890 but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing
4891 other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't
4892 a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between
4896 Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
4897 failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
4898 requests, in an attempt to prevent their content from being
4899 embedded or linked to elsewhere.
4902 Both <literal>conditional-block</literal> and <literal>forge</literal>
4903 will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page
4904 are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case.
4907 <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
4908 <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
4909 substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
4910 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
4911 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
4917 <term>Example usage:</term>
4920 <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
4921 <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
4929 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4930 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
4931 <title>hide-user-agent</title>
4935 <term>Typical use:</term>
4937 <para>Try to conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
4942 <term>Effect:</term>
4945 Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
4946 in client requests with the specified value.
4953 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4955 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4960 <term>Parameter:</term>
4963 Any user-defined string.
4973 This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at this header in
4974 order to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
4975 way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the right thing to do: good web sites
4976 work browser-independently).
4980 Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
4981 browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
4982 <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
4983 setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
4984 the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
4985 OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
4986 sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
4987 reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
4988 let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
4989 <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
4990 (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
4993 More information on known user-agent strings can be found at
4994 <ulink url="http://www.user-agents.org/">http://www.user-agents.org/</ulink>
4996 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</ulink>.
5002 <term>Example usage:</term>
5005 <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
5013 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5014 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
5015 <title>limit-connect</title>
5019 <term>Typical use:</term>
5021 <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</para>
5026 <term>Effect:</term>
5029 Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
5036 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5038 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5043 <term>Parameter:</term>
5046 A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
5047 defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
5056 By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
5057 <application>Privoxy</application> allows HTTP CONNECT requests to all
5058 ports. Use <literal>limit-connect</literal> if fine-grained control
5059 is desired for some or all destinations.
5062 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
5063 (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
5064 the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
5065 short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
5066 This means CONNECT-enabled proxies can be used as TCP relays very easily.
5069 <application>Privoxy</application> relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
5070 the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent &my-app;'s
5071 filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
5077 <term>Example usages:</term>
5079 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
5080 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
5081 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
5083 <screen>+limit-connect{443} # Port 443 is OK.
5084 +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
5085 +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
5086 +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
5087 +limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</screen>
5094 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5095 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
5096 <title>prevent-compression</title>
5100 <term>Typical use:</term>
5103 Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
5104 passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s.
5110 <term>Effect:</term>
5113 Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
5120 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5122 <para>Boolean.</para>
5127 <term>Parameter:</term>
5139 More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
5140 is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the <literal><link
5141 linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> and
5142 <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
5143 actions need access to the uncompressed data.
5146 When compiled with zlib support (available since &my-app; 3.0.7), content that should be
5147 filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't have to worry about this action.
5148 If you are using an older &my-app; version, or one that hasn't been compiled with zlib
5149 support, this action can be used to convince the server to send the content uncompressed.
5152 Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is seldom decreased by less than 50%,
5153 for markup-heavy instances like news feeds saving more than 90% of the original size isn't
5157 Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should only
5158 enable this action if you really need it. As of &my-app; 3.0.7 it's disabled in all
5159 predefined action settings.
5162 Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
5163 documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an empty document body,
5164 some IIS versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable
5165 <literal>prevent-compression</literal> per default, you might want to add
5166 exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
5172 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
5176 # Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
5178 { +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
5179 # Match only these sites
5184 # Or instead, we could set a universal default:
5186 { +prevent-compression }
5189 # Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites:
5191 { -prevent-compression }
5192 .compusa.com/</screen>
5201 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5202 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="overwrite-last-modified">
5203 <title>overwrite-last-modified</title>
5209 <term>Typical use:</term>
5211 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
5216 <term>Effect:</term>
5219 Deletes the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> HTTP server header or modifies its value.
5226 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5228 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5233 <term>Parameter:</term>
5236 One of the keywords: <quote>block</quote>, <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote>
5237 and <quote>randomize</quote>
5246 Removing the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header is useful for filter
5247 testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
5248 code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
5249 version of the page.
5252 The <quote>randomize</quote> option overwrites the value of the
5253 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with a randomly chosen time
5254 between the original value and the current time. In theory the server
5255 could send each document with a different <quote>Last-Modified:</quote>
5256 header to track visits without using cookies. <quote>Randomize</quote>
5257 makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
5260 <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote> overwrites the value of the
5261 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with the current time. You could use
5262 this option together with
5263 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>
5264 to further customize your random range.
5267 The preferred parameter here is <quote>randomize</quote>. It is safe
5268 to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct.
5269 If the server sets the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header to the time
5270 of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same.
5271 Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with
5272 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>,
5276 It is also recommended to use this action together with
5277 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
5283 <term>Example usage:</term>
5286 <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
5287 { +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
5288 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
5289 +crunch-if-none-match}
5298 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5299 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="redirect">
5300 <title>redirect</title>
5306 <term>Typical use:</term>
5309 Redirect requests to other sites.
5315 <term>Effect:</term>
5318 Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
5319 to another location and the browser should get it from there.
5326 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5328 <para>Parameterized</para>
5333 <term>Parameter:</term>
5336 An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
5345 Requests to which this action applies are answered with a
5346 HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is
5347 either provided as parameter, or derived by applying a
5348 single pcrs command to the original URL.
5351 This action will be ignored if you use it together with
5352 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>.
5353 It can be combined with
5354 <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</link></literal>
5355 to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL.
5358 Use this action carefully, make sure not to create redirection loops
5359 and be aware that using your own redirects might make it
5360 possible to fingerprint your requests.
5363 In case of problems with your redirects, or simply to watch
5364 them working, enable <link linkend="DEBUG">debug 128</link>.
5370 <term>Example usages:</term>
5373 <screen># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
5374 { +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
5375 example.com/stylesheet\.css
5377 # Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
5378 # (relies on the browser accept and forward invalid URLs to &my-app;)
5379 { +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
5382 # Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles
5383 # (Note the $ at the end of the URL pattern to make sure
5384 # the request for the rewritten URL isn't redirected as well)
5385 {+redirect{s@$@&mode=expanded@}}
5386 undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$
5388 # Redirect Google search requests to MSN
5389 {+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/search\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=$1@}}
5392 # Redirect MSN search requests to Yahoo
5393 {+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/results\.aspx\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=$1@}}
5394 search.msn.com//results\.aspx\?q=
5396 # Redirect remote requests for this manual
5397 # to the local version delivered by Privoxy
5398 {+redirect{s@^http://www@http://config@}}
5399 www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</screen>
5408 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5409 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-filter">
5410 <title>server-header-filter</title>
5414 <term>Typical use:</term>
5417 Rewrite or remove single server headers.
5423 <term>Effect:</term>
5426 All server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly
5427 through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
5434 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
5436 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5441 <term>Parameter:</term>
5444 The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the
5445 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
5454 Server-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
5455 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
5456 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
5457 You can do that by using tags though.
5460 Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
5461 and use their output as input.
5464 Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
5465 to learn which server-header filters are available by default, and how to
5472 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5476 {+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}}
5477 example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html
5479 {+server-header-filter{xml-to-html}}
5480 example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not
5490 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5491 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-tagger">
5492 <title>server-header-tagger</title>
5496 <term>Typical use:</term>
5499 Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
5505 <term>Effect:</term>
5508 Server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
5509 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
5517 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
5519 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5524 <term>Parameter:</term>
5527 The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the
5528 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
5537 Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
5538 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
5542 Server-header taggers are executed before all other header actions
5543 that modify server headers. Their tags can be used to control
5544 all of the other server-header actions, the content filters
5545 and the crunch actions (<link linkend="redirect">redirect</link>
5546 and <link linkend="block">block</link>).
5549 Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header taggers
5550 doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the server's log file.
5557 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5561 # Tag every request with the content type declared by the server
5562 {+server-header-tagger{content-type}}
5573 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5574 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
5575 <title>session-cookies-only</title>
5579 <term>Typical use:</term>
5582 Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current
5583 browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
5589 <term>Effect:</term>
5592 Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote>
5593 server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
5594 forget them in between sessions.
5601 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5603 <para>Boolean.</para>
5608 <term>Parameter:</term>
5620 This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
5621 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
5622 websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
5625 Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
5626 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
5627 This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
5628 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
5629 sites, and is the recommended setting.
5632 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
5633 together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
5634 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
5635 will be plainly killed.
5638 Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
5639 field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
5642 This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
5643 previously by the browser before starting <application>Privoxy</application>.
5644 These would have to be removed manually.
5647 <application>Privoxy</application> also uses
5648 the <link linkend="filter-content-cookies">content-cookies filter</link>
5649 to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
5650 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>.
