2 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/p-config.sgml,v $
4 Purpose : Used with other docs and files only.
6 $Id: p-config.sgml,v 2.2 2002/09/05 05:45:30 hal9 Exp $
8 Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
11 ========================================================================
12 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
13 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
14 ========================================================================
17 This file contains all the config file comments and options. It used to
18 build both the user-manual config sections, and all of config (yes, the main
21 Rationale: This is broken up into two files since a file with a prolog
22 (DTD, etc) cannot be sourced as a secondary file. config.sgml is basically
23 a wrapper for this file.
27 OPTIONS: The actual options are included in this file and prefixed with
28 '@@', and processed by the Makefile to strip the '@@'. Default options
29 that should appear commented out should be listed as: '@@#OPTION'.
30 Otherwise, as '@@OPTION'. Example:
32 @@listen-address 127.0.0.1:8118
34 The Makefile does significant other processing too. The final results
35 should be checked to make sure that the perl processing does not
36 fubar something!!! Makefile processing requires w3m, fmt (shell line
40 This file is included into:
43 config (the actual Privoxy config file)
48 <!-- This part only goes into user-manual -->
50 <title>The Main Configuration File</title>
53 Again, the main configuration file is named <filename>config</filename> on
54 Linux/Unix/BSD and OS/2, and <filename>config.txt</filename> on Windows.
55 Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list of
56 values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or tabs). For
64 <emphasis>confdir /etc/privoxy</emphasis></literallayout>
70 Assigns the value <literal>/etc/privoxy</literal> to the option
71 <literal>confdir</literal> and thus indicates that the configuration
72 directory is named <quote>/etc/privoxy/</quote>.
76 All options in the config file except for <literal>confdir</literal> and
77 <literal>logdir</literal> are optional. Watch out in the below description
78 for what happens if you leave them unset.
82 The main config file controls all aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>'s
83 operation that are not location dependent (i.e. they apply universally, no matter
84 where you may be surfing).
91 <!-- This part only goes into the config file -->
94 @@TITLE<!-- between the @@ is stripped by Makefile -->@@
95 Sample Configuration File for Privoxy v&p-version;
98 $Id: p-config.sgml,v 2.2 2002/09/05 05:45:30 hal9 Exp $
101 Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 Privoxy Developers http://privoxy.org
106 #################################################################
111 II. FORMAT OF THE CONFIGURATION FILE #
113 1. CONFIGURATION AND LOG FILE LOCATIONS #
114 2. LOCAL SET-UP DOCUMENTATION #
116 4. ACCESS CONTROL AND SECURITY #
118 6. WINDOWS GUI OPTIONS #
120 #################################################################
124 <literallayout>I. INTRODUCTION
125 =============== <!-- fuck this madness --></literallayout>
128 This file holds the Privoxy configuration. If you modify this
129 file, you will need to send a couple of requests to the proxy
130 before any changes take effect.
133 When starting Privoxy on Unix systems, give the name of this
134 file as an argument. On Windows systems, Privoxy will look for
135 this file with the name 'config.txt' in the same directory where
136 Privoxy is installed.
140 <literallayout><!-- funky spacing -->
142 II. FORMAT OF THE CONFIGURATION FILE
143 ====================================</literallayout>
146 Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list
147 of values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or
151 actionsfile default.action
154 Indicates that the actionsfile is named 'default.action'.
157 The '#' indicates a comment. Any part of a line following a '#' is
158 ignored, except if the '#' is preceded by a '\'.
161 Thus, by placing a # at the start of an existing configuration line,
162 you can make it a comment and it will be treated as if it weren't there.
163 This is called "commenting out" an option and can be useful.
166 Note that commenting out and option and leaving it at its default
167 are two completely different things! Most options behave very
168 differently when unset. See the the "Effect if unset" explanation
169 in each option's description for details.
172 Long lines can be continued on the next line by using a `\' as
178 <!-- ************************************************ -->
179 <!-- The following is common to both outputs (mostly) -->
180 <!-- ************************************************ -->
182 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
184 <sect2 id="conf-log-loc">
185 <title>Configuration and Log File Locations</title>
188 <application>Privoxy</application> can (and normally does) use a number of
189 other files for additional configuration, help and logging.
