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 "3.0.11">
15 <!entity p-status "stable">
16 <!entity % p-authors-formal "INCLUDE"> <!-- include additional text, etc -->
17 <!entity % p-not-stable "IGNORE">
18 <!entity % p-stable "INCLUDE">
19 <!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
20 <!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
21 <!entity % p-readme "IGNORE">
22 <!entity % user-man "IGNORE">
23 <!entity % config-file "IGNORE">
24 <!entity % p-supp-userman "IGNORE"> <!-- Omit some from supported.sgml -->
25 <!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
26 <!entity % draft "IGNORE"> <!-- WIP stuff -->
27 <!entity % seealso-extra "INCLUDE"> <!-- extra stuff from seealso.sgml -->
28 <!entity my-app "<application>Privoxy</application>">
31 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
34 This file belongs into
35 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
37 $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.101 2009/02/25 19:01:56 fabiankeil Exp $
39 Copyright (C) 2001-2009 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
42 ========================================================================
43 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
44 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
45 ========================================================================
52 <title>Privoxy &p-version; User Manual</title>
56 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
57 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
58 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001-2009 by
59 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
63 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.101 2009/02/25 19:01:56 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
67 Note: the following should generate a separate page, and a live link to it,
68 all nicely done. But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave
69 commented unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the
70 copyright/license declarations will be in their own sgml.
83 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
84 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
85 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
91 The <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
92 install, configure and use <ulink
93 url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>.
96 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
98 <!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
101 You can find the latest version of the <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> at <ulink
102 url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
103 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> on how to
104 contact the developers.
108 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
114 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
115 <sect1 label="1" id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
117 This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
118 <application>Privoxy</application>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
119 and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
120 time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
121 configuration files. Development of a new version is currently nearing
122 completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over
123 earlier versions. ]]>.
126 <!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
129 Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
130 documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
131 CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
136 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
137 <sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
139 In addition to the core
140 features of ad blocking and
141 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookie</ulink> management,
142 <application>Privoxy</application> provides many supplemental
143 features<![%p-not-stable;[, some of them currently under development]]>,
144 that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
146 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
148 <!-- end boilerplate -->
153 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
156 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
157 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
160 <application>Privoxy</application> is available both in convenient pre-compiled
161 packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
162 For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
163 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
169 On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if
170 found. (See below for your platform). In any case <emphasis>be sure to backup
171 your old configuration if it is valuable to you.</emphasis> See the <link
172 linkend="upgradersnote">note to upgraders</link> section below.
175 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
176 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
178 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
181 <!-- XXX: The installation sections should be sorted -->
183 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
184 <sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat and Fedora RPMs</title>
187 RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
188 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
189 of configuration files.
193 Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
194 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
195 need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
196 <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods.
200 If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
201 <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
202 will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
206 Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
207 on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
208 Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
209 automatically if found, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
213 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
214 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian and Ubuntu</title>
216 DEBs can be installed with <literal>apt-get install privoxy</literal>,
217 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of
222 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
223 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
226 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
227 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
228 in the same directory as you installed <application>Privoxy</application> in.
231 Version 3.0.5 beta introduced full <application>Windows</application> service
232 functionality. On Windows only, the <application>Privoxy</application>
233 program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
234 <application>Privoxy</application> as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>.
238 <term>Arguments:</term>
241 <replaceable class="parameter">--install</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
244 <replaceable class="parameter">--uninstall</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
250 After invoking <application>Privoxy</application> with
251 <command>--install</command>, you will need to bring up the
252 <application>Windows</application> service console to assign the user you
253 want <application>Privoxy</application> to run under, and whether or not you
254 want it to run whenever the system starts. You can start the
255 <application>Windows</application> services console with the following
256 command: <command>services.msc</command>. If you do not take the manual step
257 of modifying <application>Privoxy's</application> service settings, it will
258 not start. Note too that you will need to give Privoxy a user account that
259 actually exists, or it will not be permitted to
260 write to its log and configuration files.
265 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
266 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris <!--, NetBSD, HP-UX--></title>
269 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
270 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
271 things go. <!-- FIXME, more info needed? -->
275 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
276 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
279 First, make sure that no previous installations of
280 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
281 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
282 system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
283 or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
289 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
290 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
291 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
292 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
296 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
297 into will contain all of the configuration files.
301 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
302 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Mac OS X</title>
304 Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the zip file
305 icon from the Finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there).
306 Then, double-click on the package installer icon and follow the
307 installation process.
310 The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful
311 installation (in addition to every time your computer starts up). To
312 prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your
313 computer starts up, remove or rename the folder named
314 <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
317 To manually start or stop the privoxy service, use the Privoxy Utility
318 for Mac OS X. This application controls the privoxy service (e.g.
319 starting and stopping the service as well as uninstalling the software).
323 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
324 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
326 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
327 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
328 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
329 remove this directory.
333 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
334 <sect3 id="installation-tbz"><title>FreeBSD</title>
337 Privoxy is part of FreeBSD's Ports Collection, you can build and install
338 it with <literal>cd /usr/ports/www/privoxy; make install clean</literal>.
341 If you don't use the ports, you can fetch and install
342 the package with <literal>pkg_add -r privoxy</literal>.
345 The port skeleton and the package can also be downloaded from the
346 <ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">File Release
347 Page</ulink>, but there's no reason to use them unless you're interested in the
348 beta releases which are only available there.
352 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
353 <sect3 id="installattion-gentoo"><title>Gentoo</title>
355 Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for <application>Privoxy</application> are
356 contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page,
357 but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new
358 <application>Privoxy</application> Version is added to the Portage Tree).
361 Before installing <application>Privoxy</application> under Gentoo just do
362 first <literal>emerge --sync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
363 Portage tree. With <literal>emerge privoxy</literal> you install the latest
367 Configuration files are in <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename>, the
368 documentation is in <filename>/usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;</filename>
369 and the Log directory is in <filename>/var/log/privoxy</filename>.
375 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
376 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
379 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
380 is to download the source tarball from our
381 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&package_id=10571">project download
386 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
387 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
388 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
389 CVS repository</ulink>.
391 deprecated...out of business.
392 or simply download <ulink
393 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.bz2">the nightly CVS
398 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
400 <!-- end boilerplate -->
403 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
404 <sect2 id="installation-keepupdated"><title>Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date</title>
406 As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions
407 of both the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link> (as a <ulink
408 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&release_id=103670">separate
409 package</ulink>) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for
414 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
415 <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
416 url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
417 to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
421 In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
422 to the latest <literal>default.action</literal> file we <emphasis>strongly
423 recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> and
424 <literal>user.filter</literal> for your local
425 customizations of <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
426 linkend="actions-file">Chapter on actions files</link> for details.
434 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
436 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
437 <sect1 id="whatsnew">
438 <title>What's New in this Release</title>
440 <application>Privoxy 3.0.11</application> is mainly a bugfix release:
447 The socket-timeout option now also works on platforms whose
448 select() implementation modifies the timeout structure.
449 Previously the timeout was triggered even if the connection
450 didn't stall. Reported by cyberpatrol.
455 The Connection: keep-alive code properly deals with files
456 larger than 2GB. Previously the connection was closed too
462 The content length for files above 2GB is logged correctly.
467 The user-manual directive on the show-status page links to
468 the documentation location specified with the directive,
469 not to the Privoxy website.
474 The show-status page prints warnings about invalid directives
475 on the same line as the directives themselves.
480 Fixed several justified (but harmless) compiler warnings,
481 mostly on 64 bit platforms.
486 The mingw32 version explicitly requests the default charset
487 to prevent display problems with some fonts available on more
488 recent Windows versions. Patch by Burberry.
493 The mingw32 version uses the Privoxy icon in the alt-tab
494 windows. Patch by Burberry.
499 The timestamp and the thread id is omitted in the "Fatal error"
500 message box on mingw32.
505 Fixed two related mingw32-only buffer overflows. Triggering
506 them required control over the configuration file, therefore
507 this isn't seen as a security issue.
512 In verbose mode, or if the new option --show-skipped-tests
513 is used, Privoxy-Regression-Test logs skipped tests and the
521 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
523 <sect2 id="upgradersnote">
524 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
527 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
528 versions of <application>Privoxy</application>:
536 The recommended way to upgrade &my-app; is to backup your old
537 configuration files, install the new ones, verify that &my-app;
538 is working correctly and finally merge back your changes using
539 <application>diff</application> and maybe <application>patch</application>.
542 There are a number of new features in each &my-app; release and
543 most of them have to be explicitly enabled in the configuration
544 files. Old configuration files obviously don't do that and due
545 to syntax changes using old configuration files with a new
546 &my-app; isn't always possible anyway.
551 Note that some installers remove earlier versions completely,
552 including configuration files, therefore you should really save
553 any important configuration files!
558 On the other hand, other installers don't overwrite existing configuration
559 files, thinking you will want to do that yourself.
564 <filename>standard.action</filename> has been merged into
565 the <filename>default.action</filename> file.
570 In the default configuration only fatal errors are logged now.
571 You can change that in the <link linkend="DEBUG">debug section</link>
572 of the configuration file. You may also want to enable more verbose
573 logging until you verified that the new &my-app; version is working
580 Three other config file settings are now off by default:
581 <link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link>,
582 <link linkend="enable-remote-http-toggle">enable-remote-http-toggle</link>,
583 and <link linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link>.
584 If you use or want these, you will need to explicitly enable them, and
585 be aware of the security issues involved.
592 What constitutes a <quote>default</quote> configuration has changed,
593 and you may want to review which actions are <quote>on</quote> by
594 default. This is primarily a matter of emphasis, but some features
595 you may have been used to, may now be <quote>off</quote> by default.
596 There are also a number of new actions and filters you may want to
597 consider, most of which are not fully incorporated into the default
598 settings as yet (see above).
605 The default actions setting is now <literal>Cautious</literal>. Previous
606 releases had a default setting of <literal>Medium</literal>. Experienced
607 users may want to adjust this, as it is fairly conservative by &my-app;
608 standards and past practices. See <ulink
609 url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
610 http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>. New users
611 should try the default settings for a while before turning up the volume.
617 The default setting has filtering turned <emphasis>off</emphasis>, which
618 subsequently means that compression is <emphasis>on</emphasis>. Remember
619 that filtering does not work on compressed pages, so if you use, or want to
620 use, filtering, you will need to force compression off. Example:
624 { +<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{google} +<link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link> }
628 Or if you use a number of filters, or filter many sites, you may just want
629 to turn off compression for all sites in
630 <filename>default.action</filename> (or
631 <filename>user.action</filename>).
638 Also, <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> is
639 off by default now. If you've liked this feature in the past, you may want
640 to turn it back on in <filename>user.action</filename> now.
647 Some installers may not automatically start
648 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
659 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
660 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using Privoxy</title>
666 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
667 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
674 Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
675 service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
676 linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
677 linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
684 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
685 not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
686 <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
692 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
693 HTTPS (SSL) <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>
694 by setting the proxy configuration for address of
695 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
696 <emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> activate proxying for <literal>FTP</literal> or
697 any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) unless you intend to prevent your
698 browser from using these protocols.
704 Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
705 If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage
706 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
707 you should remove any currently stored cookies too.
713 A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
714 most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
715 configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
716 to no initial configuration is required in most cases, you may want
718 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">web-based action editor</ulink> though.
719 Be sure to read the warnings first.
722 See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
723 configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
724 You might also want to look at the <link
725 linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
726 introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
733 If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are
734 blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
735 <application>Privoxy's</application> behavior, take a look at the <link
736 linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
737 find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
738 helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
739 url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
740 Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
741 Action</link></quote> has hints on how to understand and debug actions that
742 <quote>misbehave</quote>.
