1 <!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN" [
2 <!entity % dummy "IGNORE">
3 <!entity supported SYSTEM "supported.sgml">
4 <!entity newfeatures SYSTEM "newfeatures.sgml">
5 <!entity p-intro SYSTEM "privoxy.sgml">
6 <!entity seealso SYSTEM "seealso.sgml">
7 <!entity buildsource SYSTEM "buildsource.sgml">
8 <!entity contacting SYSTEM "contacting.sgml">
9 <!entity history SYSTEM "history.sgml">
10 <!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
11 <!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
12 <!entity p-authors SYSTEM "p-authors.sgml">
13 <!entity config SYSTEM "p-config.sgml">
14 <!entity p-version "3.0.8">
15 <!entity p-status "stable">
16 <!entity % p-authors-formal "INCLUDE"> <!-- include additional text, etc -->
17 <!entity % p-not-stable "IGNORE">
18 <!entity % p-stable "INCLUDE">
19 <!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
20 <!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
21 <!entity % p-readme "IGNORE">
22 <!entity % user-man "IGNORE">
23 <!entity % config-file "IGNORE">
24 <!entity % p-supp-userman "IGNORE"> <!-- Omit some from supported.sgml -->
25 <!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
26 <!entity % draft "IGNORE"> <!-- WIP stuff -->
27 <!entity my-app "<application>Privoxy</application>">
30 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
33 This file belongs into
34 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
36 $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.57 2008/02/03 19:10:14 fabiankeil Exp $
38 Copyright (C) 2001-2008 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
41 ========================================================================
42 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
43 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
44 ========================================================================
51 <title>Privoxy &p-version; User Manual</title>
55 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
56 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
57 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001 - 2008 by
58 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
62 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.57 2008/02/03 19:10:14 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
66 Note: the following should generate a separate page, and a live link to it,
67 all nicely done. But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave
68 commented unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the
69 copyright/license declarations will be in their own sgml.
82 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
83 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
84 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
90 The <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
91 install, configure and use <ulink
92 url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>.
95 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
97 <!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
100 You can find the latest version of the <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> at <ulink
101 url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
102 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> on how to
103 contact the developers.
107 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
113 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
114 <sect1 label="1" id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
116 This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
117 <application>Privoxy</application>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
118 and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
119 time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
120 configuration files. Development of a new version is currently nearing
121 completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over
122 earlier versions. ]]>.
125 <!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
128 Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
129 documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
130 CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
135 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
136 <sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
138 In addition to the core
139 features of ad blocking and
140 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookie</ulink> management,
141 <application>Privoxy</application> provides many supplemental
142 features<![%p-not-stable;[, some of them currently under development]]>,
143 that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
145 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
147 <!-- end boilerplate -->
152 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
155 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
156 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
159 <application>Privoxy</application> is available both in convenient pre-compiled
160 packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
161 For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
162 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
168 On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if
169 found. (See below for your platform). In any case <emphasis>be sure to backup
170 your old configuration if it is valuable to you.</emphasis> See the <link
171 linkend="upgradersnote">note to upgraders</link> section below.
174 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
175 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
177 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
180 <!-- XXX: The installation sections should be sorted -->
182 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
183 <sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat and Fedora RPMs</title>
186 RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
187 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
188 of configuration files.
192 Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
193 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
194 need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
195 <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods.
199 If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
200 <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
201 will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
205 Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
206 on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
207 Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
208 automatically if found, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
212 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
213 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian and Ubuntu</title>
215 DEBs can be installed with <literal>apt-get install privoxy</literal>,
216 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of
221 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
222 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
225 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
226 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
227 in the same directory as you installed <application>Privoxy</application> in.
230 Version 3.0.5 beta introduced full <application>Windows</application> service
231 functionality. On Windows only, the <application>Privoxy</application>
232 program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
233 <application>Privoxy</application> as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>.
237 <term>Arguments:</term>
240 <replaceable class="parameter">--install</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
243 <replaceable class="parameter">--uninstall</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
249 After invoking <application>Privoxy</application> with
250 <command>--install</command>, you will need to bring up the
251 <application>Windows</application> service console to assign the user you
252 want <application>Privoxy</application> to run under, and whether or not you
253 want it to run whenever the system starts. You can start the
254 <application>Windows</application> services console with the following
255 command: <command>services.msc</command>. If you do not take the manual step
256 of modifying <application>Privoxy's</application> service settings, it will
257 not start. Note too that you will need to give Privoxy a user account that
258 actually exists, or it will not be permitted to
259 write to its log and configuration files.
264 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
265 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris <!--, NetBSD, HP-UX--></title>
268 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
269 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
270 things go. <!-- FIXME, more info needed? -->
274 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
275 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
278 First, make sure that no previous installations of
279 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
280 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
281 system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
282 or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
288 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
289 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
290 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
291 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
295 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
296 into will contain all of the configuration files.
300 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
301 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Mac OS X</title>
303 Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the file
304 from the finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there).
305 Then, double-click on the package installer icon named
306 <literal>Privoxy.pkg</literal>
307 and follow the installation process.
308 <application>Privoxy</application> will be installed in the folder
309 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal>.
310 It will start automatically whenever you start up. To prevent it from
311 starting automatically, remove or rename the folder
312 <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
315 To start Privoxy by hand, double-click on
316 <literal>StartPrivoxy.command</literal> in the
317 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal> folder.
318 Or, type this command in the Terminal:
322 /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
326 You will be prompted for the administrator password.
330 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
331 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
333 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
334 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
335 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
336 remove this directory.
340 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
341 <sect3 id="installation-tbz"><title>FreeBSD</title>
344 Privoxy is part of FreeBSD's Ports Collection, you can build and install
345 it with <literal>cd /usr/ports/www/privoxy; make install clean</literal>.
348 If you don't use the ports, you can fetch and install
349 the package with <literal>pkg_add -r privoxy</literal>.
352 The port skeleton and the package can also be downloaded from the
353 <ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">File Release
354 Page</ulink>, but there's no reason to use them unless you're interested in the
355 beta releases which are only available there.
359 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
360 <sect3 id="installattion-gentoo"><title>Gentoo</title>
362 Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for <application>Privoxy</application> are
363 contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page,
364 but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new
365 <application>Privoxy</application> Version is added to the Portage Tree).
368 Before installing <application>Privoxy</application> under Gentoo just do
369 first <literal>emerge rsync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
370 Portage tree. With <literal>emerge privoxy</literal> you install the latest
374 Configuration files are in <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename>, the
375 documentation is in <filename>/usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;</filename>
376 and the Log directory is in <filename>/var/log/privoxy</filename>.
382 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
383 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
386 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
387 is to download the source tarball from our
388 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&package_id=10571">project download
393 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
394 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
395 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
396 CVS repository</ulink>.
398 deprecated...out of business.
399 or simply download <ulink
400 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.bz2">the nightly CVS
405 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
407 <!-- end boilerplate -->
410 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
411 <sect2 id="installation-keepupdated"><title>Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date</title>
413 As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions
414 of both the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link> (as a <ulink
415 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&release_id=103670">separate
416 package</ulink>) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for
421 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
422 <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
423 url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
424 to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
428 In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
429 to the latest <literal>default.action</literal> file we <emphasis>strongly
430 recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> and
431 <literal>user.filter</literal> for your local
432 customizations of <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
433 linkend="actions-file">Chapter on actions files</link> for details.
441 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
443 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
444 <sect1 id="whatsnew">
445 <title>What's New in this Release</title>
447 There are many improvements and new features since <application>Privoxy 3.0.6</application>, the last stable release:
454 Two new actions <link
455 linkend="server-header-tagger">server-header-tagger</link>
457 linkend="client-header-tagger">client-header-tagger</link>
458 that can be used to create arbitrary <quote>tags</quote>
459 based on client and server headers.
460 These <quote>tags</quote> can then subsequently be used
461 to control the other actions used for the current request,
462 greatly increasing &my-app;'s flexibility and selectivity. See <link
463 linkend="tag-pattern">tag patterns</link> for more information on tags.
469 Header filtering is done with dedicated header filters now. As a result
470 the actions <quote>filter-client-headers</quote> and <quote>filter-server-headers</quote>
471 that were introduced with <application>Privoxy 3.0.5</application> to apply
472 content filters to the headers have been removed.
473 See the new actions <link
474 linkend="server-header-filter">server-header-filter</link>
476 linkend="client-header-filter">client-header-filter</link> for details.
481 There are four new options for the main <filename>config</filename> file:
488 linkend="allow-cgi-request-crunching">allow-cgi-request-crunching</link>
489 which allows requests for Privoxy's internal CGI pages to be
490 blocked, redirected or (un)trusted like ordinary requests.
496 linkend="split-large-forms">split-large-forms</link>
497 that will work around a browser bug that caused IE6 and IE7 to
498 ignore the Submit button on the Privoxy's edit-actions-for-url CGI
505 linkend="accept-intercepted-requests">accept-intercepted-requests</link>
506 which allows to combine Privoxy with any packet filter to create an
507 intercepting proxy for HTTP/1.1 requests (and for HTTP/1.0 requests
508 with Host header set). This means clients can be forced to use
509 &my-app; even if their proxy settings are configured differently.
515 linkend="templdir">templdir</link>
516 to designate an alternate location for &my-app;'s
517 locally customized CGI templates so that
518 these are not overwritten during upgrades.
526 A new command line option <literal>--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname</literal> to
527 initialize the resolver library before chroot'ing. On some systems this
528 reduces the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree.
529 (Patch provided by Stephen Gildea)
536 linkend="forward-override">forward-override</link> action
537 allows changing of the forwarding settings through the actions files.
538 Combined with tags, this allows to choose the forwarder based on
539 client headers like the <literal>User-Agent</literal>, or the request origin.
546 linkend="redirect">redirect</link> action can now use regular
547 expression substitutions against the original URL.
553 <application>zlib</application> support is now available as a compile
554 time option to filter compressed content. Patch provided by Wil Mahan.
559 Improve various filters, and add new ones.
566 Include support for RFC 3253 so that <filename>Subversion</filename> works
567 with &my-app;. Patch provided by Petr Kadlec.
573 Logging can be completely turned off by not specifying a logfile directive.
580 A number of improvements to Privoxy's internal CGI pages, including the
581 use of favicons for error and control pages.
587 Many bugfixes, memory leaks addressed, code improvements, and logging
595 For a more detailed list of changes please have a look at the ChangeLog.
598 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
600 <sect2 id="upgradersnote">
601 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
604 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
605 versions of <application>Privoxy</application>:
613 The recommended way to upgrade &my-app; is to backup your old
614 configuration files, install the new ones, verify that &my-app;
615 is working correctly and finally merge back your changes using
616 <application>diff</application> and maybe <application>patch</application>.
619 There are a number of new features in each &my-app; release and
620 most of them have to be explicitly enabled in the configuration
621 files. Old configuration files obviously don't do that and due
622 to syntax changes using old configuration files with a new
623 &my-app; isn't always possible anyway.
628 Note that some installers remove earlier versions completely,
629 including configuration files, therefore you should really save
630 any important configuration files!
635 On the other hand, other installers don't overwrite existing configuration
636 files, thinking you will want to do that yourself.
641 <filename>standard.action</filename> now only includes the enabled actions.
642 Not all actions as before.
647 In the default configuration only fatal errors are logged now.
648 You can change that in the <link linkend="DEBUG">debug section</link>
649 of the configuration file. You may also want to enable more verbose
650 logging until you verified that the new &my-app; version is working
657 Three other config file settings are now off by default:
658 <link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link>,
659 <link linkend="enable-remote-http-toggle">enable-remote-http-toggle</link>,
660 and <link linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link>.
661 If you use or want these, you will need to explicitly enable them, and
662 be aware of the security issues involved.
668 The <quote>filter-client-headers</quote> and
669 <quote>filter-server-headers</quote> actions that were introduced with
670 <application>Privoxy 3.0.5</application> to apply content filters to
671 the headers have been removed and replaced with new actions.
673 linkend="whatsnew">What's New section</link> above.
681 What constitutes a <quote>default</quote> configuration has changed,
682 and you may want to review which actions are <quote>on</quote> by
683 default. This is primarily a matter of emphasis, but some features
684 you may have been used to, may now be <quote>off</quote> by default.
685 There are also a number of new actions and filters you may want to
686 consider, most of which are not fully incorporated into the default
687 settings as yet (see above).
694 The default actions setting is now <literal>Cautious</literal>. Previous
695 releases had a default setting of <literal>Medium</literal>. Experienced
696 users may want to adjust this, as it is fairly conservative by &my-app;
697 standards and past practices. See <ulink
698 url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
699 http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>. New users
700 should try the default settings for a while before turning up the volume.
706 The default setting has filtering turned <emphasis>off</emphasis>, which
707 subsequently means that compression is <emphasis>on</emphasis>. Remember
708 that filtering does not work on compressed pages, so if you use, or want to
709 use, filtering, you will need to force compression off. Example:
713 { +<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{google} +<link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link> }
717 Or if you use a number of filters, or filter many sites, you may just want
718 to turn off compression for all sites in
719 <filename>default.action</filename> (or
720 <filename>user.action</filename>).
727 Also, <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> is
728 off by default now. If you've liked this feature in the past, you may want
729 to turn it back on in <filename>user.action</filename> now.
736 Some installers may not automatically start
737 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
748 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
749 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using Privoxy</title>
755 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
756 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
763 Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
764 service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
765 linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
766 linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
773 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
774 not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
775 <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
781 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
782 HTTPS (SSL) <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>
783 by setting the proxy configuration for address of
784 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
785 <emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> activate proxying for <literal>FTP</literal> or
786 any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) unless you intend to prevent your
787 browser from using these protocols.
793 Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
794 If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage
795 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
796 you should remove any currently stored cookies too.
802 A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
803 most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
804 configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
805 to no initial configuration is required in most cases, you may want
807 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">web-based action editor</ulink> though.
808 Be sure to read the warnings first.
811 See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
812 configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
813 You might also want to look at the <link
814 linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
815 introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
822 If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are
823 blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
824 <application>Privoxy's</application> behavior, take a look at the <link
825 linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
826 find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
827 helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
828 url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
829 Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
830 Action</link></quote> has hints on how to understand and debug actions that
831 <quote>misbehave</quote>.
836 Did anyone test these lately?
840 For easy access to &my-app;'s most important controls, drag the provided
841 <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklets</link> into your browser's
849 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
850 Developers</link> on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get
857 Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
865 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
867 <sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
868 <title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
870 NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
871 want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
874 Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
875 array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
876 user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
879 This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
880 you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
881 information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
884 First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
885 more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
886 things that were not intended. And the more likely that some things
887 may not work as intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
888 extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
889 <quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
890 configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
891 not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
892 the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
893 default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
894 habits and preferences.
897 Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
898 <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
899 the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
900 some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
901 <application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
902 action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
903 <application>actions</application> in <application>Privoxy's</application>
904 arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. <link
905 linkend="actions">Actions</link>, and <link linkend="actions-file">action
906 configuration files</link>, are explained in depth below.
909 Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
910 followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
911 can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
912 wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
913 actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
916 When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
917 of the sections as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
918 or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
919 respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
920 pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
921 use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
922 original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
923 embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
924 or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
925 such embedded URLs. &my-app; can deal with each URL individually, so, for
926 instance, the main page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such
931 The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: <literal><link
932 linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
933 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
935 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal>,and
936 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
944 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this is perhaps
945 the single most used action, and is particularly important for ad blocking.
946 This action stops any contact between your browser and any URL patterns
947 that match this action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads,
948 but also anything that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply
949 stops any communication with the remote server and sends
950 <application>Privoxy</application>'s own built-in BLOCKED page instead to
951 let you now what has happened (with some exceptions, see below).
957 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
958 tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
959 <application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
960 for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
961 is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
962 important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
963 some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
964 <application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
965 a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
966 though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
967 an entire HTML page in most situations.
973 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> -
974 sends an empty document instead of <application>Privoxy's</application>
975 normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither
976 HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files.
983 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> - tells
984 <application>Privoxy</application> what to display in place of an ad image that
985 has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
986 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action somewhere in the
987 configuration, <emphasis>and</emphasis>, it must also match an
988 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action.
991 The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
995 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
996 replacement is obvious. This is the default.