190 This section of the configuration file tells <application>Privoxy</application>
191 where to find those other files.
195 The user running <application>Privoxy</application>, must have read
196 permission for all configuration files, and write permission to any files
197 that would be modified, such as log files and actions files.
201 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
202 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="confdir"><title>confdir</title>
206 <term>Specifies:</term>
208 <para>The directory where the other configuration files are located</para>
212 <term>Type of value:</term>
214 <para>Path name</para>
218 <term>Default value:</term>
220 <para>/etc/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
224 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
226 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
233 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
236 When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and
237 per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of <quote>confdir</quote>.
238 For now, the configuration directory structure is flat, except for
239 <filename>confdir/templates</filename>, where the HTML templates for CGI
240 output reside (e.g. <application>Privoxy's</application> 404 error page).
246 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@confdir .</literallayout>]]>
250 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
251 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logdir"><title>logdir</title>
255 <term>Specifies:</term>
258 The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where <filename>logfile</filename> and
259 <filename>jarfile</filename> are located)
264 <term>Type of value:</term>
266 <para>Path name</para>
270 <term>Default value:</term>
272 <para>/var/log/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
276 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
278 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
285 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
291 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@logdir .</literallayout>]]>
295 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
296 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="actionsfile"><title>
299 <anchor id="default.action">
300 <anchor id="standard.action">
301 <anchor id="user.action">
302 <!-- Note: slightly modified this section 04/28/02, hal. See NOTE. -->
305 <term>Specifies:</term>
308 The <link linkend="actions-file">actions file(s)</link> to use
313 <term>Type of value:</term>
315 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal>, without the <literal>.action</literal> suffix</para>
319 <term>Default values:</term>
323 <msgtext><literallayout> standard # Internal purposes, no editing recommended</literallayout></msgtext>
326 <msgtext><literallayout> default # Main actions file</literallayout></msgtext>
329 <msgtext><literallayout> user # User customizations</literallayout></msgtext>
335 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
338 No actions are taken at all. Simple neutral proxying.
346 Multiple <literal>actionsfile</literal> lines are permitted, and are in fact recommended!
349 The default values include standard.action, which is used for internal
350 purposes and should be loaded, default.action, which is the
351 <quote>main</quote> actions file maintained by the developers, and
352 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can make your personal additions.
355 Actions files are where all the per site and per URL configuration is done for
356 ad blocking, cookie management, privacy considerations, etc.
357 There is no point in using <application>Privoxy</application> without at
358 least one actions file.
364 <!-- NOTE: alternate markup to make a simpler list doesn't work due to -->
365 <!-- html -> text conversion, blah -->
366 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@actionsfile standard # Internal purpose, recommended</literallayout>]]>
367 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@actionsfile default # Main actions file</literallayout>]]>
368 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@actionsfile user # User customizations</literallayout>]]>
371 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
372 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filterfile"><title>filterfile</title>
373 <anchor id="default.filter">
376 <term>Specifies:</term>
379 The <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link> to use
384 <term>Type of value:</term>
386 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
390 <term>Default value:</term>
392 <para>default.filter (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> default.filter.txt (Windows)</para>
396 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
399 No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all
400 <literal>+<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>}</literal>
401 actions in the actions files are turned neutral.
409 The <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link> contains content modification
410 rules that use <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link>. These rules permit
411 powerful changes on the content of Web pages, e.g., you could disable your favorite
412 JavaScript annoyances, re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some
413 fun replacing <quote>Microsoft</quote> with <quote>MicroSuck</quote> wherever
414 it appears on a Web page.
418 <literal>+<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>}</literal>
419 actions rely on the relevant filter (<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>)
420 to be defined in the filter file!
423 A pre-defined filter file called <filename>default.filter</filename> that contains
424 a bunch of handy filters for common problems is included in the distribution.
425 See the section on the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
432 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@filterfile default.filter</literallayout>]]>
436 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
437 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logfile"><title>logfile</title>
441 <term>Specifies:</term>
449 <term>Type of value:</term>
451 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
455 <term>Default value:</term>
457 <para>logfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.log (Windows)</para>
461 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
464 No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (<literal>STDERR</literal>).
472 The windows version will additionally log to the console.
475 The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The level
476 of detail and number of messages are set with the <literal>debug</literal>
477 option (see below). The logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with
478 <application>Privoxy</application> (e.g., it's not blocking an ad you
479 think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look at it.