5656 <term>Example usage:</term>
5659 <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
5667 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5668 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
5669 <title>set-image-blocker</title>
5673 <term>Typical use:</term>
5675 <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
5680 <term>Effect:</term>
5683 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
5684 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
5685 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
5686 apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
5687 <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
5688 sent as a replacement.
5695 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5697 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5702 <term>Parameter:</term>
5707 <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
5708 decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
5713 <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
5714 completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
5715 images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
5716 has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
5721 <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
5722 send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
5723 to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via <quote>file:///</quote> URL.
5724 (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
5727 A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
5728 URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
5729 This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
5730 the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
5731 it over and over again.
5742 The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
5743 class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
5744 either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
5747 There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
5748 used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
5749 Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
5755 <term>Example usage:</term>
5761 <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
5764 Redirect to the BSD daemon:
5767 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
5770 Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
5773 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
5781 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5783 <title>Summary</title>
5785 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
5786 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
5787 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
5788 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
5789 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
5790 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
5796 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5797 <sect2 id="aliases">
5798 <title>Aliases</title>
5800 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
5801 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
5802 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
5803 Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
5805 <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
5806 recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
5807 <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
5808 Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
5809 <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
5813 Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
5814 defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
5815 And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
5816 have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
5820 There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
5821 used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
5822 decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
5823 <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
5824 <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
5825 in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
5826 by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
5829 Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
5830 <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
5831 editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
5832 them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
5833 but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
5838 Now let's define some aliases...
5843 # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
5845 # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
5846 # must be at the top of the actions file!
5850 # These aliases just save typing later:
5851 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
5853 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5854 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5855 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
5856 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
5858 # These aliases define combinations of actions
5859 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
5861 fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link>
5863 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link>
5865 # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
5867 c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
5868 c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
5872 ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
5873 actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
5874 up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
5879 # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
5880 # user data and require minimal interference to work:
5883 .office.microsoft.com
5884 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
5885 # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com
5889 # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
5893 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
5896 # These shops require pop-ups:
5898 {-filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
5900 .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
5904 Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are typically used for
5905 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require more than one action to be disabled
5906 in order to function properly.
5912 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5913 <sect2 id="act-examples">
5914 <title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
5916 The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
5917 there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
5918 linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
5919 to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
5920 define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
5921 example <filename>default.action</filename> and <filename>user.action</filename>
5922 file and see how all these pieces come together:
5925 <sect3><title>default.action</title>
5928 Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:
5932 <screen># Sample default.action file <ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net></screen>
5936 Then, since this is the <filename>default.action</filename> file, the
5937 first section is a special section for internal use that you needn't
5938 change or worry about:
5943 ##########################################################################
5944 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
5945 ##########################################################################
5948 for-privoxy-version=3.0</screen>
5952 After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
5953 section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
5954 that also explains why and how aliases are used:
5959 ##########################################################################
5961 ##########################################################################
5964 # These aliases just save typing later:
5965 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
5967 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5968 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5969 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
5970 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
5972 # These aliases define combinations of actions
5973 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
5975 fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link>
5976 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link></screen>
5980 Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied
5981 by URL patterns to which they apply. Remember <emphasis>all actions
5982 are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>, so we have to explicitly
5983 enable the ones we want.
5987 The first regular section is probably the most important. It has only
5988 one pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
5989 <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the
5990 set of actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
5991 be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
5992 wholly overridden by later matches further down this file, or in user.action,
5993 but it will still be largely responsible for your overall browsing
5998 Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
5999 no need to disable any actions here. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
6000 preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
6001 Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
6002 multiple lines with line continuation.
6007 ##########################################################################
6008 # "Defaults" section:
6009 ##########################################################################
6011 +<link linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</link> \
6012 +<link linkend="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES">filter{html-annoyances}</link> \
6013 +<link linkend="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">filter{refresh-tags}</link> \
6014 +<link linkend="FILTER-WEBBUGS">filter{webbugs}</link> \
6015 +<link linkend="FILTER-IE-EXPLOITS">filter{ie-exploits}</link> \
6016 +<link linkend="HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS">hide-forwarded-for-headers</link> \
6017 +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
6018 +<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer{forge}</link> \
6019 +<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link> \
6020 +<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> \
6021 +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
6023 / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.</screen>
6027 The default behavior is now set.
6029 This needs rewording, but it can wait for now.
6032 Note that some actions, like not hiding
6033 the user agent, are part of a <quote>general policy</quote> that applies
6034 universally and won't get any exceptions defined later. Other choices,
6035 like not blocking (which is <emphasis>understandably</emphasis> the
6036 default!) need exceptions, i.e. we need to specify explicitly what we
6037 want to block in later sections.
6042 The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
6043 sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
6044 very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
6045 make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
6046 our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
6047 of actions explicitly:
6052 ##########################################################################
6053 # Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
6054 ##########################################################################
6056 # "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
6059 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
6060 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
6061 mail.google.com</screen>
6065 Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
6066 require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
6067 carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
6076 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
6078 .scan.co.uk</screen>
6081 <!-- No longer needed BEGIN OF COMMENTED OUT BLOCK
6084 Then, there are sites which rely on pop-up windows (yuck!) to work.
6085 Since we made pop-up-killing our default above, we need to make exceptions
6086 now. <ulink url="http://www.mozilla.org/">Mozilla</ulink> users, who
6087 can turn on smart handling of unwanted pop-ups in their browsers, can
6089 -<literal><link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link></literal> above
6090 and hence don't need this section. Anyway, disabling an already disabled
6091 action doesn't hurt, so we'll define our exceptions regardless of what was
6092 chosen in the defaults section:
6097 # These sites require pop-ups too :(
6099 { -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> }
6102 .deutsche-bank-24.de</screen>
6105 END OF COMMENTED OUT BLOCK -->
6108 The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
6109 action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable
6110 it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
6115 { -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
6119 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
6120 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
6121 .nytimes.com</screen>
6125 It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
6126 URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
6127 be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
6128 Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
6129 would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
6130 would feed the advertisers (in terms of money <emphasis>and</emphasis>
6131 information). We can mark any URL as an image with the <literal><link
6132 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
6133 and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
6139 ##########################################################################
6141 ##########################################################################
6143 # Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
6144 # blocked further down this file:
6146 { +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
6147 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
6151 And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
6152 generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
6153 request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
6154 mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
6155 <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
6156 course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
6157 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
6158 Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
6159 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
6160 action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
6161 <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
6162 action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
6167 # Known ad generators:
6172 .ad.*.doubleclick.net
6173 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
6174 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
6180 One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
6181 is to block banners. Many of these can be <quote>blocked</quote>
6182 by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
6183 action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
6184 images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
6185 them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
6186 doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
6187 need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
6188 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
6191 First comes many generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
6192 matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
6193 a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
6194 to keep the example short:
6199 ##########################################################################
6200 # Block these fine banners:
6201 ##########################################################################
6202 { <link linkend="BLOCK">+block{Banner ads.}</link> }
6210 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
6211 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
6213 # Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
6215 .hitbox.com</screen>
6219 It's quite remarkable how many advertisers actually call their banner
6220 servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
6221 in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
6222 generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
6225 But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
6226 to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
6227 <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
6228 but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
6229 <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
6230 well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
6234 Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
6235 <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
6236 so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
6237 URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
6238 action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
6239 general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
6240 <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
6241 <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
6242 applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
6243 with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
6248 ##########################################################################
6249 # Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
6250 ##########################################################################
6254 { -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
6255 adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
6256 adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
6257 adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
6258 ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
6259 .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
6260 .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
6268 www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
6269 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
6273 Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
6274 so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
6275 and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
6276 <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
6277 disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
6282 # Don't filter code!
6284 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
6289 .sourceforge.net</screen>
6293 The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course much more
6294 comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
6299 <sect3><title>user.action</title>
6302 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
6303 which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
6304 you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
6305 are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
6306 be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
6307 be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
6308 actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
6309 defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
6310 <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
6311 <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
6312 <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
6313 to install updated versions from time to time.
6317 So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
6318 <filename>user.action</filename>:
6322 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
6326 # My user.action file. <fred@example.com></screen>
6330 As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
6331 file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
6332 <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
6337 # Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
6338 # (Re-)define aliases for this file:
6342 # These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
6343 # be self explanatory.
6345 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
6346 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
6347 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
6348 allow-popups = -filter{all-popups}
6349 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked as image.} +handle-as-image
6350 -block-as-image = -block
6352 # These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
6353 # certain types of sites:
6355 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer
6356 shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
6358 # Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
6360 allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
6362 # Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
6363 # MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
6364 handle-as-text = -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> +-<link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{text/plain}</link> +-<link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION">hide-content-disposition</link></screen>
6369 Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
6370 you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
6371 to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
6372 <literal>allow-all-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
6373 that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
6374 processing of cookies to make them only temporary.
