2 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/p-config.sgml,v $
4 Purpose : Used with other docs and files only.
6 $Id: p-config.sgml,v 1.1.2.8 2002/08/22 23:15:21 hal9 Exp $
8 Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
11 ========================================================================
12 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
13 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
14 ========================================================================
17 This file contains all the config file comments and options. It used to
18 build both the user-manual config sections, and all of config (yes, the main
21 Rationale: This is broken up into two files since a file with a prolog
22 (DTD, etc) cannot be sourced as a secondary file. config.sgml is basically
23 a wrapper for this file.
27 OPTIONS: The actual options are included in this file and prefixed with
28 '@@', and processed by the Makefile to strip the '@@'. Default options
29 that should appear commented out should be listed as: '@@#OPTION'.
30 Otherwise, as '@@OPTION'. Example:
32 @@listen-address 127.0.0.1:8118
34 The Makefile does significant other processing too. The final results
35 should be checked to make sure that the perl processing does not
36 fubar something!!! Makefile processing requires w3m, fmt (shell line
40 This file is included into:
43 config (the actual Privoxy config file)
48 <!-- This part only goes into user-manual -->
50 <title>The Main Configuration File</title>
53 Again, the main configuration file is named <filename>config</filename> on
54 Linux/Unix/BSD and OS/2, and <filename>config.txt</filename> on Windows.
55 Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list of
56 values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or tabs). For
64 <emphasis>confdir /etc/privoxy</emphasis></literallayout>
70 Assigns the value <literal>/etc/privoxy</literal> to the option
71 <literal>confdir</literal> and thus indicates that the configuration
72 directory is named <quote>/etc/privoxy/</quote>.
76 All options in the config file except for <literal>confdir</literal> and
77 <literal>logdir</literal> are optional. Watch out in the below description
78 for what happens if you leave them unset.
82 The main config file controls all aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>'s
83 operation that are not location dependent (i.e. they apply universally, no matter
84 where you may be surfing).
91 <!-- This part only goes into the config file -->
94 @@TITLE<!-- between the @@ is stripped by Makefile -->@@
95 Sample Configuration File for Privoxy v&p-version;
98 $Id: p-config.sgml,v 1.1.2.8 2002/08/22 23:15:21 hal9 Exp $
101 Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 Privoxy Developers http://privoxy.org
106 #################################################################
111 II. FORMAT OF THE CONFIGURATION FILE #
113 1. CONFIGURATION AND LOG FILE LOCATIONS #
114 2. LOCAL SET-UP DOCUMENTATION #
116 4. ACCESS CONTROL AND SECURITY #
118 6. WINDOWS GUI OPTIONS #
120 #################################################################
124 <literallayout>I. INTRODUCTION
125 =============== <!-- fuck this madness --></literallayout>
128 This file holds the Privoxy configuration. If you modify this
129 file, you will need to send a couple of requests to the proxy
130 before any changes take effect.
133 When starting Privoxy on Unix systems, give the name of this
134 file as an argument. On Windows systems, Privoxy will look for
135 this file with the name 'config.txt' in the same directory where
136 Privoxy is installed.
140 <literallayout><!-- funky spacing -->
142 II. FORMAT OF THE CONFIGURATION FILE
143 ====================================</literallayout>
146 Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list
147 of values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or
151 actionsfile default.action
154 Indicates that the actionsfile is named 'default.action'.
157 The '#' indicates a comment. Any part of a line following a '#' is
158 ignored, except if the '#' is preceded by a '\'.
161 Thus, by placing a # at the start of an existing configuration line,
162 you can make it a comment and it will be treated as if it weren't there.
163 This is called "commenting out" an option and can be useful.
166 Note that commenting out and option and leaving it at its default
167 are two completely different things! Most options behave very
168 differently when unset. See the the "Effect if unset" explanation
169 in each option's description for details.
172 Long lines can be continued on the next line by using a `\' as
178 <!-- ************************************************ -->
179 <!-- The following is common to both outputs (mostly) -->
180 <!-- ************************************************ -->
182 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
184 <sect2 id="conf-log-loc">
185 <title>Configuration and Log File Locations</title>
188 <application>Privoxy</application> can (and normally does) use a number of
189 other files for additional configuration, help and logging.
