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 contacting SYSTEM "contacting.sgml">
8 <!entity history SYSTEM "history.sgml">
9 <!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
10 <!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
11 <!entity p-version "3.0.11">
12 <!entity p-status "stable">
13 <!entity % p-not-stable "IGNORE">
14 <!entity % p-stable "INCLUDE">
15 <!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
16 <!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
17 <!entity % p-supp-userman "INCLUDE"> <!-- Include all from supported.sgml -->
18 <!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
19 <!entity % p-newstuff "INCLUDE"> <!-- exclude stuff from devel versions -->
20 <!entity % seealso-extra "INCLUDE"> <!-- extra stuff from seealso.sgml -->
21 <!entity my-app "<application>Privoxy</application>">
24 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/faq.sgml,v $
27 This file belongs into
28 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
30 $Id: faq.sgml,v 2.56 2009/02/19 17:05:05 fabiankeil Exp $
32 Copyright (C) 2001-2009 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
35 Based partially on the Internet Junkbuster FAQ originally written by and
36 Copyright (C) 1997 Anonymous Coders and Junkbusters Corporation.
37 http://www.junkbusters.com/
39 <Qandaset defaultlabel='qanda'>
54 ========================================================================
55 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
58 Please we keep the info in this file as version independent as possible
59 so we only have to maintain one FAQ. Where significant changes are
60 made to Privoxy configuration, please note the change in such a way that
61 it makes sense to both users of older and newer versions.
62 ========================================================================
68 <article id="index" class="faq">
70 <title>Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions</title>
74 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
75 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
76 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001-2009 by
77 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
81 <pubdate>$Id: faq.sgml,v 2.56 2009/02/19 17:05:05 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
85 Note: this should generate a separate page, and a live link to it.
86 But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave commented
87 unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the copyright
88 statement will be in copyright.smgl.
92 <legalnotice id="legalnotice">
94 text goes here ........
104 <orgname>By: Privoxy Developers</orgname>
113 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
114 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
115 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
120 This FAQ gives quick answers to frequently asked questions about
121 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>.
122 It is not a substitute for the
123 <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html"><citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle></ulink>.
125 This works, at least in some situtations:
126 Test: <ulink url="privoxy-user-manual.pdf"><citetitle>User Manual</citetitle></ulink>.
130 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
131 <para>What is Privoxy?</para> &p-intro;
132 <!-- end boilerplate -->
135 Please note that this document is a work in progress. This copy represents
136 the state at the release of version &p-version;.
137 You can find the latest version of the document at <ulink
138 url="http://www.privoxy.org/faq/">http://www.privoxy.org/faq/</ulink>.
139 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> if you want to
140 contact the developers.
144 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
150 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
152 <sect1 id="general"><title>General Information</title>
153 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="who-uses"><title>Who should give &my-app; a try?</title>
155 Anyone who is interested in security, privacy, or in
156 finer-grained control over their web and Internet experience.
160 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="bestchoice"><title>Is Privoxy the best choice for
163 &my-app; is certainly a good choice, especially for those who want more
164 control and security. Those with the willingness to read the documentation
165 and the ability to fine-tune their installation will benefit the most.
168 One of <application>Privoxy's</application>
169 strengths is that it is highly configurable giving you the ability to
170 completely personalize your installation. Being familiar with, or at least
171 having an interest in learning about <ulink
172 url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Http">HTTP</ulink> and other networking
173 protocols, <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html">HTML</ulink>, and
174 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
175 Expressions</quote></ulink>
176 will be a big plus and will help you get the most out of &my-app;.
177 A new installation just includes a very basic configuration. The user
178 should take this as a starting point only, and enhance it as he or she
179 sees fit. In fact, the user is encouraged, and expected to, fine-tune the
183 Much of <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration can be done
184 with a <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser">Web browser</ulink>.
185 But there are areas where configuration is done using a
186 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_editors">text editor</ulink>
187 to edit configuration files. Also note that the web-based action editor
188 doesn't use authentication and should only be enabled in environments
189 where all clients with access to &my-app; listening port can be trusted.
193 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="proxymoron"><title>What is a <quote>proxy</quote>? How does
194 Privoxy work? </title>
196 A <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">web proxy</ulink>
197 is a service, based on a software such as &my-app;, that clients
198 (i.e. browsers) can use instead of connecting to web servers directly.
199 The clients then ask the proxy to request objects (web pages, images, movies etc)
200 on their behalf and to forward the data to the clients.
201 It is a <quote>go-between</quote>. For details, see
202 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">Wikipedia's proxy definition</ulink>.
205 There are many reasons to use web proxies, such as security (firewalling),
206 efficiency (caching) and others, and there are any number of proxies
207 to accommodate those needs.
210 &my-app; is a proxy that is primarily focused on
211 privacy enhancement, ad and junk elimination and freeing the user from
212 restrictions placed on his activities. Sitting between your browser(s) and the Internet,
213 it is in a perfect position to filter outbound personal information that your
214 browser is leaking, as well as inbound junk. It uses a variety of techniques to do
215 this, all of which are under your complete control via the various configuration
216 files and options. Being a proxy also makes it easier to share
217 configurations among multiple browsers and/or users.
221 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="otherstuff">
222 <title>Does Privoxy do anything more than ad blocking?</title>
224 Yes, ad blocking is but one possible use. There are many, many ways &my-app;
225 can be used to sanitize and customize web browsing.
229 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newjb"><title>What is this new version of
230 <quote><citetitle>Junkbuster</citetitle></quote>?</title>
232 <!-- Include history.sgml -->
239 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
240 <title id="whyprivoxy">Why <quote>Privoxy</quote>? Why change the name from
241 Junkbuster at all?</title>
243 Though outdated, <ulink url="http://junkbusters.com/">Junkbusters Corporation</ulink>
244 continues to offer their original version of the <application>Internet
245 Junkbuster</application>, so publishing our
246 <application> Junkbuster</application>-derived software under the same name
250 There are also potential legal complications from our use of the
251 <application>Junkbuster</application> name, which is a registered trademark of
252 <ulink url="http://junkbusters.com/">Junkbusters Corporation</ulink>.
253 There are, however, no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the
254 <application>Privoxy</application> project itself, and they, in fact, still
255 share our ideals and goals.
258 The developers also believed that there are so many improvements over the original
259 code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past and make
260 a name in their own right.
263 <application>Privoxy</application> is the
264 <quote><emphasis>Privacy Enhancing Proxy</emphasis></quote>. Also, its content
265 modification and junk suppression gives <emphasis>you</emphasis>, the user, more
266 control, more freedom, and allows you to browse your personal and
267 <quote><emphasis>private</emphasis> edition</quote> of the web.
271 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="differs"><title>How does Privoxy differ
272 from the old Junkbuster?</title>
274 <application>Privoxy</application> picks up where
275 <application>Junkbuster</application> left off.
276 The new <application>Privoxy</application> still blocks ads and banners,
278 url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>, and still
279 helps protect your privacy. But, most of these features have been enhanced,
280 and many new ones have been added, all in the same vein.
283 <application>Privoxy</application>'s new features include:
286 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml: -->
292 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whatsanad">
293 <title id="knows">How does Privoxy know what is
294 an ad, and what is not?</title>
296 <application>Privoxy</application>'s approach to blocking ads is twofold:
299 First, there are certain patterns in the <emphasis>locations</emphasis> (URLs)
300 of banner images. This applies to both the path (you wouldn't guess how many
301 web sites serve their banners from a directory called <quote>banners</quote>!)
302 and the host (blocking the big banner hosting services like doublecklick.net
303 already helps a lot). <application>Privoxy</application> takes advantage of this
304 fact by using <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">URL
305 patterns</ulink> to sort out and block the requests for things that sound
306 like they would be ads or banners.
309 Second, banners tend to come in certain <emphasis>sizes</emphasis>. But you
310 can't tell the size of an image by its URL without downloading it, and if you
311 do, it's too late to save bandwidth. Therefore, <application>Privoxy</application>
312 also inspects the HTML sources of web pages while they are loaded, and replaces
313 references to images with standard banner sizes by dummy references, so that
314 your browser doesn't request them anymore in the first place.
317 Both of this involves a certain amount of guesswork and is, of course, freely
318 and readily configurable.
322 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
323 <title id="mistakes">Can Privoxy make mistakes?
324 This does not sound very scientific.</title>
326 Actually, it's a black art ;-) And yes, it is always possible to have a broad
327 rule accidentally block or change something by mistake. You will almost surely
328 run into such situations at some point. It is tricky writing rules to
329 cover every conceivable possibility, and not occasionally get false positives.
333 But this should not be a big concern since the
334 <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is very flexible, and
335 includes tools to help identify these types of situations so they can be
336 addressed as needed, allowing you to customize your installation.
337 (<link linkend="badsite">See the Troubleshooting section below</link>.)
342 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
343 <title id="configornot">Will I have to configure Privoxy
344 before I can use it?</title>
346 That depends on your expectations.
347 The default installation should give you a good starting
348 point, and block <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads and unwanted content,
349 but many of the more advanced features are off by default, and require
350 you to activate them.
353 You do have to set up your browser to use
354 <application>Privoxy</application> (see the <link
355 linkend="firststep">Installation section below</link>).
358 And you will certainly run into situations where there are false positives,
359 or ads not being blocked that you may not want to see. In these cases, you
360 would certainly benefit by customizing <application>Privoxy's</application>
361 configuration to more closely match your individual situation. And we
362 encourage you to do this. This is where the real power of
363 <application>Privoxy</application> lies!
368 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="lan">
369 <title>Can Privoxy run as a server on a network?</title>
371 Yes, &my-app; runs as a server already, and can easily be configured to
372 <quote>serve</quote> more than one client. See <link linkend="lanconfig">
373 How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my LAN</link> below.
377 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="browsers2"><title>My browser does the same things as
378 Privoxy. Why should I use Privoxy at all?</title>
380 Modern browsers do indeed have <emphasis>some</emphasis> of the same
381 functionality as <application>Privoxy</application>. Maybe this is
382 adequate for you. But <application>Privoxy</application> is very
383 versatile and powerful, and can probably do a number of things
384 your browser just can't.
387 In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or
388 have a LAN with multiple computers since &my-app; can run as a server
389 application. This way all the configuration is in one place, and you don't
390 have to maintain a similar configuration for possibly many browsers or
394 Note, however, that it's recommended to leverage both your browser's
395 and <application>Privoxy's</application> privacy enhancing features
396 at the same time. While your browser probably lacks some features
397 &my-app; offers, it should also be able to do some things more
398 reliable, for example restricting and suppressing JavaScript.
402 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whytrust"><title>Why should I trust Privoxy?</title>
404 The most important reason is because you have access to
405 <emphasis>everything</emphasis>, and you can control everything. You can
406 check every line of every configuration file yourself. You can check every
407 last bit of source code should you desire. And even if you can't read code,
408 there should be some comfort in knowing that <!-- thousands of -->other people can,
409 and do read it. You can build the software from scratch, if you want,
410 so that you know the executable is clean, and that it is
411 <emphasis>yours</emphasis>. In fact, we encourage this level of scrutiny. It
412 is one reason we use &my-app; ourselves.
416 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="license"><title>Is there is a license or fee? What about a
417 warranty? Registration?</title>
419 <application>Privoxy</application> is free software and licensed under the <ulink
420 url="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html">GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2</ulink>.
421 It is free to use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish under the terms of this
422 license. Please see the <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> section for more
423 information on the license and copyright. Or the <filename>LICENSE</filename> file
424 that should be included.
427 There is <emphasis>no warranty</emphasis> of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise.
428 That is something that would cost real money ;-) There is no registration either.
433 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="spyware">
434 <title>Can Privoxy remove spyware? Adware? Viruses?</title>
436 No, at least not reliably enough to trust it. &my-app; is not designed to be
437 a malware removal tool and the default configuration doesn't even try to
438 filter out any malware.
441 &my-app; could help prevent contact from (known) sites that use such
442 tactics with appropriate configuration rules, and thus could conceivably
443 prevent contamination from such sites. However, keeping such a configuration
444 up to date would require a lot of time and effort that would be better spend
445 on keeping your software itself up to date so it doesn't have known
451 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="otherads">
452 <title>Can I use Privoxy with other ad-blocking software?</title>
454 &my-app; should work fine with other proxies and other software in general.
457 But it is probably not necessary to use &my-app; in conjunction with other
458 ad-blocking products, and this could conceivably cause undesirable results.
459 It might be better to choose one software or the other and work a little to
460 tweak its configuration to your liking.
463 Note that this is an advice specific to ad blocking.
467 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="jointeam"><title>I would like to help you, what can I do?</title>
469 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jointeam-work"><title>Would you like to participate?</title>
471 Well, we <emphasis>always</emphasis> need help. There is something for
472 everybody who wants to help us. We welcome new developers, packagers,
473 testers, documentation writers or really anyone with a desire to help in
474 any way. You <emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> need to be a
475 <quote>programmer</quote>. There are many other tasks available. In fact,
476 the programmers often can't spend as much time programming because of some
477 of the other, more mundane things that need to be done, like checking the
478 Tracker feedback sections.
481 So first thing, <ulink
482 url="https://sourceforge.net/account/register.php">get an account on SourceForge.net</ulink>
483 and mail your id to the <ulink url="mailto:ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net">developers
484 mailing list</ulink>. Then, please read the <ulink
485 url="../developer-manual/index.html">Developer's Manual</ulink>, at least
486 the pertinent sections.
489 You can also start helping out without SourceForge.net account,
490 simply by showing up on the mailing list, helping out other users,
491 providing general feedback or reporting problems you noticed.
495 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="donating"><title>Donating</title>
497 <application>Privoxy</application> is developed by unpaid volunteers
498 and thus our current running costs are pretty low. Nevertheless, we
499 have plans that will cost money in the future. We would like to get
500 this money through donations made by our users.
504 <application>Privoxy</application> has therefore become an associated
505 project of <ulink url="http://www.spi-inc.org/">Software in the Public
506 Interest</ulink>, which allows us to receive tax-deductible donations
507 in most western countries. Before donating you should probably read on,
508 though, to learn what we want your money for.
512 First of all we intend to transfer our domain to SPI to make sure
513 there's no single point of failure and the bill gets paid and the
514 site keeps running even if a some of the currently active developers
515 were to suddenly disappear for a while.