1001 <emphasis>blank</emphasis> - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
1002 This is the so-called <quote>invisible</quote> configuration option.
1007 <emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any image anywhere
1008 of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
1017 Advanced users will eventually want to explore &my-app;
1018 <literal><link linkend="filter">filters</link></literal> as well. Filters
1019 are very different from <literal><link
1020 linkend="block">blocks</link></literal>.
1021 A <quote>block</quote> blocks a site, page, or unwanted contented. Filters
1022 are a way of filtering or modifying what is actually on the page. An example
1023 filter usage: a text replacement of <quote>no-no</quote> for
1024 <quote>nasty-word</quote>. That is a very simple example. This process can be
1025 used for ad blocking, but it is more in the realm of advanced usage and has
1026 some pitfalls to be wary off.
1030 The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
1031 the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
1032 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1033 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
1034 is an internal page, and does not require Internet access.
1038 Note that as of <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta the
1039 action editor is disabled by default. Check the
1040 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions
1041 section in the configuration file</ulink> to learn why and in which
1042 cases it's safe to enable again.
1046 If you decided to enable the action editor, select the appropriate
1047 <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
1048 <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
1049 local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
1050 meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
1051 other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
1052 blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
1053 <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
1057 A quick and simple step by step example:
1065 Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
1066 <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
1074 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1079 Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
1080 on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
1083 <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
1085 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
1088 <imagedata fileref="files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
1091 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
1100 You should have a section with only
1101 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
1102 <quote>Actions:</quote>.
1103 If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
1104 button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
1105 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
1106 This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
1107 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
1108 in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
1109 just below the list.
1114 Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
1115 click the <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
1116 browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote>.
1117 Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
1118 <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
1119 <quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
1124 Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
1125 (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
1133 This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
1134 wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
1135 site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
1136 the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
1141 For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
1142 to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
1143 The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
1146 There are also various
1147 <link linkend="filter">filters</link> that can be used for ad blocking
1148 (filters are a special subset of actions). These
1149 fall into the <quote>advanced</quote> usage category, and are explained in
1150 depth in later sections.
1157 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1160 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1161 <sect1 id="startup">
1162 <title>Starting Privoxy</title>
1164 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
1165 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
1166 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)
1167 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>. The default is
1168 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
1169 used port 8000). This is the one configuration step <emphasis>that must be done
1173 Please note that <application>Privoxy</application> can only proxy HTTP and
1174 HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
1177 <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
1179 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1180 Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings</title>
1183 <imagedata fileref="proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
1186 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
1194 With <application>Firefox</application>, this is typically set under:
1198 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Network</guibutton> -><guibutton>Connection</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Settings</guibutton>
1203 Or optionally on some platforms:
1207 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>General</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connection Settings</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Manual Proxy Configuration</guibutton>
1213 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
1214 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
1219 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
1220 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
1221 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton> -> <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
1226 For <application>Internet Explorer v.5-7</application>:
1230 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Internet Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connections</guibutton> -> <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
1234 Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
1235 (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
1236 proxy support too (sometimes labeled <quote>Secure</quote>). Make sure any
1237 checkboxes like <quote>Use the same proxy server for all protocols</quote> is
1238 <emphasis>UNCHECKED</emphasis>. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
1241 <!-- image of IE Proxy configuration -->
1243 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1244 Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings</title>
1247 <imagedata fileref="proxy2.jpg" format="jpg">
1250 <phrase>[ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
1258 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
1259 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
1260 any <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
1261 if you want <application>Privoxy</application> to manage that. You are now
1262 ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
1263 <application>Privoxy</application>!
1267 <application>Privoxy</application> itself is typically started by specifying the
1268 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
1269 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
1270 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
1271 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
1274 <sect2 id="start-redhat">
1275 <title>Red Hat and Fedora</title>
1277 A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use
1278 the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
1283 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
1291 # service privoxy start
1296 <sect2 id="start-debian">
1297 <title>Debian</title>
1299 We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; upon booting per
1300 default. It will use the file
1301 <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
1306 # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1311 <sect2 id="start-windows">
1312 <title>Windows</title>
1314 Click on the &my-app; Icon to start <application>Privoxy</application>. If no configuration file is
1315 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
1316 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
1317 automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option
1321 <application>Privoxy</application> can run with full Windows service functionality.
1322 On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments
1323 to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
1324 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Windows Installation
1325 instructions</link> for details.
1329 <sect2 id="start-unices">
1330 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
1332 Example Unix startup command:
1336 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
1341 <sect2 id="start-os2">
1344 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
1345 start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
1346 double-clicking on the <application>Privoxy</application> icon in the
1347 <application>Privoxy</application> folder.
1351 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
1352 <title>Mac OS X</title>
1354 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
1355 start automatically when the system restarts. To start &my-app; manually,
1356 double-click on the <literal>StartPrivoxy.command</literal> icon in the
1357 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal> folder. Or, type this command
1362 /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
1366 You will be prompted for the administrator password.
1371 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
1372 <title>AmigaOS</title>
1374 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
1375 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
1376 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
1377 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
1378 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
1379 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
1380 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
1384 <sect2 id="start-gentoo">
1385 <title>Gentoo</title>
1387 A script is again used. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config
1388 </filename> as its main configuration file.
1392 /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1396 Note that <application>Privoxy</application> is not automatically started at
1397 boot time by default. You can change this with the <literal>rc-update</literal>
1402 rc-update add privoxy default
1410 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
1414 must find a better place for this paragraph
1417 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
1418 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
1419 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
1420 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
1421 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
1422 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
1426 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
1427 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
1428 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
1429 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
1430 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
1431 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
1432 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
1433 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
1434 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
1438 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
1439 sites is the popup-killing (through the <ulink
1440 url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink> and
1442 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>
1443 actions), because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
1444 popups (explained below).
1448 <application>Privoxy</application> does not support all of the optional HTTP/1.1
1449 features yet. In the unlikely event that you experience inexplicable problems
1450 with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
1451 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
1452 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
1453 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
1454 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
1455 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
1456 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
1460 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
1461 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
1462 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
1463 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
1464 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
1465 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1466 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1467 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
1468 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
1472 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
1473 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
1474 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
1475 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
1476 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
1477 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
1478 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
1482 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
1483 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
1484 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
1485 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
1486 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
1487 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
1492 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <link
1493 linkend="actions-file">read more about the actions concept</link>
1494 or even dive deep into the <link linkend="actionsanat">Appendix
1499 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
1500 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
1501 section <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
1502 Developers</quote></link> below.
1507 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1508 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
1509 <title>Command Line Options</title>
1511 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
1512 command-line options:
1520 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
1523 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
1528 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
1531 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
1536 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
1539 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
1540 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
1545 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
1548 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
1549 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
1550 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
1551 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
1556 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
1559 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
1560 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
1561 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
1566 <emphasis>--chroot</emphasis>
1569 Before changing to the user ID given in the <emphasis>--user</emphasis> option,
1570 chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
1571 process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
1572 the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy.
1578 <emphasis>--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname</emphasis>
1581 Specifies a hostname to look up before doing a chroot. On some systems, initializing the
1582 resolver library involves reading config files from /etc and/or loading additional shared
1583 libraries from /lib. On these systems, doing a hostname lookup before the chroot reduces
1584 the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree.
1587 For fastest startup speed, a good value is a hostname that is not in /etc/hosts but that
1588 your local name server (listed in /etc/resolv.conf) can resolve without recursion
1589 (that is, without having to ask any other name servers). The hostname need not exist,
1590 but if it doesn't, an error message (which can be ignored) will be output.
1596 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
1599 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
1600 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
1601 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
1602 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
1603 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
1604 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
1612 On <application>MS Windows</application> only there are two additional
1613 command-line options to allow <application>Privoxy</application> to install and
1614 run as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>. See the
1615 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Window Installation section</link>
1623 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1626 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1627 <sect1 id="configuration"><title>Privoxy Configuration</title>
1629 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
1630 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
1631 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
1632 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
1636 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1639 <title>Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser</title>
1641 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
1642 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1643 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1644 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
1645 You will see the following section:
1649 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
1652 <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
1656 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
1659 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
1662 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
1665 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
1668 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
1671 ▪ <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/
1672 &p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
1680 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
1681 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
1682 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
1683 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
1684 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
1685 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
1689 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
1690 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
1691 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
1692 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
1693 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
1694 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
1695 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
1696 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
1701 Note that several of the features described above are disabled by default
1702 in <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta and later.
1704 <ulink url="config.html">configuration file</ulink> to learn why
1705 and in which cases it's safe to enable them again.
1710 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1715 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1717 <sect2 id="confoverview">
1718 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
1720 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
1721 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
1722 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
1723 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
1724 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
1725 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
1729 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
1730 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
1731 principle configuration files are:
1739 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
1740 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
1741 on Windows. This is a required file.
1747 <filename>default.action</filename> (the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>)
1748 is used to define which <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
1749 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many
1750 exceptions (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
1751 <application>Privoxy</application> to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on
1752 as many websites as possible.
1755 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
1756 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
1757 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
1758 <filename>default.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
1759 to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in
1760 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can preserve them across
1761 upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is only for
1762 <application>Privoxy's</application> internal use.
1765 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
1767 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1769 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
1770 various actions files.
1776 <quote>Filter files</quote> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
1777 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
1778 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
1779 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
1780 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
1781 <filename>default.filter</filename> includes various filters made
1782 available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
1783 others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
1784 filter files in <filename>config</filename> as you can with
1785 actions files. We suggest <filename>user.filter</filename> for any
1786 locally defined filters or customizations.
1794 The syntax of the configuration and filter files may change between different
1795 Privoxy versions, unfortunately some enhancements cost backwards compatibility.
1796 <!-- Add link to documentation-->
1800 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
1801 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
1802 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
1803 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
1804 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
1805 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
1806 out" that line. Blank lines are ignored.
1810 The actions files and filter files
1811 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
1812 maximum flexibility.
1816 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
1817 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
1818 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
1819 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
1820 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
1821 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
1822 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
1827 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
1828 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
1829 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
1830 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
1836 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1839 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1841 <!-- **************************************************** -->
1842 <!-- Include config.sgml here -->
1843 <!-- This is where the entire config file is detailed. -->
1845 <!-- end include -->
1848 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1852 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1854 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
1857 The actions files are used to define what <emphasis>actions</emphasis>
1858 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determines
1859 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
1860 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof).
1861 There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
1862 Each action does something a little different.
1863 These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
1864 our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that
1865 their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.
1869 are three action files included with <application>Privoxy</application> with
1877 <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
1878 that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
1879 provide a base level of functionality for
1880 <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
1881 a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well as-is for most users.
1882 This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and <link
1883 linkend="installation-keepupdated">making available to users</link>.
1884 The user's preferences as set in <filename>standard.action</filename>,
1885 e.g. either <literal>Cautious</literal> (the default),
1886 <literal>Medium</literal>, or <literal>Advanced</literal> (see
1892 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
1893 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
1894 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
1895 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
1900 <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used only by the web based editor
1901 at <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
1902 http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>,
1903 to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
1904 in <filename>default.action</filename>.
1907 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Cautious</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Medium</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Advanced</guibutton>
1910 These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no
1911 influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
1912 editor</emphasis>. A default installation should be pre-set to
1913 <literal>Cautious</literal> (versions prior to 3.0.5 were set to
1914 <literal>Medium</literal>). New users should try this for a while before
1915 adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
1916 the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
1917 not working as they should.
1920 The <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button allows you to turn each
1921 action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <guibutton>Cautious</guibutton>
1922 button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
1923 ad blocking and a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently
1924 there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
1925 <guibutton>Medium</guibutton> button sets the list to a medium level of
1926 other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
1927 <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> button sets the list to a high level of
1928 ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter
1929 three buttons over-ride any changes via with the
1930 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
1931 lower sections of this internal page.
1934 It is not recommend to edit the <filename>standard.action</filename> file
1938 The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
1939 <filename>standard.action</filename> are<!-- different than this table which is out of date -->:
1942 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
1943 <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
1944 <colspec colname=c1>
1945 <colspec colname=c2>
1946 <colspec colname=c3>
1947 <colspec colname=c4>
1950 <entry>Feature</entry>
1951 <entry>Cautious</entry>
1952 <entry>Medium</entry>
1953 <entry>Advanced</entry>
1958 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
1959 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
1960 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
1961 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
1967 <entry>Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</entry>
1968 <entry>medium</entry>
1974 <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
1981 <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
1987 <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
1988 <entry>blocks only</entry>
1989 <entry>blocks only</entry>
1990 <entry>blocks only</entry>
1994 <entry>Privacy Features</entry>
1996 <entry>medium</entry>
1997 <entry>medium/high</entry>
2001 <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
2003 <entry>session-only</entry>
2008 <entry>Referer forging</entry>
2016 <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
2024 <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
2031 <entry>HTML taming</entry>
2038 <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
2045 <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
2052 <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
2068 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
2069 file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
2070 <filename>default.action</filename> is typically processed before
2071 <filename>user.action</filename>). The content of these can all be viewed and
2073 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2074 The over-riding principle when applying actions, is that the last action that
2075 matches a given URL wins. The broadest, most general rules go first
2076 (defined in <filename>default.action</filename>),
2077 followed by any exceptions (typically also in
2078 <filename>default.action</filename>), which are then followed lastly by any
2079 local preferences (typically in <emphasis>user</emphasis><filename>.action</filename>).
2080 Generally, <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word.
2084 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
2085 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
2086 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
2087 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
2088 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
2089 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
2090 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
2091 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
2092 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
2093 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
2094 with the advantage that it is a separate file, which makes preserving your
2095 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
2099 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
2100 just some obnoxious URL whose content you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
2101 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
2102 written to disk), content can be modified, some JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
2103 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
2107 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2109 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
2111 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
2112 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
2113 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
2114 certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring
2115 refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that the more
2116 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
2117 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
2118 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per
2119 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
2120 regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe
2121 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
2125 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
2126 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
2127 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
2128 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
2132 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2134 <title>How to Edit</title>
2136 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
2137 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
2138 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2139 Note: the config file option <link
2140 linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link> must be enabled for
2141 this to work. The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single
2142 feature on a per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults
2143 like <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or
2144 <quote>Advanced</quote>. Warning: the <quote>Advanced</quote> setting is more
2145 aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites.
2146 Experienced users only!
2150 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
2151 the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at
2152 <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly commented with many
2158 <sect2 id="actions-apply">
2159 <title>How Actions are Applied to Requests</title>
2161 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
2162 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
2163 be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
2164 heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
2165 of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
2166 Below that, there is a list of URL and tag patterns, each on a separate line.
2170 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
2171 compared to all URL patterns in each <quote>action file</quote>.
2172 Every time it matches, the list of applicable actions for the request is
2173 incrementally updated, using the heading of the section in which the
2174 pattern is located. The same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on.
2178 If multiple applying sections set the same action differently,
2179 the last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated.
2180 E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading line of <literal>{
2181 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> }</literal>,
2182 then later another one with just <literal>{
2183 +<link linkend="block">block</link> }</literal>, resulting
2184 in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply. And there may well be
2185 cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
2191 { +<literal>handle-as-image</literal> +<literal>block</literal> }
2192 # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
2194 media.example.com/.*banners
2195 .example.com/images/ads/</screen>
2199 You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by visiting <ulink
2200 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
2204 Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
2205 Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</link> section.
2209 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2210 <sect2 id="af-patterns">
2211 <title>Patterns</title>
2213 As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
2214 to determine what <emphasis>actions</emphasis> might apply to which sites and
2215 pages your browser attempts to access. These <quote>patterns</quote> use wild
2216 card type <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> matching to achieve a high degree of
2217 flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
2218 against many similar patterns.
2222 Generally, an URL pattern has the form
2223 <literal><domain>/<path></literal>, where both the
2224 <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal> are
2225 optional. (This is why the special <literal>/</literal> pattern matches all
2226 URLs). Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g.
2227 <literal>http://</literal>) should <emphasis>not</emphasis> be included in
2228 the pattern. This is assumed already!
2231 The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of
2232 the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
2233 while the path part uses a more flexible
2234 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2235 Expressions (PCRE)</quote></ulink> based syntax.
2240 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
2243 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2244 regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in
2245 this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
2246 simple <literal>example.com</literal> is different and would NOT match.
2251 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
2254 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
2260 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html$</literal></term>
2263 matches all the documents on <literal>www.example.com</literal>
2264 whose name starts with <literal>/index.html</literal>.
2269 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html$</literal></term>
2272 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
2273 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
2278 <term><literal>/index.html$</literal></term>
2281 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
2282 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server anywhere.