747 Did anyone test these lately?
751 For easy access to &my-app;'s most important controls, drag the provided
752 <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklets</link> into your browser's
760 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
761 Developers</link> on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get
768 Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
776 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
778 <sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
779 <title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
781 NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
782 want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
785 Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
786 array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
787 user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
790 This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
791 you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
792 information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
795 First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
796 more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
797 things that were not intended. And the more likely that some things
798 may not work as intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
799 extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
800 <quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
801 configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
802 not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
803 the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
804 default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
805 habits and preferences.
808 Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
809 <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
810 the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
811 some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
812 <application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
813 action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
814 <application>actions</application> in <application>Privoxy's</application>
815 arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. <link
816 linkend="actions">Actions</link>, and <link linkend="actions-file">action
817 configuration files</link>, are explained in depth below.
820 Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
821 followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
822 can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
823 wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
824 actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
827 When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
828 of the sections as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
829 or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
830 respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
831 pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
832 use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
833 original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
834 embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
835 or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
836 such embedded URLs. &my-app; can deal with each URL individually, so, for
837 instance, the main page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such
842 The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: <literal><link
843 linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
844 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
846 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal>,and
847 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
855 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this is perhaps
856 the single most used action, and is particularly important for ad blocking.
857 This action stops any contact between your browser and any URL patterns
858 that match this action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads,
859 but also anything that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply
860 stops any communication with the remote server and sends
861 <application>Privoxy</application>'s own built-in BLOCKED page instead to
862 let you now what has happened (with some exceptions, see below).
868 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
869 tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
870 <application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
871 for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
872 is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
873 important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
874 some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
875 <application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
876 a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
877 though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
878 an entire HTML page in most situations.
884 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> -
885 sends an empty document instead of <application>Privoxy's</application>
886 normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither
887 HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files.
894 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> - tells
895 <application>Privoxy</application> what to display in place of an ad image that
896 has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
897 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action somewhere in the
898 configuration, <emphasis>and</emphasis>, it must also match an
899 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action.
902 The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
906 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
907 replacement is obvious. This is the default.
912 <emphasis>blank</emphasis> - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
913 This is the so-called <quote>invisible</quote> configuration option.
918 <emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any image anywhere
919 of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
928 Advanced users will eventually want to explore &my-app;
929 <literal><link linkend="filter">filters</link></literal> as well. Filters
930 are very different from <literal><link
931 linkend="block">blocks</link></literal>.
932 A <quote>block</quote> blocks a site, page, or unwanted contented. Filters
933 are a way of filtering or modifying what is actually on the page. An example
934 filter usage: a text replacement of <quote>no-no</quote> for
935 <quote>nasty-word</quote>. That is a very simple example. This process can be
936 used for ad blocking, but it is more in the realm of advanced usage and has
937 some pitfalls to be wary off.
941 The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
942 the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
943 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
944 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
945 is an internal page, and does not require Internet access.
949 Note that as of <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta the
950 action editor is disabled by default. Check the
951 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions
952 section in the configuration file</ulink> to learn why and in which
953 cases it's safe to enable again.
957 If you decided to enable the action editor, select the appropriate
958 <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
959 <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
960 local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
961 meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
962 other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
963 blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
964 <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
968 A quick and simple step by step example:
976 Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
977 <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
985 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
990 Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
991 on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
994 <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
996 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
999 <imagedata fileref="files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
1002 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
1011 You should have a section with only
1012 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
1013 <quote>Actions:</quote>.
1014 If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
1015 button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
1016 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
1017 This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
1018 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
1019 in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
1020 just below the list.
1025 Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
1026 click the <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
1027 browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote>.
1028 Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
1029 <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
1030 <quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
1035 Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
1036 (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
1044 This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
1045 wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
1046 site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
1047 the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
1052 For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
1053 to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
1054 The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
1057 There are also various
1058 <link linkend="filter">filters</link> that can be used for ad blocking
1059 (filters are a special subset of actions). These
1060 fall into the <quote>advanced</quote> usage category, and are explained in
1061 depth in later sections.
1068 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1071 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1072 <sect1 id="startup">
1073 <title>Starting Privoxy</title>
1075 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
1076 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
1077 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)
1078 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>. The default is
1079 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
1080 used port 8000). This is the one configuration step <emphasis>that must be done
1084 Please note that <application>Privoxy</application> can only proxy HTTP and
1085 HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
1088 <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
1090 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1091 Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings</title>
1094 <imagedata fileref="proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
1097 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
1105 With <application>Firefox</application>, this is typically set under:
1109 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Network</guibutton> -><guibutton>Connection</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Settings</guibutton>
1114 Or optionally on some platforms:
1118 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>General</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connection Settings</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Manual Proxy Configuration</guibutton>
1124 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
1125 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
1130 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
1131 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
1132 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton> -> <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
1137 For <application>Internet Explorer v.5-7</application>:
1141 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Internet Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connections</guibutton> -> <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
1145 Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
1146 (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
1147 proxy support too (sometimes labeled <quote>Secure</quote>). Make sure any
1148 checkboxes like <quote>Use the same proxy server for all protocols</quote> is
1149 <emphasis>UNCHECKED</emphasis>. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
1152 <!-- image of IE Proxy configuration -->
1154 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1155 Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings</title>
1158 <imagedata fileref="proxy2.jpg" format="jpg">
1161 <phrase>[ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
1169 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
1170 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
1171 any <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
1172 if you want <application>Privoxy</application> to manage that. You are now
1173 ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
1174 <application>Privoxy</application>!
1178 <application>Privoxy</application> itself is typically started by specifying the
1179 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
1180 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
1181 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
1182 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
1185 <sect2 id="start-redhat">
1186 <title>Red Hat and Fedora</title>
1188 A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use
1189 the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
1194 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
1202 # service privoxy start
1207 <sect2 id="start-debian">
1208 <title>Debian</title>
1210 We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; upon booting per
1211 default. It will use the file
1212 <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
1217 # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1222 <sect2 id="start-windows">
1223 <title>Windows</title>
1225 Click on the &my-app; Icon to start <application>Privoxy</application>. If no configuration file is
1226 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
1227 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
1228 automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option
1232 <application>Privoxy</application> can run with full Windows service functionality.
1233 On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments
1234 to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
1235 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Windows Installation
1236 instructions</link> for details.
1240 <sect2 id="start-unices">
1241 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
1243 Example Unix startup command:
1247 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
1252 <sect2 id="start-os2">
1255 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
1256 start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
1257 double-clicking on the <application>Privoxy</application> icon in the
1258 <application>Privoxy</application> folder.
1262 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
1263 <title>Mac OS X</title>
1265 After downloading the privoxy software, unzip the downloaded file by
1266 double-clicking on the zip file icon. Then, double-click on the
1267 installer package icon and follow the installation process.
1270 The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful
1271 installation. In addition, the privoxy service will automatically
1272 start every time your computer starts up.
1275 To prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your
1276 computer starts up, remove or rename the folder named
1277 /Library/StartupItems/Privoxy.
1280 A simple application named Privoxy Utility has been created which
1281 enables administrators to easily start and stop the privoxy service.
1284 In addition, the Privoxy Utility presents a simple way for
1285 administrators to edit the various privoxy config files. A method
1286 to uninstall the software is also available.
1289 An administrator username and password must be supplied in order for
1290 the Privoxy Utility to perform any of the tasks.
1295 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
1296 <title>AmigaOS</title>
1298 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
1299 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
1300 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
1301 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
1302 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
1303 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
1304 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
1308 <sect2 id="start-gentoo">
1309 <title>Gentoo</title>
1311 A script is again used. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config
1312 </filename> as its main configuration file.
1316 /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1320 Note that <application>Privoxy</application> is not automatically started at
1321 boot time by default. You can change this with the <literal>rc-update</literal>
1326 rc-update add privoxy default
1334 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
1338 must find a better place for this paragraph
1341 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
1342 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
1343 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
1344 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
1345 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
1346 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
1350 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
1351 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
1352 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
1353 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
1354 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
1355 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
1356 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
1357 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
1358 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
1362 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
1363 sites is the popup-killing (through <ulink
1364 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>),
1365 because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
1366 popups (explained below).
1370 <application>Privoxy</application> does not support all of the optional HTTP/1.1
1371 features yet. In the unlikely event that you experience inexplicable problems
1372 with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
1373 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
1374 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
1375 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
1376 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
1377 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
1378 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
1382 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
1383 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
1384 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
1385 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
1386 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
1387 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1388 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1389 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
1390 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
1394 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
1395 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
1396 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
1397 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
1398 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
1399 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
1400 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
1404 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
1405 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
1406 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
1407 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
1408 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
1409 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
1414 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <link
1415 linkend="actions-file">read more about the actions concept</link>
1416 or even dive deep into the <link linkend="actionsanat">Appendix
1421 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
1422 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
1423 section <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
1424 Developers</quote></link> below.
1429 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1430 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
1431 <title>Command Line Options</title>
1433 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
1434 command-line options:
1442 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
1445 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
1450 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
1453 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
1458 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
1461 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
1462 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
1467 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
1470 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
1471 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
1472 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
1473 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
1478 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
1481 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
1482 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
1483 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
1488 <emphasis>--chroot</emphasis>
1491 Before changing to the user ID given in the <emphasis>--user</emphasis> option,
1492 chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
1493 process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
1494 the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy.
1500 <emphasis>--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname</emphasis>
1503 Specifies a hostname to look up before doing a chroot. On some systems, initializing the
1504 resolver library involves reading config files from /etc and/or loading additional shared
1505 libraries from /lib. On these systems, doing a hostname lookup before the chroot reduces
1506 the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree.
1509 For fastest startup speed, a good value is a hostname that is not in /etc/hosts but that
1510 your local name server (listed in /etc/resolv.conf) can resolve without recursion
1511 (that is, without having to ask any other name servers). The hostname need not exist,
1512 but if it doesn't, an error message (which can be ignored) will be output.
1518 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
1521 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
1522 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
1523 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
1524 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
1525 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
1526 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
1534 On <application>MS Windows</application> only there are two additional
1535 command-line options to allow <application>Privoxy</application> to install and
1536 run as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>. See the
1537 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Window Installation section</link>
1545 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1548 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1549 <sect1 id="configuration"><title>Privoxy Configuration</title>
1551 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
1552 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
1553 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
1554 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
1558 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1561 <title>Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser</title>
1563 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
1564 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1565 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1566 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
1567 You will see the following section:
1571 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
1574 <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
1578 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
1581 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
1584 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
1587 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
1590 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
1593 ▪ <ulink
1594 url="http://www.privoxy.org/&p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
1602 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
1603 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
1604 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
1605 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
1606 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
1607 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
1611 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
1612 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
1613 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
1614 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
1615 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
1616 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
1617 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
1618 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
1623 Note that several of the features described above are disabled by default
1624 in <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta and later.
1626 <ulink url="config.html">configuration file</ulink> to learn why
1627 and in which cases it's safe to enable them again.
1632 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1637 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1639 <sect2 id="confoverview">
1640 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
1642 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
1643 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
1644 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
1645 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
1646 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
1647 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
1651 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
1652 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
1653 principle configuration files are:
1661 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
1662 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
1663 on Windows. This is a required file.
1669 <filename>match-all.action</filename> is used to define which <quote>actions</quote>
1670 relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups, content modification, cookie handling
1671 etc should be applied by default. It should be the first actions file loaded.
1674 <filename>default.action</filename> defines many exceptions (both positive and negative)
1675 from the default set of actions that's configured in <filename>match-all.action</filename>.
1676 It should be the second actions file loaded and shouldn't be edited by the user.
1679 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
1680 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
1681 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
1682 <filename>match-all.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
1683 to define sooner or later) are best applied in <filename>user.action</filename>,
1684 where you can preserve them across upgrades. The file isn't installed by all
1685 installers, but you can easily create it yourself with a text editor.
