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 "3.0.17">
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 % seealso-extra "INCLUDE"> <!-- extra stuff from seealso.sgml -->
28 <!entity my-app "<application>Privoxy</application>">
31 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
34 This file belongs into
35 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
37 $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.126 2010/11/06 12:55:48 fabiankeil Exp $
39 Copyright (C) 2001-2010 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
42 ========================================================================
43 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
44 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
45 ========================================================================
52 <title>Privoxy &p-version; User Manual</title>
56 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
57 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
58 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001-2010 by
59 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
63 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.126 2010/11/06 12:55:48 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
67 Note: the following should generate a separate page, and a live link to it,
68 all nicely done. But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave
69 commented unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the
70 copyright/license declarations will be in their own sgml.
83 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
84 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
85 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
91 The <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
92 install, configure and use <ulink
93 url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>.
96 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
98 <!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
101 You can find the latest version of the <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> at <ulink
102 url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
103 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> on how to
104 contact the developers.
108 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
114 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
115 <sect1 label="1" id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
117 This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
118 <application>Privoxy</application>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
119 and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
120 time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
121 configuration files. Development of a new version is currently nearing
122 completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over
126 <!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
129 Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
130 documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
131 CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
136 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
137 <sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
139 In addition to the core
140 features of ad blocking and
141 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookie</ulink> management,
142 <application>Privoxy</application> provides many supplemental
143 features<![%p-not-stable;[, some of them currently under development]]>,
144 that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
146 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
148 <!-- end boilerplate -->
153 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
156 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
157 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
160 <application>Privoxy</application> is available both in convenient pre-compiled
161 packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
162 For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
163 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
169 On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if
170 found. (See below for your platform). In any case <emphasis>be sure to backup
171 your old configuration if it is valuable to you.</emphasis> See the <link
172 linkend="upgradersnote">note to upgraders</link> section below.
175 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
176 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
178 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
181 <!-- XXX: The installation sections should be sorted -->
183 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
184 <sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat and Fedora RPMs</title>
187 RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
188 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
189 of configuration files.
193 Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
194 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
195 need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
196 <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods.
200 If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
201 <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
202 will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
206 Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
207 on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
208 Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
209 automatically if found, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
213 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
214 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian and Ubuntu</title>
216 DEBs can be installed with <literal>apt-get install privoxy</literal>,
217 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of
222 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
223 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
226 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
227 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
228 in the same directory as you installed <application>Privoxy</application> in.
231 Version 3.0.5 beta introduced full <application>Windows</application> service
232 functionality. On Windows only, the <application>Privoxy</application>
233 program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
234 <application>Privoxy</application> as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>.
238 <term>Arguments:</term>
241 <replaceable class="parameter">--install</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
244 <replaceable class="parameter">--uninstall</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
250 After invoking <application>Privoxy</application> with
251 <command>--install</command>, you will need to bring up the
252 <application>Windows</application> service console to assign the user you
253 want <application>Privoxy</application> to run under, and whether or not you
254 want it to run whenever the system starts. You can start the
255 <application>Windows</application> services console with the following
256 command: <command>services.msc</command>. If you do not take the manual step
257 of modifying <application>Privoxy's</application> service settings, it will
258 not start. Note too that you will need to give Privoxy a user account that
259 actually exists, or it will not be permitted to
260 write to its log and configuration files.
265 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
266 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris <!--, NetBSD, HP-UX--></title>
269 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
270 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
271 things go. <!-- FIXME, more info needed? -->
275 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
276 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
279 First, make sure that no previous installations of
280 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
281 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
282 system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
283 or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
289 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
290 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
291 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
292 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
296 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
297 into will contain all of the configuration files.
301 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
302 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Mac OS X</title>
304 Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the zip file
305 icon from the Finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there).
306 Then, double-click on the package installer icon and follow the
307 installation process.
310 The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful
311 installation (in addition to every time your computer starts up). To
312 prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your
313 computer starts up, remove or rename the folder named
314 <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
317 To manually start or stop the privoxy service, use the Privoxy Utility
318 for Mac OS X. This application controls the privoxy service (e.g.
319 starting and stopping the service as well as uninstalling the software).
323 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
324 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
326 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
327 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
328 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
329 remove this directory.
333 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
334 <sect3 id="installation-tbz"><title>FreeBSD</title>
337 Privoxy is part of FreeBSD's Ports Collection, you can build and install
338 it with <literal>cd /usr/ports/www/privoxy; make install clean</literal>.
341 If you don't use the ports, you can fetch and install
342 the package with <literal>pkg_add -r privoxy</literal>.
345 The port skeleton and the package can also be downloaded from the
346 <ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">File Release
347 Page</ulink>, but there's no reason to use them unless you're interested in the
348 beta releases which are only available there.
352 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
353 <sect3 id="installattion-gentoo"><title>Gentoo</title>
355 Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for <application>Privoxy</application> are
356 contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page,
357 but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new
358 <application>Privoxy</application> Version is added to the Portage Tree).
361 Before installing <application>Privoxy</application> under Gentoo just do
362 first <literal>emerge --sync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
363 Portage tree. With <literal>emerge privoxy</literal> you install the latest
367 Configuration files are in <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename>, the
368 documentation is in <filename>/usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;</filename>
369 and the Log directory is in <filename>/var/log/privoxy</filename>.
375 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
376 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
379 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
380 is to download the source tarball from our
381 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&package_id=10571">project download
386 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
387 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
388 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
389 CVS repository</ulink>.
391 deprecated...out of business.
392 or simply download <ulink
393 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.bz2">the nightly CVS
398 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
400 <!-- end boilerplate -->
403 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
404 <sect2 id="installation-keepupdated"><title>Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date</title>
406 As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions
407 of both the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link> (as a <ulink
408 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&release_id=103670">separate
409 package</ulink>) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for
414 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
415 <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
416 url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
417 to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
421 In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
422 to the latest <literal>default.action</literal> file we <emphasis>strongly
423 recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> and
424 <literal>user.filter</literal> for your local
425 customizations of <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
426 linkend="actions-file">Chapter on actions files</link> for details.
434 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
436 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
437 <sect1 id="whatsnew">
438 <title>What's New in this Release</title>
440 <application>Privoxy 3.0.16</application> is a stable release.
441 The changes since 3.0.15 beta are:
448 Fixed last-chunk-detection for responses where the content was small
449 enough to be read with the body, causing Privoxy to wait for the
450 end of the content until the server closed the connection.
451 Reported by "Karsten" in #3028326.
456 Responses with status code 204 weren't properly detected as body-less
457 like RFC2616 mandates. Like the previous bug, this caused Privoxy
458 to wait for the end of the content until the server closed the connection.
459 Fixes #3022042 and #3025553, reported by a user with no visible name.
460 Most likely also fixes a bunch of other AJAX-related problem reports
461 that got closed in the past due to insufficient information and lack
467 Fixed an ACL bug that made it impossible to build a blacklist.
468 Usually the ACL directives are used in a whitelist, which worked
469 as expected, but blacklisting is still useful for public proxies
470 where one only needs to deny known abusers access.
475 Added LOG_LEVEL_RECEIVED to log the not-yet-parsed data read from the
476 network. This should make debugging various parsing issues a lot easier.
481 The IPv6 code is enabled by default on Windows versions that support it.
482 Patch submitted by oCameLo in #2942729.
487 In mingw32 versions, the user.filter file is reachable through the
488 GUI, just like default.filter is. Feature request 3040263.
493 Added the configure option --enable-large-file-support to set a few
494 defines that are required by platforms like GNU/Linux to support files
495 larger then 2GB. Mainly interesting for users without proper logfile
501 Logging with "debug 16" no longer stops at the first nul byte which is
502 pretty useless. Non-printable characters are replaced with their hex value
503 so the result can't span multiple lines making parsing them harder then
509 Privoxy logs when reading an action, filter or trust file.
514 Fixed incorrect regression test markup which caused a test in
515 3.0.16 to fail while Privoxy itself was working correctly.
516 While Privoxy accepts hide-referer, too, the action name is actually
517 hide-referrer which is also the name used one the final results page,
518 where the test expected the alias.
523 CGI interface improvements:
527 In finish_http_response(), continue to add the 'Connection: close'
528 header if the client connection will not be kept alive.
529 Anonymously pointed out in #2987454.
534 Apostrophes in block messages no longer cause parse errors
535 when the blocked page is viewed with JavaScript enabled.
536 Reported by dg1727 in #3062296.
541 Fix a bunch of anchors that used underscores instead of dashes.
546 Allow to keep the client connection alive after crunching the previous request.
547 Already opened server connections can be kept alive, too.
552 In cgi_show_url_info(), don't forget to prefix URLs that only contain http:// or https:// in the path.
553 Fixes #2975765 reported by Adam Piggott.
558 Show the 404 CGI page if cgi_send_user_manual() is called while
559 local user manual delivery is disabled.
566 Action file improvements:
570 Enable user.filter by default. Suggested by David White in #3001830.
575 Block .sitestat.com/. Reported by johnd16 in #3002725.
580 Block .atemda.com/. Reported by johnd16 in #3002723.
585 Block js.adlink.net/. Reported by johnd16 in #3002720.
590 Block .analytics.yahoo.com/. Reported by johnd16 in #3002713.
595 Block sb.scorecardresearch.com, too. Reported by dg1727 in #2992652.
600 Fix problems noticed on Yahoo mail and news pages.
605 Remove the too broad yahoo section, only keeping the
606 fast-redirects exception as discussed on ijbswa-devel@.
611 Don't block adesklets.sourceforge.net. Reported in #2974204.
616 Block chartbeat ping tracking. Reported in #2975895.
621 Tag CSS and image requests with cautious and medium settings, too.
626 Don't handle view.atdmt.com as image. It's used for click-throughs
627 so users should be able to "go there anyway".
628 Reported by Adam Piggott in #2975927.
633 Also let the refresh-tags filter remove invalid refresh tags where
634 the 'url=' part is missing. Anonymously reported in #2986382.
635 While at it, update the description to mention the fact that only
636 refresh tags with refresh times above 9 seconds are covered.
641 javascript needs to be blocked with +handle-as-empty-document to
642 work around Firefox bug 492459. So move .js blockers from
643 +block{Might be a web-bug.} -handle-as-empty-document
645 +block{Might be a web-bug.} +handle-as-empty-document
650 ijbswa-Feature Requests-3006719 - Block 160x578 Banners.
655 Block another omniture tracking domain
660 Added a range-requests tagger.
665 Added two sections to get Flickr's Ajax interface working with
666 default pre-settings. If you change the configuration to block
667 cookies by default, you'll need additional exceptions.
668 Reported by Mathias Homann in #3101419 and by Patrick on ijbswa-users@
675 Documentation improvements:
679 Explicitly mention how to match all URLs.
684 Consistently recommend socks5 in the Tor FAQ entry and mention
685 its advantage compared to socks4a. Reported by David in #2960129.
690 Slightly improve the explanation of why filtering may appear
696 Grammar fixes for the ACL section.
703 Privoxy-Log-Parser improvements:
707 Also gather statistics for blocked and redirected requests.
712 Provide the percentage of keep-alive offers the client accepted.
717 Add a --url-statistics-threshold option.
722 Also gather statistics for ressources, methods, and HTTP versions
728 Add a --host-statistics-threshold option to also gather
729 statistics about how many request where made per host.
734 Fix a bug in handle_loglevel_header() where a 'scan: ' got lost.
739 Add a --shorten-thread-ids option to replace the thread id with
745 Accept and ignore: Looks like we got the last chunk together
746 with the server headers. We better stop reading.
751 Accept and ignore: Continue hack in da house.
756 Accept and higlight: Rejecting connection from 10.0.0.2.
757 Maximum number of connections reached.
762 Accept and highlight: Loading actions file: /usr/local/etc/privoxy/default.action
767 Accept and highlight: Loading filter file: /usr/local/etc/privoxy/default.filter
772 Accept and highlight: Killed all-caps Host header line: HOST: bestproxydb.com
777 Accept and highlight: Reducing expected bytes to 0. Marking
778 the server socket tainted after throwing 4 bytes away.
783 Accept: Merged multiple header lines to: 'X-FORWARDED-PROTO: http X-HOST: 127.0.0.1'
794 Remove the next member from the client_state struct. Only the main
795 thread needs access to all client states so give it its own struct.
800 Garbage-collect request_contains_null_bytes().
805 Ditch redundant code in unload_configfile().
810 Ditch LogGetURLUnderCursor() which doesn't seem to be used anywhere.
815 In write_socket(), remove the write-only variable write_len in
816 an ifdef __OS2__ block. Spotted by cppcheck.
821 In connect_to(), don't declare the variable 'flags' on OS/2 where
822 it isn't used. Spotted by cppcheck.
827 Limit the scope of various variables. Spotted by cppcheck.
832 In add_to_iob(), turn an interestingly looking for loop into a
838 Code cleanup in preparation for external filters.
843 In listen_loop(), mention the socket on which we accepted the
844 connection, not just the source IP address.
849 In write_socket(), also log the socket we're writing to.
854 In log_error(), assert that escaped characters get logged
855 completely or not at all.
860 In log_error(), assert that ival and sval have reasonable values.
861 There's no reason not to abort() if they don't.
866 Remove an incorrect cgi_error_unknown() call in a
867 cannnot-happen-situation in send_crunch_response().
872 Clean up white-space in http_response definition and
873 move the crunch_reason to the beginning.
878 Turn http_response.reason into an enum and rename it
879 to http_response.crunch_reason.
884 Silence a 'gcc (Debian 4.3.2-1.1) 4.3.2' warning on i686 GNU/Linux.
891 GNUmakefile improvements:
895 Use $(SSH) instead of ssh, so one only needs to specify a username once.
900 Removed references to the action feedback thingy that hasn't been
906 Consistently use shell.sourceforge.net instead of shell.sf.net so
907 one doesn't need to check server fingerprints twice.
912 Removed GNUisms in the webserver and webactions targets so they
913 work with standard tar.
922 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
924 <sect2 id="upgradersnote">
925 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
928 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
929 versions of <application>Privoxy</application>:
937 The recommended way to upgrade &my-app; is to backup your old
938 configuration files, install the new ones, verify that &my-app;
939 is working correctly and finally merge back your changes using
940 <application>diff</application> and maybe <application>patch</application>.
943 There are a number of new features in each &my-app; release and
944 most of them have to be explicitly enabled in the configuration
945 files. Old configuration files obviously don't do that and due
946 to syntax changes using old configuration files with a new
947 &my-app; isn't always possible anyway.
952 Note that some installers remove earlier versions completely,
953 including configuration files, therefore you should really save
954 any important configuration files!
959 On the other hand, other installers don't overwrite existing configuration
960 files, thinking you will want to do that yourself.
965 <filename>standard.action</filename> has been merged into
966 the <filename>default.action</filename> file.
971 In the default configuration only fatal errors are logged now.
972 You can change that in the <link linkend="DEBUG">debug section</link>
973 of the configuration file. You may also want to enable more verbose
974 logging until you verified that the new &my-app; version is working
981 Three other config file settings are now off by default:
982 <link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link>,
983 <link linkend="enable-remote-http-toggle">enable-remote-http-toggle</link>,
984 and <link linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link>.
985 If you use or want these, you will need to explicitly enable them, and
986 be aware of the security issues involved.
993 What constitutes a <quote>default</quote> configuration has changed,
994 and you may want to review which actions are <quote>on</quote> by
995 default. This is primarily a matter of emphasis, but some features
996 you may have been used to, may now be <quote>off</quote> by default.
997 There are also a number of new actions and filters you may want to
998 consider, most of which are not fully incorporated into the default
999 settings as yet (see above).
1006 The default actions setting is now <literal>Cautious</literal>. Previous
1007 releases had a default setting of <literal>Medium</literal>. Experienced
1008 users may want to adjust this, as it is fairly conservative by &my-app;
1009 standards and past practices. See <ulink
1010 url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
1011 http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>. New users
1012 should try the default settings for a while before turning up the volume.
1018 The default setting has filtering turned <emphasis>off</emphasis>, which
1019 subsequently means that compression is <emphasis>on</emphasis>. Remember
1020 that filtering does not work on compressed pages, so if you use, or want to
1021 use, filtering, you will need to force compression off. Example:
1025 { +<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{google} +<link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link> }
1029 Or if you use a number of filters, or filter many sites, you may just want
1030 to turn off compression for all sites in
1031 <filename>default.action</filename> (or
1032 <filename>user.action</filename>).
1039 Also, <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> is
1040 off by default now. If you've liked this feature in the past, you may want
1041 to turn it back on in <filename>user.action</filename> now.
1048 Some installers may not automatically start
1049 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
1060 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1061 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using Privoxy</title>
1067 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
1068 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
1075 Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
1076 service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
1077 linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
1078 linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
1085 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
1086 not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
1087 <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
1093 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
1094 HTTPS (SSL) <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>
1095 by setting the proxy configuration for address of
1096 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
1097 <emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> activate proxying for <literal>FTP</literal> or
1098 any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) unless you intend to prevent your
1099 browser from using these protocols.
1105 Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
1106 If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage
1107 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
1108 you should remove any currently stored cookies too.
1114 A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
1115 most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
1116 configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
1117 to no initial configuration is required in most cases, you may want
1119 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">web-based action editor</ulink> though.
1120 Be sure to read the warnings first.
1123 See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
1124 configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
1125 You might also want to look at the <link
1126 linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
1127 introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
1134 If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are
1135 blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
1136 <application>Privoxy's</application> behavior, take a look at the <link
1137 linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
1138 find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
1139 helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
1140 url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
1141 Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
1142 Action</link></quote> has hints on how to understand and debug actions that
1143 <quote>misbehave</quote>.