519 We would also like to spend some money on more reliable hosting,
520 on hardware to help make sure <application>Privoxy</application>
521 keeps running on platforms the developers currently can't test on,
522 and on technical books to educate our developers about said platforms
523 or to improve their knowledge in general.
527 If you enjoy our software and feel like helping out with a donation,
528 please have a look at
529 <ulink url="http://www.spi-inc.org/donations">SPI's donation page</ulink>
530 to see what the options are. Small donations help too.
539 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
541 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
543 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whichbrowsers">
544 <title>Which browsers are supported by Privoxy?</title>
546 Any browser that can be configured to use a proxy, which
547 should be virtually all browsers, including
548 <application>Firefox</application>, <application>Internet
549 Explorer</application>, <application>Opera</application>, and
550 <application>Safari</application> among others.
551 Direct browser support is not an absolute requirement since
552 <application>Privoxy</application> runs as a separate application and talks
553 to the browser in the standardized HTTP protocol, just like a web server
558 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whichos">
559 <title>Which operating systems are supported?</title>
561 Include supported.sgml here:
566 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="email-client">
567 <title>Can I use Privoxy with my email client?</title>
569 As long as there is some way to set a HTTP proxy for the client, then yes,
570 any application can be used, whether it is strictly speaking a
571 <quote>browser</quote> or not. Though this may not be the best approach for
572 dealing with some of the common abuses of HTML in email. See <link
573 linkend="outlook">How can I configure <application>Privoxy</application>
574 with <application>Outlook</application>?</link> below for more on
578 Be aware that HTML email presents a number of unique security and privacy
579 related issues, that can require advanced skills to overcome. The developers
580 recommend using email clients that can be configured to convert HTML to plain
581 text for these reasons.
585 <!-- Nobody is going to still be doing this!
586 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newinstall"><title>Can I install
587 Privoxy over Junkbuster?</title>
589 We recommend you un-install <application>Junkbuster</application>
590 first to minimize conflicts and confusion. You may want to
591 save your old configuration files for future reference. The configuration
592 files and syntax have substantially changed, so you will need to manually
593 port your old patterns. See the <ulink url="../user-manual/upgradersnote.html">note
594 to upgraders</ulink> and <ulink url="../user-manual/installation.html">installation
595 chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">User Manual</ulink>
599 Note: Some installers may automatically un-install
600 <application>Junkbuster</application>, if present!
606 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="firststep">
607 <title>I just installed Privoxy. Is there anything
608 special I have to do now?</title>
611 All browsers should be told to use <application>Privoxy</application>
612 as a proxy by specifying the correct proxy address and port number
613 in the appropriate configuration area for the browser. It's possible
614 to combine &my-app; with a packet filter to intercept HTTP requests
615 even if the client isn't explicitly configured to use &my-app;,
616 but where possible, configuring the client is recommended. See
617 <ulink url="../user-manual/startup.html">the User Manual for more
618 details</ulink>. You should also flush your browser's memory and disk
619 cache to get rid of any cached junk items, and remove any stored
620 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>.
626 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="localhost"><title>What is the proxy address of Privoxy?</title>
628 If you set up the <application>Privoxy</application> to run on
629 the computer you browse from (rather than your ISP's server or some
630 networked computer on a LAN), the proxy will be on <literal>127.0.0.1</literal>
631 (sometimes referred to as <quote>localhost</quote>,
632 which is the special name used by every computer on the Internet to refer
633 to itself) and the port will be 8118 (unless you used the <ulink
634 url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS">listen-address</ulink>
635 config option to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to run on
639 When configuring your browser's proxy settings you typically enter
640 the word <quote>localhost</quote> or the IP address <quote>127.0.0.1</quote>
641 in the boxes next to <quote>HTTP</quote> and <quote>Secure</quote> (HTTPS) and
642 then the number <quote>8118</quote> for <quote>port</quote>.
643 This tells your browser to send all web requests to <application>Privoxy</application>
644 instead of directly to the Internet.
647 <application>Privoxy</application> can also be used to proxy for
648 a Local Area Network. In this case, your would enter either the IP
649 address of the LAN host where <application>Privoxy</application>
650 is running, or the equivalent hostname, e.g. <literal>192.168.1.1</literal>.
651 Port assignment would be same as above. Note that
652 <application>Privoxy</application> doesn't listen on any LAN interfaces by
656 <application>Privoxy</application> does not currently handle
657 any other protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM, IRC, ICQ, etc.
661 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="nothing">
662 <title>I just installed Privoxy, and nothing is happening.
663 All the ads are there. What's wrong?</title>
666 Did you configure your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application>
667 as a proxy? It does not sound like it. See above. You might also try flushing
668 the browser's caches to force a full re-reading of pages. You can verify
669 that <application>Privoxy</application> is running, and your browser
670 is correctly configured by entering the special URL:
671 <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>.
672 <!-- Use http://p.p/ instead of http://config.privoxy.org/ here because
673 of potential redirect caching problem (see next Q). -->
674 This should take you to a page titled <quote>This is Privoxy..</quote> with
675 access to <application>Privoxy's</application> internal configuration.
676 If you see this, then you are good to go. If you receive a page saying
677 <quote>Privoxy is not running</quote>, then the browser is not set up to use
678 your <application>Privoxy</application> installation.
679 If you receive anything else (probably nothing at all), it could either
680 be that the browser is not set up correctly, or that
681 <application>Privoxy</application> is not running at all. Check the <ulink
682 url="../user-manual/config.html#LOGFILE">log file</ulink>. For instructions
683 on starting <application>Privoxy</application> and browser configuration,
684 see the <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/startup.html">chapter
685 on starting <application>Privoxy</application></ulink> in the
686 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">User Manual</ulink>.
691 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="notused">
692 <title>I get a <quote>Privoxy is not being used</quote> dummy page although
693 Privoxy is running and being used.</title>
696 First, make sure that Privoxy is <emphasis>really</emphasis> running and
697 being used by visiting <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>. You
698 should see the <application>Privoxy</application> main page. If not, see
699 the <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/startup.html">chapter
700 on starting <application>Privoxy</application></ulink> in the
701 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">User Manual</ulink>.
705 Now if <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> works for you, but
706 other parts of <application>Privoxy</application>'s web interface show
707 the dummy page, your browser has cached a redirection it encountered before
708 <application>Privoxy</application> was being used. You need to clear your
709 browser's cache. Note that shift-reloading the dummy page won't help, since
710 that'll only refresh the dummy page, not the redirection that lead you there.
714 The procedure for clearing the cache varies from browser to browser. For
715 example, <application>Mozilla/Netscape</application> users would click
716 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> --> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -->
717 <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> --> <guibutton>Cache</guibutton> and
718 then click both <quote><guibutton>Clear Memory Cache</guibutton></quote>
719 and <quote><guibutton>Clear Disk Cache</guibutton></quote>.
720 In some <application>Firefox</application> versions it's
721 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> --> <guibutton>Options</guibutton> -->
722 <guibutton>Privacy</guibutton> --> <guibutton>Cache</guibutton> and
723 then click <quote><guibutton>Clear Cache Now</guibutton></quote>.
724 <!-- In my Firefox versions it's the Netscape way. fk 2007-11-19-->
731 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
733 <sect1 id="configuration"><title>Configuration</title>
734 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
735 <title id="actionsfile">What exactly is an <quote>actions</quote> file?</title>
738 &my-app; utilizes the concept of <quote>
739 <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">actions</ulink></quote>
740 that are used to manipulate and control web page data.
741 <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">Actions files</ulink>
742 are where these <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">actions</ulink>
743 that <application>Privoxy</application> could take while processing a certain
744 request, are configured. Typically, you would define a set of default actions
745 that apply globally to all URLs, then add exceptions to these defaults where needed.
746 There is a wide array of actions available that give the user a high degree
747 of control and flexibility on how to process each and every web page.
751 Actions can be defined on a <ulink
752 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#AF-PATTERNS">URL pattern</ulink> basis, i.e.
753 for single URLs, whole web sites, groups or parts thereof etc. Actions can also be
754 grouped together and then applied to requests matching one or more patterns.
755 There are many possible actions that might apply to any given site. As an example,
756 if you are blocking <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>
757 as one of your default actions, but need to accept cookies from a given site,
758 you would need to define an exception for this site in one of your actions
759 files, preferably in <filename>user.action</filename>.
764 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="actionss">
765 <title>The <quote>actions</quote> concept confuses me. Please list
766 some of these <quote>actions</quote>.</title>
768 For a comprehensive discussion of the actions concept, please refer
769 to the <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions file
770 chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">User
771 Manual</ulink>. It includes a <ulink
772 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACTIONS">list of all actions</ulink>
773 and an <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACT-EXAMPLES">actions
774 file tutorial</ulink> to get you started.
779 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
780 <title id="actconfig">How are actions files configured? What is the easiest
781 way to do this?</title>
784 Actions files are just text files in a special syntax and can be edited
785 with a text editor. But probably the easiest way is to access
786 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface with your web browser
787 at <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
788 (Shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and then select
789 <quote><ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View &
790 change the current configuration</ulink></quote> from the menu. Note
791 that this feature must be explicitly enabled in the main config file
793 url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions</ulink>).
798 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
799 <title>There are several different <quote>actions</quote> files. What are
800 the differences?</title>
803 are being included by the developers, to be used for
804 different purposes: These are
805 <filename>default.action</filename>, the <quote>main</quote> actions file
806 which is actively maintained by the <application>Privoxy</application>
807 developers and typically sets the default policies, <filename>user.action</filename>,
808 where users are encouraged to make their private customizations.
809 Please see <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">the actions chapter</ulink>
810 in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">User Manual</ulink> for a more
811 detailed explanation.
815 Earlier versions included three different versions of the
816 <filename>default.action</filename> file. The new scheme allows for
817 greater flexibility of local configuration, and for browser based
818 selection of pre-defined <quote>aggressiveness</quote> levels.
823 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="getupdates"><title>Where can I get updated Actions Files?</title>
825 Based on your feedback and the continuing development, updates of
826 <filename>default.action</filename> will be
827 made available from time to time on the <ulink
828 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">files section</ulink> of
829 our <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/">project page</ulink>.
833 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
834 <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
835 url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
836 to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
841 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newconfig"><title>Can I use my old config files?</title>
843 The syntax and purpose of configuration files has remained roughly the
844 same throughout the 3.x series, but backwards compatibility is not guaranteed.
845 Also each release contains updated, <quote>improved</quote> versions and it is
846 therefore strongly recommended to install the newer configuration files
847 and merge back your modifications.
851 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="difficult">
852 <title>Why is the configuration so complicated?</title>
854 <quote>Complicated</quote> is in the eye of the beholder. Those that are
855 familiar with some of the underlying concepts, such as regular expression
856 syntax, take to it like a fish takes to water. Also, software that tries
857 hard to be <quote>user friendly</quote>, often lacks sophistication and
858 flexibility. There is always that trade-off there between power vs.
859 easy-of-use. Furthermore, anyone is welcome to contribute ideas and
860 implementations to enhance &my-app;.
864 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="yahoo"><title>How can I make my Yahoo/Hotmail/Gmail account work?</title>
866 The default configuration shouldn't impact the usability of any of these services.
867 It may, however, make all <ulink
868 url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>
869 temporary, so that your browser will forget your
870 login credentials in between browser sessions. If you would like not to have to log
871 in manually each time you access those websites, simply turn off all cookie handling
872 for them in the <filename>user.action</filename> file. An example for yahoo might
876 <screen># Allow all cookies for Yahoo login:
878 { -<ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</ulink> -<ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</ulink> -<ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</ulink> }
879 .login.yahoo.com</screen>
882 These kinds of sites are often quite complex and heavy with
883 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javascript">Javascript</ulink> and
884 thus <quote>fragile</quote>. So if <emphasis>still</emphasis> a problem,
886 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ALIASES">alias</ulink> just for such
890 <screen># Gmail is a _fragile_ site:
892 { <literal>fragile</literal> }
894 mail.google.com</screen>
897 Be sure to flush your browser's caches whenever making these kinds of
898 changes, just to make sure the changes <quote>take</quote>.
901 Make sure the domain, host and path are appropriate as well. Your browser can
902 tell you where you are specifically and you should use that information for
903 your configuration settings. Note that above it is not referenced as
904 <literal>gmail.com</literal>, which is a valid domain name.
909 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="configfiles"> <title>What's the difference between the
910 <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> and <quote>Advanced</quote> defaults?</title>
912 Configuring <application>Privoxy</application> is not entirely trivial. To
913 help you get started, we provide you with three different default action
914 <quote>profiles</quote> in the web based actions file editor at <ulink
915 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
916 See the <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html"><citetitle>User
917 Manual</citetitle></ulink> for a list of actions, and how the default
922 Where the defaults are likely to break some sites, exceptions for
923 known popular <quote>problem</quote> sites are included, but in
924 general, the more aggressive your default settings are, the more exceptions
925 you will have to make later. New users are best to start off in
926 <quote>Cautious</quote> setting. This is safest and will have the fewest
927 problems. See the <ulink
928 url="../user-manual/index.html"><citetitle>User Manual</citetitle></ulink>
929 for a more detailed discussion.
933 It should be noted that the <quote>Advanced</quote> profile (formerly known
934 as the <quote>Adventuresome</quote> profile) is more
935 aggressive, and will make use of some of
936 <application>Privoxy's</application> advanced features. Use at your own risk!
941 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="browseconfig"> <title>Why can I change the configuration
942 with a browser? Does that not raise security issues?</title>
944 It may seem strange that regular users can edit the config files with their
945 browsers, although the whole <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> hierarchy
946 belongs to the user <quote>privoxy</quote>, with only 644 permissions.
949 When you use the browser-based editor, <application>Privoxy</application>
950 itself is writing to the config files. Because
951 <application>Privoxy</application> is running as the user <quote>privoxy</quote>,
952 it can update its own config files.
955 If you run <application>Privoxy</application> for multiple untrusted users (e.g. in
956 a LAN) or aren't entirely in control of your own browser, you will probably want
957 to make sure that the the web-based editor and remote toggle features are
958 <quote>off</quote> by setting <quote><literal><ulink
959 url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions</ulink>
960 0</literal></quote> and <quote><literal><ulink
961 url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-REMOTE-TOGGLE">enable-remote-toggle</ulink>
962 0</literal></quote> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>.
965 As of &my-app; 3.0.7 these options are disabled by default.
970 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
971 <title id="filterfile">What is the <filename>default.filter</filename> file? What is a <quote>filter</quote>?</title>
973 The <ulink url="../user-manual/filter-file.html"><filename>default.filter</filename></ulink>
974 file is where <emphasis>filters</emphasis> as supplied by the developers are defined.