2287 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
2290 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
2291 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>. So its
2299 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2300 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
2303 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
2304 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
2310 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
2313 matches any domain with first-level domain <literal>com</literal>
2314 and second-level domain <literal>example</literal>.
2315 For example <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2316 <literal>example.com</literal> and <literal>foo.bar.baz.example.com</literal>.
2317 Note that it wouldn't match if the second-level domain was <literal>another-example</literal>.
2322 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
2325 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
2326 <literal>www.</literal> (It also matches the domain
2327 <literal>www</literal> but most of the time that doesn't matter.)
2332 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
2335 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>.
2336 And, by the way, also included would be any files or documents that exist
2337 within that domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly
2338 speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as
2339 a domain.) This might be <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2340 <literal>news.example.de</literal>, or
2341 <literal>www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</literal> for instance. All these
2349 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
2350 themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
2351 <quote>*</quote> represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
2353 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2354 Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax of <quote>.*</quote>),
2355 <quote>?</quote> represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
2356 regular expression syntax of a simple <quote>.</quote>), and you can define
2357 <quote>character classes</quote> in square brackets which is similar to
2358 the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:
2363 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2366 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
2367 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
2372 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2375 matches all of the above, and then some.
2380 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
2383 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
2384 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
2389 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
2392 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
2393 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
2394 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
2395 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
2402 While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax.
2407 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2410 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2411 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
2414 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl compatible (PCRE)
2415 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2416 Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax
2417 (through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> library) for
2418 matching the path portion (after the slash), and is thus more flexible.
2422 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
2423 expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
2424 at <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt">http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</ulink>.
2425 You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<literal>man perlre</literal>)
2426 useful, which is available on-line at <ulink
2427 url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>.
2431 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
2432 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
2433 for the beginning of a line).
2437 Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
2438 by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
2439 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
2440 only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
2441 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
2446 <term><literal>.example.com/.*</literal></term>
2449 Is equivalent to just <quote>.example.com</quote>, since any documents
2450 within that domain are matched with or without the <quote>.*</quote>
2451 regular expression. This is redundant
2456 <term><literal>.example.com/.*/index.html$</literal></term>
2459 Will match any page in the domain of <quote>example.com</quote> that is
2460 named <quote>index.html</quote>, and that is part of some path. For
2461 example, it matches <quote>www.example.com/testing/index.html</quote> but
2462 NOT <quote>www.example.com/index.html</quote> because the regular
2463 expression called for at least two <quote>/'s</quote>, thus the path
2464 requirement. It also would match
2465 <quote>www.example.com/testing/index_html</quote>, because of the
2466 special meta-character <quote>.</quote>.
2471 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$</literal></term>
2474 This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page
2475 named <quote>index.html</quote> regardless of path which in this case can
2476 have one or more <quote>/'s</quote>. And this one must contain exactly
2477 <quote>.html</quote> (but does not have to end with that!).
2482 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</literal></term>
2485 This regular expression will match any path of <quote>example.com</quote>
2486 that contains any of the words <quote>ads</quote>, <quote>banner</quote>,
2487 <quote>banners</quote> (because of the <quote>?</quote>) or <quote>junk</quote>.
2488 The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
2493 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</literal></term>
2496 This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
2497 <quote>.jpg</quote>, <quote>.jpeg</quote>, <quote>.gif</quote> or <quote>.png</quote>. So this
2498 one is limited to common image formats.
2505 There are many, many good examples to be found in <filename>default.action</filename>,
2506 and more tutorials below in <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>.
2511 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2514 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2515 <sect3 id="tag-pattern"><title>The Tag Pattern</title>
2518 Tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the
2519 request's tags. Tags can be created with either the
2520 <link linkend="CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER">client-header-tagger</link>
2521 or the <link linkend="SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER">server-header-tagger</link> action.
2525 Tag patterns have to start with <quote>TAG:</quote>, so &my-app;
2526 can tell them apart from URL patterns. Everything after the colon
2527 including white space, is interpreted as a regular expression with
2528 path pattern syntax, except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored
2529 automatically (&my-app; doesn't silently add a <quote>^</quote>,
2530 you have to do it yourself if you need it).
2534 To match all requests that are tagged with <quote>foo</quote>
2535 your pattern line should be <quote>TAG:^foo$</quote>,
2536 <quote>TAG:foo</quote> would work as well, but it would also
2537 match requests whose tags contain <quote>foo</quote> somewhere.
2538 <quote>TAG: foo</quote> wouldn't work as it requires white space.
2542 Sections can contain URL and tag patterns at the same time,
2543 but tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus
2544 always overrule them, even if they are located before the URL patterns.
2548 Once a new tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's matched by one
2549 of the tag patterns and updates the action settings accordingly. As a result
2550 tags can be used to activate other tagger actions, as long as these other
2551 taggers look for headers that haven't already be parsed.
2555 For example you could tag client requests which use the
2556 <literal>POST</literal> method,
2557 then use this tag to activate another tagger that adds a tag if cookies
2558 are sent, and then use a block action based on the cookie tag. This allows
2559 the outcome of one action, to be input into a subsequent action. However if
2560 you'd reverse the position of the described taggers, and activated the
2561 method tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method tags would be created.
2562 The method tagger would look for the request line, but at the time
2563 the cookie tag is created, the request line has already been parsed.
2567 While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of
2568 indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't
2569 make too much sense.
2576 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2579 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2581 <sect2 id="actions">
2582 <title>Actions</title>
2584 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
2585 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
2586 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
2587 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
2588 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
2589 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
2590 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
2591 previously applied.</quote>
2596 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
2597 separated by whitespace, like in
2598 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
2599 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
2600 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
2601 of the actions file.
2605 Actions fall into three categories:
2612 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
2613 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
2617 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
2618 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
2621 Example: <literal>+block</literal>
2628 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
2633 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
2634 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
2635 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
2638 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
2639 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
2642 Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070602 Firefox/2.0.0.4}</literal>
2648 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
2649 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
2650 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
2651 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
2652 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
2653 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
2657 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
2658 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
2659 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
2660 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
2663 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
2664 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
2672 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
2673 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
2674 normal, non-blocking, non-filtering proxy. You must specifically enable the
2675 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
2676 files will give a good starting point).
2680 Later defined action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the same type.
2681 So exceptions to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
2682 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such
2683 as <filename>user.action</filename>). For multi-valued actions, the actions
2684 are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are processed in
2685 the order they are defined in <filename>config</filename> (the default
2686 installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any given
2687 URL to match more than one <quote>pattern</quote> (because of wildcards and
2688 regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last
2692 <!-- start actions listing -->
2694 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
2698 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2699 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
2700 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
2702 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2705 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2707 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
2708 <title>add-header</title>
2712 <term>Typical use:</term>
2714 <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
2719 <term>Effect:</term>
2722 Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
2729 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2731 <para>Multi-value.</para>
2736 <term>Parameter:</term>
2739 Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
2740 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
2750 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
2751 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
2752 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
2759 <term>Example usage:</term>
2762 <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
2770 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2771 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
2772 <title>block</title>
2776 <term>Typical use:</term>
2778 <para>Block ads or other unwanted content</para>
2783 <term>Effect:</term>
2786 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
2787 requests are trapped by &my-app; and the requested URL is never retrieved,
2788 but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
2790 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2792 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>, and
2794 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> actions.
2802 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2804 <para>Boolean.</para>
2809 <term>Parameter:</term>
2819 <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
2820 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request
2821 was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the
2822 force feature enabled). The <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page adapts to the available
2823 screen space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and text-only
2824 if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using <application>Privoxy</application>
2825 right now, you can take a look at the
2826 <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
2830 A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
2831 <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2832 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
2833 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
2834 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
2835 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
2838 It is important to understand this process, in order
2839 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
2840 ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
2841 upon which various other features depend.
2844 The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
2845 action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
2846 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
2847 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
2848 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
2854 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2858 # Block and replace with "blocked" page
2859 .nasty-stuff.example.com
2861 {+block +handle-as-image}
2862 # Block and replace with image
2866 {+block +handle-as-empty-document}
2867 # Block and then ignore
2868 adserver.exampleclick.net/.*\.js$</screen>
2878 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2879 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-filter">
2880 <title>client-header-filter</title>
2884 <term>Typical use:</term>
2887 Rewrite or remove single client headers.
2893 <term>Effect:</term>
2896 All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
2897 the specified regular expression based substitutions.
2904 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2906 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2911 <term>Parameter:</term>
2914 The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the
2915 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
2924 Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
2925 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
2926 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
2927 You can do that by using tags though.
2930 Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
2931 and use their output as input.
2934 If the request URL gets changed, &my-app; will detect that and use the new
2935 one. This can be used to rewrite the request destination behind the client's
2936 back, for example to specify a Tor exit relay for certain requests.
2939 Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
2940 to learn which client-header filters are available by default, and how to
2948 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2952 # Hide Tor exit notation in Host and Referer Headers
2953 {+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
2964 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2965 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-tagger">
2966 <title>client-header-tagger</title>
2970 <term>Typical use:</term>
2973 Block requests based on their headers.
2979 <term>Effect:</term>
2982 Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
2983 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
2991 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2993 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2998 <term>Parameter:</term>
3001 The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the
3002 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
3011 Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
3012 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
3016 Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed
3017 and their tags can be used to control every other action.
3023 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3027 # Tag every request with the User-Agent header
3028 {+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
3039 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3040 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="content-type-overwrite">
3041 <title>content-type-overwrite</title>
3045 <term>Typical use:</term>
3047 <para>Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode</para>
3052 <term>Effect:</term>
3055 Replaces the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header.
3062 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3064 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3069 <term>Parameter:</term>
3081 The <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header is used by the
3082 browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this
3083 header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of
3084 displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is
3085 supported by the browser.
3088 The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
3089 the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <quote>text/html</quote>,
3090 many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
3091 If it is send as <quote>application/xml</quote>, browsers with
3092 XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
3095 If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
3096 <quote>Content-Type: text/html</quote>, you can use &my-app;
3097 to overwrite it with <quote>application/xml</quote> and validate
3098 the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
3099 If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
3102 You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints
3103 error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared
3104 as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
3105 <quote>text/html</quote> and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
3108 By default <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal> only replaces
3109 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> headers that look like some kind of text.
3110 If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
3111 <literal><link linkend="force-text-mode">force-text-mode</link></literal>.
3112 This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
3115 Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom
3116 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
3117 It allows you to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
3118 only replace the content types you aimed at.
3121 Of course you can apply <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal>
3122 to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
3123 more work to get the same precision.
3129 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
3132 <screen># Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
3133 { +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
3136 # but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
3137 {-content-type-overwrite}
3138 www.example.net/.*\.css$
3139 www.example.net/.*style
3148 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3149 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-client-header">
3153 <title>crunch-client-header</title>
3157 <term>Typical use:</term>
3159 <para>Remove a client header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
3164 <term>Effect:</term>
3167 Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
3174 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3176 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3181 <term>Parameter:</term>
3193 This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
3194 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists.
3195 <application>Privoxy</application> will remove every client header that
3196 contains the string you supplied as parameter.
3199 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
3200 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
3201 they contain the same string.
3204 <literal>crunch-client-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
3205 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
3206 parts of them, you should use a
3207 <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header filter</link></literal>.
3211 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
3218 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3221 <screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
3222 { +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
3232 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3233 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-if-none-match">
3234 <title>crunch-if-none-match</title>
3240 <term>Typical use:</term>
3242 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
3247 <term>Effect:</term>
3250 Deletes the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header.
3257 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3259 <para>Boolean.</para>
3264 <term>Parameter:</term>
3276 Removing the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header
3277 is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
3278 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote> which
3279 would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
3282 It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
3283 replacement (unlikely but possible).
3286 Blocking the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> header shouldn't cause any
3287 caching problems, as long as the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> header
3288 isn't blocked or missing as well.
3291 It is recommended to use this action together with
3292 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
3294 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>.
3300 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3303 <screen># Let the browser revalidate cached documents but don't
3304 # allow the server to use the revalidation headers for user tracking.
3305 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
3306 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
3307 +crunch-if-none-match}
3316 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3317 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
3318 <title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
3322 <term>Typical use:</term>
3325 Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your system
3331 <term>Effect:</term>
3334 Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
3341 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3343 <para>Boolean.</para>
3348 <term>Parameter:</term>
3360 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
3361 <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
3362 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
3363 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
3366 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3367 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3368 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
3369 <literal><link linkend="filter-content-cookies">filter-content-cookies</link></literal>.
3375 <term>Example usage:</term>
3378 <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
3386 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3387 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-server-header">
3388 <title>crunch-server-header</title>
3394 <term>Typical use:</term>
3396 <para>Remove a server header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
3401 <term>Effect:</term>
3404 Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
3411 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3413 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3418 <term>Parameter:</term>
3430 This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
3431 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists. <application>Privoxy</application>
3432 will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
3435 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
3436 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
3437 they contain the same string.
3440 <literal>crunch-server-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
3441 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
3442 parts of them, you should use a custom
3443 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
3447 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
3454 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3457 <screen># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
3458 { +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
3467 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3468 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
3469 <title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
3473 <term>Typical use:</term>
3476 Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from your system
3482 <term>Effect:</term>
3485 Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
3492 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3494 <para>Boolean.</para>
3499 <term>Parameter:</term>
3511 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
3512 <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
3513 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
3514 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
3517 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3518 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3519 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
3525 <term>Example usage:</term>
3528 <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
3537 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3538 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
3539 <title>deanimate-gifs</title>
3543 <term>Typical use:</term>
3545 <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
3550 <term>Effect:</term>
3553 De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
3560 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3562 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3567 <term>Parameter:</term>
3570 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
3579 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
3580 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
3581 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
3582 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
3583 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
3584 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
3587 You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
3588 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
3595 <term>Example usage:</term>
3598 <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
3605 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3606 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
3607 <title>downgrade-http-version</title>
3611 <term>Typical use:</term>
3613 <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
3618 <term>Effect:</term>
3621 Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
3628 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3630 <para>Boolean.</para>
3635 <term>Parameter:</term>
3647 This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
3648 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
3649 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
3650 out there. Not all HTTP/1.1 features and requirements are supported yet,
3651 so there is a chance you might need this action.
3657 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3660 <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
3661 problem-host.example.com</screen>
3669 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3670 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
3671 <title>fast-redirects</title>
3675 <term>Typical use:</term>
3677 <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.</para>
3682 <term>Effect:</term>
3685 Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting
3686 the redirection server first.
3693 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3695 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3700 <term>Parameter:</term>
3705 <quote>simple-check</quote> to just search for the string <quote>http://</quote>
3706 to detect redirection URLs.
3711 <quote>check-decoded-url</quote> to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching
3712 for redirection URLs.
3723 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
3724 will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
3725 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
3726 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
3727 <quote>http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/</quote>.
3730 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
3731 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
3732 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
3733 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
3734 browser asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
3738 This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
3739 If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
3740 this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
3743 Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil.
3744 Some sites offer a real service that requires this information to work.
3745 For example a validation service needs to know, which document to validate.
3746 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> assumes that every URL parameter that
3747 looks like another URL is a redirection target, and will always redirect to
3748 the last one. Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't,
3749 the user gets redirected anyway.
3752 Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter.
3754 <quote>http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
3755 contains the redirection URL <quote>http://www.example.net/</quote>,
3756 followed by another parameter. <literal>fast-redirects</literal> doesn't know that
3757 and will cause a redirect to <quote>http://www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
3758 Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
3759 or lead to a <quote>page not found</quote> error. You can prevent this problem by
3760 first using the <literal><link linkend="redirect">redirect</link></literal> action
3761 to remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort.
3764 To detect a redirection URL, <literal>fast-redirects</literal> only
3765 looks for the string <quote>http://</quote>, either in plain text
3766 (invalid but often used) or encoded as <quote>http%3a//</quote>.
3767 Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the address
3768 of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses cases
3769 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> is fooled and the request reaches the
3770 redirection server where it probably gets logged.
3776 <term>Example usage:</term>
3780 { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
3783 { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
3784 another.example.com/testing</screen>
3793 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3794 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
3795 <title>filter</title>
3799 <term>Typical use:</term>
3801 <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
3802 do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.</para>
3807 <term>Effect:</term>
3810 All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
3811 this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular
3812 expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents
3813 are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
3814 <literal>text/plain</literal> MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
3821 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3823 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3828 <term>Parameter:</term>
3831 The name of a content filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>.
3832 Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
3833 <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
3834 option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>.