1148 Did anyone test these lately?
1152 For easy access to &my-app;'s most important controls, drag the provided
1153 <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklets</link> into your browser's
1161 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
1162 Developers</link> on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get
1169 Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
1177 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1179 <sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
1180 <title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
1182 NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
1183 want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
1186 Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
1187 array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
1188 user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
1191 This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
1192 you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
1193 information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
1196 First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
1197 more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
1198 things that were not intended. And the more likely that some things
1199 may not work as intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
1200 extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
1201 <quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
1202 configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
1203 not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
1204 the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
1205 default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
1206 habits and preferences.
1209 Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
1210 <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
1211 the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
1212 some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
1213 <application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
1214 action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
1215 <application>actions</application> in <application>Privoxy's</application>
1216 arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. <link
1217 linkend="actions">Actions</link>, and <link linkend="actions-file">action
1218 configuration files</link>, are explained in depth below.
1221 Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
1222 followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
1223 can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
1224 wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
1225 actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
1228 When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
1229 of the sections as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
1230 or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
1231 respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
1232 pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
1233 use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
1234 original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
1235 embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
1236 or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
1237 such embedded URLs. &my-app; can deal with each URL individually, so, for
1238 instance, the main page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such
1243 The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: <literal><link
1244 linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
1245 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
1247 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal>,and
1248 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
1256 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this is perhaps
1257 the single most used action, and is particularly important for ad blocking.
1258 This action stops any contact between your browser and any URL patterns
1259 that match this action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads,
1260 but also anything that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply
1261 stops any communication with the remote server and sends
1262 <application>Privoxy</application>'s own built-in BLOCKED page instead to
1263 let you now what has happened (with some exceptions, see below).
1269 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
1270 tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
1271 <application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
1272 for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
1273 is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
1274 important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
1275 some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
1276 <application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
1277 a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
1278 though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
1279 an entire HTML page in most situations.
1285 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> -
1286 sends an empty document instead of <application>Privoxy's</application>
1287 normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither
1288 HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files.
1295 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> - tells
1296 <application>Privoxy</application> what to display in place of an ad image that
1297 has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
1298 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action somewhere in the
1299 configuration, <emphasis>and</emphasis>, it must also match an
1300 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action.
1303 The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
1307 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
1308 replacement is obvious. This is the default.
1313 <emphasis>blank</emphasis> - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
1314 This is the so-called <quote>invisible</quote> configuration option.
1319 <emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any image anywhere
1320 of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
1329 Advanced users will eventually want to explore &my-app;
1330 <literal><link linkend="filter">filters</link></literal> as well. Filters
1331 are very different from <literal><link
1332 linkend="block">blocks</link></literal>.
1333 A <quote>block</quote> blocks a site, page, or unwanted contented. Filters
1334 are a way of filtering or modifying what is actually on the page. An example
1335 filter usage: a text replacement of <quote>no-no</quote> for
1336 <quote>nasty-word</quote>. That is a very simple example. This process can be
1337 used for ad blocking, but it is more in the realm of advanced usage and has
1338 some pitfalls to be wary off.
1342 The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
1343 the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
1344 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1345 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
1346 is an internal page, and does not require Internet access.
1350 Note that as of <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta the
1351 action editor is disabled by default. Check the
1352 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions
1353 section in the configuration file</ulink> to learn why and in which
1354 cases it's safe to enable again.
1358 If you decided to enable the action editor, select the appropriate
1359 <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
1360 <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
1361 local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
1362 meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
1363 other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
1364 blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
1365 <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
1369 A quick and simple step by step example:
1377 Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
1378 <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
1386 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1391 Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
1392 on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
1395 <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
1397 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
1400 <imagedata fileref="files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
1403 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
1412 You should have a section with only
1413 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
1414 <quote>Actions:</quote>.
1415 If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
1416 button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
1417 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
1418 This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
1419 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
1420 in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
1421 just below the list.
1426 Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
1427 click the <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
1428 browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote>.
1429 Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
1430 <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
1431 <quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
1436 Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
1437 (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
1445 This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
1446 wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
1447 site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
1448 the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
1453 For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
1454 to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
1455 The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
1458 There are also various
1459 <link linkend="filter">filters</link> that can be used for ad blocking
1460 (filters are a special subset of actions). These
1461 fall into the <quote>advanced</quote> usage category, and are explained in
1462 depth in later sections.
1469 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1472 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1473 <sect1 id="startup">
1474 <title>Starting Privoxy</title>
1476 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
1477 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
1478 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)
1479 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>. The default is
1480 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
1481 used port 8000). This is the one configuration step <emphasis>that must be done
1485 Please note that <application>Privoxy</application> can only proxy HTTP and
1486 HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
1489 <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
1491 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1492 Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings</title>
1495 <imagedata fileref="proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
1498 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
1506 With <application>Firefox</application>, this is typically set under:
1510 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Network</guibutton> -><guibutton>Connection</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Settings</guibutton>
1515 Or optionally on some platforms:
1519 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>General</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connection Settings</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Manual Proxy Configuration</guibutton>
1525 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
1526 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
1531 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
1532 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
1533 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton> -> <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
1538 For <application>Internet Explorer v.5-7</application>:
1542 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Internet Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connections</guibutton> -> <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
1546 Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
1547 (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
1548 proxy support too (sometimes labeled <quote>Secure</quote>). Make sure any
1549 checkboxes like <quote>Use the same proxy server for all protocols</quote> is
1550 <emphasis>UNCHECKED</emphasis>. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
1553 <!-- image of IE Proxy configuration -->
1555 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1556 Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings</title>
1559 <imagedata fileref="proxy2.jpg" format="jpg">
1562 <phrase>[ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
1570 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
1571 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
1572 any <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
1573 if you want <application>Privoxy</application> to manage that. You are now
1574 ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
1575 <application>Privoxy</application>!
1579 <application>Privoxy</application> itself is typically started by specifying the
1580 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
1581 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
1582 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
1583 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
1586 <sect2 id="start-redhat">
1587 <title>Red Hat and Fedora</title>
1589 A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use
1590 the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
1595 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
1603 # service privoxy start
1608 <sect2 id="start-debian">
1609 <title>Debian</title>
1611 We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; upon booting per
1612 default. It will use the file
1613 <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
1618 # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1623 <sect2 id="start-windows">
1624 <title>Windows</title>
1626 Click on the &my-app; Icon to start <application>Privoxy</application>. If no configuration file is
1627 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
1628 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
1629 automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option
1633 <application>Privoxy</application> can run with full Windows service functionality.
1634 On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments
1635 to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
1636 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Windows Installation
1637 instructions</link> for details.
1641 <sect2 id="start-unices">
1642 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
1644 Example Unix startup command:
1648 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
1653 <sect2 id="start-os2">
1656 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
1657 start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
1658 double-clicking on the <application>Privoxy</application> icon in the
1659 <application>Privoxy</application> folder.
1663 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
1664 <title>Mac OS X</title>
1666 After downloading the privoxy software, unzip the downloaded file by
1667 double-clicking on the zip file icon. Then, double-click on the
1668 installer package icon and follow the installation process.
1671 The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful
1672 installation. In addition, the privoxy service will automatically
1673 start every time your computer starts up.
1676 To prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your
1677 computer starts up, remove or rename the folder named
1678 /Library/StartupItems/Privoxy.
1681 A simple application named Privoxy Utility has been created which
1682 enables administrators to easily start and stop the privoxy service.
1685 In addition, the Privoxy Utility presents a simple way for
1686 administrators to edit the various privoxy config files. A method
1687 to uninstall the software is also available.
1690 An administrator username and password must be supplied in order for
1691 the Privoxy Utility to perform any of the tasks.
1696 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
1697 <title>AmigaOS</title>
1699 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
1700 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
1701 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
1702 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
1703 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
1704 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
1705 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
1709 <sect2 id="start-gentoo">
1710 <title>Gentoo</title>
1712 A script is again used. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config
1713 </filename> as its main configuration file.
1717 /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1721 Note that <application>Privoxy</application> is not automatically started at
1722 boot time by default. You can change this with the <literal>rc-update</literal>
1727 rc-update add privoxy default
1735 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
1739 must find a better place for this paragraph
1742 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
1743 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
1744 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
1745 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
1746 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
1747 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
1751 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
1752 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
1753 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
1754 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
1755 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
1756 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
1757 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
1758 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
1759 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
1763 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
1764 sites is the popup-killing (through <ulink
1765 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>),
1766 because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
1767 popups (explained below).
1771 <application>Privoxy</application> does not support all of the optional HTTP/1.1
1772 features yet. In the unlikely event that you experience inexplicable problems
1773 with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
1774 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
1775 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
1776 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
1777 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
1778 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
1779 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
1783 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
1784 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
1785 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
1786 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
1787 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
1788 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1789 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1790 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
1791 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
1795 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
1796 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
1797 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
1798 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
1799 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
1800 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
1801 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
1805 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
1806 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
1807 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
1808 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
1809 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
1810 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
1815 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <link
1816 linkend="actions-file">read more about the actions concept</link>
1817 or even dive deep into the <link linkend="actionsanat">Appendix
1822 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
1823 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
1824 section <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
1825 Developers</quote></link> below.
1830 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1831 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
1832 <title>Command Line Options</title>
1834 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
1835 command-line options:
1843 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
1846 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
1851 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
1854 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
1859 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
1862 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
1863 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
1868 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
1871 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
1872 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
1873 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
1874 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
1879 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
1882 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
1883 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
1884 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
1889 <emphasis>--chroot</emphasis>
1892 Before changing to the user ID given in the <emphasis>--user</emphasis> option,
1893 chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
1894 process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
1895 the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy.
1901 <emphasis>--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname</emphasis>
1904 Specifies a hostname to look up before doing a chroot. On some systems, initializing the
1905 resolver library involves reading config files from /etc and/or loading additional shared
1906 libraries from /lib. On these systems, doing a hostname lookup before the chroot reduces
1907 the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree.
1910 For fastest startup speed, a good value is a hostname that is not in /etc/hosts but that
1911 your local name server (listed in /etc/resolv.conf) can resolve without recursion
1912 (that is, without having to ask any other name servers). The hostname need not exist,
1913 but if it doesn't, an error message (which can be ignored) will be output.
1919 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
1922 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
1923 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
1924 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
1925 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
1926 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
1927 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
1935 On <application>MS Windows</application> only there are two additional
1936 command-line options to allow <application>Privoxy</application> to install and
1937 run as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>. See the
1938 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Window Installation section</link>
1946 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1949 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1950 <sect1 id="configuration"><title>Privoxy Configuration</title>
1952 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
1953 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
1954 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
1955 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
1959 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1962 <title>Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser</title>
1964 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
1965 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1966 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1967 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
1968 You will see the following section:
1972 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
1975 <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
1979 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
1982 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
1985 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
1988 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
1991 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
1994 ▪ <ulink
1995 url="http://www.privoxy.org/&p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
2003 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
2004 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
2005 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
2006 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
2007 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
2008 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
2012 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
2013 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
2014 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
2015 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
2016 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
2017 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
2018 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
2019 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
2024 Note that several of the features described above are disabled by default
2025 in <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta and later.
2027 <ulink url="config.html">configuration file</ulink> to learn why
2028 and in which cases it's safe to enable them again.
2033 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2038 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2040 <sect2 id="confoverview">
2041 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
2043 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
2044 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
2045 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
2046 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
2047 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
2048 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
2052 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
2053 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
2054 principle configuration files are:
2062 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
2063 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
2064 on Windows. This is a required file.
2070 <filename>match-all.action</filename> is used to define which <quote>actions</quote>
2071 relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups, content modification, cookie handling
2072 etc should be applied by default. It should be the first actions file loaded.
2075 <filename>default.action</filename> defines many exceptions (both positive and negative)
2076 from the default set of actions that's configured in <filename>match-all.action</filename>.
2077 It should be the second actions file loaded and shouldn't be edited by the user.
2080 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
2081 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
2082 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
2083 <filename>match-all.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
2084 to define sooner or later) are best applied in <filename>user.action</filename>,
2085 where you can preserve them across upgrades. The file isn't installed by all
2086 installers, but you can easily create it yourself with a text editor.
2089 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
2091 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
2093 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
2094 various actions files.
2100 <quote>Filter files</quote> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
2101 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
2102 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
2103 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
2104 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
2105 <filename>default.filter</filename> includes various filters made
2106 available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
2107 others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
2108 filter files in <filename>config</filename> as you can with
2109 actions files. We suggest <filename>user.filter</filename> for any
2110 locally defined filters or customizations.
2118 The syntax of the configuration and filter files may change between different
2119 Privoxy versions, unfortunately some enhancements cost backwards compatibility.
2120 <!-- Add link to documentation-->
2124 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
2125 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
2126 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
2127 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
2128 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
2129 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
2130 out" that line. Blank lines are ignored.
2134 The actions files and filter files
2135 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
2136 maximum flexibility.
2140 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
2141 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
2142 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
2143 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
2144 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
2145 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
2146 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
2151 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
2152 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
2153 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
2154 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
2160 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2163 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
2165 <!-- **************************************************** -->
2166 <!-- Include config.sgml here -->
2167 <!-- This is where the entire config file is detailed. -->
2169 <!-- end include -->
2172 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2176 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
2178 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
2182 XXX: similar descriptions are in the Configuration Files sections.
2183 We should only describe them at one place.
2186 The actions files are used to define what <emphasis>actions</emphasis>
2187 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determines
2188 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
2189 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof).
2190 There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
2191 Each action does something a little different.
2192 These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
2193 our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that
2194 their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.
2198 are three action files included with <application>Privoxy</application> with
2205 <filename>match-all.action</filename> - is used to define which
2206 <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
2207 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default.
2208 It should be the first actions file loaded
2213 <filename>default.action</filename> - defines many exceptions (both
2214 positive and negative) from the default set of actions that's configured
2215 in <filename>match-all.action</filename>. It is a set of rules that should
2216 work reasonably well as-is for most users. This file is only supposed to
2217 be edited by the developers. It should be the second actions file loaded.
2222 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
2223 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
2224 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
2225 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
2230 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Cautious</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Medium</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Advanced</guibutton>
2233 These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no
2234 influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
2235 editor</emphasis>. A default installation should be pre-set to
2236 <literal>Cautious</literal>. New users should try this for a while before
2237 adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
2238 the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
2239 not working as they should.
2242 The <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button allows you to turn each
2243 action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <guibutton>Cautious</guibutton>
2244 button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
2245 ad blocking and a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently
2246 there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
2247 <guibutton>Medium</guibutton> button sets the list to a medium level of
2248 other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
2249 <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> button sets the list to a high level of
2250 ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter
2251 three buttons over-ride any changes via with the
2252 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
2253 lower sections of this internal page.
2256 While the actions file editor allows to enable these settings in all
2257 actions files, they are only supposed to be enabled in the first one
2258 to make sure you don't unintentionally overrule earlier rules.
2261 The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
2262 <filename>default.action</filename> are:
2265 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
2266 <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
2267 <colspec colname=c1>
2268 <colspec colname=c2>
2269 <colspec colname=c3>
2270 <colspec colname=c4>
2273 <entry>Feature</entry>
2274 <entry>Cautious</entry>
2275 <entry>Medium</entry>
2276 <entry>Advanced</entry>
2281 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
2282 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
2283 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
2284 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
2290 <entry>Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</entry>
2291 <entry>medium</entry>
2297 <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
2304 <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
2310 <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
2311 <entry>blocks only</entry>
2312 <entry>blocks only</entry>
2313 <entry>blocks only</entry>
2317 <entry>Privacy Features</entry>
2319 <entry>medium</entry>
2320 <entry>medium/high</entry>
2324 <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
2326 <entry>session-only</entry>
2331 <entry>Referer forging</entry>
2338 <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
2345 <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
2352 <entry>HTML taming</entry>
2359 <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
2366 <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
2373 <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
2389 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
2390 file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
2391 <filename>default.action</filename> is typically processed before
2392 <filename>user.action</filename>). The content of these can all be viewed and
2394 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2395 The over-riding principle when applying actions, is that the last action that
2396 matches a given URL wins. The broadest, most general rules go first
2397 (defined in <filename>default.action</filename>),
2398 followed by any exceptions (typically also in
2399 <filename>default.action</filename>), which are then followed lastly by any
2400 local preferences (typically in <emphasis>user</emphasis><filename>.action</filename>).
2401 Generally, <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word.
2405 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
2406 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
2407 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
2408 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
2409 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
2410 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
2411 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
2412 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
2413 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
2414 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
2415 with the advantage that it is a separate file, which makes preserving your
2416 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
2420 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
2421 just some obnoxious URL whose content you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
2422 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
2423 written to disk), content can be modified, some JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
2424 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
2428 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2430 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
2432 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
2433 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
2434 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
2435 certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring
2436 refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that the more
2437 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
2438 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
2439 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per
2440 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
2441 regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe
2442 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
2446 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
2447 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
2448 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
2449 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
2453 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2455 <title>How to Edit</title>
2457 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
2458 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
2459 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2460 Note: the config file option <link
2461 linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link> must be enabled for
2462 this to work. The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single
2463 feature on a per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults
2464 like <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or
2465 <quote>Advanced</quote>. Warning: the <quote>Advanced</quote> setting is more
2466 aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites.