975 Filters are a special subset of actions that can be used to modify or
976 remove web page content or headers on the fly. Content filters can
977 be applied to <emphasis>anything</emphasis> in the page source,
978 header filters can be applied to either server or client headers.
979 Regular expressions are used to accomplish this.
982 There are a number of pre-defined filters to deal with common annoyances. The
983 filters are only defined here, to invoke them, you need to use the
985 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER"><literal>filter</literal>
986 action</ulink> in one of the actions files. Content filtering is automatically
987 disabled for inappropriate MIME types, but if you now better than Privoxy
988 what should or should not be filtered you can filter any content you like.
992 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be confused with <ulink
993 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK"><literal>blocks</literal></ulink>, which
994 is a completely different action, and is more typically used to block ads and
999 If you are familiar with regular expressions, and HTML, you can look at
1000 the provided <filename>default.filter</filename> with a text editor and define
1001 your own filters. This is potentially a very powerful feature, but
1002 requires some expertise in both regular expressions and HTML/HTTP.
1003 <![%p-newstuff;[ You should
1004 place any modifications to the default filters, or any new ones you create
1005 in a separate file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>, so they won't
1006 be overwritten during upgrades.
1007 The ability to define multiple filter files
1008 in <filename>config</filename> is a new feature as of v. 3.0.5.]]>
1012 There is no GUI editor option for this part of the configuration,
1013 but you can disable/enable the various pre-defined filters of the included
1014 <filename>default.filter</filename> file with the <ulink
1015 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions file editor</ulink>.
1016 Note that the custom actions editor must be explicitly enabled in
1017 the main config file (see <ulink
1018 url="../user-manual/config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions</ulink>).
1022 If you intend to develop your own filters, you might want to have a look at
1024 url="http://www.fabiankeil.de/sourcecode/pft/">Privoxy-Filter-Test</ulink>.
1029 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="lanconfig">
1030 <title>How can I set up Privoxy to act as a proxy for my
1033 By default, <application>Privoxy</application> only responds to requests
1034 from <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> (localhost). To have it act as a server for
1035 a network, this needs to be changed in the <ulink
1036 url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>. Look for
1038 url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS">listen-address</ulink></literal>
1039 option, which may be commented out with a <quote>#</quote> symbol. Make sure
1040 it is uncommented, and assign it the address of the LAN gateway interface,
1041 and port number to use. Assuming your LAN address is 192.168.1.1 and you
1042 wish to run <application>Privoxy</application> on port 8118, this line
1048 listen-address 192.168.1.1:8118</screen>
1052 Save the file, and restart <application>Privoxy</application>. Configure
1053 all browsers on the network then to use this address and port number.
1057 Alternately, you can have <application>Privoxy</application> listen on
1058 all available interfaces:
1063 listen-address :8118</screen>
1067 And then use <application>Privoxy's</application>
1069 url="../user-manual/config.html#PERMIT-ACCESS">permit-access</ulink>
1070 feature to limit connections. A firewall in this situation is recommended
1075 The above steps should be the same for any TCP network, regardless of
1080 If you run <application>Privoxy</application> on a LAN with untrusted users,
1081 we recommend that you double-check the <ulink
1082 url="../user-manual/config.html#ACCESS-CONTROL">access control and security</ulink>
1089 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1090 <title id="noseeum">Instead of ads, now I get a checkerboard pattern. I don't want to see anything.</title>
1092 The replacement for blocked images can be controlled with the <ulink
1093 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><literal>set-image-blocker</literal>
1094 action</ulink>. You have the choice of a checkerboard pattern, a transparent 1x1 GIF
1095 image (aka <quote>blank</quote>), or a redirect to a custom image of your choice.
1096 Note that this choice only has effect for images which are blocked as images, i.e.
1097 whose URLs match both a <literal><ulink
1098 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</ulink></literal>
1099 <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><ulink
1100 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</ulink></literal> action.
1103 If you want to see nothing, then change the <ulink
1104 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><literal>set-image-blocker</literal>
1105 action</ulink> to <quote>blank</quote>. This can be done by editing the
1106 <filename>user.action</filename> file, or through the <ulink
1107 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions file editor</ulink>.
1112 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1113 <title id="whyseeum">Why would anybody want to see a checkerboard pattern?</title>
1115 Remember that <link linkend="whatsanad">telling which image is an ad and which
1116 isn't</link>, is an educated guess. While we hope that the standard configuration
1117 is rather smart, it will make occasional mistakes. The checkerboard image is visually
1118 decent, and it shows you where images have been blocked, which can be very
1119 helpful in case some navigation aid or otherwise innocent image was
1120 erroneously blocked. It is recommended for new users so they can
1121 <quote>see</quote> what is happening. Some people might also enjoy seeing how
1122 many banners they <emphasis>don't</emphasis> have to see.
1127 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1128 <title id="blockedbytext">I see some images being replaced with text
1129 instead of the checkerboard image. Why and how do I get rid of this?</title>
1131 This happens when the banners are not embedded in the HTML code of the
1132 page itself, but in separate HTML (sub)documents that are loaded into (i)frames
1133 or (i)layers, and these external HTML documents are blocked. Being non-images
1134 they get replaced by a substitute HTML page rather than a substitute image,
1135 which wouldn't work out technically, since the browser expects and accepts
1136 only HTML when it has requested an HTML document.
1139 The substitute page adapts to the available space and shows itself as a
1140 miniature two-liner if loaded into small frames, or full-blown with a
1141 large red "BLOCKED" banner if space allows.
1144 If you prefer the banners to be blocked by images, you must see to it that
1145 the HTML documents in which they are embedded are not blocked. Clicking
1146 the <quote>See why</quote> link offered in the substitute page will show
1147 you which rule blocked the page. After changing the rule and un-blocking
1148 the HTML documents, the browser will try to load the actual banner images
1149 and the usual image blocking will (hopefully!) kick in.
1154 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="srvany">
1155 <title>Can Privoxy run as a service
1156 on Win2K/NT/XP?</title>
1159 Yes. Version 3.0.5 introduces full <application>Windows</application> service
1160 functionality. See <ulink url="../user-manual/installation.html#installation-pack-win">
1161 the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle></ulink> for details on how to install and configure
1162 <application>Privoxy</application> as a service.
1165 Earlier ]]>3.x versions could run as a system service using <command>srvany.exe</command>.
1166 See the discussion at <ulink
1167 url="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=361118&aid=485617&group_id=11118">http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=361118&aid=485617&group_id=11118</ulink>,
1168 for details, and a sample configuration.
1173 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="otherproxy">
1174 <title>How can I make Privoxy work with other
1175 proxies like Squid or Tor?</title>
1177 This can be done and is often useful to combine the benefits of
1178 <application>Privoxy</application> with those of a another proxy.
1180 url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding chapter</ulink>
1181 in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">User Manual</ulink> which
1182 describes how to do this, and the <link linkend="TOR">
1183 How do I use Privoxy together with
1184 Tor</link> section below.
1188 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="port-80">
1189 <title>Can I just set Privoxy to use port 80
1190 and thus avoid individual browser configuration?</title>
1193 No, its more complicated than that. This only works with special kinds
1194 of proxies known as <quote>intercepting</quote> proxies (see below).
1199 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="transparent">
1200 <title>Can Privoxy run as a <quote>transparent
1201 </quote> proxy?</title>
1203 The whole idea of Privoxy is to modify client requests
1204 and server responses in all sorts of ways and therefore
1205 it's not a transparent proxy as described in
1206 <ulink url="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2616">RFC 2616</ulink>.
1209 However, some people say <quote>transparent proxy</quote> when they
1210 mean <quote>intercepting proxy</quote>. If you are one of them,
1211 please read the <ulink url="#intercepting">next entry</ulink>.
1216 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="intercepting">
1217 <title>Can Privoxy run as a <quote>intercepting</quote> proxy?</title>
1219 <application>Privoxy</application> can't intercept traffic itself,
1220 but it can handle requests that where intercepted and redirected
1221 with a packet filter (like <application>PF</application> or
1222 <application>iptables</application>), as long as the <literal>Host</literal>
1226 As the <literal>Host</literal> header is required by HTTP/1.1 and as most
1227 web sites rely on it anyway, this limitation shouldn't be a problem.
1230 Please refer to your packet filter's documentation to learn how to
1231 intercept and redirect traffic into <application>Privoxy</application>.
1232 Afterward you just have to configure <application>Privoxy</application> to
1233 <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html#ACCEPT-INTERCEPTED-REQUESTS">accept
1234 intercepted requests</ulink>.
1239 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="outlook">
1240 <title>How can I configure Privoxy for use with Outlook?</title>
1242 Versions of <application>Outlook</application> prior to Office 2007, use
1243 <application>Internet Explorer</application> components to both render HTML,
1244 and fetch any HTTP requests that may be embedded in an HTML email. So however
1245 you have <application>Privoxy</application> configured to work with IE, this
1246 configuration should automatically be shared, at least with older version of
1250 Starting with Office 2007, Microsoft is instead using the MS-Word rendering
1251 engine with Outlook. It is unknown whether this can be configured to use a
1253 <!-- FIXME HB 2009-02-15 -->
1257 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="outlook-more">
1258 <title>How can I have separate rules just for HTML mail?</title>
1260 The short answer is, you can't. <application>Privoxy</application> has no way
1261 of knowing which particular application makes a request, so there is no way to
1262 distinguish between web pages and HTML mail.
1263 <application>Privoxy</application> just blindly proxies all requests. In the
1264 case of <application>Outlook Express</application> (see above), OE uses
1265 IE anyway, and there is no way for <application>Privoxy</application> to ever
1266 be able to distinguish between them (nor could any other proxy type application for
1270 For a good discussion of some of the issues involved (including privacy and
1271 security issues), see
1272 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=211118&aid=629518&group_id=11118">http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=211118&aid=629518&group_id=11118</ulink>.
1276 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="sneaky-cookies">
1277 <title>I sometimes notice cookies sneaking through. How?</title>
1280 url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">Cookies</ulink> can be
1281 set in several ways. The classic method is via the
1282 <literal>Set-Cookie</literal> HTTP header. This is straightforward, and an
1283 easy one to manipulate, such as the &my-app; concept of
1284 <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</ulink>.
1285 There is also the possibility of using
1286 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javascript">Javascript</ulink> to
1287 set cookies (&my-app; calls these <literal>content-cookies</literal>). This
1288 is trickier because the syntax can vary widely, and thus requires a certain
1289 amount of guesswork. It is not realistic to catch all of these short of
1290 disabling Javascript, which would break many sites. And lastly, if the
1291 cookies are embedded in a HTTPS/SSL secure session via Javascript, they are beyond
1292 <application>Privoxy's</application> reach.
1295 All in all, &my-app; can help manage cookies in general, can help minimize
1296 the loss of privacy posed by cookies, but can't realistically stop all
1301 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="evil-cookies">
1302 <title>Are all cookies bad? Why?</title>
1304 No, in fact there are many beneficial uses of
1306 url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>. Cookies are just a
1307 method that browsers can use to store data between pages, or between browser
1308 sessions. Sometimes there is a good reason for this, and the user's life is a
1309 bit easier as a result. But there is a long history of some websites taking
1310 advantage of this layer of trust, and using the data they glean from you and
1311 your browsing habits for their own purposes, and maybe to your potential
1312 detriment. Such sites are using you and storing their data on your system.
1313 That is why the privacy conscious watch from whom those cookies come, and why
1314 they really <emphasis>need</emphasis> to be there.
1318 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">Wikipedia cookie
1319 definition</ulink> for more.
1323 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="allow-cookies">
1324 <title>How can I allow permanent cookies for my trusted sites?</title>
1327 There are several actions that relate to cookies. The default behavior is to
1328 allow only <quote>session cookies</quote>, which means the cookies only last
1329 for the current browser session. This eliminates most kinds of abuse related
1330 to cookies. But there may be cases where you want cookies to last.
1333 To disable all cookie actions, so that cookies are allowed unrestricted,
1334 both in and out, for <literal>example.com</literal>:
1338 { -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies} }
1339 .example.com</screen>
1342 Place the above in <filename>user.action</filename>. Note that some of these may
1343 be off by default anyway, so this might be redundant, but there is no harm
1344 being explicit in what you want to happen. <filename>user.action</filename>
1345 includes an alias for this situation, called
1346 <literal>allow-all-cookies</literal>.
1350 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="multiples">
1351 <title>Can I have separate configurations for different users?</title>
1353 Each instance of <application>Privoxy</application> has its own
1354 configuration, including such attributes as the TCP port that it listens on.
1355 What you can do is run multiple instances of <application>Privoxy</application>, each with
1357 <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html#LISTEN-ADDRESS">listen-address</ulink>
1358 configuration setting, and configuration path, and then
1359 each of these can have their own configurations. Think of it as per-port
1363 Simple enough for a few users, but for large installations, consider having
1364 groups of users that might share like configurations.
1368 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="whitelists">
1369 <title>Can I set-up Privoxy as a whitelist of
1370 <quote>good</quote> sites?</title>
1372 Sure. There are a couple of things you can do for simple white-listing.
1373 Here's one real easy one:
1376 ############################################################
1378 ############################################################
1379 { <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK">+block</ulink> }
1380 / # Block *all* URLs
1382 ############################################################
1384 ############################################################
1385 { <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK">-block</ulink> }
1388 games.example.com</screen>
1390 This allows access to only those three sites by first blocking all URLs, and
1391 then subsequently allowing three specific exceptions.
