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 "3.0.7">
15 <!entity p-status "UNRELEASED">
16 <!entity % p-authors-formal "INCLUDE"> <!-- include additional text, etc -->
17 <!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
18 <!entity % p-stable "IGNORE">
19 <!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
20 <!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
21 <!entity % p-readme "IGNORE">
22 <!entity % user-man "IGNORE">
23 <!entity % config-file "IGNORE">
24 <!entity % p-supp-userman "IGNORE"> <!-- Omit some from supported.sgml -->
25 <!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
26 <!entity % draft "IGNORE"> <!-- WIP stuff -->
27 <!entity my-app "<application>Privoxy</application>">
30 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
33 This file belongs into
34 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
36 $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.42 2007/11/12 03:32:40 hal9 Exp $
38 Copyright (C) 2001-2007 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
41 ========================================================================
42 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
43 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
44 ========================================================================
51 <title>Privoxy &p-version; User Manual</title>
55 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
56 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
57 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001 - 2007 by
58 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
62 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.42 2007/11/12 03:32:40 hal9 Exp $</pubdate>
66 Note: the following should generate a separate page, and a live link to it,
67 all nicely done. But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave
68 commented unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the
69 copyright/license declarations will be in their own sgml.
82 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
83 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
84 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
90 The <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
91 install, configure and use <ulink
92 url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>.
95 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
97 <!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
100 You can find the latest version of the <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> at <ulink
101 url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
102 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> on how to
103 contact the developers.
107 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
113 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
114 <sect1 label="1" id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
116 This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
117 <application>Privoxy</application>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
118 and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
119 time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
120 configuration files. Development of a new version is currently nearing
121 completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over
122 earlier versions. ]]>.
125 <!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
128 Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
129 documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
130 CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
135 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
136 <sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
138 In addition to the core
139 features of ad blocking and
140 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookie</ulink> management,
141 <application>Privoxy</application> provides many supplemental
142 features<![%p-not-stable;[, some of them currently under development]]>,
143 that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
145 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
147 <!-- end boilerplate -->
152 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
155 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
156 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
159 <application>Privoxy</application> is available both in convenient pre-compiled
160 packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
161 For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
162 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
168 On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if
169 found. (See below for your platform). In any case <emphasis>be sure to backup
170 your old configuration if it is valuable to you.</emphasis> See the <link
171 linkend="upgradersnote">note to upgraders</link> section below.
174 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
175 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
177 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
180 <!-- XXX: The installation sections should be sorted -->
182 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
183 <sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat and Fedora RPMs</title>
186 RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
187 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
188 of configuration files.
192 Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
193 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
194 need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
195 <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods.
199 If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
200 <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
201 will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
205 Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
206 on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
207 Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
208 automatically if found, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
212 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
213 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian</title>
215 DEBs can be installed with <literal>apt-get install privoxy</literal>,
216 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of
221 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
222 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
225 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
226 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
227 in the same directory as you installed <application>Privoxy</application> in.
230 Version 3.0.5 beta introduced full <application>Windows</application> service
231 functionality. On Windows only, the <application>Privoxy</application>
232 program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
233 <application>Privoxy</application> as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>.
237 <term>Arguments:</term>
240 <replaceable class="parameter">--install</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
243 <replaceable class="parameter">--uninstall</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
249 After invoking <application>Privoxy</application> with
250 <command>--install</command>, you will need to bring up the
251 <application>Windows</application> service console to assign the user you
252 want <application>Privoxy</application> to run under, and whether or not you
253 want it to run whenever the system starts. You can start the
254 <application>Windows</application> services console with the following
255 command: <command>services.msc</command>. If you do not take the manual step
256 of modifying <application>Privoxy's</application> service settings, it will
257 not start. Note too that you will need to give Privoxy a user account that
258 actually exists, or it will not be permitted to
259 write to its log and configuration files.
264 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
265 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris <!--, NetBSD, HP-UX--></title>
268 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
269 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
270 things go. <!-- FIXME, more info needed? -->
274 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
275 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
278 First, make sure that no previous installations of
279 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
280 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
281 system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
282 or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
288 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
289 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
290 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
291 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
295 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
296 into will contain all of the configuration files.
300 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
301 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Mac OSX</title>
303 Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the file
304 from the finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there).
305 Then, double-click on the package installer icon named
306 <literal>Privoxy.pkg</literal>
307 and follow the installation process.
308 <application>Privoxy</application> will be installed in the folder
309 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal>.
310 It will start automatically whenever you start up. To prevent it from
311 starting automatically, remove or rename the folder
312 <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
315 To start Privoxy by hand, double-click on
316 <literal>StartPrivoxy.command</literal> in the
317 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal> folder.
318 Or, type this command in the Terminal:
322 /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
326 You will be prompted for the administrator password.
330 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
331 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
333 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
334 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
335 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
336 remove this directory.
340 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
341 <sect3 id="installation-tbz"><title>FreeBSD</title>
344 Privoxy is part of FreeBSD's Ports Collection, you can build and install
345 it with <literal>cd /usr/ports/www/privoxy; make install clean</literal>.
348 If you don't use the ports, you can fetch and install
349 the package with <literal>pkg_add -r privoxy</literal>.
352 The port skeleton and the package can also be downloaded from the
353 <ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">File Release
354 Page</ulink>, but there's no reason to use them unless you're interested in the
355 beta releases which are only available there.
359 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
360 <sect3 id="installattion-gentoo"><title>Gentoo</title>
362 Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for <application>Privoxy</application> are
363 contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page,
364 but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new
365 <application>Privoxy</application> Version is added to the Portage Tree).
368 Before installing <application>Privoxy</application> under Gentoo just do
369 first <literal>emerge rsync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
370 Portage tree. With <literal>emerge privoxy</literal> you install the latest
374 Configuration files are in <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename>, the
375 documentation is in <filename>/usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;</filename>
376 and the Log directory is in <filename>/var/log/privoxy</filename>.
382 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
383 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
386 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
387 is to download the source tarball from our
388 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&package_id=10571">project download
393 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
394 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
395 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
396 CVS repository</ulink>.
398 deprecated...out of business.
399 or simply download <ulink
400 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.bz2">the nightly CVS
405 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
407 <!-- end boilerplate -->
410 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
411 <sect2 id="installation-keepupdated"><title>Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date</title>
413 As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions
414 of both the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link> (as a <ulink
415 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&release_id=103670">separate
416 package</ulink>) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for
421 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
422 <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
423 url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
424 to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
428 In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
429 to the latest <literal>default.action</literal> file we <emphasis>strongly
430 recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> and
431 <literal>user.filter</literal> for your local
432 customizations of <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
433 linkend="actions-file">Chapter on actions files</link> for details.
441 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
443 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
444 <sect1 id="whatsnew">
445 <title>What's New in this Release</title>
447 There are many improvements and new features since <application>Privoxy 3.0.6</application>, the last stable release:
454 Two new actions <link
455 linkend="server-header-tagger">server-header-tagger</link>
457 linkend="client-header-tagger">client-header-tagger</link>
458 that can be used to create arbitrary <quote>tags</quote>
459 based on client and server headers.
460 These <quote>tags</quote> can then subsequently be used
461 to control the actions used for the current request,
462 greatly increasing &my-app;'s flexibity and selectivity. See <link
463 linkend="tag-pattern">tag patterns</link> for more information on tags.
469 Header filtering is done with dedicated header filters now. As a result
470 the actions <quote>filter-client-headers</quote> and <quote>filter-server-headers</quote>
471 that were introduced with <application>Privoxy 3.0.5</application> to apply
472 the content filters to the headers as well have been removed again.
473 See the new actions <link
474 linkend="server-header-filter">server-header-filter</link>
476 linkend="client-header-filter">client-header-filter</link> for details.
481 There are four new options for the main <filename>config</filename> file:
488 linkend="allow-cgi-request-crunching">allow-cgi-request-crunching</link>
489 which allows requests for Privoxy's internal CGI pages to be
490 blocked, redirected or (un)trusted like ordinary requests.
496 linkend="split-large-forms">split-large-forms</link>
497 that will work around a browser bug that caused IE6 and IE7 to
498 ignore the Submit button on the Privoxy's edit-actions-for-url CGI
505 linkend="accept-intercepted-requests">accept-intercepted-requests</link>
506 which allows to combine Privoxy with any packet filter to create an
507 intercepting proxy for HTTP/1.1 requests (and for HTTP/1.0 requests
508 with Host header set). This means clients can be forced to use
509 &my-app; even if their proxy settings are configured differently.
515 linkend="templdir">templdir</link>
516 to designate an alternate location for Privoxy's own CGI templates
517 to make sure any locally customized templates aren't overwritten
526 A new command line option <literal>--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname</literal> to
527 initialize the resolver library before chroot'ing. On some systems this
528 reduces the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree.
529 (Patch provided by Stephen Gildea)
536 linkend="forward-override">forward-override</link> action
537 allows changing of the forwarding settings through the actions files.
538 Combined with tags, this allows to choose the forwarder based on
539 client headers like the User-Agent, or the request origin.
546 linkend="redirect">redirect</link> action can now use regular
547 expression substitutions against the original URL.
553 <application>zlib</application> support is now available as a compile
554 time option to filter compressed content. Patch provided by Wil Mahan.
559 Improve various filters, and add new ones.
566 Include support for RFC 3253 so that <filename>Subversion</filename> works
567 with &my-app;. Patch provided by Petr Kadlec.
573 Logging can be completely turned off by not specifying a logfile directive.
580 A number of improvements to Privoxy's internal CGI pages, including the
581 use of favicons for error and control pages.
587 Many bugfixes, memory leaks addressed, code improvements, and logging
593 <!-- pre-3.0.6 changes:
596 There are a number of new <link linkend="actions-file">actions</link>:
604 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite</link></literal>
609 <literal><link linkend="crunch-client-header">crunch-client-header</link></literal>
614 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>
619 <literal><link linkend="crunch-server-header">crunch-server-header</link></literal>
624 <literal><link linkend="filter-client-headers">filter-client-headers</link></literal>
629 <literal><link linkend="filter-server-headers">filter-server-headers</link></literal>
634 <literal><link linkend="force-text-mode">force-text-mode</link></literal>
639 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal>
644 <literal><link linkend="hide-accept-language">hide-accept-language</link></literal>
649 <literal><link linkend="hide-content-disposition">hide-content-disposition</link></literal>
654 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
659 <literal><link linkend="inspect-jpegs">inspect-jpegs</link></literal>
664 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
669 <literal><link linkend="redirect">redirect</link></literal>
674 <literal><link linkend="treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks">treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</link></literal>
681 In addition, <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects</link></literal>
682 has been significantly improved with enhanced syntax.
685 And <literal><link linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal>
686 has a new option, <literal>conditional block</literal>.
693 <application>MS-Windows</application> versions can now be
695 linkend="installation-pack-win">installed and
696 started as a <emphasis>Windows service</emphasis></link>.
702 <filename>config</filename> has two new options:
704 linkend="enable-remote-http-toggle">enable-remote-http-toggle</link>,
706 linkend="forwarded-connect-retries">forwarded-connect-retries</link>.
709 And there is improved handling of the <link
710 linkend="user-manual">user-manual</link>
711 option, for placing documentation and help files on the local system.
717 There are six new <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>.
723 Actions files problems and suggestions are now being directed to:
724 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288">http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288</ulink>.
725 Please use this to report such configuration related problems as missed
726 ads, sites that don't function properly due to one action or another,
727 innocent images being blocked, etc.
733 In addition, there are numerous bug fixes and significant enhancements,
734 including error pages should no longer be cached if the problem is fixed,
735 much better DNS error handling, various logging improvements, and
736 configuration updates for better ad blocking and junk elimination.
744 For a more detailed list of changes please have a look at the ChangeLog.
747 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
749 <sect2 id="upgradersnote">
750 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
753 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
754 versions of <application>Privoxy</application>:
762 Some installers may remove earlier versions completely, including
763 configuration files. Save any important configuration files!
768 On the other hand, other installers may not overwrite any existing configuration
769 files, thinking you will want to do that. You may want to manually check
770 your saved files against the newer versions to see if the improvements have
771 merit, or whether there are new options that you may want to consider.
772 There are a number of new features, but most won't be available unless
773 these features are incorporated into your configuration somehow.
778 <filename>standard.action</filename> now only includes the enabled actions.
779 Not all actions as before.
785 See the full documentation on
786 <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects</link></literal>
787 which has changed syntax, and will require adjustments to local configs,
788 such as <filename>user.action</filename>. You must reference the new
793 { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
803 Logging is off by default now. If you need logging, it can be turned on
804 in the <link linkend="logfile">config file</link>.
810 Three other config file settings are now off by default:
811 <link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link>,
812 <link linkend="enable-remote-http-toggle">enable-remote-http-toggle</link>,
813 and <link linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link>.
814 If you use or want these, you will need to explicitly enable them, and
815 be aware of the security issues involved.
821 The <quote>filter-client-headers</quote> and
822 <quote>filter-server-headers</quote> actions that were introduced with
823 <application>Privoxy 3.0.5</application> to apply the content filters to
824 the headers as, well have been removed and replaced with new actions.
826 linkend="whatsnew">What's New section</link> above.
834 What constitutes a <quote>default</quote> configuration has changed,
835 and you may want to review which actions are <quote>on</quote> by
836 default. This is primarily a matter of emphasis, but some features
837 you may have been used to, may now be <quote>off</quote> by default.
838 There are also a number of new actions and filters you may want to
839 consider, most of which are not fully incorporated into the default
840 settings as yet (see above).
847 The default actions setting is now <literal>Cautious</literal>. Previous
848 releases had a default setting of <literal>Medium</literal>. Experienced
849 users may want to adjust this, as it is fairly conservative by &my-app;
850 standards and past practices. See <ulink
851 url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
852 http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>. New users
853 should try the default settings for a while before turning up the volume.
859 The default setting has filtering turned <emphasis>off</emphasis>, which
860 subsequently means that compression is <emphasis>on</emphasis>. Remember
861 that filtering does not work on compressed pages, so if you use, or want to
862 use, filtering, you will need to force compression off. Example:
866 { +<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{google} +<link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link> }
870 Or if you use a number of filters, or filter many sites, you may just want
871 to turn off compression for all sites in
872 <filename>default.action</filename> (or
873 <filename>user.action</filename>).
880 Also, <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> is
881 off by default now. If you've liked this feature in the past, you may want
882 to turn it back on in <filename>user.action</filename> now.
889 Some installers may not automatically start
890 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
901 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
902 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using Privoxy</title>
908 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
909 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
916 Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
917 service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
918 linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
919 linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
926 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
927 not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
928 <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
934 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
935 HTTPS (SSL) <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>
936 by setting the proxy configuration for address of
937 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
938 <emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> activate proxying for <literal>FTP</literal> or
939 any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) unless you intend to prevent your
940 browser from using these protocols.
946 Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
947 If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage
948 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
949 you should remove any currently stored cookies too.
955 A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
956 most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
957 configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
958 to no initial configuration is required in most cases, you may want
960 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">web-based action editor</ulink> though.
961 Be sure to read the warnings first.
964 See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
965 configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
966 You might also want to look at the <link
967 linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
968 introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
975 If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are
976 blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
977 <application>Privoxy's</application> behavior, take a look at the <link
978 linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
979 find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
980 helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
981 url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
982 Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
983 Action</link></quote> has hints on how to understand and debug actions that
984 <quote>misbehave</quote>.
989 Did anyone test these lately?
993 For easy access to &my-app;'s most important controls, drag the provided
994 <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklets</link> into your browser's
1002 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
1003 Developers</link> on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get
1010 Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
1018 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1020 <sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
1021 <title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
1023 NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
1024 want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
1027 Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
1028 array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
1029 user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
1032 This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
1033 you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
1034 information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
1037 First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
1038 more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
1039 things that were not intended. And the more likely that some things
1040 may not work as intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
1041 extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
1042 <quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
1043 configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
1044 not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
1045 the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
1046 default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
1047 habits and preferences.
1050 Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
1051 <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
1052 the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
1053 some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
1054 <application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
1055 action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
1056 <application>actions</application> in <application>Privoxy's</application>
1057 arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. <link
1058 linkend="actions">Actions</link>, and <link linkend="actions-file">action
1059 configuration files</link>, are explained in depth below.