2467 Experienced users only!
2471 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
2472 the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at
2473 <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly commented with many
2479 <sect2 id="actions-apply">
2480 <title>How Actions are Applied to Requests</title>
2482 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
2483 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
2484 be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
2485 heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
2486 of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
2487 Below that, there is a list of URL and tag patterns, each on a separate line.
2491 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
2492 compared to all URL patterns in each <quote>action file</quote>.
2493 Every time it matches, the list of applicable actions for the request is
2494 incrementally updated, using the heading of the section in which the
2495 pattern is located. The same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on.
2499 If multiple applying sections set the same action differently,
2500 the last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated.
2501 E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading line of <literal>{
2502 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> }</literal>,
2503 then later another one with just <literal>{
2504 +<link linkend="block">block</link> }</literal>, resulting
2505 in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply. And there may well be
2506 cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
2512 { +<literal>handle-as-image</literal> +<literal>block{Banner ads.}</literal> }
2513 # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
2515 media.example.com/.*banners
2516 .example.com/images/ads/</screen>
2520 You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by visiting <ulink
2521 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
2525 Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
2526 Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</link> section.
2530 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2531 <sect2 id="af-patterns">
2532 <title>Patterns</title>
2534 As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
2535 to determine what <emphasis>actions</emphasis> might apply to which sites and
2536 pages your browser attempts to access. These <quote>patterns</quote> use wild
2537 card type <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> matching to achieve a high degree of
2538 flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
2539 against many similar patterns.
2543 Generally, an URL pattern has the form
2544 <literal><domain><port>/<path></literal>, where the
2545 <literal><domain></literal>, the <literal><port></literal>
2546 and the <literal><path></literal> are optional. (This is why the special
2547 <literal>/</literal> pattern matches all URLs). Note that the protocol
2548 portion of the URL pattern (e.g. <literal>http://</literal>) should
2549 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be included in the pattern. This is assumed already!
2552 The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of
2553 the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
2554 while the path part uses more flexible
2555 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2556 Expressions</quote></ulink> (POSIX 1003.2).
2559 The port part of a pattern is a decimal port number preceded by a colon
2560 (<literal>:</literal>). If the domain part contains a numerical IPv6 address,
2561 it has to be put into angle brackets
2562 (<literal><</literal>, <literal>></literal>).
2567 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
2570 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2571 regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in
2572 this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
2573 simple <literal>example.com</literal> is different and would NOT match.
2578 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
2581 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
2587 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
2590 matches all the documents on <literal>www.example.com</literal>
2591 whose name starts with <literal>/index.html</literal>.
2596 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html$</literal></term>
2599 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
2600 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
2605 <term><literal>/index.html$</literal></term>
2608 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
2609 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server anywhere.
2614 <term><literal>/</literal></term>
2617 Matches any URL because there's no requirement for either the
2618 domain or the path to match anything.
2623 <term><literal>:8000/</literal></term>
2626 Matches any URL pointing to TCP port 8000.
2631 <term><literal><2001:db8::1>/</literal></term>
2634 Matches any URL with the host address <literal>2001:db8::1</literal>.
2635 (Note that the real URL uses plain brackets, not angle brackets.)
2640 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
2643 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
2644 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>. So its
2652 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2653 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
2656 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
2657 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
2663 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
2666 matches any domain with first-level domain <literal>com</literal>
2667 and second-level domain <literal>example</literal>.
2668 For example <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2669 <literal>example.com</literal> and <literal>foo.bar.baz.example.com</literal>.
2670 Note that it wouldn't match if the second-level domain was <literal>another-example</literal>.
2675 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
2678 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
2679 <literal>www.</literal> (It also matches the domain
2680 <literal>www</literal> but most of the time that doesn't matter.)
2685 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
2688 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>.
2689 And, by the way, also included would be any files or documents that exist
2690 within that domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly
2691 speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as
2692 a domain.) This might be <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2693 <literal>news.example.de</literal>, or
2694 <literal>www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</literal> for instance. All these
2702 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
2703 themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
2704 <quote>*</quote> represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
2706 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2707 Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax of <quote>.*</quote>),
2708 <quote>?</quote> represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
2709 regular expression syntax of a simple <quote>.</quote>), and you can define
2710 <quote>character classes</quote> in square brackets which is similar to
2711 the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:
2716 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2719 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
2720 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
2725 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2728 matches all of the above, and then some.
2733 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
2736 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
2737 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
2742 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
2745 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
2746 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
2747 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
2748 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
2755 While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax.
2760 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2763 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2764 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
2767 <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>modern</quote> POSIX 1003.2
2768 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2769 Expressions</quote></ulink> for matching the path portion (after the slash),
2770 and is thus more flexible.
2774 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
2775 expressions, you also might want to have a look at your operating system's documentation
2776 on regular expressions (try <literal>man re_format</literal>).
2780 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
2781 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
2782 for the beginning of a line).
2786 Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
2787 by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
2788 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
2789 only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
2790 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
2795 <term><literal>.example.com/.*</literal></term>
2798 Is equivalent to just <quote>.example.com</quote>, since any documents
2799 within that domain are matched with or without the <quote>.*</quote>
2800 regular expression. This is redundant
2805 <term><literal>.example.com/.*/index.html$</literal></term>
2808 Will match any page in the domain of <quote>example.com</quote> that is
2809 named <quote>index.html</quote>, and that is part of some path. For
2810 example, it matches <quote>www.example.com/testing/index.html</quote> but
2811 NOT <quote>www.example.com/index.html</quote> because the regular
2812 expression called for at least two <quote>/'s</quote>, thus the path
2813 requirement. It also would match
2814 <quote>www.example.com/testing/index_html</quote>, because of the
2815 special meta-character <quote>.</quote>.
2820 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$</literal></term>
2823 This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page
2824 named <quote>index.html</quote> regardless of path which in this case can
2825 have one or more <quote>/'s</quote>. And this one must contain exactly
2826 <quote>.html</quote> (but does not have to end with that!).
2831 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</literal></term>
2834 This regular expression will match any path of <quote>example.com</quote>
2835 that contains any of the words <quote>ads</quote>, <quote>banner</quote>,
2836 <quote>banners</quote> (because of the <quote>?</quote>) or <quote>junk</quote>.
2837 The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
2842 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</literal></term>
2845 This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
2846 <quote>.jpg</quote>, <quote>.jpeg</quote>, <quote>.gif</quote> or <quote>.png</quote>. So this
2847 one is limited to common image formats.
2854 There are many, many good examples to be found in <filename>default.action</filename>,
2855 and more tutorials below in <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>.
2860 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2863 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2864 <sect3 id="tag-pattern"><title>The Tag Pattern</title>
2867 Tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the
2868 request's tags. Tags can be created with either the
2869 <link linkend="CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER">client-header-tagger</link>
2870 or the <link linkend="SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER">server-header-tagger</link> action.
2874 Tag patterns have to start with <quote>TAG:</quote>, so &my-app;
2875 can tell them apart from URL patterns. Everything after the colon
2876 including white space, is interpreted as a regular expression with
2877 path pattern syntax, except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored
2878 automatically (&my-app; doesn't silently add a <quote>^</quote>,
2879 you have to do it yourself if you need it).
2883 To match all requests that are tagged with <quote>foo</quote>
2884 your pattern line should be <quote>TAG:^foo$</quote>,
2885 <quote>TAG:foo</quote> would work as well, but it would also
2886 match requests whose tags contain <quote>foo</quote> somewhere.
2887 <quote>TAG: foo</quote> wouldn't work as it requires white space.
2891 Sections can contain URL and tag patterns at the same time,
2892 but tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus
2893 always overrule them, even if they are located before the URL patterns.
2897 Once a new tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's matched by one
2898 of the tag patterns and updates the action settings accordingly. As a result
2899 tags can be used to activate other tagger actions, as long as these other
2900 taggers look for headers that haven't already be parsed.
2904 For example you could tag client requests which use the
2905 <literal>POST</literal> method,
2906 then use this tag to activate another tagger that adds a tag if cookies
2907 are sent, and then use a block action based on the cookie tag. This allows
2908 the outcome of one action, to be input into a subsequent action. However if
2909 you'd reverse the position of the described taggers, and activated the
2910 method tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method tags would be created.
2911 The method tagger would look for the request line, but at the time
2912 the cookie tag is created, the request line has already been parsed.
2916 While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of
2917 indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't
2918 make too much sense.
2925 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2928 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2930 <sect2 id="actions">
2931 <title>Actions</title>
2933 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
2934 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
2935 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
2936 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
2937 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
2938 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
2939 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
2940 previously applied.</quote>
2945 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
2946 separated by whitespace, like in
2947 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
2948 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
2949 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
2950 of the actions file.
2954 Actions fall into three categories:
2961 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
2962 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
2966 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
2967 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
2970 Example: <literal>+handle-as-image</literal>
2977 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
2982 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
2983 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
2984 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
2987 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
2988 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
2991 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>
2997 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
2998 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
2999 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
3000 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
3001 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
3002 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
3006 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
3007 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
3008 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
3009 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
3012 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
3013 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
3021 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
3022 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
3023 normal, non-blocking, non-filtering proxy. You must specifically enable the
3024 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
3025 files will give a good starting point).
3029 Later defined action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the same type.
3030 So exceptions to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
3031 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such
3032 as <filename>user.action</filename>). For multi-valued actions, the actions
3033 are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are processed in
3034 the order they are defined in <filename>config</filename> (the default
3035 installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any given
3036 URL to match more than one <quote>pattern</quote> (because of wildcards and
3037 regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last
3041 <!-- start actions listing -->
3043 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
3047 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
3048 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
3049 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
3051 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
3054 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3056 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
3057 <title>add-header</title>
3061 <term>Typical use:</term>
3063 <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
3068 <term>Effect:</term>
3071 Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
3078 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3080 <para>Multi-value.</para>
3085 <term>Parameter:</term>
3088 Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
3089 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
3099 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
3100 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
3101 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
3105 Headers added by this action are not modified by other actions.
3111 <term>Example usage:</term>
3114 <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
3122 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3123 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
3124 <title>block</title>
3128 <term>Typical use:</term>
3130 <para>Block ads or other unwanted content</para>
3135 <term>Effect:</term>
3138 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
3139 requests are trapped by &my-app; and the requested URL is never retrieved,
3140 but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
3142 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
3144 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>, and
3146 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> actions.
3154 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3156 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3161 <term>Parameter:</term>
3163 <para>A block reason that should be given to the user.</para>
3171 <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
3172 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains the block reason given as
3173 parameter, a link to find out why the block action applies, and a click-through
3174 to the blocked content (the latter only if the force feature is available and
3178 A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
3179 <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
3180 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
3181 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
3182 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
3183 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
3186 It is important to understand this process, in order
3187 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
3188 ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
3189 upon which various other features depend.
3192 The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
3193 action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
3194 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
3195 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
3196 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
3202 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3205 <screen>{+block{No nasty stuff for you.}}
3206 # Block and replace with "blocked" page
3207 .nasty-stuff.example.com
3209 {+block{Doubleclick banners.} +handle-as-image}
3210 # Block and replace with image
3214 {+block{Layered ads.} +handle-as-empty-document}
3215 # Block and then ignore
3216 adserver.example.net/.*\.js$</screen>
3226 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3227 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="change-x-forwarded-for">
3228 <title>change-x-forwarded-for</title>
3232 <term>Typical use:</term>
3234 <para>Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request in the HTTP headers.</para>
3239 <term>Effect:</term>
3242 Deletes the <quote>X-Forwarded-For:</quote> HTTP header from the client request,
3250 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3252 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3257 <term>Parameter:</term>
3261 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header.</para>
3265 <quote>add</quote> to create the header (or append
3266 the client's IP address to an already existing one).
3277 It is safe and recommended to use <literal>block</literal>.
3280 Forwarding the source address of the request may make
3281 sense in some multi-user setups but is also a privacy risk.
3286 <term>Example usage:</term>
3289 <screen>+change-x-forwarded-for{block}</screen>
3296 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3297 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-filter">
3298 <title>client-header-filter</title>
3302 <term>Typical use:</term>
3305 Rewrite or remove single client headers.
3311 <term>Effect:</term>
3314 All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
3315 the specified regular expression based substitutions.
3322 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3324 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3329 <term>Parameter:</term>
3332 The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the
3333 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
3342 Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
3343 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
3344 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
3345 You can do that by using tags though.
3348 Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
3349 and use their output as input.
3352 If the request URL gets changed, &my-app; will detect that and use the new
3353 one. This can be used to rewrite the request destination behind the client's
3354 back, for example to specify a Tor exit relay for certain requests.
3357 Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
3358 to learn which client-header filters are available by default, and how to
3366 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3370 # Hide Tor exit notation in Host and Referer Headers
3371 {+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
3382 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3383 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-tagger">
3384 <title>client-header-tagger</title>
3388 <term>Typical use:</term>
3391 Block requests based on their headers.
3397 <term>Effect:</term>
3400 Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
3401 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
3409 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3411 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3416 <term>Parameter:</term>
3419 The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the
3420 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
3429 Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
3430 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
3434 Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed
3435 and their tags can be used to control every other action.
3441 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3445 # Tag every request with the User-Agent header
3446 {+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
3449 # Tagging itself doesn't change the action
3450 # settings, sections with TAG patterns do:
3452 # If it's a download agent, use a different forwarding proxy,
3453 # show the real User-Agent and make sure resume works.
3454 {+forward-override{forward-socks5 10.0.0.2:2222 .} \
3455 -hide-if-modified-since \
3456 -overwrite-last-modified \
3461 TAG:^User-Agent: NetBSD-ftp/
3462 TAG:^User-Agent: Novell ZYPP Installer
3463 TAG:^User-Agent: RPM APT-HTTP/
3464 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/
3465 TAG:^User-Agent: Ubuntu APT-HTTP/
3466 TAG:^User-Agent: MPlayer/
3476 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3477 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="content-type-overwrite">
3478 <title>content-type-overwrite</title>
3482 <term>Typical use:</term>
3484 <para>Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode</para>
3489 <term>Effect:</term>
3492 Replaces the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header.
3499 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3501 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3506 <term>Parameter:</term>
3518 The <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header is used by the
3519 browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this
3520 header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of
3521 displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is
3522 supported by the browser.
3525 The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
3526 the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <quote>text/html</quote>,
3527 many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
3528 If it is send as <quote>application/xml</quote>, browsers with
3529 XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
3532 If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
3533 <quote>Content-Type: text/html</quote>, you can use &my-app;
3534 to overwrite it with <quote>application/xml</quote> and validate
3535 the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
3536 If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
3539 You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints
3540 error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared
3541 as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
3542 <quote>text/html</quote> and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
3545 By default <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal> only replaces
3546 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> headers that look like some kind of text.
3547 If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
3548 <literal><link linkend="force-text-mode">force-text-mode</link></literal>.
3549 This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
3552 Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom
3553 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
3554 It allows you to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
3555 only replace the content types you aimed at.
3558 Of course you can apply <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal>
3559 to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
3560 more work to get the same precision.
3566 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
3569 <screen># Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
3570 { +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
3573 # but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
3574 {-content-type-overwrite}
3575 www.example.net/.*\.css$
3576 www.example.net/.*style
3585 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3586 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-client-header">
3590 <title>crunch-client-header</title>
3594 <term>Typical use:</term>
3596 <para>Remove a client header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
3601 <term>Effect:</term>
3604 Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
3611 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3613 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3618 <term>Parameter:</term>
3630 This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
3631 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists.
3632 <application>Privoxy</application> will remove every client header that
3633 contains the string you supplied as parameter.
3636 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
3637 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
3638 they contain the same string.
3641 <literal>crunch-client-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
3642 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
3643 parts of them, you should use a
3644 <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header filter</link></literal>.
3648 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
3655 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3658 <screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
3659 { +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
3669 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3670 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-if-none-match">
3671 <title>crunch-if-none-match</title>
3677 <term>Typical use:</term>
3679 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
3684 <term>Effect:</term>
3687 Deletes the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header.
3694 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3696 <para>Boolean.</para>
3701 <term>Parameter:</term>
3713 Removing the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header
3714 is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
3715 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote> which
3716 would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
3719 It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
3720 replacement (unlikely but possible).
3723 Blocking the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> header shouldn't cause any
3724 caching problems, as long as the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> header
3725 isn't blocked or missing as well.
3728 It is recommended to use this action together with
3729 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
3731 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>.
3737 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3740 <screen># Let the browser revalidate cached documents but don't
3741 # allow the server to use the revalidation headers for user tracking.
3742 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
3743 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
3744 +crunch-if-none-match}
3753 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3754 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
3755 <title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
3759 <term>Typical use:</term>
3762 Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your system
3768 <term>Effect:</term>
3771 Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
3778 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3780 <para>Boolean.</para>
3785 <term>Parameter:</term>
3797 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
3798 <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
3799 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
3800 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
3803 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3804 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3805 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
3806 <literal><link linkend="filter-content-cookies">filter-content-cookies</link></literal>.
3812 <term>Example usage:</term>
3815 <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
3823 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3824 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-server-header">
3825 <title>crunch-server-header</title>
3831 <term>Typical use:</term>
3833 <para>Remove a server header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
3838 <term>Effect:</term>
3841 Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
3848 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3850 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3855 <term>Parameter:</term>
3867 This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
3868 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists. <application>Privoxy</application>
3869 will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
3872 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
3873 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
3874 they contain the same string.