1394 Another approach is <application>Privoxy's</application>
1395 <literal>trustfile</literal> concept, which incorporates the notion of
1396 <quote>trusted referrers</quote>. See the <ulink
1397 url="../user-manual/config.html#TRUSTFILE">Trust documentation</ulink>
1401 These are fairly simple approaches and are not completely foolproof. There
1402 are various other configuration options that should be disabled (described
1403 elsewhere here and in <ulink url="../user-manual/">the User Manual</ulink>)
1404 so that users can't modify their own configuration and easily circumvent the
1409 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="no-adblock">
1410 <title>How can I turn off ad-blocking?</title>
1412 Ad blocking is achieved through a complex application of various &my-app;
1413 <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions</ulink>. These
1414 actions are deployed against simple images, banners, flash animations,
1415 text pages, JavaScript, pop-ups and pop-unders, etc., so its not as simple as
1416 just turning one or two actions off. The various actions that make up
1417 &my-app; ad blocking are hard-coded into the default configuration files. It
1418 has been assumed that everyone using &my-app; is interested in this
1422 If you want to do without this, there are several approaches you can take:
1423 You can manually undo the many block rules in
1424 <filename>default.action</filename>. Or even easier, just create your own
1425 <filename>default.action</filename> file from scratch without the many ad
1426 blocking rules, and corresponding exceptions. Or lastly, if you are not
1427 concerned about the additional blocks that are done for privacy reasons, you
1428 can very easily over-ride <emphasis>all</emphasis> blocking with the
1429 following very simple rule in your <filename>user.action</filename>:
1433 # Unblock everybody, everywhere
1434 { <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK">-block</ulink> }
1435 / # UN-Block *all* URLs</screen>
1438 Or even a more comprehensive reversing of various ad related actions:
1442 # Unblock everybody, everywhere, and turn off appropriate filtering, etc
1443 { <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK">-block</ulink> \
1444 <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">-filter{banners-by-size}</ulink> \
1445 <ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK">-filter{banners-by-link}</ulink> \
1446 <literal>allow-popups</literal> \
1448 / # UN-Block *all* URLs and allow ads</screen>
1451 This last <quote>action</quote> in this compound statement,
1452 <literal>allow-popups</literal>, is an <ulink
1453 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ALIASES">alias</ulink> that disables
1454 various pop-up blocking features.
1458 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="templates">
1459 <title>How can I have custom template pages, like the
1460 <emphasis>BLOCKED</emphasis> page?</title>
1462 &my-app; <quote>templates</quote> are specialized text files utilized by
1463 &my-app; for various purposes and can easily be modified using any text
1464 editor. All the template pages are installed in a sub-directory appropriately
1465 named: <filename>templates</filename>. Knowing something about HTML syntax
1466 will of course be helpful.
1469 Be forewarned that the default templates are subject to being overwritten
1470 during upgrades. You can, however, create completely new templates,
1471 place them in another directory and specify the alternate path in the main
1472 <filename>config</filename>. For details, have a look at the <ulink
1473 url="../user-manual/config.html#templdir">templdir</ulink> option.
1477 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="blockall">
1478 <title>How can I remove the <quote>Go There Anyway</quote> link from
1479 the <emphasis>BLOCKED</emphasis> page?</title>
1481 There is more than one way to do it (although Perl is not involved).
1484 Editing the BLOCKED template page (see above) may dissuade some users, but
1485 this method is easily circumvented. Where you need this level of control, you
1486 might want to build &my-app; from source, and disable various features that are
1487 available as compile-time options. You should
1488 <command>configure</command> the sources as follows:
1492 ./configure --disable-toggle --disable-editor --disable-force</screen>
1495 This will create an executable with hard-coded security features so that
1496 &my-app; does not allow easy bypassing of blocked sites, or changing the
1497 current configuration via any connected user's web browser.
1500 Finally, all of these features can also be toggled on/off via options in
1501 <application>Privoxy's</application> main <ulink
1502 url="../user-manual/config.html#ACCESS-CONTROL">config</ulink> file which
1503 means you don't have to recompile anything.
1509 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1512 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1514 <sect1 id="misc"><title>Miscellaneous</title>
1516 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1517 <title id="slowsme">How much does Privoxy slow my browsing down? This
1518 has to add extra time to browsing.</title>
1520 How much of an impact depends on many things, including the CPU of the host
1521 system, how aggressive the configuration is, which specific actions are being triggered,
1522 the size of the page, the bandwidth of the connection, etc.
1525 Overall, it should not slow you down any in real terms, and may actually help
1526 speed things up since ads, banners and other junk are not typically being
1527 retrieved and displayed. The actual processing time required by
1528 <application>Privoxy</application> itself for each page, is relatively small
1529 in the overall scheme of things, and happens very quickly. This is typically
1530 more than offset by time saved not downloading and rendering ad images and
1531 other junk content (if ad blocking is being used).
1535 <quote>Filtering</quote> content via the <literal><ulink
1536 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</ulink></literal> or
1538 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</ulink></literal>
1539 actions may cause a perceived slowdown, since the entire document
1540 needs to be buffered before displaying. And on very large documents,
1541 filtering may have some measurable impact. How much depends on the page size,
1542 the actual definition of the filter(s), etc. See below. Most other actions
1543 have little to no impact on speed.
1546 Also, when filtering is enabled but zlib support isn't available, compression
1547 is often disabled (see <ulink
1548 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</ulink>).
1549 This can have an impact on speed as well, although it's probably smaller than
1550 you might think. Again, the page size, etc. will determine how much of an impact.
1556 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="loadingtimes"><title>I notice considerable
1557 delays in page requests. What's wrong?</title>
1559 If you use any <literal><ulink
1560 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER">filter</ulink></literal> action,
1561 such as filtering banners by size, web-bugs etc, or the <literal><ulink
1562 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</ulink></literal>
1563 action, the entire document must be loaded into memory in order for the filtering
1564 mechanism to work, and nothing is sent to the browser during this time.
1567 The loading time typically does not really change much in real numbers, but
1568 the feeling is different, because most browsers are able to start rendering
1569 incomplete content, giving the user a feeling of "it works". This effect is
1570 more noticeable on slower dialup connections. Extremely large documents
1571 may have some impact on the time to load the page where there is filtering
1572 being done. But overall, the difference should be very minimal. If there is a
1573 big impact, then probably some other situation is contributing (like
1574 anti-virus software).
1577 Filtering is automatically disabled for inappropriate MIME types. But note
1578 that if the web server mis-reports the MIME type, then content that should
1579 not be filtered, could be. <application>Privoxy</application> only knows how
1580 to differentiate filterable content because of the MIME type as reported by
1581 the server, or because of some configuration setting that enables/disables
1586 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="configurl"><title>What are "http://config.privoxy.org/" and
1587 "http://p.p/"?</title>
1589 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink> is the
1590 address of <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in user interface, and
1591 <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> is a shortcut for it.
1594 Since <application>Privoxy</application> sits between your web browser and the Internet,
1595 it can simply intercept requests for these addresses and answer them with its built-in
1596 <quote>web server</quote>.
1599 This also makes for a good test for your browser configuration: If entering the
1600 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1601 takes you to a page saying <quote>This is Privoxy ...</quote>, everything is OK.
1602 If you get a page saying <quote>Privoxy is not working</quote> instead, then
1603 your browser didn't use <application>Privoxy</application> for the request,
1604 hence it could not be intercepted, and you have accessed the <emphasis>real</emphasis>
1605 web site at config.privoxy.org.
1611 out of date 09/02/06 HB
1612 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="blocklist"><title>Do you still maintain the blocklists?</title>
1614 No. The patterns for blocking now reside (among other things) in the <ulink
1615 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html">actions files</ulink>, which are
1616 actively maintained instead. See next question ...
1620 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newads"><title>How can I submit new ads, or report
1623 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> for
1624 various ways to interact with the developers.
1629 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="newads2"><title>If I do submit missed ads, will
1630 they be included in future updates?</title>
1632 Whether such submissions are eventually included in the
1633 <filename>default.action</filename> configuration file depends on how
1634 significant the issue is. We of course want to address any potential
1635 problem with major, high-profile sites such as <citetitle>Google</citetitle>,
1636 <citetitle>Yahoo</citetitle>, etc. Any site with global or regional reach,
1637 has a good chance of being a candidate. But at the other end of the spectrum
1638 are any number of smaller, low-profile sites such as for local clubs or
1639 schools. Since their reach and impact are much less, they are best handled by
1640 inclusion in the user's <filename>user.action</filename>, and thus would be
1641 unlikely to be included.
1647 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="noonecares"><title>Why doesn't anyone answer my support
1650 Rest assured that it has been read and considered. Why it is not answered,
1651 could be for various reasons, including no one has a good answer for it, no
1652 one has had time to yet investigate it thoroughly, it has been reported
1653 numerous times already, or because not enough information was provided to help
1654 us help you. Your efforts are not wasted, and we do appreciate them.
1660 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="ip"><title>How can I hide my IP address?</title>
1662 If you run both the browser and &my-app; locally, you cannot hide your IP
1663 address with <application>Privoxy</application> or ultimately any other
1664 software alone. The server needs to know your IP address so that it knows
1665 where to send the responses back.
1668 There are many publicly usable "anonymous" proxies out there, which
1669 provide a further level of indirection between you and the web server.
1672 However, these proxies are called "anonymous" because you don't need
1673 to authenticate, not because they would offer any real anonymity.
1674 Most of them will log your IP address and make it available to the
1675 authorities in case you violate the law of the country they run in. In fact
1676 you can't even rule out that some of them only exist to *collect* information
1677 on (those suspicious) people with a more than average preference for privacy.
1680 If you want to hide your IP address from most adversaries,
1681 you should consider chaining <application>Privoxy</application>
1682 with <ulink url="https://www.torproject.org/">Tor</ulink>.
1683 The configuration details can be found in
1684 <ulink url="#TOR">How do I use <application>Privoxy</application> together
1685 with <application>Tor</application> section</ulink>
1690 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1691 <title id="anonforsure">Can Privoxy guarantee I am anonymous?</title>
1693 No. Your chances of remaining anonymous are improved, but unless you
1694 <ulink url="#TOR">chain <application>Privoxy</application> with <application>Tor</application></ulink>
1695 or a similar proxy and know what you're doing when it comes to configuring
1696 the rest of your system, you should assume that everything you do
1697 on the Web can be traced back to you.
1700 <application>Privoxy</application> can remove various information about you,
1701 and allows <emphasis>you</emphasis> more freedom to decide which sites
1702 you can trust, and what details you want to reveal. But it neither
1703 hides your IP address, nor can it guarantee that the rest of the system
1704 behaves correctly. There are several possibilities how a web sites can find
1705 out who you are, even if you are using a strict <application>Privoxy</application>
1706 configuration and chained it with <application>Tor</application>.
1709 Most of <application>Privoxy's</application> privacy-enhancing features can be easily subverted
1710 by an insecure browser configuration, therefore you should use a browser that can
1711 be configured to only execute code from trusted sites, and be careful which sites you trust.
1712 For example there is no point in having <application>Privoxy</application>
1713 modify the User-Agent header, if websites can get all the information they want
1714 through JavaScript, ActiveX, Flash, Java etc.
1717 A few browsers disclose the user's email address in certain situations, such
1718 as when transferring a file by FTP. <application>Privoxy</application>
1719 does not filter FTP. If you need this feature, or are concerned about the
1720 mail handler of your browser disclosing your email address, you might
1721 consider products such as <application>NSClean</application>.
1724 Browsers available only as binaries could use non-standard headers to give
1725 out any information they can have access to: see the manufacturer's license
1726 agreement. It's impossible to anticipate and prevent every breach of privacy
1727 that might occur. The professionally paranoid prefer browsers available as
1728 source code, because anticipating their behavior is easier. Trust the source,
1734 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1735 <title id="proxytest">A test site says I am not using a Proxy.</title>
1737 Good! Actually, they are probably testing for some other kinds of proxies.
1738 Hiding yourself completely would require additional steps.
1742 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="tor"><title>How do I use Privoxy
1743 together with Tor?</title>
1745 Before you configure <application>Privoxy</application> to use
1746 <ulink url="https://www.torproject.org/">Tor</ulink>,
1747 please follow the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> chapters
1748 <ulink url="../user-manual/installation.html">2. Installation</ulink> and
1749 <ulink url="../user-manual/startup.html">5. Startup</ulink> to make sure
1750 <application>Privoxy</application> itself is setup correctly.
1753 If it is, refer to <ulink url="https://www.torproject.org/documentation.html">Tor's
1754 extensive documentation</ulink> to learn how to install <application>Tor</application>,
1755 and make sure <application>Tor</application>'s logfile says that
1756 <quote>Tor has successfully opened a circuit</quote> and it
1757 <quote>looks like client functionality is working</quote>.
1760 If either <application>Tor</application> or <application>Privoxy</application>
1761 isn't working, their combination most likely will neither. Testing them on their
1762 own will also help you to direct problem reports to the right audience.
1763 If <application>Privoxy</application> isn't working, don't bother the
1764 <application>Tor</application> developers. If <application>Tor</application>
1765 isn't working, don't send bug reports to the <application>Privoxy</application> Team.
1768 If you verified that <application>Privoxy</application> and <application>Tor</application>
1769 are working, it is time to connect them. As far as <application>Privoxy</application>
1770 is concerned, <application>Tor</application> is just another proxy that can be reached
1771 by socks4 or socks4a. Most likely you are interested in <application>Tor</application>
1772 to increase your anonymity level, therefore you should use socks4a, to make sure DNS requests are
1773 done through <application>Tor</application> and thus invisible to your local network.
1778 Since <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.5, its
1779 <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html">main configuration file</ulink>
1780 is already prepared for <application>Tor</application>, if you are using a
1781 default <application>Tor</application> configuration and run it on the same
1782 system as &my-app;, you just have to edit the
1783 <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding section</ulink>
1784 and uncomment the line:
1788 # forward-socks4a / 127.0.0.1:9050 .
1792 This is enough to reach the Internet, but additionally you might want to
1793 uncomment the following forward rules, to make sure your local network is still
1794 reachable through Privoxy:
1798 # forward 192.168.*.*/ .
1799 # forward 10.*.*.*/ .
1800 # forward 127.*.*.*/ .
1804 Unencrypted connections to systems in these address ranges will
1805 be as (un)secure as the local network is, but the alternative is
1806 that your browser can't reach the network at all. Then again,
1807 that may actually be desired and if you don't know for sure
1808 that your browser has to be able to reach the local network,
1809 there's no reason to allow it.
1812 If you want your browser to be able to reach servers in your local
1813 network by using their names, you will need additional exceptions
1814 that look like this:
1818 # forward localhost/ .
1822 Save the modified configuration file and open
1823 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status/</ulink>
1824 in your browser, confirm that <application>Privoxy</application> has reloaded its configuration
1825 and that there are no other forward lines, unless you know that you need them. If everything looks good,
1827 <ulink url="https://wiki.torproject.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/TorFAQ#IsMyConnectionPrivate">Tor
1828 Faq 4.2</ulink> to learn how to verify that you are really using <application>Tor</application>.
1831 Afterward, please take the time to at least skim through the rest
1832 of <application>Tor's</application> documentation. Make sure you understand
1833 what <application>Tor</application> does, why it is no replacement for
1834 application level security, and why you probably don't want to
1835 use it for unencrypted logins.