1062 Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
1063 followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
1064 can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
1065 wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
1066 actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
1069 When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
1070 of the sections as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
1071 or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
1072 respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
1073 pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
1074 use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
1075 original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
1076 embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
1077 or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
1078 such embedded URLs. &my-app; can deal with each URL individually, so, for
1079 instance, the main page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such
1084 The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: <literal><link
1085 linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
1086 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
1088 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal>,and
1089 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
1097 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this is perhaps
1098 the single most used action, and is particularly important for ad blocking.
1099 This action stops any contact between your browser and any URL patterns
1100 that match this action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads,
1101 but also anything that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply
1102 stops any communication with the remote server and sends
1103 <application>Privoxy</application>'s own built-in BLOCKED page instead to
1104 let you now what has happened (with some exceptions, see below).
1110 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
1111 tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
1112 <application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
1113 for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
1114 is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
1115 important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
1116 some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
1117 <application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
1118 a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
1119 though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
1120 an entire HTML page in most situations.
1126 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> -
1127 sends an empty document instead of <application>Privoxy's</application>
1128 normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither
1129 HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files.
1136 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> - tells
1137 <application>Privoxy</application> what to display in place of an ad image that
1138 has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
1139 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action somewhere in the
1140 configuration, <emphasis>and</emphasis>, it must also match an
1141 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action.
1144 The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
1148 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
1149 replacement is obvious. This is the default.
1154 <emphasis>blank</emphasis> - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
1155 This is the so-called <quote>invisible</quote> configuration option.
1160 <emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any image anywhere
1161 of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
1170 The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
1171 the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
1172 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1173 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
1174 is an internal page, and does not require Internet access.
1178 Note that as of <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta the
1179 action editor is disabled by default. Check the
1180 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions
1181 section in the configuration file</ulink> to learn why and in which
1182 cases it's safe to enable again.
1186 If you decided to enable the action editor, select the appropriate
1187 <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
1188 <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
1189 local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
1190 meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
1191 other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
1192 blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
1193 <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
1197 A quick and simple step by step example:
1205 Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
1206 <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
1214 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1219 Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
1220 on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
1223 <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
1225 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
1228 <imagedata fileref="files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
1231 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
1240 You should have a section with only
1241 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
1242 <quote>Actions:</quote>.
1243 If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
1244 button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
1245 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
1246 This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
1247 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
1248 in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
1249 just below the list.
1254 Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
1255 click the <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
1256 browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote>.
1257 Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
1258 <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
1259 <quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
1264 Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
1265 (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
1273 This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
1274 wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
1275 site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
1276 the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
1281 For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
1282 to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
1283 The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
1286 There are also various
1287 <link linkend="filter">filters</link> that can be used for ad blocking
1288 (filters are a special subset of actions). These
1289 fall into the <quote>advanced</quote> usage category, and are explained in
1290 depth in later sections.
1297 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1300 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1301 <sect1 id="startup">
1302 <title>Starting Privoxy</title>
1304 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
1305 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
1306 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)
1307 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>. The default is
1308 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
1309 used port 8000). This is the one configuration step <emphasis>that must be done
1313 Please note that <application>Privoxy</application> can only proxy HTTP and
1314 HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
1317 <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
1319 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1320 Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings</title>
1323 <imagedata fileref="proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
1326 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
1334 With <application>Firefox</application>, this is typically set under:
1338 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>General</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connection Settings</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Manual Proxy Configuration</guibutton>
1343 Or optionally on some platforms:
1347 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>General</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connection Settings</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Manual Proxy Configuration</guibutton>
1353 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
1354 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
1359 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
1360 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
1361 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton> -> <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
1366 For <application>Internet Explorer v.5-6</application>:
1370 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Internet Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connections</guibutton> -> <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
1374 Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
1375 (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
1376 proxy support too (sometimes labeled <quote>Secure</quote>). Make sure any
1377 checkboxes like <quote>Use the same proxy server for all protocols</quote> is
1378 <emphasis>UNCHECKED</emphasis>. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
1381 <!-- image of IE Proxy configuration -->
1383 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1384 Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings</title>
1387 <imagedata fileref="proxy2.jpg" format="jpg">
1390 <phrase>[ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
1398 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
1399 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
1400 any <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
1401 if you want <application>Privoxy</application> to manage that. You are now
1402 ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
1403 <application>Privoxy</application>!
1407 <application>Privoxy</application> itself is typically started by specifying the
1408 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
1409 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
1410 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
1411 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
1414 <sect2 id="start-redhat">
1415 <title>Red Hat and Fedora</title>
1417 A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use
1418 the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
1423 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
1431 # service privoxy start
1436 <sect2 id="start-debian">
1437 <title>Debian</title>
1439 We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; upon booting per
1440 default. It will use the file
1441 <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
1446 # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1452 omitting 10/31/06 HB
1454 <sect2 id="start-suse">
1457 We use a script. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename>
1458 as its main configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting
1468 <sect2 id="start-windows">
1469 <title>Windows</title>
1471 Click on the &my-app; Icon to start <application>Privoxy</application>. If no configuration file is
1472 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
1473 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
1474 automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option
1478 <application>Privoxy</application> can run with full Windows service functionality.
1479 On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments
1480 to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
1481 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Windows Installation
1482 instructions</link> for details.
1486 <sect2 id="start-unices">
1487 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
1489 Example Unix startup command:
1493 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
1498 <sect2 id="start-os2">
1501 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
1502 start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
1503 double-clicking on the <application>Privoxy</application> icon in the
1504 <application>Privoxy</application> folder.
1508 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
1509 <title>Mac OSX</title>
1511 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
1512 start automatically when the system restarts. To start &my-app; manually,
1513 double-click on the <literal>StartPrivoxy.command</literal> icon in the
1514 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal> folder. Or, type this command
1519 /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
1523 You will be prompted for the administrator password.
1528 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
1529 <title>AmigaOS</title>
1531 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
1532 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
1533 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
1534 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
1535 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
1536 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
1537 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
1541 <sect2 id="start-gentoo">
1542 <title>Gentoo</title>
1544 A script is again used. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config
1545 </filename> as its main configuration file.
1549 /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1553 Note that <application>Privoxy</application> is not automatically started at
1554 boot time by default. You can change this with the <literal>rc-update</literal>
1559 rc-update add privoxy default
1567 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
1571 must find a better place for this paragraph
1574 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
1575 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
1576 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
1577 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
1578 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
1579 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
1583 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
1584 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
1585 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
1586 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
1587 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
1588 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
1589 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
1590 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
1591 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
1595 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
1596 sites is the popup-killing (through the <ulink
1597 url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink> and
1599 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>
1600 actions), because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
1601 popups (explained below).
1605 <application>Privoxy</application> does not support all of the optional HTTP/1.1
1606 features yet. In the unlikely event that you experience inexplicable problems
1607 with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
1608 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
1609 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
1610 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
1611 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
1612 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
1613 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
1617 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
1618 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
1619 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
1620 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
1621 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
1622 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1623 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1624 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
1625 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
1629 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
1630 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
1631 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
1632 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
1633 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
1634 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
1635 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
1639 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
1640 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
1641 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
1642 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
1643 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
1644 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
1649 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <link
1650 linkend="actions-file">read more about the actions concept</link>
1651 or even dive deep into the <link linkend="actionsanat">Appendix
1656 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
1657 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
1658 section <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
1659 Developers</quote></link> below.
1664 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1665 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
1666 <title>Command Line Options</title>
1668 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
1669 command-line options:
1677 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
1680 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
1685 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
1688 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
1693 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
1696 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
1697 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
1702 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
1705 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
1706 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
1707 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
1708 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
1713 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
1716 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
1717 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
1718 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
1723 <emphasis>--chroot</emphasis>
1726 Before changing to the user ID given in the <emphasis>--user</emphasis> option,
1727 chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
1728 process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
1729 the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy.
1735 <emphasis>--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname</emphasis>
1738 Specifies a hostname to look up before doing a chroot. On some systems, initializing the
1739 resolver library involves reading config files from /etc and/or loading additional shared
1740 libraries from /lib. On these systems, doing a hostname lookup before the chroot reduces
1741 the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree.
1744 For fastest startup speed, a good value is a hostname that is not in /etc/hosts but that
1745 your local name server (listed in /etc/resolv.conf) can resolve without recursion
1746 (that is, without having to ask any other name servers). The hostname need not exist,
1747 but if it doesn't, an error message (which can be ignored) will be output.
1753 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
1756 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
1757 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
1758 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
1759 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
1760 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
1761 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
1769 On <application>MS Windows</application> only there are two additional
1770 command-line options to allow <application>Privoxy</application> to install and
1771 run as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>. See the
1772 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Window Installation section</link>
1780 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1783 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1784 <sect1 id="configuration"><title>Privoxy Configuration</title>
1786 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
1787 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
1788 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
1789 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
1793 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1796 <title>Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser</title>
1798 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
1799 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1800 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1801 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
1802 You will see the following section:
1806 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
1809 <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
1813 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
1816 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
1819 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
1822 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
1825 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
1828 ▪ <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/
1829 &p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
1837 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
1838 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
1839 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
1840 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
1841 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
1842 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
1846 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
1847 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
1848 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
1849 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
1850 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
1851 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
1852 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
1853 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
1858 Note that several of the features described above are disabled by default
1859 in <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta and later.
1861 <ulink url="config.html">configuration file</ulink> to learn why
1862 and in which cases it's safe to enable them again.
1867 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1872 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1874 <sect2 id="confoverview">
1875 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
1877 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
1878 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
1879 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
1880 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
1881 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
1882 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
1886 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
1887 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
1888 principle configuration files are:
1896 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
1897 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
1898 on Windows. This is a required file.
1904 <filename>default.action</filename> (the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>)
1905 is used to define which <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
1906 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many
1907 exceptions (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
1908 <application>Privoxy</application> to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on
1909 as many websites as possible.
1912 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
1913 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
1914 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
1915 <filename>default.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
1916 to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in
1917 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can preserve them across
1918 upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is only for
1919 <application>Privoxy's</application> internal use.
1922 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
1924 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1926 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
1927 various actions files.
1933 <quote>Filter files</quote> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
1934 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
1935 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
1936 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
1937 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
1938 <filename>default.filter</filename> includes various filters made
1939 available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
1940 others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
1941 filter files in <filename>config</filename> as you can with
1942 actions files. We suggest <filename>user.filter</filename> for any
1943 locally defined filters or customizations.
1951 The syntax of the configuration and filter files may change between different
1952 Privoxy versions, unfortunately some enhancements cost backwards compatibility.
1953 <!-- Add link to documentation-->
1957 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
1958 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
1959 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
1960 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
1961 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
1962 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
1963 out" that line. Blank lines are ignored.
1967 The actions files and filter files
1968 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
1969 maximum flexibility.
1973 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
1974 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
1975 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
1976 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
1977 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
1978 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
1979 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
1984 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
1985 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
1986 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
1987 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
1993 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1996 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1998 <!-- **************************************************** -->
1999 <!-- Include config.sgml here -->
2000 <!-- This is where the entire config file is detailed. -->
2002 <!-- end include -->
2005 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2009 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
2011 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
2014 The actions files are used to define what <emphasis>actions</emphasis>
2015 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determines
2016 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
2017 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof).
2018 There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
2019 Each action does something a little different.
2020 These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
2021 our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that
2022 their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.
2026 are three action files included with <application>Privoxy</application> with
2034 <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
2035 that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
2036 provide a base level of functionality for
2037 <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
2038 a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well as-is for most users.
2039 This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and <link
2040 linkend="installation-keepupdated">making available to users</link>.
2041 The user's preferences as set in <filename>standard.action</filename>,
2042 e.g. either <literal>Cautious</literal> (the default),
2043 <literal>Medium</literal>, or <literal>Advanced</literal> (see
2049 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
2050 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
2051 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
2052 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
2057 <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used only by the web based editor
2058 at <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
2059 http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>,
2060 to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
2061 in <filename>default.action</filename>.
2064 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Cautious</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Medium</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Advanced</guibutton>
2067 These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no
2068 influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
2069 editor</emphasis>. A default installation should be pre-set to
2070 <literal>Cautious</literal> (versions prior to 3.0.5 were set to
2071 <literal>Medium</literal>). New users should try this for a while before
2072 adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
2073 the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
2074 not working as they should.
2077 The <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button allows you to turn each
2078 action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <guibutton>Cautious</guibutton>
2079 button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
2080 ad blocking and a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently
2081 there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
2082 <guibutton>Medium</guibutton> button sets the list to a medium level of
2083 other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
2084 <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> button sets the list to a high level of
2085 ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter
2086 three buttons over-ride any changes via with the
2087 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
2088 lower sections of this internal page.
2091 It is not recommend to edit the <filename>standard.action</filename> file
2095 The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
2096 <filename>standard.action</filename> are<!-- different than this table which is out of date -->:
2099 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
2100 <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
2101 <colspec colname=c1>
2102 <colspec colname=c2>
2103 <colspec colname=c3>
2104 <colspec colname=c4>
2107 <entry>Feature</entry>
2108 <entry>Cautious</entry>
2109 <entry>Medium</entry>
2110 <entry>Advanced</entry>
2115 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
2116 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
2117 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
2118 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
2124 <entry>Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</entry>
2125 <entry>medium</entry>
2131 <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
2138 <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
2144 <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
2145 <entry>blocks only</entry>
2146 <entry>blocks only</entry>
2147 <entry>blocks only</entry>
2151 <entry>Privacy Features</entry>
2153 <entry>medium</entry>
2154 <entry>medium/high</entry>
2158 <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
2160 <entry>session-only</entry>
2165 <entry>Referer forging</entry>
2173 <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
2181 <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
2188 <entry>HTML taming</entry>
2195 <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
2202 <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
2209 <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
2225 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
2226 file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
2227 <filename>default.action</filename> is typically processed before
2228 <filename>user.action</filename>). The content of these can all be viewed and
2230 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2231 The over-riding principle when applying actions, is that the last action that
2232 matches a given URL wins. The broadest, most general rules go first
2233 (defined in <filename>default.action</filename>),
2234 followed by any exceptions (typically also in
2235 <filename>default.action</filename>), which are then followed lastly by any
2236 local preferences (typically in <emphasis>user</emphasis><filename>.action</filename>).
2237 Generally, <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word.
2241 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
2242 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
2243 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
2244 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
2245 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
2246 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
2247 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
2248 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
2249 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
2250 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
2251 with the advantage that it is a separate file, which makes preserving your
2252 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
2256 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
2257 just some obnoxious URL whose content you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
2258 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
2259 written to disk), content can be modified, some JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
2260 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
2264 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2266 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
2268 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
2269 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
2270 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
2271 certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring
2272 refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that the more
2273 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
2274 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
2275 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per
2276 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
2277 regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe
2278 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
2282 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
2283 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
2284 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
2285 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
2289 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2291 <title>How to Edit</title>
2293 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
2294 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
2295 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2296 Note: the config file option <link
2297 linkend="enable-edit-actions">enale-edit-actions</link> must be enabled for
2298 this to work. The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single
2299 feature on a per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults
2300 like <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or
2301 <quote>Advanced</quote>. Warning: the <quote>Advanced</quote> setting is more
2302 aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites.
2303 Experienced users only!
2307 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
2308 the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at
2309 <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly commented with many
2315 <sect2 id="actions-apply">
2316 <title>How Actions are Applied to Requests</title>
2318 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
2319 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
2320 be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
2321 heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
2322 of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
2323 Below that, there is a list of URL and tag patterns, each on a separate line.
2327 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
2328 compared to all URL patterns in each <quote>action file</quote>.
2329 Every time it matches, the list of applicable actions for the request is
2330 incrementally updated, using the heading of the section in which the
2331 pattern is located. The same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on.
2335 If multiple applying sections set the same action differently,
2336 the last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated.
2337 E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading line of <literal>{
2338 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> }</literal>,
2339 then later another one with just <literal>{
2340 +<link linkend="block">block</link> }</literal>, resulting
2341 in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply. And there may well be
2342 cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
2348 { +<literal>handle-as-image</literal> +<literal>block</literal> }
2349 # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
2351 media.example.com/.*banners
2352 .example.com/images/ads/</screen>
2356 You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by visiting <ulink
2357 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
2361 Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
2362 Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</link> section.
2366 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2367 <sect2 id="af-patterns">
2368 <title>Patterns</title>
2370 As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
2371 to determine what <emphasis>actions</emphasis> might apply to which sites and
2372 pages your browser attempts to access. These <quote>patterns</quote> use wild
2373 card type <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> matching to achieve a high degree of
2374 flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
2375 against many similar patterns.