482 Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to
483 periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job
484 (see <quote>man cron</quote>). For Red Hat, a <command>logrotate</command>
485 script has been included.
488 On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like <quote>/var/log/privoxy.*
489 +1024k 644 nobody.nogroup</quote> in <filename>/etc/logfiles</filename>, with
490 the effect that cron.daily will automatically archive, gzip, and empty the
491 log, when it exceeds 1M size.
494 Any log files must be writable by whatever user <application>Privoxy</application>
495 is being run as (default on UNIX, user id is <quote>privoxy</quote>).
501 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@logfile logfile</literallayout>]]>
505 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
506 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jarfile"><title>jarfile</title>
510 <term>Specifies:</term>
513 The file to store intercepted cookies in
518 <term>Type of value:</term>
520 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
524 <term>Default value:</term>
526 <para>jarfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.jar (Windows)</para>
530 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
533 Intercepted cookies are not stored at all.
541 The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time.
547 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@jarfile jarfile</literallayout>]]>
551 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
552 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trustfile"><title>trustfile</title>
555 <term>Specifies:</term>
558 The trust file to use
563 <term>Type of value:</term>
565 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
569 <term>Default value:</term>
571 <para><emphasis>Unset (commented out)</emphasis>. When activated: trust (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> trust.txt (Windows)</para>
575 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
578 The whole trust mechanism is turned off.
586 The trust mechanism is an experimental feature for building white-lists and should
587 be used with care. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> recommended for the casual user.
590 If you specify a trust file, <application>Privoxy</application> will only allow
591 access to sites that are specified in the trustfile. Sites can be listed
595 Prepending a <literal>~</literal> character limits access to this site
596 only (and any sub-paths within this site), e.g.
597 <literal>~www.example.com</literal>.
600 Or, you can designate sites as <emphasis>trusted referrers</emphasis>, by
601 prepending the name with a <literal>+</literal> character. The effect is that
602 access to untrusted sites will be granted -- but only if a link from this
603 trusted referrer was used. The link target will then be added to the
604 <quote>trustfile</quote> so that future, direct accesses will be granted.
605 Sites added via this mechanism do not become trusted referrers themselves
606 (i.e. they are added with a <literal>~</literal> designation).
609 If you use the <literal>+</literal> operator in the trust file, it may grow
610 considerably over time.
613 It is recommended that <application>Privoxy</application> be compiled with
614 the <literal>--disable-force</literal>, <literal>--disable-toggle</literal> and
615 <literal> --disable-editor</literal> options, if this feature is to be
619 Possible applications include limiting Internet access for children.
625 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#trustfile trust</literallayout>]]>
629 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
632 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
633 <sect2 id="local-set-up">
634 <title>Local Set-up Documentation</title>
637 If you intend to operate <application>Privoxy</application> for more users
638 than just yourself, it might be a good idea to let them know how to reach
639 you, what you block and why you do that, your policies, etc.
643 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
644 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="user-manual"><title>user-manual</title>
647 <term>Specifies:</term>
650 Location of the <application>Privoxy</application> User Manual.
655 <term>Type of value:</term>
657 <para>A fully qualified URI</para>
661 <term>Default value:</term>
663 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
667 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
670 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/<replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable>/user-manual/</ulink>
671 will be used, where <replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable> is the <application>Privoxy</application> version.
679 The User Manual URI is used for help links from some of the internal CGI pages.
680 The manual itself is normally packaged with the binary distributions, so you probably want
681 to set this to a locally installed copy. For multi-user setups, you could provide a copy on
682 a local webserver for all your users and use the corresponding URL here.