1688 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
1690 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1692 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
1693 various actions files.
1699 <quote>Filter files</quote> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
1700 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
1701 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
1702 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
1703 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
1704 <filename>default.filter</filename> includes various filters made
1705 available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
1706 others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
1707 filter files in <filename>config</filename> as you can with
1708 actions files. We suggest <filename>user.filter</filename> for any
1709 locally defined filters or customizations.
1717 The syntax of the configuration and filter files may change between different
1718 Privoxy versions, unfortunately some enhancements cost backwards compatibility.
1719 <!-- Add link to documentation-->
1723 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
1724 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
1725 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
1726 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
1727 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
1728 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
1729 out" that line. Blank lines are ignored.
1733 The actions files and filter files
1734 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
1735 maximum flexibility.
1739 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
1740 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
1741 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
1742 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
1743 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
1744 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
1745 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
1750 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
1751 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
1752 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
1753 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
1759 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1762 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1764 <!-- **************************************************** -->
1765 <!-- Include config.sgml here -->
1766 <!-- This is where the entire config file is detailed. -->
1768 <!-- end include -->
1771 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1775 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1777 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
1781 XXX: similar descriptions are in the Configuration Files sections.
1782 We should only describe them at one place.
1785 The actions files are used to define what <emphasis>actions</emphasis>
1786 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determines
1787 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
1788 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof).
1789 There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
1790 Each action does something a little different.
1791 These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
1792 our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that
1793 their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.
1797 are three action files included with <application>Privoxy</application> with
1804 <filename>match-all.action</filename> - is used to define which
1805 <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
1806 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default.
1807 It should be the first actions file loaded
1812 <filename>default.action</filename> - defines many exceptions (both
1813 positive and negative) from the default set of actions that's configured
1814 in <filename>match-all.action</filename>. It is a set of rules that should
1815 work reasonably well as-is for most users. This file is only supposed to
1816 be edited by the developers. It should be the second actions file loaded.
1821 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
1822 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
1823 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
1824 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
1829 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Cautious</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Medium</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Advanced</guibutton>
1832 These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no
1833 influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
1834 editor</emphasis>. A default installation should be pre-set to
1835 <literal>Cautious</literal>. New users should try this for a while before
1836 adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
1837 the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
1838 not working as they should.
1841 The <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button allows you to turn each
1842 action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <guibutton>Cautious</guibutton>
1843 button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
1844 ad blocking and a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently
1845 there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
1846 <guibutton>Medium</guibutton> button sets the list to a medium level of
1847 other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
1848 <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> button sets the list to a high level of
1849 ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter
1850 three buttons over-ride any changes via with the
1851 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
1852 lower sections of this internal page.
1855 While the actions file editor allows to enable these settings in all
1856 actions files, they are only supposed to be enabled in the first one
1857 to make sure you don't unintentionally overrule earlier rules.
1860 The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
1861 <filename>default.action</filename> are:
1864 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
1865 <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
1866 <colspec colname=c1>
1867 <colspec colname=c2>
1868 <colspec colname=c3>
1869 <colspec colname=c4>
1872 <entry>Feature</entry>
1873 <entry>Cautious</entry>
1874 <entry>Medium</entry>
1875 <entry>Advanced</entry>
1880 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
1881 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
1882 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
1883 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
1889 <entry>Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</entry>
1890 <entry>medium</entry>
1896 <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
1903 <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
1909 <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
1910 <entry>blocks only</entry>
1911 <entry>blocks only</entry>
1912 <entry>blocks only</entry>
1916 <entry>Privacy Features</entry>
1918 <entry>medium</entry>
1919 <entry>medium/high</entry>
1923 <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
1925 <entry>session-only</entry>
1930 <entry>Referer forging</entry>
1937 <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
1944 <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
1951 <entry>HTML taming</entry>
1958 <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
1965 <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
1972 <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
1988 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
1989 file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
1990 <filename>default.action</filename> is typically processed before
1991 <filename>user.action</filename>). The content of these can all be viewed and
1993 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
1994 The over-riding principle when applying actions, is that the last action that
1995 matches a given URL wins. The broadest, most general rules go first
1996 (defined in <filename>default.action</filename>),
1997 followed by any exceptions (typically also in
1998 <filename>default.action</filename>), which are then followed lastly by any
1999 local preferences (typically in <emphasis>user</emphasis><filename>.action</filename>).
2000 Generally, <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word.
2004 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
2005 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
2006 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
2007 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
2008 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
2009 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
2010 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
2011 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
2012 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
2013 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
2014 with the advantage that it is a separate file, which makes preserving your
2015 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
2019 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
2020 just some obnoxious URL whose content you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
2021 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
2022 written to disk), content can be modified, some JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
2023 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
2027 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2029 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
2031 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
2032 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
2033 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
2034 certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring
2035 refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that the more
2036 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
2037 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
2038 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per
2039 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
2040 regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe
2041 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
2045 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
2046 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
2047 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
2048 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
2052 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2054 <title>How to Edit</title>
2056 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
2057 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
2058 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2059 Note: the config file option <link
2060 linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link> must be enabled for
2061 this to work. The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single
2062 feature on a per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults
2063 like <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or
2064 <quote>Advanced</quote>. Warning: the <quote>Advanced</quote> setting is more
2065 aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites.
2066 Experienced users only!
2070 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
2071 the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at
2072 <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly commented with many
2078 <sect2 id="actions-apply">
2079 <title>How Actions are Applied to Requests</title>
2081 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
2082 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
2083 be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
2084 heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
2085 of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
2086 Below that, there is a list of URL and tag patterns, each on a separate line.
2090 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
2091 compared to all URL patterns in each <quote>action file</quote>.
2092 Every time it matches, the list of applicable actions for the request is
2093 incrementally updated, using the heading of the section in which the
2094 pattern is located. The same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on.
2098 If multiple applying sections set the same action differently,
2099 the last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated.
2100 E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading line of <literal>{
2101 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> }</literal>,
2102 then later another one with just <literal>{
2103 +<link linkend="block">block</link> }</literal>, resulting
2104 in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply. And there may well be
2105 cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
2111 { +<literal>handle-as-image</literal> +<literal>block{Banner ads.}</literal> }
2112 # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
2114 media.example.com/.*banners
2115 .example.com/images/ads/</screen>
2119 You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by visiting <ulink
2120 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
2124 Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
2125 Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</link> section.
2129 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2130 <sect2 id="af-patterns">
2131 <title>Patterns</title>
2133 As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
2134 to determine what <emphasis>actions</emphasis> might apply to which sites and
2135 pages your browser attempts to access. These <quote>patterns</quote> use wild
2136 card type <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> matching to achieve a high degree of
2137 flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
2138 against many similar patterns.
2142 Generally, an URL pattern has the form
2143 <literal><domain>/<path></literal>, where both the
2144 <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal> are
2145 optional. (This is why the special <literal>/</literal> pattern matches all
2146 URLs). Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g.
2147 <literal>http://</literal>) should <emphasis>not</emphasis> be included in
2148 the pattern. This is assumed already!
2151 The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of
2152 the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
2153 while the path part uses more flexible
2154 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2155 Expressions</quote></ulink> (POSIX 1003.2).
2160 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
2163 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2164 regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in
2165 this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
2166 simple <literal>example.com</literal> is different and would NOT match.
2171 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
2174 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
2180 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
2183 matches all the documents on <literal>www.example.com</literal>
2184 whose name starts with <literal>/index.html</literal>.
2189 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html$</literal></term>
2192 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
2193 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
2198 <term><literal>/index.html$</literal></term>
2201 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
2202 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server anywhere.
2207 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
2210 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
2211 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>. So its
2219 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2220 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
2223 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
2224 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
2230 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
2233 matches any domain with first-level domain <literal>com</literal>
2234 and second-level domain <literal>example</literal>.
2235 For example <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2236 <literal>example.com</literal> and <literal>foo.bar.baz.example.com</literal>.
2237 Note that it wouldn't match if the second-level domain was <literal>another-example</literal>.
2242 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
2245 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
2246 <literal>www.</literal> (It also matches the domain
2247 <literal>www</literal> but most of the time that doesn't matter.)
2252 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
2255 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>.
2256 And, by the way, also included would be any files or documents that exist
2257 within that domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly
2258 speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as
2259 a domain.) This might be <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2260 <literal>news.example.de</literal>, or
2261 <literal>www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</literal> for instance. All these
2269 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
2270 themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
2271 <quote>*</quote> represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
2273 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2274 Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax of <quote>.*</quote>),
2275 <quote>?</quote> represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
2276 regular expression syntax of a simple <quote>.</quote>), and you can define
2277 <quote>character classes</quote> in square brackets which is similar to
2278 the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:
2283 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2286 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
2287 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
2292 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2295 matches all of the above, and then some.
2300 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
2303 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
2304 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
2309 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
2312 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
2313 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
2314 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
2315 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
2322 While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax.
2327 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2330 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2331 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
2334 <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>modern</quote> POSIX 1003.2
2335 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2336 Expressions</quote></ulink> for matching the path portion (after the slash),
2337 and is thus more flexible.
2341 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
2342 expressions, you also might want to have a look at your operating system's documentation
2343 on regular expressions (try <literal>man re_format</literal>).
2347 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
2348 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
2349 for the beginning of a line).
2353 Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
2354 by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
2355 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
2356 only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
2357 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
2362 <term><literal>.example.com/.*</literal></term>
2365 Is equivalent to just <quote>.example.com</quote>, since any documents
2366 within that domain are matched with or without the <quote>.*</quote>
2367 regular expression. This is redundant
2372 <term><literal>.example.com/.*/index.html$</literal></term>
2375 Will match any page in the domain of <quote>example.com</quote> that is
2376 named <quote>index.html</quote>, and that is part of some path. For
2377 example, it matches <quote>www.example.com/testing/index.html</quote> but
2378 NOT <quote>www.example.com/index.html</quote> because the regular
2379 expression called for at least two <quote>/'s</quote>, thus the path
2380 requirement. It also would match
2381 <quote>www.example.com/testing/index_html</quote>, because of the
2382 special meta-character <quote>.</quote>.
2387 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$</literal></term>
2390 This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page
2391 named <quote>index.html</quote> regardless of path which in this case can
2392 have one or more <quote>/'s</quote>. And this one must contain exactly
2393 <quote>.html</quote> (but does not have to end with that!).
2398 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</literal></term>
2401 This regular expression will match any path of <quote>example.com</quote>
2402 that contains any of the words <quote>ads</quote>, <quote>banner</quote>,
2403 <quote>banners</quote> (because of the <quote>?</quote>) or <quote>junk</quote>.
2404 The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
2409 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</literal></term>
2412 This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
2413 <quote>.jpg</quote>, <quote>.jpeg</quote>, <quote>.gif</quote> or <quote>.png</quote>. So this
2414 one is limited to common image formats.
2421 There are many, many good examples to be found in <filename>default.action</filename>,
2422 and more tutorials below in <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>.
2427 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2430 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2431 <sect3 id="tag-pattern"><title>The Tag Pattern</title>
2434 Tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the
2435 request's tags. Tags can be created with either the
2436 <link linkend="CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER">client-header-tagger</link>
2437 or the <link linkend="SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER">server-header-tagger</link> action.
2441 Tag patterns have to start with <quote>TAG:</quote>, so &my-app;
2442 can tell them apart from URL patterns. Everything after the colon
2443 including white space, is interpreted as a regular expression with
2444 path pattern syntax, except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored
2445 automatically (&my-app; doesn't silently add a <quote>^</quote>,
2446 you have to do it yourself if you need it).