3835 <filename>default.filter</filename> is the collection of filters
3836 supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
3837 in their own file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>.
3840 When used in its negative form,
3841 and without parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> filtering is completely disabled.
3850 For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
3851 in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
3855 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
3856 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
3857 passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
3858 since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
3859 noticeable on slower connections.
3862 <quote>Rolling your own</quote>
3863 filters requires a knowledge of
3864 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
3865 Expressions</quote></ulink> and
3866 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"><quote>HTML</quote></ulink>.
3867 This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
3868 Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent
3869 <quote>action</quote> is not available.
3872 The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
3873 <literal><link linkend="buffer-limit">buffer-limit</link></literal>
3874 option in the main <link linkend="config">config file</link>. The
3875 default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
3876 data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
3879 Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
3880 (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data
3881 (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate
3882 the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might
3883 be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering
3884 by defining appropriate <literal>-filter</literal> exceptions.
3887 Compressed content can't be filtered either, unless &my-app;
3888 is compiled with zlib support (requires at least &my-app; 3.0.7),
3889 in which case &my-app; will decompress the content before filtering
3893 If you use a &my-app; version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on
3894 as much documents as possible, even those that would normally be sent compressed,
3895 you must use the <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
3896 action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
3899 Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
3900 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
3901 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
3902 works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
3903 based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
3907 <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or
3908 improved filters is particularly welcome!
3911 The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
3912 predefined filter. There are <link linkend="predefined-filters">more
3913 verbose explanations</link> of what these filters do in the <link
3914 linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>.
3920 <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file).
3921 See <link linkend="PREDEFINED-FILTERS">the Predefined Filters section</link> for
3922 more explanation on each:</term>
3925 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
3926 <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse</screen>
3929 <anchor id="filter-js-events">
3930 <screen>+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites)</screen>
3933 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
3934 <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse</screen>
3937 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
3938 <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content</screen>
3941 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
3942 <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)</screen>
3945 <anchor id="filter-unsolicited-popups">
3946 <screen>+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
3949 <anchor id="filter-all-popups">
3950 <screen>+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
3953 <anchor id="filter-img-reorder">
3954 <screen>+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective</screen>
3957 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
3958 <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size</screen>
3961 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-link">
3962 <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers</screen>
3965 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
3966 <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)</screen>
3969 <anchor id="filter-tiny-textforms">
3970 <screen>+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap</screen>
3973 <anchor id="filter-jumping-windows">
3974 <screen>+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves</screen>
3977 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
3978 <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable</screen>
3981 <anchor id="filter-demoronizer">
3982 <screen>+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets</screen>
3985 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
3986 <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects</screen>
3989 <anchor id="filter-quicktime-kioskmode">
3990 <screen>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies savable</screen>
3993 <anchor id="filter-fun">
3994 <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
3997 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
3998 <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering (demo only)</screen>
4001 <anchor id="filter-ie-exploits">
4002 <screen>+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable a known Internet Explorer bug exploits</screen>
4005 <anchor id="filter-site-specifics">
4006 <screen>+filter{site-specifics} # Custom filters for specific site related problems</screen>
4009 <anchor id="filter-google">
4010 <screen>+filter{google} # Removes text ads and other Google specific improvements</screen>
4013 <anchor id="filter-yahoo">
4014 <screen>+filter{yahoo} # Removes text ads and other Yahoo specific improvements</screen>
4017 <anchor id="filter-msn">
4018 <screen>+filter{msn} # Removes text ads and other MSN specific improvements</screen>
4021 <anchor id="filter-blogspot">
4022 <screen>+filter{blogspot} # Cleans up Blogspot blogs</screen>
4025 <anchor id="filter-no-ping">
4026 <screen>+filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes from anchor and area tags</screen>
4034 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4035 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="force-text-mode">
4036 <title>force-text-mode</title>
4042 <term>Typical use:</term>
4044 <para>Force <application>Privoxy</application> to treat a document as if it was in some kind of <emphasis>text</emphasis> format. </para>
4049 <term>Effect:</term>
4052 Declares a document as text, even if the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> isn't detected as such.
4059 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4061 <para>Boolean.</para>
4066 <term>Parameter:</term>
4078 As explained <literal><link linkend="filter">above</link></literal>,
4079 <application>Privoxy</application> tries to only filter files that are
4080 in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to
4081 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite</link></literal>.
4082 <literal>force-text-mode</literal> declares a document as text,
4083 without looking at the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> first.
4087 Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
4088 with regular expressions can cause file damage.
4095 <term>Example usage:</term>
4108 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4109 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward-override">
4110 <title>forward-override</title>
4116 <term>Typical use:</term>
4118 <para>Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin</para>
4123 <term>Effect:</term>
4126 Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file.
4133 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4135 <para>Multi-value.</para>
4140 <term>Parameter:</term>
4144 <para><quote>forward .</quote> to use a direct connection without any additional proxies.</para>
4148 <quote>forward 127.0.0.1:8123</quote> to use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123.
4153 <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 .</quote> to use the socks4a proxy listening at
4154 127.0.0.1 port 9050. Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote>
4155 to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
4156 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
4161 <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 proxy.example.org:8000</quote> to use the socks4a proxy
4162 listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy listening at proxy.example.org port 8000.
4163 Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote> to use a socks4 connection
4164 (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
4165 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
4176 This action takes parameters similar to the
4177 <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives in the configuration
4178 file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used as replacement, but normally it's only
4179 used in cases where matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient.
4183 Please read the description for the <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives before
4184 using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will reduce your privacy and increase the
4185 chances of man-in-the-middle attacks.
4188 If the ports are missing or invalid, default values will be used. This might change
4189 in the future and you shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect syntax causes Privoxy
4193 Use the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">show-url-info CGI page</ulink>
4194 to verify that your forward settings do what you thought the do.
4201 <term>Example usage:</term>
4205 # Always use direct connections for requests previously tagged as
4206 # <quote>User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0</quote> and make sure
4207 # resuming downloads continues to work.
4208 # This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing,
4209 # without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates
4210 # or downloads of bigger files like ISOs.
4211 # Note that HTTP headers are easy to fake and therefore their
4212 # values are as (un)trustworthy as your clients and users.
4213 {+forward-override{forward .} \
4214 -hide-if-modified-since \
4215 -overwrite-last-modified \
4217 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$
4226 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4227 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-empty-document">
4228 <title>handle-as-empty-document</title>
4234 <term>Typical use:</term>
4236 <para>Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis></para>
4241 <term>Effect:</term>
4244 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
4245 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
4246 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote>
4247 page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
4248 The <emphasis>empty</emphasis> document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
4255 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4257 <para>Boolean.</para>
4262 <term>Parameter:</term>
4274 Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
4275 are blocked with <application>Privoxy's</application>
4276 default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
4277 And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the &my-app;
4278 BLOCKED message in frames.
4281 The content type for the empty document can be specified with
4282 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{}</link></literal>,
4283 but usually this isn't necessary.
4289 <term>Example usage:</term>
4292 <screen># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
4293 # but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
4294 {+block +handle-as-empty-document}
4304 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4305 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
4306 <title>handle-as-image</title>
4310 <term>Typical use:</term>
4312 <para>Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <emphasis>if they do get blocked</emphasis>, rather than HTML pages)</para>
4317 <term>Effect:</term>
4320 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
4321 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
4322 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
4323 page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
4324 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
4325 client as a substitute for the blocked content.
4332 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4334 <para>Boolean.</para>
4339 <term>Parameter:</term>
4351 The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
4352 It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
4356 Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
4357 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
4358 reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
4361 Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
4362 frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
4363 Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
4364 ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
4370 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
4373 <screen># Generic image extensions:
4376 /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
4378 # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
4379 # blocked as images:
4381 {+block +handle-as-image}
4382 some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash
4384 # Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
4394 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4395 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-accept-language">
4396 <title>hide-accept-language</title>
4402 <term>Typical use:</term>
4404 <para>Pretend to use different language settings.</para>
4409 <term>Effect:</term>
4412 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> HTTP header in client requests.
4419 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4421 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4426 <term>Parameter:</term>
4429 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4438 Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
4439 foreign User-Agent set with
4440 <literal><link linkend="hide-user-agent">hide-user-agent</link></literal>
4444 However some sites with content in different languages check the
4445 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> to decide which one to take by default.
4446 Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
4447 changing the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header first.
4450 Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
4451 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header to languages you understand,
4452 or to languages that aren't wide spread.
4455 Before setting the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header
4456 to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to
4457 make your requests unique and thus easier to trace.
4458 If you don't plan to change this header frequently,
4459 you should stick to a common language.
4465 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4468 <screen># Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
4469 {+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
4470 +hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
4480 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4481 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-content-disposition">
4482 <title>hide-content-disposition</title>
4488 <term>Typical use:</term>
4490 <para>Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.</para>
4495 <term>Effect:</term>
4498 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header set by some servers.
4505 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4507 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4512 <term>Parameter:</term>
4515 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4524 Some servers set the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header for
4525 documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
4526 The <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header contains the file name
4527 the browser is supposed to use by default.
4530 In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
4531 <emphasis>just view</emphasis> the document, without downloading it first,
4532 even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
4535 Removing the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header helps
4536 to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
4537 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> header, before they decide if they can
4538 display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have
4539 to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
4543 It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion
4544 to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set
4548 This action will probably be removed in the future,
4549 use server-header filters instead.
4555 <term>Example usage:</term>
4558 <screen># Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
4560 +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
4561 +hide-content-disposition{block} }
4562 .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php</screen>
4570 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4571 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-if-modified-since">
4572 <title>hide-if-modified-since</title>
4578 <term>Typical use:</term>
4580 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
4585 <term>Effect:</term>
4588 Deletes the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> HTTP client header or modifies its value.
4595 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4597 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4602 <term>Parameter:</term>
4605 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
4614 Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
4615 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the
4616 browser to use a cached copy of the page.
4619 Instead of removing the header, <literal>hide-if-modified-since</literal> can
4620 also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value.
4621 You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and
4622 <application>Privoxy</application> does the rest. A negative value means
4623 subtracting, a positive value adding.
4626 Randomizing the value of the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> makes
4627 it less likely that the server can use the time as a cookie replacement,
4628 but you will run into caching problems if the random range is too high.
4631 It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
4632 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
4633 handle the greater changes.
4636 It is also recommended to use this action together with
4637 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>,
4638 otherwise it's more or less pointless.
4644 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4647 <screen># Let the browser revalidate but make tracking based on the time less likely.
4648 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
4649 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
4650 +crunch-if-none-match}
4659 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4660 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
4661 <title>hide-forwarded-for-headers</title>
4664 <term>Typical use:</term>
4666 <para>Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request in the HTTP headers.</para>
4671 <term>Effect:</term>
4674 Deletes any existing <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> HTTP header from client requests.
4681 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4683 <para>Boolean.</para>
4688 <term>Parameter:</term>
4700 It is safe and recommended to leave this on.
4706 <term>Example usage:</term>
4709 <screen>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</screen>
4717 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4718 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
4719 <title>hide-from-header</title>
4723 <term>Typical use:</term>
4725 <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
4730 <term>Effect:</term>
4733 Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
4741 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4743 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4748 <term>Parameter:</term>
4751 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4760 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
4761 (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
4765 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
4766 server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
4767 is actually used by a real person.
4770 This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
4771 <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
4777 <term>Example usage:</term>
4780 <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
4781 <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
4789 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4790 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
4791 <title>hide-referrer</title>
4792 <anchor id="hide-referer">
4795 <term>Typical use:</term>
4797 <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
4802 <term>Effect:</term>
4805 Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
4806 or replaces it with a forged one.
4813 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4815 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4820 <term>Parameter:</term>
4824 <para><quote>conditional-block</quote> to delete the header completely if the host has changed.</para>
4827 <para><quote>conditional-forge</quote> to forge the header if the host has changed.</para>
4830 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header unconditionally.</para>
4833 <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
4836 <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
4846 <literal>conditional-block</literal> is the only parameter,
4847 that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the
4848 referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or
4849 typed in the address directly.
4852 Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
4853 allows the server owner to see the visitor's <quote>click path</quote>,
4854 but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing
4855 other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't
4856 a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between
4860 Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
4861 failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
4862 requests, in an attempt to prevent their content from being
4863 embedded or linked to elsewhere.
4866 Both <literal>conditional-block</literal> and <literal>forge</literal>
4867 will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page
4868 are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case.
4871 <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
4872 <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
4873 substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
4874 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
4875 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
4881 <term>Example usage:</term>
4884 <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
4885 <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
4893 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4894 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
4895 <title>hide-user-agent</title>
4899 <term>Typical use:</term>
4901 <para>Try to conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
4906 <term>Effect:</term>
4909 Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
4910 in client requests with the specified value.
4917 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4919 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4924 <term>Parameter:</term>
4927 Any user-defined string.
4937 This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at this header in
4938 order to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
4939 way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the right thing to do: good web sites
4940 work browser-independently).
4944 Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
4945 browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
4946 <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
4947 setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
4948 the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
4949 OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
4950 sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
4951 reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
4952 let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
4953 <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
4954 (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
4957 More information on known user-agent strings can be found at
4958 <ulink url="http://www.user-agents.org/">http://www.user-agents.org/</ulink>
4960 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</ulink>.
4966 <term>Example usage:</term>
4969 <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
4977 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4978 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="inspect-jpegs">
4979 <title>inspect-jpegs</title>
4982 <term>Typical use:</term>
4984 <para>Try to protect against a MS buffer over-run in JPEG processing</para>
4989 <term>Effect:</term>
4992 Protect against a known exploit
4999 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5001 <para>Boolean.</para>
5006 <term>Parameter:</term>
5018 See Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-028. JPEG images are one of the most
5019 common image types found across the Internet. The exploit as described can
5020 allow execution of code on the target system, giving an attacker access
5021 to the system in question by merely planting an altered JPEG image, which
5022 would have no obvious indications of what lurks inside. This action
5023 tries to prevent this exploit if delivered through unencrypted HTTP.
5026 Note that the exploit mentioned is several years old
5027 and it's unlikely that your client is still vulnerable
5028 against it. This action may be removed in one of the
5036 <term>Example usage:</term>
5038 <para><screen>+inspect-jpegs</screen></para>
5045 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5046 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="kill-popups">
5047 <title>kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"></title>
5051 <term>Typical use:</term>
5053 <para>Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows (deprecated)</para>
5058 <term>Effect:</term>
5061 While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens
5062 pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly.
5069 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5071 <para>Boolean.</para>
5076 <term>Parameter:</term>
5088 This action is basically a built-in, hardwired special-purpose filter
5089 action, but there are important differences: For <literal>kill-popups</literal>,
5090 the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while
5091 downloading. But <literal>kill-popups</literal> doesn't catch as many pop-ups as
5093 linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>all-popups</replaceable>}</link></literal>
5094 does and is not as smart as <literal><link
5095 linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>unsolicited-popups</replaceable>}</link>
5099 Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you
5100 can use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make
5101 sense to combine it with any <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action,
5102 since as soon as one <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> applies,
5103 the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the advantage of
5104 the <literal>kill-popups</literal> action over its filter equivalent.
5107 Killing all pop-ups unconditionally is problematic. Many shops and banks rely on
5108 pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and the <literal><link
5109 linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>unsolicited-popups</replaceable>}</link>
5110 </literal> does a better job of catching only the unwanted ones.
5113 If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those
5114 <emphasis>really nasty</emphasis> windows that appear when you close an other
5115 one), you might want to use
5117 linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>js-annoyances</replaceable>}</literal>
5121 This action is most appropriate for browsers that don't have any controls
5122 for unwanted pop-ups. Not recommended for general usage.
5125 This action doesn't work very reliable and may be removed in future releases.
5131 <term>Example usage:</term>
5133 <para><screen>+kill-popups</screen></para>
5140 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5141 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
5142 <title>limit-connect</title>
5146 <term>Typical use:</term>
5148 <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</para>
5153 <term>Effect:</term>
5156 Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
5163 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5165 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5170 <term>Parameter:</term>
5173 A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
5174 defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
5183 By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
5184 <application>Privoxy</application> only allows HTTP CONNECT
5185 requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
5186 <literal>limit-connect</literal> if more fine-grained control is desired
5187 for some or all destinations.