190 This section of the configuration file tells <application>Privoxy</application>
191 where to find those other files.
195 The user running <application>Privoxy</application>, must have read
196 permission for all configuration files, and write permission to any files
197 that would be modified, such as log files and actions files.
201 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
202 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="confdir"><title>confdir</title>
206 <term>Specifies:</term>
208 <para>The directory where the other configuration files are located</para>
212 <term>Type of value:</term>
214 <para>Path name</para>
218 <term>Default value:</term>
220 <para>/etc/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
224 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
226 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
233 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
236 When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and
237 per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of <quote>confdir</quote>.
238 For now, the configuration directory structure is flat, except for
239 <filename>confdir/templates</filename>, where the HTML templates for CGI
240 output reside (e.g. <application>Privoxy's</application> 404 error page).
246 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@confdir .</literallayout>]]>
250 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
251 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logdir"><title>logdir</title>
255 <term>Specifies:</term>
258 The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where <filename>logfile</filename> and
259 <filename>jarfile</filename> are located)
264 <term>Type of value:</term>
266 <para>Path name</para>
270 <term>Default value:</term>
272 <para>/var/log/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
276 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
278 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
285 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
291 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@logdir .</literallayout>]]>
295 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
296 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="actionsfile"><title>
299 <anchor id="default.action">
300 <anchor id="standard.action">
301 <anchor id="user.action">
302 <!-- Note: slightly modified this section 04/28/02, hal. See NOTE. -->
305 <term>Specifies:</term>
308 The <link linkend="actions-file">actions file(s)</link> to use
313 <term>Type of value:</term>
315 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal>, without the <literal>.action</literal> suffix</para>
319 <term>Default values:</term>
323 <msgtext><literallayout> standard # Internal purposes, no editing recommended</literallayout></msgtext>
326 <msgtext><literallayout> default # Main actions file</literallayout></msgtext>
329 <msgtext><literallayout> user # User customizations</literallayout></msgtext>
335 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
338 No actions are taken at all. Simple neutral proxying.
346 Multiple <literal>actionsfile</literal> lines are permitted, and are in fact recommended!
349 The default values include standard.action, which is used for internal
350 purposes and should be loaded, default.action, which is the
351 <quote>main</quote> actions file maintained by the developers, and
352 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can make your personal additions.
355 Actions files are where all the per site and per URL configuration is done for
356 ad blocking, cookie management, privacy considerations, etc.
357 There is no point in using <application>Privoxy</application> without at
358 least one actions file.
364 <!-- NOTE: alternate markup to make a simpler list doesn't work due to -->
365 <!-- html -> text conversion, blah -->
366 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@actionsfile standard # Internal purpose, recommended</literallayout>]]>
367 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@actionsfile default # Main actions file</literallayout>]]>
368 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@actionsfile user # User customizations</literallayout>]]>
371 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
372 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filterfile"><title>filterfile</title>
373 <anchor id="default.filter">
376 <term>Specifies:</term>
379 The <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link> to use
384 <term>Type of value:</term>
386 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
390 <term>Default value:</term>
392 <para>default.filter (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> default.filter.txt (Windows)</para>
396 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
399 No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all
400 <literal>+<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>}</literal>
401 actions in the actions files are turned neutral.
409 The <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link> contains content modification
410 rules that use <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link>. These rules permit
411 powerful changes on the content of Web pages, e.g., you could disable your favorite
412 JavaScript annoyances, re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some
413 fun replacing <quote>Microsoft</quote> with <quote>MicroSuck</quote> wherever
414 it appears on a Web page.
418 <literal>+<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>}</literal>
419 actions rely on the relevant filter (<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>)
420 to be defined in the filter file!
423 A pre-defined filter file called <filename>default.filter</filename> that contains
424 a bunch of handy filters for common problems is included in the distribution.