687 <!-- The below needs checking after a rebuild due to long file names -->
689 Unix, in local filesystem:
692 <screen> user-manual file:///usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;/user-manual/index.html</screen>
695 Windows, in local filesystem, <emphasis>must</emphasis> use forward slash notation, and <literal>%20</literal> to denote
696 spaces in path names:
699 <screen> user-manual file:///c:/some%20dir/privoxy/user-manual/index.html</screen>
702 Windows, UNC notation (forward slashes required again):
705 <screen> user-manual file://///some-server/some-path/privoxy/user-manual/index.html</screen>
708 Any platform, on local webserver (called <quote>local-webserver</quote>):
711 <screen> user-manual http://local-webserver/privoxy-user-manual/</screen>
714 <!-- this gets hammered in conversion to config. Text repeated below. -->
717 If set, this option should be <emphasis>the first option in the config
718 file</emphasis>, because it is used while the config file is being read.
730 If set, this option should be the first option in the config
731 file, because it is used while the config file is being read.
740 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#user-manual http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</literallayout>]]>
744 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
745 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trust-info-url"><title>trust-info-url</title>
749 <term>Specifies:</term>
752 A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if access to an untrusted page is denied.
757 <term>Type of value:</term>
763 <term>Default value:</term>
765 <para>Two example URL are provided</para>
769 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
772 No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page.
780 The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust mechanism has been
781 activated. (See <link linkend="trustfile"><emphasis>trustfile</emphasis></link> above.)
784 If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line
785 documentation about your trust policy and to specify the URL(s) here.
786 Use multiple times for multiple URLs.
789 The URL(s) should be added to the trustfile as well, so users don't end up
790 locked out from the information on why they were locked out in the first place!
796 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@trust-info-url http://www.example.com/why_we_block.html</literallayout>]]>
797 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@trust-info-url http://www.example.com/what_we_allow.html</literallayout>]]>
801 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
802 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="admin-address"><title>admin-address</title>
806 <term>Specifies:</term>
809 An email address to reach the proxy administrator.
814 <term>Type of value:</term>
816 <para>Email address</para>
820 <term>Default value:</term>
822 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
826 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
829 No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
837 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
838 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
845 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#admin-address privoxy-admin@example.com</literallayout>]]>
849 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
850 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="proxy-info-url"><title>proxy-info-url</title>
854 <term>Specifies:</term>
857 A URL to documentation about the local <application>Privoxy</application> setup,
858 configuration or policies.
863 <term>Type of value:</term>
869 <term>Default value:</term>
871 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
875 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
878 No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
886 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
887 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
891 This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-)
897 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#proxy-info-url http://www.example.com/proxy-service.html</literallayout>]]>
901 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
903 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
904 <sect2 id="debugging">
905 <title>Debugging</title>
908 These options are mainly useful when tracing a problem.
909 Note that you might also want to invoke
910 <application>Privoxy</application> with the <literal>--no-daemon</literal>
911 command line option when debugging.
914 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="debug"><title>debug</title>
918 <term>Specifies:</term>
921 Key values that determine what information gets logged to the
922 <link linkend="logfile"><emphasis>logfile</emphasis></link>.
927 <term>Type of value:</term>
929 <para>Integer values</para>
933 <term>Default value:</term>
935 <para>12289 (i.e.: URLs plus informational and warning messages)</para>
939 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
950 The available debug levels are:
954 debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
955 debug 2 # show each connection status
956 debug 4 # show I/O status
957 debug 8 # show header parsing
958 debug 16 # log all data into the logfile
959 debug 32 # debug force feature
960 debug 64 # debug regular expression filter
961 debug 128 # debug fast redirects
962 debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation
963 debug 512 # Common Log Format
964 debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups
965 debug 2048 # CGI user interface
966 debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
967 debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
971 To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or use
972 multiple <literal>debug</literal> lines.
975 A debug level of 1 is informative because it will show you each request
976 as it happens. <emphasis>1, 4096 and 8192 are highly recommended</emphasis>
977 so that you will notice when things go wrong. The other levels are probably
978 only of interest if you are hunting down a specific problem. They can produce
979 a hell of an output (especially 16).
983 The reporting of <emphasis>fatal</emphasis> errors (i.e. ones which crash
984 <application>Privoxy</application>) is always on and cannot be disabled.
987 If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set <quote>debug
988 512</quote> <emphasis>ONLY</emphasis> and not enable anything else.