2379 Generally, an URL pattern has the form
2380 <literal><domain>/<path></literal>, where both the
2381 <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal> are
2382 optional. (This is why the special <literal>/</literal> pattern matches all
2383 URLs). Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g.
2384 <literal>http://</literal>) should <emphasis>not</emphasis> be included in
2385 the pattern. This is assumed already!
2388 The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of
2389 the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
2390 while the path part uses a more flexible
2391 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2392 Expressions (PCRE)</quote></ulink> based syntax.
2397 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
2400 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2401 regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in
2402 this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
2403 simple <literal>example.com</literal> is different and would NOT match.
2408 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
2411 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
2417 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html$</literal></term>
2420 matches all the documents on <literal>www.example.com</literal>
2421 whose name starts with <literal>/index.html</literal>.
2426 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html$</literal></term>
2429 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
2430 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
2435 <term><literal>/index.html$</literal></term>
2438 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
2439 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server anywhere.
2444 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
2447 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
2448 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>. So its
2456 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2457 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
2460 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
2461 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
2467 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
2470 matches any domain that <emphasis>ENDS</emphasis> in
2471 <literal>.example.com</literal>
2476 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
2479 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
2480 <literal>www.</literal>
2485 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
2488 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>.
2489 And, by the way, also included would be any files or documents that exist
2490 within that domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly
2491 speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as
2492 a domain.) This might be <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2493 <literal>news.example.de</literal>, or
2494 <literal>www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</literal> for instance. All these
2502 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
2503 themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
2504 <quote>*</quote> represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
2506 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2507 Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax of <quote>.*</quote>),
2508 <quote>?</quote> represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
2509 regular expression syntax of a simple <quote>.</quote>), and you can define
2510 <quote>character classes</quote> in square brackets which is similar to
2511 the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:
2516 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2519 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
2520 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
2525 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2528 matches all of the above, and then some.
2533 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
2536 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
2537 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
2542 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
2545 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
2546 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
2547 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
2548 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
2555 While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax.
2560 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2563 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2564 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
2567 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl compatible (PCRE)
2568 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2569 Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax
2570 (through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> library) for
2571 matching the path portion (after the slash), and is thus more flexible.
2575 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
2576 expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
2577 at <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt">http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</ulink>.
2578 You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<literal>man perlre</literal>)
2579 useful, which is available on-line at <ulink
2580 url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>.
2584 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
2585 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
2586 for the beginning of a line).
2590 Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
2591 by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
2592 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
2593 only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
2594 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
2599 <term><literal>.example.com/.*</literal></term>
2602 Is equivalent to just <quote>.example.com</quote>, since any documents
2603 within that domain are matched with or without the <quote>.*</quote>
2604 regular expression. This is redundant
2609 <term><literal>.example.com/.*/index.html$</literal></term>
2612 Will match any page in the domain of <quote>example.com</quote> that is
2613 named <quote>index.html</quote>, and that is part of some path. For
2614 example, it matches <quote>www.example.com/testing/index.html</quote> but
2615 NOT <quote>www.example.com/index.html</quote> because the regular
2616 expression called for at least two <quote>/'s</quote>, thus the path
2617 requirement. It also would match
2618 <quote>www.example.com/testing/index_html</quote>, because of the
2619 special meta-character <quote>.</quote>.
2624 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$</literal></term>
2627 This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page
2628 named <quote>index.html</quote> regardless of path which in this case can
2629 have one or more <quote>/'s</quote>. And this one must contain exactly
2630 <quote>.html</quote> (but does not have to end with that!).
2635 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</literal></term>
2638 This regular expression will match any path of <quote>example.com</quote>
2639 that contains any of the words <quote>ads</quote>, <quote>banner</quote>,
2640 <quote>banners</quote> (because of the <quote>?</quote>) or <quote>junk</quote>.
2641 The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
2646 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</literal></term>
2649 This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
2650 <quote>.jpg</quote>, <quote>.jpeg</quote>, <quote>.gif</quote> or <quote>.png</quote>. So this
2651 one is limited to common image formats.
2658 There are many, many good examples to be found in <filename>default.action</filename>,
2659 and more tutorials below in <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>.
2664 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2667 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2668 <sect3 id="tag-pattern"><title>The Tag Pattern</title>
2671 Tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the
2672 request's tags. Tags can be created with either the
2673 <link linkend="CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER">client-header-tagger</link>
2674 or the <link linkend="SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER">server-header-tagger</link> action.
2678 Tag patterns have to start with <quote>TAG:</quote>, so &my-app;
2679 can tell them apart from URL patterns. Everything after the colon
2680 including white space, is interpreted as a regular expression with
2681 path pattern syntax, except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored
2682 automatically (Privoxy doesn't silently add a <quote>^</quote>,
2683 you have to do it yourself if you need it).
2687 To match all requests that are tagged with <quote>foo</quote>
2688 your pattern line should be <quote>TAG:^foo$</quote>,
2689 <quote>TAG:foo</quote> would work as well, but it would also
2690 match requests whose tags contain <quote>foo</quote> somewhere.
2691 <quote>TAG: foo</quote> wouldn't work as it requires white space.
2695 Sections can contain URL and tag patterns at the same time,
2696 but tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus
2697 always overrule them, even if they are located before the URL patterns.
2701 Once a new tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's matched by one
2702 of the tag patterns and updates the action settings accordingly. As a result
2703 tags can be used to activate other tagger actions, as long as these other
2704 taggers look for headers that haven't already be parsed.
2708 For example you could tag client requests which use the POST method,
2709 use this tag to activate another tagger that adds a tag if cookies
2710 are send, and then block based on the cookie tag. However if you'd
2711 reverse the position of the described taggers, and activated the method
2712 tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method tags would be created.
2713 The method tagger would look for the request line, but at the time
2714 the cookie tag is created the request line has already been parsed.
2718 While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of
2719 indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't
2720 make too much sense.
2727 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2730 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2732 <sect2 id="actions">
2733 <title>Actions</title>
2735 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
2736 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
2737 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
2738 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
2739 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
2740 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
2741 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
2742 previously applied.</quote>
2747 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
2748 separated by whitespace, like in
2749 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
2750 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
2751 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
2752 of the actions file.
2756 Actions fall into three categories:
2763 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
2764 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
2768 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
2769 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
2772 Example: <literal>+block</literal>
2779 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
2784 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
2785 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
2786 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
2789 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
2790 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
2793 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>
2799 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
2800 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
2801 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
2802 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
2803 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
2804 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
2808 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
2809 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
2810 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
2811 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
2814 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
2815 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
2823 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
2824 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
2825 normal, non-blocking, non-filtering proxy. You must specifically enable the
2826 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
2827 files will give a good starting point).
2831 Later defined action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the same type.
2832 So exceptions to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
2833 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such
2834 as <filename>user.action</filename>). For multi-valued actions, the actions
2835 are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are processed in
2836 the order they are defined in <filename>config</filename> (the default
2837 installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any given
2838 URL to match more than one <quote>pattern</quote> (because of wildcards and
2839 regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last
2843 <!-- start actions listing -->
2845 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
2849 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2850 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
2851 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
2853 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2856 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2858 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
2859 <title>add-header</title>
2863 <term>Typical use:</term>
2865 <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
2870 <term>Effect:</term>
2873 Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
2880 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2882 <para>Multi-value.</para>
2887 <term>Parameter:</term>
2890 Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
2891 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
2901 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
2902 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
2903 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
2910 <term>Example usage:</term>
2913 <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
2921 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2922 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
2923 <title>block</title>
2927 <term>Typical use:</term>
2929 <para>Block ads or other unwanted content</para>
2934 <term>Effect:</term>
2937 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
2938 requests are trapped by &my-app; and the requested URL is never retrieved,
2939 but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
2941 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2943 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>, and
2945 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> actions.
2953 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2955 <para>Boolean.</para>
2960 <term>Parameter:</term>
2970 <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
2971 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request
2972 was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the
2973 force feature enabled). The <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page adapts to the available
2974 screen space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and text-only
2975 if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using <application>Privoxy</application>
2976 right now, you can take a look at the
2977 <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
2981 A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
2982 <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2983 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
2984 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
2985 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
2986 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
2989 It is important to understand this process, in order
2990 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
2991 ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
2992 upon which various other features depend.
2995 The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
2996 action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
2997 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
2998 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
2999 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
3005 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3009 # Block and replace with "blocked" page
3010 .nasty-stuff.example.com
3012 {+block +handle-as-image}
3013 # Block and replace with image
3017 {+block +handle-as-empty-document}
3018 # Block and then ignore
3019 adserver.exampleclick.net/.*\.js$</screen>
3029 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3030 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-filter">
3031 <title>client-header-filter</title>
3035 <term>Typical use:</term>
3038 Rewrite or remove single client headers.
3044 <term>Effect:</term>
3047 All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
3048 the specified regular expression based substitutions.
3055 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3057 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3062 <term>Parameter:</term>
3065 The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the
3066 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
3075 Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
3076 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
3077 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
3078 You can do that by using tags though.
3081 Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
3082 and use their output as input.
3085 Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
3086 to learn which client-header filters are available by default, and how to
3094 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3098 {+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
3109 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3110 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-tagger">
3111 <title>client-header-tagger</title>
3115 <term>Typical use:</term>
3118 Block requests based on their headers.
3124 <term>Effect:</term>
3127 Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
3128 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
3136 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3138 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3143 <term>Parameter:</term>
3146 The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the
3147 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
3156 Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
3157 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
3161 Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed
3162 and their tags can be used to control every other action.
3168 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3172 # Tag every request with the User-Agent header
3173 {+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
3184 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3185 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="content-type-overwrite">
3186 <title>content-type-overwrite</title>
3190 <term>Typical use:</term>
3192 <para>Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode</para>
3197 <term>Effect:</term>
3200 Replaces the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header.
3207 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3209 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3214 <term>Parameter:</term>
3226 The <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header is used by the
3227 browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this
3228 header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of
3229 displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is
3230 supported by the browser.
3233 The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
3234 the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <quote>text/html</quote>,
3235 many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
3236 If it is send as <quote>application/xml</quote>, browsers with
3237 XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
3240 If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
3241 <quote>Content-Type: text/html</quote>, you can use &my-app;
3242 to overwrite it with <quote>application/xml</quote> and validate
3243 the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
3244 If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
3247 You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints
3248 error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared
3249 as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
3250 <quote>text/html</quote> and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
3253 By default <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal> only replaces
3254 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> headers that look like some kind of text.
3255 If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
3256 <literal><link linkend="force-text-mode">force-text-mode</link></literal>.
3257 This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
3260 Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom
3261 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
3262 It allows you to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
3263 only replace the content types you aimed at.
3266 Of course you can apply <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal>
3267 to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
3268 more work to get the same precision.
3274 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
3277 <screen># Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
3278 { +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
3281 # but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
3282 {-content-type-overwrite}
3283 www.example.net/.*\.css$
3284 www.example.net/.*style
3293 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3294 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-client-header">
3298 <title>crunch-client-header</title>
3302 <term>Typical use:</term>
3304 <para>Remove a client header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
3309 <term>Effect:</term>
3312 Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
3319 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3321 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3326 <term>Parameter:</term>
3338 This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
3339 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists.
3340 <application>Privoxy</application> will remove every client header that
3341 contains the string you supplied as parameter.
3344 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
3345 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
3346 they contain the same string.
3349 <literal>crunch-client-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
3350 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
3351 parts of them, you should use a
3352 <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header filter</link></literal>.
3356 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
3363 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3366 <screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
3367 { +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
3377 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3378 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-if-none-match">
3379 <title>crunch-if-none-match</title>
3385 <term>Typical use:</term>
3387 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
3392 <term>Effect:</term>
3395 Deletes the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header.
3402 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3404 <para>Boolean.</para>
3409 <term>Parameter:</term>
3421 Removing the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header
3422 is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
3423 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote> which
3424 would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
3427 It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
3428 replacement (unlikely but possible).
3431 Blocking the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> header shouldn't cause any
3432 caching problems, as long as the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> header
3433 isn't blocked or missing as well.
3436 It is recommended to use this action together with
3437 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
3439 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>.
3445 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3448 <screen># Let the browser revalidate cached documents but don't
3449 # allow the server to use the revalidation headers for user tracking.
3450 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
3451 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
3452 +crunch-if-none-match}
3461 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3462 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
3463 <title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
3467 <term>Typical use:</term>
3470 Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your system
3476 <term>Effect:</term>
3479 Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
3486 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3488 <para>Boolean.</para>
3493 <term>Parameter:</term>
3505 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
3506 <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
3507 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
3508 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
3511 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3512 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3513 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
3514 <literal><link linkend="filter-content-cookies">filter-content-cookies</link></literal>.
3520 <term>Example usage:</term>
3523 <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
3531 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3532 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-server-header">
3533 <title>crunch-server-header</title>
3539 <term>Typical use:</term>
3541 <para>Remove a server header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
3546 <term>Effect:</term>
3549 Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
3556 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3558 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3563 <term>Parameter:</term>
3575 This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
3576 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists. <application>Privoxy</application>
3577 will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
3580 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
3581 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
3582 they contain the same string.
3585 <literal>crunch-server-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
3586 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
3587 parts of them, you should use a custom
3588 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
3592 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
3599 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3602 <screen># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
3603 { +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
3612 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3613 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
3614 <title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
3618 <term>Typical use:</term>
3621 Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from your system
3627 <term>Effect:</term>
3630 Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
3637 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3639 <para>Boolean.</para>
3644 <term>Parameter:</term>
3656 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
3657 <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
3658 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
3659 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
3662 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3663 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3664 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
3670 <term>Example usage:</term>
3673 <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
3682 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3683 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
3684 <title>deanimate-gifs</title>
3688 <term>Typical use:</term>
3690 <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
3695 <term>Effect:</term>
3698 De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
3705 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3707 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3712 <term>Parameter:</term>
3715 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
3724 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
3725 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
3726 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
3727 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
3728 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
3729 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
3732 You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
3733 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
3740 <term>Example usage:</term>
3743 <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
3750 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3751 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
3752 <title>downgrade-http-version</title>
3756 <term>Typical use:</term>
3758 <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
3763 <term>Effect:</term>
3766 Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
3773 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3775 <para>Boolean.</para>
3780 <term>Parameter:</term>
3792 This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
3793 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
3794 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
3795 out there. Not all HTTP/1.1 features and requirements are supported yet,
3796 so there is a chance you might need this action.
3802 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3805 <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
3806 problem-host.example.com</screen>
3814 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3815 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
3816 <title>fast-redirects</title>
3820 <term>Typical use:</term>
3822 <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.</para>
3827 <term>Effect:</term>
3830 Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting
3831 the redirection server first.
3838 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3840 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3845 <term>Parameter:</term>
3850 <quote>simple-check</quote> to just search for the string <quote>http://</quote>
3851 to detect redirection URLs.
3856 <quote>check-decoded-url</quote> to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching
3857 for redirection URLs.
3868 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
3869 will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
3870 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
3871 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
3872 <quote>http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/</quote>.
3875 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
3876 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
3877 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
3878 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
3879 browser asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
3883 This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
3884 If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
3885 this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
3888 Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil.
3889 Some sites offer a real service that requires this information to work.
3890 For example a validation service needs to know, which document to validate.
3891 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> assumes that every URL parameter that
3892 looks like another URL is a redirection target, and will always redirect to
3893 the last one. Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't,
3894 the user gets redirected anyway.
3897 Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter.
3899 <quote>http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
3900 contains the redirection URL <quote>http://www.example.net/</quote>,
3901 followed by another parameter. <literal>fast-redirects</literal> doesn't know that
3902 and will cause a redirect to <quote>http://www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
3903 Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
3904 or lead to a <quote>page not found</quote> error. You can prevent this problem by
3905 first using the <literal><link linkend="redirect">redirect</link></literal> action
3906 to remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort.
3909 To detect a redirection URL, <literal>fast-redirects</literal> only
3910 looks for the string <quote>http://</quote>, either in plain text
3911 (invalid but often used) or encoded as <quote>http%3a//</quote>.
3912 Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the address
3913 of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses cases
3914 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> is fooled and the request reaches the
3915 redirection server where it probably gets logged.
3921 <term>Example usage:</term>
3925 { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
3928 { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
3929 another.example.com/testing</screen>
3938 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3939 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
3940 <title>filter</title>
3944 <term>Typical use:</term>
3946 <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
3947 do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.</para>
3952 <term>Effect:</term>
3955 All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
3956 this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular
3957 expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents
3958 are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
3959 <literal>text/plain</literal> MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
3966 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3968 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3973 <term>Parameter:</term>
3976 The name of a content filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>.
3977 Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
3978 <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
3979 option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>.