425 See the section on the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
432 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@filterfile default.filter</literallayout>]]>
436 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
437 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logfile"><title>logfile</title>
441 <term>Specifies:</term>
449 <term>Type of value:</term>
451 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
455 <term>Default value:</term>
457 <para>logfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.log (Windows)</para>
461 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
464 No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (<literal>STDERR</literal>).
472 The windows version will additionally log to the console.
475 The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The level
476 of detail and number of messages are set with the <literal>debug</literal>
477 option (see below). The logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with
478 <application>Privoxy</application> (e.g., it's not blocking an ad you
479 think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look at it.
482 Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to
483 periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job
484 (see <quote>man cron</quote>). For Red Hat, a <command>logrotate</command>
485 script has been included.
488 On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like <quote>/var/log/privoxy.*
489 +1024k 644 nobody.nogroup</quote> in <filename>/etc/logfiles</filename>, with
490 the effect that cron.daily will automatically archive, gzip, and empty the
491 log, when it exceeds 1M size.
494 Any log files must be writable by whatever user <application>Privoxy</application>
495 is being run as (default on UNIX, user id is <quote>privoxy</quote>).
501 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@logfile logfile</literallayout>]]>
505 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
506 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jarfile"><title>jarfile</title>
510 <term>Specifies:</term>
513 The file to store intercepted cookies in
518 <term>Type of value:</term>
520 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
524 <term>Default value:</term>
526 <para>jarfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.jar (Windows)</para>
530 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
533 Intercepted cookies are not stored at all.
541 The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time.
547 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@jarfile jarfile</literallayout>]]>
551 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
552 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trustfile"><title>trustfile</title>
555 <term>Specifies:</term>
558 The trust file to use
563 <term>Type of value:</term>
565 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
569 <term>Default value:</term>
571 <para><emphasis>Unset (commented out)</emphasis>. When activated: trust (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> trust.txt (Windows)</para>
575 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
578 The whole trust mechanism is turned off.
586 The trust mechanism is an experimental feature for building white-lists and should
587 be used with care. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> recommended for the casual user.
590 If you specify a trust file, <application>Privoxy</application> will only allow
591 access to sites that are named in the trustfile.
592 You can also mark sites as trusted referrers (with <literal>+</literal>), with
593 the effect that access to untrusted sites will be granted, if a link from a
594 trusted referrer was used.
595 The link target will then be added to the <quote>trustfile</quote>.
596 Possible applications include limiting Internet access for children.
599 If you use <literal>+</literal> operator in the trust file, it may grow considerably over time.
605 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#trustfile trust</literallayout>]]>
609 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
612 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
613 <sect2 id="local-set-up">
614 <title>Local Set-up Documentation</title>
617 If you intend to operate <application>Privoxy</application> for more users
618 than just yourself, it might be a good idea to let them know how to reach
619 you, what you block and why you do that, your policies, etc.
623 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
624 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="user-manual"><title>user-manual</title>
627 <term>Specifies:</term>
630 Location of the <application>Privoxy</application> User Manual.
635 <term>Type of value:</term>
637 <para>A fully qualified URI</para>
641 <term>Default value:</term>
643 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
647 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
650 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/<replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable>/user-manual/</ulink>
651 will be used, where <replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable> is the <application>Privoxy</application> version.
659 The User Manual URI is used for help links from some of the internal CGI pages.
660 The manual itself is normally packaged with the binary distributions, so you probably want
661 to set this to a locally installed copy. For multi-user setups, you could provide a copy on
662 a local webserver for all your users and use the corresponding URL here.
668 Unix, in local filesystem:
671 <screen>user-manual file:///usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;/user-manual/</screen>
674 Any platform, on local webserver (called <quote>local-webserver</quote>):
677 <screen>user-manual http://local-webserver/privoxy-user-manual/</screen>
680 <!-- this gets hammered in conversion to config. Text repeated below. -->
683 If set, this option should be <emphasis>the first option in the config
684 file</emphasis>, because it is used while the config file is being read.
696 If set, this option should be the first option in the config
697 file, because it is used while the config file is being read.