6379 { allow-all-cookies }
6383 .redhat.com</screen>
6387 Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:
6392 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
6393 .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
6397 Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
6402 # Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
6403 # erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
6408 # And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
6409 # so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
6411 stupid-server.example.com/</screen>
6415 Example of a simple <link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> action. Say you've
6416 seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of.
6417 You have right-clicked the image, selected <quote>copy image location</quote>
6418 and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a
6419 <literal>{ +block{} }</literal> section. Note that <literal>{ +handle-as-image
6420 }</literal> need not be specified, since all URLs ending in
6421 <literal>.gif</literal> will be tagged as images by the general rules as set
6422 in default.action anyway:
6427 { +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link>{Nasty ads.} }
6428 www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
6429 another.example.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
6433 The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner
6434 farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which
6435 makes it impossible for <application>Privoxy</application> to guess
6436 the file type just by looking at the URL.
6437 You can use the <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above for
6439 Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an
6440 image are typically rendered as a <quote>broken image</quote> icon by the
6441 browser. Use cautiously.
6450 ar.atwola.com/</screen>
6454 Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
6455 but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
6456 were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
6457 you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
6458 -- <emphasis>whoa!</emphasis> -- it worked. The <literal>fragile</literal>
6459 aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also,
6460 good for testing purposes to see if it is <application>Privoxy</application>
6461 that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular sites
6462 that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:
6470 .mybank.com</screen>
6474 You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
6475 but it is disabled in the distributed actions file.
6476 So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
6477 update-safe config, once and for all:
6482 { +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
6483 / # For ALL sites!</screen>
6487 Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
6488 to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
6489 really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
6490 <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
6491 won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
6495 You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are
6496 funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
6497 to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
6498 sites that you feel provide value to you:
6510 Note that <literal>allow-ads</literal> has been aliased to
6511 <literal>-<link linkend="block">block</link></literal>,
6512 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-size">filter{banners-by-size}</link></literal>, and
6513 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-link">filter{banners-by-link}</link></literal> above.
6517 Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type <literal>
6518 application/x-sh</literal> which typically would open a download type
6519 dialog. In my case, I want to look at the shell script, and then I can save
6520 it should I choose to.
6530 <filename>user.action</filename> is generally the best place to define
6531 exceptions and additions to the default policies of
6532 <filename>default.action</filename>. Some actions are safe to have their
6533 default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
6534 <quote>blank</quote> image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for
6535 <emphasis>ALL</emphasis> sites. <quote>/</quote> of course matches all URL
6541 { +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
6542 / # ALL sites</screen>
6548 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6552 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6554 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6556 <sect1 id="filter-file">
6557 <title>Filter Files</title>
6560 On-the-fly text substitutions need
6561 to be defined in a <quote>filter file</quote>. Once defined, they
6562 can then be invoked as an <quote>action</quote>.
6566 &my-app; supports three different filter actions:
6567 <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> to
6568 rewrite the content that is send to the client,
6569 <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header-filter</link></literal>
6570 to rewrite headers that are send by the client, and
6571 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header-filter</link></literal>
6572 to rewrite headers that are send by the server.
6576 &my-app; also supports two tagger actions:
6577 <literal><link linkend="client-header-tagger">client-header-tagger</link></literal>
6579 <literal><link linkend="server-header-tagger">server-header-tagger</link></literal>.
6580 Taggers and filters use the same syntax in the filter files, the difference
6581 is that taggers don't modify the text they are filtering, but use a rewritten
6582 version of the filtered text as tag. The tags can then be used to change the
6583 applying actions through sections with <link linkend="tag-pattern">tag-patterns</link>.
6588 Multiple filter files can be defined through the <literal> <link
6589 linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config directive. The filters
6590 as supplied by the developers are located in
6591 <filename>default.filter</filename>. It is recommended that any locally
6592 defined or modified filters go in a separately defined file such as
6593 <filename>user.filter</filename>.
6597 Common tasks for content filters are to eliminate common annoyances in
6598 HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
6599 exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
6600 infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
6601 width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
6602 or just to have fun.
6606 Enabled content filters are applied to any content whose
6607 <quote>Content Type</quote> header is recognised as a sign
6608 of text-based content, with the exception of <literal>text/plain</literal>.
6609 Use the <link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> action
6610 to also filter other content.
6614 Substitutions are made at the source level, so if you want to <quote>roll
6615 your own</quote> filters, you should first be familiar with HTML syntax,
6616 and, of course, regular expressions.
6620 Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
6621 filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
6622 here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with one of the
6623 <emphasis>keywords</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>,
6624 <literal>CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER:</literal> or <literal>SERVER-HEADER-FILTER:</literal>
6625 followed by the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
6626 <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
6627 come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
6628 text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
6629 should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
6630 comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
6631 user interface</ulink>.
6635 Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
6636 in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
6637 +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
6638 in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
6642 Filter definitions start with a header line that contains the filter
6643 type, the filter name and the filter description.
6644 A content filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
6649 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
6653 Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that
6654 define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified
6655 in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
6656 <literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
6657 will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
6658 PCRS documentation for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most
6659 notably, the non-standard option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported,
6660 which turns the default to ungreedy matching.
6665 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
6666 Expressions</quote></ulink>, you might want to take a look at
6667 the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
6668 see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl
6670 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlop.html">the
6671 <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
6672 url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
6673 expressions</ulink> in general.
6674 The below examples might also help to get you started.
6678 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6680 <sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
6682 Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> content filter. We have already defined
6683 the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
6684 <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
6689 <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
6693 But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
6694 of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
6695 care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
6696 we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
6700 <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
6704 Our complete filter now looks like this:
6707 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
6708 s/foo/bar/g</screen>
6712 Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
6713 a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
6714 abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
6720 FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
6722 # Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
6724 s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
6728 Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
6729 <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
6730 the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
6731 by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
6735 Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
6736 enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
6737 means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
6738 matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
6739 it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
6743 That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
6744 matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
6745 be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
6746 special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
6747 Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
6748 the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
6749 in the page (and appear in that order).
6753 But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
6754 is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
6755 means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
6756 tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
6757 <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
6761 This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
6762 The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
6763 remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
6764 the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
6765 that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
6766 text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
6767 of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
6768 only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
6769 tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
6770 multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
6771 substitution is global.
6775 So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
6776 <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
6777 (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
6778 <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
6779 that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
6783 Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
6784 lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
6785 easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
6786 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
6787 the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
6788 This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
6789 (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
6790 Business!"</literal>.
6794 The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
6795 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
6796 <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
6797 since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
6798 string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
6799 information anymore.
6803 We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
6804 this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
6809 # The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
6811 s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
6815 <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
6816 carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
6817 or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
6818 makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
6819 option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
6820 <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>. Finally, <literal>\1</literal> is
6821 a back-reference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
6822 with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
6823 a back-reference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
6827 So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
6828 strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
6829 (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
6830 real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
6831 descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
6832 you move your mouse over links.
6837 # Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
6839 s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
6844 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
6845 event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
6846 When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
6847 This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
6848 <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
6849 Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
6850 case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee
6851 a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use <literal>[^>]*</literal>
6852 instead of <literal>.*</literal> to prevent the match from exceeding the
6853 <body> tag if it doesn't contain <quote>OnUnload</quote>, but the page's
6858 The last example is from the fun department:
6863 FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
6865 # Spice the daily news:
6867 s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
6871 Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
6872 in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
6873 <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
6874 in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while
6875 still replacing the word everywhere else.
6880 # Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
6882 s* industry[ -]leading \
6884 | customer[ -]focused \
6885 | market[ -]driven \
6886 | award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
6887 | high[ -]performance \
6888 | solutions[ -]based \
6892 *<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
6897 The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
6898 e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
6906 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6908 <sect2 id="predefined-filters"><title>The Pre-defined Filters</title>
6912 Note each filter is also listed in the +filter action section above. Please
6913 keep these listings in sync.
6918 The distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file contains a selection of
6919 pre-defined filters for your convenience:
6924 <term><emphasis>js-annoyances</emphasis></term>
6927 The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.
6932 replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
6933 with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the <literal><link
6934 linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal> action on the content level.
6939 removes the bindings to the DOM's
6940 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">unload
6941 event</ulink> which we feel has no right to exist and is responsible for most <quote>exit consoles</quote>, i.e.
6942 nasty windows that pop up when you close another one.
6947 removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being
6948 full-screen, non-resizeable, without location, status or menu bar etc.
6954 Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that
6955 rely heavily on JavaScript.
6961 <term><emphasis>js-events</emphasis></term>
6964 This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event bindings, which
6965 means that scripts can not react to user actions such as mouse movements or clicks, window
6966 resizing etc, anymore. Use with caution!