5190 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
5191 (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
5192 the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
5193 short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
5194 This means CONNECT-enabled proxies can be used as TCP relays very easily.
5197 <application>Privoxy</application> relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
5198 the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent &my-app;'s
5199 filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
5200 If you plan to disable SSL by default, consider enabling
5201 <literal><link linkend="treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks ">treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</link></literal>
5202 as well, to be able to quickly create exceptions.
5208 <term>Example usages:</term>
5210 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
5211 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
5212 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
5214 <screen>+limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
5215 +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
5216 +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
5217 +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
5218 +limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</screen>
5225 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5226 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
5227 <title>prevent-compression</title>
5231 <term>Typical use:</term>
5234 Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
5235 passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s.
5241 <term>Effect:</term>
5244 Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
5251 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5253 <para>Boolean.</para>
5258 <term>Parameter:</term>
5270 More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
5271 is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the <literal><link
5272 linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>, <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
5273 and <literal><link linkend="kill-popups">kill-popups</link></literal> actions need
5274 access to the uncompressed data.
5277 When compiled with zlib support (available since &my-app; 3.0.7), content that should be
5278 filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't have to worry about this action.
5279 If you are using an older &my-app; version, or one that hasn't been compiled with zlib
5280 support, this action can be used to convince the server to send the content uncompressed.
5283 Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is seldom decreased by less than 50%,
5284 for markup-heavy instances like news feeds saving more than 90% of the original size isn't
5288 Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should only
5289 enable this action if you really need it. As of &my-app; 3.0.7 it's disabled in all
5290 predefined action settings.
5293 Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
5294 documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an empty document body,
5295 some IIS versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable
5296 <literal>prevent-compression</literal> per default, you might want to add
5297 exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
5303 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
5307 # Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
5309 { +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
5310 # Match only these sites
5315 # Or instead, we could set a universal default:
5317 { +prevent-compression }
5320 # Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites:
5322 { -prevent-compression }
5323 .compusa.com/</screen>
5332 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5333 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="overwrite-last-modified">
5334 <title>overwrite-last-modified</title>
5340 <term>Typical use:</term>
5342 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
5347 <term>Effect:</term>
5350 Deletes the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> HTTP server header or modifies its value.
5357 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5359 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5364 <term>Parameter:</term>
5367 One of the keywords: <quote>block</quote>, <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote>
5368 and <quote>randomize</quote>
5377 Removing the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header is useful for filter
5378 testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
5379 code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
5380 version of the page.
5383 The <quote>randomize</quote> option overwrites the value of the
5384 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with a randomly chosen time
5385 between the original value and the current time. In theory the server
5386 could send each document with a different <quote>Last-Modified:</quote>
5387 header to track visits without using cookies. <quote>Randomize</quote>
5388 makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
5391 <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote> overwrites the value of the
5392 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with the current time. You could use
5393 this option together with
5394 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>
5395 to further customize your random range.
5398 The preferred parameter here is <quote>randomize</quote>. It is safe
5399 to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct.
5400 If the server sets the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header to the time
5401 of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same.
5402 Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with
5403 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>,
5407 It is also recommended to use this action together with
5408 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
5414 <term>Example usage:</term>
5417 <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
5418 { +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
5419 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
5420 +crunch-if-none-match}
5429 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5430 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="redirect">
5431 <title>redirect</title>
5437 <term>Typical use:</term>
5440 Redirect requests to other sites.
5446 <term>Effect:</term>
5449 Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
5450 to another location and the browser should get it from there.
5457 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5459 <para>Parameterized</para>
5464 <term>Parameter:</term>
5467 An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
5476 Requests to which this action applies are answered with a
5477 HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is
5478 either provided as parameter, or derived by applying a
5479 single pcrs command to the original URL.
5482 This action will be ignored if you use it together with
5483 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>.
5484 It can be combined with
5485 <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</link></literal>
5486 to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL.
5489 Use this action carefully, make sure not to create redirection loops
5490 and be aware that using your own redirects might make it
5491 possible to fingerprint your requests.
5497 <term>Example usages:</term>
5500 <screen># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
5501 { +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
5502 example.com/stylesheet\.css
5504 # Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
5505 # (relies on the browser accept and forward invalid URLs to &my-app;)
5506 { +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
5509 # Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles
5510 # (Note the $ at the end of the URL pattern to make sure
5511 # the request for the rewritten URL isn't redirected as well)
5512 {+redirect{s@$@&mode=expanded@}}
5513 undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$</screen>
5522 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5523 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-vanilla-wafer">
5524 <title>send-vanilla-wafer</title>
5528 <term>Typical use:</term>
5531 Feed log analysis scripts with useless data.
5537 <term>Effect:</term>
5540 Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any copyright
5541 on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track you.
5548 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5550 <para>Boolean.</para>
5555 <term>Parameter:</term>
5567 The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you.
5570 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
5576 <term>Example usage:</term>
5579 <screen>+send-vanilla-wafer</screen>
5588 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5589 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-wafer">
5590 <title>send-wafer</title>
5594 <term>Typical use:</term>
5597 Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data.
5603 <term>Effect:</term>
5606 Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request.
5613 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5615 <para>Multi-value.</para>
5620 <term>Parameter:</term>
5623 A string of the form <quote><replaceable class="option">name</replaceable>=<replaceable
5624 class="parameter">value</replaceable></quote>.
5633 Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request,
5634 resulting in multiple cookies being sent.
5637 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
5642 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5645 <screen>{+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
5646 my-internal-testing-server.void</screen>
5654 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5655 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-filter">
5656 <title>server-header-filter</title>
5660 <term>Typical use:</term>
5663 Rewrite or remove single server headers.
5669 <term>Effect:</term>
5672 All server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly
5673 through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
5680 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
5682 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5687 <term>Parameter:</term>
5690 The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the
5691 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
5700 Server-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
5701 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
5702 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
5703 You can do that by using tags though.
5706 Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
5707 and use their output as input.
5710 Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
5711 to learn which server-header filters are available by default, and how to
5718 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5722 {+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}}
5723 example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html
5725 {+server-header-filter{xml-to-html}}
5726 example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not
5736 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5737 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-tagger">
5738 <title>server-header-tagger</title>
5742 <term>Typical use:</term>
5745 Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
5751 <term>Effect:</term>
5754 Server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
5755 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
5763 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
5765 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5770 <term>Parameter:</term>
5773 The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the
5774 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
5783 Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
5784 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
5788 Server-header taggers are executed before all other header actions
5789 that modify server headers. Their tags can be used to control
5790 all of the other server-header actions, the content filters
5791 and the crunch actions (<link linkend="redirect">redirect</link>
5792 and <link linkend="block">block</link>).
5795 Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header taggers
5796 doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the server's log file.
5803 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5807 # Tag every request with the content type declared by the server
5808 {+server-header-tagger{content-type}}
5819 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5820 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
5821 <title>session-cookies-only</title>
5825 <term>Typical use:</term>
5828 Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current
5829 browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
5835 <term>Effect:</term>
5838 Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote>
5839 server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
5840 forget them in between sessions.
5847 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5849 <para>Boolean.</para>
5854 <term>Parameter:</term>
5866 This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
5867 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
5868 websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
5871 Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
5872 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
5873 This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
5874 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
5875 sites, and is the recommended setting.
5878 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
5879 together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
5880 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
5881 will be plainly killed.
5884 Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
5885 field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
5888 This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
5889 previously by the browser before starting <application>Privoxy</application>.
5890 These would have to be removed manually.
5893 <application>Privoxy</application> also uses
5894 the <link linkend="filter-content-cookies">content-cookies filter</link>
5895 to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
5896 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>.
5902 <term>Example usage:</term>
5905 <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
5913 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5914 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
5915 <title>set-image-blocker</title>
5919 <term>Typical use:</term>
5921 <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
5926 <term>Effect:</term>
5929 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
5930 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
5931 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
5932 apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
5933 <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
5934 sent as a replacement.
5941 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5943 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5948 <term>Parameter:</term>
5953 <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
5954 decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
5959 <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
5960 completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
5961 images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
5962 has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
5967 <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
5968 send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
5969 to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via <quote>file:///</quote> URL.
5970 (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
5973 A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
5974 URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
5975 This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
5976 the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
5977 it over and over again.
5988 The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
5989 class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
5990 either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
5993 There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
5994 used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
5995 Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
6001 <term>Example usage:</term>
6007 <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
6010 Redirect to the BSD daemon:
6013 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
6016 Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
6019 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
6027 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6028 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks">
6029 <title>treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</title>
6035 <term>Typical use:</term>
6037 <para>Block forbidden connects with an easy to find error message.</para>
6042 <term>Effect:</term>
6045 If this action is enabled, <application>Privoxy</application> no longer
6046 makes a difference between forbidden connects and ordinary blocks.
6053 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
6055 <para>Boolean</para>
6060 <term>Parameter:</term>
6070 By default <application>Privoxy</application> answers
6071 <link linkend="limit-connect">forbidden <quote>Connect</quote> requests</link>
6072 with a short error message inside the headers. If the browser doesn't display
6073 headers (most don't), you just see an empty page.
6076 With this action enabled, <application>Privoxy</application> displays
6077 the message that is used for ordinary blocks instead. If you decide
6078 to make an exception for the page in question, you can do so by
6079 following the <quote>See why</quote> link.
6082 For <quote>Connect</quote> requests the clients tell
6083 <application>Privoxy</application> which host they are interested
6084 in, but not which document they plan to get later. As a result, the
6085 <quote>Go there anyway</quote> wouldn't work and is therefore suppressed.
6091 <term>Example usage:</term>
6094 <screen>+treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</screen>
6102 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6104 <title>Summary</title>
6106 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
6107 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
6108 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
6109 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
6110 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
6111 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
6117 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6118 <sect2 id="aliases">
6119 <title>Aliases</title>
6121 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
6122 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
6123 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
6124 Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
6126 <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
6127 recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
6128 <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
6129 Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
6130 <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
6134 Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
6135 defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
6136 And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
6137 have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
6141 There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
6142 used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
6143 decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
6144 <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
6145 <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
6146 in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
6147 by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
6150 Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
6151 <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
6152 editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
6153 them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
6154 but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
6159 Now let's define some aliases...
6164 # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
6166 # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
6167 # must be at the top of the actions file!
6171 # These aliases just save typing later:
6172 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
6174 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6175 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6176 +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
6177 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
6179 # These aliases define combinations of actions
6180 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
6182 fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> -<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link>
6184 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link>
6186 # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
6188 c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
6189 c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
6193 ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
6194 actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
6195 up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
6200 # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
6201 # user data and require minimal interference to work:
6204 .office.microsoft.com
6205 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
6206 # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com
6210 # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
6214 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
6217 # These shops require pop-ups:
6219 {-kill-popups -filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
6221 .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
6225 Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are typically used for
6226 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require more than one action to be disabled
6227 in order to function properly.
6233 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6234 <sect2 id="act-examples">
6235 <title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
6237 The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
6238 there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
6239 linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
6240 to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
6241 define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
6242 example <filename>default.action</filename> and <filename>user.action</filename>
6243 file and see how all these pieces come together:
6246 <sect3><title>default.action</title>
6249 Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:
6253 <screen># Sample default.action file <ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net></screen>
6257 Then, since this is the <filename>default.action</filename> file, the
6258 first section is a special section for internal use that you needn't
6259 change or worry about:
6264 ##########################################################################
6265 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
6266 ##########################################################################
6269 for-privoxy-version=3.0</screen>
6273 After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
6274 section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
6275 that also explains why and how aliases are used:
6280 ##########################################################################
6282 ##########################################################################
6285 # These aliases just save typing later:
6286 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
6288 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6289 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6290 +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
6291 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
6293 # These aliases define combinations of actions
6294 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
6296 fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link>
6297 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></screen>
6301 Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied
6302 by URL patterns to which they apply. Remember <emphasis>all actions
6303 are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>, so we have to explicitly
6304 enable the ones we want.
6308 The first regular section is probably the most important. It has only
6309 one pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
6310 <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the
6311 set of actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
6312 be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
6313 wholly overridden by later matches further down this file, or in user.action,
6314 but it will still be largely responsible for your overall browsing
6319 Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
6320 no need to disable any actions here. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
6321 preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
6322 Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
6323 multiple lines with line continuation.
6328 ##########################################################################
6329 # "Defaults" section:
6330 ##########################################################################
6332 +<link linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</link> \
6333 +<link linkend="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES">filter{html-annoyances}</link> \
6334 +<link linkend="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">filter{refresh-tags}</link> \
6335 +<link linkend="FILTER-WEBBUGS">filter{webbugs}</link> \
6336 +<link linkend="FILTER-IE-EXPLOITS">filter{ie-exploits}</link> \
6337 +<link linkend="HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS">hide-forwarded-for-headers</link> \
6338 +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
6339 +<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer{forge}</link> \
6340 +<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link> \
6341 +<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> \
6342 +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
6344 / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.</screen>
6348 The default behavior is now set.
6350 This needs rewording, but it can wait for now.
6353 Note that some actions, like not hiding
6354 the user agent, are part of a <quote>general policy</quote> that applies
6355 universally and won't get any exceptions defined later. Other choices,
6356 like not blocking (which is <emphasis>understandably</emphasis> the
6357 default!) need exceptions, i.e. we need to specify explicitly what we
6358 want to block in later sections.
6363 The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
6364 sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
6365 very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
6366 make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
6367 our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
6368 of actions explicitly:
6373 ##########################################################################
6374 # Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
6375 ##########################################################################
6377 # "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
6380 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
6381 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
6382 mail.google.com</screen>
6386 Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
6387 require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
6388 carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
6397 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
6399 .scan.co.uk</screen>
6402 <!-- No longer needed BEGIN OF COMMENTED OUT BLOCK
6405 Then, there are sites which rely on pop-up windows (yuck!) to work.
6406 Since we made pop-up-killing our default above, we need to make exceptions
6407 now. <ulink url="http://www.mozilla.org/">Mozilla</ulink> users, who
6408 can turn on smart handling of unwanted pop-ups in their browsers, can
6410 -<literal><link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link></literal> (and
6411 -<literal><link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></literal>) above
6412 and hence don't need this section. Anyway, disabling an already disabled
6413 action doesn't hurt, so we'll define our exceptions regardless of what was
6414 chosen in the defaults section:
6419 # These sites require pop-ups too :(
6421 { -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> }
6424 .deutsche-bank-24.de</screen>
6427 END OF COMMENTED OUT BLOCK -->
6430 The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
6431 action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable
6432 it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
6437 { -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
6441 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
6442 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
6443 .nytimes.com</screen>
6447 It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
6448 URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
6449 be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
6450 Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
6451 would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
6452 would feed the advertisers (in terms of money <emphasis>and</emphasis>
6453 information). We can mark any URL as an image with the <literal><link
6454 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
6455 and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
6461 ##########################################################################
6463 ##########################################################################
6465 # Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
6466 # blocked further down this file:
6468 { +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
6469 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
6473 And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
6474 generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
6475 request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
6476 mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
6477 <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
6478 course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
6479 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
6480 Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
6481 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
6482 action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
6483 <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
6484 action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
6489 # Known ad generators:
6494 .ad.*.doubleclick.net
6495 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
6496 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
6502 One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
6503 is to block banners. Many of these can be <quote>blocked</quote>
6504 by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
6505 action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
6506 images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
6507 them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
6508 doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
6509 need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
6510 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
6513 First comes many generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
6514 matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
6515 a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
6516 to keep the example short:
6521 ##########################################################################
6522 # Block these fine banners:
6523 ##########################################################################
6524 { <link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link> }
6532 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
6533 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
6535 # Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
6537 .hitbox.com</screen>
6541 It's quite remarkable how many advertisers actually call their banner
6542 servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
6543 in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
6544 generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
6547 But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
6548 to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
6549 <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
6550 but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
6551 <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
6552 well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
6556 Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
6557 <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
6558 so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
6559 URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
6560 action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
6561 general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
6562 <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
6563 <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
6564 applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
6565 with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
6570 ##########################################################################
6571 # Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
6572 ##########################################################################
6576 { -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
6577 adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
6578 adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
6579 adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
6580 ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
6581 .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
6582 .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
6590 www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
6591 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
6595 Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
6596 so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
6597 and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
6598 <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
6599 disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
6604 # Don't filter code!
6606 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
6611 .sourceforge.net</screen>
6615 The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course much more
6616 comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
6621 <sect3><title>user.action</title>
6624 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
6625 which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
6626 you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
6627 are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
6628 be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
6629 be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
6630 actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
6631 defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
6632 <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
6633 <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
6634 <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
6635 to install updated versions from time to time.