706 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#user-manual http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</literallayout>]]>
710 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
711 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trust-info-url"><title>trust-info-url</title>
715 <term>Specifies:</term>
718 A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if access to an untrusted page is denied.
723 <term>Type of value:</term>
729 <term>Default value:</term>
731 <para>Two example URL are provided</para>
735 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
738 No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page.
746 The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust mechanism has been
747 activated. (See <link linkend="trustfile"><emphasis>trustfile</emphasis></link> above.)
750 If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line
751 documentation about your trust policy and to specify the URL(s) here.
752 Use multiple times for multiple URLs.
755 The URL(s) should be added to the trustfile as well, so users don't end up
756 locked out from the information on why they were locked out in the first place!
762 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@trust-info-url http://www.example.com/why_we_block.html</literallayout>]]>
763 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@trust-info-url http://www.example.com/what_we_allow.html</literallayout>]]>
767 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
768 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="admin-address"><title>admin-address</title>
772 <term>Specifies:</term>
775 An email address to reach the proxy administrator.
780 <term>Type of value:</term>
782 <para>Email address</para>
786 <term>Default value:</term>
788 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
792 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
795 No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
803 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
804 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
811 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#admin-address privoxy-admin@example.com</literallayout>]]>
815 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
816 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="proxy-info-url"><title>proxy-info-url</title>
820 <term>Specifies:</term>
823 A URL to documentation about the local <application>Privoxy</application> setup,
824 configuration or policies.
829 <term>Type of value:</term>
835 <term>Default value:</term>
837 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
841 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
844 No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
852 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
853 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
857 This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-)
863 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#proxy-info-url http://www.example.com/proxy-service.html</literallayout>]]>
867 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
869 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
870 <sect2 id="debugging">
871 <title>Debugging</title>
874 These options are mainly useful when tracing a problem.
875 Note that you might also want to invoke
876 <application>Privoxy</application> with the <literal>--no-daemon</literal>
877 command line option when debugging.
880 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="debug"><title>debug</title>
884 <term>Specifies:</term>
887 Key values that determine what information gets logged to the
888 <link linkend="logfile"><emphasis>logfile</emphasis></link>.
893 <term>Type of value:</term>
895 <para>Integer values</para>
899 <term>Default value:</term>
901 <para>12289 (i.e.: URLs plus informational and warning messages)</para>
905 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
916 The available debug levels are:
920 debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
921 debug 2 # show each connection status
922 debug 4 # show I/O status
923 debug 8 # show header parsing
924 debug 16 # log all data into the logfile
925 debug 32 # debug force feature
926 debug 64 # debug regular expression filter
927 debug 128 # debug fast redirects
928 debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation
929 debug 512 # Common Log Format
930 debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups
931 debug 2048 # CGI user interface
932 debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
933 debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
937 To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or use
938 multiple <literal>debug</literal> lines.
941 A debug level of 1 is informative because it will show you each request
942 as it happens. <emphasis>1, 4096 and 8192 are highly recommended</emphasis>
943 so that you will notice when things go wrong. The other levels are probably
944 only of interest if you are hunting down a specific problem. They can produce
945 a hell of an output (especially 16).
949 The reporting of <emphasis>fatal</emphasis> errors (i.e. ones which crash
950 <application>Privoxy</application>) is always on and cannot be disabled.
953 If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set <quote>debug
954 512</quote> <emphasis>ONLY</emphasis> and not enable anything else.
960 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request</literallayout>]]>
961 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings</literallayout>]]>
962 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@debug 8192 # Errors - *we highly recommended enabling this*</literallayout>]]>
966 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
967 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="single-threaded"><title>single-threaded</title>
971 <term>Specifies:</term>
974 Whether to run only one server thread
979 <term>Type of value:</term>
981 <para><emphasis>None</emphasis></para>
985 <term>Default value:</term>
987 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
991 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
994 Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, i.e. the ability to
995 serve multiple requests simultaneously.