994 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request</literallayout>]]>
995 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings</literallayout>]]>
996 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@debug 8192 # Errors - *we highly recommended enabling this*</literallayout>]]>
1000 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1001 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="single-threaded"><title>single-threaded</title>
1005 <term>Specifies:</term>
1008 Whether to run only one server thread
1013 <term>Type of value:</term>
1015 <para><emphasis>None</emphasis></para>
1019 <term>Default value:</term>
1021 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1025 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1028 Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, i.e. the ability to
1029 serve multiple requests simultaneously.
1037 This option is only there for debug purposes and you should never
1038 need to use it. <emphasis>It will drastically reduce performance.</emphasis>
1044 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#single-threaded</literallayout>]]>
1049 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1052 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1053 <sect2 id="access-control">
1054 <title>Access Control and Security</title>
1057 This section of the config file controls the security-relevant aspects
1058 of <application>Privoxy</application>'s configuration.
1062 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1063 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="listen-address"><title>listen-address</title>
1067 <term>Specifies:</term>
1070 The IP address and TCP port on which <application>Privoxy</application> will
1071 listen for client requests.
1076 <term>Type of value:</term>
1078 <para>[<replaceable class="parameter">IP-Address</replaceable>]:<replaceable class="parameter">Port</replaceable></para>
1083 <term>Default value:</term>
1085 <para>127.0.0.1:8118</para>
1089 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1092 Bind to 127.0.0.1 (localhost), port 8118. This is suitable and recommended for
1093 home users who run <application>Privoxy</application> on the same machine as
1102 You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address and port.
1105 If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to
1106 serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well, you
1107 will need to override the default.
1110 If you leave out the IP address, <application>Privoxy</application> will
1111 bind to all interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable
1112 from the Internet. In that case, consider using <link
1113 linkend="acls">access control lists</link> (ACL's, see below), and/or
1117 If you open <application>Privoxy</application> to untrusted users, you will
1118 also want to turn off the <literal><link
1119 linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link></literal> and
1120 <literal><link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link></literal>
1126 <term>Example:</term>
1129 Suppose you are running <application>Privoxy</application> on
1130 a machine which has the address 192.168.0.1 on your local private network
1131 (192.168.0.0) and has another outside connection with a different address.
1132 You want it to serve requests from inside only:
1136 listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
1143 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@listen-address 127.0.0.1:8118</literallayout>]]>
1147 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1148 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="toggle"><title>toggle</title>
1152 <term>Specifies:</term>
1155 Initial state of "toggle" status
1160 <term>Type of value:</term>
1166 <term>Default value:</term>
1172 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1175 Act as if toggled on
1183 If set to 0, <application>Privoxy</application> will start in
1184 <quote>toggled off</quote> mode, i.e. behave like a normal, content-neutral
1185 proxy where all ad blocking, filtering, etc are disabled. See
1186 <literal>enable-remote-toggle</literal> below. This is not really useful
1187 anymore, since toggling is much easier via <ulink
1188 url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">the web interface</ulink> than via
1189 editing the <filename>conf</filename> file.
1192 The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the system tray
1193 if this option is present.
1199 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@toggle 1</literallayout>]]>
1203 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1204 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-remote-toggle"><title>enable-remote-toggle</title>
1207 <term>Specifies:</term>
1210 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">web-based toggle
1211 feature</ulink> may be used
1216 <term>Type of value:</term>
1222 <term>Default value:</term>
1228 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1231 The web-based toggle feature is disabled.
1239 When toggled off, <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal,
1240 content-neutral proxy, i.e. it acts as if none of the actions applied to
1244 For the time being, access to the toggle feature can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
1245 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
1246 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
1247 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
1248 toggle it for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>
1249 for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
1252 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
1253 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
1259 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@enable-remote-toggle 1</literallayout>]]>
1263 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1264 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-edit-actions"><title>enable-edit-actions</title>
1267 <term>Specifies:</term>
1270 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions
1271 file editor</ulink> may be used
1276 <term>Type of value:</term>
1282 <term>Default value:</term>
1288 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1291 The web-based actions file editor is disabled.