6969 We <emphasis>strongly discourage</emphasis> using this filter as a default since it breaks
6970 many legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should you really
6977 <term><emphasis>html-annoyances</emphasis></term>
6980 This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
6983 The <literal>BLINK</literal> and <literal>MARQUEE</literal> tags
6984 are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser windows will be created as
6985 resizeable (as of course they should be!), and will have location,
6986 scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
6992 <term><emphasis>content-cookies</emphasis></term>
6995 Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialog, where they can be intercepted
6997 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>
6998 and <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>
6999 actions. But web sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript
7000 to sneak cookies to the browser on the content level.
7003 This filter disables most HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets
7004 cookies. It cannot detect all clever uses of these types of code, so it
7005 should not be relied on as an absolute fix. Use it wherever you would also
7006 use the cookie crunch actions.
7012 <term><emphasis>refresh tags</emphasis></term>
7015 Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
7016 that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
7017 for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
7024 <term><emphasis>unsolicited-popups</emphasis></term>
7027 This filter attempts to prevent only <quote>unsolicited</quote> pop-up
7028 windows from opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user
7029 has explicitly chosen to open. It was added in version 3.0.1,
7030 as an improvement over earlier such filters.
7033 Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
7034 function to a dummy function, <literal>PrivoxyWindowOpen()</literal>,
7035 during the loading and rendering phase of each HTML page access, and
7036 restoring the function afterward.
7039 This is recommended only for browsers that cannot perform this function
7040 reliably themselves. And be aware that some sites require such windows
7041 in order to function normally. Use with caution.
7047 <term><emphasis>all-popups</emphasis></term>
7050 Attempt to prevent <emphasis>all</emphasis> pop-up windows from opening.
7051 Note this should be used with even more discretion than the above, since
7052 it is more likely to break some sites that require pop-ups for normal
7053 usage. Use with caution.
7059 <term><emphasis>img-reorder</emphasis></term>
7062 This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the
7063 <literal>banners-by-size</literal> and <literal>banners-by-link</literal>
7064 (see below) filters more effective and should be enabled together with them.
7070 <term><emphasis>banners-by-size</emphasis></term>
7073 This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are. Fortunately
7074 for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain standardized
7075 sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad stripping purposes.
7078 Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not ads,
7079 but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes.
7082 Recommended only for those who require extreme ad blocking. The default
7083 block rules should catch 95+% of all ads <emphasis>without</emphasis> this filter enabled.
7089 <term><emphasis>banners-by-link</emphasis></term>
7092 This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if
7093 their URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently
7094 not of much value and is not recommended for use by default.
7100 <term><emphasis>webbugs</emphasis></term>
7103 Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that
7104 are used to track users across websites, and collect information on them.
7105 As an HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the
7106 browser to contact a third-party site, disclosing the tracking information
7107 through the requested URL and/or cookies for that third-party domain, without
7108 the user ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party site.
7109 HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email addresses.
7112 This filter removes the HTML code that loads such <quote>webbugs</quote>.
7118 <term><emphasis>tiny-textforms</emphasis></term>
7121 A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas (those
7122 multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in them.
7123 It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such boxes are
7124 a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too.
7127 It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
7133 <term><emphasis>jumping-windows</emphasis></term>
7136 Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This filter
7137 neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might not display
7138 or behave as intended when using this filter. Use with caution.
7144 <term><emphasis>frameset-borders</emphasis></term>
7147 Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view their
7148 web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution etc,
7149 because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame sizes,
7150 yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they be too
7151 small to show their whole content.
7154 This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to sites
7161 <term><emphasis>demoronizer</emphasis></term>
7164 Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions (read:
7165 violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This can cause those
7166 HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant platforms.
7169 This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents.
7170 It is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of
7171 all documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly
7172 worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if weird garbage characters
7173 sometimes appear on some pages, or user agents that don't correct for this on
7176 My version of Mozilla (ancient) shows litte square boxes for quote
7177 characters, and apostrophes on moronized pages. So many pages have this, I
7178 can read them fine now. HB 08/27/06
7185 <term><emphasis>shockwave-flash</emphasis></term>
7188 A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips code
7189 out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects.
7197 <term><emphasis>quicktime-kioskmode</emphasis></term>
7200 Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
7201 prevents saving, is disabled.
7207 <term><emphasis>fun</emphasis></term>
7210 Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
7211 Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
7217 <term><emphasis>crude-parental</emphasis></term>
7220 A demonstration-only filter that shows how <application>Privoxy</application>
7221 can be used to delete web content on a keyword basis.
7227 <term><emphasis>ie-exploits</emphasis></term>
7230 An experimental collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
7231 code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
7234 Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug, and
7235 would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
7241 <term><emphasis>site-specifics</emphasis></term>
7244 Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't apply
7245 anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
7248 This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be applied
7249 to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
7250 <filename>default.action</filename> file does. Users shouldn't need to change
7251 anything regarding this filter.
7257 <term><emphasis>google</emphasis></term>
7260 A CSS based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation
7261 and the toolbar advertisement.
7267 <term><emphasis>yahoo</emphasis></term>
7270 Another CSS based block, this time for Yahoo text ads. And removes
7271 a width limitation as well.
7277 <term><emphasis>msn</emphasis></term>
7280 Another CSS based block, this time for MSN text ads. And removes
7281 tracking URLs, as well as a width limitation.
7287 <term><emphasis>blogspot</emphasis></term>
7290 Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this one!
7293 This filter also intentionally removes some navigation stuff and sets the
7294 page width to 100%. As a result, some rounded <quote>corners</quote> would
7295 appear to early or not at all and as fixing this would require a browser
7296 that understands background-size (CSS3), they are removed instead.
7302 <term><emphasis>xml-to-html</emphasis></term>
7305 Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from xml to html.
7311 <term><emphasis>html-to-xml</emphasis></term>
7314 Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from html to xml.
7320 <term><emphasis>no-ping</emphasis></term>
7323 Removes the non-standard <literal>ping</literal> attribute from
7324 anchor and area HTML tags.
7330 <term><emphasis>hide-tor-exit-notation</emphasis></term>
7333 Client-header filter to remove the <command>Tor</command> exit node notation
7334 found in Host and Referer headers.
7337 If &my-app; and <command>Tor</command> are chained and &my-app;
7338 is configured to use socks4a, one can use <quote>http://www.example.org.foobar.exit/</quote>
7339 to access the host <quote>www.example.org</quote> through the
7340 <command>Tor</command> exit node <quote>foobar</quote>.
7343 As the HTTP client isn't aware of this notation, it treats the
7344 whole string <quote>www.example.org.foobar.exit</quote> as host and uses it
7345 for the <quote>Host</quote> and <quote>Referer</quote> headers. From the
7346 server's point of view the resulting headers are invalid and can cause problems.
7349 An invalid <quote>Referer</quote> header can trigger <quote>hot-linking</quote>
7350 protections, an invalid <quote>Host</quote> header will make it impossible for
7351 the server to find the right vhost (several domains hosted on the same IP address).
7354 This client-header filter removes the <quote>foo.exit</quote> part in those headers
7355 to prevent the mentioned problems. Note that it only modifies
7356 the HTTP headers, it doesn't make it impossible for the server
7357 to detect your <command>Tor</command> exit node based on the IP address
7358 the request is coming from.
7365 <term><emphasis> </emphasis></term>
7379 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7383 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7385 <sect1 id="templates">
7386 <title>Privoxy's Template Files</title>
7388 All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
7389 <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
7390 error page</ulink>, the <ulink
7391 url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
7393 and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
7394 user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
7395 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
7400 These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
7401 directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On Unixish platforms,
7403 <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
7407 The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
7408 or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. It
7409 is possible to edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want
7410 to customize them. (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual
7411 user</emphasis>). Should you create your own custom templates, you should use
7412 the <filename>config</filename> setting <link linkend="templdir">templdir</link>
7413 to specify an alternate location, so your templates do not get overwritten
7417 Note that just like in configuration files, lines starting
7418 with <literal>#</literal> are ignored when the templates are filled in.
7422 The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
7423 find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
7424 in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
7425 always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
7426 code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
7430 A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
7431 blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
7432 for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
7433 our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
7434 is in an alpha or beta development stage:
7439 <!-- @if-unstable-start -->
7441 ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
7443 <!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
7447 If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
7448 <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
7449 will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
7453 <screen><!-- --></screen>
7457 There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
7458 mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
7463 All templates refer to a style located at
7464 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
7465 This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
7466 and the source for it can be found and edited in the
7467 <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
7472 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7476 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7478 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
7481 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
7483 <!-- end boilerplate -->
7487 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7490 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7491 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
7493 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
7495 <!-- end copyright -->
7497 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7498 <sect2><title>License</title>
7499 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
7501 <!-- end copyright -->
7503 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7506 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7508 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
7509 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
7511 <!-- end history -->
7514 <sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
7515 <!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
7517 <!-- end authors -->
7522 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7525 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7526 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
7527 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
7529 <!-- end seealso -->
7534 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7535 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
7538 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7540 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
7542 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
7543 expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
7544 files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
7545 through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
7548 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
7550 <application>PCRS</application> libraries.