1003 This option is only there for debug purposes and you should never
1004 need to use it. <emphasis>It will drastically reduce performance.</emphasis>
1010 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#single-threaded</literallayout>]]>
1015 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1018 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1019 <sect2 id="access-control">
1020 <title>Access Control and Security</title>
1023 This section of the config file controls the security-relevant aspects
1024 of <application>Privoxy</application>'s configuration.
1028 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1029 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="listen-address"><title>listen-address</title>
1033 <term>Specifies:</term>
1036 The IP address and TCP port on which <application>Privoxy</application> will
1037 listen for client requests.
1042 <term>Type of value:</term>
1044 <para>[<replaceable class="parameter">IP-Address</replaceable>]:<replaceable class="parameter">Port</replaceable></para>
1049 <term>Default value:</term>
1051 <para>127.0.0.1:8118</para>
1055 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1058 Bind to 127.0.0.1 (localhost), port 8118. This is suitable and recommended for
1059 home users who run <application>Privoxy</application> on the same machine as
1068 You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address and port.
1071 If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to
1072 serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well, you
1073 will need to override the default.
1076 If you leave out the IP address, <application>Privoxy</application> will
1077 bind to all interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable
1078 from the Internet. In that case, consider using <link
1079 linkend="acls">access control lists</link> (ACL's, see below), and/or
1083 If you open <application>Privoxy</application> to untrusted users, you will
1084 also want to turn off the <literal><link
1085 linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link></literal> and
1086 <literal><link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link></literal>
1092 <term>Example:</term>
1095 Suppose you are running <application>Privoxy</application> on
1096 a machine which has the address 192.168.0.1 on your local private network
1097 (192.168.0.0) and has another outside connection with a different address.
1098 You want it to serve requests from inside only:
1102 listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
1109 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@listen-address 127.0.0.1:8118</literallayout>]]>
1113 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1114 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="toggle"><title>toggle</title>
1118 <term>Specifies:</term>
1121 Initial state of "toggle" status
1126 <term>Type of value:</term>
1132 <term>Default value:</term>
1138 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1141 Act as if toggled on
1149 If set to 0, <application>Privoxy</application> will start in
1150 <quote>toggled off</quote> mode, i.e. behave like a normal, content-neutral
1151 proxy where all ad blocking, filtering, etc are disabled. See
1152 <literal>enable-remote-toggle</literal> below. This is not really useful
1153 anymore, since toggling is much easier via <ulink
1154 url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">the web interface</ulink> than via
1155 editing the <filename>conf</filename> file.
1158 The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the system tray
1159 if this option is present.
1165 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@toggle 1</literallayout>]]>
1169 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1170 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-remote-toggle"><title>enable-remote-toggle</title>
1173 <term>Specifies:</term>
1176 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">web-based toggle
1177 feature</ulink> may be used
1182 <term>Type of value:</term>
1188 <term>Default value:</term>
1194 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1197 The web-based toggle feature is disabled.
1205 When toggled off, <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal,
1206 content-neutral proxy, i.e. it acts as if none of the actions applied to
1210 For the time being, access to the toggle feature can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
1211 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
1212 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
1213 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
1214 toggle it for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>
1215 for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
1218 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
1219 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
1225 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@enable-remote-toggle 1</literallayout>]]>
1229 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1230 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-edit-actions"><title>enable-edit-actions</title>
1233 <term>Specifies:</term>
1236 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions
1237 file editor</ulink> may be used
1242 <term>Type of value:</term>
1248 <term>Default value:</term>
1254 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1257 The web-based actions file editor is disabled.
1265 For the time being, access to the editor can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
1266 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
1267 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
1268 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
1269 modify its configuration for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not
1270 recommended</emphasis> for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
1273 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
1274 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
1280 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@enable-edit-actions 1</literallayout>]]>
1283 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1284 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="acls"><title>
1285 ACLs: permit-access and deny-access</title>
1286 <anchor id="permit-access">
1287 <anchor id="deny-access">
1291 <term>Specifies:</term>
1294 Who can access what.
1299 <term>Type of value:</term>
1302 <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable>]
1303 [<replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable>]]
1306 Where <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable> and
1307 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid
1308 DNS names, and <replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable> and
1309 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable> are subnet masks in CIDR notation, i.e. integer
1310 values from 2 to 30 representing the length (in bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole
1311 destination part are optional.