3980 <filename>default.filter</filename> is the collection of filters
3981 supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
3982 in their own file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>.
3985 When used in its negative form,
3986 and without parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> filtering is completely disabled.
3995 For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
3996 in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
4000 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
4001 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
4002 passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
4003 since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
4004 noticeable on slower connections.
4007 <quote>Rolling your own</quote>
4008 filters requires a knowledge of
4009 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
4010 Expressions</quote></ulink> and
4011 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"><quote>HTML</quote></ulink>.
4012 This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
4013 Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent
4014 <quote>action</quote> is not available.
4017 The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
4018 <literal><link linkend="buffer-limit">buffer-limit</link></literal>
4019 option in the main <link linkend="config">config file</link>. The
4020 default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
4021 data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
4024 Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
4025 (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data
4026 (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate
4027 the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might
4028 be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering
4029 by defining appropriate <literal>-filter</literal> exceptions.
4032 Compressed content can't be filtered either, unless &my-app;
4033 is compiled with zlib support (requires at least &my-app; 3.0.7),
4034 in which case &my-app; will decompress the content before filtering
4038 If you use a &my-app; version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on
4039 as much documents as possible, even those that would normally be sent compressed,
4040 you must use the <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
4041 action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
4044 Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
4045 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
4046 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
4047 works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
4048 based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
4052 <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or
4053 improved filters is particularly welcome!
4056 The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
4057 predefined filter. There are <link linkend="predefined-filters">more
4058 verbose explanations</link> of what these filters do in the <link
4059 linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>.
4065 <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file).
4066 See <link linkend="PREDEFINED-FILTERS">the Predefined Filters section</link> for
4067 more explanation on each:</term>
4070 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
4071 <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse</screen>
4074 <anchor id="filter-js-events">
4075 <screen>+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites)</screen>
4078 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
4079 <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse</screen>
4082 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
4083 <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content</screen>
4086 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
4087 <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)</screen>
4090 <anchor id="filter-unsolicited-popups">
4091 <screen>+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
4094 <anchor id="filter-all-popups">
4095 <screen>+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
4098 <anchor id="filter-img-reorder">
4099 <screen>+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective</screen>
4102 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
4103 <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size</screen>
4106 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-link">
4107 <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers</screen>
4110 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
4111 <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)</screen>
4114 <anchor id="filter-tiny-textforms">
4115 <screen>+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap</screen>
4118 <anchor id="filter-jumping-windows">
4119 <screen>+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves</screen>
4122 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
4123 <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable</screen>
4126 <anchor id="filter-demoronizer">
4127 <screen>+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets</screen>
4130 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
4131 <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects</screen>
4134 <anchor id="filter-quicktime-kioskmode">
4135 <screen>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies savable</screen>
4138 <anchor id="filter-fun">
4139 <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
4142 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
4143 <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering (demo only)</screen>
4146 <anchor id="filter-ie-exploits">
4147 <screen>+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable a known Internet Explorer bug exploits</screen>
4150 <anchor id="filter-site-specifics">
4151 <screen>+filter{site-specifics} # Custom filters for specific site related problems</screen>
4154 <anchor id="filter-google">
4155 <screen>+filter{google} # Removes text ads and other Google specific improvements</screen>
4158 <anchor id="filter-yahoo">
4159 <screen>+filter{yahoo} # Removes text ads and other Yahoo specific improvements</screen>
4162 <anchor id="filter-msn">
4163 <screen>+filter{msn} # Removes text ads and other MSN specific improvements</screen>
4166 <anchor id="filter-blogspot">
4167 <screen>+filter{blogspot} # Cleans up Blogspot blogs</screen>
4170 <anchor id="filter-no-ping">
4171 <screen>+filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes from anchor and area tags</screen>
4179 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4180 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="force-text-mode">
4181 <title>force-text-mode</title>
4187 <term>Typical use:</term>
4189 <para>Force <application>Privoxy</application> to treat a document as if it was in some kind of <emphasis>text</emphasis> format. </para>
4194 <term>Effect:</term>
4197 Declares a document as text, even if the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> isn't detected as such.
4204 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4206 <para>Boolean.</para>
4211 <term>Parameter:</term>
4223 As explained <literal><link linkend="filter">above</link></literal>,
4224 <application>Privoxy</application> tries to only filter files that are
4225 in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to
4226 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite</link></literal>.
4227 <literal>force-text-mode</literal> declares a document as text,
4228 without looking at the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> first.
4232 Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
4233 with regular expressions can cause file damage.
4240 <term>Example usage:</term>
4253 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4254 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward-override">
4255 <title>forward-override</title>
4261 <term>Typical use:</term>
4263 <para>Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin</para>
4268 <term>Effect:</term>
4271 Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file.
4278 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4280 <para>Multi-value.</para>
4285 <term>Parameter:</term>
4289 <para><quote>forward .</quote> to use a direct connection without any additional proxies.</para>
4293 <quote>forward 127.0.0.1:8123</quote> to use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123.
4298 <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 .</quote> to use the socks4a proxy listening at
4299 127.0.0.1 port 9050. Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote>
4300 to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS resolution) instead.
4305 <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 proxy.example.org:8000</quote> to use the socks4a proxy
4306 listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy listening at proxy.example.org port 8000.
4307 Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote> to use a socks4 connection
4308 (with local DNS resolution) instead.
4319 This action takes parameters similar to the <!-- I hope this link actual works -->
4320 <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives in the configuration
4321 file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used as replacement, but normally it's only
4322 used in cases where matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient.
4326 Please read the description for the <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives before
4327 using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will reduce your privacy and increase the
4328 chances of man-in-the-middle attacks.
4331 If the ports are missing or invalid, default values will be used. This might change
4332 in the future and you shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect syntax causes Privoxy
4336 Use the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">show-url-info CGI page</ulink>
4337 to verify that your forward settings do what you thought the do.
4344 <term>Example usage:</term>
4348 # Always use direct connections for requests previously tagged as
4349 # <quote>User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0</quote> and make sure
4350 # resuming downloads continues to work.
4351 # This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing,
4352 # without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates
4353 # or downloads of bigger files like ISOs.
4354 {+forward-override{forward .} \
4355 -hide-if-modified-since \
4356 -overwrite-last-modified \
4358 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$
4367 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4368 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-empty-document">
4369 <title>handle-as-empty-document</title>
4375 <term>Typical use:</term>
4377 <para>Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis></para>
4382 <term>Effect:</term>
4385 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
4386 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
4387 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote>
4388 page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
4389 The <emphasis>empty</emphasis> document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
4396 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4398 <para>Boolean.</para>
4403 <term>Parameter:</term>
4415 Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
4416 are blocked with <application>Privoxy's</application>
4417 default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
4418 And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the &my-app;
4419 BLOCKED message in frames.
4422 The content type for the empty document can be specified with
4423 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{}</link></literal>,
4424 but usually this isn't necessary.
4430 <term>Example usage:</term>
4433 <screen># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
4434 # but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
4435 {+block +handle-as-empty-document}
4445 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4446 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
4447 <title>handle-as-image</title>
4451 <term>Typical use:</term>
4453 <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>
4458 <term>Effect:</term>
4461 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
4462 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
4463 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
4464 page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
4465 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
4466 client as a substitute for the blocked content.
4473 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4475 <para>Boolean.</para>
4480 <term>Parameter:</term>
4492 The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
4493 It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
4497 Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
4498 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
4499 reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
4502 Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
4503 frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
4504 Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
4505 ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
4511 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
4514 <screen># Generic image extensions:
4517 /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
4519 # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
4520 # blocked as images:
4522 {+block +handle-as-image}
4523 some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash
4525 # Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
4535 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4536 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-accept-language">
4537 <title>hide-accept-language</title>
4543 <term>Typical use:</term>
4545 <para>Pretend to use different language settings.</para>
4550 <term>Effect:</term>
4553 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> HTTP header in client requests.
4560 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4562 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4567 <term>Parameter:</term>
4570 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4579 Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
4580 foreign User-Agent set with
4581 <literal><link linkend="hide-user-agent">hide-user-agent</link></literal>
4585 However some sites with content in different languages check the
4586 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> to decide which one to take by default.
4587 Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
4588 changing the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header first.
4591 Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
4592 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header to languages you understand,
4593 or to languages that aren't wide spread.
4596 Before setting the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header
4597 to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to
4598 make your requests unique and thus easier to trace.
4599 If you don't plan to change this header frequently,
4600 you should stick to a common language.
4606 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4609 <screen># Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
4610 {+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
4611 +hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
4621 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4622 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-content-disposition">
4623 <title>hide-content-disposition</title>
4629 <term>Typical use:</term>
4631 <para>Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.</para>
4636 <term>Effect:</term>
4639 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header set by some servers.
4646 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4648 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4653 <term>Parameter:</term>
4656 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4665 Some servers set the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header for
4666 documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
4667 The <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header contains the file name
4668 the browser is supposed to use by default.
4671 In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
4672 <emphasis>just view</emphasis> the document, without downloading it first,
4673 even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
4676 Removing the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header helps
4677 to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
4678 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> header, before they decide if they can
4679 display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have
4680 to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
4684 It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion
4685 to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set
4689 This action will probably be removed in the future,
4690 use server-header filters instead.
4696 <term>Example usage:</term>
4699 <screen># Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
4701 +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
4702 +hide-content-disposition{block} }
4703 .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php</screen>
4711 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4712 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-if-modified-since">
4713 <title>hide-if-modified-since</title>
4719 <term>Typical use:</term>
4721 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
4726 <term>Effect:</term>
4729 Deletes the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> HTTP client header or modifies its value.
4736 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4738 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4743 <term>Parameter:</term>
4746 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
4755 Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
4756 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the
4757 browser to use a cached copy of the page.
4760 Instead of removing the header, <literal>hide-if-modified-since</literal> can
4761 also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value.
4762 You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and
4763 <application>Privoxy</application> does the rest. A negative value means
4764 subtracting, a positive value adding.
4767 Randomizing the value of the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> makes
4768 sure it isn't used as a cookie replacement, but you will run into
4769 caching problems if the random range is too high.
4772 It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
4773 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
4774 handle the greater changes.
4777 It is also recommended to use this action together with
4778 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
4784 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4787 <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
4788 { +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
4789 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
4790 +crunch-if-none-match}
4799 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4800 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
4801 <title>hide-forwarded-for-headers</title>
4804 <term>Typical use:</term>
4806 <para>Improve privacy by not embedding the source of the request in the HTTP headers.</para>
4811 <term>Effect:</term>
4814 Deletes any existing <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> HTTP header from client requests,
4815 and prevents adding a new one.
4822 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4824 <para>Boolean.</para>
4829 <term>Parameter:</term>
4841 It is safe to leave this on.
4847 <term>Example usage:</term>
4850 <screen>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</screen>
4858 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4859 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
4860 <title>hide-from-header</title>
4864 <term>Typical use:</term>
4866 <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
4871 <term>Effect:</term>
4874 Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
4882 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4884 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4889 <term>Parameter:</term>
4892 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4901 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
4902 (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
4906 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
4907 server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
4908 is actually used by a real person.
4911 This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
4912 <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
4918 <term>Example usage:</term>
4921 <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
4922 <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
4930 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4931 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
4932 <title>hide-referrer</title>
4933 <anchor id="hide-referer">
4936 <term>Typical use:</term>
4938 <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
4943 <term>Effect:</term>
4946 Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
4947 or replaces it with a forged one.
4954 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4956 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4961 <term>Parameter:</term>
4965 <para><quote>conditional-block</quote> to delete the header completely if the host has changed.</para>
4969 <para><quote>conditional-forge</quote> to forge the header if the host has changed.</para>
4973 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header unconditionally.</para>
4976 <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
4979 <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
4989 <literal>conditional-block</literal> is the only parameter,
4990 that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the
4991 referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or
4992 typed in the address directly.
4995 Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
4996 allows the server owner to see the visitor's <quote>click path</quote>,
4997 but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing
4998 other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't
4999 a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between
5003 Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
5004 failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
5005 requests, in an attempt to prevent their valuable content from being
5006 embedded or linked to elsewhere.
5009 Both <literal>conditional-block</literal> and <literal>forge</literal>
5010 will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page
5011 are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case.
5014 <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
5015 <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
5016 substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
5017 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
5018 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
5024 <term>Example usage:</term>
5027 <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
5028 <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
5036 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5037 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
5038 <title>hide-user-agent</title>
5042 <term>Typical use:</term>
5044 <para>Conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
5049 <term>Effect:</term>
5052 Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
5053 in client requests with the specified value.
5060 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5062 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5067 <term>Parameter:</term>
5070 Any user-defined string.
5080 This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at this header in
5081 order to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
5082 way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the right thing to do: good web sites
5083 work browser-independently).
5085 <ulink url="http://www.javascriptkit.com/javaindex.shtml">smart way to do
5091 Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
5092 browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
5093 <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
5094 setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
5095 the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
5096 OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
5097 sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
5098 reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
5099 let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
5100 <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
5101 (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
5104 More information on known user-agent strings can be found at
5105 <ulink url="http://www.user-agents.org/">http://www.user-agents.org/</ulink>
5107 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</ulink>.
5113 <term>Example usage:</term>
5116 <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
5124 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5125 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="inspect-jpegs">
5126 <title>inspect-jpegs</title>
5132 <term>Typical use:</term>
5134 <para>To protect against the MS buffer over-run in JPEG processing</para>
5139 <term>Effect:</term>
5142 Protect against a known exploit
5149 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5151 <para>Boolean.</para>
5156 <term>Parameter:</term>
5168 See Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-028. JPEG images are one of the most
5169 common image types found across the Internet. The exploit as described can
5170 allow execution of code on the target system, giving an attacker access
5171 to the system in question by merely planting an altered JPEG image, which
5172 would have no obvious indications of what lurks inside. This action
5173 prevents this exploit.
5176 Note that the described exploit is only one of many,
5177 using this action does not mean that you no longer
5178 have to patch the client.
5185 <term>Example usage:</term>
5187 <para><screen>+inspect-jpegs</screen></para>
5194 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5195 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="kill-popups">
5196 <title>kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"></title>
5200 <term>Typical use:</term>
5202 <para>Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows (deprecated)</para>
5207 <term>Effect:</term>
5210 While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens
5211 pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly.
5218 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5220 <para>Boolean.</para>
5225 <term>Parameter:</term>
5237 This action is basically a built-in, hardwired special-purpose filter
5238 action, but there are important differences: For <literal>kill-popups</literal>,
5239 the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while
5240 downloading. But <literal>kill-popups</literal> doesn't catch as many pop-ups as
5242 linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>all-popups</replaceable>}</link></literal>
5243 does and is not as smart as <literal><link
5244 linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>unsolicited-popups</replaceable>}</link>
5248 Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you
5249 can use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make
5250 sense to combine it with any <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action,
5251 since as soon as one <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> applies,
5252 the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the advantage of
5253 the <literal>kill-popups</literal> action over its filter equivalent.
5256 Killing all pop-ups unconditionally is problematic. Many shops and banks rely on
5257 pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and the <literal><link
5258 linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>unsolicited-popups</replaceable>}</link>
5259 </literal> does a better job of catching only the unwanted ones.
5262 If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those
5263 <emphasis>really nasty</emphasis> windows that appear when you close an other
5264 one), you might want to use
5266 linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>js-annoyances</replaceable>}</literal>
5270 This action is most appropriate for browsers that don't have any controls
5271 for unwanted pop-ups. Not recommended for general usage.
5276 An alternate spelling is <literal>+kill-popup</literal>, which is
5284 <term>Example usage:</term>
5286 <para><screen>+kill-popups</screen></para>
5293 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5294 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
5295 <title>limit-connect</title>
5299 <term>Typical use:</term>
5301 <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</para>
5306 <term>Effect:</term>
5309 Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
5316 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5318 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5323 <term>Parameter:</term>
5326 A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
5327 defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
5336 By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
5337 <application>Privoxy</application> only allows HTTP CONNECT
5338 requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
5339 <literal>limit-connect</literal> if more fine-grained control is desired
5340 for some or all destinations.
5343 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
5344 (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
5345 the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
5346 short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
5347 This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be
5348 abused as TCP relays very easily.
5351 <application>Privoxy</application> relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
5352 the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent &my-app;'s
5353 filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
5354 If you plan to disable SSL by default, consider enabling
5355 <literal><link linkend="treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks ">treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</link></literal>
5356 as well, to be able to quickly create exceptions.