2450 To match all requests that are tagged with <quote>foo</quote>
2451 your pattern line should be <quote>TAG:^foo$</quote>,
2452 <quote>TAG:foo</quote> would work as well, but it would also
2453 match requests whose tags contain <quote>foo</quote> somewhere.
2454 <quote>TAG: foo</quote> wouldn't work as it requires white space.
2458 Sections can contain URL and tag patterns at the same time,
2459 but tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus
2460 always overrule them, even if they are located before the URL patterns.
2464 Once a new tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's matched by one
2465 of the tag patterns and updates the action settings accordingly. As a result
2466 tags can be used to activate other tagger actions, as long as these other
2467 taggers look for headers that haven't already be parsed.
2471 For example you could tag client requests which use the
2472 <literal>POST</literal> method,
2473 then use this tag to activate another tagger that adds a tag if cookies
2474 are sent, and then use a block action based on the cookie tag. This allows
2475 the outcome of one action, to be input into a subsequent action. However if
2476 you'd reverse the position of the described taggers, and activated the
2477 method tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method tags would be created.
2478 The method tagger would look for the request line, but at the time
2479 the cookie tag is created, the request line has already been parsed.
2483 While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of
2484 indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't
2485 make too much sense.
2492 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2495 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2497 <sect2 id="actions">
2498 <title>Actions</title>
2500 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
2501 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
2502 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
2503 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
2504 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
2505 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
2506 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
2507 previously applied.</quote>
2512 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
2513 separated by whitespace, like in
2514 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
2515 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
2516 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
2517 of the actions file.
2521 Actions fall into three categories:
2528 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
2529 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
2533 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
2534 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
2537 Example: <literal>+handle-as-image</literal>
2544 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
2549 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
2550 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
2551 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
2554 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
2555 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
2558 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>
2564 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
2565 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
2566 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
2567 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
2568 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
2569 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
2573 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
2574 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
2575 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
2576 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
2579 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
2580 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
2588 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
2589 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
2590 normal, non-blocking, non-filtering proxy. You must specifically enable the
2591 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
2592 files will give a good starting point).
2596 Later defined action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the same type.
2597 So exceptions to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
2598 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such
2599 as <filename>user.action</filename>). For multi-valued actions, the actions
2600 are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are processed in
2601 the order they are defined in <filename>config</filename> (the default
2602 installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any given
2603 URL to match more than one <quote>pattern</quote> (because of wildcards and
2604 regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last
2608 <!-- start actions listing -->
2610 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
2614 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2615 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
2616 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
2618 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2621 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2623 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
2624 <title>add-header</title>
2628 <term>Typical use:</term>
2630 <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
2635 <term>Effect:</term>
2638 Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
2645 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2647 <para>Multi-value.</para>
2652 <term>Parameter:</term>
2655 Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
2656 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
2666 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
2667 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
2668 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
2675 <term>Example usage:</term>
2678 <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
2686 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2687 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
2688 <title>block</title>
2692 <term>Typical use:</term>
2694 <para>Block ads or other unwanted content</para>
2699 <term>Effect:</term>
2702 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
2703 requests are trapped by &my-app; and the requested URL is never retrieved,
2704 but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
2706 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2708 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>, and
2710 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> actions.
2718 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2720 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2725 <term>Parameter:</term>
2727 <para>A block reason that should be given to the user.</para>
2735 <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
2736 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains the block reason given as
2737 parameter, a link to find out why the block action applies, and a click-through
2738 to the blocked content (the latter only if the force feature is available and
2742 A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
2743 <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2744 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
2745 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
2746 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
2747 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
2750 It is important to understand this process, in order
2751 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
2752 ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
2753 upon which various other features depend.
2756 The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
2757 action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
2758 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
2759 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
2760 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
2766 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2769 <screen>{+block{No nasty stuff for you.}}
2770 # Block and replace with "blocked" page
2771 .nasty-stuff.example.com
2773 {+block{Doubleclick banners.} +handle-as-image}
2774 # Block and replace with image
2778 {+block{Layered ads.} +handle-as-empty-document}
2779 # Block and then ignore
2780 adserver.example.net/.*\.js$</screen>
2790 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2791 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="change-x-forwarded-for">
2792 <title>change-x-forwarded-for</title>
2796 <term>Typical use:</term>
2798 <para>Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request in the HTTP headers.</para>
2803 <term>Effect:</term>
2806 Deletes the <quote>X-Forwarded-For:</quote> HTTP header from the client request,
2814 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2816 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2821 <term>Parameter:</term>
2825 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header.</para>
2829 <quote>add</quote> to create the header (or append
2830 the client's IP address to an already existing one).
2841 It is safe and recommended to use <literal>block</literal>.
2844 Forwarding the source address of the request may make
2845 sense in some multi-user setups but is also a privacy risk.
2850 <term>Example usage:</term>
2853 <screen>+change-x-forwarded-for{block}</screen>
2860 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2861 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-filter">
2862 <title>client-header-filter</title>
2866 <term>Typical use:</term>
2869 Rewrite or remove single client headers.
2875 <term>Effect:</term>
2878 All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
2879 the specified regular expression based substitutions.
2886 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2888 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2893 <term>Parameter:</term>
2896 The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the
2897 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
2906 Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
2907 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
2908 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
2909 You can do that by using tags though.
2912 Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
2913 and use their output as input.
2916 If the request URL gets changed, &my-app; will detect that and use the new
2917 one. This can be used to rewrite the request destination behind the client's
2918 back, for example to specify a Tor exit relay for certain requests.
2921 Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
2922 to learn which client-header filters are available by default, and how to
2930 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2934 # Hide Tor exit notation in Host and Referer Headers
2935 {+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
2946 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2947 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-tagger">
2948 <title>client-header-tagger</title>
2952 <term>Typical use:</term>
2955 Block requests based on their headers.
2961 <term>Effect:</term>
2964 Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
2965 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
2973 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2975 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2980 <term>Parameter:</term>
2983 The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the
2984 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
2993 Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
2994 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
2998 Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed
2999 and their tags can be used to control every other action.
3005 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3009 # Tag every request with the User-Agent header
3010 {+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
3013 # Tagging itself doesn't change the action
3014 # settings, sections with TAG patterns do:
3016 # If it's a download agent, use a different forwarding proxy,
3017 # show the real User-Agent and make sure resume works.
3018 {+forward-override{forward-socks5 10.0.0.2:2222 .} \
3019 -hide-if-modified-since \
3020 -overwrite-last-modified \
3025 TAG:^User-Agent: NetBSD-ftp/
3026 TAG:^User-Agent: Novell ZYPP Installer
3027 TAG:^User-Agent: RPM APT-HTTP/
3028 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/
3029 TAG:^User-Agent: Ubuntu APT-HTTP/
3030 TAG:^User-Agent: MPlayer/
3040 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3041 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="content-type-overwrite">
3042 <title>content-type-overwrite</title>
3046 <term>Typical use:</term>
3048 <para>Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode</para>
3053 <term>Effect:</term>
3056 Replaces the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header.
3063 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3065 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3070 <term>Parameter:</term>
3082 The <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header is used by the
3083 browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this
3084 header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of
3085 displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is
3086 supported by the browser.
3089 The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
3090 the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <quote>text/html</quote>,
3091 many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
3092 If it is send as <quote>application/xml</quote>, browsers with
3093 XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
3096 If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
3097 <quote>Content-Type: text/html</quote>, you can use &my-app;
3098 to overwrite it with <quote>application/xml</quote> and validate
3099 the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
3100 If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
3103 You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints
3104 error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared
3105 as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
3106 <quote>text/html</quote> and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
3109 By default <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal> only replaces
3110 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> headers that look like some kind of text.
3111 If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
3112 <literal><link linkend="force-text-mode">force-text-mode</link></literal>.
3113 This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
3116 Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom
3117 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
3118 It allows you to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
3119 only replace the content types you aimed at.
3122 Of course you can apply <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal>
3123 to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
3124 more work to get the same precision.
3130 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
3133 <screen># Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
3134 { +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
3137 # but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
3138 {-content-type-overwrite}
3139 www.example.net/.*\.css$
3140 www.example.net/.*style
3149 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3150 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-client-header">
3154 <title>crunch-client-header</title>
3158 <term>Typical use:</term>
3160 <para>Remove a client header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
3165 <term>Effect:</term>
3168 Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
3175 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3177 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3182 <term>Parameter:</term>
3194 This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
3195 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists.
3196 <application>Privoxy</application> will remove every client header that
3197 contains the string you supplied as parameter.
3200 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
3201 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
3202 they contain the same string.
3205 <literal>crunch-client-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
3206 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
3207 parts of them, you should use a
3208 <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header filter</link></literal>.
3212 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
3219 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3222 <screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
3223 { +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
3233 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3234 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-if-none-match">
3235 <title>crunch-if-none-match</title>
3241 <term>Typical use:</term>
3243 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
3248 <term>Effect:</term>
3251 Deletes the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header.
3258 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3260 <para>Boolean.</para>
3265 <term>Parameter:</term>
3277 Removing the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header
3278 is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
3279 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote> which
3280 would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
3283 It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
3284 replacement (unlikely but possible).
3287 Blocking the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> header shouldn't cause any
3288 caching problems, as long as the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> header
3289 isn't blocked or missing as well.
3292 It is recommended to use this action together with
3293 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
3295 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>.
3301 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3304 <screen># Let the browser revalidate cached documents but don't
3305 # allow the server to use the revalidation headers for user tracking.
3306 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
3307 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
3308 +crunch-if-none-match}
3317 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3318 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
3319 <title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
3323 <term>Typical use:</term>
3326 Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your system
3332 <term>Effect:</term>
3335 Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
3342 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3344 <para>Boolean.</para>
3349 <term>Parameter:</term>
3361 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
3362 <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
3363 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
3364 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
3367 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3368 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3369 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
3370 <literal><link linkend="filter-content-cookies">filter-content-cookies</link></literal>.
3376 <term>Example usage:</term>
3379 <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
3387 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3388 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-server-header">
3389 <title>crunch-server-header</title>
3395 <term>Typical use:</term>
3397 <para>Remove a server header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
3402 <term>Effect:</term>
3405 Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
3412 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3414 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3419 <term>Parameter:</term>
3431 This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
3432 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists. <application>Privoxy</application>
3433 will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
3436 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
3437 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
3438 they contain the same string.
3441 <literal>crunch-server-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
3442 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
3443 parts of them, you should use a custom
3444 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
3448 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
3455 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3458 <screen># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
3459 { +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
3468 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3469 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
3470 <title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
3474 <term>Typical use:</term>
3477 Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from your system
3483 <term>Effect:</term>
3486 Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
3493 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3495 <para>Boolean.</para>
3500 <term>Parameter:</term>
3512 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
3513 <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
3514 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
3515 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
3518 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3519 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3520 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
3526 <term>Example usage:</term>
3529 <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
3538 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3539 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
3540 <title>deanimate-gifs</title>
3544 <term>Typical use:</term>
3546 <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
3551 <term>Effect:</term>
3554 De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
3561 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3563 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3568 <term>Parameter:</term>
3571 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
3580 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
3581 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
3582 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
3583 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
3584 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
3585 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
3588 You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
3589 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
3596 <term>Example usage:</term>
3599 <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
3606 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3607 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
3608 <title>downgrade-http-version</title>
3612 <term>Typical use:</term>
3614 <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
3619 <term>Effect:</term>
3622 Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
3629 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3631 <para>Boolean.</para>
3636 <term>Parameter:</term>
3648 This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
3649 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
3650 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
3651 out there. Not all HTTP/1.1 features and requirements are supported yet,
3652 so there is a chance you might need this action.