1299 For the time being, access to the editor can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
1300 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
1301 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
1302 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
1303 modify its configuration for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not
1304 recommended</emphasis> for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
1307 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
1308 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
1314 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@enable-edit-actions 1</literallayout>]]>
1317 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1318 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="acls"><title>
1319 ACLs: permit-access and deny-access</title>
1320 <anchor id="permit-access">
1321 <anchor id="deny-access">
1325 <term>Specifies:</term>
1328 Who can access what.
1333 <term>Type of value:</term>
1336 <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable>]
1337 [<replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable>]]
1340 Where <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable> and
1341 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid
1342 DNS names, and <replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable> and
1343 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable> are subnet masks in CIDR notation, i.e. integer
1344 values from 2 to 30 representing the length (in bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole
1345 destination part are optional.
1350 <term>Default value:</term>
1352 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1356 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1359 Don't restrict access further than implied by <literal>listen-address</literal>
1367 Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems
1368 administrators, and <emphasis>are not usually needed by individual users</emphasis>.
1369 For a typical home user, it will normally suffice to ensure that
1370 <application>Privoxy</application> only listens on the localhost
1371 (127.0.0.1) or internal (home) network address by means of the
1372 <link linkend="listen-address"><emphasis>listen-address</emphasis></link>
1376 Please see the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute
1377 for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security
1381 Multiple ACL lines are OK.
1382 If any ACLs are specified, then the <application>Privoxy</application>
1383 talks only to IP addresses that match at least one <literal>permit-access</literal> line
1384 and don't match any subsequent <literal>deny-access</literal> line. In other words, the
1385 last match wins, with the default being <literal>deny-access</literal>.
1388 If <application>Privoxy</application> is using a forwarder (see <literal>forward</literal> below)
1389 for a particular destination URL, the <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>
1390 that is examined is the address of the forwarder and <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the address
1391 of the ultimate target. This is necessary because it may be impossible for the local
1392 <application>Privoxy</application> to determine the IP address of the
1393 ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for).
1396 You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because the address lookups take
1397 time. All DNS names must resolve! You can <emphasis>not</emphasis> use domain patterns
1398 like <quote>*.org</quote> or partial domain names. If a DNS name resolves to multiple
1399 IP addresses, only the first one is used.
1402 Denying access to particular sites by ACL may have undesired side effects
1403 if the site in question is hosted on a machine which also hosts other sites.
1408 <term>Examples:</term>
1411 Explicitly define the default behavior if no ACL and
1412 <literal>listen-address</literal> are set: <quote>localhost</quote>
1413 is OK. The absence of a <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> implies that
1414 <emphasis>all</emphasis> destination addresses are OK:
1418 permit-access localhost
1422 Allow any host on the same class C subnet as www.privoxy.org access to
1423 nothing but www.example.com:
1427 permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32
1431 Allow access from any host on the 26-bit subnet 192.168.45.64 to anywhere,
1432 with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access www.dirty-stuff.example.com:
1436 permit-access 192.168.45.64/26
1437 deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com
1446 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1447 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="buffer-limit"><title>buffer-limit</title>
1451 <term>Specifies:</term>
1454 Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering.
1459 <term>Type of value:</term>
1461 <para>Size in Kbytes</para>
1465 <term>Default value:</term>
1471 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1474 Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit.
1482 For content filtering, i.e. the <literal>+filter</literal> and
1483 <literal>+deanimate-gif</literal> actions, it is necessary that
1484 <application>Privoxy</application> buffers the entire document body.
1485 This can be potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending
1486 data indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust -- with nasty consequences.
1490 When a document buffer size reaches the <literal>buffer-limit</literal>, it is
1491 flushed to the client unfiltered and no further attempt to
1492 filter the rest of the document is made. Remember that there may be multiple threads
1493 running, which might require up to <literal>buffer-limit</literal> Kbytes
1494 <emphasis>each</emphasis>, unless you have enabled <quote>single-threaded</quote>
1501 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@buffer-limit 4096</literallayout>]]>
1506 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1509 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1511 <sect2 id="forwarding">
1512 <title>Forwarding</title>
1515 This feature allows routing of HTTP requests through a chain of
1517 It can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when
1518 accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains
1519 through an anonymous public proxy (see e.g. <ulink
1520 url="http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm">http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm</ulink>)
1521 Or to use a caching proxy to speed up browsing. Or chaining to a parent
1522 proxy may be necessary because the machine that <application>Privoxy</application>
1523 runs on has no direct Internet access.