5362 <term>Example usages:</term>
5364 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
5365 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
5366 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
5368 <screen>+limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
5369 +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
5370 +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
5371 +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
5372 +limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</screen>
5379 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5380 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
5381 <title>prevent-compression</title>
5385 <term>Typical use:</term>
5388 Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
5389 passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s.
5395 <term>Effect:</term>
5398 Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
5405 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5407 <para>Boolean.</para>
5412 <term>Parameter:</term>
5424 More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
5425 is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the <literal><link
5426 linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>, <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
5427 and <literal><link linkend="kill-popups">kill-popups</link></literal> actions need
5428 access to the uncompressed data.
5431 When compiled with zlib support (available since &my-app; 3.0.7), content that should be
5432 filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't have to worry about this action.
5433 If you are using an older &my-app; version, or one that hasn't been compiled with zlib
5434 support, this action can be used to convince the server to send the content uncompressed.
5437 Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is seldom decreased by less than 50%,
5438 for markup-heavy instances like news feeds saving more than 90% of the original size isn't
5442 Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should only
5443 enable this action if you really need it. As of &my-app; 3.0.7 it's disabled in all
5444 predefined action settings.
5447 Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
5448 documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an empty document body,
5449 some IIS versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable
5450 <literal>prevent-compression</literal> per default, you might want to add
5451 exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
5457 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
5461 # Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
5463 { +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
5464 # Match only these sites
5469 # Or instead, we could set a universal default:
5471 { +prevent-compression }
5474 # Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites:
5476 { -prevent-compression }
5477 .compusa.com/</screen>
5486 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5487 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="overwrite-last-modified">
5488 <title>overwrite-last-modified</title>
5494 <term>Typical use:</term>
5496 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
5501 <term>Effect:</term>
5504 Deletes the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> HTTP server header or modifies its value.
5511 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5513 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5518 <term>Parameter:</term>
5521 One of the keywords: <quote>block</quote>, <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote>
5522 and <quote>randomize</quote>
5531 Removing the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header is useful for filter
5532 testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
5533 code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
5534 version of the page.
5537 The <quote>randomize</quote> option overwrites the value of the
5538 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with a randomly chosen time
5539 between the original value and the current time. In theory the server
5540 could send each document with a different <quote>Last-Modified:</quote>
5541 header to track visits without using cookies. <quote>Randomize</quote>
5542 makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
5545 <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote> overwrites the value of the
5546 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with the current time. You could use
5547 this option together with
5548 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>
5549 to further customize your random range.
5552 The preferred parameter here is <quote>randomize</quote>. It is safe
5553 to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct.
5554 If the server sets the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header to the time
5555 of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same.
5556 Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with
5557 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>,
5561 It is also recommended to use this action together with
5562 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
5568 <term>Example usage:</term>
5571 <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
5572 { +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
5573 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
5574 +crunch-if-none-match}
5583 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5584 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="redirect">
5585 <title>redirect</title>
5591 <term>Typical use:</term>
5594 Redirect requests to other sites.
5600 <term>Effect:</term>
5603 Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
5604 to another location and the browser should get it from there.
5611 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5613 <para>Parameterized</para>
5618 <term>Parameter:</term>
5621 An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
5630 Requests to which this action applies are answered with a
5631 HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is
5632 either provided as parameter, or derived by applying a
5633 single pcrs command to the original URL.
5636 This action will be ignored if you use it together with
5637 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>.
5638 It can be combined with
5639 <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</link></literal>
5640 to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL.
5643 Use this action carefully, make sure not to create redirection loops
5644 and be aware that using your own redirects might make it
5645 possible to fingerprint your requests.
5651 <term>Example usages:</term>
5654 <screen># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
5655 { +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
5656 example.com/stylesheet\.css
5658 # Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
5659 # (relies on the browser accept and forward invalid URLs to &my-app;)
5660 { +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
5663 # Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles
5664 # (Note the $ at the end of the URL pattern to make sure
5665 # the request for the rewritten URL isn't redirected as well)
5666 {+redirect{s@$@&mode=expanded@}}
5667 undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$</screen>
5676 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5677 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-vanilla-wafer">
5678 <title>send-vanilla-wafer</title>
5682 <term>Typical use:</term>
5685 Feed log analysis scripts with useless data.
5691 <term>Effect:</term>
5694 Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any copyright
5695 on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track you.
5702 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5704 <para>Boolean.</para>
5709 <term>Parameter:</term>
5721 The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you.
5724 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
5730 <term>Example usage:</term>
5733 <screen>+send-vanilla-wafer</screen>
5742 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5743 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-wafer">
5744 <title>send-wafer</title>
5748 <term>Typical use:</term>
5751 Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data.
5757 <term>Effect:</term>
5760 Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request.
5767 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5769 <para>Multi-value.</para>
5774 <term>Parameter:</term>
5777 A string of the form <quote><replaceable class="option">name</replaceable>=<replaceable
5778 class="parameter">value</replaceable></quote>.
5787 Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request,
5788 resulting in multiple cookies being sent.
5791 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
5796 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5799 <screen>{+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
5800 my-internal-testing-server.void</screen>
5808 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5809 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-filter">
5810 <title>server-header-filter</title>
5814 <term>Typical use:</term>
5817 Rewrite or remove single server headers.
5823 <term>Effect:</term>
5826 All server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly
5827 through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
5834 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
5836 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5841 <term>Parameter:</term>
5844 The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the
5845 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
5854 Server-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
5855 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
5856 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
5857 You can do that by using tags though.
5860 Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
5861 and use their output as input.
5864 Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
5865 to learn which server-header filters are available by default, and how to
5872 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5876 {+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}}
5877 example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html
5879 {+server-header-filter{xml-to-html}}
5880 example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not
5890 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5891 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-tagger">
5892 <title>server-header-tagger</title>
5896 <term>Typical use:</term>
5899 Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
5905 <term>Effect:</term>
5908 Server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
5909 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
5917 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
5919 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5924 <term>Parameter:</term>
5927 The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the
5928 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
5937 Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
5938 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
5942 Server-header taggers are executed before all other header actions
5943 that modify server headers. Their tags can be used to control
5944 all of the other server-header actions, the content filters
5945 and the crunch actions (<link linkend="redirect">redirect</link>
5946 and <link linkend="block">block</link>).
5949 Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header taggers
5950 doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the server's log file.
5957 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5961 # Tag every request with the content type declared by the server
5962 {+server-header-tagger{content-type}}
5973 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5974 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
5975 <title>session-cookies-only</title>
5979 <term>Typical use:</term>
5982 Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current
5983 browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
5989 <term>Effect:</term>
5992 Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote>
5993 server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
5994 forget them in between sessions.
6001 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
6003 <para>Boolean.</para>
6008 <term>Parameter:</term>
6020 This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
6021 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
6022 websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
6025 Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
6026 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
6027 This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
6028 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
6029 sites, and is the recommended setting.
6032 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
6033 together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
6034 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
6035 will be plainly killed.
6038 Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
6039 field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
6042 This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
6043 previously by the browser before starting <application>Privoxy</application>.
6044 These would have to be removed manually.
6047 <application>Privoxy</application> also uses
6048 the <link linkend="filter-content-cookies">content-cookies filter</link>
6049 to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
6050 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>.
6056 <term>Example usage:</term>
6059 <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
6067 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6068 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
6069 <title>set-image-blocker</title>
6073 <term>Typical use:</term>
6075 <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
6080 <term>Effect:</term>
6083 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
6084 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
6085 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
6086 apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
6087 <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
6088 sent as a replacement.
6095 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
6097 <para>Parameterized.</para>
6102 <term>Parameter:</term>
6107 <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
6108 decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
6113 <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
6114 completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
6115 images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
6116 has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
6121 <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
6122 send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
6123 to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via <quote>file:///</quote> URL.
6124 (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
6127 A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
6128 URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
6129 This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
6130 the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
6131 it over and over again.
6142 The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
6143 class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
6144 either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
6147 There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
6148 used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
6149 Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
6155 <term>Example usage:</term>
6161 <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
6164 Redirect to the BSD daemon:
6167 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
6170 Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
6173 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
6181 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6182 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks">
6183 <title>treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</title>
6189 <term>Typical use:</term>
6191 <para>Block forbidden connects with an easy to find error message.</para>
6196 <term>Effect:</term>
6199 If this action is enabled, <application>Privoxy</application> no longer
6200 makes a difference between forbidden connects and ordinary blocks.
6207 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
6209 <para>Boolean</para>
6214 <term>Parameter:</term>
6224 By default <application>Privoxy</application> answers
6225 <link linkend="limit-connect">forbidden <quote>Connect</quote> requests</link>
6226 with a short error message inside the headers. If the browser doesn't display
6227 headers (most don't), you just see an empty page.
6230 With this action enabled, <application>Privoxy</application> displays
6231 the message that is used for ordinary blocks instead. If you decide
6232 to make an exception for the page in question, you can do so by
6233 following the <quote>See why</quote> link.
6236 For <quote>Connect</quote> requests the clients tell
6237 <application>Privoxy</application> which host they are interested
6238 in, but not which document they plan to get later. As a result, the
6239 <quote>Go there anyway</quote> wouldn't work and is therefore suppressed.
6245 <term>Example usage:</term>
6248 <screen>+treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</screen>
6256 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6258 <title>Summary</title>
6260 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
6261 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
6262 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
6263 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
6264 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
6265 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
6271 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6272 <sect2 id="aliases">
6273 <title>Aliases</title>
6275 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
6276 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
6277 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
6278 Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
6280 <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
6281 recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
6282 <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
6283 Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
6284 <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
6288 Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
6289 defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
6290 And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
6291 have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
6295 There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
6296 used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
6297 decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
6298 <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
6299 <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
6300 in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
6301 by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
6304 Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
6305 <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
6306 editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
6307 them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
6308 but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
6313 Now let's define some aliases...
6318 # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
6320 # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
6321 # must be at the top of the actions file!
6325 # These aliases just save typing later:
6326 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
6328 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6329 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6330 +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
6331 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
6333 # These aliases define combinations of actions
6334 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
6336 fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> -<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link>
6338 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link>
6340 # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
6342 c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
6343 c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
6347 ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
6348 actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
6349 up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
6354 # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
6355 # user data and require minimal interference to work:
6358 .office.microsoft.com
6359 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
6360 # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com
6364 # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
6368 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
6371 # These shops require pop-ups:
6373 {-kill-popups -filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
6375 .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
6379 Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are typically used for
6380 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require more than one action to be disabled
6381 in order to function properly.
6387 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6388 <sect2 id="act-examples">
6389 <title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
6391 The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
6392 there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
6393 linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
6394 to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
6395 define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
6396 example <filename>default.action</filename> and <filename>user.action</filename>
6397 file and see how all these pieces come together:
6400 <sect3><title>default.action</title>
6403 Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:
6407 <screen># Sample default.action file <ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net></screen>
6411 Then, since this is the <filename>default.action</filename> file, the
6412 first section is a special section for internal use that you needn't
6413 change or worry about:
6418 ##########################################################################
6419 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
6420 ##########################################################################
6423 for-privoxy-version=3.0</screen>
6427 After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
6428 section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
6429 that also explains why and how aliases are used:
6434 ##########################################################################
6436 ##########################################################################
6439 # These aliases just save typing later:
6440 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
6442 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6443 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6444 +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
6445 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
6447 # These aliases define combinations of actions
6448 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
6450 fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link>
6451 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></screen>
6455 Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied
6456 by URL patterns to which they apply. Remember <emphasis>all actions
6457 are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>, so we have to explicitly
6458 enable the ones we want.
6462 The first regular section is probably the most important. It has only
6463 one pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
6464 <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the
6465 set of actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
6466 be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
6467 wholly overridden by later matches further down this file, or in user.action,
6468 but it will still be largely responsible for your overall browsing
6473 Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
6474 no real need to disable any actions here, but we will do that nonetheless,
6475 to have a complete listing for your reference. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
6476 preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
6477 Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
6478 multiple lines with line continuation.
6483 ##########################################################################
6484 # "Defaults" section:
6485 ##########################################################################
6487 -<link linkend="ADD-HEADER">add-header</link> \
6488 -<link linkend="CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER">client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}</link> \
6489 -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> \
6490 -<link linkend="CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE">content-type-overwrite</link> \
6491 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-CLIENT-HEADER">crunch-client-header</link> \
6492 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH">crunch-if-none-match</link> \
6493 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> \
6494 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-SERVER-HEADER">crunch-server-header</link> \
6495 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link> \
6496 +<link linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</link> \
6497 -<link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION">downgrade-http-version</link> \
6498 -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</link> \
6499 -<link linkend="FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES">filter{js-annoyances}</link> \
6500 -<link linkend="FILTER-JS-EVENTS">filter{js-events}</link> \
6501 +<link linkend="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES">filter{html-annoyances}</link> \
6502 -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link> \
6503 +<link linkend="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">filter{refresh-tags}</link> \
6504 -<link linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{unsolicited-popups}</link> \
6505 -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link> \
6506 -<link linkend="FILTER-IMG-REORDER">filter{img-reorder}</link> \
6507 -<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">filter{banners-by-size}</link> \
6508 -<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK">filter{banners-by-link}</link> \
6509 +<link linkend="FILTER-WEBBUGS">filter{webbugs}</link> \
6510 -<link linkend="FILTER-TINY-TEXTFORMS">filter{tiny-textforms}</link> \
6511 -<link linkend="FILTER-JUMPING-WINDOWS">filter{jumping-windows}</link> \
6512 -<link linkend="FILTER-FRAMESET-BORDERS">filter{frameset-borders}</link> \
6513 -<link linkend="FILTER-DEMORONIZER">filter{demoronizer}</link> \
6514 -<link linkend="FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH">filter{shockwave-flash}</link> \
6515 -<link linkend="FILTER-QUICKTIME-KIOSKMODE">filter{quicktime-kioskmode}</link> \
6516 -<link linkend="FILTER-FUN">filter{fun}</link> \
6517 -<link linkend="FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL">filter{crude-parental}</link> \
6518 +<link linkend="FILTER-IE-EXPLOITS">filter{ie-exploits}</link> \
6519 -<link linkend="FILTER-GOOGLE">filter{google}</link> \
6520 -<link linkend="FILTER-YAHOO">filter{yahoo}</link> \
6521 -<link linkend="FILTER-MSN">filter{msn}</link> \
6522 -<link linkend="FILTER-BLOGSPOT">filter{blogspot}</link> \
6523 -<link linkend="FILTER-NO-PING">filter{no-ping}</link> \
6524 -<link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> \
6525 -<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT">handle-as-empty-document</link> \
6526 -<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> \
6527 -<link linkend="HIDE-ACCEPT-LANGUAGE">hide-accept-language</link> \
6528 -<link linkend="HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION">hide-content-disposition</link> \
6529 -<link linkend="HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE">hide-if-modified-since</link> \
6530 +<link linkend="HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS">hide-forwarded-for-headers</link> \
6531 +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
6532 +<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer{forge}</link> \
6533 -<link linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT">hide-user-agent</link> \
6534 -<link linkend="INSPECT-JPEGS">inspect-jpegs</link> \
6535 -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> \
6536 -<link linkend="LIMIT-CONNECT">limit-connect</link> \
6537 +<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link> \
6538 -<link linkend="OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED">overwrite-last-modified</link> \
6539 -<link linkend="REDIRECT">redirect</link> \
6540 -<link linkend="SEND-VANILLA-WAFER">send-vanilla-wafer</link> \
6541 -<link linkend="SEND-WAFER">send-wafer</link> \
6542 -<link linkend="SERVER-HEADER-FILTER">server-header-filter{xml-to-html}</link> \
6543 -<link linkend="SERVER-HEADER-FILTER">server-header-filter{html-to-xml}</link> \
6544 +<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> \
6545 +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
6546 -<link linkend="TREAT-FORBIDDEN-CONNECTS-LIKE-BLOCKS">treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</link> \
6548 / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.</screen>
6552 The default behavior is now set. Note that some actions, like not hiding
6553 the user agent, are part of a <quote>general policy</quote> that applies
6554 universally and won't get any exceptions defined later. Other choices,
6555 like not blocking (which is <emphasis>understandably</emphasis> the
6556 default!) need exceptions, i.e. we need to specify explicitly what we
6557 want to block in later sections.