6639 So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
6640 <filename>user.action</filename>:
6644 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
6648 # My user.action file. <fred@example.com></screen>
6652 As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
6653 file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
6654 <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
6659 # Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
6660 # (Re-)define aliases for this file:
6664 # These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
6665 # be self explanatory.
6667 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
6668 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
6669 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
6670 allow-popups = -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
6671 +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
6672 -block-as-image = -block
6674 # These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
6675 # certain types of sites:
6677 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
6678 shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
6680 # Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
6682 allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
6684 # Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
6685 # MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
6686 handle-as-text = -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> +-<link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{text/plain}</link> +-<link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION">hide-content-disposition</link></screen>
6691 Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
6692 you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
6693 to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
6694 <literal>allow-all-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
6695 that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
6696 processing of cookies to make them only temporary.
6701 { allow-all-cookies }
6705 .redhat.com</screen>
6709 Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:
6714 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
6715 .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
6719 Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
6724 # Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
6725 # erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
6730 # And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
6731 # so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
6733 stupid-server.example.com/</screen>
6737 Example of a simple <link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> action. Say you've
6738 seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of.
6739 You have right-clicked the image, selected <quote>copy image location</quote>
6740 and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a
6741 <literal>{ +block }</literal> section. Note that <literal>{ +handle-as-image
6742 }</literal> need not be specified, since all URLs ending in
6743 <literal>.gif</literal> will be tagged as images by the general rules as set
6744 in default.action anyway:
6749 { +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
6750 www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
6751 another.example.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
6755 The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner
6756 farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which
6757 makes it impossible for <application>Privoxy</application> to guess
6758 the file type just by looking at the URL.
6759 You can use the <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above for
6761 Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an
6762 image are typically rendered as a <quote>broken image</quote> icon by the
6763 browser. Use cautiously.
6772 ar.atwola.com/</screen>
6776 Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
6777 but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
6778 were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
6779 you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
6780 -- <emphasis>whoa!</emphasis> -- it worked. The <literal>fragile</literal>
6781 aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also,
6782 good for testing purposes to see if it is <application>Privoxy</application>
6783 that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular sites
6784 that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:
6792 .mybank.com</screen>
6796 You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
6797 but it is disabled in the distributed actions file.
6798 So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
6799 update-safe config, once and for all:
6804 { +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
6805 / # For ALL sites!</screen>
6809 Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
6810 to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
6811 really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
6812 <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
6813 won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
6817 You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are
6818 funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
6819 to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
6820 sites that you feel provide value to you:
6832 Note that <literal>allow-ads</literal> has been aliased to
6833 <literal>-<link linkend="block">block</link></literal>,
6834 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-size">filter{banners-by-size}</link></literal>, and
6835 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-link">filter{banners-by-link}</link></literal> above.
6839 Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type <literal>
6840 application/x-sh</literal> which typically would open a download type
6841 dialog. In my case, I want to look at the shell script, and then I can save
6842 it should I choose to.
6852 <filename>user.action</filename> is generally the best place to define
6853 exceptions and additions to the default policies of
6854 <filename>default.action</filename>. Some actions are safe to have their
6855 default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
6856 <quote>blank</quote> image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for
6857 <emphasis>ALL</emphasis> sites. <quote>/</quote> of course matches all URL
6863 { +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
6864 / # ALL sites</screen>
6870 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6874 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6876 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6878 <sect1 id="filter-file">
6879 <title>Filter Files</title>
6882 On-the-fly text substitutions need
6883 to be defined in a <quote>filter file</quote>. Once defined, they
6884 can then be invoked as an <quote>action</quote>.
6888 &my-app; supports three different filter actions:
6889 <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> to
6890 rewrite the content that is send to the client,
6891 <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header-filter</link></literal>
6892 to rewrite headers that are send by the client, and
6893 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header-filter</link></literal>
6894 to rewrite headers that are send by the server.
6898 &my-app; also supports two tagger actions:
6899 <literal><link linkend="client-header-tagger">client-header-tagger</link></literal>
6901 <literal><link linkend="server-header-tagger">server-header-tagger</link></literal>.
6902 Taggers and filters use the same syntax in the filter files, the difference
6903 is that taggers don't modify the text they are filtering, but use a rewritten
6904 version of the filtered text as tag. The tags can then be used to change the
6905 applying actions through sections with <link linkend="tag-pattern">tag-patterns</link>.
6910 Multiple filter files can be defined through the <literal> <link
6911 linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config directive. The filters
6912 as supplied by the developers are located in
6913 <filename>default.filter</filename>. It is recommended that any locally
6914 defined or modified filters go in a separately defined file such as
6915 <filename>user.filter</filename>.
6919 Common tasks for content filters are to eliminate common annoyances in
6920 HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
6921 exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
6922 infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
6923 width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
6924 or just to have fun.
6928 Enabled content filters are applied to any content whose
6929 <quote>Content Type</quote> header is recognised as a sign
6930 of text-based content, with the exception of <literal>text/plain</literal>.
6931 Use the <link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> action
6932 to also filter other content.
6936 Substitutions are made at the source level, so if you want to <quote>roll
6937 your own</quote> filters, you should first be familiar with HTML syntax,
6938 and, of course, regular expressions.
6942 Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
6943 filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
6944 here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with one of the
6945 <emphasis>keywords</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>,
6946 <literal>CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER:</literal> or <literal>SERVER-HEADER-FILTER:</literal>
6947 followed by the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
6948 <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
6949 come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
6950 text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
6951 should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
6952 comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
6953 user interface</ulink>.
6957 Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
6958 in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
6959 +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
6960 in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
6964 Filter definitions start with a header line that contains the filter
6965 type, the filter name and the filter description.
6966 A content filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
6971 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
6975 Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that
6976 define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified
6977 in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
6978 <literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
6979 will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
6980 PCRS documentation for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most
6981 notably, the non-standard option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported,
6982 which turns the default to ungreedy matching.
6987 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
6988 Expressions</quote></ulink>, you might want to take a look at
6989 the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
6990 see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl
6992 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlop.html">the
6993 <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
6994 url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
6995 expressions</ulink> in general.
6996 The below examples might also help to get you started.
7000 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
7002 <sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
7004 Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> content filter. We have already defined
7005 the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
7006 <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
7011 <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
7015 But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
7016 of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
7017 care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
7018 we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
7022 <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
7026 Our complete filter now looks like this:
7029 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
7030 s/foo/bar/g</screen>
7034 Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
7035 a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
7036 abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
7042 FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
7044 # Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
7046 s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
7050 Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
7051 <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
7052 the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
7053 by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
7057 Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
7058 enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
7059 means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
7060 matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
7061 it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
7065 That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
7066 matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
7067 be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
7068 special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
7069 Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
7070 the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
7071 in the page (and appear in that order).
7075 But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
7076 is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
7077 means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
7078 tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
7079 <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
7083 This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
7084 The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
7085 remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
7086 the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
7087 that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
7088 text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
7089 of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
7090 only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
7091 tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
7092 multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
7093 substitution is global.
7097 So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
7098 <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
7099 (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
7100 <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
7101 that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
7105 Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
7106 lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
7107 easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
7108 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
7109 the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
7110 This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
7111 (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
7112 Business!"</literal>.
7116 The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
7117 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
7118 <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
7119 since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
7120 string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
7121 information anymore.
7125 We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
7126 this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
7131 # The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
7133 s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
7137 <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
7138 carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
7139 or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
7140 makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
7141 option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
7142 <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>. Finally, <literal>\1</literal> is
7143 a back-reference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
7144 with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
7145 a back-reference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
7149 So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
7150 strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
7151 (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
7152 real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
7153 descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
7154 you move your mouse over links.
7159 # Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
7161 s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
7166 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
7167 event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
7168 When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
7169 This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
7170 <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
7171 Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
7172 case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee
7173 a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use <literal>[^>]*</literal>
7174 instead of <literal>.*</literal> to prevent the match from exceeding the
7175 <body> tag if it doesn't contain <quote>OnUnload</quote>, but the page's
7180 The last example is from the fun department:
7185 FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
7187 # Spice the daily news:
7189 s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
7193 Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
7194 in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
7195 <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
7196 in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while
7197 still replacing the word everywhere else.
7202 # Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
7204 s* industry[ -]leading \
7206 | customer[ -]focused \
7207 | market[ -]driven \
7208 | award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
7209 | high[ -]performance \
7210 | solutions[ -]based \
7214 *<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
7219 The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
7220 e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
7228 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
7230 <sect2 id="predefined-filters"><title>The Pre-defined Filters</title>
7234 Note each filter is also listed in the +filter action section above. Please
7235 keep these listings in sync.
7240 The distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file contains a selection of
7241 pre-defined filters for your convenience:
7246 <term><emphasis>js-annoyances</emphasis></term>
7249 The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.
7254 replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
7255 with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the <literal><link
7256 linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal> action on the content level.
7261 removes the bindings to the DOM's
7262 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">unload
7263 event</ulink> which we feel has no right to exist and is responsible for most <quote>exit consoles</quote>, i.e.
7264 nasty windows that pop up when you close another one.
7269 removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being
7270 full-screen, non-resizeable, without location, status or menu bar etc.
7276 Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that
7277 rely heavily on JavaScript.
7283 <term><emphasis>js-events</emphasis></term>
7286 This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event bindings, which
7287 means that scripts can not react to user actions such as mouse movements or clicks, window
7288 resizing etc, anymore. Use with caution!
7291 We <emphasis>strongly discourage</emphasis> using this filter as a default since it breaks
7292 many legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should you really
7299 <term><emphasis>html-annoyances</emphasis></term>
7302 This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
7305 The <literal>BLINK</literal> and <literal>MARQUEE</literal> tags
7306 are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser windows will be created as
7307 resizeable (as of course they should be!), and will have location,
7308 scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
7314 <term><emphasis>content-cookies</emphasis></term>
7317 Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialog, where they can be intercepted
7319 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>
7320 and <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>
7321 actions. But web sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript
7322 to sneak cookies to the browser on the content level.
7325 This filter disables most HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets
7326 cookies. It cannot detect all clever uses of these types of code, so it
7327 should not be relied on as an absolute fix. Use it wherever you would also
7328 use the cookie crunch actions.
7334 <term><emphasis>refresh tags</emphasis></term>
7337 Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
7338 that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
7339 for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
7346 <term><emphasis>unsolicited-popups</emphasis></term>
7349 This filter attempts to prevent only <quote>unsolicited</quote> pop-up
7350 windows from opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user
7351 has explicitly chosen to open. It was added in version 3.0.1,
7352 as an improvement over earlier such filters.
7355 Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
7356 function to a dummy function, <literal>PrivoxyWindowOpen()</literal>,
7357 during the loading and rendering phase of each HTML page access, and
7358 restoring the function afterward.
7361 This is recommended only for browsers that cannot perform this function
7362 reliably themselves. And be aware that some sites require such windows
7363 in order to function normally. Use with caution.
7369 <term><emphasis>all-popups</emphasis></term>
7372 Attempt to prevent <emphasis>all</emphasis> pop-up windows from opening.
7373 Note this should be used with even more discretion than the above, since
7374 it is more likely to break some sites that require pop-ups for normal
7375 usage. Use with caution.
7381 <term><emphasis>img-reorder</emphasis></term>
7384 This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the
7385 <literal>banners-by-size</literal> and <literal>banners-by-link</literal>
7386 (see below) filters more effective and should be enabled together with them.
7392 <term><emphasis>banners-by-size</emphasis></term>
7395 This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are. Fortunately
7396 for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain standardized
7397 sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad stripping purposes.
7400 Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not ads,
7401 but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes.
7404 Recommended only for those who require extreme ad blocking. The default
7405 block rules should catch 95+% of all ads <emphasis>without</emphasis> this filter enabled.
7411 <term><emphasis>banners-by-link</emphasis></term>
7414 This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if
7415 their URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently
7416 not of much value and is not recommended for use by default.
7422 <term><emphasis>webbugs</emphasis></term>
7425 Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that
7426 are used to track users across websites, and collect information on them.
7427 As an HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the
7428 browser to contact a third-party site, disclosing the tracking information
7429 through the requested URL and/or cookies for that third-party domain, without
7430 the user ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party site.
7431 HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email addresses.
7434 This filter removes the HTML code that loads such <quote>webbugs</quote>.
7440 <term><emphasis>tiny-textforms</emphasis></term>
7443 A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas (those
7444 multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in them.
7445 It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such boxes are
7446 a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too.
7449 It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
7455 <term><emphasis>jumping-windows</emphasis></term>
7458 Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This filter
7459 neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might not display
7460 or behave as intended when using this filter. Use with caution.
7466 <term><emphasis>frameset-borders</emphasis></term>
7469 Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view their
7470 web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution etc,
7471 because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame sizes,
7472 yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they be too
7473 small to show their whole content.
7476 This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to sites
7483 <term><emphasis>demoronizer</emphasis></term>
7486 Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions (read:
7487 violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This can cause those
7488 HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant platforms.
7491 This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents.
7492 It is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of
7493 all documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly
7494 worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if weird garbage characters
7495 sometimes appear on some pages, or user agents that don't correct for this on
7498 My version of Mozilla (ancient) shows litte square boxes for quote
7499 characters, and apostrophes on moronized pages. So many pages have this, I
7500 can read them fine now. HB 08/27/06
7507 <term><emphasis>shockwave-flash</emphasis></term>
7510 A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips code
7511 out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects.
7519 <term><emphasis>quicktime-kioskmode</emphasis></term>
7522 Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
7523 prevents saving, is disabled.
7529 <term><emphasis>fun</emphasis></term>
7532 Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
7533 Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
7539 <term><emphasis>crude-parental</emphasis></term>
7542 A demonstration-only filter that shows how <application>Privoxy</application>
7543 can be used to delete web content on a keyword basis.
7549 <term><emphasis>ie-exploits</emphasis></term>
7552 An experimental collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
7553 code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
7556 Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug, and
7557 would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
7563 <term><emphasis>site-specifics</emphasis></term>
7566 Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't apply
7567 anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
7570 This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be applied
7571 to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
7572 <filename>default.action</filename> file does. Users shouldn't need to change
7573 anything regarding this filter.
7579 <term><emphasis>google</emphasis></term>
7582 A CSS based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation
7583 and the toolbar advertisement.
7589 <term><emphasis>yahoo</emphasis></term>
7592 Another CSS based block, this time for Yahoo text ads. And removes
7593 a width limitation as well.
7599 <term><emphasis>msn</emphasis></term>
7602 Another CSS based block, this time for MSN text ads. And removes
7603 tracking URLs, as well as a width limitation.
7609 <term><emphasis>blogspot</emphasis></term>
7612 Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this one!
7615 This filter also intentionally removes some navigation stuff and sets the
7616 page width to 100%. As a result, some rounded <quote>corners</quote> would
7617 appear to early or not at all and as fixing this would require a browser
7618 that understands background-size (CSS3), they are removed instead.
7624 <term><emphasis>xml-to-html</emphasis></term>
7627 Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from xml to html.
7633 <term><emphasis>html-to-xml</emphasis></term>
7636 Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from html to xml.
7642 <term><emphasis>no-ping</emphasis></term>
7645 Removes the non-standard <literal>ping</literal> attribute from
7646 anchor and area HTML tags.
7652 <term><emphasis>hide-tor-exit-notation</emphasis></term>
7655 Client-header filter to remove the <command>Tor</command> exit node notation
7656 found in Host and Referer headers.
7659 If &my-app; and <command>Tor</command> are chained and &my-app;
7660 is configured to use socks4a, one can use <quote>http://www.example.org.foobar.exit/</quote>
7661 to access the host <quote>www.example.org</quote> through the
7662 <command>Tor</command> exit node <quote>foobar</quote>.
7665 As the HTTP client isn't aware of this notation, it treats the
7666 whole string <quote>www.example.org.foobar.exit</quote> as host and uses it
7667 for the <quote>Host</quote> and <quote>Referer</quote> headers. From the
7668 server's point of view the resulting headers are invalid and can cause problems.
7671 An invalid <quote>Referer</quote> header can trigger <quote>hot-linking</quote>
7672 protections, an invalid <quote>Host</quote> header will make it impossible for
7673 the server to find the right vhost (several domains hosted on the same IP address).