1316 <term>Default value:</term>
1318 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1322 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1325 Don't restrict access further than implied by <literal>listen-address</literal>
1333 Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems
1334 administrators, and <emphasis>are not usually needed by individual users</emphasis>.
1335 For a typical home user, it will normally suffice to ensure that
1336 <application>Privoxy</application> only listens on the localhost
1337 (127.0.0.1) or internal (home) network address by means of the
1338 <link linkend="listen-address"><emphasis>listen-address</emphasis></link>
1342 Please see the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute
1343 for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security
1347 Multiple ACL lines are OK.
1348 If any ACLs are specified, then the <application>Privoxy</application>
1349 talks only to IP addresses that match at least one <literal>permit-access</literal> line
1350 and don't match any subsequent <literal>deny-access</literal> line. In other words, the
1351 last match wins, with the default being <literal>deny-access</literal>.
1354 If <application>Privoxy</application> is using a forwarder (see <literal>forward</literal> below)
1355 for a particular destination URL, the <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>
1356 that is examined is the address of the forwarder and <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the address
1357 of the ultimate target. This is necessary because it may be impossible for the local
1358 <application>Privoxy</application> to determine the IP address of the
1359 ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for).
1362 You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because the address lookups take
1363 time. All DNS names must resolve! You can <emphasis>not</emphasis> use domain patterns
1364 like <quote>*.org</quote> or partial domain names. If a DNS name resolves to multiple
1365 IP addresses, only the first one is used.
1368 Denying access to particular sites by ACL may have undesired side effects
1369 if the site in question is hosted on a machine which also hosts other sites.
1374 <term>Examples:</term>
1377 Explicitly define the default behavior if no ACL and
1378 <literal>listen-address</literal> are set: <quote>localhost</quote>
1379 is OK. The absence of a <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> implies that
1380 <emphasis>all</emphasis> destination addresses are OK:
1384 permit-access localhost
1388 Allow any host on the same class C subnet as www.privoxy.org access to
1389 nothing but www.example.com:
1393 permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32
1397 Allow access from any host on the 26-bit subnet 192.168.45.64 to anywhere,
1398 with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access www.dirty-stuff.example.com:
1402 permit-access 192.168.45.64/26
1403 deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com
1412 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1413 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="buffer-limit"><title>buffer-limit</title>
1417 <term>Specifies:</term>
1420 Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering.
1425 <term>Type of value:</term>
1427 <para>Size in Kbytes</para>
1431 <term>Default value:</term>
1437 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1440 Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit.
1448 For content filtering, i.e. the <literal>+filter</literal> and
1449 <literal>+deanimate-gif</literal> actions, it is necessary that
1450 <application>Privoxy</application> buffers the entire document body.
1451 This can be potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending
1452 data indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust -- with nasty consequences.
1456 When a document buffer size reaches the <literal>buffer-limit</literal>, it is
1457 flushed to the client unfiltered and no further attempt to
1458 filter the rest of the document is made. Remember that there may be multiple threads
1459 running, which might require up to <literal>buffer-limit</literal> Kbytes
1460 <emphasis>each</emphasis>, unless you have enabled <quote>single-threaded</quote>
1467 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@buffer-limit 4096</literallayout>]]>
1472 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1475 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1477 <sect2 id="forwarding">
1478 <title>Forwarding</title>
1481 This feature allows routing of HTTP requests through a chain of
1483 It can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when
1484 accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains
1485 through an anonymous public proxy (see e.g. <ulink
1486 url="http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm">http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm</ulink>)
1487 Or to use a caching proxy to speed up browsing. Or chaining to a parent
1488 proxy may be necessary because the machine that <application>Privoxy</application>
1489 runs on has no direct Internet access.
1493 Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. <application>Privoxy</application>
1494 supports the SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A protocols.