7554 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
7555 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
7556 introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
7557 url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
7561 Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
7562 run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
7563 match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
7564 strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
7565 characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
7566 special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
7567 Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
7568 <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
7572 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
7573 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
7574 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
7575 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
7576 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
7577 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
7578 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
7579 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
7583 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
7584 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
7585 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
7586 and then some examples:
7591 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
7592 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
7594 </simplelist></para>
7598 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
7601 </simplelist></para>
7605 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
7608 </simplelist></para>
7612 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
7615 </simplelist></para>
7619 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
7620 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
7621 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
7622 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
7623 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
7624 meta-character meaning of any single character).
7626 </simplelist></para>
7630 <emphasis>[ ]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
7631 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
7632 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
7633 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
7635 </simplelist></para>
7639 <emphasis>( )</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
7640 or multiple sub-expressions.
7642 </simplelist></para>
7646 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
7647 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
7648 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
7649 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
7650 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
7651 example</quote>, and nothing else.
7653 </simplelist></para>
7656 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
7657 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
7658 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
7659 be more illuminating:
7663 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
7664 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
7665 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
7666 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
7667 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
7668 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
7669 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
7670 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
7671 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
7672 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
7673 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
7674 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
7675 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
7676 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
7681 And now something a little more complex:
7685 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
7686 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
7687 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
7688 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
7689 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
7690 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
7691 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
7696 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
7697 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
7698 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
7699 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
7700 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
7701 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
7702 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
7703 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
7704 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
7705 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
7706 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
7707 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
7708 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
7709 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
7710 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
7711 changing our regular expression to:
7712 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
7717 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
7718 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
7719 <quote>[ ]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
7720 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
7721 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
7722 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
7723 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
7724 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
7725 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
7726 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
7727 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
7728 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
7729 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
7730 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
7731 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
7732 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
7733 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
7734 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
7735 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
7736 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
7737 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
7738 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
7739 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
7740 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
7741 in the expression anywhere).
7745 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
7746 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
7747 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
7748 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
7749 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
7754 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
7755 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>
7759 For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications
7760 in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
7765 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7768 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7770 <title>Privoxy's Internal Pages</title>
7773 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
7774 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
7775 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
7776 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
7777 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
7778 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
7779 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
7785 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
7786 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
7787 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
7788 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
7801 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
7805 There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
7806 doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
7807 sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
7813 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
7814 editing of actions files:
7818 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
7825 Show the source code version numbers:
7829 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
7836 Show the browser's request headers:
7840 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
7847 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
7851 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
7858 Toggle Privoxy on or off. This feature can be turned off/on in the main
7859 <filename>config</filename> file. When toggled <quote>off</quote>, <quote>Privoxy</quote>
7860 continues to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking
7865 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
7869 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
7873 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
7878 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
7887 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
7891 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
7892 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
7894 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
7895 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
7896 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
7897 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
7898 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
7899 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
7902 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
7903 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
7904 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
7905 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
7906 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
7907 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
7916 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=enabled','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Enable</ulink>
7923 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=disabled','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Disable</ulink>
7930 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=toggle','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Toggle Privoxy</ulink> (Toggles between enabled and disabled)
7937 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y','ijbstatus','width=250,height=2,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy- View Status</ulink>
7943 <ulink url="javascript:w=Math.floor(screen.width/2);h=Math.floor(screen.height*0.9);void(window.open('http://www.privoxy.org/actions/index.php?url='+escape(location.href),'Feedback','screenx='+w+',width='+w+',height='+h+',scrollbars=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Submit Actions File Feedback</ulink>
7949 <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
7956 Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
7957 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com/">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
7958 have more information about bookmarklets.
7967 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7969 <title>Chain of Events</title>
7971 Let's take a quick look at how some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
7972 core features are triggered, and the ensuing sequence of events when a web
7973 page is requested by your browser:
7980 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
7981 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
7982 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
7988 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
7989 pages (e.g <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
7994 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
7996 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
7997 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
7998 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
8000 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT"><quote>+handle-as-empty-document</quote></link>
8001 are then checked, and if there is no match, an
8002 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back to the browser. Otherwise, if
8003 it does match, an image is returned for the former, and an empty text
8004 document for the latter. The type of image would depend on the setting of
8005 <link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
8006 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
8011 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
8012 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
8017 If the URL pattern matches the <link
8018 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
8019 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
8024 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
8025 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
8026 linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
8027 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
8033 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web
8039 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
8040 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
8041 filtered as determined by the
8042 <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
8043 <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
8044 and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
8050 If any <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
8052 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
8053 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
8054 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
8055 <filename>default.filter</filename> and any other filter files) are
8056 processed against the buffered content. Filters are applied in the order
8057 they are specified in one of the filter files. Animated GIFs, if present,
8058 are reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
8059 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
8060 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
8063 If neither a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
8065 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
8066 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
8067 to the client browser as it becomes available.
8072 As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it
8073 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
8074 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
8075 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a
8076 separate request (this is easily viewable in <application>Privoxy's</application>
8077 logs). And each such request is in turn processed just as above. Note that a
8078 complex web page will have many, many such embedded URLs. If these
8079 secondary requests are to a different server, then quite possibly a very
8080 differing set of actions is triggered.
8087 NOTE: This is somewhat of a simplistic overview of what happens with each URL
8088 request. For the sake of brevity and simplicity, we have focused on
8089 <application>Privoxy's</application> core features only.
8095 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8096 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
8097 <title>Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</title>
8100 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
8101 <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
8102 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
8103 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
8104 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
8105 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
8106 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
8107 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
8108 <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
8113 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
8114 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
8115 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
8116 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
8117 logs is a good idea too. (Note that both the toggle feature and logging are
8118 enabled via <filename>config</filename> file settings, and may need to be
8119 turned <quote>on</quote>.)
8122 Another easy troubleshooting step to try is if you have done any
8123 customization of your installation, revert back to the installed
8124 defaults and see if that helps. There are times the developers get complaints
8125 about one thing or another, and the problem is more related to a customized
8126 configuration issue.
8130 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
8131 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
8132 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
8133 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
8137 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
8138 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
8139 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
8140 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
8141 linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
8142 one of the filter files since this is handled very
8143 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
8144 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
8145 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
8146 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
8147 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
8148 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
8149 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
8154 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
8155 and look at it one section at a time in a sample configuration (your real
8156 configuration may vary):
8161 Matches for http://www.google.com:
8163 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8165 {+deanimate-gifs {last}
8166 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
8167 +filter {refresh-tags}
8168 +filter {img-reorder}
8169 +filter {banners-by-size}
8171 +filter {jumping-windows}
8172 +filter {ie-exploits}
8173 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
8174 +hide-from-header {block}
8175 +hide-referrer {forge}
8176 +session-cookies-only
8177 +set-image-blocker {pattern}
8180 { -session-cookies-only }
8186 In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8187 (no matches in this file)
8192 This is telling us how we have defined our
8193 <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
8194 which ones match for our test case, <quote>google.com</quote>.
8195 Displayed is all the actions that are available to us. Remember,
8196 the <literal>+</literal> sign denotes <quote>on</quote>. <literal>-</literal>
8197 denotes <quote>off</quote>. So some are <quote>on</quote> here, but many
8198 are <quote>off</quote>. Each example we try may provide a slightly different
8199 end result, depending on our configuration directives.
8203 is for our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line
8204 listing, is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default
8205 settings. If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the
8206 section just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This
8207 will apply to all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end
8208 of the listing -- <quote> / </quote>.
8212 But we have defined additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
8213 rules, and then we list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions
8214 would apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit
8215 matches for <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous
8216 cookie setting, which was for <link
8217 linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
8218 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google, at
8219 least that is how it is in this example. The second turns
8220 <emphasis>off</emphasis> any <link
8221 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
8222 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
8223 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
8224 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
8225 <quote>www.google.com</quote> or <quote>mail.google.com</quote>. But it would not
8226 match <quote>www.google.de</quote>! So, apparently, we have these two actions
8227 defined as exceptions to the general rules at the top somewhere in the lower
8228 part of our <filename>default.action</filename> file, and
8229 <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter sections.