7676 This client-header filter removes the <quote>foo.exit</quote> part in those headers
7677 to prevent the mentioned problems. Note that it only modifies
7678 the HTTP headers, it doesn't make it impossible for the server
7679 to detect your <command>Tor</command> exit node based on the IP address
7680 the request is coming from.
7687 <term><emphasis> </emphasis></term>
7701 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7705 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7707 <sect1 id="templates">
7708 <title>Privoxy's Template Files</title>
7710 All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
7711 <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
7712 error page</ulink>, the <ulink
7713 url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
7715 and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
7716 user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
7717 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
7722 These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
7723 directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On Unixish platforms,
7725 <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
7729 The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
7730 or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. It
7731 is possible to edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want
7732 to customize them. (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual
7733 user</emphasis>). Should you create your own custom templates, you should use
7734 the <filename>config</filename> setting <link linkend="templdir">templdir</link>
7735 to specify an alternate location, so your templates do not get overwritten
7739 Note that just like in configuration files, lines starting
7740 with <literal>#</literal> are ignored when the templates are filled in.
7744 The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
7745 find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
7746 in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
7747 always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
7748 code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
7752 A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
7753 blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
7754 for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
7755 our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
7756 is in an alpha or beta development stage:
7761 <!-- @if-unstable-start -->
7763 ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
7765 <!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
7769 If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
7770 <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
7771 will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
7775 <screen><!-- --></screen>
7779 There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
7780 mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
7785 All templates refer to a style located at
7786 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
7787 This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
7788 and the source for it can be found and edited in the
7789 <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
7794 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7798 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7800 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
7803 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
7805 <!-- end boilerplate -->
7809 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7812 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7813 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
7815 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
7817 <!-- end copyright -->
7819 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7820 <sect2><title>License</title>
7821 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
7823 <!-- end copyright -->
7825 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7828 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7830 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
7831 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
7833 <!-- end history -->
7836 <sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
7837 <!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
7839 <!-- end authors -->
7844 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7847 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7848 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
7849 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
7851 <!-- end seealso -->
7856 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7857 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
7860 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7862 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
7864 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
7865 expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
7866 files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
7867 through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
7870 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
7872 <application>PCRS</application> libraries.
7876 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
7877 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
7878 introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
7879 url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
7883 Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
7884 run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
7885 match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
7886 strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
7887 characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
7888 special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
7889 Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
7890 <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
7894 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
7895 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
7896 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
7897 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
7898 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
7899 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
7900 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
7901 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
7905 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
7906 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
7907 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
7908 and then some examples:
7913 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
7914 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
7916 </simplelist></para>
7920 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
7923 </simplelist></para>
7927 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
7930 </simplelist></para>
7934 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
7937 </simplelist></para>
7941 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
7942 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
7943 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
7944 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
7945 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
7946 meta-character meaning of any single character).
7948 </simplelist></para>
7952 <emphasis>[ ]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
7953 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
7954 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
7955 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
7957 </simplelist></para>
7961 <emphasis>( )</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
7962 or multiple sub-expressions.
7964 </simplelist></para>
7968 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
7969 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
7970 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
7971 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
7972 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
7973 example</quote>, and nothing else.
7975 </simplelist></para>
7978 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
7979 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
7980 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
7981 be more illuminating:
7985 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
7986 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
7987 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
7988 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
7989 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
7990 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
7991 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
7992 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
7993 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
7994 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
7995 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
7996 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
7997 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
7998 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
8003 And now something a little more complex:
8007 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
8008 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
8009 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
8010 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
8011 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
8012 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
8013 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
8018 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
8019 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
8020 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
8021 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
8022 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
8023 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
8024 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
8025 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
8026 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
8027 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
8028 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
8029 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
8030 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
8031 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
8032 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
8033 changing our regular expression to:
8034 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
8039 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
8040 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
8041 <quote>[ ]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
8042 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
8043 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
8044 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
8045 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
8046 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
8047 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
8048 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
8049 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
8050 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
8051 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
8052 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
8053 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
8054 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
8055 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
8056 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
8057 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
8058 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
8059 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
8060 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
8061 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
8062 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
8063 in the expression anywhere).
8067 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
8068 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
8069 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
8070 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
8071 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
8076 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
8077 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>
8081 For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications
8082 in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
8087 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
8090 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8092 <title>Privoxy's Internal Pages</title>
8095 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
8096 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
8097 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
8098 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
8099 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
8100 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
8101 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
8107 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
8108 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
8109 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
8110 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
8123 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
8127 There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
8128 doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
8129 sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
8135 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
8136 editing of actions files:
8140 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
8147 Show the source code version numbers:
8151 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
8158 Show the browser's request headers:
8162 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
8169 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
8173 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
8180 Toggle Privoxy on or off. This feature can be turned off/on in the main
8181 <filename>config</filename> file. When toggled <quote>off</quote>, <quote>Privoxy</quote>
8182 continues to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking
8187 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
8191 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
8195 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
8200 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
8209 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
8213 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
8214 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
8216 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
8217 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
8218 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
8219 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
8220 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
8221 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
8224 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
8225 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
8226 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
8227 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
8228 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
8229 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
8238 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=enabled','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Enable</ulink>
8245 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=disabled','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Disable</ulink>
8252 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=toggle','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Toggle Privoxy</ulink> (Toggles between enabled and disabled)
8259 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y','ijbstatus','width=250,height=2,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy- View Status</ulink>
8265 <ulink url="javascript:w=Math.floor(screen.width/2);h=Math.floor(screen.height*0.9);void(window.open('http://www.privoxy.org/actions/index.php?url='+escape(location.href),'Feedback','screenx='+w+',width='+w+',height='+h+',scrollbars=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Submit Actions File Feedback</ulink>
8271 <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
8278 Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
8279 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com/">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
8280 have more information about bookmarklets.
8289 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8291 <title>Chain of Events</title>
8293 Let's take a quick look at how some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
8294 core features are triggered, and the ensuing sequence of events when a web
8295 page is requested by your browser:
8302 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
8303 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
8304 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
8310 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
8311 pages (e.g <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
8316 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
8318 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
8319 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
8320 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
8322 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT"><quote>+handle-as-empty-document</quote></link>
8323 are then checked, and if there is no match, an
8324 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back to the browser. Otherwise, if
8325 it does match, an image is returned for the former, and an empty text
8326 document for the latter. The type of image would depend on the setting of
8327 <link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
8328 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
8333 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
8334 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
8339 If the URL pattern matches the <link
8340 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
8341 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
8346 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
8347 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
8348 linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
8349 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
8355 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web
8361 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
8362 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
8363 filtered as determined by the
8364 <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
8365 <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
8366 and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
8372 If the <link linkend="KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></link>
8373 action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript document, the popup-code in the
8374 response is filtered on-the-fly as it is received.
8379 If any <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
8381 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
8382 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
8383 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
8384 <filename>default.filter</filename> and any other filter files) are
8385 processed against the buffered content. Filters are applied in the order
8386 they are specified in one of the filter files. Animated GIFs, if present,
8387 are reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
8388 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
8389 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
8392 If neither a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
8394 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
8395 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
8396 to the client browser as it becomes available.
8401 As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it
8402 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
8403 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
8404 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a
8405 separate request (this is easily viewable in <application>Privoxy's</application>
8406 logs). And each such request is in turn processed just as above. Note that a
8407 complex web page will have many, many such embedded URLs. If these
8408 secondary requests are to a different server, then quite possibly a very
8409 differing set of actions is triggered.
8416 NOTE: This is somewhat of a simplistic overview of what happens with each URL
8417 request. For the sake of brevity and simplicity, we have focused on
8418 <application>Privoxy's</application> core features only.
8424 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8425 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
8426 <title>Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</title>
8429 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
8430 <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
8431 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
8432 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
8433 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
8434 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
8435 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
8436 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
8437 <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
8442 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
8443 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
8444 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
8445 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
8446 logs is a good idea too. (Note that both the toggle feature and logging are
8447 enabled via <filename>config</filename> file settings, and may need to be
8448 turned <quote>on</quote>.)
8451 Another easy troubleshooting step to try is if you have done any
8452 customization of your installation, revert back to the installed
8453 defaults and see if that helps. There are times the developers get complaints
8454 about one thing or another, and the problem is more related to a customized
8455 configuration issue.
8459 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
8460 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
8461 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
8462 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
8466 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
8467 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
8468 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
8469 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
8470 linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
8471 one of the filter files since this is handled very
8472 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
8473 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
8474 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
8475 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
8476 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
8477 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
8478 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
8483 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
8484 and look at it one section at a time in a sample configuration (your real
8485 configuration may vary):
8490 Matches for http://www.google.com:
8492 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8494 {+deanimate-gifs {last}
8495 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
8496 +filter {refresh-tags}
8497 +filter {img-reorder}
8498 +filter {banners-by-size}
8500 +filter {jumping-windows}
8501 +filter {ie-exploits}
8502 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
8503 +hide-from-header {block}
8504 +hide-referrer {forge}
8505 +session-cookies-only
8506 +set-image-blocker {pattern}
8509 { -session-cookies-only }
8515 In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8516 (no matches in this file)
8521 This is telling us how we have defined our
8522 <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
8523 which ones match for our test case, <quote>google.com</quote>.
8524 Displayed is all the actions that are available to us. Remember,
8525 the <literal>+</literal> sign denotes <quote>on</quote>. <literal>-</literal>
8526 denotes <quote>off</quote>. So some are <quote>on</quote> here, but many
8527 are <quote>off</quote>. Each example we try may provide a slightly different
8528 end result, depending on our configuration directives.
8532 is for our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line
8533 listing, is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default
8534 settings. If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the
8535 section just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This
8536 will apply to all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end
8537 of the listing -- <quote> / </quote>.
8541 But we have defined additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
8542 rules, and then we list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions
8543 would apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit
8544 matches for <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous
8545 cookie setting, which was for <link
8546 linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
8547 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google, at
8548 least that is how it is in this example. The second turns
8549 <emphasis>off</emphasis> any <link
8550 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
8551 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
8552 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
8553 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
8554 <quote>www.google.com</quote> or <quote>mail.google.com</quote>. But it would not
8555 match <quote>www.google.de</quote>! So, apparently, we have these two actions
8556 defined as exceptions to the general rules at the top somewhere in the lower
8557 part of our <filename>default.action</filename> file, and
8558 <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter sections.
8562 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
8563 So there is nothing google-specific that we might have added to our own, local
8564 configuration. If there was, those actions would over-rule any actions from
8565 previously processed files, such as <filename>default.action</filename>.
8566 <filename>user.action</filename> typically has the last word. This is the
8567 best place to put hard and fast exceptions,
8571 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
8572 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
8573 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
8584 -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
8585 -content-type-overwrite
8586 -crunch-client-header
8587 -crunch-if-none-match
8588 -crunch-incoming-cookies
8589 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
8590 -crunch-server-header
8591 +deanimate-gifs {last}
8592 -downgrade-http-version
8595 -filter {content-cookies}
8596 -filter {all-popups}
8597 -filter {banners-by-link}
8598 -filter {tiny-textforms}
8599 -filter {frameset-borders}
8600 -filter {demoronizer}
8601 -filter {shockwave-flash}
8602 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
8604 -filter {crude-parental}
8605 -filter {site-specifics}
8606 -filter {js-annoyances}
8607 -filter {html-annoyances}
8608 +filter {refresh-tags}
8609 -filter {unsolicited-popups}
8610 +filter {img-reorder}
8611 +filter {banners-by-size}
8613 +filter {jumping-windows}
8614 +filter {ie-exploits}
8621 -handle-as-empty-document
8623 -hide-accept-language
8624 -hide-content-disposition
8625 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
8626 +hide-from-header {block}
8627 -hide-if-modified-since
8628 +hide-referrer {forge}
8633 -overwrite-last-modified
8634 -prevent-compression
8638 -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
8639 -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
8640 -session-cookies-only
8641 +set-image-blocker {pattern}
8642 -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks </screen>
8646 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
8647 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>,
8648 which are activated specifically for this site in our configuration,
8649 and thus show in the <quote>Final Results</quote>.
8653 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
8665 { +block +handle-as-image }
8666 .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
8671 We'll just show the interesting part here - the explicit matches. It is
8672 matched three different times. Two <quote>+block</quote> sections,
8673 and a <quote>+block +handle-as-image</quote>,
8674 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
8675 <quote>+block-as-image</quote>. (<link
8676 linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
8677 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
8682 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
8683 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
8684 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
8685 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
8686 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
8687 is done here -- as both a <link
8688 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link>
8689 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
8690 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
8691 The custom alias <quote><literal>+block-as-image</literal></quote> just
8692 simplifies the process and make it more readable.
8696 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
8697 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
8703 Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
8705 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8709 -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
8710 -content-type-overwrite
8711 -crunch-client-header
8712 -crunch-if-none-match
8713 -crunch-incoming-cookies
8714 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
8715 -crunch-server-header
8717 -downgrade-http-version
8718 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
8720 -filter {content-cookies}
8721 -filter {all-popups}
8722 -filter {banners-by-link}
8723 -filter {tiny-textforms}
8724 -filter {frameset-borders}
8725 -filter {demoronizer}
8726 -filter {shockwave-flash}
8727 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
8729 -filter {crude-parental}
8730 -filter {site-specifics}
8731 -filter {js-annoyances}
8732 -filter {html-annoyances}
8733 +filter {refresh-tags}
8734 -filter {unsolicited-popups}
8735 +filter {img-reorder}
8736 +filter {banners-by-size}
8738 +filter {jumping-windows}
8739 +filter {ie-exploits}
8746 -handle-as-empty-document
8748 -hide-accept-language
8749 -hide-content-disposition
8750 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
8751 +hide-from-header{block}
8752 +hide-referer{forge}
8756 -overwrite-last-modified
8757 +prevent-compression
8761 -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
8762 -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
8763 +session-cookies-only
8764 +set-image-blocker{blank}
8765 -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks }
8768 { +block +handle-as-image }
8774 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote> in our
8775 configuration! But we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the
8776 blank page. It is actually triggering two different actions here, and
8777 the effects are aggregated so that the URL is blocked, and &my-app; is told
8778 to treat the block as if it were an image. But this is, of course, all wrong.
8779 We could now add a new action below this (or better in our own
8780 <filename>user.action</filename> file) that explicitly
8781 <emphasis>un</emphasis> blocks (
8782 <link linkend="BLOCK"><quote>{-block}</quote></link>) paths with
8783 <quote>adsl</quote> in them (remember, last match in the configuration
8784 wins). There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
8796 Now the page displays ;-)
8797 Remember to flush your browser's caches when making these kinds of changes to
8798 your configuration to insure that you get a freshly delivered page! Or, try
8799 using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
8803 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
8810 { +block +handle-as-image }
8816 That actually was very helpful and pointed us quickly to where the problem
8817 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
8818 rules in the first section of <filename>default.action</filename> is causing
8819 the problem. This would require some guesswork, and maybe a little trial and
8820 error to isolate the offending rule. One likely cause would be one of the
8821 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> actions.
8822 These tend to be harder to troubleshoot.
8823 Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off
8824 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>:
8832 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
8840 <quote><literal>{ shop }</literal></quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
8841 <quote><literal>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</literal></quote>.
8842 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
8850 # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
8858 This would turn off all filtering for these sites. This is best
8859 put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
8860 exceptions. Note that when a simple domain pattern is used by itself (without
8861 the subsequent path portion), all sub-pages within that domain are included
8862 automatically in the scope of the action.
8866 Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
8867 <link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"><quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote></link>
8869 that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well
8870 <emphasis>most of the time</emphasis> since these tend to be standardized).
8874 <quote><literal>{ fragile }</literal></quote> is an alias that disables most
8875 actions that are the most likely to cause trouble. This can be used as a
8876 last resort for problem sites.
8882 # Handle with care: easy to break
8884 mybank.example.com</screen>
8889 <emphasis>Remember to flush caches!</emphasis> Note that the
8890 <literal>mail.google</literal> reference lacks the TLD portion (e.g.
8891 <quote>.com</quote>). This will effectively match any TLD with
8892 <literal>google</literal> in it, such as <literal>mail.google.de.</literal>,
8896 If this still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining
8897 actions one by one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
8906 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
8907 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
8908 Public License as published by the Free Software
8909 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
8910 your option) any later version.