3658 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3661 <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
3662 problem-host.example.com</screen>
3670 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3671 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
3672 <title>fast-redirects</title>
3676 <term>Typical use:</term>
3678 <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.</para>
3683 <term>Effect:</term>
3686 Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting
3687 the redirection server first.
3694 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3696 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3701 <term>Parameter:</term>
3706 <quote>simple-check</quote> to just search for the string <quote>http://</quote>
3707 to detect redirection URLs.
3712 <quote>check-decoded-url</quote> to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching
3713 for redirection URLs.
3724 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
3725 will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
3726 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
3727 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
3728 <quote>http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/</quote>.
3731 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
3732 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
3733 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
3734 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
3735 browser asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
3739 This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
3740 If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
3741 this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
3744 Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil.
3745 Some sites offer a real service that requires this information to work.
3746 For example a validation service needs to know, which document to validate.
3747 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> assumes that every URL parameter that
3748 looks like another URL is a redirection target, and will always redirect to
3749 the last one. Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't,
3750 the user gets redirected anyway.
3753 Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter.
3755 <quote>http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
3756 contains the redirection URL <quote>http://www.example.net/</quote>,
3757 followed by another parameter. <literal>fast-redirects</literal> doesn't know that
3758 and will cause a redirect to <quote>http://www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
3759 Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
3760 or lead to a <quote>page not found</quote> error. You can prevent this problem by
3761 first using the <literal><link linkend="redirect">redirect</link></literal> action
3762 to remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort.
3765 To detect a redirection URL, <literal>fast-redirects</literal> only
3766 looks for the string <quote>http://</quote>, either in plain text
3767 (invalid but often used) or encoded as <quote>http%3a//</quote>.
3768 Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the address
3769 of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses cases
3770 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> is fooled and the request reaches the
3771 redirection server where it probably gets logged.
3777 <term>Example usage:</term>
3781 { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
3784 { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
3785 another.example.com/testing</screen>
3794 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3795 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
3796 <title>filter</title>
3800 <term>Typical use:</term>
3802 <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
3803 do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.</para>
3808 <term>Effect:</term>
3811 All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
3812 this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular
3813 expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents
3814 are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
3815 <literal>text/plain</literal> MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
3822 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3824 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3829 <term>Parameter:</term>
3832 The name of a content filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>.
3833 Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
3834 <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
3835 option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>.
3836 <filename>default.filter</filename> is the collection of filters
3837 supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
3838 in their own file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>.
3841 When used in its negative form,
3842 and without parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> filtering is completely disabled.
3851 For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
3852 in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
3856 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
3857 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
3858 passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
3859 since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
3860 noticeable on slower connections.
3863 <quote>Rolling your own</quote>
3864 filters requires a knowledge of
3865 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
3866 Expressions</quote></ulink> and
3867 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"><quote>HTML</quote></ulink>.
3868 This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
3869 Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent
3870 <quote>action</quote> is not available.
3873 The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
3874 <literal><link linkend="buffer-limit">buffer-limit</link></literal>
3875 option in the main <link linkend="config">config file</link>. The
3876 default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
3877 data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
3880 Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
3881 (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data
3882 (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate
3883 the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might
3884 be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering
3885 by defining appropriate <literal>-filter</literal> exceptions.
3888 Compressed content can't be filtered either, unless &my-app;
3889 is compiled with zlib support (requires at least &my-app; 3.0.7),
3890 in which case &my-app; will decompress the content before filtering
3894 If you use a &my-app; version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on
3895 as much documents as possible, even those that would normally be sent compressed,
3896 you must use the <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
3897 action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
3900 Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
3901 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
3902 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
3903 works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
3904 based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
3908 <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or
3909 improved filters is particularly welcome!
3912 The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
3913 predefined filter. There are <link linkend="predefined-filters">more
3914 verbose explanations</link> of what these filters do in the <link
3915 linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>.
3921 <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file).
3922 See <link linkend="PREDEFINED-FILTERS">the Predefined Filters section</link> for
3923 more explanation on each:</term>
3926 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
3927 <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.</screen>
3930 <anchor id="filter-js-events">
3931 <screen>+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings and timers (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites).</screen>
3934 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
3935 <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</screen>
3938 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
3939 <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content.</screen>
3942 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
3943 <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups).</screen>
3946 <anchor id="filter-unsolicited-popups">
3947 <screen>+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
3950 <anchor id="filter-all-popups">
3951 <screen>+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
3954 <anchor id="filter-img-reorder">
3955 <screen>+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective.</screen>
3958 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
3959 <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size.</screen>
3962 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-link">
3963 <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers.</screen>
3966 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
3967 <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking).</screen>
3970 <anchor id="filter-tiny-textforms">
3971 <screen>+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap.</screen>
3974 <anchor id="filter-jumping-windows">
3975 <screen>+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves.</screen>
3978 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
3979 <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizable.</screen>
3982 <anchor id="filter-demoronizer">
3983 <screen>+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets.</screen>
3986 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
3987 <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects.</screen>
3990 <anchor id="filter-quicktime-kioskmode">
3991 <screen>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies saveable.</screen>
3994 <anchor id="filter-fun">
3995 <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
3998 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
3999 <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering. Note that this filter doesn't work reliably.</screen>
4002 <anchor id="filter-ie-exploits">
4003 <screen>+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits.</screen>
4006 <anchor id="filter-site-specifics">
4007 <screen>+filter{site-specifics} # Cure for site-specific problems. Don't apply generally!</screen>
4010 <anchor id="filter-no-ping">
4011 <screen>+filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes in <a> and <area> tags.</screen>
4014 <anchor id="filter-google">
4015 <screen>+filter{google} # CSS-based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation and the toolbar advertisement.</screen>
4018 <anchor id="filter-yahoo">
4019 <screen>+filter{yahoo} # CSS-based block for Yahoo text ads. Also removes a width limitation.</screen>
4022 <anchor id="filter-msn">
4023 <screen>+filter{msn} # CSS-based block for MSN text ads. Also removes tracking URLs and a width limitation.</screen>
4026 <anchor id="filter-blogspot">
4027 <screen>+filter{blogspot} # Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this.</screen>
4035 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4036 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="force-text-mode">
4037 <title>force-text-mode</title>
4043 <term>Typical use:</term>
4045 <para>Force <application>Privoxy</application> to treat a document as if it was in some kind of <emphasis>text</emphasis> format. </para>
4050 <term>Effect:</term>
4053 Declares a document as text, even if the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> isn't detected as such.
4060 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4062 <para>Boolean.</para>
4067 <term>Parameter:</term>
4079 As explained <literal><link linkend="filter">above</link></literal>,
4080 <application>Privoxy</application> tries to only filter files that are
4081 in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to
4082 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite</link></literal>.
4083 <literal>force-text-mode</literal> declares a document as text,
4084 without looking at the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> first.
4088 Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
4089 with regular expressions can cause file damage.
4096 <term>Example usage:</term>
4109 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4110 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward-override">
4111 <title>forward-override</title>
4117 <term>Typical use:</term>
4119 <para>Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin</para>
4124 <term>Effect:</term>
4127 Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file.
4134 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4136 <para>Multi-value.</para>
4141 <term>Parameter:</term>
4145 <para><quote>forward .</quote> to use a direct connection without any additional proxies.</para>
4149 <quote>forward 127.0.0.1:8123</quote> to use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123.
4154 <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 .</quote> to use the socks4a proxy listening at
4155 127.0.0.1 port 9050. Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote>
4156 to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
4157 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
4162 <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 proxy.example.org:8000</quote> to use the socks4a proxy
4163 listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy listening at proxy.example.org port 8000.
4164 Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote> to use a socks4 connection
4165 (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
4166 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
4177 This action takes parameters similar to the
4178 <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives in the configuration
4179 file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used as replacement, but normally it's only
4180 used in cases where matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient.
4184 Please read the description for the <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives before
4185 using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will reduce your privacy and increase the
4186 chances of man-in-the-middle attacks.
4189 If the ports are missing or invalid, default values will be used. This might change
4190 in the future and you shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect syntax causes Privoxy
4194 Use the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">show-url-info CGI page</ulink>
4195 to verify that your forward settings do what you thought the do.
4202 <term>Example usage:</term>
4206 # Always use direct connections for requests previously tagged as
4207 # <quote>User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0</quote> and make sure
4208 # resuming downloads continues to work.
4209 # This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing,
4210 # without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates
4211 # or downloads of bigger files like ISOs.
4212 # Note that HTTP headers are easy to fake and therefore their
4213 # values are as (un)trustworthy as your clients and users.
4214 {+forward-override{forward .} \
4215 -hide-if-modified-since \
4216 -overwrite-last-modified \
4218 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$
4227 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4228 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-empty-document">
4229 <title>handle-as-empty-document</title>
4235 <term>Typical use:</term>
4237 <para>Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis></para>
4242 <term>Effect:</term>
4245 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
4246 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
4247 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote>
4248 page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
4249 The <emphasis>empty</emphasis> document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
4256 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4258 <para>Boolean.</para>
4263 <term>Parameter:</term>
4275 Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
4276 are blocked with <application>Privoxy's</application>
4277 default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
4278 And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the &my-app;
4279 BLOCKED message in frames.
4282 The content type for the empty document can be specified with
4283 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{}</link></literal>,
4284 but usually this isn't necessary.
4290 <term>Example usage:</term>
4293 <screen># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
4294 # but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
4295 {+block{Blocked JavaScript} +handle-as-empty-document}
4305 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4306 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
4307 <title>handle-as-image</title>
4311 <term>Typical use:</term>
4313 <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>
4318 <term>Effect:</term>
4321 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
4322 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
4323 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
4324 page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
4325 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
4326 client as a substitute for the blocked content.
4333 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4335 <para>Boolean.</para>
4340 <term>Parameter:</term>
4352 The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
4353 It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
4357 Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
4358 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
4359 reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
4362 Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
4363 frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
4364 Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
4365 ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
4371 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
4374 <screen># Generic image extensions:
4377 /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
4379 # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
4380 # blocked as images:
4382 {+block{Nasty banners.} +handle-as-image}
4383 nasty-banner-server.example.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash
4392 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4393 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-accept-language">
4394 <title>hide-accept-language</title>
4400 <term>Typical use:</term>
4402 <para>Pretend to use different language settings.</para>
4407 <term>Effect:</term>
4410 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> HTTP header in client requests.
4417 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4419 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4424 <term>Parameter:</term>
4427 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4436 Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
4437 foreign User-Agent set with
4438 <literal><link linkend="hide-user-agent">hide-user-agent</link></literal>
4442 However some sites with content in different languages check the
4443 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> to decide which one to take by default.
4444 Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
4445 changing the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header first.
4448 Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
4449 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header to languages you understand,
4450 or to languages that aren't wide spread.
4453 Before setting the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header
4454 to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to
4455 make your requests unique and thus easier to trace.
4456 If you don't plan to change this header frequently,
4457 you should stick to a common language.
4463 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4466 <screen># Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
4467 {+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
4468 +hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
4478 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4479 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-content-disposition">
4480 <title>hide-content-disposition</title>
4486 <term>Typical use:</term>
4488 <para>Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.</para>
4493 <term>Effect:</term>
4496 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header set by some servers.
4503 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4505 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4510 <term>Parameter:</term>
4513 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4522 Some servers set the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header for
4523 documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
4524 The <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header contains the file name
4525 the browser is supposed to use by default.
4528 In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
4529 <emphasis>just view</emphasis> the document, without downloading it first,
4530 even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
4533 Removing the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header helps
4534 to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
4535 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> header, before they decide if they can
4536 display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have
4537 to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
4541 It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion
4542 to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set
4546 This action will probably be removed in the future,
4547 use server-header filters instead.