8233 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
8234 So there is nothing google-specific that we might have added to our own, local
8235 configuration. If there was, those actions would over-rule any actions from
8236 previously processed files, such as <filename>default.action</filename>.
8237 <filename>user.action</filename> typically has the last word. This is the
8238 best place to put hard and fast exceptions,
8242 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
8243 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
8244 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
8255 -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
8256 -content-type-overwrite
8257 -crunch-client-header
8258 -crunch-if-none-match
8259 -crunch-incoming-cookies
8260 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
8261 -crunch-server-header
8262 +deanimate-gifs {last}
8263 -downgrade-http-version
8266 -filter {content-cookies}
8267 -filter {all-popups}
8268 -filter {banners-by-link}
8269 -filter {tiny-textforms}
8270 -filter {frameset-borders}
8271 -filter {demoronizer}
8272 -filter {shockwave-flash}
8273 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
8275 -filter {crude-parental}
8276 -filter {site-specifics}
8277 -filter {js-annoyances}
8278 -filter {html-annoyances}
8279 +filter {refresh-tags}
8280 -filter {unsolicited-popups}
8281 +filter {img-reorder}
8282 +filter {banners-by-size}
8284 +filter {jumping-windows}
8285 +filter {ie-exploits}
8292 -handle-as-empty-document
8294 -hide-accept-language
8295 -hide-content-disposition
8296 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
8297 +hide-from-header {block}
8298 -hide-if-modified-since
8299 +hide-referrer {forge}
8302 -overwrite-last-modified
8303 -prevent-compression
8305 -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
8306 -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
8307 -session-cookies-only
8308 +set-image-blocker {pattern} </screen>
8312 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
8313 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>,
8314 which are activated specifically for this site in our configuration,
8315 and thus show in the <quote>Final Results</quote>.
8319 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
8325 { +block{Domains starts with "ad"} }
8328 { +block{Domain contains "ad"} }
8331 { +block{Doubleclick banner server} +handle-as-image }
8332 .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
8337 We'll just show the interesting part here - the explicit matches. It is
8338 matched three different times. Two <quote>+block{}</quote> sections,
8339 and a <quote>+block{} +handle-as-image</quote>,
8340 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
8341 <quote>+block-as-image</quote>. (<link
8342 linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
8343 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
8348 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
8349 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
8350 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
8351 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
8352 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
8353 is done here -- as both a <link
8354 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block{}</quote></link>
8355 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
8356 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
8357 The custom alias <quote><literal>+block-as-image</literal></quote> just
8358 simplifies the process and make it more readable.
8362 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
8363 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
8369 Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
8371 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8375 -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
8376 -content-type-overwrite
8377 -crunch-client-header
8378 -crunch-if-none-match
8379 -crunch-incoming-cookies
8380 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
8381 -crunch-server-header
8383 -downgrade-http-version
8384 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
8386 -filter {content-cookies}
8387 -filter {all-popups}
8388 -filter {banners-by-link}
8389 -filter {tiny-textforms}
8390 -filter {frameset-borders}
8391 -filter {demoronizer}
8392 -filter {shockwave-flash}
8393 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
8395 -filter {crude-parental}
8396 -filter {site-specifics}
8397 -filter {js-annoyances}
8398 -filter {html-annoyances}
8399 +filter {refresh-tags}
8400 -filter {unsolicited-popups}
8401 +filter {img-reorder}
8402 +filter {banners-by-size}
8404 +filter {jumping-windows}
8405 +filter {ie-exploits}
8412 -handle-as-empty-document
8414 -hide-accept-language
8415 -hide-content-disposition
8416 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
8417 +hide-from-header{block}
8418 +hide-referer{forge}
8420 -overwrite-last-modified
8421 +prevent-compression
8423 -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
8424 -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
8425 +session-cookies-only
8426 +set-image-blocker{blank} }
8429 { +block{Path contains "ads".} +handle-as-image }
8435 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote> in our
8436 configuration! But we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the
8437 blank page. It is actually triggering two different actions here, and
8438 the effects are aggregated so that the URL is blocked, and &my-app; is told
8439 to treat the block as if it were an image. But this is, of course, all wrong.
8440 We could now add a new action below this (or better in our own
8441 <filename>user.action</filename> file) that explicitly
8442 <emphasis>un</emphasis> blocks (
8443 <link linkend="BLOCK"><quote>{-block}</quote></link>) paths with
8444 <quote>adsl</quote> in them (remember, last match in the configuration
8445 wins). There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
8457 Now the page displays ;-)
8458 Remember to flush your browser's caches when making these kinds of changes to
8459 your configuration to insure that you get a freshly delivered page! Or, try
8460 using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
8464 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
8471 { +block{Path starts with "ads".} +handle-as-image }
8477 That actually was very helpful and pointed us quickly to where the problem
8478 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
8479 rules in the first section of <filename>default.action</filename> is causing
8480 the problem. This would require some guesswork, and maybe a little trial and
8481 error to isolate the offending rule. One likely cause would be one of the
8482 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> actions.
8483 These tend to be harder to troubleshoot.
8484 Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off
8485 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>:
8493 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
8501 <quote><literal>{ shop }</literal></quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
8502 <quote><literal>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</literal></quote>.
8503 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
8511 # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
8519 This would turn off all filtering for these sites. This is best
8520 put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
8521 exceptions. Note that when a simple domain pattern is used by itself (without
8522 the subsequent path portion), all sub-pages within that domain are included
8523 automatically in the scope of the action.
8527 Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
8528 <link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"><quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote></link>
8530 that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well
8531 <emphasis>most of the time</emphasis> since these tend to be standardized).
8535 <quote><literal>{ fragile }</literal></quote> is an alias that disables most
8536 actions that are the most likely to cause trouble. This can be used as a
8537 last resort for problem sites.
8543 # Handle with care: easy to break
8545 mybank.example.com</screen>
8550 <emphasis>Remember to flush caches!</emphasis> Note that the
8551 <literal>mail.google</literal> reference lacks the TLD portion (e.g.
8552 <quote>.com</quote>). This will effectively match any TLD with
8553 <literal>google</literal> in it, such as <literal>mail.google.de.</literal>,
8557 If this still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining
8558 actions one by one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
8567 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
8568 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
8569 Public License as published by the Free Software
8570 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
8571 your option) any later version.
8573 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
8574 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
8575 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
8576 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
8577 License for more details.
8579 The GNU General Public License should be included with
8580 this file. If not, you can view it at
8581 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
8582 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
8583 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301,
8586 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
8587 Revision 2.79 2008/06/27 18:00:53 markm68k
8588 remove outdated startup information for mac os x
8590 Revision 2.78 2008/06/21 17:03:03 fabiankeil
8593 Revision 2.77 2008/06/14 13:45:22 fabiankeil
8594 Re-add a colon I unintentionally removed a few revisions ago.
8596 Revision 2.76 2008/06/14 13:21:28 fabiankeil
8597 Prepare for the upcoming 3.0.9 beta release.
8599 Revision 2.75 2008/06/13 16:06:48 fabiankeil
8600 Update the "What's New in this Release" section with
8601 the ChangeLog entries changelog2doc.pl could handle.
8603 Revision 2.74 2008/05/26 15:55:46 fabiankeil
8604 - Update "default profiles" table.
8605 - Add some more pcrs redirect examples and note that
8606 enabling debug 128 helps to get redirects working.
8608 Revision 2.73 2008/05/23 14:43:18 fabiankeil
8609 Remove previously out-commented block that caused syntax problems.
8611 Revision 2.72 2008/05/12 10:26:14 fabiankeil
8612 Synchronize content filter descriptions with the ones in default.filter.
8614 Revision 2.71 2008/04/10 17:37:16 fabiankeil
8615 Actually we use "modern" POSIX 1003.2 regular
8616 expressions in path patterns, not PCRE.
8618 Revision 2.70 2008/04/10 15:59:12 fabiankeil
8619 Add another section to the client-header-tagger example that shows
8620 how to actually change the action settings once the tag is created.
8622 Revision 2.69 2008/03/29 12:14:25 fabiankeil
8623 Remove send-wafer and send-vanilla-wafer actions.
8625 Revision 2.68 2008/03/28 15:13:43 fabiankeil
8626 Remove inspect-jpegs action.
8628 Revision 2.67 2008/03/27 18:31:21 fabiankeil
8629 Remove kill-popups action.
8631 Revision 2.66 2008/03/06 16:33:47 fabiankeil
8632 If limit-connect isn't used, don't limit CONNECT requests to port 443.
8634 Revision 2.65 2008/03/04 18:30:40 fabiankeil
8635 Remove the treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks action. We now
8636 use the "blocked" page for forbidden CONNECT requests by default.