8912 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
8913 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
8914 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
8915 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
8916 License for more details.
8918 The GNU General Public License should be included with
8919 this file. If not, you can view it at
8920 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
8921 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
8922 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301,
8925 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
8926 Revision 2.57 2008/02/03 19:10:14 fabiankeil
8927 Mention forward-socks5.
8929 Revision 2.56 2008/01/31 19:11:35 fabiankeil
8930 Let the +client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation} example apply
8931 to all requests as "tainted" Referers aren't limited to exit TLDs.
8933 Revision 2.55 2008/01/19 21:26:37 hal9
8934 Add IE7 to configuration section per Gerry.
8936 Revision 2.54 2008/01/19 17:52:39 hal9
8937 Re-commit to fix various minor issues for new release.
8939 Revision 2.53 2008/01/19 15:03:05 hal9
8940 Doc sources tagged for 3.0.8 release.
8942 Revision 2.52 2008/01/17 01:49:51 hal9
8943 Change copyright notice for docs s/2007/2008/. All these will be rebuilt soon
8946 Revision 2.51 2007/12/23 16:48:24 fabiankeil
8947 Use more precise example descriptions for the mysterious domain patterns.
8949 Revision 2.50 2007/12/08 12:44:36 fabiankeil
8950 - Remove already commented out pre-3.0.7 changes.
8951 - Update the "new log defaults" paragraph.
8953 Revision 2.49 2007/12/06 18:21:55 fabiankeil
8954 Update hide-forwarded-for-headers description.
8956 Revision 2.48 2007/11/24 19:07:17 fabiankeil
8957 - Mention request rewriting.
8958 - Enable the conditional-forge paragraph.
8961 Revision 2.47 2007/11/18 14:59:47 fabiankeil
8962 A few "Note to Upgraders" updates.
8964 Revision 2.46 2007/11/17 17:24:44 fabiankeil
8965 - Use new action defaults.
8966 - Minor fixes and rewordings.
8968 Revision 2.45 2007/11/16 11:48:46 hal9
8969 Fix one typo, and add a couple of small refinements.
8971 Revision 2.44 2007/11/15 03:30:20 hal9
8972 Results of spell check.
8974 Revision 2.43 2007/11/14 18:45:39 fabiankeil
8975 - Mention some more contributors in the "New in this Release" list.
8978 Revision 2.42 2007/11/12 03:32:40 hal9
8979 Updates for "What's New" and "Notes to Upgraders". Various other changes in
8980 preparation for new release. User Manual is almost ready.
8982 Revision 2.41 2007/11/11 16:32:11 hal9
8983 This is primarily syncing What's New and Note to Upgraders sections with the many
8984 new features and changes (gleaned from memory but mostly from ChangeLog).
8986 Revision 2.40 2007/11/10 17:10:59 fabiankeil
8987 In the first third of the file, mention several times that
8988 the action editor is disabled by default in 3.0.7 beta and later.
8990 Revision 2.39 2007/11/05 02:34:49 hal9
8991 Various changes in preparation for the upcoming release. Much yet to be done.
8993 Revision 2.38 2007/09/22 16:01:42 fabiankeil
8994 Update embedded show-url-info output.
8996 Revision 2.37 2007/08/27 16:09:55 fabiankeil
8997 Fix pre-chroot-nslookup description which I failed to
8998 copy and paste properly. Reported by Stephen Gildea.
9000 Revision 2.36 2007/08/26 16:47:14 fabiankeil
9001 Add Stephen Gildea's pre-chroot-nslookup patch [#1276666],
9002 extensive comments moved to user manual.
9004 Revision 2.35 2007/08/26 14:59:49 fabiankeil
9005 Minor rewordings and fixes.
9007 Revision 2.34 2007/08/05 15:19:50 fabiankeil
9008 - Don't claim HTTP/1.1 compliance.
9009 - Use $ in some of the path pattern examples.
9010 - Use a hide-user-agent example argument without
9011 leading and trailing space.
9012 - Make it clear that the cookie actions work with
9014 - Rephrase the inspect-jpegs text to underline
9015 that it's only meant to protect against a single
9018 Revision 2.33 2007/07/27 10:57:35 hal9
9019 Add references for user-agent strings for hide-user-agenet
9021 Revision 2.32 2007/06/07 12:36:22 fabiankeil
9022 Apply Roland's 29_usermanual.dpatch to fix a bunch
9023 of syntax errors I collected over the last months.
9025 Revision 2.31 2007/06/02 14:01:37 fabiankeil
9026 Start to document forward-override{}.
9028 Revision 2.30 2007/04/25 15:10:36 fabiankeil
9029 - Describe installation for FreeBSD.
9030 - Start to document taggers and tag patterns.
9031 - Don't confuse devils and daemons.
9033 Revision 2.29 2007/04/05 11:47:51 fabiankeil
9034 Some updates regarding header filtering,
9035 handling of compressed content and redirect's
9036 support for pcrs commands.
9038 Revision 2.28 2006/12/10 23:42:48 hal9
9039 Fix various typos reported by Adam P. Thanks.
9041 Revision 2.27 2006/11/14 01:57:47 hal9
9042 Dump all docs prior to 3.0.6 release. Various minor changes to faq and user
9045 Revision 2.26 2006/10/24 11:16:44 hal9
9048 Revision 2.25 2006/10/18 10:50:33 hal9
9049 Add note that since filters are off in Cautious, compression is ON. Turn off
9050 compression to make filters work on all sites.
9052 Revision 2.24 2006/10/03 11:13:54 hal9
9053 More references to the new filters. Include html this time around.
9055 Revision 2.23 2006/10/02 22:43:53 hal9
9056 Contains new filter definitions from Fabian, and few other miscellaneous
9059 Revision 2.22 2006/09/22 01:27:55 hal9
9060 Final commit of probably various minor changes here and there. Unless
9061 something changes this should be ready for pending release.
9063 Revision 2.21 2006/09/20 03:21:36 david__schmidt
9064 Just the tiniest tweak. Wafer thin!
9066 Revision 2.20 2006/09/10 14:53:54 hal9
9067 Results of spell check. User manual has some updates to standard.actions file
9070 Revision 2.19 2006/09/08 12:19:02 fabiankeil
9071 Adjust hide-if-modified-since example values
9072 to reflect the recent changes.
9074 Revision 2.18 2006/09/08 02:38:57 hal9
9076 -Fix a number of broken links.
9077 -Migrate the new Windows service command line options, and reference as
9079 -Rebuild so that can be used with the new "user-manual" config capabilities.
9082 Revision 2.17 2006/09/05 13:25:12 david__schmidt
9083 Add Windows service invocation stuff (duplicated) in FAQ and in user manual under Windows startup. One probably ought to reference the other.
9085 Revision 2.16 2006/09/02 12:49:37 hal9
9086 Various small updates for new actions, filterfiles, etc.
9088 Revision 2.15 2006/08/30 11:15:22 hal9
9089 More work on the new actions, especially filter-*-headers, and What's New
9090 section. User Manual is close to final form for 3.0.4 release. Some tinkering
9091 and proof reading left to do.
9093 Revision 2.14 2006/08/29 10:59:36 hal9
9094 Add a "Whats New in this release" Section. Further work on multiple filter
9095 files, and assorted other minor changes.
9097 Revision 2.13 2006/08/22 11:04:59 hal9
9098 Silence warnings and errors. This should build now. New filters were only
9099 stubbed in. More to be done.
9101 Revision 2.12 2006/08/14 08:40:39 fabiankeil
9102 Documented new actions that were part of
9103 the "minor Privoxy improvements".
9105 Revision 2.11 2006/07/18 14:48:51 david__schmidt
9106 Reorganizing the repository: swapping out what was HEAD (the old 3.1 branch)
9107 with what was really the latest development (the v_3_0_branch branch)
9109 Revision 1.123.2.43 2005/05/23 09:59:10 hal9
9112 Revision 1.123.2.42 2004/12/04 14:39:57 hal9
9113 Fix two minor typos per bug SF report.
9115 Revision 1.123.2.41 2004/03/23 12:58:42 oes
9118 Revision 1.123.2.40 2004/02/27 12:48:49 hal9
9119 Add comment re: redirecting to local file system for set-image-blocker may
9120 is dependent on browser.
9122 Revision 1.123.2.39 2004/01/30 22:31:40 oes
9123 Added a hint re bookmarklets to Quickstart section
9125 Revision 1.123.2.38 2004/01/30 16:47:51 oes
9126 Some minor clarifications
9128 Revision 1.123.2.37 2004/01/29 22:36:11 hal9
9129 Updates for no longer filtering text/plain, and demoronizer default settings,
9130 and copyright notice dates.
9132 Revision 1.123.2.36 2003/12/10 02:26:26 hal9
9133 Changed the demoronizer filter description.
9135 Revision 1.123.2.35 2003/11/06 13:36:37 oes
9136 Updated link to nightly CVS tarball
9138 Revision 1.123.2.34 2003/06/26 23:50:16 hal9
9139 Add a small bit on filtering and problems re: source code being corrupted.
9141 Revision 1.123.2.33 2003/05/08 18:17:33 roro
9142 Use apt-get instead of dpkg to install Debian package, which is more
9143 solid, uses the correct and most recent Debian version automatically.
9145 Revision 1.123.2.32 2003/04/11 03:13:57 hal9
9146 Add small note about only one filterfile (as opposed to multiple actions
9149 Revision 1.123.2.31 2003/03/26 02:03:43 oes
9150 Updated hard-coded copyright dates
9152 Revision 1.123.2.30 2003/03/24 12:58:56 hal9
9153 Add new section on Predefined Filters.
9155 Revision 1.123.2.29 2003/03/20 02:45:29 hal9
9156 More problems with \-\-chroot causing markup problems :(
9158 Revision 1.123.2.28 2003/03/19 00:35:24 hal9
9159 Manual edit of revision log because 'chroot' (even inside a comment) was
9160 causing Docbook to hang here (due to double hyphen and the processor thinking
9163 Revision 1.123.2.27 2003/03/18 19:37:14 oes
9164 s/Advanced|Radical/Adventuresome/g to avoid complaints re fun filter
9166 Revision 1.123.2.26 2003/03/17 16:50:53 oes
9167 Added documentation for new chroot option
9169 Revision 1.123.2.25 2003/03/15 18:36:55 oes
9170 Adapted to the new filters
9172 Revision 1.123.2.24 2002/11/17 06:41:06 hal9
9173 Move default profiles table from FAQ to U-M, and other minor related changes.
9176 Revision 1.123.2.23 2002/10/21 02:32:01 hal9
9177 Updates to the user.action examples section. A few new ones.
9179 Revision 1.123.2.22 2002/10/12 00:51:53 hal9
9180 Add demoronizer to filter section.
9182 Revision 1.123.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 hal9
9183 s/Advanced/Radical/ and added very brief note.
9185 Revision 1.123.2.20 2002/10/10 03:49:21 hal9
9186 Add notes to session-cookies-only and Quickstart about pre-existing
9187 cookies. Also, note content-cookies work differently.
9189 Revision 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9
9190 More explanation on Privoxy patterns, more on content-cookies and SSL.
9192 Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9
9193 Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match
9196 Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9
9197 Spell checked (only one typo this time!).
9199 Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt
9200 Update to Mac OS X startup script name
9202 Revision 1.123.2.15 2002/08/07 17:32:11 oes
9203 Converted some internal links from ulink to link for PDF creation; no content changed
9205 Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes
9206 Nits re: actions file download
9208 Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff
9209 Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections
9211 Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff
9212 Added 2 Gentoo sections
9214 Revision 1.123.2.11 2002/07/26 15:20:31 oes
9215 - Added version info to title
9216 - Added info on new filters
9217 - Revised parts of the filter file tutorial
9218 - Added info on where to get updated actions files
9220 Revision 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
9221 Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
9223 Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt
9225 Updated Mac OS X sections due to installation location change
9227 Revision 1.123.2.8 2002/06/09 16:36:32 hal9
9228 Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
9230 Revision 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9
9231 Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy.
9233 Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9
9234 Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs.
9236 Revision 1.123.2.5 2002/05/29 02:01:02 hal9
9237 This is break out of the entire config section from u-m, so it can
9238 eventually be used to generate the comments, etc in the main config file
9239 so that these are in sync with each other.
9241 Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
9242 Ooops missed something from David.
9244 Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9
9245 Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and Mac OS X startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat).
9246 That's a wrap, I think.
9248 Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9
9249 Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section.
9251 Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
9252 -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
9254 Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9
9255 Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton.
9256 Minor corrections/clarifications here and there.
9258 Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
9259 Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
9261 Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes
9262 - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the
9263 <literal><link> style.
9264 - Small fixes in the actions chapter
9265 - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking
9266 - Removed <emphasis> from <title>s since the new doc CSS
9267 renders them red (bad in TOC).
9269 Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
9270 Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
9272 Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
9275 Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
9276 -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
9277 -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
9279 Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
9280 - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
9281 - Small changes to Regex appendix
9282 - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
9284 Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
9285 Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
9287 Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
9288 Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
9290 Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
9291 More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
9293 Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
9294 Extended and further commented the example actions files
9296 Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
9297 Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
9300 Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes
9303 Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes
9304 Restored alphabetical order of actions
9306 Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes
9307 Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs
9309 Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
9310 Completed proofreading the actions chapter
9312 Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9
9313 Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this
9314 apparently an important distinction for some OS's.
9316 Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
9317 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
9318 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
9319 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
9321 Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
9322 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
9324 Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
9327 Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
9328 -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
9329 -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
9331 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
9332 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
9334 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
9335 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
9336 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
9338 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
9339 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
9341 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
9342 more structure in starting section
9344 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
9345 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
9346 will probably break links elsewhere :(
9348 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
9349 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
9350 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
9352 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
9353 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
9354 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
9356 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
9357 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
9359 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
9360 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
9361 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
9363 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
9364 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
9365 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
9367 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
9368 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
9370 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
9371 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
9373 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
9374 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
9376 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
9377 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
9379 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
9380 Updated Mac OS X installation section
9381 Added a few English tweaks here an there
9383 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
9384 Re-write actions section.
9386 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
9387 Fix ugly typo (mine).
9389 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
9390 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
9392 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
9393 Added RPM install detail
9395 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
9398 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
9399 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
9401 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
9402 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
9404 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
9405 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
9407 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
9410 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
9411 Proofreading, part one
9413 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
9414 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
9415 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
9417 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
9418 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
9420 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
9421 Add small section on submitting actions.
9423 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
9426 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
9427 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
9429 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
9430 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
9432 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
9435 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
9436 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
9437 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
9438 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
9439 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
9441 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
9442 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
9444 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
9445 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
9447 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
9448 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
9449 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
9450 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
9451 eventually be set by Makefile.
9452 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
9454 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
9455 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
9457 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
9458 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
9460 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
9461 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
9463 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
9464 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
9465 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
9466 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
9468 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
9471 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
9472 Added more to Anatomy section.
9474 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
9475 Touch up intro for new name.
9477 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
9478 we have a new homepage!
9480 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
9481 A few minor catch ups with name change.
9483 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
9484 configure needs to be generated.
9486 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
9487 we are too lazy to make a block-built
9488 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
9490 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
9491 name change related issue.
9493 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
9494 name change. changed filenames.
9496 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
9499 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
9500 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
9501 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
9502 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
9503 comments and remarks to history untouched.
9505 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
9508 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
9509 New section in Appendix.
9511 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
9512 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
9514 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
9515 correct feedback channels
9517 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
9518 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
9520 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
9523 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
9524 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
9526 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
9527 Added imageblock{pattern}.
9529 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
9532 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
9533 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
9535 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
9536 provide correct feedback channels
9538 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
9539 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
9541 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
9542 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
9544 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
9545 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
9547 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
9548 Add new - - user option.
9550 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
9551 Added section on command line options.
9553 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
9554 Changed default port to 8118
9556 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
9557 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
9559 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
9560 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
9561 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
9564 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
9567 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
9568 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
9570 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
9571 Update OS/2 build section
9573 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
9574 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
9575 will work - no other changes are needed.
9577 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
9578 Added a very short section on Templates
9580 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
9581 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
9583 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
9584 Touch ups for *.action files.
9586 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
9589 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
9590 Updates for recent changes.
9592 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
9593 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
9595 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
9596 Correct 2 minor errors
9598 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
9599 *** empty log message ***
9601 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
9602 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
9604 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
9605 wrong url in documentation
9607 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
9608 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
9610 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
9613 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
9616 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
9619 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
9620 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
9622 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
9623 Some additions, and re-arranging.
9625 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
9628 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
9629 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
9631 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
9634 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
9635 source files for junkbuster documentation
9637 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
9638 first proposal of a structure.
9640 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
9641 docs should have an author.
9643 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
9644 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.