6561 The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
6562 sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
6563 very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
6564 make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
6565 our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
6566 of actions explicitly:
6571 ##########################################################################
6572 # Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
6573 ##########################################################################
6575 # "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
6578 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
6579 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
6580 mail.google.com</screen>
6584 Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
6585 require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
6586 carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
6595 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
6597 .scan.co.uk</screen>
6600 <!-- No longer needed BEGIN OF COMMENTED OUT BLOCK
6603 Then, there are sites which rely on pop-up windows (yuck!) to work.
6604 Since we made pop-up-killing our default above, we need to make exceptions
6605 now. <ulink url="http://www.mozilla.org/">Mozilla</ulink> users, who
6606 can turn on smart handling of unwanted pop-ups in their browsers, can
6608 -<literal><link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link></literal> (and
6609 -<literal><link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></literal>) above
6610 and hence don't need this section. Anyway, disabling an already disabled
6611 action doesn't hurt, so we'll define our exceptions regardless of what was
6612 chosen in the defaults section:
6617 # These sites require pop-ups too :(
6619 { -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> }
6622 .deutsche-bank-24.de</screen>
6625 END OF COMMENTED OUT BLOCK -->
6628 The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
6629 action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable
6630 it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
6635 { -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
6639 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
6640 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
6641 .nytimes.com</screen>
6645 It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
6646 URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
6647 be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
6648 Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
6649 would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
6650 would feed the advertisers (in terms of money <emphasis>and</emphasis>
6651 information). We can mark any URL as an image with the <literal><link
6652 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
6653 and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
6659 ##########################################################################
6661 ##########################################################################
6663 # Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
6664 # blocked further down this file:
6666 { +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
6667 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
6671 And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
6672 generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
6673 request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
6674 mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
6675 <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
6676 course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
6677 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
6678 Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
6679 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
6680 action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
6681 <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
6682 action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
6687 # Known ad generators:
6692 .ad.*.doubleclick.net
6693 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
6694 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
6700 One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
6701 is to block banners. Many of these can be <quote>blocked</quote>
6702 by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
6703 action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
6704 images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
6705 them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
6706 doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
6707 need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
6708 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
6711 First comes many generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
6712 matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
6713 a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
6714 to keep the example short:
6719 ##########################################################################
6720 # Block these fine banners:
6721 ##########################################################################
6722 { <link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link> }
6730 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
6731 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
6733 # Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
6735 .hitbox.com</screen>
6739 It's quite remarkable how many advertisers actually call their banner
6740 servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
6741 in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
6742 generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
6745 But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
6746 to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
6747 <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
6748 but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
6749 <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
6750 well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
6754 Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
6755 <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
6756 so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
6757 URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
6758 action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
6759 general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
6760 <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
6761 <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
6762 applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
6763 with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
6768 ##########################################################################
6769 # Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
6770 ##########################################################################
6774 { -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
6775 adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
6776 adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
6777 adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
6778 ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
6779 .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
6780 .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
6788 www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
6789 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
6793 Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
6794 so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
6795 and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
6796 <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
6797 disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
6802 # Don't filter code!
6804 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
6809 .sourceforge.net</screen>
6813 The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course much more
6814 comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
6819 <sect3><title>user.action</title>
6822 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
6823 which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
6824 you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
6825 are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
6826 be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
6827 be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
6828 actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
6829 defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
6830 <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
6831 <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
6832 <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
6833 to install updated versions from time to time.
6837 So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
6838 <filename>user.action</filename>:
6842 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
6846 # My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com></screen>
6850 As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
6851 file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
6852 <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
6857 # Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
6858 # (Re-)define aliases for this file:
6862 # These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
6863 # be self explanatory.
6865 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
6866 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
6867 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
6868 allow-popups = -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
6869 +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
6870 -block-as-image = -block
6872 # These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
6873 # certain types of sites:
6875 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
6876 shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
6878 # Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
6880 allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
6882 # Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
6883 # MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
6884 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>
6889 Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
6890 you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
6891 to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
6892 <literal>allow-all-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
6893 that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
6894 processing of cookies to make them only temporary.
6899 { allow-all-cookies }
6903 .redhat.com</screen>
6907 Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:
6912 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
6913 .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
6917 Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
6922 # Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
6923 # erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
6928 # And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
6929 # so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
6931 stupid-server.example.com/</screen>
6935 Example of a simple <link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> action. Say you've
6936 seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of.
6937 You have right-clicked the image, selected <quote>copy image location</quote>
6938 and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a
6939 <literal>{ +block }</literal> section. Note that <literal>{ +handle-as-image
6940 }</literal> need not be specified, since all URLs ending in
6941 <literal>.gif</literal> will be tagged as images by the general rules as set
6942 in default.action anyway:
6947 { +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
6948 www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
6949 another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
6953 The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner
6954 farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which
6955 makes it impossible for <application>Privoxy</application> to guess
6956 the file type just by looking at the URL.
6957 You can use the <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above for
6959 Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an
6960 image are typically rendered as a <quote>broken image</quote> icon by the
6961 browser. Use cautiously.
6970 ar.atwola.com/</screen>
6974 Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
6975 but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
6976 were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
6977 you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
6978 -- <emphasis>whoa!</emphasis> -- it worked. The <literal>fragile</literal>
6979 aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also,
6980 good for testing purposes to see if it is <application>Privoxy</application>
6981 that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular sites
6982 that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:
6990 .mybank.com</screen>
6994 You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
6995 but it is disabled in the distributed actions file. (My colleagues on the team just
6996 don't have a sense of humour, that's why! ;-). So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
6997 update-safe config, once and for all:
7002 { +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
7003 / # For ALL sites!</screen>
7007 Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
7008 to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
7009 really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
7010 <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
7011 won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
7015 You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are
7016 funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
7017 to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
7018 sites that you feel provide value to you:
7030 Note that <literal>allow-ads</literal> has been aliased to
7031 <literal>-<link linkend="block">block</link></literal>,
7032 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-size">filter{banners-by-size}</link></literal>, and
7033 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-link">filter{banners-by-link}</link></literal> above.
7037 Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type <literal>
7038 application/x-sh</literal> which typically would open a download type
7039 dialog. In my case, I want to look at the shell script, and then I can save
7040 it should I choose to.
7050 <filename>user.action</filename> is generally the best place to define
7051 exceptions and additions to the default policies of
7052 <filename>default.action</filename>. Some actions are safe to have their
7053 default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
7054 <quote>blank</quote> image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for
7055 <emphasis>ALL</emphasis> sites. <quote>/</quote> of course matches all URL
7061 { +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
7062 / # ALL sites</screen>
7068 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7072 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7074 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
7076 <sect1 id="filter-file">
7077 <title>Filter Files</title>
7080 On-the-fly text substitutions need
7081 to be defined in a <quote>filter file</quote>. Once defined, they
7082 can then be invoked as an <quote>action</quote>.
7086 &my-app; supports three different filter actions:
7087 <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> to
7088 rewrite the content that is send to the client,
7089 <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header-filter</link></literal>
7090 to rewrite headers that are send by the client, and
7091 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header-filter</link></literal>
7092 to rewrite headers that are send by the server, and
7096 &my-app; also supports two tagger actions:
7097 <literal><link linkend="client-header-tagger">client-header-tagger</link></literal>
7099 <literal><link linkend="server-header-tagger">server-header-tagger</link></literal>.
7100 Taggers and filters use the same syntax in the filter files, the differnce
7101 is that taggers don't modify the text they are filtering, but use a rewritten
7102 version of the filtered text as tag. The tags can then be used to change the
7103 applying actions through sections with <link linkend="tag-pattern">tag-patterns</link>.
7108 Multiple filter files can be defined through the <literal> <link
7109 linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config directive. The filters
7110 as supplied by the developers will be found in
7111 <filename>default.filter</filename>. It is recommended that any locally
7112 defined or modified filters go in a separately defined file such as
7113 <filename>user.filter</filename>.
7118 Command tasks for content filters are to eliminate common annoyances in
7119 HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
7120 exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
7121 infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
7122 width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
7123 or just to have fun.
7127 Content filtering works on any text-based document type, including
7128 HTML, JavaScript, CSS etc. (all <literal>text/*</literal>
7129 MIME types, <emphasis>except</emphasis> <literal>text/plain</literal>).
7130 Substitutions are made at the source level, so if you want to <quote>roll
7131 your own</quote> filters, you should first be familiar with HTML syntax,
7132 and, of course, regular expressions.
7136 Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
7137 filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
7138 here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with one of the
7139 <emphasis>keywords</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>,
7140 <literal>CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER:</literal> or <literal>SERVER-HEADER-FILTER:</literal>
7141 followed by the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
7142 <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
7143 come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
7144 text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
7145 should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
7146 comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
7147 user interface</ulink>.
7151 Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
7152 in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
7153 +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
7154 in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
7158 Filter definitions start with a header line that contains the filter
7159 type, the filter name and the filter description.
7160 A content filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
7165 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
7169 Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that
7170 define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified
7171 in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
7172 <literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
7173 will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
7174 PCRS documentation for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most
7175 notably, the non-standard option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported,
7176 which turns the default to ungreedy matching.
7181 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
7182 Expressions</quote></ulink>, you might want to take a look at
7183 the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
7184 see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl
7186 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlop.html">the
7187 <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
7188 url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
7189 expressions</ulink> in general.
7190 The below examples might also help to get you started.
7194 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
7196 <sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
7198 Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> content filter. We have already defined
7199 the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
7200 <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
7205 <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
7209 But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
7210 of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
7211 care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
7212 we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
7216 <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
7220 Our complete filter now looks like this:
7223 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
7224 s/foo/bar/g</screen>
7228 Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
7229 a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
7230 abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
7236 FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
7238 # Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
7240 s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
7244 Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
7245 <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
7246 the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
7247 by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
7251 Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
7252 enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
7253 means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
7254 matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
7255 it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
7259 That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
7260 matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
7261 be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
7262 special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
7263 Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
7264 the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
7265 in the page (and appear in that order).
7269 But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
7270 is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
7271 means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
7272 tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
7273 <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
7277 This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
7278 The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
7279 remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
7280 the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
7281 that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
7282 text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
7283 of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
7284 only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
7285 tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
7286 multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
7287 substitution is global.
7291 So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
7292 <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
7293 (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
7294 <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
7295 that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
7299 Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
7300 lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
7301 easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
7302 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
7303 the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
7304 This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
7305 (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
7306 Business!"</literal>.
7310 The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
7311 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
7312 <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
7313 since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
7314 string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
7315 information anymore.
7319 We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
7320 this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
7325 # The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
7327 s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
7331 <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
7332 carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
7333 or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
7334 makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
7335 option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
7336 <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>. Finally, <literal>\1</literal> is
7337 a back-reference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
7338 with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
7339 a back-reference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
7343 So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
7344 strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
7345 (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
7346 real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
7347 descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
7348 you move your mouse over links.
7353 # Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
7355 s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
7360 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
7361 event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
7362 When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
7363 This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
7364 <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
7365 Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
7366 case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee
7367 a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use <literal>[^>]*</literal>
7368 instead of <literal>.*</literal> to prevent the match from exceeding the
7369 <body> tag if it doesn't contain <quote>OnUnload</quote>, but the page's
7374 The last example is from the fun department:
7379 FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
7381 # Spice the daily news:
7383 s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
7387 Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
7388 in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
7389 <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
7390 in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while
7391 still replacing the word everywhere else.
7396 # Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
7398 s* industry[ -]leading \
7400 | customer[ -]focused \
7401 | market[ -]driven \
7402 | award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
7403 | high[ -]performance \
7404 | solutions[ -]based \
7408 *<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
7413 The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
7414 e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
7422 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
7424 <sect2 id="predefined-filters"><title>The Pre-defined Filters</title>
7428 Note each filter is also listed in the +filter action section above. Please
7429 keep these listings in sync.
7434 The distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file contains a selection of
7435 pre-defined filters for your convenience:
7440 <term><emphasis>js-annoyances</emphasis></term>
7443 The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.
7448 replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
7449 with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the <literal><link
7450 linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal> action on the content level.
7455 removes the bindings to the DOM's
7456 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">unload
7457 event</ulink> which we feel has no right to exist and is responsible for most <quote>exit consoles</quote>, i.e.
7458 nasty windows that pop up when you close another one.
7463 removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being
7464 full-screen, non-resizeable, without location, status or menu bar etc.
7470 Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that
7471 rely heavily on JavaScript.
7477 <term><emphasis>js-events</emphasis></term>
7480 This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event bindings, which
7481 means that scripts can not react to user actions such as mouse movements or clicks, window
7482 resizing etc, anymore. Use with caution!
7485 We <emphasis>strongly discourage</emphasis> using this filter as a default since it breaks
7486 many legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should you really
7493 <term><emphasis>html-annoyances</emphasis></term>
7496 This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
7499 The <literal>BLINK</literal> and <literal>MARQUEE</literal> tags
7500 are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser windows will be created as
7501 resizeable (as of course they should be!), and will have location,
7502 scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
7508 <term><emphasis>content-cookies</emphasis></term>
7511 Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialog, where they can be intercepted
7513 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>
7514 and <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>
7515 actions. But web sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript
7516 to sneak cookies to the browser on the content level.
7519 This filter disables most HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets
7520 cookies. It cannot detect all clever uses of these types of code, so it
7521 should not be relied on as an absolute fix. Use it wherever you would also
7522 use the cookie crunch actions.
7528 <term><emphasis>refresh tags</emphasis></term>
7531 Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
7532 that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
7533 for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
7540 <term><emphasis>unsolicited-popups</emphasis></term>
7543 This filter attempts to prevent only <quote>unsolicited</quote> pop-up
7544 windows from opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user
7545 has explicitly chosen to open. It was added in version 3.0.1,
7546 as an improvement over earlier such filters.
7549 Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
7550 function to a dummy function, <literal>PrivoxyWindowOpen()</literal>,
7551 during the loading and rendering phase of each HTML page access, and
7552 restoring the function afterward.
7555 This is recommended only for browsers that cannot perform this function
7556 reliably themselves. And be aware that some sites require such windows
7557 in order to function normally. Use with caution.
7563 <term><emphasis>all-popups</emphasis></term>
7566 Attempt to prevent <emphasis>all</emphasis> pop-up windows from opening.
7567 Note this should be used with even more discretion than the above, since
7568 it is more likely to break some sites that require pop-ups for normal
7569 usage. Use with caution.
7575 <term><emphasis>img-reorder</emphasis></term>
7578 This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the
7579 <literal>banners-by-size</literal> and <literal>banners-by-link</literal>
7580 (see below) filters more effective and should be enabled together with them.
7586 <term><emphasis>banners-by-size</emphasis></term>
7589 This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are. Fortunately
7590 for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain standardized
7591 sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad stripping purposes.
7594 Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not ads,
7595 but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes.
7598 Recommended only for those who require extreme ad blocking. The default
7599 block rules should catch 95+% of all ads <emphasis>without</emphasis> this filter enabled.
7605 <term><emphasis>banners-by-link</emphasis></term>
7608 This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if
7609 their URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently
7610 not of much value and is not recommended for use by default.
7616 <term><emphasis>webbugs</emphasis></term>
7619 Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that
7620 are used to track users across websites, and collect information on them.
7621 As an HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the
7622 browser to contact a third-party site, disclosing the tracking information
7623 through the requested URL and/or cookies for that third-party domain, without
7624 the user ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party site.
7625 HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email addresses.
7628 This filter removes the HTML code that loads such <quote>webbugs</quote>.
7634 <term><emphasis>tiny-textforms</emphasis></term>
7637 A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas (those
7638 multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in them.
7639 It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such boxes are
7640 a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too.
7643 It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
7649 <term><emphasis>jumping-windows</emphasis></term>
7652 Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This filter
7653 neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might not display
7654 or behave as intended when using this filter. Use with caution.
7660 <term><emphasis>frameset-borders</emphasis></term>
7663 Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view their
7664 web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution etc,
7665 because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame sizes,
7666 yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they be too
7667 small to show their whole content.
7670 This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to sites
7677 <term><emphasis>demoronizer</emphasis></term>
7680 Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions (read:
7681 violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This can cause those
7682 HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant platforms.
7685 This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents.
7686 It is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of
7687 all documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly
7688 worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if weird garbage characters
7689 sometimes appear on some pages, or user agents that don't correct for this on
7692 My version of Mozilla (ancient) shows litte square boxes for quote
7693 characters, and apostrophes on moronized pages. So many pages have this, I
7694 can read them fine now. HB 08/27/06
7701 <term><emphasis>shockwave-flash</emphasis></term>
7704 A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips code
7705 out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects.
7713 <term><emphasis>quicktime-kioskmode</emphasis></term>
7716 Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
7717 prevents saving, is disabled.