1527 Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. <application>Privoxy</application>
1528 supports the SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A protocols.
1531 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward"><title>forward</title>
1534 <term>Specifies:</term>
1537 To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed.
1542 <term>Type of value:</term>
1545 <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable>
1546 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1549 where <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable> is a <link linkend="af-patterns">URL pattern</link>
1550 that specifies to which requests (i.e. URLs) this forward rule shall apply. Use <literal>/</literal> to
1551 denote <quote>all URLs</quote>.
1552 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1553 is the DNS name or IP address of the parent HTTP proxy through which the requests should be forwarded,
1554 optionally followed by its listening port (default: 8080).
1555 Use a single dot (<literal>.</literal>) to denote <quote>no forwarding</quote>.
1560 <term>Default value:</term>
1562 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1566 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1569 Don't use parent HTTP proxies.
1577 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
1578 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made directly to the web servers.
1581 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
1586 <term>Examples:</term>
1589 Everything goes to an example anonymizing proxy, except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle):
1593 forward / anon-proxy.example.org:8080
1598 Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for requests
1599 to that ISP's sites:
1603 forward / caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000
1604 forward .example-isp.net .
1613 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1614 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="socks"><title>
1615 forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a</title>
1616 <anchor id="forward-socks4">
1617 <anchor id="forward-socks4a">
1621 <term>Specifies:</term>
1624 Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific requests should be routed.
1629 <term>Type of value:</term>
1632 <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable>
1633 <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1634 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1637 where <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable> is a <link linkend="af-patterns">URL pattern</link>
1638 that specifies to which requests (i.e. URLs) this forward rule shall apply. Use <literal>/</literal> to
1639 denote <quote>all URLs</quote>.
1640 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> and <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>
1641 are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid DNS names (<replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>
1642 may be <quote>.</quote> to denote <quote>no HTTP forwarding</quote>), and the optional
1643 <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1 to 64535
1648 <term>Default value:</term>
1650 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1654 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1657 Don't use SOCKS proxies.
1665 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
1668 The difference between <literal>forward-socks4</literal> and <literal>forward-socks4a</literal>
1669 is that in the SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the target hostname happens on the SOCKS
1670 server, while in SOCKS 4 it happens locally.
1673 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
1674 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made (HTTP-wise) directly to the web servers, albeit through
1680 <term>Examples:</term>
1683 From the company example.com, direct connections are made to all
1684 <quote>internal</quote> domains, but everything outbound goes through
1685 their ISP's proxy by way of example.com's corporate SOCKS 4A gateway to
1690 forward-socks4a / socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080
1691 forward .example.com .
1695 A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no HTTP parent looks like this:
1699 forward-socks4 / socks-gw.example.com:1080 .
1707 <![%user-man;[ <!-- not included in config due to length -->
1708 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1709 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="advanced-forwarding-examples"><title>Advanced Forwarding Examples</title>
1712 If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content
1713 only to their subscribers, you can configure multiple <application>Privoxies</application>
1714 which have connections to the respective ISPs to act as forwarders to each other, so that
1715 <emphasis>your</emphasis> users can see the internal content of all ISPs.
1719 Assume that host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.net. And host-b has a PPP connection to
1720 isp-b.net. Both run <application>Privoxy</application>. Their forwarding
1721 configuration can look like this:
1731 forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118
1742 forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118
1747 Now, your users can set their browser's proxy to use either
1748 host-a or host-b and be able to browse the internal content
1749 of both isp-a and isp-b.
1753 If you intend to chain <application>Privoxy</application> and
1754 <application>squid</application> locally, then chain as
1755 <literal>browser -> squid -> privoxy</literal> is the recommended way.