3877 <literal>crunch-server-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
3878 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
3879 parts of them, you should use a custom
3880 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
3884 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
3891 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3894 <screen># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
3895 { +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
3904 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3905 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
3906 <title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
3910 <term>Typical use:</term>
3913 Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from your system
3919 <term>Effect:</term>
3922 Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
3929 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3931 <para>Boolean.</para>
3936 <term>Parameter:</term>
3948 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
3949 <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
3950 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
3951 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
3954 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3955 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3956 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
3962 <term>Example usage:</term>
3965 <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
3974 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3975 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
3976 <title>deanimate-gifs</title>
3980 <term>Typical use:</term>
3982 <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
3987 <term>Effect:</term>
3990 De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
3997 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3999 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4004 <term>Parameter:</term>
4007 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
4016 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
4017 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
4018 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
4019 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
4020 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
4021 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
4024 You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
4025 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
4032 <term>Example usage:</term>
4035 <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
4042 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4043 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
4044 <title>downgrade-http-version</title>
4048 <term>Typical use:</term>
4050 <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
4055 <term>Effect:</term>
4058 Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
4065 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
4067 <para>Boolean.</para>
4072 <term>Parameter:</term>
4084 This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
4085 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
4086 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
4087 out there. Not all HTTP/1.1 features and requirements are supported yet,
4088 so there is a chance you might need this action.
4094 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4097 <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
4098 problem-host.example.com</screen>
4106 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4107 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
4108 <title>fast-redirects</title>
4112 <term>Typical use:</term>
4114 <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.</para>
4119 <term>Effect:</term>
4122 Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting
4123 the redirection server first.
4130 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
4132 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4137 <term>Parameter:</term>
4142 <quote>simple-check</quote> to just search for the string <quote>http://</quote>
4143 to detect redirection URLs.
4148 <quote>check-decoded-url</quote> to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching
4149 for redirection URLs.
4160 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
4161 will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
4162 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
4163 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
4164 <quote>http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/</quote>.
4167 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
4168 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
4169 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
4170 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
4171 browser asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
4175 This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
4176 If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
4177 this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
4180 Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil.
4181 Some sites offer a real service that requires this information to work.
4182 For example a validation service needs to know, which document to validate.
4183 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> assumes that every URL parameter that
4184 looks like another URL is a redirection target, and will always redirect to
4185 the last one. Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't,
4186 the user gets redirected anyway.
4189 Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter.
4191 <quote>http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
4192 contains the redirection URL <quote>http://www.example.net/</quote>,
4193 followed by another parameter. <literal>fast-redirects</literal> doesn't know that
4194 and will cause a redirect to <quote>http://www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
4195 Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
4196 or lead to a <quote>page not found</quote> error. You can prevent this problem by
4197 first using the <literal><link linkend="redirect">redirect</link></literal> action
4198 to remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort.
4201 To detect a redirection URL, <literal>fast-redirects</literal> only
4202 looks for the string <quote>http://</quote>, either in plain text
4203 (invalid but often used) or encoded as <quote>http%3a//</quote>.
4204 Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the address
4205 of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses cases
4206 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> is fooled and the request reaches the
4207 redirection server where it probably gets logged.
4213 <term>Example usage:</term>
4217 { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
4220 { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
4221 another.example.com/testing</screen>
4230 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4231 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
4232 <title>filter</title>
4236 <term>Typical use:</term>
4238 <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
4239 do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.</para>
4244 <term>Effect:</term>
4247 All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
4248 this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular
4249 expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents
4250 are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
4251 <literal>text/plain</literal> MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
4258 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
4260 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4265 <term>Parameter:</term>
4268 The name of a content filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>.
4269 Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
4270 <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
4271 option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>.
4272 <filename>default.filter</filename> is the collection of filters
4273 supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
4274 in their own file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>.
4277 When used in its negative form,
4278 and without parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> filtering is completely disabled.
4287 For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
4288 in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
4292 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
4293 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
4294 passed the filters. (The total time until the page is completely rendered
4295 doesn't change much, but it may be perceived as slower since the page is
4296 not incrementally displayed.)
4297 This effect will be more noticeable on slower connections.
4300 <quote>Rolling your own</quote>
4301 filters requires a knowledge of
4302 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
4303 Expressions</quote></ulink> and
4304 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"><quote>HTML</quote></ulink>.
4305 This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
4306 Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent
4307 <quote>action</quote> is not available.
4310 The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
4311 <literal><link linkend="buffer-limit">buffer-limit</link></literal>
4312 option in the main <link linkend="config">config file</link>. The
4313 default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
4314 data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
4317 Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
4318 (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data
4319 (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate
4320 the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might
4321 be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering
4322 by defining appropriate <literal>-filter</literal> exceptions.
4325 Compressed content can't be filtered either, unless &my-app;
4326 is compiled with zlib support (requires at least &my-app; 3.0.7),
4327 in which case &my-app; will decompress the content before filtering
4331 If you use a &my-app; version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on
4332 as much documents as possible, even those that would normally be sent compressed,
4333 you must use the <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
4334 action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
4337 Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
4338 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
4339 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
4340 works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
4341 based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
4345 <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or
4346 improved filters is particularly welcome!
4349 The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
4350 predefined filter. There are <link linkend="predefined-filters">more
4351 verbose explanations</link> of what these filters do in the <link
4352 linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>.
4358 <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file).
4359 See <link linkend="PREDEFINED-FILTERS">the Predefined Filters section</link> for
4360 more explanation on each:</term>
4363 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
4364 <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.</screen>
4367 <anchor id="filter-js-events">
4368 <screen>+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings and timers (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites).</screen>
4371 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
4372 <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</screen>
4375 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
4376 <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content.</screen>
4379 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
4380 <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups).</screen>
4383 <anchor id="filter-unsolicited-popups">
4384 <screen>+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
4387 <anchor id="filter-all-popups">
4388 <screen>+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
4391 <anchor id="filter-img-reorder">
4392 <screen>+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective.</screen>
4395 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
4396 <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size.</screen>
4399 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-link">
4400 <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers.</screen>
4403 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
4404 <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking).</screen>
4407 <anchor id="filter-tiny-textforms">
4408 <screen>+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap.</screen>
4411 <anchor id="filter-jumping-windows">
4412 <screen>+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves.</screen>
4415 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
4416 <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizable.</screen>
4419 <anchor id="filter-demoronizer">
4420 <screen>+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets.</screen>
4423 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
4424 <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects.</screen>
4427 <anchor id="filter-quicktime-kioskmode">
4428 <screen>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies saveable.</screen>
4431 <anchor id="filter-fun">
4432 <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
4435 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
4436 <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering. Note that this filter doesn't work reliably.</screen>
4439 <anchor id="filter-ie-exploits">
4440 <screen>+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits.</screen>
4443 <anchor id="filter-site-specifics">
4444 <screen>+filter{site-specifics} # Cure for site-specific problems. Don't apply generally!</screen>
4447 <anchor id="filter-no-ping">
4448 <screen>+filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes in <a> and <area> tags.</screen>
4451 <anchor id="filter-google">
4452 <screen>+filter{google} # CSS-based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation and the toolbar advertisement.</screen>
4455 <anchor id="filter-yahoo">
4456 <screen>+filter{yahoo} # CSS-based block for Yahoo text ads. Also removes a width limitation.</screen>
4459 <anchor id="filter-msn">
4460 <screen>+filter{msn} # CSS-based block for MSN text ads. Also removes tracking URLs and a width limitation.</screen>
4463 <anchor id="filter-blogspot">
4464 <screen>+filter{blogspot} # Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this.</screen>
4472 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4473 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="force-text-mode">
4474 <title>force-text-mode</title>
4480 <term>Typical use:</term>
4482 <para>Force <application>Privoxy</application> to treat a document as if it was in some kind of <emphasis>text</emphasis> format. </para>
4487 <term>Effect:</term>
4490 Declares a document as text, even if the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> isn't detected as such.
4497 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4499 <para>Boolean.</para>
4504 <term>Parameter:</term>
4516 As explained <literal><link linkend="filter">above</link></literal>,
4517 <application>Privoxy</application> tries to only filter files that are
4518 in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to
4519 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite</link></literal>.
4520 <literal>force-text-mode</literal> declares a document as text,
4521 without looking at the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> first.
4525 Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
4526 with regular expressions can cause file damage.
4533 <term>Example usage:</term>
4546 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4547 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward-override">
4548 <title>forward-override</title>
4554 <term>Typical use:</term>
4556 <para>Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin</para>
4561 <term>Effect:</term>
4564 Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file.
4571 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4573 <para>Multi-value.</para>
4578 <term>Parameter:</term>
4582 <para><quote>forward .</quote> to use a direct connection without any additional proxies.</para>
4586 <quote>forward 127.0.0.1:8123</quote> to use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123.
4591 <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 .</quote> to use the socks4a proxy listening at
4592 127.0.0.1 port 9050. Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote>
4593 to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
4594 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
4599 <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 proxy.example.org:8000</quote> to use the socks4a proxy
4600 listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy listening at proxy.example.org port 8000.
4601 Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote> to use a socks4 connection
4602 (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
4603 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
4614 This action takes parameters similar to the
4615 <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives in the configuration
4616 file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used as replacement, but normally it's only
4617 used in cases where matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient.
4621 Please read the description for the <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives before
4622 using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will reduce your privacy and increase the
4623 chances of man-in-the-middle attacks.
4626 If the ports are missing or invalid, default values will be used. This might change
4627 in the future and you shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect syntax causes Privoxy
4631 Use the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">show-url-info CGI page</ulink>
4632 to verify that your forward settings do what you thought the do.
4639 <term>Example usage:</term>
4643 # Always use direct connections for requests previously tagged as
4644 # <quote>User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0</quote> and make sure
4645 # resuming downloads continues to work.
4646 # This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing,
4647 # without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates
4648 # or downloads of bigger files like ISOs.
4649 # Note that HTTP headers are easy to fake and therefore their
4650 # values are as (un)trustworthy as your clients and users.
4651 {+forward-override{forward .} \
4652 -hide-if-modified-since \
4653 -overwrite-last-modified \
4655 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$
4664 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4665 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-empty-document">
4666 <title>handle-as-empty-document</title>
4672 <term>Typical use:</term>
4674 <para>Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis></para>
4679 <term>Effect:</term>
4682 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
4683 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
4684 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote>
4685 page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
4686 The <emphasis>empty</emphasis> document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
4693 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4695 <para>Boolean.</para>
4700 <term>Parameter:</term>
4712 Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
4713 are blocked with <application>Privoxy's</application>
4714 default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
4715 And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the &my-app;
4716 BLOCKED message in frames.
4719 The content type for the empty document can be specified with
4720 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{}</link></literal>,
4721 but usually this isn't necessary.
4727 <term>Example usage:</term>
4730 <screen># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
4731 # but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
4732 {+block{Blocked JavaScript} +handle-as-empty-document}
4742 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4743 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
4744 <title>handle-as-image</title>
4748 <term>Typical use:</term>
4750 <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>
4755 <term>Effect:</term>
4758 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
4759 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
4760 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
4761 page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
4762 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
4763 client as a substitute for the blocked content.
4770 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4772 <para>Boolean.</para>
4777 <term>Parameter:</term>
4789 The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
4790 It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
4794 Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
4795 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
4796 reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
4799 Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
4800 frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
4801 Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
4802 ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
4808 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
4811 <screen># Generic image extensions:
4814 /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
4816 # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
4817 # blocked as images:
4819 {+block{Nasty banners.} +handle-as-image}
4820 nasty-banner-server.example.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash
4829 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4830 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-accept-language">
4831 <title>hide-accept-language</title>
4837 <term>Typical use:</term>
4839 <para>Pretend to use different language settings.</para>
4844 <term>Effect:</term>
4847 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> HTTP header in client requests.
4854 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4856 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4861 <term>Parameter:</term>
4864 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4873 Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
4874 foreign User-Agent set with
4875 <literal><link linkend="hide-user-agent">hide-user-agent</link></literal>
4879 However some sites with content in different languages check the
4880 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> to decide which one to take by default.
4881 Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
4882 changing the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header first.
4885 Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
4886 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header to languages you understand,
4887 or to languages that aren't wide spread.
4890 Before setting the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header
4891 to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to
4892 make your requests unique and thus easier to trace.
4893 If you don't plan to change this header frequently,
4894 you should stick to a common language.
4900 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4903 <screen># Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
4904 {+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
4905 +hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
4915 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4916 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-content-disposition">
4917 <title>hide-content-disposition</title>
4923 <term>Typical use:</term>
4925 <para>Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.</para>
4930 <term>Effect:</term>
4933 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header set by some servers.
4940 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4942 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4947 <term>Parameter:</term>
4950 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4959 Some servers set the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header for
4960 documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
4961 The <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header contains the file name
4962 the browser is supposed to use by default.
4965 In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
4966 <emphasis>just view</emphasis> the document, without downloading it first,
4967 even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
4970 Removing the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header helps
4971 to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
4972 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> header, before they decide if they can
4973 display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have
4974 to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
4978 It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion
4979 to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set
4983 This action will probably be removed in the future,
4984 use server-header filters instead.
4990 <term>Example usage:</term>
4993 <screen># Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
4995 +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
4996 +hide-content-disposition{block} }
4997 .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php</screen>
5005 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5006 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-if-modified-since">
5007 <title>hide-if-modified-since</title>
5013 <term>Typical use:</term>
5015 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
5020 <term>Effect:</term>
5023 Deletes the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> HTTP client header or modifies its value.
5030 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5032 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5037 <term>Parameter:</term>
5040 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
5049 Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
5050 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the
5051 browser to use a cached copy of the page.
5054 Instead of removing the header, <literal>hide-if-modified-since</literal> can
5055 also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value.
5056 You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and
5057 <application>Privoxy</application> does the rest. A negative value means
5058 subtracting, a positive value adding.
5061 Randomizing the value of the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> makes
5062 it less likely that the server can use the time as a cookie replacement,
5063 but you will run into caching problems if the random range is too high.
5066 It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
5067 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
5068 handle the greater changes.
5071 It is also recommended to use this action together with
5072 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>,
5073 otherwise it's more or less pointless.
5079 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5082 <screen># Let the browser revalidate but make tracking based on the time less likely.
5083 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
5084 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
5085 +crunch-if-none-match}
5094 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5095 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
5096 <title>hide-from-header</title>
5100 <term>Typical use:</term>
5102 <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
5107 <term>Effect:</term>
5110 Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
5118 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5120 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5125 <term>Parameter:</term>
5128 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
5137 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
5138 (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
5142 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
5143 server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
5144 is actually used by a real person.
5147 This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
5148 <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
5154 <term>Example usage:</term>
5157 <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
5158 <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
5166 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5167 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
5168 <title>hide-referrer</title>
5169 <anchor id="hide-referer">
5172 <term>Typical use:</term>
5174 <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
5179 <term>Effect:</term>
5182 Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
5183 or replaces it with a forged one.
5190 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5192 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5197 <term>Parameter:</term>
5201 <para><quote>conditional-block</quote> to delete the header completely if the host has changed.</para>
5204 <para><quote>conditional-forge</quote> to forge the header if the host has changed.</para>
5207 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header unconditionally.</para>
5210 <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
5213 <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
5223 <literal>conditional-block</literal> is the only parameter,
5224 that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the
5225 referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or
5226 typed in the address directly.
5229 Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
5230 allows the server owner to see the visitor's <quote>click path</quote>,
5231 but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing
5232 other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't
5233 a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between
5237 Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
5238 failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
5239 requests, in an attempt to prevent their content from being
5240 embedded or linked to elsewhere.
5243 Both <literal>conditional-block</literal> and <literal>forge</literal>
5244 will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page
5245 are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case.
5248 <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
5249 <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
5250 substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
5251 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
5252 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
5258 <term>Example usage:</term>
5261 <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
5262 <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
5270 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5271 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
5272 <title>hide-user-agent</title>
5276 <term>Typical use:</term>
5278 <para>Try to conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
5283 <term>Effect:</term>
5286 Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
5287 in client requests with the specified value.
5294 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5296 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5301 <term>Parameter:</term>
5304 Any user-defined string.
5314 This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at this header in
5315 order to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
5316 way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the right thing to do: good web sites
5317 work browser-independently).
5321 Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
5322 browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
5323 <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
5324 setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
5325 the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
5326 OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
5327 sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
5328 reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
5329 let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
5330 <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
5331 (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
5334 More information on known user-agent strings can be found at
5335 <ulink url="http://www.user-agents.org/">http://www.user-agents.org/</ulink>
5337 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</ulink>.
5343 <term>Example usage:</term>
5346 <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
5354 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5355 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
5356 <title>limit-connect</title>
5360 <term>Typical use:</term>
5362 <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</para>
5367 <term>Effect:</term>
5370 Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
5377 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5379 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5384 <term>Parameter:</term>
5387 A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
5388 defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
5397 By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
5398 <application>Privoxy</application> allows HTTP CONNECT requests to all
5399 ports. Use <literal>limit-connect</literal> if fine-grained control
5400 is desired for some or all destinations.
5403 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
5404 (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
5405 the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
5406 short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
5407 This means CONNECT-enabled proxies can be used as TCP relays very easily.
5410 <application>Privoxy</application> relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
5411 the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent &my-app;'s
5412 filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
5418 <term>Example usages:</term>
5420 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
5421 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
5422 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
5424 <screen>+limit-connect{443} # Port 443 is OK.
5425 +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
5426 +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
5427 +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
5428 +limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</screen>
5435 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5436 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
5437 <title>prevent-compression</title>
5441 <term>Typical use:</term>
5444 Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
5445 passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s.
5451 <term>Effect:</term>
5454 Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
5461 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5463 <para>Boolean.</para>
5468 <term>Parameter:</term>
5480 More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
5481 is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the <literal><link
5482 linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> and
5483 <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
5484 actions need access to the uncompressed data.