1839 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1840 <title id="sitebreak">Might some things break because header information or
1841 content is being altered?</title>
1844 Definitely. It is common for sites to use browser type, browser version,
1845 HTTP header content, and various other techniques in order to dynamically
1846 decide what to display and how to display it. What you see, and what I see,
1847 might be very different. There are many, many ways that this can be handled,
1848 so having hard and fast rules, is tricky.
1852 The <quote>User-Agent</quote> is sometimes used in this way to identify
1853 the browser, and adjust content accordingly.
1857 Also, different browsers use different encodings of non-English
1858 characters, certain web servers convert pages on-the-fly according to the
1859 User Agent header. Giving a <quote>User Agent</quote> with the wrong
1860 operating system or browser manufacturer causes some sites in these languages
1861 to be garbled; Surfers to Eastern European sites should change it to
1862 something closer. And then some page access counters work by looking at the
1863 <quote>Referer</quote> header; they may fail or break if unavailable. The
1864 weather maps of Intellicast have been blocked by their server when no
1865 <quote>Referer</quote> or cookie is provided, is another example. (But you
1866 can forge both headers without giving information away). There are
1867 many other ways things can go wrong when trying to fool a web server. The
1868 results of which could inadvertently cause pages to load incorrectly,
1869 partially, or even not at all. And there may be no obvious clues as to just
1870 what went wrong, or why. Nowhere will there be a message that says
1871 <quote><emphasis>Turn off <literal>fast-redirects</literal> or else!</emphasis>
1876 Similar thoughts apply to modifying JavaScript, and, to a lesser degree,
1881 If you have problems with a site, you will have to adjust your configuration
1882 accordingly. Cookies are probably the most likely adjustment that may
1883 be required, but by no means the only one.
1889 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1890 <title id="caching">Can Privoxy act as a <quote>caching</quote> proxy to
1891 speed up web browsing?</title>
1893 No, it does not have this ability at all. You want something like
1894 <ulink url="http://www.squid-cache.org/">Squid</ulink> or
1895 <ulink url="http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/software/polipo/">Polipo</ulink> for this.
1896 And, yes, before you ask, <application>Privoxy</application> can co-exist
1897 with other kinds of proxies like <application>Squid</application>.
1898 See the <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html#FORWARDING">forwarding
1899 chapter</ulink> in the <ulink url="../user-manual/index.html">user
1900 manual</ulink> for details.
1904 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1905 <title id="firewall">What about as a firewall? Can Privoxy protect me?</title>
1907 Not in the way you mean, or in the way some firewall vendors claim they can.
1908 <application>Privoxy</application> can help protect your privacy, but can't
1909 protect your system from intrusion attempts. It is, of course, perfectly possible
1910 to use <emphasis>both</emphasis>.
1914 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1915 <title id="wasted">I have large empty spaces / a checkerboard pattern now where
1916 ads used to be. Why?</title>
1918 It is technically possible to eliminate banners and ads in a way that frees
1919 their allocated page space. This could easily be done by blocking with
1920 <application>Privoxy's</application> filters,
1921 and eliminating the <emphasis>entire</emphasis> image references from the
1925 But, this would consume considerably more CPU resources (IOW, slow things
1926 down), would likely destroy the layout of some web pages which rely on the
1927 banners utilizing a certain amount of page space, and might fail in other
1928 cases, where the screen space is reserved (e.g. by HTML tables for instance).
1929 Also, making ads and banners disappear without any trace complicates
1930 troubleshooting, and would sooner or later be problematic.
1933 The better alternative is to instead let them stay, and block the resulting
1934 requests for the banners themselves as is now the case. This leaves either
1935 empty space, or the familiar checkerboard pattern.
1938 So the developers won't support this in the default configuration, but you
1939 can of course define appropriate filters yourself to achieve this.
1943 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1944 <title id="ssl">How can Privoxy filter Secure (HTTPS) URLs?</title>
1946 Since secure HTTP connections are encrypted SSL sessions between your browser
1947 and the secure site, and are meant to be reliably <emphasis>secure</emphasis>,
1948 there is little that <application>Privoxy</application> can do but hand the raw
1949 gibberish data though from one end to the other unprocessed.
1952 The only exception to this is blocking by host patterns, as the client needs
1953 to tell <application>Privoxy</application> the name of the remote server,
1954 so that <application>Privoxy</application> can establish the connection.
1955 If that name matches a host-only pattern, the connection will be blocked.
1958 As far as ad blocking is concerned, this is less of a restriction than it may
1959 seem, since ad sources are often identifiable by the host name, and often
1960 the banners to be placed in an encrypted page come unencrypted nonetheless
1961 for efficiency reasons, which exposes them to the full power of
1962 <application>Privoxy</application>'s ad blocking.
1965 <quote>Content cookies</quote> (those that are embedded in the actual HTML or
1966 JS page content, see <literal><ulink
1967 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</ulink></literal>),
1968 in an SSL transaction will be impossible to block under these conditions.
1969 Fortunately, this does not seem to be a very common scenario since most
1970 cookies come by traditional means.
1975 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
1976 <title id="secure">Privoxy runs as a <quote>server</quote>. How
1977 secure is it? Do I need to take any special precautions?</title>
1979 On Unix-like systems, <application>Privoxy</application> can run as a non-privileged
1980 user, which is how we recommend it be run. Also, by default
1981 <application>Privoxy</application> listens to requests from <quote>localhost</quote>
1985 The server aspect of <application>Privoxy</application> is not itself directly
1986 exposed to the Internet in this configuration. If you want to have
1987 <application>Privoxy</application> serve as a LAN proxy, this will have to
1988 be opened up to allow for LAN requests. In this case, we'd recommend
1989 you specify only the LAN gateway address, e.g. 192.168.1.1, in the main
1990 <application>Privoxy</application> configuration file and check all <ulink
1991 url="../user-manual/config.html#ACCESS-CONTROL">access control and security
1992 options</ulink>. All LAN hosts can then use this as their proxy address
1993 in the browser proxy configuration, but <application>Privoxy</application>
1994 will not listen on any external interfaces. ACLs can be defined in addition,
1995 and using a firewall is always good too. Better safe than sorry.
2000 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="turnoff">
2001 <title>Can I temporarily disable Privoxy?</title>
2003 &my-app; doesn't have a transparent proxy mode,
2004 but you can toggle off blocking and content filtering.
2007 The easiest way to do that is to point your browser
2008 to the remote toggle URL: <ulink
2009 url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>.
2012 See the <ulink url="../user-manual/appendix.html#BOOKMARKLETS">Bookmarklets section</ulink>
2013 of the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> for an easy way to access this
2014 feature. Note that this is a feature that may need to be enabled in the main
2015 <filename>config</filename> file.
2020 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="reallyoff">
2021 <title>When <quote>disabled</quote> is Privoxy totally
2022 out of the picture?</title>
2024 No, this just means all optional filtering and actions are disabled.
2025 <application>Privoxy</application> is still acting as a proxy, but just
2026 doing less of the things that <application>Privoxy</application> would
2027 normally be expected to do. It is still a <quote>middle-man</quote> in
2028 the interaction between your browser and web sites. See below to bypass
2033 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="turnoff2">
2034 <title>How can I tell Privoxy to totally ignore certain sites?</title>
2036 Bypassing a proxy, or proxying based on arbitrary criteria, is purely a browser
2037 configuration issue, not a &my-app; issue. Modern browsers typically do have
2038 settings for not proxying certain sites. Check your browser's help files.
2043 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="crunch">
2044 <title>My logs show Privoxy <quote>crunches</quote>
2045 ads, but also its own internal CGI pages. What is a <quote>crunch</quote>?</title>
2047 A <quote>crunch</quote> simply means <application>Privoxy</application> intercepted
2048 <emphasis>something</emphasis>, nothing more. Often this is indeed ads or
2049 banners, but <application>Privoxy</application> uses the same mechanism for
2050 trapping requests for its own internal pages. For instance, a request for
2051 <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration page at: <ulink
2052 url="http://config.privoxy.org">http://config.privoxy.org</ulink>, is
2053 intercepted (i.e. it does not go out to the 'net), and the familiar CGI
2054 configuration is returned to the browser, and the log consequently will show
2055 a <quote>crunch</quote>.
2058 Since version 3.0.7, Privoxy will also log the crunch reason.
2059 If you are using an older version you might want to upgrade.
2063 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="downloads">
2064 <title>Can Privoxy effect files that I download
2065 from a webserver? FTP server?</title>
2067 From the webserver's perspective, there is no difference between
2068 viewing a document (i.e. a page), and downloading a file. The same is true of
2069 <application>Privoxy</application>. If there is a match for a <literal><ulink
2070 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#BLOCK">block</ulink></literal> pattern,
2071 it will still be blocked, and of course this is obvious.
2074 Filtering is potentially more of a concern since the results are not always
2075 so obvious, and the effects of filtering are there whether the file is simply
2076 viewed, or downloaded. And potentially whether the content is some obnoxious
2077 advertisement, or Mr. Jimmy's latest/greatest source code jewel. Of course,
2078 one of these presumably is <quote>bad</quote> content that we don't want, and
2079 the other is <quote>good</quote> content that we do want.
2080 <application>Privoxy</application> is blind to the differences, and can only
2081 distinguish <quote>good from bad</quote> by the configuration parameters
2082 <emphasis>we</emphasis> give it.
2085 <application>Privoxy</application> knows the differences in files according
2086 to the <quote>Content Type</quote> as reported by the webserver. If this is
2087 reported accurately (e.g. <quote>application/zip</quote> for a zip archive),
2088 then <application>Privoxy</application> knows to ignore these where
2089 appropriate. <application>Privoxy</application> potentially can filter HTML
2090 as well as plain text documents, subject to configuration parameters of
2091 course. Also, documents that are of an unknown type (generally assumed to be
2092 <quote>text/plain</quote>) can be filtered, as will those that might be
2093 incorrectly reported by the webserver. If such a file is a downloaded file
2094 that is intended to be saved to disk, then any content that might have been
2095 altered by filtering, will be saved too, for these (probably rare) cases.
2098 Note that versions later than 3.0.2 do NOT filter document types reported as
2099 <quote>text/plain</quote>. Prior to this, <application>Privoxy</application>
2100 did filter this document type.
2103 In short, filtering is <quote>ON</quote> if a) the content type as reported
2104 by the webserver is appropriate <emphasis>and</emphasis> b) the configuration
2105 allows it (or at least does not disallow it). That's it. There is no magic
2106 cookie anywhere to say this is <quote>good</quote> and this is
2107 <quote>bad</quote>. It's the configuration that lets it all happen or not.
2110 If you download text files, you probably do not want these to be filtered,
2111 particularly if the content is source code, or other critical content. Source
2112 code sometimes might be mistaken for Javascript (i.e. the kind that might
2113 open a pop-up window). It is recommended to turn off filtering for download
2114 sites (particularly if the content may be plain text files and you are using
2115 version 3.0.2 or earlier) in your <filename>user.action</filename> file. And
2116 also, for any site or page where making <emphasis>any</emphasis> changes at
2117 all to the content is to be avoided.
2120 <application>Privoxy</application> does not do FTP at all, only HTTP
2121 and HTTPS (SSL) protocols.
2125 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="downloads2">
2126 <title>I just downloaded a Perl script, and Privoxy
2127 altered it! Yikes, what is wrong!</title>
2133 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="hostsfile">
2134 <title>Should I continue to use a <quote>HOSTS</quote> file for ad-blocking?</title>
2136 One time-tested technique to defeat common ads is to trick the local DNS
2137 system by giving a phony IP address for the ad generator in the local
2138 <filename>HOSTS</filename> file, typically using <literal>127.0.0.1</literal>, aka
2139 <literal>localhost</literal>. This effectively blocks the ad.
2142 There is no reason to use this technique in conjunction with
2143 <application>Privoxy</application>. <application>Privoxy</application>
2144 does essentially the same thing, much more elegantly and with much more
2145 flexibility. A large <filename>HOSTS</filename> file, in fact, not only
2146 duplicates effort, but may get in the way and seriously slow down your system.
2147 It is recommended to remove such entries from your <filename>HOSTS</filename> file. If you think
2148 your hosts list is neglected by <application>Privoxy's </application>
2149 configuration, consider adding your list to your <filename>user.action</filename> file:
2156 ads.galore.example.com
2157 etc.example.com</screen>
2161 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="seealso">
2162 <title>Where can I find more information about Privoxy
2163 and related issues?</title>
2164 <!-- Include seealso.sgml boilerplate: -->
2166 <!-- end boilerplate -->
2171 <ulink url="../user-manual/seealso.html">user-manual</ulink> for
2177 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="microsuck">
2178 <title>I've noticed that Privoxy changes <quote>Microsoft</quote> to
2179 <quote>MicroSuck</quote>! Why are you manipulating my browsing?</title>
2182 We're not. The text substitutions that you are seeing are disabled
2183 in the default configuration as shipped. You have either manually
2184 activated the <quote><literal>fun</literal></quote> filter which
2185 is clearly labeled <quote>Text replacements for subversive browsing
2186 fun!</quote> or you are using an older Privoxy version and have implicitly
2187 activated it by choosing the <quote>Advanced</quote> profile in the
2188 web-based editor. Please upgrade.
2192 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="valid">
2193 <title>Does Privoxy produce <quote>valid</quote> HTML (or XHTML)?</title>
2196 Privoxy generates HTML in both its own <quote>templates</quote>, and possibly
2197 whenever there are text substitutions via a &my-app; filter. While this
2198 should always conform to the HTML 4.01 specifications, it has not been
2199 validated against this or any other standard.
2207 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2209 <sect1 id="trouble">
2210 <title>Troubleshooting</title>
2212 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
2213 <title id="refused">I cannot connect to any websites. Or, I am getting
2214 <quote>connection refused</quote> message with every web page. Why?</title>
2216 There are several possibilities:
2221 <application>Privoxy</application> is not running. Solution: verify
2222 that &my-app; is installed correctly, has not crashed, and is indeed running.
2223 Turn on <application>Privoxy's</application> logging, and look at the logs to see what they say.
2225 <listitem><para>Or your browser is configured for a different port than what
2226 <application>Privoxy</application> is using. Solution: verify that &my-app;
2227 and your browser are set to the same port (<literal>listen-address</literal>).