7723 <term><emphasis>fun</emphasis></term>
7726 Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
7727 Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
7733 <term><emphasis>crude-parental</emphasis></term>
7736 A demonstration-only filter that shows how <application>Privoxy</application>
7737 can be used to delete web content on a keyword basis.
7743 <term><emphasis>ie-exploits</emphasis></term>
7746 An experimental collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
7747 code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
7750 Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug, and
7751 would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
7757 <term><emphasis>site-specifics</emphasis></term>
7760 Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't apply
7761 anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
7764 This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be applied
7765 to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
7766 <filename>default.action</filename> file does. Users shouldn't need to change
7767 anything regarding this filter.
7773 <term><emphasis>google</emphasis></term>
7776 A CSS based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation
7777 and the toolbar advertisement.
7783 <term><emphasis>yahoo</emphasis></term>
7786 Another CSS based block, this time for Yahoo text ads. And removes
7787 a width limitation as well.
7793 <term><emphasis>msn</emphasis></term>
7796 Another CSS based block, this time for MSN text ads. And removes
7797 tracking URLs, as well as a width limitation.
7803 <term><emphasis>blogspot</emphasis></term>
7806 Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this one!
7809 This filter also intentionally removes some navigation stuff and sets the
7810 page width to 100%. As a result, some rounded <quote>corners</quote> would
7811 appear to early or not at all and as fixing this would require a browser
7812 that understands background-size (CSS3), they are removed instead.
7818 <term><emphasis>xml-to-html</emphasis></term>
7821 Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from xml to html.
7827 <term><emphasis>html-to-xml</emphasis></term>
7830 Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from html to xml.
7836 <term><emphasis>no-ping</emphasis></term>
7839 Removes the non-standard <literal>ping</literal> attribute from
7840 anchor and area HTML tags.
7846 <term><emphasis>hide-tor-exit-notation</emphasis></term>
7849 Client-header filter to remove the <command>Tor</command> exit node notation
7850 found in Host and Referer headers.
7853 If &my-app; and <command>Tor</command> are chained and &my-app;
7854 is configured to use socks4a, one can use <quote>http://www.example.org.foobar.exit/</quote>
7855 to access the host <quote>www.example.org</quote> through the
7856 <command>Tor</command> exit node <quote>foobar</quote>.
7859 As the HTTP client isn't aware of this notation, it treats the
7860 whole string <quote>www.example.org.foobar.exit</quote> as host and uses it
7861 for the <quote>Host</quote> and <quote>Referer</quote> headers. From the
7862 server's point of view the resulting headers are invalid and can cause problems.
7865 An invalid <quote>Referer</quote> header can trigger <quote>hot-linking</quote>
7866 protections, an invalid <quote>Host</quote> header will make it impossible for
7867 the server to find the right vhost (several domains hosted on the same IP address).
7870 This client-header filter removes the <quote>foo.exit</quote> part in those headers
7871 to prevent the mentioned problems. Note that it only modifies
7872 the HTTP headers, it doesn't make it impossible for the server
7873 to detect your <command>Tor</command> exit node based on the IP address
7874 the request is coming from.
7881 <term><emphasis> </emphasis></term>
7895 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7899 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7901 <sect1 id="templates">
7902 <title>Privoxy's Template Files</title>
7904 All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
7905 <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
7906 error page</ulink>, the <ulink
7907 url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
7909 and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
7910 user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
7911 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
7916 These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
7917 directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On Unixish platforms,
7919 <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
7923 The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
7924 or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. It
7925 is possible to edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want
7926 to customize them. (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual
7927 user</emphasis>). Should you create your own custom templates, you should use
7928 the <filename>config</filename> setting <link linkend="templdir">templdir</link>
7929 to specify an alternate location, so your templates do not get overwritten
7933 Note that just like in configuration files, lines starting
7934 with <literal>#</literal> are ignored when the templates are filled in.
7938 The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
7939 find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
7940 in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
7941 always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
7942 code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
7946 A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
7947 blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
7948 for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
7949 our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
7950 is in an alpha or beta development stage:
7955 <!-- @if-unstable-start -->
7957 ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
7959 <!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
7963 If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
7964 <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
7965 will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
7969 <screen><!-- --></screen>
7973 There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
7974 mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
7979 All templates refer to a style located at
7980 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
7981 This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
7982 and the source for it can be found and edited in the
7983 <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
7988 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7992 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7994 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
7997 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
7999 <!-- end boilerplate -->
8003 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
8006 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8007 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
8009 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
8011 <!-- end copyright -->
8013 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8014 <sect2><title>License</title>
8015 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
8017 <!-- end copyright -->
8019 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
8022 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8024 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
8025 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
8027 <!-- end history -->
8030 <sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
8031 <!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
8033 <!-- end authors -->
8038 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
8041 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8042 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
8043 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
8045 <!-- end seealso -->
8050 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8051 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
8054 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8056 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
8058 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
8059 expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
8060 files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
8061 through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
8064 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
8066 <application>PCRS</application> libraries.
8070 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
8071 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
8072 introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
8073 url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
8077 Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
8078 run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
8079 match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
8080 strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
8081 characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
8082 special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
8083 Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
8084 <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
8088 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
8089 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
8090 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
8091 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
8092 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
8093 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
8094 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
8095 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
8099 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
8100 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
8101 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
8102 and then some examples:
8107 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
8108 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
8110 </simplelist></para>
8114 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
8117 </simplelist></para>
8121 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
8124 </simplelist></para>
8128 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
8131 </simplelist></para>
8135 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
8136 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
8137 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
8138 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
8139 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
8140 meta-character meaning of any single character).
8142 </simplelist></para>
8146 <emphasis>[ ]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
8147 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
8148 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
8149 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
8151 </simplelist></para>
8155 <emphasis>( )</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
8156 or multiple sub-expressions.
8158 </simplelist></para>
8162 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
8163 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
8164 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
8165 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
8166 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
8167 example</quote>, and nothing else.
8169 </simplelist></para>
8172 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
8173 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
8174 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
8175 be more illuminating:
8179 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
8180 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
8181 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
8182 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
8183 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
8184 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
8185 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
8186 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
8187 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
8188 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
8189 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
8190 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
8191 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
8192 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
8197 And now something a little more complex:
8201 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
8202 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
8203 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
8204 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
8205 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
8206 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
8207 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
8212 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
8213 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
8214 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
8215 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
8216 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
8217 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
8218 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
8219 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
8220 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
8221 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
8222 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
8223 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
8224 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
8225 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
8226 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
8227 changing our regular expression to:
8228 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
8233 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
8234 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
8235 <quote>[ ]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
8236 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
8237 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
8238 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
8239 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
8240 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
8241 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
8242 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
8243 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
8244 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
8245 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
8246 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
8247 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
8248 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
8249 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
8250 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
8251 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
8252 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
8253 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
8254 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
8255 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
8256 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
8257 in the expression anywhere).
8261 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
8262 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
8263 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
8264 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
8265 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
8270 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
8271 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>
8275 For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications
8276 in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
8281 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
8284 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8286 <title>Privoxy's Internal Pages</title>
8289 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
8290 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
8291 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
8292 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
8293 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
8294 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
8295 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
8301 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
8302 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
8303 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
8304 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
8317 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
8321 There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
8322 doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
8323 sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
8329 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
8330 editing of actions files:
8334 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
8341 Show the source code version numbers:
8345 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
8352 Show the browser's request headers:
8356 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
8363 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
8367 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
8374 Toggle Privoxy on or off. This feature can be turned off/on in the main
8375 <filename>config</filename> file. When toggled <quote>off</quote>, <quote>Privoxy</quote>
8376 continues to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking
8381 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
8385 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
8389 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
8394 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
8403 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
8407 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
8408 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
8410 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
8411 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
8412 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
8413 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
8414 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
8415 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
8418 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
8419 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
8420 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
8421 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
8422 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
8423 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
8432 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>
8439 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>
8446 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)
8453 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>
8459 <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>
8465 <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
8472 Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
8473 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com/">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
8474 have more information about bookmarklets.
8483 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8485 <title>Chain of Events</title>
8487 Let's take a quick look at how some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
8488 core features are triggered, and the ensuing sequence of events when a web
8489 page is requested by your browser:
8496 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
8497 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
8498 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
8504 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
8505 pages (e.g <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
8510 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
8512 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
8513 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
8514 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
8516 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT"><quote>+handle-as-empty-document</quote></link>
8517 are then checked, and if there is no match, an
8518 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back to the browser. Otherwise, if
8519 it does match, an image is returned for the former, and an empty text
8520 document for the latter. The type of image would depend on the setting of
8521 <link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
8522 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
8527 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
8528 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
8533 If the URL pattern matches the <link
8534 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
8535 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
8540 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
8541 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
8542 linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
8543 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
8549 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web
8555 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
8556 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
8557 filtered as determined by the
8558 <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
8559 <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
8560 and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
8566 If the <link linkend="KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></link>
8567 action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript document, the popup-code in the
8568 response is filtered on-the-fly as it is received.
8573 If any <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
8575 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
8576 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
8577 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
8578 <filename>default.filter</filename> and any other filter files) are
8579 processed against the buffered content. Filters are applied in the order
8580 they are specified in one of the filter files. Animated GIFs, if present,
8581 are reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
8582 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
8583 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
8586 If neither a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
8588 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
8589 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
8590 to the client browser as it becomes available.
8595 As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it
8596 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
8597 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
8598 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a
8599 separate request (this is easily viewable in <application>Privoxy's</application>
8600 logs). And each such request is in turn processed just as above. Note that a
8601 complex web page will have many, many such embedded URLs. If these
8602 secondary requests are to a different server, then quite possibly a very
8603 differing set of actions is triggered.
8610 NOTE: This is somewhat of a simplistic overview of what happens with each URL
8611 request. For the sake of brevity and simplicity, we have focused on
8612 <application>Privoxy's</application> core features only.
8618 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8619 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
8620 <title>Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</title>
8623 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
8624 <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
8625 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
8626 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
8627 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
8628 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
8629 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
8630 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
8631 <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
8636 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
8637 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
8638 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
8639 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
8640 logs is a good idea too. (Note that both the toggle feature and logging are
8641 enabled via <filename>config</filename> file settings, and may need to be
8642 turned <quote>on</quote>.)
8645 Another easy troubleshooting step to try is if you have done any
8646 customization of your installation, revert back to the installed
8647 defaults and see if that helps. There are times the developers get complaints
8648 about one thing or another, and the problem is more related to a customized
8649 configuration issue.
8653 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
8654 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
8655 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
8656 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
8660 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
8661 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
8662 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
8663 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
8664 linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
8665 one of the filter files since this is handled very
8666 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
8667 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
8668 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
8669 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
8670 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
8671 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
8672 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
8677 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
8678 and look at it one section at a time in a sample configuration (your real
8679 configuration may vary):
8684 Matches for http://www.google.com:
8686 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8688 {+deanimate-gifs {last}
8689 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
8690 +filter {refresh-tags}
8691 +filter {img-reorder}
8692 +filter {banners-by-size}
8694 +filter {jumping-windows}
8695 +filter {ie-exploits}
8696 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
8697 +hide-from-header {block}
8698 +hide-referrer {forge}
8699 +session-cookies-only
8700 +set-image-blocker {pattern}
8703 { -session-cookies-only }
8709 In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8710 (no matches in this file)
8715 This is telling us how we have defined our
8716 <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
8717 which ones match for our test case, <quote>google.com</quote>.
8718 Displayed is all the actions that are available to us. Remember,
8719 the <literal>+</literal> sign denotes <quote>on</quote>. <literal>-</literal>
8720 denotes <quote>off</quote>. So some are <quote>on</quote> here, but many
8721 are <quote>off</quote>. Each example we try may provide a slightly different
8722 end result, depending on our configuration directives.
8726 is for our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line
8727 listing, is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default
8728 settings. If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the
8729 section just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This
8730 will apply to all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end
8731 of the listing -- <quote> / </quote>.
8735 But we have defined additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
8736 rules, and then we list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions
8737 would apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit
8738 matches for <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous
8739 cookie setting, which was for <link
8740 linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
8741 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google, at
8742 least that is how it is in this example. The second turns
8743 <emphasis>off</emphasis> any <link
8744 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
8745 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
8746 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
8747 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
8748 <quote>www.google.com</quote> or <quote>mail.google.com</quote>. But it would not
8749 match <quote>www.google.de</quote>! So, apparently, we have these two actions
8750 defined as exceptions to the general rules at the top somewhere in the lower
8751 part of our <filename>default.action</filename> file, and
8752 <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter sections.
8756 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
8757 So there is nothing google-specific that we might have added to our own, local
8758 configuration. If there was, those actions would over-rule any actions from
8759 previously processed files, such as <filename>default.action</filename>.
8760 <filename>user.action</filename> typically has the last word. This is the
8761 best place to put hard and fast exceptions,
8765 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
8766 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
8767 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
8778 -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
8779 -content-type-overwrite
8780 -crunch-client-header
8781 -crunch-if-none-match
8782 -crunch-incoming-cookies
8783 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
8784 -crunch-server-header
8785 +deanimate-gifs {last}
8786 -downgrade-http-version
8789 -filter {content-cookies}
8790 -filter {all-popups}
8791 -filter {banners-by-link}
8792 -filter {tiny-textforms}
8793 -filter {frameset-borders}
8794 -filter {demoronizer}
8795 -filter {shockwave-flash}
8796 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
8798 -filter {crude-parental}
8799 -filter {site-specifics}
8800 -filter {js-annoyances}
8801 -filter {html-annoyances}
8802 +filter {refresh-tags}
8803 -filter {unsolicited-popups}
8804 +filter {img-reorder}
8805 +filter {banners-by-size}
8807 +filter {jumping-windows}
8808 +filter {ie-exploits}
8815 -handle-as-empty-document
8817 -hide-accept-language
8818 -hide-content-disposition
8819 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
8820 +hide-from-header {block}
8821 -hide-if-modified-since
8822 +hide-referrer {forge}
8827 -overwrite-last-modified
8828 -prevent-compression
8832 -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
8833 -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
8834 -session-cookies-only
8835 +set-image-blocker {pattern}
8836 -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks </screen>
8840 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
8841 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>,
8842 which are activated specifically for this site in our configuration,
8843 and thus show in the <quote>Final Results</quote>.
8847 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
8859 { +block +handle-as-image }
8860 .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
8865 We'll just show the interesting part here - the explicit matches. It is
8866 matched three different times. Two <quote>+block</quote> sections,
8867 and a <quote>+block +handle-as-image</quote>,
8868 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
8869 <quote>+block-as-image</quote>. (<link
8870 linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
8871 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
8876 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
8877 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
8878 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
8879 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
8880 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
8881 is done here -- as both a <link
8882 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link>
8883 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
8884 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
8885 The custom alias <quote><literal>+block-as-image</literal></quote> just
8886 simplifies the process and make it more readable.
8890 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
8891 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
8897 Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
8899 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8903 -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
8904 -content-type-overwrite
8905 -crunch-client-header
8906 -crunch-if-none-match
8907 -crunch-incoming-cookies
8908 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
8909 -crunch-server-header
8911 -downgrade-http-version
8912 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
8914 -filter {content-cookies}
8915 -filter {all-popups}
8916 -filter {banners-by-link}
8917 -filter {tiny-textforms}
8918 -filter {frameset-borders}
8919 -filter {demoronizer}
8920 -filter {shockwave-flash}
8921 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
8923 -filter {crude-parental}
8924 -filter {site-specifics}
8925 -filter {js-annoyances}
8926 -filter {html-annoyances}
8927 +filter {refresh-tags}
8928 -filter {unsolicited-popups}
8929 +filter {img-reorder}
8930 +filter {banners-by-size}
8932 +filter {jumping-windows}
8933 +filter {ie-exploits}
8940 -handle-as-empty-document
8942 -hide-accept-language
8943 -hide-content-disposition
8944 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
8945 +hide-from-header{block}
8946 +hide-referer{forge}
8950 -overwrite-last-modified
8951 +prevent-compression
8955 -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
8956 -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
8957 +session-cookies-only
8958 +set-image-blocker{blank}
8959 -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks }
8962 { +block +handle-as-image }
8968 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote> in our
8969 configuration! But we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the
8970 blank page. It is actually triggering two different actions here, and
8971 the effects are aggregated so that the URL is blocked, and &my-app; is told
8972 to treat the block as if it were an image. But this is, of course, all wrong.