5487 When compiled with zlib support (available since &my-app; 3.0.7), content that should be
5488 filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't have to worry about this action.
5489 If you are using an older &my-app; version, or one that hasn't been compiled with zlib
5490 support, this action can be used to convince the server to send the content uncompressed.
5493 Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is seldom decreased by less than 50%,
5494 for markup-heavy instances like news feeds saving more than 90% of the original size isn't
5498 Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should only
5499 enable this action if you really need it. As of &my-app; 3.0.7 it's disabled in all
5500 predefined action settings.
5503 Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
5504 documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an empty document body,
5505 some IIS versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable
5506 <literal>prevent-compression</literal> per default, you might want to add
5507 exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
5513 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
5517 # Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
5519 { +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
5520 # Match only these sites
5525 # Or instead, we could set a universal default:
5527 { +prevent-compression }
5530 # Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites:
5532 { -prevent-compression }
5533 .compusa.com/</screen>
5542 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5543 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="overwrite-last-modified">
5544 <title>overwrite-last-modified</title>
5550 <term>Typical use:</term>
5552 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
5557 <term>Effect:</term>
5560 Deletes the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> HTTP server header or modifies its value.
5567 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5569 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5574 <term>Parameter:</term>
5577 One of the keywords: <quote>block</quote>, <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote>
5578 and <quote>randomize</quote>
5587 Removing the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header is useful for filter
5588 testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
5589 code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
5590 version of the page.
5593 The <quote>randomize</quote> option overwrites the value of the
5594 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with a randomly chosen time
5595 between the original value and the current time. In theory the server
5596 could send each document with a different <quote>Last-Modified:</quote>
5597 header to track visits without using cookies. <quote>Randomize</quote>
5598 makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
5601 <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote> overwrites the value of the
5602 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with the current time. You could use
5603 this option together with
5604 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
5605 to further customize your random range.
5608 The preferred parameter here is <quote>randomize</quote>. It is safe
5609 to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct.
5610 If the server sets the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header to the time
5611 of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same.
5612 Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with
5613 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>,
5617 It is also recommended to use this action together with
5618 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
5624 <term>Example usage:</term>
5627 <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
5628 { +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
5629 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
5630 +crunch-if-none-match}
5639 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5640 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="redirect">
5641 <title>redirect</title>
5647 <term>Typical use:</term>
5650 Redirect requests to other sites.
5656 <term>Effect:</term>
5659 Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
5660 to another location and the browser should get it from there.
5667 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5669 <para>Parameterized</para>
5674 <term>Parameter:</term>
5677 An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
5686 Requests to which this action applies are answered with a
5687 HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is
5688 either provided as parameter, or derived by applying a
5689 single pcrs command to the original URL.
5692 This action will be ignored if you use it together with
5693 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>.
5694 It can be combined with
5695 <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</link></literal>
5696 to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL.
5699 Use this action carefully, make sure not to create redirection loops
5700 and be aware that using your own redirects might make it
5701 possible to fingerprint your requests.
5704 In case of problems with your redirects, or simply to watch
5705 them working, enable <link linkend="DEBUG">debug 128</link>.
5711 <term>Example usages:</term>
5714 <screen># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
5715 { +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
5716 example.com/stylesheet\.css
5718 # Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
5719 # (relies on the browser accept and forward invalid URLs to &my-app;)
5720 { +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
5723 # Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles
5724 # (Note the $ at the end of the URL pattern to make sure
5725 # the request for the rewritten URL isn't redirected as well)
5726 {+redirect{s@$@&mode=expanded@}}
5727 undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$
5729 # Redirect Google search requests to MSN
5730 {+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/search\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=$1@}}
5733 # Redirect MSN search requests to Yahoo
5734 {+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/results\.aspx\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=$1@}}
5735 search.msn.com//results\.aspx\?q=
5737 # Redirect remote requests for this manual
5738 # to the local version delivered by Privoxy
5739 {+redirect{s@^http://www@http://config@}}
5740 www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</screen>
5749 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5750 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-filter">
5751 <title>server-header-filter</title>
5755 <term>Typical use:</term>
5758 Rewrite or remove single server headers.
5764 <term>Effect:</term>
5767 All server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly
5768 through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
5775 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
5777 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5782 <term>Parameter:</term>
5785 The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the
5786 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
5795 Server-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
5796 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
5797 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
5798 You can do that by using tags though.
5801 Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
5802 and use their output as input.
5805 Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
5806 to learn which server-header filters are available by default, and how to
5813 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5817 {+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}}
5818 example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html
5820 {+server-header-filter{xml-to-html}}
5821 example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not
5831 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5832 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-tagger">
5833 <title>server-header-tagger</title>
5837 <term>Typical use:</term>
5840 Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
5846 <term>Effect:</term>
5849 Server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
5850 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
5858 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
5860 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5865 <term>Parameter:</term>
5868 The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the
5869 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
5878 Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
5879 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
5883 Server-header taggers are executed before all other header actions
5884 that modify server headers. Their tags can be used to control
5885 all of the other server-header actions, the content filters
5886 and the crunch actions (<link linkend="redirect">redirect</link>
5887 and <link linkend="block">block</link>).
5890 Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header taggers
5891 doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the server's log file.
5898 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5902 # Tag every request with the content type declared by the server
5903 {+server-header-tagger{content-type}}
5914 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5915 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
5916 <title>session-cookies-only</title>
5920 <term>Typical use:</term>
5923 Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current
5924 browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
5930 <term>Effect:</term>
5933 Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote>
5934 server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
5935 forget them in between sessions.
5942 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5944 <para>Boolean.</para>
5949 <term>Parameter:</term>
5961 This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
5962 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
5963 websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
5966 Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
5967 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
5968 This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
5969 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
5970 sites, and is the recommended setting.
5973 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
5974 together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
5975 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
5976 will be plainly killed.
5979 Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
5980 field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
5983 This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
5984 previously by the browser before starting <application>Privoxy</application>.
5985 These would have to be removed manually.
5988 <application>Privoxy</application> also uses
5989 the <link linkend="filter-content-cookies">content-cookies filter</link>
5990 to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
5991 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>.
5997 <term>Example usage:</term>
6000 <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
6008 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6009 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
6010 <title>set-image-blocker</title>
6014 <term>Typical use:</term>
6016 <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
6021 <term>Effect:</term>
6024 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
6025 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
6026 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
6027 apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
6028 <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
6029 sent as a replacement.
6036 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
6038 <para>Parameterized.</para>
6043 <term>Parameter:</term>
6048 <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
6049 decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
6054 <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
6055 completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
6056 images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
6057 has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
6062 <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
6063 send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
6064 to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via <quote>file:///</quote> URL.
6065 (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
6068 A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
6069 URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
6070 This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
6071 the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
6072 it over and over again.
6083 The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
6084 class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
6085 either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
6088 There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
6089 used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
6090 Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
6096 <term>Example usage:</term>
6102 <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
6105 Redirect to the BSD daemon:
6108 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
6111 Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
6114 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
6122 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6124 <title>Summary</title>
6126 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
6127 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
6128 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
6129 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
6130 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
6131 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
6137 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6138 <sect2 id="aliases">
6139 <title>Aliases</title>
6141 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
6142 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
6143 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
6144 Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
6146 <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
6147 recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
6148 <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
6149 Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
6150 <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
6154 Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
6155 defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
6156 And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
6157 have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
6161 There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
6162 used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
6163 decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
6164 <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
6165 <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
6166 in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
6167 by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
6170 Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
6171 <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
6172 editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
6173 them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
6174 but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
6179 Now let's define some aliases...
6184 # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
6186 # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
6187 # must be at the top of the actions file!
6191 # These aliases just save typing later:
6192 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
6194 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6195 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6196 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
6197 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
6199 # These aliases define combinations of actions
6200 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
6202 fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link>
6204 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link>
6206 # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
6208 c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
6209 c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
6213 ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
6214 actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
6215 up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
6220 # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
6221 # user data and require minimal interference to work:
6224 .office.microsoft.com
6225 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
6226 # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com
6230 # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
6234 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
6237 # These shops require pop-ups:
6239 {-filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
6241 .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
6245 Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are typically used for
6246 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require more than one action to be disabled
6247 in order to function properly.
6253 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6254 <sect2 id="act-examples">
6255 <title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
6257 The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
6258 there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
6259 linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
6260 to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
6261 define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
6262 example <filename>match-all.action</filename>, <filename>default.action</filename>
6263 and <filename>user.action</filename> file and see how all these pieces come together:
6267 <title>match-all.action</title>
6269 Remember <emphasis>all actions are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>,
6270 so we have to explicitly enable the ones we want.
6274 While the <filename>match-all.action</filename> file only contains a
6275 single section, it is probably the most important one. It has only one
6276 pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
6277 <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the set of
6278 actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
6279 be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
6280 wholly overridden by other actions files like <filename>default.action</filename>
6281 and <filename>user.action</filename>, but it will still be largely responsible
6282 for your overall browsing experience.
6286 Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
6287 no need to disable any actions here. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
6288 preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
6289 Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
6290 multiple lines with line continuation.
6296 +<link linkend="CHANGE-X-FORWARDED-FOR">change-x-forwarded-for{block}</link> \
6297 +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
6298 +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
6305 The default behavior is now set.
6310 <title>default.action</title>
6313 If you aren't a developer, there's no need for you to edit the
6314 <filename>default.action</filename> file. It is maintained by
6315 the &my-app; developers and if you disagree with some of the
6316 sections, you should overrule them in your <filename>user.action</filename>.
6320 Understanding the <filename>default.action</filename> file can
6321 help you with your <filename>user.action</filename>, though.
6325 The first section in this file is a special section for internal use
6326 that prevents older &my-app; versions from reading the file:
6331 ##########################################################################
6332 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
6333 ##########################################################################
6335 for-privoxy-version=3.0.11</screen>
6339 After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
6340 section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
6341 that also explains why and how aliases are used:
6346 ##########################################################################
6348 ##########################################################################
6351 # These aliases just save typing later:
6352 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
6354 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6355 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6356 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
6357 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
6359 # These aliases define combinations of actions
6360 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
6362 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>
6363 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link></screen>
6367 The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
6368 sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
6369 very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
6370 make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
6371 our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
6372 of actions explicitly:
6377 ##########################################################################
6378 # Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
6379 ##########################################################################
6381 # "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
6384 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
6385 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
6386 mail.google.com</screen>
6390 Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
6391 require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
6392 carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
6401 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
6403 .scan.co.uk</screen>
6407 The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
6408 action, which may have been enabled in <filename>match-all.action</filename>,
6409 breaks some sites. So disable it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
6414 { -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
6418 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
6419 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
6420 .nytimes.com</screen>
6424 It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
6425 URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
6426 be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
6427 Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
6428 would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
6429 would feed the advertisers information about you. We can mark any
6430 URL as an image with the <literal><link
6431 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
6432 and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
6438 ##########################################################################
6440 ##########################################################################
6442 # Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
6443 # blocked further down this file:
6445 { +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
6446 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
6450 And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
6451 generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
6452 request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
6453 mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
6454 <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
6455 course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
6456 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
6457 Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
6458 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
6459 action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
6460 <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
6461 action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
6466 # Known ad generators:
6471 .ad.*.doubleclick.net
6472 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
6473 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
6479 One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
6480 is to block banners. Many of these can be <quote>blocked</quote>
6481 by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
6482 action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
6483 images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
6484 them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
6485 doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
6486 need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
6487 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
6490 First comes many generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
6491 matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
6492 a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
6493 to keep the example short:
6498 ##########################################################################
6499 # Block these fine banners:
6500 ##########################################################################
6501 { <link linkend="BLOCK">+block{Banner ads.}</link> }
6509 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
6510 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
6512 # Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
6514 .hitbox.com</screen>
6518 It's quite remarkable how many advertisers actually call their banner
6519 servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
6520 in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
6521 generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
6524 But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
6525 to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
6526 <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
6527 but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
6528 <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
6529 well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
6533 Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
6534 <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
6535 so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
6536 URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
6537 action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
6538 general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
6539 <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
6540 <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
6541 applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
6542 with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
6547 ##########################################################################
6548 # Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
6549 ##########################################################################
6553 { -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
6554 adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
6555 adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
6556 adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
6557 ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
6558 .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
6559 .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
6567 www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
6568 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
6572 Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
6573 so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
6574 and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
6575 <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
6576 disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
6581 # Don't filter code!
6583 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
6588 .sourceforge.net</screen>
6592 The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course much more
6593 comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
6598 <sect3><title>user.action</title>
6601 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
6602 which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
6603 you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
6604 are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
6605 be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
6606 be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
6607 actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
6608 defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
6609 <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
6610 <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
6611 <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
6612 to install updated versions from time to time.
6616 So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
6617 <filename>user.action</filename>:
6621 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
6625 # My user.action file. <fred@example.com></screen>
6629 As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
6630 file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
6631 <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
6636 # Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
6637 # (Re-)define aliases for this file:
6641 # These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
6642 # be self explanatory.
6644 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
6645 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
6646 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
6647 allow-popups = -filter{all-popups}
6648 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked as image.} +handle-as-image
6649 -block-as-image = -block
6651 # These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
6652 # certain types of sites:
6654 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer
6655 shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
6657 # Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
6659 allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
6661 # Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
6662 # MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
6663 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>
6668 Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
6669 you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
6670 to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
6671 <literal>allow-all-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
6672 that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
6673 processing of cookies to make them only temporary.
6678 { allow-all-cookies }
6682 .redhat.com</screen>
6686 Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:
6691 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
6692 .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
6696 Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
6701 # Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
6702 # erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
6707 # And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
6708 # so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
6710 stupid-server.example.com/</screen>
6714 Example of a simple <link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> action. Say you've
6715 seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of.
6716 You have right-clicked the image, selected <quote>copy image location</quote>
6717 and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a
6718 <literal>{ +block{} }</literal> section. Note that <literal>{ +handle-as-image
6719 }</literal> need not be specified, since all URLs ending in
6720 <literal>.gif</literal> will be tagged as images by the general rules as set
6721 in default.action anyway:
6726 { +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link>{Nasty ads.} }
6727 www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
6728 another.example.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
6732 The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner
6733 farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which
6734 makes it impossible for <application>Privoxy</application> to guess
6735 the file type just by looking at the URL.
6736 You can use the <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above for
6738 Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an
6739 image are typically rendered as a <quote>broken image</quote> icon by the
6740 browser. Use cautiously.
6749 ar.atwola.com/</screen>
6753 Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
6754 but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
6755 were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
6756 you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
6757 -- <emphasis>whoa!</emphasis> -- it worked. The <literal>fragile</literal>
6758 aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also,
6759 good for testing purposes to see if it is <application>Privoxy</application>
6760 that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular sites
6761 that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:
6769 .mybank.com</screen>
6773 You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
6774 but it is disabled in the distributed actions file.
6775 So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
6776 update-safe config, once and for all:
6781 { +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
6782 / # For ALL sites!</screen>
6786 Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
6787 to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
6788 really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
6789 <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
6790 won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
6794 You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are
6795 funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
6796 to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
6797 sites that you feel provide value to you:
6809 Note that <literal>allow-ads</literal> has been aliased to
6810 <literal>-<link linkend="block">block</link></literal>,
6811 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-size">filter{banners-by-size}</link></literal>, and
6812 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-link">filter{banners-by-link}</link></literal> above.
6816 Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type <literal>
6817 application/x-sh</literal> which typically would open a download type
6818 dialog. In my case, I want to look at the shell script, and then I can save
6819 it should I choose to.
6829 <filename>user.action</filename> is generally the best place to define
6830 exceptions and additions to the default policies of
6831 <filename>default.action</filename>. Some actions are safe to have their
6832 default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
6833 <quote>blank</quote> image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for
6834 <emphasis>ALL</emphasis> sites. <quote>/</quote> of course matches all URL
6840 { +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
6841 / # ALL sites</screen>
6847 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6851 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6853 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6855 <sect1 id="filter-file">
6856 <title>Filter Files</title>
6859 On-the-fly text substitutions need
6860 to be defined in a <quote>filter file</quote>. Once defined, they
6861 can then be invoked as an <quote>action</quote>.
6865 &my-app; supports three different filter actions:
6866 <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> to
6867 rewrite the content that is send to the client,
6868 <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header-filter</link></literal>
6869 to rewrite headers that are send by the client, and
6870 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header-filter</link></literal>
6871 to rewrite headers that are send by the server.
6875 &my-app; also supports two tagger actions:
6876 <literal><link linkend="client-header-tagger">client-header-tagger</link></literal>
6878 <literal><link linkend="server-header-tagger">server-header-tagger</link></literal>.
6879 Taggers and filters use the same syntax in the filter files, the difference
6880 is that taggers don't modify the text they are filtering, but use a rewritten
6881 version of the filtered text as tag. The tags can then be used to change the
6882 applying actions through sections with <link linkend="tag-pattern">tag-patterns</link>.
6887 Multiple filter files can be defined through the <literal> <link
6888 linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config directive. The filters
6889 as supplied by the developers are located in
6890 <filename>default.filter</filename>. It is recommended that any locally
6891 defined or modified filters go in a separately defined file such as
6892 <filename>user.filter</filename>.
6896 Common tasks for content filters are to eliminate common annoyances in
6897 HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
6898 exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
6899 infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
6900 width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
6901 or just to have fun.
6905 Enabled content filters are applied to any content whose
6906 <quote>Content Type</quote> header is recognised as a sign
6907 of text-based content, with the exception of <literal>text/plain</literal>.
6908 Use the <link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> action
6909 to also filter other content.