4553 <term>Example usage:</term>
4556 <screen># Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
4558 +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
4559 +hide-content-disposition{block} }
4560 .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php</screen>
4568 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4569 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-if-modified-since">
4570 <title>hide-if-modified-since</title>
4576 <term>Typical use:</term>
4578 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
4583 <term>Effect:</term>
4586 Deletes the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> HTTP client header or modifies its value.
4593 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4595 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4600 <term>Parameter:</term>
4603 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
4612 Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
4613 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the
4614 browser to use a cached copy of the page.
4617 Instead of removing the header, <literal>hide-if-modified-since</literal> can
4618 also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value.
4619 You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and
4620 <application>Privoxy</application> does the rest. A negative value means
4621 subtracting, a positive value adding.
4624 Randomizing the value of the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> makes
4625 it less likely that the server can use the time as a cookie replacement,
4626 but you will run into caching problems if the random range is too high.
4629 It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
4630 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
4631 handle the greater changes.
4634 It is also recommended to use this action together with
4635 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>,
4636 otherwise it's more or less pointless.
4642 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4645 <screen># Let the browser revalidate but make tracking based on the time less likely.
4646 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
4647 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
4648 +crunch-if-none-match}
4657 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4658 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
4659 <title>hide-from-header</title>
4663 <term>Typical use:</term>
4665 <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
4670 <term>Effect:</term>
4673 Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
4681 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4683 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4688 <term>Parameter:</term>
4691 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4700 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
4701 (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
4705 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
4706 server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
4707 is actually used by a real person.
4710 This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
4711 <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
4717 <term>Example usage:</term>
4720 <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
4721 <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
4729 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4730 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
4731 <title>hide-referrer</title>
4732 <anchor id="hide-referer">
4735 <term>Typical use:</term>
4737 <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
4742 <term>Effect:</term>
4745 Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
4746 or replaces it with a forged one.
4753 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4755 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4760 <term>Parameter:</term>
4764 <para><quote>conditional-block</quote> to delete the header completely if the host has changed.</para>
4767 <para><quote>conditional-forge</quote> to forge the header if the host has changed.</para>
4770 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header unconditionally.</para>
4773 <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
4776 <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
4786 <literal>conditional-block</literal> is the only parameter,
4787 that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the
4788 referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or
4789 typed in the address directly.
4792 Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
4793 allows the server owner to see the visitor's <quote>click path</quote>,
4794 but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing
4795 other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't
4796 a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between
4800 Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
4801 failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
4802 requests, in an attempt to prevent their content from being
4803 embedded or linked to elsewhere.
4806 Both <literal>conditional-block</literal> and <literal>forge</literal>
4807 will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page
4808 are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case.
4811 <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
4812 <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
4813 substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
4814 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
4815 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
4821 <term>Example usage:</term>
4824 <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
4825 <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
4833 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4834 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
4835 <title>hide-user-agent</title>
4839 <term>Typical use:</term>
4841 <para>Try to conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
4846 <term>Effect:</term>
4849 Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
4850 in client requests with the specified value.
4857 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4859 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4864 <term>Parameter:</term>
4867 Any user-defined string.
4877 This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at this header in
4878 order to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
4879 way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the right thing to do: good web sites
4880 work browser-independently).
4884 Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
4885 browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
4886 <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
4887 setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
4888 the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
4889 OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
4890 sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
4891 reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
4892 let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
4893 <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
4894 (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
4897 More information on known user-agent strings can be found at
4898 <ulink url="http://www.user-agents.org/">http://www.user-agents.org/</ulink>
4900 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</ulink>.
4906 <term>Example usage:</term>
4909 <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
4917 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4918 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
4919 <title>limit-connect</title>
4923 <term>Typical use:</term>
4925 <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</para>
4930 <term>Effect:</term>
4933 Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
4940 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4942 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4947 <term>Parameter:</term>
4950 A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
4951 defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
4960 By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
4961 <application>Privoxy</application> allows HTTP CONNECT requests to all
4962 ports. Use <literal>limit-connect</literal> if fine-grained control
4963 is desired for some or all destinations.
4966 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
4967 (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
4968 the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
4969 short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
4970 This means CONNECT-enabled proxies can be used as TCP relays very easily.
4973 <application>Privoxy</application> relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
4974 the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent &my-app;'s
4975 filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
4981 <term>Example usages:</term>
4983 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
4984 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
4985 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
4987 <screen>+limit-connect{443} # Port 443 is OK.
4988 +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
4989 +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
4990 +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
4991 +limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</screen>
4998 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4999 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
5000 <title>prevent-compression</title>
5004 <term>Typical use:</term>
5007 Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
5008 passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s.
5014 <term>Effect:</term>
5017 Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
5024 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5026 <para>Boolean.</para>
5031 <term>Parameter:</term>
5043 More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
5044 is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the <literal><link
5045 linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> and
5046 <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
5047 actions need access to the uncompressed data.
5050 When compiled with zlib support (available since &my-app; 3.0.7), content that should be
5051 filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't have to worry about this action.
5052 If you are using an older &my-app; version, or one that hasn't been compiled with zlib
5053 support, this action can be used to convince the server to send the content uncompressed.
5056 Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is seldom decreased by less than 50%,
5057 for markup-heavy instances like news feeds saving more than 90% of the original size isn't
5061 Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should only
5062 enable this action if you really need it. As of &my-app; 3.0.7 it's disabled in all
5063 predefined action settings.
5066 Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
5067 documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an empty document body,
5068 some IIS versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable
5069 <literal>prevent-compression</literal> per default, you might want to add
5070 exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
5076 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
5080 # Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
5082 { +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
5083 # Match only these sites
5088 # Or instead, we could set a universal default:
5090 { +prevent-compression }
5093 # Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites:
5095 { -prevent-compression }
5096 .compusa.com/</screen>
5105 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5106 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="overwrite-last-modified">
5107 <title>overwrite-last-modified</title>
5113 <term>Typical use:</term>
5115 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
5120 <term>Effect:</term>
5123 Deletes the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> HTTP server header or modifies its value.
5130 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5132 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5137 <term>Parameter:</term>
5140 One of the keywords: <quote>block</quote>, <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote>
5141 and <quote>randomize</quote>
5150 Removing the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header is useful for filter
5151 testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
5152 code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
5153 version of the page.
5156 The <quote>randomize</quote> option overwrites the value of the
5157 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with a randomly chosen time
5158 between the original value and the current time. In theory the server
5159 could send each document with a different <quote>Last-Modified:</quote>
5160 header to track visits without using cookies. <quote>Randomize</quote>
5161 makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
5164 <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote> overwrites the value of the
5165 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with the current time. You could use
5166 this option together with
5167 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
5168 to further customize your random range.
5171 The preferred parameter here is <quote>randomize</quote>. It is safe
5172 to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct.
5173 If the server sets the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header to the time
5174 of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same.
5175 Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with
5176 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>,
5180 It is also recommended to use this action together with
5181 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
5187 <term>Example usage:</term>
5190 <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
5191 { +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
5192 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
5193 +crunch-if-none-match}
5202 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5203 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="redirect">
5204 <title>redirect</title>
5210 <term>Typical use:</term>
5213 Redirect requests to other sites.
5219 <term>Effect:</term>
5222 Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
5223 to another location and the browser should get it from there.
5230 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5232 <para>Parameterized</para>
5237 <term>Parameter:</term>
5240 An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
5249 Requests to which this action applies are answered with a
5250 HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is
5251 either provided as parameter, or derived by applying a
5252 single pcrs command to the original URL.
5255 This action will be ignored if you use it together with
5256 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>.
5257 It can be combined with
5258 <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</link></literal>
5259 to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL.
5262 Use this action carefully, make sure not to create redirection loops
5263 and be aware that using your own redirects might make it
5264 possible to fingerprint your requests.
5267 In case of problems with your redirects, or simply to watch
5268 them working, enable <link linkend="DEBUG">debug 128</link>.
5274 <term>Example usages:</term>
5277 <screen># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
5278 { +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
5279 example.com/stylesheet\.css
5281 # Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
5282 # (relies on the browser accept and forward invalid URLs to &my-app;)
5283 { +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
5286 # Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles
5287 # (Note the $ at the end of the URL pattern to make sure
5288 # the request for the rewritten URL isn't redirected as well)
5289 {+redirect{s@$@&mode=expanded@}}
5290 undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$
5292 # Redirect Google search requests to MSN
5293 {+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/search\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=$1@}}
5296 # Redirect MSN search requests to Yahoo
5297 {+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/results\.aspx\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=$1@}}
5298 search.msn.com//results\.aspx\?q=
5300 # Redirect remote requests for this manual
5301 # to the local version delivered by Privoxy
5302 {+redirect{s@^http://www@http://config@}}
5303 www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</screen>
5312 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5313 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-filter">
5314 <title>server-header-filter</title>
5318 <term>Typical use:</term>
5321 Rewrite or remove single server headers.
5327 <term>Effect:</term>
5330 All server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly
5331 through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
5338 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
5340 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5345 <term>Parameter:</term>
5348 The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the
5349 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
5358 Server-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
5359 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
5360 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
5361 You can do that by using tags though.
5364 Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
5365 and use their output as input.
5368 Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
5369 to learn which server-header filters are available by default, and how to
5376 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5380 {+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}}
5381 example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html
5383 {+server-header-filter{xml-to-html}}
5384 example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not
5394 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5395 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-tagger">
5396 <title>server-header-tagger</title>
5400 <term>Typical use:</term>
5403 Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
5409 <term>Effect:</term>
5412 Server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
5413 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
5421 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
5423 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5428 <term>Parameter:</term>
5431 The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the
5432 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
5441 Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
5442 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
5446 Server-header taggers are executed before all other header actions
5447 that modify server headers. Their tags can be used to control
5448 all of the other server-header actions, the content filters
5449 and the crunch actions (<link linkend="redirect">redirect</link>
5450 and <link linkend="block">block</link>).
5453 Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header taggers
5454 doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the server's log file.
5461 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5465 # Tag every request with the content type declared by the server
5466 {+server-header-tagger{content-type}}
5477 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5478 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
5479 <title>session-cookies-only</title>
5483 <term>Typical use:</term>
5486 Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current
5487 browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
5493 <term>Effect:</term>
5496 Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote>
5497 server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
5498 forget them in between sessions.
5505 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5507 <para>Boolean.</para>
5512 <term>Parameter:</term>
5524 This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
5525 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
5526 websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
5529 Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
5530 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
5531 This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
5532 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
5533 sites, and is the recommended setting.
5536 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
5537 together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
5538 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
5539 will be plainly killed.
5542 Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
5543 field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
5546 This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
5547 previously by the browser before starting <application>Privoxy</application>.
5548 These would have to be removed manually.
5551 <application>Privoxy</application> also uses
5552 the <link linkend="filter-content-cookies">content-cookies filter</link>
5553 to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
5554 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>.
5560 <term>Example usage:</term>
5563 <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
5571 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5572 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
5573 <title>set-image-blocker</title>
5577 <term>Typical use:</term>
5579 <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
5584 <term>Effect:</term>
5587 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
5588 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
5589 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
5590 apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
5591 <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
5592 sent as a replacement.
5599 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5601 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5606 <term>Parameter:</term>
5611 <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
5612 decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
5617 <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
5618 completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
5619 images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
5620 has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
5625 <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
5626 send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
5627 to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via <quote>file:///</quote> URL.
5628 (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
5631 A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
5632 URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
5633 This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
5634 the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
5635 it over and over again.