2229 <listitem><para>Or if using a forwarding rule, you have a configuration problem or a
2230 problem with a host in the forwarding chain. Solution: temporarily alter your
2231 configuration and take the forwarders out of the equation.
2234 Or you have a firewall that is interfering and blocking you. Solution:
2235 try disabling or removing the firewall as a simple test.
2242 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2243 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="error503">
2244 <title>Why am I getting a 503 Error (WSAECONNREFUSED) on every page?</title>
2246 More than likely this is a problem with your TCP/IP networking. ZoneAlarm has
2247 been reported to cause this symptom -- even if not running! The solution is
2248 to either fight the ZA configuration, or uninstall ZoneAlarm, and then find
2249 something better behaved in its place. Other personal firewall type products
2250 may cause similar type problems if not configured correctly.
2254 <sect2 renderas="sect3">
2255 <title id="flushit">I just added a new rule, but the steenkin ad is
2256 still getting through. How?</title>
2258 If the ad had been displayed before you added its URL, it will probably be
2259 held in the browser's cache for some time, so it will be displayed without
2260 the need for any request to the server, and <application>Privoxy</application>
2261 will not be involved. Flush the browser's caches, and then try again.
2265 If this doesn't help, you probably have an error in the rule you
2266 applied. Try pasting the full URL of the offending ad into <ulink
2267 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
2268 and see if it really matches your new rule. Blocking ads is like blocking
2269 spam: a lot of tinkering is required to stay ahead of the game. And
2270 remember you need to block the URL of the ad in question, which may be
2271 entirely different from the site URL itself. Most ads are hosted on different
2272 servers than the main site itself. If you right-click on the ad, you should
2273 be able to get all the relevant information you need. Alternately, you can
2274 find the correct URL by looking at <application>Privoxy's</application> logs
2275 (you may need to enable logging in the main config file if its disabled).
2278 Below is a slightly modified real-life log snippet that originates with one
2279 requested URL: <literal>www.example.com</literal> (name of site was changed
2280 for this example, the number of requests is real). You can see in this the
2281 complexity of what goes into making up this one <quote>page</quote>. There
2282 are eight different domains involved here, with thirty two separate URLs
2283 requested in all, making up all manner of images, Shockwave Flash,
2284 JavaScript, CSS stylesheets, scripts, and other related content. Some of this
2285 content is obviously <quote>good</quote> or <quote>bad</quote>, but not all.
2286 Many of the more questionable looking requests, are going to outside domains
2287 that seem to be identifying themselves with suspicious looking names, making
2288 our job a little easier. &my-app; has <quote>crunched</quote> (meaning caught
2289 and BLOCKED) quite a few items in this example, but perhaps missed a few as well.
2294 Request: www.example.com/
2295 Request: www.example.com/favicon.ico
2296 Request: img.example.com/main.css
2297 Request: img.example.com/sr.js
2298 Request: example.betamarker.com/example.html
2299 Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/bestsellers/skyscraper.php?likref=BSellers
2300 Request: img.example.com/pb.png
2301 Request: www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js crunch! (Blocked)
2302 Request: www.advertising-department.com/ats/switch.ps.php?26856 crunch! (Blocked)
2303 Request: img.example.com/p.gif
2304 Request: www.popuptraffic.com/assign.php?l=example&mode=behind crunch! (Blocked)
2305 Request: www.popuptraffic.com/scripts/popup.php?hid=5c3cf&tmpl=PBa.tmpl crunch! (Blocked)
2306 Request: www.popuptraffic.com/assign.php?l=example crunch! (Blocked)
2307 Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/best_sellers/best_sellers.css
2308 Request: www.adtrak.net/adx.js crunch! (Blocked)
2309 Request: img.example.com/hbg.gif
2310 Request: img.example.com/example.jpg
2311 Request: img.example.com/mt.png
2312 Request: img.example.com/mm.png
2313 Request: img.example.com/mb.png
2314 Request: www.popuptraffic.com/scripts/popup.php?hid=a71b91fa5&tmpl=Ua.tmp crunch! (Blocked)
2315 Request: www.example.com/tracker.js
2316 Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/best_sellers/lsi_head.gif
2317 Request: www.adtrak.net/adjs.php?n=020548130&what=zone:61 crunch! (Blocked)
2318 Request: www.adtrak.net/adjs.php?n=463594413&what=zone:58&source=Ua crunch! (Blocked)
2319 Request: www.lik-sang.com/Banners/best_sellers/bottomani.swf
2320 Request: mmm.elitemediagroup.net/install.php?allowpop=no&popupmincook=0&allowsp2=1 crunch! (Blocked)
2321 Request: www.example.com/tracker.js?screen=1400x1050&win=962x693
2322 Request: www.adtrak.net/adlog.php?bannerid=1309&clientid=439&zoneid=61 crunch! (Blocked)
2323 Request: 66.70.21.80/scripts/click.php?hid=5c3cf599a9efd0320d26&si
2324 Request: 66.70.21.80/img/pixel.gif
2325 Request: www.adtrak.net/adlog.php?bannerid=1309&clientid=439&zoneid=58&source=Ua&block=86400 crunch! (Blocked)
2326 Request: 66.70.21.80/scripts/click.php?hid=a71b9f6504b0c5681fa5&si=Ua
2331 Despite 12 out of 32 requests being blocked, the page looked, and seemed to
2332 behave perfectly <quote>normal</quote> (minus some ads, of course).
2337 <sect2 id="badsite" renderas="sect3">
2338 <title >One of my favorite sites does not work with Privoxy.
2339 What can I do?</title>
2342 First verify that it is indeed a <application>Privoxy</application> problem,
2343 by toggling off <application>Privoxy</application> through <ulink
2344 url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
2345 (the toggle feature may need to be enabled in the main
2346 <filename>config</filename>),
2347 and then shift-reloading the problem page (i.e. holding down the shift key
2348 while clicking reload. Alternatively, flush your browser's disk and memory
2353 If the problem went away, we know we have a configuration related problem.
2355 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
2356 and paste the full URL of the page in question into the prompt. See which
2357 actions are being applied to the URL, and which matches in which actions
2358 files are responsible for that. It might be helpful also to look at your logs
2359 for this site too, to see what else might be happening (note: logging may need
2360 to be enabled in the main config file). Many sites are
2361 complex and require a number of related pages to help present their content.
2362 Look at what else might be used by the page in question, and what of that
2363 might be <emphasis>required</emphasis>.
2364 Now, armed with this information, go to
2366 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
2367 and select the appropriate actions files for editing. </para>
2369 You can now either look for a section which disables the actions that
2370 you suspect to cause the problem and add a pattern for your site there,
2371 or make up a completely new section for your site. In any case, the recommended
2372 way is to disable only the prime suspect, reload the problem page, and only
2373 if the problem persists, disable more and more actions until you have
2374 identified the culprit. You may or may not want to turn the other actions
2375 on again. Remember to flush your browser's caches in between any such changes!
2378 Alternately, if you are comfortable with a text editor, you can accomplish
2379 the same thing by editing the appropriate actions file. Probably the easiest
2380 way to deal with such problems when editing by hand is to add your
2381 site to a <literal>{ fragile }</literal> section in <filename>user.action</filename>,
2382 which is an alias that turns off most <quote>dangerous</quote>
2383 actions, but is also likely to turn off more actions then needed, and thus lower
2384 your privacy and protection more than necessary,
2387 Troubleshooting actions is discussed in more detail in the <ulink
2388 url="../user-manual/appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT">User Manual appendix,
2389 Troubleshooting: the Anatomy of an Action</ulink>.
2390 There is also an <ulink
2391 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ACT-EXAMPLES">actions tutorial</ulink>
2392 with general configuration information and examples.
2395 As a last resort, you can always see if your browser has a setting that will
2396 bypass the proxy setting for selective sites. Modern browsers can do this.
2402 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2403 <sect2 id="dun" renderas="sect3">
2404 <title>After installing Privoxy, I have to log in
2405 every time I start IE. What gives?</title>
2408 This is a quirk that effects the installation of
2409 <application>Privoxy</application>, in conjunction with Internet Explorer and
2410 Internet Connection Sharing on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The symptoms may
2411 appear to be corrupted or invalid DUN settings, or passwords.
2415 When setting up an NT based Windows system with
2416 <application>Privoxy</application> you may find that things do not seem to be
2417 doing what you expect. When you set your system up you will probably have set
2418 up Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) with Dial up Networking (DUN) when
2419 logged in with administrator privileges. You will probably have made this DUN
2420 connection available to other accounts that you may have set-up on your
2421 system. E.g. Mum or Dad sets up the system and makes accounts suitably
2422 configured for the kids.
2426 When setting up <application>Privoxy</application> in this environment you
2427 will have to alter the proxy set-up of Internet Explorer (IE) for the
2428 specific DUN connection on which you wish to use
2429 <application>Privoxy</application>. When you do this the ICS DUN set-up
2430 becomes user specific. In this instance you will see no difference if you
2431 change the DUN connection under the account used to set-up the connection.
2432 However when you do this from another user you will notice that the DUN
2433 connection changes to make available to "Me only". You will also find that
2434 you have to store the password under each different user!
2438 The reason for this is that each user's set-up for IE is user specific. Each
2439 set-up DUN connection and each LAN connection in IE store the settings for
2440 each user individually. As such this enforces individual configurations
2441 rather than common ones. Hence the first time you use a DUN connection after
2442 re-booting your system it may not perform as you expect, and prompt you for
2443 the password. Just set and save the password again and all should be OK.
2447 [Thanks to Ray Griffith for this submission.]
2452 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2453 <sect2 id="ftp" renderas="sect3">
2454 <title>I cannot connect to any FTP sites. Privoxy
2455 is blocking me.</title>
2457 <application>Privoxy</application> cannot act as a proxy for FTP traffic,
2458 so do not configure your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application>
2459 as an FTP proxy. The same is true for <emphasis>any protocol other than HTTP
2460 or HTTPS (SSL)</emphasis>.
2463 Most browsers understand FTP as well as HTTP. If you connect to a site, with
2464 a URL like <literal>ftp://ftp.example.com</literal>, your browser is making
2465 an FTP connection, and not a HTTP connection. So while your browser may
2466 speak FTP, <application>Privoxy</application> does not, and cannot proxy
2470 To complicate matters, some systems may have a generic <quote>proxy</quote>
2471 setting, which will enable various protocols, including
2472 <emphasis>both</emphasis> HTTP and FTP proxying! So it is possible to
2473 accidentally enable FTP proxying in these cases. And of course, if this
2474 happens, <application>Privoxy</application> will indeed cause problems since
2475 it does not know FTP. <![%p-newstuff;[Newer version will give a sane error
2476 message if a FTP connection is attempted.]]> Just disable the FTP setting
2477 and all will be well again.
2480 Will <application>Privoxy</application> ever proxy FTP traffic? Unlikely.
2481 There just is not much reason, and the work to make this happen is more than
2486 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2487 <sect2 id="macosxie" renderas="sect3">
2488 <title>In Mac OS X, I can't configure Microsoft Internet Explorer to use
2489 Privoxy as the HTTP proxy.</title>
2491 Microsoft Internet Explorer (in versions like 5.1) respects system-wide
2492 network settings. In order to change the HTTP proxy, open System
2493 Preferences, and click on the Network icon. In the settings pane that
2494 comes up, click on the Proxies tab. Ensure the "Web Proxy (HTTP)" checkbox
2495 is checked and enter <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> in the entry field.
2496 Enter <literal>8118</literal> in the Port field. The next time you start
2497 IE, it should reflect these values.
2501 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2502 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="macosxuninstall">
2503 <title>In Mac OS X, I dragged the Privoxy folder to the trash in order to
2504 uninstall it. Now the finder tells me I don't have sufficient privileges to
2505 empty the trash.</title>
2507 Note: This ONLY applies to privoxy 3.0.6 and earlier.
2510 Just dragging the <application>Privoxy</application> folder to the trash is
2511 not enough to delete it. <application>Privoxy</application> supplies an
2512 <application>uninstall.command</application> file that takes care of
2513 these details. Open the trash, drag the <application>uninstall.command</application>
2514 file out of the trash and double-click on it. You will be prompted for
2515 confirmation and the administration password.
2518 The trash may still appear full after this command; emptying the trash
2519 from the desktop should make it appear empty again.
2524 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2525 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="macosximages">
2526 <title>In Mac OS X Panther (10.3), images often fail to load and/or I
2527 experience random delays in page loading. I'm using
2528 <literal>localhost</literal> as my browser's proxy setting.</title>
2530 We believe this is due to an IPv6-related bug in Mac OS X, but don't fully
2531 understand the issue yet. In any case, changing the proxy setting to
2532 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> instead of <literal>localhost</literal>
2533 works around the problem.
2537 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2538 <!-- XXX: Is this still relevant now that we have gzip support? -->
2539 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="blankpage">
2540 <title>I get a completely blank page at one site. <quote>View Source</quote>
2541 shows only: <markup><![CDATA[<html><body></body></html>]]></markup>. Without
2542 Privoxy the page loads fine.</title>
2544 Chances are that the site suffers from a bug in
2545 <ulink url="http://www.php.net/"><application>PHP</application></ulink>,
2546 which results in empty pages being sent if the client explicitly requests
2547 an uncompressed page, like <application>Privoxy</application> does.
2548 This bug has been fixed in PHP 4.2.3.
2551 To find out if this is in fact the source of the problem, try adding
2552 the site to a <literal>-prevent-compression</literal> section in
2553 <filename>user.action</filename>:
2556 # Make exceptions for ill-behaved sites:
2558 {-prevent-compression}
2559 .example.com</screen>
2561 If that works, you may also want to report the problem to the
2562 site's webmasters, telling them to use zlib.output_compression
2563 instead of ob_gzhandler in their PHP applications (workaround)
2564 or upgrade to PHP 4.2.3 or later (fix).
2568 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="nohostname">
2569 <title>My logs show many <quote>Unable to get my own hostname</quote> lines.
2572 <application>Privoxy</application> tries to get the hostname of the system
2573 its running on from the IP address of the system interface it is bound to
2574 (from the <filename>config</filename> file
2575 <emphasis>listen-address</emphasis> setting). If the system cannot supply
2576 this information, <application>Privoxy</application> logs this condition.
2579 Typically, this would be considered a minor system configuration error. It is
2580 not a fatal error to <application>Privoxy</application> however, but may
2581 result in a much slower response from <application>Privoxy</application> on
2582 some platforms due to DNS timeouts.