8638 Revision 2.64 2008/03/01 14:10:28 fabiankeil
8639 Use new block syntax. Still needs some polishing.
8641 Revision 2.63 2008/02/22 05:50:37 markm68k
8644 Revision 2.62 2008/02/11 11:52:23 hal9
8645 Fix entity ... s/&/&
8647 Revision 2.61 2008/02/11 03:41:47 markm68k
8648 more updates for mac os x
8650 Revision 2.60 2008/02/11 03:40:25 markm68k
8651 more updates for mac os x
8653 Revision 2.59 2008/02/11 00:52:34 markm68k
8654 reflect new changes for mac os x
8656 Revision 2.58 2008/02/03 21:37:40 hal9
8657 Apply patch from Mark: s/OSX/OS X/
8659 Revision 2.57 2008/02/03 19:10:14 fabiankeil
8660 Mention forward-socks5.
8662 Revision 2.56 2008/01/31 19:11:35 fabiankeil
8663 Let the +client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation} example apply
8664 to all requests as "tainted" Referers aren't limited to exit TLDs.
8666 Revision 2.55 2008/01/19 21:26:37 hal9
8667 Add IE7 to configuration section per Gerry.
8669 Revision 2.54 2008/01/19 17:52:39 hal9
8670 Re-commit to fix various minor issues for new release.
8672 Revision 2.53 2008/01/19 15:03:05 hal9
8673 Doc sources tagged for 3.0.8 release.
8675 Revision 2.52 2008/01/17 01:49:51 hal9
8676 Change copyright notice for docs s/2007/2008/. All these will be rebuilt soon
8679 Revision 2.51 2007/12/23 16:48:24 fabiankeil
8680 Use more precise example descriptions for the mysterious domain patterns.
8682 Revision 2.50 2007/12/08 12:44:36 fabiankeil
8683 - Remove already commented out pre-3.0.7 changes.
8684 - Update the "new log defaults" paragraph.
8686 Revision 2.49 2007/12/06 18:21:55 fabiankeil
8687 Update hide-forwarded-for-headers description.
8689 Revision 2.48 2007/11/24 19:07:17 fabiankeil
8690 - Mention request rewriting.
8691 - Enable the conditional-forge paragraph.
8694 Revision 2.47 2007/11/18 14:59:47 fabiankeil
8695 A few "Note to Upgraders" updates.
8697 Revision 2.46 2007/11/17 17:24:44 fabiankeil
8698 - Use new action defaults.
8699 - Minor fixes and rewordings.
8701 Revision 2.45 2007/11/16 11:48:46 hal9
8702 Fix one typo, and add a couple of small refinements.
8704 Revision 2.44 2007/11/15 03:30:20 hal9
8705 Results of spell check.
8707 Revision 2.43 2007/11/14 18:45:39 fabiankeil
8708 - Mention some more contributors in the "New in this Release" list.
8711 Revision 2.42 2007/11/12 03:32:40 hal9
8712 Updates for "What's New" and "Notes to Upgraders". Various other changes in
8713 preparation for new release. User Manual is almost ready.
8715 Revision 2.41 2007/11/11 16:32:11 hal9
8716 This is primarily syncing What's New and Note to Upgraders sections with the many
8717 new features and changes (gleaned from memory but mostly from ChangeLog).
8719 Revision 2.40 2007/11/10 17:10:59 fabiankeil
8720 In the first third of the file, mention several times that
8721 the action editor is disabled by default in 3.0.7 beta and later.
8723 Revision 2.39 2007/11/05 02:34:49 hal9
8724 Various changes in preparation for the upcoming release. Much yet to be done.
8726 Revision 2.38 2007/09/22 16:01:42 fabiankeil
8727 Update embedded show-url-info output.
8729 Revision 2.37 2007/08/27 16:09:55 fabiankeil
8730 Fix pre-chroot-nslookup description which I failed to
8731 copy and paste properly. Reported by Stephen Gildea.
8733 Revision 2.36 2007/08/26 16:47:14 fabiankeil
8734 Add Stephen Gildea's pre-chroot-nslookup patch [#1276666],
8735 extensive comments moved to user manual.
8737 Revision 2.35 2007/08/26 14:59:49 fabiankeil
8738 Minor rewordings and fixes.
8740 Revision 2.34 2007/08/05 15:19:50 fabiankeil
8741 - Don't claim HTTP/1.1 compliance.
8742 - Use $ in some of the path pattern examples.
8743 - Use a hide-user-agent example argument without
8744 leading and trailing space.
8745 - Make it clear that the cookie actions work with
8747 - Rephrase the inspect-jpegs text to underline
8748 that it's only meant to protect against a single
8751 Revision 2.33 2007/07/27 10:57:35 hal9
8752 Add references for user-agent strings for hide-user-agenet
8754 Revision 2.32 2007/06/07 12:36:22 fabiankeil
8755 Apply Roland's 29_usermanual.dpatch to fix a bunch
8756 of syntax errors I collected over the last months.
8758 Revision 2.31 2007/06/02 14:01:37 fabiankeil
8759 Start to document forward-override{}.
8761 Revision 2.30 2007/04/25 15:10:36 fabiankeil
8762 - Describe installation for FreeBSD.
8763 - Start to document taggers and tag patterns.
8764 - Don't confuse devils and daemons.
8766 Revision 2.29 2007/04/05 11:47:51 fabiankeil
8767 Some updates regarding header filtering,
8768 handling of compressed content and redirect's
8769 support for pcrs commands.
8771 Revision 2.28 2006/12/10 23:42:48 hal9
8772 Fix various typos reported by Adam P. Thanks.
8774 Revision 2.27 2006/11/14 01:57:47 hal9
8775 Dump all docs prior to 3.0.6 release. Various minor changes to faq and user
8778 Revision 2.26 2006/10/24 11:16:44 hal9
8781 Revision 2.25 2006/10/18 10:50:33 hal9
8782 Add note that since filters are off in Cautious, compression is ON. Turn off
8783 compression to make filters work on all sites.
8785 Revision 2.24 2006/10/03 11:13:54 hal9
8786 More references to the new filters. Include html this time around.
8788 Revision 2.23 2006/10/02 22:43:53 hal9
8789 Contains new filter definitions from Fabian, and few other miscellaneous
8792 Revision 2.22 2006/09/22 01:27:55 hal9
8793 Final commit of probably various minor changes here and there. Unless
8794 something changes this should be ready for pending release.
8796 Revision 2.21 2006/09/20 03:21:36 david__schmidt
8797 Just the tiniest tweak. Wafer thin!
8799 Revision 2.20 2006/09/10 14:53:54 hal9
8800 Results of spell check. User manual has some updates to standard.actions file
8803 Revision 2.19 2006/09/08 12:19:02 fabiankeil
8804 Adjust hide-if-modified-since example values
8805 to reflect the recent changes.
8807 Revision 2.18 2006/09/08 02:38:57 hal9
8809 -Fix a number of broken links.
8810 -Migrate the new Windows service command line options, and reference as
8812 -Rebuild so that can be used with the new "user-manual" config capabilities.
8815 Revision 2.17 2006/09/05 13:25:12 david__schmidt
8816 Add Windows service invocation stuff (duplicated) in FAQ and in user manual under Windows startup. One probably ought to reference the other.
8818 Revision 2.16 2006/09/02 12:49:37 hal9
8819 Various small updates for new actions, filterfiles, etc.
8821 Revision 2.15 2006/08/30 11:15:22 hal9
8822 More work on the new actions, especially filter-*-headers, and What's New
8823 section. User Manual is close to final form for 3.0.4 release. Some tinkering
8824 and proof reading left to do.
8826 Revision 2.14 2006/08/29 10:59:36 hal9
8827 Add a "Whats New in this release" Section. Further work on multiple filter
8828 files, and assorted other minor changes.
8830 Revision 2.13 2006/08/22 11:04:59 hal9
8831 Silence warnings and errors. This should build now. New filters were only
8832 stubbed in. More to be done.
8834 Revision 2.12 2006/08/14 08:40:39 fabiankeil
8835 Documented new actions that were part of
8836 the "minor Privoxy improvements".
8838 Revision 2.11 2006/07/18 14:48:51 david__schmidt
8839 Reorganizing the repository: swapping out what was HEAD (the old 3.1 branch)
8840 with what was really the latest development (the v_3_0_branch branch)
8842 Revision 1.123.2.43 2005/05/23 09:59:10 hal9
8845 Revision 1.123.2.42 2004/12/04 14:39:57 hal9
8846 Fix two minor typos per bug SF report.
8848 Revision 1.123.2.41 2004/03/23 12:58:42 oes
8851 Revision 1.123.2.40 2004/02/27 12:48:49 hal9
8852 Add comment re: redirecting to local file system for set-image-blocker may
8853 is dependent on browser.