8973 We could now add a new action below this (or better in our own
8974 <filename>user.action</filename> file) that explicitly
8975 <emphasis>un</emphasis> blocks (
8976 <link linkend="BLOCK"><quote>{-block}</quote></link>) paths with
8977 <quote>adsl</quote> in them (remember, last match in the configuration
8978 wins). There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
8990 Now the page displays ;-)
8991 Remember to flush your browser's caches when making these kinds of changes to
8992 your configuration to insure that you get a freshly delivered page! Or, try
8993 using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
8997 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
9004 { +block +handle-as-image }
9010 That actually was very helpful and pointed us quickly to where the problem
9011 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
9012 rules in the first section of <filename>default.action</filename> is causing
9013 the problem. This would require some guesswork, and maybe a little trial and
9014 error to isolate the offending rule. One likely cause would be one of the
9015 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> actions.
9016 These tend to be harder to troubleshoot.
9017 Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off
9018 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>:
9026 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
9034 <quote><literal>{ shop }</literal></quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
9035 <quote><literal>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</literal></quote>.
9036 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
9044 # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
9052 This would turn off all filtering for these sites. This is best
9053 put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
9054 exceptions. Note that when a simple domain pattern is used by itself (without
9055 the subsequent path portion), all sub-pages within that domain are included
9056 automatically in the scope of the action.
9060 Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
9061 <link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"><quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote></link>
9063 that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well
9064 <emphasis>most of the time</emphasis> since these tend to be standardized).
9068 <quote><literal>{ fragile }</literal></quote> is an alias that disables most
9069 actions that are the most likely to cause trouble. This can be used as a
9070 last resort for problem sites.
9076 # Handle with care: easy to break
9078 mybank.example.com</screen>
9083 <emphasis>Remember to flush caches!</emphasis> Note that the
9084 <literal>mail.google</literal> reference lacks the TLD portion (e.g.
9085 <quote>.com</quote>. This will effectively match any TLD with
9086 <literal>google</literal> in it, such as <literal>mail.google.de</literal>,
9090 If this still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining
9091 actions one by one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
9100 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
9101 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
9102 Public License as published by the Free Software
9103 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
9104 your option) any later version.
9106 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
9107 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
9108 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
9109 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
9110 License for more details.
9112 The GNU General Public License should be included with
9113 this file. If not, you can view it at
9114 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
9115 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
9116 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301,
9119 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
9120 Revision 2.42 2007/11/12 03:32:40 hal9
9121 Updates for "What's New" and "Notes to Upgraders". Various other changes in
9122 preparation for new release. User Manual is almost ready.
9124 Revision 2.41 2007/11/11 16:32:11 hal9
9125 This is primarily syncing What's New and Note to Upgraders sections with the many
9126 new features and changes (gleaned from memory but mostly from ChangeLog).
9128 Revision 2.40 2007/11/10 17:10:59 fabiankeil
9129 In the first third of the file, mention several times that
9130 the action editor is disabled by default in 3.0.7 beta and later.
9132 Revision 2.39 2007/11/05 02:34:49 hal9
9133 Various changes in preparation for the upcoming release. Much yet to be done.
9135 Revision 2.38 2007/09/22 16:01:42 fabiankeil
9136 Update embedded show-url-info output.
9138 Revision 2.37 2007/08/27 16:09:55 fabiankeil
9139 Fix pre-chroot-nslookup description which I failed to
9140 copy and paste properly. Reported by Stephen Gildea.
9142 Revision 2.36 2007/08/26 16:47:14 fabiankeil
9143 Add Stephen Gildea's pre-chroot-nslookup patch [#1276666],
9144 extensive comments moved to user manual.
9146 Revision 2.35 2007/08/26 14:59:49 fabiankeil
9147 Minor rewordings and fixes.
9149 Revision 2.34 2007/08/05 15:19:50 fabiankeil
9150 - Don't claim HTTP/1.1 compliance.
9151 - Use $ in some of the path pattern examples.
9152 - Use a hide-user-agent example argument without
9153 leading and trailing space.
9154 - Make it clear that the cookie actions work with
9156 - Rephrase the inspect-jpegs text to underline
9157 that it's only meant to protect against a single
9160 Revision 2.33 2007/07/27 10:57:35 hal9
9161 Add references for user-agent strings for hide-user-agenet
9163 Revision 2.32 2007/06/07 12:36:22 fabiankeil
9164 Apply Roland's 29_usermanual.dpatch to fix a bunch
9165 of syntax errors I collected over the last months.
9167 Revision 2.31 2007/06/02 14:01:37 fabiankeil
9168 Start to document forward-override{}.
9170 Revision 2.30 2007/04/25 15:10:36 fabiankeil
9171 - Describe installation for FreeBSD.
9172 - Start to document taggers and tag patterns.
9173 - Don't confuse devils and daemons.
9175 Revision 2.29 2007/04/05 11:47:51 fabiankeil
9176 Some updates regarding header filtering,
9177 handling of compressed content and redirect's
9178 support for pcrs commands.
9180 Revision 2.28 2006/12/10 23:42:48 hal9
9181 Fix various typos reported by Adam P. Thanks.
9183 Revision 2.27 2006/11/14 01:57:47 hal9
9184 Dump all docs prior to 3.0.6 release. Various minor changes to faq and user
9187 Revision 2.26 2006/10/24 11:16:44 hal9
9190 Revision 2.25 2006/10/18 10:50:33 hal9
9191 Add note that since filters are off in Cautious, compression is ON. Turn off
9192 compression to make filters work on all sites.
9194 Revision 2.24 2006/10/03 11:13:54 hal9
9195 More references to the new filters. Include html this time around.
9197 Revision 2.23 2006/10/02 22:43:53 hal9
9198 Contains new filter definitions from Fabian, and few other miscellaneous
9201 Revision 2.22 2006/09/22 01:27:55 hal9
9202 Final commit of probably various minor changes here and there. Unless
9203 something changes this should be ready for pending release.
9205 Revision 2.21 2006/09/20 03:21:36 david__schmidt
9206 Just the tiniest tweak. Wafer thin!
9208 Revision 2.20 2006/09/10 14:53:54 hal9
9209 Results of spell check. User manual has some updates to standard.actions file
9212 Revision 2.19 2006/09/08 12:19:02 fabiankeil
9213 Adjust hide-if-modified-since example values
9214 to reflect the recent changes.
9216 Revision 2.18 2006/09/08 02:38:57 hal9
9218 -Fix a number of broken links.
9219 -Migrate the new Windows service command line options, and reference as
9221 -Rebuild so that can be used with the new "user-manual" config capabilities.
9224 Revision 2.17 2006/09/05 13:25:12 david__schmidt
9225 Add Windows service invocation stuff (duplicated) in FAQ and in user manual under Windows startup. One probably ought to reference the other.
9227 Revision 2.16 2006/09/02 12:49:37 hal9
9228 Various small updates for new actions, filterfiles, etc.
9230 Revision 2.15 2006/08/30 11:15:22 hal9
9231 More work on the new actions, especially filter-*-headers, and What's New
9232 section. User Manual is close to final form for 3.0.4 release. Some tinkering
9233 and proof reading left to do.
9235 Revision 2.14 2006/08/29 10:59:36 hal9
9236 Add a "Whats New in this release" Section. Further work on multiple filter
9237 files, and assorted other minor changes.
9239 Revision 2.13 2006/08/22 11:04:59 hal9
9240 Silence warnings and errors. This should build now. New filters were only
9241 stubbed in. More to be done.
9243 Revision 2.12 2006/08/14 08:40:39 fabiankeil
9244 Documented new actions that were part of
9245 the "minor Privoxy improvements".
9247 Revision 2.11 2006/07/18 14:48:51 david__schmidt
9248 Reorganizing the repository: swapping out what was HEAD (the old 3.1 branch)
9249 with what was really the latest development (the v_3_0_branch branch)
9251 Revision 1.123.2.43 2005/05/23 09:59:10 hal9
9254 Revision 1.123.2.42 2004/12/04 14:39:57 hal9
9255 Fix two minor typos per bug SF report.
9257 Revision 1.123.2.41 2004/03/23 12:58:42 oes
9260 Revision 1.123.2.40 2004/02/27 12:48:49 hal9
9261 Add comment re: redirecting to local file system for set-image-blocker may
9262 is dependent on browser.
9264 Revision 1.123.2.39 2004/01/30 22:31:40 oes
9265 Added a hint re bookmarklets to Quickstart section
9267 Revision 1.123.2.38 2004/01/30 16:47:51 oes
9268 Some minor clarifications
9270 Revision 1.123.2.37 2004/01/29 22:36:11 hal9
9271 Updates for no longer filtering text/plain, and demoronizer default settings,
9272 and copyright notice dates.
9274 Revision 1.123.2.36 2003/12/10 02:26:26 hal9
9275 Changed the demoronizer filter description.
9277 Revision 1.123.2.35 2003/11/06 13:36:37 oes
9278 Updated link to nightly CVS tarball
9280 Revision 1.123.2.34 2003/06/26 23:50:16 hal9
9281 Add a small bit on filtering and problems re: source code being corrupted.
9283 Revision 1.123.2.33 2003/05/08 18:17:33 roro
9284 Use apt-get instead of dpkg to install Debian package, which is more
9285 solid, uses the correct and most recent Debian version automatically.
9287 Revision 1.123.2.32 2003/04/11 03:13:57 hal9
9288 Add small note about only one filterfile (as opposed to multiple actions
9291 Revision 1.123.2.31 2003/03/26 02:03:43 oes
9292 Updated hard-coded copyright dates
9294 Revision 1.123.2.30 2003/03/24 12:58:56 hal9
9295 Add new section on Predefined Filters.
9297 Revision 1.123.2.29 2003/03/20 02:45:29 hal9
9298 More problems with \-\-chroot causing markup problems :(
9300 Revision 1.123.2.28 2003/03/19 00:35:24 hal9
9301 Manual edit of revision log because 'chroot' (even inside a comment) was
9302 causing Docbook to hang here (due to double hyphen and the processor thinking
9305 Revision 1.123.2.27 2003/03/18 19:37:14 oes
9306 s/Advanced|Radical/Adventuresome/g to avoid complaints re fun filter
9308 Revision 1.123.2.26 2003/03/17 16:50:53 oes
9309 Added documentation for new chroot option
9311 Revision 1.123.2.25 2003/03/15 18:36:55 oes
9312 Adapted to the new filters
9314 Revision 1.123.2.24 2002/11/17 06:41:06 hal9
9315 Move default profiles table from FAQ to U-M, and other minor related changes.
9318 Revision 1.123.2.23 2002/10/21 02:32:01 hal9
9319 Updates to the user.action examples section. A few new ones.
9321 Revision 1.123.2.22 2002/10/12 00:51:53 hal9
9322 Add demoronizer to filter section.
9324 Revision 1.123.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 hal9
9325 s/Advanced/Radical/ and added very brief note.
9327 Revision 1.123.2.20 2002/10/10 03:49:21 hal9
9328 Add notes to session-cookies-only and Quickstart about pre-existing
9329 cookies. Also, note content-cookies work differently.
9331 Revision 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9
9332 More explanation on Privoxy patterns, more on content-cookies and SSL.
9334 Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9
9335 Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match
9338 Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9
9339 Spell checked (only one typo this time!).
9341 Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt
9342 Update to Mac OSX startup script name
9344 Revision 1.123.2.15 2002/08/07 17:32:11 oes
9345 Converted some internal links from ulink to link for PDF creation; no content changed
9347 Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes
9348 Nits re: actions file download
9350 Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff
9351 Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections
9353 Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff
9354 Added 2 Gentoo sections
9356 Revision 1.123.2.11 2002/07/26 15:20:31 oes
9357 - Added version info to title
9358 - Added info on new filters
9359 - Revised parts of the filter file tutorial
9360 - Added info on where to get updated actions files
9362 Revision 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
9363 Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
9365 Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt
9367 Updated Mac OSX sections due to installation location change
9369 Revision 1.123.2.8 2002/06/09 16:36:32 hal9
9370 Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
9372 Revision 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9
9373 Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy.
9375 Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9
9376 Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs.
9378 Revision 1.123.2.5 2002/05/29 02:01:02 hal9
9379 This is break out of the entire config section from u-m, so it can
9380 eventually be used to generate the comments, etc in the main config file
9381 so that these are in sync with each other.
9383 Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
9384 Ooops missed something from David.
9386 Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9
9387 Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and OSX startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat).
9388 That's a wrap, I think.
9390 Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9
9391 Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section.
9393 Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
9394 -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
9396 Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9
9397 Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton.
9398 Minor corrections/clarifications here and there.
9400 Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
9401 Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
9403 Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes
9404 - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the
9405 <literal><link> style.
9406 - Small fixes in the actions chapter
9407 - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking
9408 - Removed <emphasis> from <title>s since the new doc CSS
9409 renders them red (bad in TOC).
9411 Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
9412 Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
9414 Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
9417 Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
9418 -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
9419 -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
9421 Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
9422 - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
9423 - Small changes to Regex appendix
9424 - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
9426 Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
9427 Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
9429 Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
9430 Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
9432 Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
9433 More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
9435 Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
9436 Extended and further commented the example actions files
9438 Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
9439 Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
9442 Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes
9445 Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes
9446 Restored alphabetical order of actions
9448 Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes
9449 Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs
9451 Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
9452 Completed proofreading the actions chapter
9454 Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9
9455 Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this
9456 apparently an important distinction for some OS's.
9458 Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
9459 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
9460 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
9461 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
9463 Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
9464 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
9466 Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
9469 Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
9470 -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
9471 -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
9473 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
9474 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
9476 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
9477 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
9478 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
9480 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
9481 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
9483 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
9484 more structure in starting section
9486 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
9487 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
9488 will probably break links elsewhere :(
9490 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
9491 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
9492 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
9494 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
9495 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
9496 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
9498 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
9499 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
9501 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
9502 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
9503 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
9505 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
9506 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
9507 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
9509 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
9510 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
9512 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
9513 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
9515 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
9516 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
9518 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
9519 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
9521 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
9522 Updated OSX installation section
9523 Added a few English tweaks here an there
9525 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
9526 Re-write actions section.
9528 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
9529 Fix ugly typo (mine).
9531 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
9532 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
9534 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
9535 Added RPM install detail
9537 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
9540 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
9541 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
9543 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
9544 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
9546 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
9547 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
9549 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
9552 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
9553 Proofreading, part one
9555 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
9556 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
9557 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
9559 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
9560 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
9562 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
9563 Add small section on submitting actions.
9565 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
9568 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
9569 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
9571 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
9572 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
9574 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
9577 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
9578 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
9579 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
9580 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
9581 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
9583 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
9584 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
9586 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
9587 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
9589 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
9590 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
9591 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
9592 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
9593 eventually be set by Makefile.
9594 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
9596 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
9597 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
9599 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
9600 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
9602 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
9603 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
9605 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
9606 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
9607 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
9608 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
9610 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
9613 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
9614 Added more to Anatomy section.
9616 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
9617 Touch up intro for new name.
9619 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
9620 we have a new homepage!
9622 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
9623 A few minor catch ups with name change.
9625 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
9626 configure needs to be generated.
9628 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
9629 we are too lazy to make a block-built
9630 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
9632 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
9633 name change related issue.
9635 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
9636 name change. changed filenames.
9638 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
9641 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
9642 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
9643 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
9644 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
9645 comments and remarks to history untouched.
9647 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
9650 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
9651 New section in Appendix.
9653 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
9654 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
9656 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
9657 correct feedback channels
9659 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
9660 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
9662 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
9665 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
9666 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
9668 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
9669 Added imageblock{pattern}.
9671 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
9674 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
9675 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
9677 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
9678 provide correct feedback channels
9680 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
9681 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
9683 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
9684 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
9686 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
9687 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
9689 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
9690 Add new - - user option.
9692 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
9693 Added section on command line options.
9695 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
9696 Changed default port to 8118
9698 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
9699 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
9701 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
9702 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
9703 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
9706 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
9709 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
9710 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
9712 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
9713 Update OS/2 build section
9715 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
9716 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
9717 will work - no other changes are needed.
9719 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
9720 Added a very short section on Templates
9722 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
9723 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
9725 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
9726 Touch ups for *.action files.
9728 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
9731 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
9732 Updates for recent changes.
9734 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
9735 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
9737 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
9738 Correct 2 minor errors
9740 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
9741 *** empty log message ***
9743 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
9744 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
9746 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
9747 wrong url in documentation
9749 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
9750 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
9752 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
9755 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
9758 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
9761 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
9762 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
9764 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
9765 Some additions, and re-arranging.
9767 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
9770 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
9771 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
9773 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
9776 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
9777 source files for junkbuster documentation
9779 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
9780 first proposal of a structure.
9782 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
9783 docs should have an author.
9785 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
9786 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.