1497 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward"><title>forward</title>
1500 <term>Specifies:</term>
1503 To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed.
1508 <term>Type of value:</term>
1511 <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable>
1512 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1515 where <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable> is a <link linkend="af-patterns">URL pattern</link>
1516 that specifies to which requests (i.e. URLs) this forward rule shall apply. Use <literal>/</literal> to
1517 denote <quote>all URLs</quote>.
1518 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1519 is the DNS name or IP address of the parent HTTP proxy through which the requests should be forwarded,
1520 optionally followed by its listening port (default: 8080).
1521 Use a single dot (<literal>.</literal>) to denote <quote>no forwarding</quote>.
1526 <term>Default value:</term>
1528 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1532 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1535 Don't use parent HTTP proxies.
1543 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
1544 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made directly to the web servers.
1547 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
1552 <term>Examples:</term>
1555 Everything goes to an example anonymizing proxy, except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle):
1559 forward / anon-proxy.example.org:8080
1564 Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for requests
1565 to that ISP's sites:
1569 forward / caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000
1570 forward .example-isp.net .
1579 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1580 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="socks"><title>
1581 forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a</title>
1582 <anchor id="forward-socks4">
1583 <anchor id="forward-socks4a">
1587 <term>Specifies:</term>
1590 Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific requests should be routed.
1595 <term>Type of value:</term>
1598 <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable>
1599 <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1600 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1603 where <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable> is a <link linkend="af-patterns">URL pattern</link>
1604 that specifies to which requests (i.e. URLs) this forward rule shall apply. Use <literal>/</literal> to
1605 denote <quote>all URLs</quote>.
1606 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> and <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>
1607 are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid DNS names (<replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>
1608 may be <quote>.</quote> to denote <quote>no HTTP forwarding</quote>), and the optional
1609 <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1 to 64535
1614 <term>Default value:</term>
1616 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1620 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1623 Don't use SOCKS proxies.
1631 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
1634 The difference between <literal>forward-socks4</literal> and <literal>forward-socks4a</literal>
1635 is that in the SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the target hostname happens on the SOCKS
1636 server, while in SOCKS 4 it happens locally.
1639 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
1640 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made (HTTP-wise) directly to the web servers, albeit through
1646 <term>Examples:</term>
1649 From the company example.com, direct connections are made to all
1650 <quote>internal</quote> domains, but everything outbound goes through
1651 their ISP's proxy by way of example.com's corporate SOCKS 4A gateway to
1656 forward-socks4a / socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080
1657 forward .example.com .
1661 A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no HTTP parent looks like this:
1665 forward-socks4 / socks-gw.example.com:1080 .
1673 <![%user-man;[ <!-- not included in config due to length -->
1674 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1675 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="advanced-forwarding-examples"><title>Advanced Forwarding Examples</title>
1678 If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content
1679 only to their subscribers, you can configure multiple <application>Privoxies</application>
1680 which have connections to the respective ISPs to act as forwarders to each other, so that
1681 <emphasis>your</emphasis> users can see the internal content of all ISPs.
1685 Assume that host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.net. And host-b has a PPP connection to
1686 isp-b.net. Both run <application>Privoxy</application>. Their forwarding
1687 configuration can look like this:
1697 forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118
1708 forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118
1713 Now, your users can set their browser's proxy to use either
1714 host-a or host-b and be able to browse the internal content
1715 of both isp-a and isp-b.
1719 If you intend to chain <application>Privoxy</application> and
1720 <application>squid</application> locally, then chain as
1721 <literal>browser -> squid -> privoxy</literal> is the recommended way.