8855 Revision 1.123.2.39 2004/01/30 22:31:40 oes
8856 Added a hint re bookmarklets to Quickstart section
8858 Revision 1.123.2.38 2004/01/30 16:47:51 oes
8859 Some minor clarifications
8861 Revision 1.123.2.37 2004/01/29 22:36:11 hal9
8862 Updates for no longer filtering text/plain, and demoronizer default settings,
8863 and copyright notice dates.
8865 Revision 1.123.2.36 2003/12/10 02:26:26 hal9
8866 Changed the demoronizer filter description.
8868 Revision 1.123.2.35 2003/11/06 13:36:37 oes
8869 Updated link to nightly CVS tarball
8871 Revision 1.123.2.34 2003/06/26 23:50:16 hal9
8872 Add a small bit on filtering and problems re: source code being corrupted.
8874 Revision 1.123.2.33 2003/05/08 18:17:33 roro
8875 Use apt-get instead of dpkg to install Debian package, which is more
8876 solid, uses the correct and most recent Debian version automatically.
8878 Revision 1.123.2.32 2003/04/11 03:13:57 hal9
8879 Add small note about only one filterfile (as opposed to multiple actions
8882 Revision 1.123.2.31 2003/03/26 02:03:43 oes
8883 Updated hard-coded copyright dates
8885 Revision 1.123.2.30 2003/03/24 12:58:56 hal9
8886 Add new section on Predefined Filters.
8888 Revision 1.123.2.29 2003/03/20 02:45:29 hal9
8889 More problems with \-\-chroot causing markup problems :(
8891 Revision 1.123.2.28 2003/03/19 00:35:24 hal9
8892 Manual edit of revision log because 'chroot' (even inside a comment) was
8893 causing Docbook to hang here (due to double hyphen and the processor thinking
8896 Revision 1.123.2.27 2003/03/18 19:37:14 oes
8897 s/Advanced|Radical/Adventuresome/g to avoid complaints re fun filter
8899 Revision 1.123.2.26 2003/03/17 16:50:53 oes
8900 Added documentation for new chroot option
8902 Revision 1.123.2.25 2003/03/15 18:36:55 oes
8903 Adapted to the new filters
8905 Revision 1.123.2.24 2002/11/17 06:41:06 hal9
8906 Move default profiles table from FAQ to U-M, and other minor related changes.
8909 Revision 1.123.2.23 2002/10/21 02:32:01 hal9
8910 Updates to the user.action examples section. A few new ones.
8912 Revision 1.123.2.22 2002/10/12 00:51:53 hal9
8913 Add demoronizer to filter section.
8915 Revision 1.123.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 hal9
8916 s/Advanced/Radical/ and added very brief note.
8918 Revision 1.123.2.20 2002/10/10 03:49:21 hal9
8919 Add notes to session-cookies-only and Quickstart about pre-existing
8920 cookies. Also, note content-cookies work differently.
8922 Revision 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9
8923 More explanation on Privoxy patterns, more on content-cookies and SSL.
8925 Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9
8926 Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match
8929 Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9
8930 Spell checked (only one typo this time!).
8932 Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt
8933 Update to Mac OS X startup script name
8935 Revision 1.123.2.15 2002/08/07 17:32:11 oes
8936 Converted some internal links from ulink to link for PDF creation; no content changed
8938 Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes
8939 Nits re: actions file download
8941 Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff
8942 Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections
8944 Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff
8945 Added 2 Gentoo sections
8947 Revision 1.123.2.11 2002/07/26 15:20:31 oes
8948 - Added version info to title
8949 - Added info on new filters
8950 - Revised parts of the filter file tutorial
8951 - Added info on where to get updated actions files
8953 Revision 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
8954 Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
8956 Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt
8958 Updated Mac OS X sections due to installation location change
8960 Revision 1.123.2.8 2002/06/09 16:36:32 hal9
8961 Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
8963 Revision 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9
8964 Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy.
8966 Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9
8967 Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs.
8969 Revision 1.123.2.5 2002/05/29 02:01:02 hal9
8970 This is break out of the entire config section from u-m, so it can
8971 eventually be used to generate the comments, etc in the main config file
8972 so that these are in sync with each other.
8974 Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
8975 Ooops missed something from David.
8977 Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9
8978 Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and Mac OS X startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat).
8979 That's a wrap, I think.
8981 Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9
8982 Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section.
8984 Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
8985 -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
8987 Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9
8988 Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton.
8989 Minor corrections/clarifications here and there.
8991 Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
8992 Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
8994 Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes
8995 - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the
8996 <literal><link> style.
8997 - Small fixes in the actions chapter
8998 - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking
8999 - Removed <emphasis> from <title>s since the new doc CSS
9000 renders them red (bad in TOC).
9002 Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
9003 Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
9005 Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
9008 Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
9009 -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
9010 -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
9012 Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
9013 - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
9014 - Small changes to Regex appendix
9015 - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
9017 Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
9018 Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
9020 Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
9021 Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
9023 Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
9024 More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
9026 Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
9027 Extended and further commented the example actions files
9029 Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
9030 Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
9033 Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes
9036 Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes
9037 Restored alphabetical order of actions
9039 Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes
9040 Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs
9042 Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
9043 Completed proofreading the actions chapter
9045 Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9
9046 Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this
9047 apparently an important distinction for some OS's.
9049 Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
9050 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
9051 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
9052 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
9054 Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
9055 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
9057 Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
9060 Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
9061 -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
9062 -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
9064 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
9065 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
9067 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
9068 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
9069 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
9071 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
9072 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
9074 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
9075 more structure in starting section
9077 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
9078 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
9079 will probably break links elsewhere :(
9081 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
9082 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
9083 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
9085 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
9086 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
9087 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
9089 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
9090 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
9092 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
9093 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
9094 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
9096 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
9097 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
9098 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
9100 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
9101 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
9103 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
9104 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
9106 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
9107 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
9109 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
9110 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
9112 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
9113 Updated Mac OS X installation section
9114 Added a few English tweaks here an there
9116 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
9117 Re-write actions section.
9119 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
9120 Fix ugly typo (mine).
9122 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
9123 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
9125 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
9126 Added RPM install detail
9128 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
9131 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
9132 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
9134 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
9135 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
9137 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
9138 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
9140 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
9143 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
9144 Proofreading, part one
9146 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
9147 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
9148 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
9150 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
9151 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
9153 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
9154 Add small section on submitting actions.
9156 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
9159 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
9160 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
9162 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
9163 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
9165 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
9168 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
9169 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
9170 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
9171 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
9172 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
9174 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
9175 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
9177 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
9178 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
9180 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
9181 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
9182 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
9183 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
9184 eventually be set by Makefile.
9185 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
9187 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
9188 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
9190 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
9191 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
9193 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
9194 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
9196 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
9197 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
9198 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
9199 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
9201 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
9204 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
9205 Added more to Anatomy section.
9207 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
9208 Touch up intro for new name.
9210 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
9211 we have a new homepage!
9213 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
9214 A few minor catch ups with name change.
9216 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
9217 configure needs to be generated.
9219 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
9220 we are too lazy to make a block-built
9221 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
9223 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
9224 name change related issue.
9226 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
9227 name change. changed filenames.
9229 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
9232 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
9233 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
9234 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
9235 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
9236 comments and remarks to history untouched.
9238 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
9241 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
9242 New section in Appendix.
9244 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
9245 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
9247 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
9248 correct feedback channels
9250 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
9251 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
9253 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
9256 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
9257 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
9259 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
9260 Added imageblock{pattern}.
9262 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
9265 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
9266 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
9268 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
9269 provide correct feedback channels
9271 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
9272 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
9274 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
9275 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
9277 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
9278 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
9280 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
9281 Add new - - user option.
9283 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
9284 Added section on command line options.
9286 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
9287 Changed default port to 8118
9289 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
9290 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
9292 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
9293 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
9294 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
9297 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
9300 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
9301 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
9303 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
9304 Update OS/2 build section
9306 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
9307 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
9308 will work - no other changes are needed.
9310 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
9311 Added a very short section on Templates
9313 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
9314 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
9316 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
9317 Touch ups for *.action files.
9319 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
9322 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
9323 Updates for recent changes.
9325 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
9326 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
9328 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
9329 Correct 2 minor errors
9331 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
9332 *** empty log message ***
9334 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
9335 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
9337 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
9338 wrong url in documentation
9340 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
9341 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
9343 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
9346 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
9349 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
9352 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
9353 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
9355 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
9356 Some additions, and re-arranging.
9358 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
9361 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
9362 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
9364 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
9367 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
9368 source files for junkbuster documentation
9370 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
9371 first proposal of a structure.
9373 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
9374 docs should have an author.
9376 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
9377 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.