5646 The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
5647 class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
5648 either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
5651 There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
5652 used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
5653 Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
5659 <term>Example usage:</term>
5665 <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
5668 Redirect to the BSD daemon:
5671 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
5674 Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
5677 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
5685 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5687 <title>Summary</title>
5689 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
5690 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
5691 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
5692 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
5693 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
5694 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
5700 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5701 <sect2 id="aliases">
5702 <title>Aliases</title>
5704 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
5705 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
5706 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
5707 Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
5709 <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
5710 recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
5711 <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
5712 Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
5713 <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
5717 Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
5718 defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
5719 And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
5720 have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
5724 There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
5725 used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
5726 decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
5727 <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
5728 <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
5729 in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
5730 by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
5733 Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
5734 <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
5735 editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
5736 them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
5737 but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
5742 Now let's define some aliases...
5747 # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
5749 # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
5750 # must be at the top of the actions file!
5754 # These aliases just save typing later:
5755 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
5757 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5758 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5759 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
5760 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
5762 # These aliases define combinations of actions
5763 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
5765 fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link>
5767 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link>
5769 # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
5771 c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
5772 c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
5776 ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
5777 actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
5778 up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
5783 # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
5784 # user data and require minimal interference to work:
5787 .office.microsoft.com
5788 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
5789 # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com
5793 # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
5797 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
5800 # These shops require pop-ups:
5802 {-filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
5804 .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
5808 Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are typically used for
5809 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require more than one action to be disabled
5810 in order to function properly.
5816 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5817 <sect2 id="act-examples">
5818 <title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
5820 The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
5821 there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
5822 linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
5823 to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
5824 define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
5825 example <filename>match-all.action</filename>, <filename>default.action</filename>
5826 and <filename>user.action</filename> file and see how all these pieces come together:
5830 <title>match-all.action</title>
5832 Remember <emphasis>all actions are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>,
5833 so we have to explicitly enable the ones we want.
5837 While the <filename>match-all.action</filename> file only contains a
5838 single section, it is probably the most important one. It has only one
5839 pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
5840 <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the set of
5841 actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
5842 be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
5843 wholly overridden by other actions files like <filename>default.action</filename>
5844 and <filename>user.action</filename>, but it will still be largely responsible
5845 for your overall browsing experience.
5849 Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
5850 no need to disable any actions here. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
5851 preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
5852 Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
5853 multiple lines with line continuation.
5859 +<link linkend="CHANGE-X-FORWARDED-FOR">change-x-forwarded-for{block}</link> \
5860 +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
5861 +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
5868 The default behavior is now set.
5873 <title>default.action</title>
5876 If you aren't a developer, there's no need for you to edit the
5877 <filename>default.action</filename> file. It is maintained by
5878 the &my-app; developers and if you disagree with some of the
5879 sections, you should overrule them in your <filename>user.action</filename>.
5883 Understanding the <filename>default.action</filename> file can
5884 help you with your <filename>user.action</filename>, though.
5888 The first section in this file is a special section for internal use
5889 that prevents older &my-app; versions from reading the file:
5894 ##########################################################################
5895 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
5896 ##########################################################################
5898 for-privoxy-version=3.0.11</screen>
5902 After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
5903 section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
5904 that also explains why and how aliases are used:
5909 ##########################################################################
5911 ##########################################################################
5914 # These aliases just save typing later:
5915 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
5917 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5918 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5919 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
5920 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
5922 # These aliases define combinations of actions
5923 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
5925 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>
5926 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link></screen>
5930 The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
5931 sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
5932 very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
5933 make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
5934 our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
5935 of actions explicitly:
5940 ##########################################################################
5941 # Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
5942 ##########################################################################
5944 # "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
5947 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
5948 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
5949 mail.google.com</screen>
5953 Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
5954 require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
5955 carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
5964 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
5966 .scan.co.uk</screen>
5970 The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
5971 action, which may have been enabled in <filename>match-all.action</filename>,
5972 breaks some sites. So disable it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
5977 { -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
5981 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
5982 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
5983 .nytimes.com</screen>
5987 It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
5988 URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
5989 be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
5990 Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
5991 would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
5992 would feed the advertisers information about you. We can mark any
5993 URL as an image with the <literal><link
5994 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
5995 and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
6001 ##########################################################################
6003 ##########################################################################
6005 # Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
6006 # blocked further down this file:
6008 { +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
6009 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
6013 And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
6014 generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
6015 request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
6016 mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
6017 <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
6018 course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
6019 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
6020 Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
6021 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
6022 action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
6023 <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
6024 action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
6029 # Known ad generators:
6034 .ad.*.doubleclick.net
6035 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
6036 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
6042 One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
6043 is to block banners. Many of these can be <quote>blocked</quote>
6044 by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
6045 action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
6046 images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
6047 them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
6048 doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
6049 need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
6050 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
6053 First comes many generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
6054 matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
6055 a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
6056 to keep the example short:
6061 ##########################################################################
6062 # Block these fine banners:
6063 ##########################################################################
6064 { <link linkend="BLOCK">+block{Banner ads.}</link> }
6072 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
6073 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
6075 # Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
6077 .hitbox.com</screen>
6081 It's quite remarkable how many advertisers actually call their banner
6082 servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
6083 in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
6084 generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
6087 But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
6088 to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
6089 <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
6090 but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
6091 <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
6092 well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
6096 Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
6097 <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
6098 so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
6099 URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
6100 action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
6101 general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
6102 <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
6103 <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
6104 applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
6105 with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
6110 ##########################################################################
6111 # Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
6112 ##########################################################################
6116 { -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
6117 adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
6118 adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
6119 adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
6120 ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
6121 .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
6122 .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
6130 www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
6131 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
6135 Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
6136 so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
6137 and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
6138 <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
6139 disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
6144 # Don't filter code!
6146 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
6151 .sourceforge.net</screen>
6155 The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course much more
6156 comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
6161 <sect3><title>user.action</title>
6164 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
6165 which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
6166 you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
6167 are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
6168 be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
6169 be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
6170 actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
6171 defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
6172 <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
6173 <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
6174 <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
6175 to install updated versions from time to time.
6179 So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
6180 <filename>user.action</filename>:
6184 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
6188 # My user.action file. <fred@example.com></screen>
6192 As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
6193 file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
6194 <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
6199 # Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
6200 # (Re-)define aliases for this file:
6204 # These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
6205 # be self explanatory.
6207 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
6208 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
6209 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
6210 allow-popups = -filter{all-popups}
6211 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked as image.} +handle-as-image
6212 -block-as-image = -block
6214 # These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
6215 # certain types of sites:
6217 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer
6218 shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
6220 # Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
6222 allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
6224 # Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
6225 # MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
6226 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>
6231 Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
6232 you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
6233 to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
6234 <literal>allow-all-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
6235 that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
6236 processing of cookies to make them only temporary.
6241 { allow-all-cookies }
6245 .redhat.com</screen>
6249 Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:
6254 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
6255 .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
6259 Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
6264 # Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
6265 # erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
6270 # And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
6271 # so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
6273 stupid-server.example.com/</screen>
6277 Example of a simple <link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> action. Say you've
6278 seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of.
6279 You have right-clicked the image, selected <quote>copy image location</quote>
6280 and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a
6281 <literal>{ +block{} }</literal> section. Note that <literal>{ +handle-as-image
6282 }</literal> need not be specified, since all URLs ending in
6283 <literal>.gif</literal> will be tagged as images by the general rules as set
6284 in default.action anyway:
6289 { +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link>{Nasty ads.} }
6290 www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
6291 another.example.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
6295 The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner
6296 farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which
6297 makes it impossible for <application>Privoxy</application> to guess
6298 the file type just by looking at the URL.
6299 You can use the <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above for
6301 Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an
6302 image are typically rendered as a <quote>broken image</quote> icon by the
6303 browser. Use cautiously.
6312 ar.atwola.com/</screen>
6316 Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
6317 but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
6318 were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
6319 you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
6320 -- <emphasis>whoa!</emphasis> -- it worked. The <literal>fragile</literal>
6321 aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also,
6322 good for testing purposes to see if it is <application>Privoxy</application>
6323 that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular sites
6324 that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:
6332 .mybank.com</screen>
6336 You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
6337 but it is disabled in the distributed actions file.
6338 So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
6339 update-safe config, once and for all:
6344 { +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
6345 / # For ALL sites!</screen>
6349 Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
6350 to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
6351 really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
6352 <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
6353 won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
6357 You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are
6358 funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
6359 to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
6360 sites that you feel provide value to you:
6372 Note that <literal>allow-ads</literal> has been aliased to
6373 <literal>-<link linkend="block">block</link></literal>,
6374 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-size">filter{banners-by-size}</link></literal>, and
6375 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-link">filter{banners-by-link}</link></literal> above.
6379 Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type <literal>
6380 application/x-sh</literal> which typically would open a download type
6381 dialog. In my case, I want to look at the shell script, and then I can save
6382 it should I choose to.
6392 <filename>user.action</filename> is generally the best place to define
6393 exceptions and additions to the default policies of
6394 <filename>default.action</filename>. Some actions are safe to have their
6395 default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
6396 <quote>blank</quote> image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for
6397 <emphasis>ALL</emphasis> sites. <quote>/</quote> of course matches all URL
6403 { +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
6404 / # ALL sites</screen>
6410 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6414 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6416 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6418 <sect1 id="filter-file">
6419 <title>Filter Files</title>
6422 On-the-fly text substitutions need
6423 to be defined in a <quote>filter file</quote>. Once defined, they
6424 can then be invoked as an <quote>action</quote>.
6428 &my-app; supports three different filter actions:
6429 <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> to
6430 rewrite the content that is send to the client,
6431 <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header-filter</link></literal>
6432 to rewrite headers that are send by the client, and
6433 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header-filter</link></literal>
6434 to rewrite headers that are send by the server.
6438 &my-app; also supports two tagger actions:
6439 <literal><link linkend="client-header-tagger">client-header-tagger</link></literal>
6441 <literal><link linkend="server-header-tagger">server-header-tagger</link></literal>.
6442 Taggers and filters use the same syntax in the filter files, the difference
6443 is that taggers don't modify the text they are filtering, but use a rewritten
6444 version of the filtered text as tag. The tags can then be used to change the
6445 applying actions through sections with <link linkend="tag-pattern">tag-patterns</link>.
6450 Multiple filter files can be defined through the <literal> <link
6451 linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config directive. The filters
6452 as supplied by the developers are located in
6453 <filename>default.filter</filename>. It is recommended that any locally
6454 defined or modified filters go in a separately defined file such as
6455 <filename>user.filter</filename>.
6459 Common tasks for content filters are to eliminate common annoyances in
6460 HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
6461 exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
6462 infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
6463 width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
6464 or just to have fun.
6468 Enabled content filters are applied to any content whose
6469 <quote>Content Type</quote> header is recognised as a sign
6470 of text-based content, with the exception of <literal>text/plain</literal>.
6471 Use the <link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> action
6472 to also filter other content.
6476 Substitutions are made at the source level, so if you want to <quote>roll
6477 your own</quote> filters, you should first be familiar with HTML syntax,
6478 and, of course, regular expressions.
6482 Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
6483 filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
6484 here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with one of the
6485 <emphasis>keywords</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>,
6486 <literal>CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER:</literal> or <literal>SERVER-HEADER-FILTER:</literal>
6487 followed by the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
6488 <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
6489 come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
6490 text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
6491 should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
6492 comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
6493 user interface</ulink>.
6497 Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
6498 in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
6499 +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
6500 in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
6504 Filter definitions start with a header line that contains the filter
6505 type, the filter name and the filter description.
6506 A content filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
6511 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
6515 Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that
6516 define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified
6517 in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
6518 <literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
6519 will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
6520 PCRS documentation for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most
6521 notably, the non-standard option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported,
6522 which turns the default to ungreedy matching.
6527 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
6528 Expressions</quote></ulink>, you might want to take a look at
6529 the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
6530 see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl
6532 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlop.html">the
6533 <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
6534 url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
6535 expressions</ulink> in general.