6913 Substitutions are made at the source level, so if you want to <quote>roll
6914 your own</quote> filters, you should first be familiar with HTML syntax,
6915 and, of course, regular expressions.
6919 Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
6920 filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
6921 here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with one of the
6922 <emphasis>keywords</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>,
6923 <literal>CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER:</literal> or <literal>SERVER-HEADER-FILTER:</literal>
6924 followed by the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
6925 <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
6926 come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
6927 text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
6928 should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
6929 comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
6930 user interface</ulink>.
6934 Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
6935 in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
6936 +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
6937 in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
6941 Filter definitions start with a header line that contains the filter
6942 type, the filter name and the filter description.
6943 A content filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
6948 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
6952 Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that
6953 define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified
6954 in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
6955 <literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
6956 will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
6957 PCRS documentation for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most
6958 notably, the non-standard option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported,
6959 which turns the default to ungreedy matching.
6964 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
6965 Expressions</quote></ulink>, you might want to take a look at
6966 the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
6967 see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl
6969 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlop.html">the
6970 <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
6971 url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
6972 expressions</ulink> in general.
6973 The below examples might also help to get you started.
6977 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6979 <sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
6981 Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> content filter. We have already defined
6982 the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
6983 <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
6988 <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
6992 But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
6993 of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
6994 care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
6995 we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
6999 <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
7003 Our complete filter now looks like this:
7006 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
7007 s/foo/bar/g</screen>
7011 Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
7012 a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
7013 abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
7019 FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
7021 # Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
7023 s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
7027 Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
7028 <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
7029 the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
7030 by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
7034 Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
7035 enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
7036 means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
7037 matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
7038 it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
7042 That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
7043 matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
7044 be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
7045 special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
7046 Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
7047 the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
7048 in the page (and appear in that order).
7052 But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
7053 is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
7054 means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
7055 tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
7056 <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
7060 This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
7061 The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
7062 remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
7063 the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
7064 that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
7065 text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
7066 of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
7067 only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
7068 tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
7069 multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
7070 substitution is global.
7074 So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
7075 <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
7076 (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
7077 <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
7078 that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
7082 Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
7083 lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
7084 easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
7085 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
7086 the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
7087 This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
7088 (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
7089 Business!"</literal>.
7093 The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
7094 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
7095 <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
7096 since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
7097 string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
7098 information anymore.
7102 We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
7103 this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
7108 # The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
7110 s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
7114 <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
7115 carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
7116 or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
7117 makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
7118 option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
7119 <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>. Finally, <literal>\1</literal> is
7120 a back-reference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
7121 with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
7122 a back-reference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
7126 So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
7127 strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
7128 (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
7129 real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
7130 descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
7131 you move your mouse over links.
7136 # Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
7138 s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
7143 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
7144 event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
7145 When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
7146 This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
7147 <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
7148 Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
7149 case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee
7150 a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use <literal>[^>]*</literal>
7151 instead of <literal>.*</literal> to prevent the match from exceeding the
7152 <body> tag if it doesn't contain <quote>OnUnload</quote>, but the page's
7157 The last example is from the fun department:
7162 FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
7164 # Spice the daily news:
7166 s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
7170 Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
7171 in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
7172 <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
7173 in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while
7174 still replacing the word everywhere else.
7179 # Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
7181 s* industry[ -]leading \
7183 | customer[ -]focused \
7184 | market[ -]driven \
7185 | award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
7186 | high[ -]performance \
7187 | solutions[ -]based \
7191 *<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
7196 The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
7197 e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
7205 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
7207 <sect2 id="predefined-filters"><title>The Pre-defined Filters</title>
7211 Note each filter is also listed in the +filter action section above. Please
7212 keep these listings in sync.
7217 The distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file contains a selection of
7218 pre-defined filters for your convenience:
7223 <term><emphasis>js-annoyances</emphasis></term>
7226 The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.
7231 replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
7232 with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the <literal><link
7233 linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal> action on the content level.
7238 removes the bindings to the DOM's
7239 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">unload
7240 event</ulink> which we feel has no right to exist and is responsible for most <quote>exit consoles</quote>, i.e.
7241 nasty windows that pop up when you close another one.
7246 removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being
7247 full-screen, non-resizeable, without location, status or menu bar etc.
7253 Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that
7254 rely heavily on JavaScript.
7260 <term><emphasis>js-events</emphasis></term>
7263 This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event bindings, which
7264 means that scripts can not react to user actions such as mouse movements or clicks, window
7265 resizing etc, anymore. Use with caution!
7268 We <emphasis>strongly discourage</emphasis> using this filter as a default since it breaks
7269 many legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should you really
7276 <term><emphasis>html-annoyances</emphasis></term>
7279 This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
7282 The <literal>BLINK</literal> and <literal>MARQUEE</literal> tags
7283 are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser windows will be created as
7284 resizeable (as of course they should be!), and will have location,
7285 scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
7291 <term><emphasis>content-cookies</emphasis></term>
7294 Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialog, where they can be intercepted
7296 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>
7297 and <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>
7298 actions. But web sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript
7299 to sneak cookies to the browser on the content level.
7302 This filter disables most HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets
7303 cookies. It cannot detect all clever uses of these types of code, so it
7304 should not be relied on as an absolute fix. Use it wherever you would also
7305 use the cookie crunch actions.
7311 <term><emphasis>refresh tags</emphasis></term>
7314 Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
7315 that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
7316 for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
7323 <term><emphasis>unsolicited-popups</emphasis></term>
7326 This filter attempts to prevent only <quote>unsolicited</quote> pop-up
7327 windows from opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user
7328 has explicitly chosen to open. It was added in version 3.0.1,
7329 as an improvement over earlier such filters.
7332 Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
7333 function to a dummy function, <literal>PrivoxyWindowOpen()</literal>,
7334 during the loading and rendering phase of each HTML page access, and
7335 restoring the function afterward.
7338 This is recommended only for browsers that cannot perform this function
7339 reliably themselves. And be aware that some sites require such windows
7340 in order to function normally. Use with caution.
7346 <term><emphasis>all-popups</emphasis></term>
7349 Attempt to prevent <emphasis>all</emphasis> pop-up windows from opening.
7350 Note this should be used with even more discretion than the above, since
7351 it is more likely to break some sites that require pop-ups for normal
7352 usage. Use with caution.
7358 <term><emphasis>img-reorder</emphasis></term>
7361 This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the
7362 <literal>banners-by-size</literal> and <literal>banners-by-link</literal>
7363 (see below) filters more effective and should be enabled together with them.
7369 <term><emphasis>banners-by-size</emphasis></term>
7372 This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are. Fortunately
7373 for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain standardized
7374 sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad stripping purposes.
7377 Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not ads,
7378 but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes.
7381 Recommended only for those who require extreme ad blocking. The default
7382 block rules should catch 95+% of all ads <emphasis>without</emphasis> this filter enabled.
7388 <term><emphasis>banners-by-link</emphasis></term>
7391 This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if
7392 their URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently
7393 not of much value and is not recommended for use by default.
7399 <term><emphasis>webbugs</emphasis></term>
7402 Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that
7403 are used to track users across websites, and collect information on them.
7404 As an HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the
7405 browser to contact a third-party site, disclosing the tracking information
7406 through the requested URL and/or cookies for that third-party domain, without
7407 the user ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party site.
7408 HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email addresses.
7411 This filter removes the HTML code that loads such <quote>webbugs</quote>.
7417 <term><emphasis>tiny-textforms</emphasis></term>
7420 A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas (those
7421 multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in them.
7422 It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such boxes are
7423 a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too.
7426 It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
7432 <term><emphasis>jumping-windows</emphasis></term>
7435 Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This filter
7436 neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might not display
7437 or behave as intended when using this filter. Use with caution.
7443 <term><emphasis>frameset-borders</emphasis></term>
7446 Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view their
7447 web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution etc,
7448 because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame sizes,
7449 yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they be too
7450 small to show their whole content.
7453 This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to sites
7460 <term><emphasis>demoronizer</emphasis></term>
7463 Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions (read:
7464 violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This can cause those
7465 HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant platforms.
7468 This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents.
7469 It is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of
7470 all documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly
7471 worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if weird garbage characters
7472 sometimes appear on some pages, or user agents that don't correct for this on
7475 My version of Mozilla (ancient) shows litte square boxes for quote
7476 characters, and apostrophes on moronized pages. So many pages have this, I
7477 can read them fine now. HB 08/27/06
7484 <term><emphasis>shockwave-flash</emphasis></term>
7487 A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips code
7488 out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects.
7496 <term><emphasis>quicktime-kioskmode</emphasis></term>
7499 Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
7500 prevents saving, is disabled.
7506 <term><emphasis>fun</emphasis></term>
7509 Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
7510 Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
7516 <term><emphasis>crude-parental</emphasis></term>
7519 A demonstration-only filter that shows how <application>Privoxy</application>
7520 can be used to delete web content on a keyword basis.
7526 <term><emphasis>ie-exploits</emphasis></term>
7529 An experimental collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
7530 code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
7533 Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug, and
7534 would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
7540 <term><emphasis>site-specifics</emphasis></term>
7543 Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't apply
7544 anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
7547 This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be applied
7548 to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
7549 <filename>default.action</filename> file does. Users shouldn't need to change
7550 anything regarding this filter.
7556 <term><emphasis>google</emphasis></term>
7559 A CSS based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation
7560 and the toolbar advertisement.
7566 <term><emphasis>yahoo</emphasis></term>
7569 Another CSS based block, this time for Yahoo text ads. And removes
7570 a width limitation as well.
7576 <term><emphasis>msn</emphasis></term>
7579 Another CSS based block, this time for MSN text ads. And removes
7580 tracking URLs, as well as a width limitation.
7586 <term><emphasis>blogspot</emphasis></term>
7589 Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this one!
7592 This filter also intentionally removes some navigation stuff and sets the
7593 page width to 100%. As a result, some rounded <quote>corners</quote> would
7594 appear to early or not at all and as fixing this would require a browser
7595 that understands background-size (CSS3), they are removed instead.
7601 <term><emphasis>xml-to-html</emphasis></term>
7604 Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from xml to html.
7610 <term><emphasis>html-to-xml</emphasis></term>
7613 Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from html to xml.
7619 <term><emphasis>no-ping</emphasis></term>
7622 Removes the non-standard <literal>ping</literal> attribute from
7623 anchor and area HTML tags.
7629 <term><emphasis>hide-tor-exit-notation</emphasis></term>
7632 Client-header filter to remove the <command>Tor</command> exit node notation
7633 found in Host and Referer headers.
7636 If &my-app; and <command>Tor</command> are chained and &my-app;
7637 is configured to use socks4a, one can use <quote>http://www.example.org.foobar.exit/</quote>
7638 to access the host <quote>www.example.org</quote> through the
7639 <command>Tor</command> exit node <quote>foobar</quote>.
7642 As the HTTP client isn't aware of this notation, it treats the
7643 whole string <quote>www.example.org.foobar.exit</quote> as host and uses it
7644 for the <quote>Host</quote> and <quote>Referer</quote> headers. From the
7645 server's point of view the resulting headers are invalid and can cause problems.
7648 An invalid <quote>Referer</quote> header can trigger <quote>hot-linking</quote>
7649 protections, an invalid <quote>Host</quote> header will make it impossible for
7650 the server to find the right vhost (several domains hosted on the same IP address).
7653 This client-header filter removes the <quote>foo.exit</quote> part in those headers
7654 to prevent the mentioned problems. Note that it only modifies
7655 the HTTP headers, it doesn't make it impossible for the server
7656 to detect your <command>Tor</command> exit node based on the IP address
7657 the request is coming from.
7664 <term><emphasis> </emphasis></term>
7678 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7682 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7684 <sect1 id="templates">
7685 <title>Privoxy's Template Files</title>
7687 All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
7688 <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
7689 error page</ulink>, the <ulink
7690 url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
7692 and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
7693 user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
7694 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
7699 These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
7700 directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On Unixish platforms,
7702 <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
7706 The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
7707 or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. It
7708 is possible to edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want
7709 to customize them. (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual
7710 user</emphasis>). Should you create your own custom templates, you should use
7711 the <filename>config</filename> setting <link linkend="templdir">templdir</link>
7712 to specify an alternate location, so your templates do not get overwritten
7716 Note that just like in configuration files, lines starting
7717 with <literal>#</literal> are ignored when the templates are filled in.
7721 The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
7722 find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
7723 in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
7724 always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
7725 code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
7729 A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
7730 blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
7731 for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
7732 our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
7733 is in an alpha or beta development stage:
7738 <!-- @if-unstable-start -->
7740 ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
7742 <!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
7746 If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
7747 <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
7748 will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
7752 <screen><!-- --></screen>
7756 There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
7757 mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
7762 All templates refer to a style located at
7763 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
7764 This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
7765 and the source for it can be found and edited in the
7766 <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
7771 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7775 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7777 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
7780 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
7782 <!-- end boilerplate -->
7786 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7789 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7790 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
7792 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
7794 <!-- end copyright -->
7796 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7797 <sect2><title>License</title>
7798 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
7800 <!-- end copyright -->
7802 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7805 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7807 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
7808 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
7810 <!-- end history -->
7813 <sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
7814 <!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
7816 <!-- end authors -->
7821 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7824 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7825 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
7826 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
7828 <!-- end seealso -->
7833 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7834 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
7837 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7839 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
7841 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
7842 expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
7843 files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
7844 through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
7847 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
7849 <application>PCRS</application> libraries.
7853 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
7854 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
7855 introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
7856 url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
7860 Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
7861 run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
7862 match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
7863 strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
7864 characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
7865 special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
7866 Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
7867 <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
7871 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
7872 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
7873 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
7874 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
7875 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
7876 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
7877 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
7878 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
7882 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
7883 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
7884 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
7885 and then some examples:
7890 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
7891 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
7893 </simplelist></para>
7897 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
7900 </simplelist></para>
7904 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
7907 </simplelist></para>
7911 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
7914 </simplelist></para>
7918 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
7919 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
7920 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
7921 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
7922 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
7923 meta-character meaning of any single character).
7925 </simplelist></para>
7929 <emphasis>[ ]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
7930 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
7931 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
7932 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
7934 </simplelist></para>
7938 <emphasis>( )</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
7939 or multiple sub-expressions.
7941 </simplelist></para>
7945 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
7946 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
7947 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
7948 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
7949 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
7950 example</quote>, and nothing else.
7952 </simplelist></para>
7955 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
7956 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
7957 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
7958 be more illuminating:
7962 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
7963 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
7964 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
7965 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
7966 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
7967 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
7968 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
7969 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
7970 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
7971 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
7972 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
7973 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
7974 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
7975 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
7980 And now something a little more complex:
7984 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
7985 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
7986 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
7987 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
7988 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
7989 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
7990 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
7995 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
7996 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
7997 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
7998 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
7999 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
8000 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
8001 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
8002 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
8003 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
8004 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
8005 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
8006 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
8007 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
8008 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
8009 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
8010 changing our regular expression to:
8011 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
8016 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
8017 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
8018 <quote>[ ]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
8019 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
8020 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
8021 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
8022 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
8023 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
8024 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
8025 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
8026 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
8027 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
8028 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
8029 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
8030 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
8031 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
8032 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
8033 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
8034 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
8035 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
8036 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
8037 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
8038 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
8039 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
8040 in the expression anywhere).
8044 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
8045 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
8046 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
8047 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
8048 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
8053 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
8054 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>
8058 For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications
8059 in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
8064 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
8067 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8069 <title>Privoxy's Internal Pages</title>
8072 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
8073 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
8074 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
8075 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
8076 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
8077 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
8078 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
8084 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
8085 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
8086 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
8087 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
8100 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
8104 There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
8105 doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
8106 sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
8112 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
8113 editing of actions files:
8117 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
8124 Show the source code version numbers:
8128 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
8135 Show the browser's request headers:
8139 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
8146 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
8150 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
8157 Toggle Privoxy on or off. This feature can be turned off/on in the main
8158 <filename>config</filename> file. When toggled <quote>off</quote>, <quote>Privoxy</quote>
8159 continues to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking
8164 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
8168 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
8172 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
8177 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
8186 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
8190 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
8191 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
8193 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
8194 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
8195 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
8196 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
8197 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
8198 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
8201 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
8202 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
8203 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
8204 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
8205 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
8206 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
8215 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>
8222 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>
8229 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)
8236 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>
8242 <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>
8248 <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
8255 Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
8256 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com/">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
8257 have more information about bookmarklets.
8266 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8268 <title>Chain of Events</title>
8270 Let's take a quick look at how some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
8271 core features are triggered, and the ensuing sequence of events when a web
8272 page is requested by your browser:
8279 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
8280 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
8281 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
8287 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
8288 pages (e.g <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
8293 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
8295 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
8296 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
8297 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
8299 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT"><quote>+handle-as-empty-document</quote></link>
8300 are then checked, and if there is no match, an
8301 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back to the browser. Otherwise, if
8302 it does match, an image is returned for the former, and an empty text
8303 document for the latter. The type of image would depend on the setting of
8304 <link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
8305 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
8310 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
8311 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
8316 If the URL pattern matches the <link
8317 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
8318 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
8323 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
8324 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
8325 linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
8326 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
8332 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web
8338 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
8339 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
8340 filtered as determined by the
8341 <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
8342 <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
8343 and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
8349 If any <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
8351 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
8352 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
8353 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
8354 <filename>default.filter</filename> and any other filter files) are
8355 processed against the buffered content. Filters are applied in the order
8356 they are specified in one of the filter files. Animated GIFs, if present,
8357 are reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
8358 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
8359 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
8362 If neither a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
8364 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
8365 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
8366 to the client browser as it becomes available.