2585 This can be caused by a problem with the local <filename>hosts</filename>
2586 file. If this file has been changed from the original, try reverting it to
2587 see if that helps. Make sure whatever name(s) are used for the local system,
2588 that they resolve both ways.
2591 You should also be able to work around the problem with the
2592 <ulink url="../user-manual/config.html#HOSTNAME">hostname option</ulink>.
2596 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="inuse">
2597 <title>When I try to launch Privoxy, I get an
2598 error message <quote>port 8118 is already in use</quote> (or similar wording).
2601 Port 8118 is <application>Privoxy's</application> default TCP
2602 <quote>listening</quote> port. Typically this message would mean that there
2603 is already one instance of <application>Privoxy</application> running, and
2604 your system is actually trying to start a second
2605 <application>Privoxy</application> on the same port, which will not work.
2606 (You can have multiple instances but they must be assigned different ports.)
2607 How and why this might happen varies from platform to platform, but you need
2608 to check your installation and start-up procedures.
2612 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="demoronizer">
2614 Pages with UTF-8 fonts are garbled.
2617 This is caused by the <quote>demoronizer</quote> filter. You should either
2618 upgrade <application>Privoxy</application>, or at least upgrade to the most
2619 recent <filename>default.action</filename> file available from <ulink
2620 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">SourceForge</ulink>.
2621 Or you can simply disable the demoronizer filter.
2625 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="demoronizer2">
2627 Why are binary files (such as images) corrupted when Privoxy
2631 This may also be caused by the <quote>demoronizer</quote> filter,
2632 in conjunction with a web server that is misreporting the content type. Binary
2633 files are exempted from <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering
2634 (unless the web server by mistake says the file is something else). Either
2635 upgrade <application>Privoxy</application>, or go to the most recent
2636 <filename>default.action</filename> file available from <ulink
2637 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">SourceForge</ulink>.
2641 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="demoronizer3">
2643 What is the <quote>demoronizer</quote> and why is it there?
2646 The original demoronizer was a Perl script that cleaned up HTML pages which
2647 were created with certain Microsoft products. MS has used proprietary extensions
2648 to standardized font encodings (ISO 8859-1), which has caused problems for pages
2649 that are viewed with non-Microsoft products (and are expecting to see a
2650 standard set of fonts). The demoronizer corrected these errors so the pages
2651 displayed correctly. <application>Privoxy</application> borrowed from this
2652 script, introducing a filter based on the original demoronizer, which in turn could
2653 correct these errors on the fly.
2656 But this is only needed in some situations, and will cause serious problems in some
2660 If you are using Microsoft products, you do not need it. If you need to view
2661 pages with UTF-8 characters (such as Cyrillic or Chinese), then it will
2662 cause corruption of the fonts, and thus <emphasis>should not be on</emphasis>.
2665 On the other hand, if you use non-Microsoft products, and you occasionally
2666 notice weird characters on pages, you might want to try it.
2670 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="windowopen">
2672 Why do I keep seeing <quote>PrivoxyWindowOpen()</quote> in raw source code?
2675 <application>Privoxy</application> is attempting to disable malicious
2676 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javascript">Javascript</ulink>
2677 in this case, with the <literal>unsolicited-popups</literal>
2678 filter. <application>Privoxy</application> cannot tell very well
2679 <quote>good</quote> code snippets from <quote>bad</quote> code snippets.
2682 If you see this in HTML source, and the page displays without problems, then
2683 this is good, and likely some pop-up window was disabled. If you see this
2684 where it is causing a problem, such as a downloaded program source code file,
2685 then you should set an exception for this site or page such that the
2686 integrity of the page stays in tact by disabling all filtering.
2690 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="dnserrors">
2692 I am getting too many DNS errors like <quote>404 No Such Domain</quote>. Why
2693 can't Privoxy do this better?
2696 There are potentially several factors here. First of all, the DNS resolution
2697 is done by the underlying operating system -- not
2698 <application>Privoxy</application> itself. <application>Privoxy</application>
2699 merely initiates the process and hands it off, and then later reports
2700 whatever the outcome was and tries to give a coherent message if there seems
2701 to be a problem. In some cases, this might otherwise be mitigated by the
2702 browser itself which might try some work-arounds and alternate approaches (e.g
2703 adding <quote>www.</quote> to the URL).
2706 In other cases, if <application>Privoxy</application> is being chained
2707 with another proxy, this could complicate the issue, and cause undue
2708 delays and timeouts. In the case of a <quote>socks4a</quote> proxy, the socks
2709 server handles all the DNS. <application>Privoxy</application> would just be
2710 the <quote>messenger</quote> which is reporting whatever problem occurred
2711 downstream, and not the root cause of the error.
2715 In any case, versions newer than 3.0.3 include various improvements to help
2716 <application>Privoxy</application> better handle these cases.
2720 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="allcpu">
2722 At one site Privoxy just hangs, and starts taking
2723 all CPU. Why is this?
2726 This is probably a manifestation of the <quote>100% cpu</quote> problem that
2727 occurs on pages containing many (thousands upon thousands) of blank lines. The blank lines
2728 are in the raw HTML source of the page, and the browser just ignores them. But the
2729 pattern matching in <application>Privoxy's</application> page filtering
2730 mechanism is trying to match against absurdly long strings and this becomes
2731 very CPU-intensive, taking a long, long time to complete.
2734 Until a better solution comes along, disable filtering on these pages,
2735 particularly the <literal>js-annoyances</literal> and
2736 <literal>unsolicited-popups</literal> filters. If you run into this problem
2737 with a recent &my-app; version, please send a problem report.
2741 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="slowcrawl">
2742 <title>I just installed Privoxy, and all my
2743 browsing has slowed to a crawl. What gives? </title>
2745 This should not happen, and for the overwhelming number of users world-wide,
2746 it does not happen. I would suspect some inadvertent interaction of software
2747 components such as anti-virus software, spyware protectors, personal
2748 firewalls or similar components. Try disabling (or uninstalling) these one
2749 at a time and see if that helps. Either way, if you are using a
2750 recent &my-app; version, please report the problem.
2754 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="preventcomp">
2755 <title>Why do my filters work on some sites but not on others? </title>
2757 It's probably due to compression. It is a common practice for web servers to
2758 send their content <quote>compressed</quote> in order to speed things up, and
2759 then let the browser <quote>uncompress</quote> them. When compiled with zlib support
2760 &my-app; can decompress content before filtering, otherwise you may want to enable
2762 url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</ulink>.
2765 As of &my-app; 3.0.9, zlib support is enabled in the default builds.
2770 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="ssl-warnings">
2771 <title>On some HTTPS sites my browser warns me about unauthenticated content,
2772 the URL bar doesn't get highlighted and the lock symbol appears to be broken.
2773 What's going on?</title>
2775 Probably the browser is requesting ads through HTTPS and &my-app;
2776 is blocking the requests. Privoxy's error messages are delivered
2777 unencrypted and while it's obvious for the browser that the HTTPS
2778 request is already blocked by the proxy, some warn about unauthenticated
2782 To work around the problem you can redirect those requests to an invalid
2783 local address instead of blocking them. While the redirects aren't
2784 encrypted either, many browsers don't care. They simply follow the
2785 redirect, fail to reach a server and display an error message instead
2789 To do that, enable logging to figure out which requests get blocked by
2790 &my-app; and add the hosts (no path patterns) to a section like this:
2795 {+redirect{http://127.0.0.1:0/} -block -limit-connect}
2801 Additionally you have to configure your browser to contact
2802 <quote>127.0.0.1:0</quote> directly (instead of through &my-app;).
2805 To add a proxy exception in <application>Mozilla Firefox</application>
2806 open the <quote>Preferences</quote>, click the <quote>Settings</quote>
2807 button located on the <quote>Network</quote> tab in the <quote>Advanced</quote>
2808 section, and add <quote>127.0.0.1:0</quote> in the <quote>No Proxy for:</quote>
2814 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="se-linux">
2815 <title>I get selinux error messages. How can I fix this?</title>
2817 Please report the problem to the creator of your selinux policies.
2820 The problem is that some selinux policy writers aren't familiar
2821 with the application they are trying to <quote>secure</quote> and
2822 thus create policies that make no sense.
2825 In <application>Privoxy's</application> case the problem usually
2826 is that the policy only allows outgoing connections for certain
2827 destination ports (e.g. 80 and 443). While this may cover the
2828 standard ports, websites occasionally use other ports as well.
2829 This isn't a security problem and therefore <application>Privoxy's</application>
2830 default configuration doesn't block these requests.
2833 If you really want to block these ports (and don't be able
2834 to load websites that don't use standard ports), you should
2835 configure Privoxy to block these ports as well, so it doesn't
2836 trigger the selinux warnings.
2841 <sect2 renderas="sect3" id="gentoo-ricers">
2842 <title>I compiled &my-app; with Gentoo's portage and it appears to be very slow. Why?</title>
2844 Probably you unintentionally compiled &my-app; without threading support
2845 in which case requests have to be serialized and only one can be served
2849 Check your <quote>USE</quote> flags and make sure they include
2850 <quote>threads</quote>. If they don't, add the flag and rebuild &my-app;.
2853 If you compiled &my-app; with threading support (on POSIX-based systems),
2854 the <quote>Conditional #defines</quote> section on <ulink
2855 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
2856 will list <quote>FEATURE_PTHREAD</quote> as <quote>enabled</quote>.
2863 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2864 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests</title>
2865 <!-- Include contacting.sgml -->
2867 <!-- end contacting -->
2870 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2871 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
2873 <!-- Include copyright.sgml -->
2879 Portions of this document are <quote>borrowed</quote> from the original
2880 <application>Junkbuster</application> (tm) FAQ, and modified as
2881 appropriate for <application>Privoxy</application>.
2884 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2885 <sect2><title>License</title>
2886 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
2888 <!-- end copyright -->
2890 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2892 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2893 <sect2><title>History</title>
2894 <!-- Include history.sgml -->
2900 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2903 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2905 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See also</title>
2907 <!-- Include seealso.sgml -->
2918 Tue 09/11/01 06:38:14 PM EST: Test SGML doc by Hal Burgiss.
2920 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
2921 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
2922 Public License as published by the Free Software
2923 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
2924 your option) any later version.
2926 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
2927 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
2928 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
2929 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
2930 License for more details.
2932 The GNU General Public License should be included with
2933 this file. If not, you can view it at
2934 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
2935 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
2936 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA
2939 Revision 2.56 2009/02/19 17:05:05 fabiankeil
2940 Explain slowness when build with Gentoo's portage.
2942 Revision 2.55 2009/02/19 02:20:21 hal9
2943 Make some links in seealso conditional. Man page is now privoxy only links.
2945 Revision 2.54 2009/02/15 20:47:12 hal9
2948 Revision 2.53 2009/02/15 20:46:13 hal9
2949 Update Outlook HTML rendering engine comments re: Office 2007.
2951 Revision 2.52 2009/02/14 10:27:52 fabiankeil
2952 Finish last paragraph in the selinux entry which
2953 I unintentionally committed with the last commit.
2955 Revision 2.51 2009/02/12 16:08:26 fabiankeil
2956 Declare the code stable.
2958 Revision 2.50 2009/02/11 18:13:36 fabiankeil
2961 Revision 2.49 2009/02/10 16:30:20 fabiankeil
2962 Add a workaround for "unauthenticated content" warnings on HTTPS sites.
2964 Revision 2.48 2009/01/13 16:50:35 fabiankeil
2965 The standard.action file is gone.
2967 Revision 2.47 2008/11/24 18:29:39 fabiankeil
2968 Two changes suggested by Roger Dingledine:
2969 - Use https://www.torproject.org/ in section 4.7, too.
2970 - Replace the Tor wiki URL in section 4.10 with one
2971 with a more useful anchor name.
2973 Revision 2.46 2008/08/30 15:37:35 fabiankeil
2976 Revision 2.45 2008/08/16 08:51:28 fabiankeil
2977 Update version-related entities.
2979 Revision 2.44 2008/06/19 01:41:36 hal9
2980 Add short note about zlib being enabled in 3.0.9
2982 Revision 2.43 2008/06/14 13:21:25 fabiankeil
2983 Prepare for the upcoming 3.0.9 beta release.
2985 Revision 2.42 2008/06/07 13:11:15 fabiankeil
2986 - Note that the "100% cpu problem" is worth
2987 reporting if it happens with a recent release.
2988 - Mention the hostname option as a workaround for
2989 the "can't get my own hostname" issue.
2990 - The profile formerly known as "Adventuresome"
2991 is called "Advanced" now.
2992 - Some white-space fixes.
2994 Revision 2.41 2008/06/06 15:32:09 fabiankeil
2996 - Don't claim that all the old Junkbuster features remain.
2997 Some of them have been removed or replaced with better ones.
2999 Revision 2.40 2008/02/22 05:54:27 markm68k
3000 updates for mac os x
3002 Revision 2.39 2008/02/03 21:37:41 hal9
3003 Apply patch from Mark: s/OSX/OS X/
3005 Revision 2.38 2008/01/19 17:52:39 hal9
3006 Re-commit to fix various minor issues for new release.
3008 Revision 2.37 2008/01/19 15:03:05 hal9
3009 Doc sources tagged for 3.0.8 release.
3011 Revision 2.36 2008/01/17 01:49:51 hal9
3012 Change copyright notice for docs s/2007/2008/. All these will be rebuilt soon
3015 Revision 2.35 2007/11/19 17:57:59 fabiankeil
3016 A bunch of rewordings, minor updates and fixes.
3018 Revision 2.34 2007/11/19 02:38:11 hal9
3019 Minor revisions and rebuild
3021 Revision 2.33 2007/11/15 03:30:20 hal9
3022 Results of spell check.
3024 Revision 2.32 2007/11/13 03:03:42 hal9
3025 Various changes to reflect new features and revised configuration for the
3028 Revision 2.31 2007/11/05 02:34:53 hal9
3029 Various changes in preparation for the upcoming release. Much yet to be done.
3031 Revision 2.30 2007/11/04 15:16:40 hal9
3034 Revision 2.29 2007/11/04 15:12:47 hal9
3035 Various minor adjustments.
3037 Revision 2.28 2007/10/27 15:14:16 fabiankeil
3038 Change Tor links to use the new domain torproject.org.
3040 Revision 2.27 2007/10/22 19:47:05 fabiankeil
3041 - Bump version and copyright.