1759 Assuming that <application>Privoxy</application> and <application>squid</application>
1760 run on the same box, your <application>squid</application> configuration could then look like this:
1765 # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP)
1766 cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query
1768 # Define ACL for protocol FTP
1771 # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy
1772 always_direct allow ftp
1774 # Forward all the rest to Privoxy
1775 never_direct allow all</screen>
1779 You would then need to change your browser's proxy settings to <application>squid</application>'s address and port.
1780 Squid normally uses port 3128. If unsure consult <literal>http_port</literal> in <filename>squid.conf</filename>.
1784 You could just as well decide to only forward requests for Windows executables through
1785 a virus-scanning parent proxy, say, on <literal>antivir.example.com</literal>, port 8010:
1791 forward /.*\.(exe|com|dll|zip)$ antivir.example.com:8010</screen>
1799 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1802 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1804 <sect2 id="windows-gui">
1805 <title>Windows GUI Options</title>
1807 <application>Privoxy</application> has a number of options specific to the
1808 Windows GUI interface:
1811 <anchor id="activity-animation">
1812 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1814 If <quote>activity-animation</quote> is set to 1, the
1815 <application>Privoxy</application> icon will animate when
1816 <quote>Privoxy</quote> is active. To turn off, set to 0.
1819 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#activity-animation 1</literallayout>]]>
1825 <emphasis>activity-animation 1</emphasis>
1832 <anchor id="log-messages">
1833 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1835 If <quote>log-messages</quote> is set to 1,
1836 <application>Privoxy</application> will log messages to the console
1840 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-messages 1</literallayout>]]>
1846 <emphasis>log-messages 1</emphasis>
1853 <anchor id="log-buffer-size">
1854 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1856 If <quote>log-buffer-size</quote> is set to 1, the size of the log buffer,
1857 i.e. the amount of memory used for the log messages displayed in the
1858 console window, will be limited to <quote>log-max-lines</quote> (see below).
1862 Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and
1863 eat up all your memory!
1866 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-buffer-size 1</literallayout>]]>
1872 <emphasis>log-buffer-size 1</emphasis>
1879 <anchor id="log-max-lines">
1880 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1882 <application>log-max-lines</application> is the maximum number of lines held
1883 in the log buffer. See above.
1886 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-max-lines 200</literallayout>]]>
1892 <emphasis>log-max-lines 200</emphasis>
1899 <anchor id="log-highlight-messages">
1900 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1902 If <quote>log-highlight-messages</quote> is set to 1,
1903 <application>Privoxy</application> will highlight portions of the log
1904 messages with a bold-faced font:
1907 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-highlight-messages 1</literallayout>]]>
1913 <emphasis>log-highlight-messages 1</emphasis>
1920 <anchor id="log-font-name">
1921 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1923 The font used in the console window:
1926 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-font-name Comic Sans MS</literallayout>]]>
1932 <emphasis>log-font-name Comic Sans MS</emphasis>
1939 <anchor id="log-font-size">
1940 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1942 Font size used in the console window:
1945 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-font-size 8</literallayout>]]>
1951 <emphasis>log-font-size 8</emphasis>
1958 <anchor id="show-on-task-bar">
1959 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1961 <quote>show-on-task-bar</quote> controls whether or not
1962 <application>Privoxy</application> will appear as a button on the Task bar
1966 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#show-on-task-bar 0</literallayout>]]>
1972 <emphasis>show-on-task-bar 0</emphasis>
1979 <anchor id="close-button-minimizes">
1980 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1982 If <quote>close-button-minimizes</quote> is set to 1, the Windows close
1983 button will minimize <application>Privoxy</application> instead of closing
1984 the program (close with the exit option on the File menu).
1987 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#close-button-minimizes 1</literallayout>]]>
1993 <emphasis>close-button-minimizes 1</emphasis>
2000 <anchor id="hide-console">
2001 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
2003 The <quote>hide-console</quote> option is specific to the MS-Win console
2004 version of <application>Privoxy</application>. If this option is used,
2005 <application>Privoxy</application> will disconnect from and hide the
2009 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#hide-console</literallayout>]]>
2015 #<emphasis>hide-console</emphasis>
2025 <!-- end config content common to both outputs -->
2028 <!-- These are dummy anchors to keep the processor quiet -->
2029 <!-- when building config-file only (ie. they are used in u-m only) -->
2032 <anchor id="filter">
2033 <anchor id="filter-file">
2035 <anchor id="actions-file">
2036 <anchor id="af-patterns">
2040 <!-- eof p-config.sgml -->