8371 As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it
8372 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
8373 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
8374 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a
8375 separate request (this is easily viewable in <application>Privoxy's</application>
8376 logs). And each such request is in turn processed just as above. Note that a
8377 complex web page will have many, many such embedded URLs. If these
8378 secondary requests are to a different server, then quite possibly a very
8379 differing set of actions is triggered.
8386 NOTE: This is somewhat of a simplistic overview of what happens with each URL
8387 request. For the sake of brevity and simplicity, we have focused on
8388 <application>Privoxy's</application> core features only.
8394 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8395 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
8396 <title>Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</title>
8399 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
8400 <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
8401 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
8402 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
8403 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
8404 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
8405 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
8406 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
8407 <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
8412 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
8413 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
8414 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
8415 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
8416 logs is a good idea too. (Note that both the toggle feature and logging are
8417 enabled via <filename>config</filename> file settings, and may need to be
8418 turned <quote>on</quote>.)
8421 Another easy troubleshooting step to try is if you have done any
8422 customization of your installation, revert back to the installed
8423 defaults and see if that helps. There are times the developers get complaints
8424 about one thing or another, and the problem is more related to a customized
8425 configuration issue.
8429 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
8430 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
8431 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
8432 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
8436 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
8437 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
8438 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
8439 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
8440 linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
8441 one of the filter files since this is handled very
8442 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
8443 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
8444 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
8445 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
8446 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
8447 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
8448 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
8453 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
8454 and look at it one section at a time in a sample configuration (your real
8455 configuration may vary):
8460 Matches for http://www.google.com:
8462 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8464 {+change-x-forwarded-for{block}
8465 +deanimate-gifs {last}
8466 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
8467 +filter {refresh-tags}
8468 +filter {img-reorder}
8469 +filter {banners-by-size}
8471 +filter {jumping-windows}
8472 +filter {ie-exploits}
8473 +hide-from-header {block}
8474 +hide-referrer {forge}
8475 +session-cookies-only
8476 +set-image-blocker {pattern}
8479 { -session-cookies-only }
8485 In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8486 (no matches in this file)
8491 This is telling us how we have defined our
8492 <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
8493 which ones match for our test case, <quote>google.com</quote>.
8494 Displayed is all the actions that are available to us. Remember,
8495 the <literal>+</literal> sign denotes <quote>on</quote>. <literal>-</literal>
8496 denotes <quote>off</quote>. So some are <quote>on</quote> here, but many
8497 are <quote>off</quote>. Each example we try may provide a slightly different
8498 end result, depending on our configuration directives.
8502 is for our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line
8503 listing, is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default
8504 settings. If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the
8505 section just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This
8506 will apply to all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end
8507 of the listing -- <quote> / </quote>.
8511 But we have defined additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
8512 rules, and then we list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions
8513 would apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit
8514 matches for <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous
8515 cookie setting, which was for <link
8516 linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
8517 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google, at
8518 least that is how it is in this example. The second turns
8519 <emphasis>off</emphasis> any <link
8520 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
8521 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
8522 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
8523 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
8524 <quote>www.google.com</quote> or <quote>mail.google.com</quote>. But it would not
8525 match <quote>www.google.de</quote>! So, apparently, we have these two actions
8526 defined as exceptions to the general rules at the top somewhere in the lower
8527 part of our <filename>default.action</filename> file, and
8528 <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter sections.
8532 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
8533 So there is nothing google-specific that we might have added to our own, local
8534 configuration. If there was, those actions would over-rule any actions from
8535 previously processed files, such as <filename>default.action</filename>.
8536 <filename>user.action</filename> typically has the last word. This is the
8537 best place to put hard and fast exceptions,
8541 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
8542 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
8543 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
8554 +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
8555 -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
8556 -content-type-overwrite
8557 -crunch-client-header
8558 -crunch-if-none-match
8559 -crunch-incoming-cookies
8560 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
8561 -crunch-server-header
8562 +deanimate-gifs {last}
8563 -downgrade-http-version
8566 -filter {content-cookies}
8567 -filter {all-popups}
8568 -filter {banners-by-link}
8569 -filter {tiny-textforms}
8570 -filter {frameset-borders}
8571 -filter {demoronizer}
8572 -filter {shockwave-flash}
8573 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
8575 -filter {crude-parental}
8576 -filter {site-specifics}
8577 -filter {js-annoyances}
8578 -filter {html-annoyances}
8579 +filter {refresh-tags}
8580 -filter {unsolicited-popups}
8581 +filter {img-reorder}
8582 +filter {banners-by-size}
8584 +filter {jumping-windows}
8585 +filter {ie-exploits}
8592 -handle-as-empty-document
8594 -hide-accept-language
8595 -hide-content-disposition
8596 +hide-from-header {block}
8597 -hide-if-modified-since
8598 +hide-referrer {forge}
8601 -overwrite-last-modified
8602 -prevent-compression
8604 -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
8605 -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
8606 -session-cookies-only
8607 +set-image-blocker {pattern} </screen>
8611 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
8612 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>,
8613 which are activated specifically for this site in our configuration,
8614 and thus show in the <quote>Final Results</quote>.
8618 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
8624 { +block{Domains starts with "ad"} }
8627 { +block{Domain contains "ad"} }
8630 { +block{Doubleclick banner server} +handle-as-image }
8631 .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
8636 We'll just show the interesting part here - the explicit matches. It is
8637 matched three different times. Two <quote>+block{}</quote> sections,
8638 and a <quote>+block{} +handle-as-image</quote>,
8639 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
8640 <quote>+block-as-image</quote>. (<link
8641 linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
8642 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
8647 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
8648 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
8649 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
8650 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
8651 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
8652 is done here -- as both a <link
8653 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block{}</quote></link>
8654 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
8655 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
8656 The custom alias <quote><literal>+block-as-image</literal></quote> just
8657 simplifies the process and make it more readable.
8661 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
8662 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
8668 Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
8670 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8674 +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
8675 -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
8676 -content-type-overwrite
8677 -crunch-client-header
8678 -crunch-if-none-match
8679 -crunch-incoming-cookies
8680 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
8681 -crunch-server-header
8683 -downgrade-http-version
8684 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
8686 -filter {content-cookies}
8687 -filter {all-popups}
8688 -filter {banners-by-link}
8689 -filter {tiny-textforms}
8690 -filter {frameset-borders}
8691 -filter {demoronizer}
8692 -filter {shockwave-flash}
8693 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
8695 -filter {crude-parental}
8696 -filter {site-specifics}
8697 -filter {js-annoyances}
8698 -filter {html-annoyances}
8699 +filter {refresh-tags}
8700 -filter {unsolicited-popups}
8701 +filter {img-reorder}
8702 +filter {banners-by-size}
8704 +filter {jumping-windows}
8705 +filter {ie-exploits}
8712 -handle-as-empty-document
8714 -hide-accept-language
8715 -hide-content-disposition
8716 +hide-from-header{block}
8717 +hide-referer{forge}
8719 -overwrite-last-modified
8720 +prevent-compression
8722 -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
8723 -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
8724 +session-cookies-only
8725 +set-image-blocker{blank} }
8728 { +block{Path contains "ads".} +handle-as-image }
8734 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote> in our
8735 configuration! But we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the
8736 blank page. It is actually triggering two different actions here, and
8737 the effects are aggregated so that the URL is blocked, and &my-app; is told
8738 to treat the block as if it were an image. But this is, of course, all wrong.
8739 We could now add a new action below this (or better in our own
8740 <filename>user.action</filename> file) that explicitly
8741 <emphasis>un</emphasis> blocks (
8742 <link linkend="BLOCK"><quote>{-block}</quote></link>) paths with
8743 <quote>adsl</quote> in them (remember, last match in the configuration
8744 wins). There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
8756 Now the page displays ;-)
8757 Remember to flush your browser's caches when making these kinds of changes to
8758 your configuration to insure that you get a freshly delivered page! Or, try
8759 using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
8763 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
8770 { +block{Path starts with "ads".} +handle-as-image }
8776 That actually was very helpful and pointed us quickly to where the problem
8777 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
8778 rules in the first section of <filename>default.action</filename> is causing
8779 the problem. This would require some guesswork, and maybe a little trial and
8780 error to isolate the offending rule. One likely cause would be one of the
8781 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> actions.
8782 These tend to be harder to troubleshoot.
8783 Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off
8784 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>:
8792 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
8800 <quote><literal>{ shop }</literal></quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
8801 <quote><literal>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</literal></quote>.
8802 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
8810 # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
8818 This would turn off all filtering for these sites. This is best
8819 put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
8820 exceptions. Note that when a simple domain pattern is used by itself (without
8821 the subsequent path portion), all sub-pages within that domain are included
8822 automatically in the scope of the action.
8826 Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
8827 <link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"><quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote></link>
8829 that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well
8830 <emphasis>most of the time</emphasis> since these tend to be standardized).
8834 <quote><literal>{ fragile }</literal></quote> is an alias that disables most
8835 actions that are the most likely to cause trouble. This can be used as a
8836 last resort for problem sites.
8842 # Handle with care: easy to break
8844 mybank.example.com</screen>
8849 <emphasis>Remember to flush caches!</emphasis> Note that the
8850 <literal>mail.google</literal> reference lacks the TLD portion (e.g.
8851 <quote>.com</quote>). This will effectively match any TLD with
8852 <literal>google</literal> in it, such as <literal>mail.google.de.</literal>,
8856 If this still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining
8857 actions one by one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
8866 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
8867 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
8868 Public License as published by the Free Software
8869 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
8870 your option) any later version.
8872 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
8873 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
8874 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
8875 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
8876 License for more details.
8878 The GNU General Public License should be included with
8879 this file. If not, you can view it at
8880 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
8881 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
8882 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301,
8885 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
8886 Revision 2.126 2010/11/06 12:55:48 fabiankeil
8887 Set p-version to 3.0.17
8889 Revision 2.125 2010/09/03 17:39:37 fabiankeil
8890 Slightly improve the explanation of why filtering may appear slower than it is.
8892 Revision 2.124 2010/05/01 18:21:30 fabiankeil
8893 Explicitly mention how to match any URL.
8895 Revision 2.123 2010/02/19 16:00:38 fabiankeil
8898 Revision 2.122 2010/02/19 15:22:47 fabiankeil
8901 Revision 2.121 2010/02/15 15:30:13 fabiankeil
8902 Mention the use of the no-such-domain template for DNS problems with FEATURE_IPV6_SUPPORT enabled.
8904 Revision 2.120 2010/02/13 17:38:39 fabiankeil
8905 Update entities for 3.0.16 stable.
8907 Revision 2.119 2010/02/13 16:37:37 fabiankeil
8908 Update 'What's new?' section.
8910 Revision 2.118 2010/02/11 13:59:48 fabiankeil
8911 Mention that the headers added by the add-header action aren't modified by other actions.
8913 Revision 2.117 2010/01/11 12:56:04 fabiankeil
8914 Bump copyright range as p-config.sgml's copyright line is only used in the config file.
8916 Revision 2.116 2009/11/15 14:24:12 fabiankeil
8917 Prepare to generate docs for 3.0.16 UNRELEASED.
8919 Revision 2.115 2009/10/10 06:19:34 fabiankeil
8920 Ditch a duplicated 'since'.
8922 Revision 2.114 2009/10/10 05:51:48 fabiankeil
8923 Update "What's new" section.
8925 Revision 2.113 2009/10/10 05:48:55 fabiankeil
8926 Prepare for 3.0.15 beta.
8928 Revision 2.112 2009/07/24 12:20:30 fabiankeil
8929 Remove duplicated period.
8931 Revision 2.111 2009/07/18 18:11:11 fabiankeil
8932 Don't claim that NTLM should work when there are multiple reports that it doesn't.
8934 Revision 2.110 2009/07/18 16:25:17 fabiankeil
8935 Fix trailing whitespace.
8937 Revision 2.109 2009/07/18 16:24:39 fabiankeil
8938 Bump entities for 3.0.14 beta.
8940 Revision 2.108 2009/07/18 15:49:23 fabiankeil
8941 Add most of the changes in 3.0.14 to the "What's New" section.
8943 Revision 2.107 2009/06/12 14:30:58 fabiankeil
8944 Update entities for 3.0.13 beta.
8946 Revision 2.106 2009/06/12 11:04:13 fabiankeil
8947 Import ChangeLog for 3.0.13 beta.
8949 Revision 2.105 2009/04/17 11:32:57 fabiankeil
8950 Grammar and spelling fixes.
8952 Revision 2.104 2009/04/17 11:27:49 fabiankeil
8953 Petr Pisar's privoxy-3.0.12-ipv6-3.diff.
8955 Revision 2.103 2009/03/21 10:49:05 fabiankeil
8956 Merge updated ChangeLog.
8958 Revision 2.102 2009/03/15 19:31:36 fabiankeil
8959 Update "What's New in this Release" section.
8961 Revision 2.101 2009/02/25 19:01:56 fabiankeil
8964 Revision 2.100 2009/02/19 17:14:11 fabiankeil
8965 - Copy the release cycle description from announce.txt into
8966 the "What's New" section.
8967 - Stop referring to the ChangeLog for a "complete list of changes".
8968 The "What's New" section already contains the complete list.
8970 Revision 2.99 2009/02/19 02:20:22 hal9
8971 Make some links in seealso conditional. Man page is now privoxy only links.
8973 Revision 2.98 2009/02/16 17:10:33 fabiankeil
8974 Fix entry about shortened log messages. Noticed by Lee.
8976 Revision 2.97 2009/02/14 18:01:00 fabiankeil
8979 Revision 2.96 2009/02/14 13:14:03 fabiankeil
8982 Revision 2.95 2009/02/14 12:51:26 fabiankeil
8983 Mention match-all.action in the "Actions Files Tutorial" section.
8985 Revision 2.94 2009/02/14 11:50:31 fabiankeil
8986 Some indentation fixes.
8988 Revision 2.93 2009/02/14 10:14:42 fabiankeil
8989 Mention match-all.action in the action file descriptions.
8991 Revision 2.92 2009/02/12 16:08:26 fabiankeil
8992 Declare the code stable.
8994 Revision 2.91 2009/01/13 16:50:35 fabiankeil
8995 The standard.action file is gone.
8997 Revision 2.90 2008/09/26 16:53:09 fabiankeil
8998 Update "What's new" section.
9000 Revision 2.89 2008/09/21 15:38:56 fabiankeil
9001 Fix Portage tree sync instructions in Gentoo section.
9002 Anonymously reported at ijbswa-developers@.
9004 Revision 2.88 2008/09/21 14:42:52 fabiankeil
9005 Add documentation for change-x-forwarded-for{},
9006 remove documentation for hide-forwarded-for-headers.
9008 Revision 2.87 2008/08/30 15:37:35 fabiankeil
9011 Revision 2.86 2008/08/16 10:12:23 fabiankeil
9012 Merge two sentences and move the URL to the end of the item.
9014 Revision 2.85 2008/08/16 10:04:59 fabiankeil
9015 Some more syntax fixes. This version actually builds.
9017 Revision 2.84 2008/08/16 09:42:45 fabiankeil
9018 Turns out building docs works better if the syntax is valid.
9020 Revision 2.83 2008/08/16 09:32:02 fabiankeil
9021 Mention changes since 3.0.9 beta.
9023 Revision 2.82 2008/08/16 09:00:52 fabiankeil
9024 Fix example URL pattern (once more with feeling).
9026 Revision 2.81 2008/08/16 08:51:28 fabiankeil
9027 Update version-related entities.
9029 Revision 2.80 2008/07/18 16:54:30 fabiankeil
9030 Remove erroneous whitespace in documentation link.
9031 Reported by John Chronister in #2021611.
9033 Revision 2.79 2008/06/27 18:00:53 markm68k
9034 remove outdated startup information for mac os x
9036 Revision 2.78 2008/06/21 17:03:03 fabiankeil
9039 Revision 2.77 2008/06/14 13:45:22 fabiankeil
9040 Re-add a colon I unintentionally removed a few revisions ago.
9042 Revision 2.76 2008/06/14 13:21:28 fabiankeil
9043 Prepare for the upcoming 3.0.9 beta release.
9045 Revision 2.75 2008/06/13 16:06:48 fabiankeil
9046 Update the "What's New in this Release" section with
9047 the ChangeLog entries changelog2doc.pl could handle.
9049 Revision 2.74 2008/05/26 15:55:46 fabiankeil
9050 - Update "default profiles" table.
9051 - Add some more pcrs redirect examples and note that
9052 enabling debug 128 helps to get redirects working.
9054 Revision 2.73 2008/05/23 14:43:18 fabiankeil
9055 Remove previously out-commented block that caused syntax problems.
9057 Revision 2.72 2008/05/12 10:26:14 fabiankeil
9058 Synchronize content filter descriptions with the ones in default.filter.
9060 Revision 2.71 2008/04/10 17:37:16 fabiankeil
9061 Actually we use "modern" POSIX 1003.2 regular
9062 expressions in path patterns, not PCRE.
9064 Revision 2.70 2008/04/10 15:59:12 fabiankeil
9065 Add another section to the client-header-tagger example that shows
9066 how to actually change the action settings once the tag is created.