3042 - Adjust Tor section to make it clear that forward exceptions
3043 aren't required and may not even be desired.
3044 - A bunch of other minor rewordings.
3045 - Fix markup problems Roland noticed (hopefully without adding new ones).
3047 Revision 2.26 2007/08/05 15:37:55 fabiankeil
3048 - Don't claim that thousands of people read our code.
3049 - Specify the GPL version and link to GPLv2 instead of v3.
3050 - Note that configuration syntax may change between releases.
3051 - Mention zlib support.
3052 - Answer the "transparent proxy" question properly.
3053 - Add "intercepting proxy" entry.
3055 - Rephrase some other sentences for various reasons.
3057 Revision 2.25 2007/07/18 11:00:34 hal9
3058 Add misc note about valid mark-up in Privoxy.
3060 Revision 2.24 2006/11/14 01:57:46 hal9
3061 Dump all docs prior to 3.0.6 release. Various minor changes to faq and user
3064 Revision 2.23 2006/10/21 22:19:52 hal9
3065 Two new FAQs, a rewrite or two, and some touch ups.
3067 Revision 2.22 2006/10/14 20:33:10 hal9
3068 Three new FAQ's re: templates and blocking, and various minor touch-ups/improvements.
3070 Revision 2.21 2006/10/03 14:40:51 fabiankeil
3071 Added links from the Tor faq to the
3072 configuration chapter in the User Manual.
3074 Revision 2.20 2006/09/26 10:12:37 fabiankeil
3077 Revision 2.19 2006/09/22 10:54:32 hal9
3078 Change references to 3.0.4 to 3.0.5 and minor adjustments.
3080 Revision 2.18 2006/09/22 01:27:55 hal9
3081 Final commit of probably various minor changes here and there. Unless
3082 something changes this should be ready for pending release.
3084 Revision 2.17 2006/09/17 14:56:32 hal9
3085 This includes yet several more new FAQs, some improved wording, enhanced
3086 mark-up, various hyper links to wikipedia to explain key terminology to the
3087 uninitiated, etc. This is ready for release IMO pending final tagging of cvs
3088 and Privoxy version stamping.
3090 Revision 2.16 2006/09/10 15:30:46 hal9
3093 Revision 2.15 2006/09/08 23:05:07 hal9
3094 Fix broken links. Add faq on hosts files. Move most of new windows service
3095 feature to user manual and reference in faq. Various other small changes.
3097 Revision 2.14 2006/09/05 13:25:12 david__schmidt
3098 Add Windows service invocation stuff (duplicated) in FAQ and in user manual under Windows startup. One probably ought to reference the other.
3100 Revision 2.13 2006/09/04 19:20:33 fabiankeil
3101 Adjusted anonymity related sections to match reality.
3102 Added a section about using Privoxy with Tor.
3104 Revision 2.12 2006/09/03 14:15:30 hal9
3105 Various updates, including 7 or 8 new FAQs, and updates/changes to various
3106 other ones to better reflect improvements, additions and changes for the
3107 upcoming release. This is close to final form for 3.0.4 IMHO.
3109 Revision 2.11 2006/07/18 14:48:50 david__schmidt
3110 Reorganizing the repository: swapping out what was HEAD (the old 3.1 branch)
3111 with what was really the latest development (the v_3_0_branch branch)
3113 Revision 1.61.2.41 2004/04/05 13:44:05 oes
3114 Fixed allow-all-cookies alias name; closes SR #929746
3116 Revision 1.61.2.40 2004/01/30 17:00:33 oes
3117 Added Mac OS X Panther problem
3119 Revision 1.61.2.39 2004/01/29 22:53:08 hal9
3120 Minor changes for exempting docs of text/plain. Change copyright date.
3122 Revision 1.61.2.38 2003/12/10 03:39:45 hal9
3123 Added FAQs for: demoronizer, related problems and why its included. Also,
3124 port 8118 already in use questions, and PrivoxyWindowOpen() questions. All in
3125 troubleshooting section.
3127 Revision 1.61.2.37 2003/10/17 11:01:50 oes
3128 Added Q&A for "not being used" page problem
3130 Revision 1.61.2.36 2003/06/26 23:49:20 hal9
3131 More on the filter/source code problem.
3133 Revision 1.61.2.35 2003/06/26 13:38:08 hal9
3134 Add FAQ on whether configuring Privoxy is necessary or not.
3136 Revision 1.61.2.34 2003/06/26 03:00:03 hal9
3137 Sorry, found another copyright date.
3139 Revision 1.61.2.33 2003/06/26 02:57:05 hal9
3140 Fix typo (finally!) and very minor modifications.
3142 Revision 1.61.2.32 2003/06/26 02:52:04 hal9
3145 Revision 1.61.2.31 2003/06/25 01:27:51 hal9
3146 Fix copyright, and a few nits.
3148 Revision 1.61.2.30 2003/06/25 01:13:52 hal9
3151 - FAQ on "Unable to get my own hostname"
3152 - Another one on filtering effects on text files.
3154 Revision 1.61.2.29 2003/06/15 21:32:58 hal9
3155 Add to the 4.17 (filtering effects on downloaded files).
3157 Revision 1.61.2.28 2003/03/18 19:37:21 oes
3158 s/Advanced|Radical/Adventuresome/g to avoid complaints re fun filter
3160 Revision 1.61.2.27 2002/12/01 06:31:58 hal9
3161 Add faq on win32 error 503 due to ZoneAlarm.
3163 Revision 1.61.2.26 2002/11/17 06:41:06 hal9
3164 Move default profiles table from FAQ to U-M, and other minor related changes.
3167 Revision 1.61.2.25 2002/10/29 03:21:50 hal9
3168 Add 3 Q/A's relating to HTML in email. Other minor touchups.
3170 Revision 1.61.2.24 2002/10/15 12:50:22 oes
3171 s/Advanced/Radical/ (stupid me)
3173 Revision 1.61.2.23 2002/10/15 12:38:56 oes
3174 Added Microsuck faq; more detail for PHP problem
3176 Revision 1.61.2.22 2002/10/12 01:13:13 hal9
3177 Updates for demoronizer, more commentary on Radical profile, and update on
3178 the srvany.exe/icon fix.
3180 Revision 1.61.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 hal9
3181 s/Advanced/Radical/ and added very brief note.
3183 Revision 1.61.2.20 2002/09/26 01:22:45 hal9
3184 Small additions for LAN setup, content-cookies/SSL, and FTP non-support.
3186 Revision 1.61.2.19 2002/08/25 23:31:56 hal9
3187 Fix one grammatical error. Add brief FAQ relating to tranparent proxies (ie
3188 port 80 setting). Add FAQ on effects of Privoxy on downloaded files
3189 (especially filtering).
3191 Revision 1.61.2.18 2002/08/14 16:39:37 hal9
3192 Fix wrong tag on FAQ addition.
3194 Revision 1.61.2.17 2002/08/14 00:01:18 hal9
3197 Revision 1.61.2.16 2002/08/13 00:10:38 hal9
3198 Add faq to troubleshooting re: blank page syndrome, ie {-prevent-compression}.
3200 Revision 1.61.2.15 2002/08/10 11:34:22 oes
3201 Add disclaimer about probably being out-of-date
3203 Revision 1.61.2.14 2002/08/07 02:53:43 hal9
3204 Fix some minor markup errors, and move one Mac OS X Q/A to troubleshooting section.
3206 Revision 1.61.2.13 2002/08/06 11:55:32 oes
3207 Added missing close tag
3209 Revision 1.61.2.12 2002/08/06 11:43:46 david__schmidt
3210 Updated Mac OS X uninstall FAQ... we have an uninstall script now.
3212 Revision 1.61.2.11 2002/08/06 08:54:03 oes
3213 Style police: Fixed formatting details
3215 Revision 1.61.2.10 2002/08/02 14:00:25 david__schmidt
3216 Made the Mac OS X removal commands far less dangerous
3218 Revision 1.61.2.9 2002/08/02 13:14:45 oes
3219 Added warning about sudo rm -r for Mac OS X deinstallation; moved this item to install section
3221 Revision 1.61.2.8 2002/08/02 02:01:42 david__schmidt
3222 Add FAQ item for MSIE on Mac OS X HTTP proxy confusion
3224 Revision 1.61.2.7 2002/08/02 01:46:01 david__schmidt
3225 Added FAQ item for Mac OS X uninstall woes
3227 Revision 1.61.2.6 2002/07/30 20:04:56 hal9
3228 Fix typo: 'schould'.
3230 Revision 1.61.2.5 2002/07/26 15:22:58 oes
3231 - Updated to reflect changes in standard.action
3232 - Added info on where to get updated actions files
3234 Revision 1.61.2.4 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
3235 Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
3237 Revision 1.61.2.3 2002/06/09 16:36:33 hal9
3238 Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
3240 Revision 1.61.2.2 2002/06/06 02:51:34 hal9
3241 Fix typo in URL http:/config.privoxy.org
3243 Revision 1.61.2.1 2002/06/05 23:10:43 hal9
3244 Add new FAQ re: DUN/IE. Change release date from May to June :)
3246 Revision 1.61 2002/05/25 12:37:25 hal9
3247 Various minor changes and edits.
3249 Revision 1.60 2002/05/22 17:17:48 oes
3250 Proofread & added more links into u-m
3252 Revision 1.59 2002/05/15 04:03:30 hal9
3253 Fix ulink -> link markup.
3255 Revision 1.58 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
3256 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
3257 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
3258 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
3260 Revision 1.57 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
3261 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
3263 Revision 1.56 2002/05/04 08:44:44 swa
3266 Revision 1.55 2002/05/04 00:41:56 hal9
3267 -Remove TOC/first page kludge in favor of proper handling via dsl file.
3269 Revision 1.54 2002/05/03 05:06:44 hal9
3270 Add brief Q/A on transparent proxies.
3272 Revision 1.53 2002/05/03 01:34:52 hal9
3273 Fix section numbering for new sections (due to TOC kludge).
3275 Revision 1.52 2002/04/29 03:08:43 hal9
3276 -Added new Q/A on new actions file set up (pointer to u-m)
3277 -Fixed a few broken links and converted old actions as a result of
3280 Revision 1.51 2002/04/26 17:24:31 swa
3281 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
3283 Revision 1.50 2002/04/26 05:25:23 hal9
3284 Mass commit to catch a few scattered fixes.
3286 Revision 1.49 2002/04/12 10:10:18 swa
3289 Revision 1.48 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
3292 Revision 1.47 2002/04/10 04:05:32 hal9
3295 Revision 1.45 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
3296 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
3298 Revision 1.44 2002/04/07 21:24:29 hal9
3299 Touch up on name change.
3301 Revision 1.43 2002/04/04 21:59:53 hal9
3302 Added NT/W2K service/icon situation.
3304 Revision 1.42 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
3305 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
3307 Revision 1.41 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
3308 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
3309 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
3310 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
3311 eventually be set by Makefile.
3312 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
3314 Revision 1.40 2002/04/03 04:22:03 hal9
3315 Fixed several typos.
3317 Revision 1.39 2002/04/03 03:53:03 hal9
3318 Revert some changes, and then make some news, to layout, and appearance.
3320 Revision 1.38 2002/04/02 03:49:10 hal9
3321 Major changes to doc structure and layout. Sections are not automatically
3322 numbered now. TOC is on page by itself.
3324 Revision 1.37 2002/04/01 16:24:07 hal9
3325 -Rework of supported Q/A.
3326 -Set up entities to include boilerplate text.
3328 Revision 1.36 2002/03/31 23:18:47 hal9
3329 More on dealing with BLOCKED.
3331 Revision 1.35 2002/03/30 04:14:19 hal9
3332 Fix privoxy.org/config links.
3334 Revision 1.34 2002/03/29 04:35:56 hal9
3337 Revision 1.33 2002/03/29 01:31:48 hal9
3338 Several new Q/A's and other touch ups.
3340 Revision 1.32 2002/03/27 00:57:03 hal9
3341 Touch ups for name change.
3343 Revision 1.31 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
3344 we have a new homepage!
3346 Revision 1.30 2002/03/25 16:39:22 hal9
3347 A few new sections. Made all links relative to user-manual.
3349 Revision 1.29 2002/03/25 05:23:57 hal9
3350 Moved section, and touch ups.
3352 Revision 1.28 2002/03/25 04:27:33 hal9
3353 New section related to name change.
3355 Revision 1.25 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
3356 we are too lazy to make a block-built
3357 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
3359 Revision 1.24 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
3360 name change related issue.
3362 Revision 1.23 2002/03/24 12:33:01 swa
3365 Revision 1.22 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
3366 name change. changed filenames.
3368 Revision 1.21 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
3371 Revision 1.20 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
3372 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
3373 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
3374 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
3375 comments and remarks to history untouched.
3377 Revision 1.19 2002/03/21 17:01:54 hal9
3380 Revision 1.18 2002/03/18 16:40:31 hal9
3383 Revision 1.17 2002/03/18 03:53:53 hal9
3386 Revision 1.16 2002/03/17 21:32:56 hal9
3387 A few more additions.
3389 Revision 1.15 2002/03/17 07:25:59 hal9
3390 Correcting some of my typos, and some additions.
3392 Revision 1.14 2002/03/17 02:39:13 hal9
3393 A little more added ...
3395 Revision 1.13 2002/03/17 00:22:20 hal9
3396 Adding new stuff, and trying to incorporate stuff from old faq.
3398 Revision 1.12 2002/03/11 20:13:21 swa
3401 Revision 1.11 2002/03/11 18:42:27 swa
3404 Revision 1.10 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
3405 correct feedback channels
3407 Revision 1.9 2002/03/10 23:34:04 swa
3408 more info on not hiding ip address
3410 Revision 1.8 2002/03/09 15:55:48 swa
3411 added default config section
3413 Revision 1.7 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
3416 Revision 1.6 2002/03/07 13:16:31 oes
3417 Committing changes by Stefan
3419 Revision 1.5 2002/03/02 15:50:04 swa
3420 2.9.11 version. more input for docs.
3422 Revision 1.4 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
3423 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
3424 will work - no other changes are needed.
3426 Revision 1.3 2001/09/23 10:13:48 swa
3427 upload process established. run make webserver and
3428 the documentation is moved to the webserver. documents
3429 are now linked correctly.
3431 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:20:17 swa
3432 merged standards into developer manual
3434 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
3435 source files for junkbuster documentation
3437 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
3438 first proposal of a structure.
3440 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
3441 docs should have an author.
3443 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
3444 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.