1725 Assuming that <application>Privoxy</application> and <application>squid</application>
1726 run on the same box, your <application>squid</application> configuration could then look like this:
1731 # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP)
1732 cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query
1734 # Define ACL for protocol FTP
1737 # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy
1738 always_direct allow ftp
1740 # Forward all the rest to Privoxy
1741 never_direct allow all</screen>
1745 You would then need to change your browser's proxy settings to <application>squid</application>'s address and port.
1746 Squid normally uses port 3128. If unsure consult <literal>http_port</literal> in <filename>squid.conf</filename>.
1750 You could just as well decide to only forward requests for Windows executables through
1751 a virus-scanning parent proxy, say, on <literal>antivir.example.com</literal>, port 8010:
1757 forward /.*\.(exe|com|dll|zip)$ antivir.example.com:8010</screen>
1765 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1768 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1770 <sect2 id="windows-gui">
1771 <title>Windows GUI Options</title>
1773 <application>Privoxy</application> has a number of options specific to the
1774 Windows GUI interface:
1777 <anchor id="activity-animation">
1778 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1780 If <quote>activity-animation</quote> is set to 1, the
1781 <application>Privoxy</application> icon will animate when
1782 <quote>Privoxy</quote> is active. To turn off, set to 0.
1785 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#activity-animation 1</literallayout>]]>
1791 <emphasis>activity-animation 1</emphasis>
1798 <anchor id="log-messages">
1799 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1801 If <quote>log-messages</quote> is set to 1,
1802 <application>Privoxy</application> will log messages to the console
1806 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-messages 1</literallayout>]]>
1812 <emphasis>log-messages 1</emphasis>
1819 <anchor id="log-buffer-size">
1820 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1822 If <quote>log-buffer-size</quote> is set to 1, the size of the log buffer,
1823 i.e. the amount of memory used for the log messages displayed in the
1824 console window, will be limited to <quote>log-max-lines</quote> (see below).
1828 Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and
1829 eat up all your memory!
1832 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-buffer-size 1</literallayout>]]>
1838 <emphasis>log-buffer-size 1</emphasis>
1845 <anchor id="log-max-lines">
1846 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1848 <application>log-max-lines</application> is the maximum number of lines held
1849 in the log buffer. See above.
1852 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-max-lines 200</literallayout>]]>
1858 <emphasis>log-max-lines 200</emphasis>
1865 <anchor id="log-highlight-messages">
1866 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1868 If <quote>log-highlight-messages</quote> is set to 1,
1869 <application>Privoxy</application> will highlight portions of the log
1870 messages with a bold-faced font:
1873 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-highlight-messages 1</literallayout>]]>
1879 <emphasis>log-highlight-messages 1</emphasis>
1886 <anchor id="log-font-name">
1887 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1889 The font used in the console window:
1892 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-font-name Comic Sans MS</literallayout>]]>
1898 <emphasis>log-font-name Comic Sans MS</emphasis>
1905 <anchor id="log-font-size">
1906 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1908 Font size used in the console window:
1911 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-font-size 8</literallayout>]]>
1917 <emphasis>log-font-size 8</emphasis>
1924 <anchor id="show-on-task-bar">
1925 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1927 <quote>show-on-task-bar</quote> controls whether or not
1928 <application>Privoxy</application> will appear as a button on the Task bar
1932 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#show-on-task-bar 0</literallayout>]]>
1938 <emphasis>show-on-task-bar 0</emphasis>
1945 <anchor id="close-button-minimizes">
1946 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1948 If <quote>close-button-minimizes</quote> is set to 1, the Windows close
1949 button will minimize <application>Privoxy</application> instead of closing
1950 the program (close with the exit option on the File menu).
1953 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#close-button-minimizes 1</literallayout>]]>
1959 <emphasis>close-button-minimizes 1</emphasis>
1966 <anchor id="hide-console">
1967 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1969 The <quote>hide-console</quote> option is specific to the MS-Win console
1970 version of <application>Privoxy</application>. If this option is used,
1971 <application>Privoxy</application> will disconnect from and hide the
1975 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#hide-console</literallayout>]]>
1981 #<emphasis>hide-console</emphasis>
1991 <!-- end config content common to both outputs -->
1994 <!-- These are dummy anchors to keep the processor quiet -->
1995 <!-- when building config-file only (ie. they are used in u-m only) -->
1998 <anchor id="filter">
1999 <anchor id="filter-file">
2001 <anchor id="actions-file">
2002 <anchor id="af-patterns">
2006 <!-- eof p-config.sgml -->