9068 Revision 2.69 2008/03/29 12:14:25 fabiankeil
9069 Remove send-wafer and send-vanilla-wafer actions.
9071 Revision 2.68 2008/03/28 15:13:43 fabiankeil
9072 Remove inspect-jpegs action.
9074 Revision 2.67 2008/03/27 18:31:21 fabiankeil
9075 Remove kill-popups action.
9077 Revision 2.66 2008/03/06 16:33:47 fabiankeil
9078 If limit-connect isn't used, don't limit CONNECT requests to port 443.
9080 Revision 2.65 2008/03/04 18:30:40 fabiankeil
9081 Remove the treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks action. We now
9082 use the "blocked" page for forbidden CONNECT requests by default.
9084 Revision 2.64 2008/03/01 14:10:28 fabiankeil
9085 Use new block syntax. Still needs some polishing.
9087 Revision 2.63 2008/02/22 05:50:37 markm68k
9090 Revision 2.62 2008/02/11 11:52:23 hal9
9091 Fix entity ... s/&/&
9093 Revision 2.61 2008/02/11 03:41:47 markm68k
9094 more updates for mac os x
9096 Revision 2.60 2008/02/11 03:40:25 markm68k
9097 more updates for mac os x
9099 Revision 2.59 2008/02/11 00:52:34 markm68k
9100 reflect new changes for mac os x
9102 Revision 2.58 2008/02/03 21:37:40 hal9
9103 Apply patch from Mark: s/OSX/OS X/
9105 Revision 2.57 2008/02/03 19:10:14 fabiankeil
9106 Mention forward-socks5.
9108 Revision 2.56 2008/01/31 19:11:35 fabiankeil
9109 Let the +client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation} example apply
9110 to all requests as "tainted" Referers aren't limited to exit TLDs.
9112 Revision 2.55 2008/01/19 21:26:37 hal9
9113 Add IE7 to configuration section per Gerry.
9115 Revision 2.54 2008/01/19 17:52:39 hal9
9116 Re-commit to fix various minor issues for new release.
9118 Revision 2.53 2008/01/19 15:03:05 hal9
9119 Doc sources tagged for 3.0.8 release.
9121 Revision 2.52 2008/01/17 01:49:51 hal9
9122 Change copyright notice for docs s/2007/2008/. All these will be rebuilt soon
9125 Revision 2.51 2007/12/23 16:48:24 fabiankeil
9126 Use more precise example descriptions for the mysterious domain patterns.
9128 Revision 2.50 2007/12/08 12:44:36 fabiankeil
9129 - Remove already commented out pre-3.0.7 changes.
9130 - Update the "new log defaults" paragraph.
9132 Revision 2.49 2007/12/06 18:21:55 fabiankeil
9133 Update hide-forwarded-for-headers description.
9135 Revision 2.48 2007/11/24 19:07:17 fabiankeil
9136 - Mention request rewriting.
9137 - Enable the conditional-forge paragraph.
9140 Revision 2.47 2007/11/18 14:59:47 fabiankeil
9141 A few "Note to Upgraders" updates.
9143 Revision 2.46 2007/11/17 17:24:44 fabiankeil
9144 - Use new action defaults.
9145 - Minor fixes and rewordings.
9147 Revision 2.45 2007/11/16 11:48:46 hal9
9148 Fix one typo, and add a couple of small refinements.
9150 Revision 2.44 2007/11/15 03:30:20 hal9
9151 Results of spell check.
9153 Revision 2.43 2007/11/14 18:45:39 fabiankeil
9154 - Mention some more contributors in the "New in this Release" list.
9157 Revision 2.42 2007/11/12 03:32:40 hal9
9158 Updates for "What's New" and "Notes to Upgraders". Various other changes in
9159 preparation for new release. User Manual is almost ready.
9161 Revision 2.41 2007/11/11 16:32:11 hal9
9162 This is primarily syncing What's New and Note to Upgraders sections with the many
9163 new features and changes (gleaned from memory but mostly from ChangeLog).
9165 Revision 2.40 2007/11/10 17:10:59 fabiankeil
9166 In the first third of the file, mention several times that
9167 the action editor is disabled by default in 3.0.7 beta and later.
9169 Revision 2.39 2007/11/05 02:34:49 hal9
9170 Various changes in preparation for the upcoming release. Much yet to be done.
9172 Revision 2.38 2007/09/22 16:01:42 fabiankeil
9173 Update embedded show-url-info output.
9175 Revision 2.37 2007/08/27 16:09:55 fabiankeil
9176 Fix pre-chroot-nslookup description which I failed to
9177 copy and paste properly. Reported by Stephen Gildea.
9179 Revision 2.36 2007/08/26 16:47:14 fabiankeil
9180 Add Stephen Gildea's pre-chroot-nslookup patch [#1276666],
9181 extensive comments moved to user manual.
9183 Revision 2.35 2007/08/26 14:59:49 fabiankeil
9184 Minor rewordings and fixes.
9186 Revision 2.34 2007/08/05 15:19:50 fabiankeil
9187 - Don't claim HTTP/1.1 compliance.
9188 - Use $ in some of the path pattern examples.
9189 - Use a hide-user-agent example argument without
9190 leading and trailing space.
9191 - Make it clear that the cookie actions work with
9193 - Rephrase the inspect-jpegs text to underline
9194 that it's only meant to protect against a single
9197 Revision 2.33 2007/07/27 10:57:35 hal9
9198 Add references for user-agent strings for hide-user-agenet
9200 Revision 2.32 2007/06/07 12:36:22 fabiankeil
9201 Apply Roland's 29_usermanual.dpatch to fix a bunch
9202 of syntax errors I collected over the last months.
9204 Revision 2.31 2007/06/02 14:01:37 fabiankeil
9205 Start to document forward-override{}.
9207 Revision 2.30 2007/04/25 15:10:36 fabiankeil
9208 - Describe installation for FreeBSD.
9209 - Start to document taggers and tag patterns.
9210 - Don't confuse devils and daemons.
9212 Revision 2.29 2007/04/05 11:47:51 fabiankeil
9213 Some updates regarding header filtering,
9214 handling of compressed content and redirect's
9215 support for pcrs commands.
9217 Revision 2.28 2006/12/10 23:42:48 hal9
9218 Fix various typos reported by Adam P. Thanks.
9220 Revision 2.27 2006/11/14 01:57:47 hal9
9221 Dump all docs prior to 3.0.6 release. Various minor changes to faq and user
9224 Revision 2.26 2006/10/24 11:16:44 hal9
9227 Revision 2.25 2006/10/18 10:50:33 hal9
9228 Add note that since filters are off in Cautious, compression is ON. Turn off
9229 compression to make filters work on all sites.
9231 Revision 2.24 2006/10/03 11:13:54 hal9
9232 More references to the new filters. Include html this time around.
9234 Revision 2.23 2006/10/02 22:43:53 hal9
9235 Contains new filter definitions from Fabian, and few other miscellaneous
9238 Revision 2.22 2006/09/22 01:27:55 hal9
9239 Final commit of probably various minor changes here and there. Unless
9240 something changes this should be ready for pending release.
9242 Revision 2.21 2006/09/20 03:21:36 david__schmidt
9243 Just the tiniest tweak. Wafer thin!
9245 Revision 2.20 2006/09/10 14:53:54 hal9
9246 Results of spell check. User manual has some updates to standard.actions file
9249 Revision 2.19 2006/09/08 12:19:02 fabiankeil
9250 Adjust hide-if-modified-since example values
9251 to reflect the recent changes.
9253 Revision 2.18 2006/09/08 02:38:57 hal9
9255 -Fix a number of broken links.
9256 -Migrate the new Windows service command line options, and reference as
9258 -Rebuild so that can be used with the new "user-manual" config capabilities.
9261 Revision 2.17 2006/09/05 13:25:12 david__schmidt
9262 Add Windows service invocation stuff (duplicated) in FAQ and in user manual under Windows startup. One probably ought to reference the other.
9264 Revision 2.16 2006/09/02 12:49:37 hal9
9265 Various small updates for new actions, filterfiles, etc.
9267 Revision 2.15 2006/08/30 11:15:22 hal9
9268 More work on the new actions, especially filter-*-headers, and What's New
9269 section. User Manual is close to final form for 3.0.4 release. Some tinkering
9270 and proof reading left to do.
9272 Revision 2.14 2006/08/29 10:59:36 hal9
9273 Add a "Whats New in this release" Section. Further work on multiple filter
9274 files, and assorted other minor changes.
9276 Revision 2.13 2006/08/22 11:04:59 hal9
9277 Silence warnings and errors. This should build now. New filters were only
9278 stubbed in. More to be done.
9280 Revision 2.12 2006/08/14 08:40:39 fabiankeil
9281 Documented new actions that were part of
9282 the "minor Privoxy improvements".
9284 Revision 2.11 2006/07/18 14:48:51 david__schmidt
9285 Reorganizing the repository: swapping out what was HEAD (the old 3.1 branch)
9286 with what was really the latest development (the v_3_0_branch branch)
9288 Revision 1.123.2.43 2005/05/23 09:59:10 hal9
9291 Revision 1.123.2.42 2004/12/04 14:39:57 hal9
9292 Fix two minor typos per bug SF report.
9294 Revision 1.123.2.41 2004/03/23 12:58:42 oes
9297 Revision 1.123.2.40 2004/02/27 12:48:49 hal9
9298 Add comment re: redirecting to local file system for set-image-blocker may
9299 is dependent on browser.
9301 Revision 1.123.2.39 2004/01/30 22:31:40 oes
9302 Added a hint re bookmarklets to Quickstart section
9304 Revision 1.123.2.38 2004/01/30 16:47:51 oes
9305 Some minor clarifications
9307 Revision 1.123.2.37 2004/01/29 22:36:11 hal9
9308 Updates for no longer filtering text/plain, and demoronizer default settings,
9309 and copyright notice dates.
9311 Revision 1.123.2.36 2003/12/10 02:26:26 hal9
9312 Changed the demoronizer filter description.
9314 Revision 1.123.2.35 2003/11/06 13:36:37 oes
9315 Updated link to nightly CVS tarball
9317 Revision 1.123.2.34 2003/06/26 23:50:16 hal9
9318 Add a small bit on filtering and problems re: source code being corrupted.
9320 Revision 1.123.2.33 2003/05/08 18:17:33 roro
9321 Use apt-get instead of dpkg to install Debian package, which is more
9322 solid, uses the correct and most recent Debian version automatically.
9324 Revision 1.123.2.32 2003/04/11 03:13:57 hal9
9325 Add small note about only one filterfile (as opposed to multiple actions
9328 Revision 1.123.2.31 2003/03/26 02:03:43 oes
9329 Updated hard-coded copyright dates
9331 Revision 1.123.2.30 2003/03/24 12:58:56 hal9
9332 Add new section on Predefined Filters.
9334 Revision 1.123.2.29 2003/03/20 02:45:29 hal9
9335 More problems with \-\-chroot causing markup problems :(
9337 Revision 1.123.2.28 2003/03/19 00:35:24 hal9
9338 Manual edit of revision log because 'chroot' (even inside a comment) was
9339 causing Docbook to hang here (due to double hyphen and the processor thinking
9342 Revision 1.123.2.27 2003/03/18 19:37:14 oes
9343 s/Advanced|Radical/Adventuresome/g to avoid complaints re fun filter
9345 Revision 1.123.2.26 2003/03/17 16:50:53 oes
9346 Added documentation for new chroot option
9348 Revision 1.123.2.25 2003/03/15 18:36:55 oes
9349 Adapted to the new filters
9351 Revision 1.123.2.24 2002/11/17 06:41:06 hal9
9352 Move default profiles table from FAQ to U-M, and other minor related changes.
9355 Revision 1.123.2.23 2002/10/21 02:32:01 hal9
9356 Updates to the user.action examples section. A few new ones.
9358 Revision 1.123.2.22 2002/10/12 00:51:53 hal9
9359 Add demoronizer to filter section.
9361 Revision 1.123.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 hal9
9362 s/Advanced/Radical/ and added very brief note.
9364 Revision 1.123.2.20 2002/10/10 03:49:21 hal9
9365 Add notes to session-cookies-only and Quickstart about pre-existing
9366 cookies. Also, note content-cookies work differently.
9368 Revision 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9
9369 More explanation on Privoxy patterns, more on content-cookies and SSL.
9371 Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9
9372 Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match
9375 Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9
9376 Spell checked (only one typo this time!).
9378 Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt
9379 Update to Mac OS X startup script name
9381 Revision 1.123.2.15 2002/08/07 17:32:11 oes
9382 Converted some internal links from ulink to link for PDF creation; no content changed
9384 Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes
9385 Nits re: actions file download
9387 Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff
9388 Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections
9390 Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff
9391 Added 2 Gentoo sections
9393 Revision 1.123.2.11 2002/07/26 15:20:31 oes
9394 - Added version info to title
9395 - Added info on new filters
9396 - Revised parts of the filter file tutorial
9397 - Added info on where to get updated actions files
9399 Revision 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
9400 Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
9402 Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt
9404 Updated Mac OS X sections due to installation location change
9406 Revision 1.123.2.8 2002/06/09 16:36:32 hal9
9407 Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
9409 Revision 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9
9410 Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy.
9412 Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9
9413 Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs.
9415 Revision 1.123.2.5 2002/05/29 02:01:02 hal9
9416 This is break out of the entire config section from u-m, so it can
9417 eventually be used to generate the comments, etc in the main config file
9418 so that these are in sync with each other.
9420 Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
9421 Ooops missed something from David.
9423 Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9
9424 Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and Mac OS X startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat).
9425 That's a wrap, I think.
9427 Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9
9428 Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section.
9430 Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
9431 -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
9433 Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9
9434 Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton.
9435 Minor corrections/clarifications here and there.
9437 Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
9438 Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
9440 Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes
9441 - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the
9442 <literal><link> style.
9443 - Small fixes in the actions chapter
9444 - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking
9445 - Removed <emphasis> from <title>s since the new doc CSS
9446 renders them red (bad in TOC).
9448 Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
9449 Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
9451 Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
9454 Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
9455 -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
9456 -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
9458 Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
9459 - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
9460 - Small changes to Regex appendix
9461 - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
9463 Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
9464 Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
9466 Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
9467 Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
9469 Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
9470 More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
9472 Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
9473 Extended and further commented the example actions files
9475 Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
9476 Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
9479 Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes
9482 Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes
9483 Restored alphabetical order of actions
9485 Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes
9486 Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs
9488 Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
9489 Completed proofreading the actions chapter
9491 Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9
9492 Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this
9493 apparently an important distinction for some OS's.
9495 Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
9496 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
9497 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
9498 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
9500 Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
9501 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
9503 Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
9506 Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
9507 -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
9508 -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
9510 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
9511 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
9513 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
9514 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
9515 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
9517 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
9518 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
9520 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
9521 more structure in starting section
9523 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
9524 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
9525 will probably break links elsewhere :(
9527 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
9528 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
9529 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
9531 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
9532 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
9533 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
9535 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
9536 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
9538 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
9539 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
9540 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
9542 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
9543 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
9544 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
9546 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
9547 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
9549 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
9550 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
9552 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
9553 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
9555 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
9556 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
9558 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
9559 Updated Mac OS X installation section
9560 Added a few English tweaks here an there
9562 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
9563 Re-write actions section.
9565 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
9566 Fix ugly typo (mine).
9568 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
9569 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
9571 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
9572 Added RPM install detail
9574 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
9577 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
9578 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
9580 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
9581 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
9583 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
9584 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
9586 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
9589 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
9590 Proofreading, part one
9592 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
9593 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
9594 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
9596 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
9597 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
9599 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
9600 Add small section on submitting actions.
9602 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
9605 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
9606 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
9608 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
9609 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
9611 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
9614 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
9615 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
9616 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
9617 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
9618 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
9620 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
9621 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
9623 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
9624 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
9626 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
9627 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
9628 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
9629 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
9630 eventually be set by Makefile.
9631 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
9633 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
9634 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
9636 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
9637 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
9639 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
9640 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
9642 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
9643 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
9644 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
9645 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
9647 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
9650 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
9651 Added more to Anatomy section.
9653 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
9654 Touch up intro for new name.
9656 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
9657 we have a new homepage!
9659 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
9660 A few minor catch ups with name change.
9662 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
9663 configure needs to be generated.
9665 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
9666 we are too lazy to make a block-built
9667 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
9669 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
9670 name change related issue.
9672 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
9673 name change. changed filenames.
9675 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
9678 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
9679 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
9680 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
9681 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
9682 comments and remarks to history untouched.
9684 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
9687 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
9688 New section in Appendix.
9690 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
9691 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
9693 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
9694 correct feedback channels
9696 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
9697 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
9699 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
9702 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
9703 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
9705 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
9706 Added imageblock{pattern}.
9708 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
9711 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
9712 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
9714 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
9715 provide correct feedback channels
9717 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
9718 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
9720 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
9721 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
9723 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
9724 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
9726 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
9727 Add new - - user option.
9729 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
9730 Added section on command line options.
9732 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
9733 Changed default port to 8118
9735 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
9736 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
9738 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
9739 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
9740 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
9743 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
9746 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
9747 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
9749 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
9750 Update OS/2 build section
9752 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
9753 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
9754 will work - no other changes are needed.
9756 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
9757 Added a very short section on Templates
9759 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
9760 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
9762 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
9763 Touch ups for *.action files.
9765 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
9768 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
9769 Updates for recent changes.
9771 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
9772 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
9774 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
9775 Correct 2 minor errors
9777 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
9778 *** empty log message ***
9780 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
9781 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
9783 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
9784 wrong url in documentation
9786 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
9787 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
9789 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
9792 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
9795 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
9798 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
9799 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
9801 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
9802 Some additions, and re-arranging.
9804 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
9807 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
9808 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
9810 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
9813 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
9814 source files for junkbuster documentation
9816 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
9817 first proposal of a structure.
9819 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
9820 docs should have an author.
9822 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
9823 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.