6536 The below examples might also help to get you started.
6540 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6542 <sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
6544 Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> content filter. We have already defined
6545 the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
6546 <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
6551 <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
6555 But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
6556 of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
6557 care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
6558 we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
6562 <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
6566 Our complete filter now looks like this:
6569 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
6570 s/foo/bar/g</screen>
6574 Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
6575 a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
6576 abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
6582 FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
6584 # Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
6586 s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
6590 Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
6591 <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
6592 the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
6593 by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
6597 Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
6598 enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
6599 means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
6600 matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
6601 it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
6605 That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
6606 matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
6607 be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
6608 special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
6609 Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
6610 the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
6611 in the page (and appear in that order).
6615 But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
6616 is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
6617 means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
6618 tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
6619 <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
6623 This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
6624 The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
6625 remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
6626 the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
6627 that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
6628 text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
6629 of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
6630 only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
6631 tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
6632 multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
6633 substitution is global.
6637 So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
6638 <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
6639 (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
6640 <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
6641 that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
6645 Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
6646 lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
6647 easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
6648 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
6649 the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
6650 This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
6651 (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
6652 Business!"</literal>.
6656 The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
6657 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
6658 <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
6659 since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
6660 string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
6661 information anymore.
6665 We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
6666 this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
6671 # The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
6673 s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
6677 <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
6678 carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
6679 or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
6680 makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
6681 option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
6682 <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>. Finally, <literal>\1</literal> is
6683 a back-reference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
6684 with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
6685 a back-reference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
6689 So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
6690 strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
6691 (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
6692 real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
6693 descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
6694 you move your mouse over links.
6699 # Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
6701 s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
6706 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
6707 event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
6708 When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
6709 This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
6710 <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
6711 Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
6712 case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee
6713 a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use <literal>[^>]*</literal>
6714 instead of <literal>.*</literal> to prevent the match from exceeding the
6715 <body> tag if it doesn't contain <quote>OnUnload</quote>, but the page's
6720 The last example is from the fun department:
6725 FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
6727 # Spice the daily news:
6729 s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
6733 Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
6734 in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
6735 <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
6736 in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while
6737 still replacing the word everywhere else.
6742 # Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
6744 s* industry[ -]leading \
6746 | customer[ -]focused \
6747 | market[ -]driven \
6748 | award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
6749 | high[ -]performance \
6750 | solutions[ -]based \
6754 *<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
6759 The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
6760 e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
6768 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6770 <sect2 id="predefined-filters"><title>The Pre-defined Filters</title>
6774 Note each filter is also listed in the +filter action section above. Please
6775 keep these listings in sync.
6780 The distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file contains a selection of
6781 pre-defined filters for your convenience:
6786 <term><emphasis>js-annoyances</emphasis></term>
6789 The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.
6794 replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
6795 with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the <literal><link
6796 linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal> action on the content level.
6801 removes the bindings to the DOM's
6802 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">unload
6803 event</ulink> which we feel has no right to exist and is responsible for most <quote>exit consoles</quote>, i.e.
6804 nasty windows that pop up when you close another one.
6809 removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being
6810 full-screen, non-resizeable, without location, status or menu bar etc.
6816 Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that
6817 rely heavily on JavaScript.
6823 <term><emphasis>js-events</emphasis></term>
6826 This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event bindings, which
6827 means that scripts can not react to user actions such as mouse movements or clicks, window
6828 resizing etc, anymore. Use with caution!
6831 We <emphasis>strongly discourage</emphasis> using this filter as a default since it breaks
6832 many legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should you really
6839 <term><emphasis>html-annoyances</emphasis></term>
6842 This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
6845 The <literal>BLINK</literal> and <literal>MARQUEE</literal> tags
6846 are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser windows will be created as
6847 resizeable (as of course they should be!), and will have location,
6848 scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
6854 <term><emphasis>content-cookies</emphasis></term>
6857 Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialog, where they can be intercepted
6859 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>
6860 and <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>
6861 actions. But web sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript
6862 to sneak cookies to the browser on the content level.
6865 This filter disables most HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets
6866 cookies. It cannot detect all clever uses of these types of code, so it
6867 should not be relied on as an absolute fix. Use it wherever you would also
6868 use the cookie crunch actions.
6874 <term><emphasis>refresh tags</emphasis></term>
6877 Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
6878 that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
6879 for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
6886 <term><emphasis>unsolicited-popups</emphasis></term>
6889 This filter attempts to prevent only <quote>unsolicited</quote> pop-up
6890 windows from opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user
6891 has explicitly chosen to open. It was added in version 3.0.1,
6892 as an improvement over earlier such filters.
6895 Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
6896 function to a dummy function, <literal>PrivoxyWindowOpen()</literal>,
6897 during the loading and rendering phase of each HTML page access, and
6898 restoring the function afterward.
6901 This is recommended only for browsers that cannot perform this function
6902 reliably themselves. And be aware that some sites require such windows
6903 in order to function normally. Use with caution.
6909 <term><emphasis>all-popups</emphasis></term>
6912 Attempt to prevent <emphasis>all</emphasis> pop-up windows from opening.
6913 Note this should be used with even more discretion than the above, since
6914 it is more likely to break some sites that require pop-ups for normal
6915 usage. Use with caution.
6921 <term><emphasis>img-reorder</emphasis></term>
6924 This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the
6925 <literal>banners-by-size</literal> and <literal>banners-by-link</literal>
6926 (see below) filters more effective and should be enabled together with them.
6932 <term><emphasis>banners-by-size</emphasis></term>
6935 This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are. Fortunately
6936 for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain standardized
6937 sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad stripping purposes.
6940 Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not ads,
6941 but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes.
6944 Recommended only for those who require extreme ad blocking. The default
6945 block rules should catch 95+% of all ads <emphasis>without</emphasis> this filter enabled.
6951 <term><emphasis>banners-by-link</emphasis></term>
6954 This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if
6955 their URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently
6956 not of much value and is not recommended for use by default.
6962 <term><emphasis>webbugs</emphasis></term>
6965 Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that
6966 are used to track users across websites, and collect information on them.
6967 As an HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the
6968 browser to contact a third-party site, disclosing the tracking information
6969 through the requested URL and/or cookies for that third-party domain, without
6970 the user ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party site.
6971 HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email addresses.
6974 This filter removes the HTML code that loads such <quote>webbugs</quote>.
6980 <term><emphasis>tiny-textforms</emphasis></term>
6983 A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas (those
6984 multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in them.
6985 It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such boxes are
6986 a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too.
6989 It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
6995 <term><emphasis>jumping-windows</emphasis></term>
6998 Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This filter
6999 neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might not display
7000 or behave as intended when using this filter. Use with caution.
7006 <term><emphasis>frameset-borders</emphasis></term>
7009 Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view their
7010 web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution etc,
7011 because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame sizes,
7012 yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they be too
7013 small to show their whole content.
7016 This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to sites
7023 <term><emphasis>demoronizer</emphasis></term>
7026 Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions (read:
7027 violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This can cause those
7028 HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant platforms.
7031 This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents.
7032 It is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of
7033 all documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly
7034 worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if weird garbage characters
7035 sometimes appear on some pages, or user agents that don't correct for this on
7038 My version of Mozilla (ancient) shows litte square boxes for quote
7039 characters, and apostrophes on moronized pages. So many pages have this, I
7040 can read them fine now. HB 08/27/06
7047 <term><emphasis>shockwave-flash</emphasis></term>
7050 A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips code
7051 out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects.
7059 <term><emphasis>quicktime-kioskmode</emphasis></term>
7062 Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
7063 prevents saving, is disabled.
7069 <term><emphasis>fun</emphasis></term>
7072 Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
7073 Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
7079 <term><emphasis>crude-parental</emphasis></term>
7082 A demonstration-only filter that shows how <application>Privoxy</application>
7083 can be used to delete web content on a keyword basis.
7089 <term><emphasis>ie-exploits</emphasis></term>
7092 An experimental collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
7093 code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
7096 Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug, and
7097 would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
7103 <term><emphasis>site-specifics</emphasis></term>
7106 Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't apply
7107 anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
7110 This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be applied
7111 to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
7112 <filename>default.action</filename> file does. Users shouldn't need to change
7113 anything regarding this filter.
7119 <term><emphasis>google</emphasis></term>
7122 A CSS based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation
7123 and the toolbar advertisement.
7129 <term><emphasis>yahoo</emphasis></term>
7132 Another CSS based block, this time for Yahoo text ads. And removes
7133 a width limitation as well.
7139 <term><emphasis>msn</emphasis></term>
7142 Another CSS based block, this time for MSN text ads. And removes
7143 tracking URLs, as well as a width limitation.
7149 <term><emphasis>blogspot</emphasis></term>
7152 Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this one!
7155 This filter also intentionally removes some navigation stuff and sets the
7156 page width to 100%. As a result, some rounded <quote>corners</quote> would
7157 appear to early or not at all and as fixing this would require a browser
7158 that understands background-size (CSS3), they are removed instead.
7164 <term><emphasis>xml-to-html</emphasis></term>
7167 Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from xml to html.
7173 <term><emphasis>html-to-xml</emphasis></term>
7176 Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from html to xml.
7182 <term><emphasis>no-ping</emphasis></term>
7185 Removes the non-standard <literal>ping</literal> attribute from
7186 anchor and area HTML tags.
7192 <term><emphasis>hide-tor-exit-notation</emphasis></term>
7195 Client-header filter to remove the <command>Tor</command> exit node notation
7196 found in Host and Referer headers.
7199 If &my-app; and <command>Tor</command> are chained and &my-app;
7200 is configured to use socks4a, one can use <quote>http://www.example.org.foobar.exit/</quote>
7201 to access the host <quote>www.example.org</quote> through the
7202 <command>Tor</command> exit node <quote>foobar</quote>.
7205 As the HTTP client isn't aware of this notation, it treats the
7206 whole string <quote>www.example.org.foobar.exit</quote> as host and uses it
7207 for the <quote>Host</quote> and <quote>Referer</quote> headers. From the
7208 server's point of view the resulting headers are invalid and can cause problems.
7211 An invalid <quote>Referer</quote> header can trigger <quote>hot-linking</quote>
7212 protections, an invalid <quote>Host</quote> header will make it impossible for
7213 the server to find the right vhost (several domains hosted on the same IP address).
7216 This client-header filter removes the <quote>foo.exit</quote> part in those headers
7217 to prevent the mentioned problems. Note that it only modifies
7218 the HTTP headers, it doesn't make it impossible for the server
7219 to detect your <command>Tor</command> exit node based on the IP address
7220 the request is coming from.
7227 <term><emphasis> </emphasis></term>
7241 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7245 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7247 <sect1 id="templates">
7248 <title>Privoxy's Template Files</title>
7250 All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
7251 <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
7252 error page</ulink>, the <ulink
7253 url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
7255 and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
7256 user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
7257 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
7262 These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
7263 directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On Unixish platforms,
7265 <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
7269 The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
7270 or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. It
7271 is possible to edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want
7272 to customize them. (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual
7273 user</emphasis>). Should you create your own custom templates, you should use
7274 the <filename>config</filename> setting <link linkend="templdir">templdir</link>
7275 to specify an alternate location, so your templates do not get overwritten
7279 Note that just like in configuration files, lines starting
7280 with <literal>#</literal> are ignored when the templates are filled in.
7284 The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
7285 find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
7286 in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
7287 always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
7288 code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
7292 A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
7293 blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
7294 for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
7295 our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
7296 is in an alpha or beta development stage:
7301 <!-- @if-unstable-start -->
7303 ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
7305 <!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
7309 If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
7310 <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
7311 will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
7315 <screen><!-- --></screen>
7319 There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
7320 mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
7325 All templates refer to a style located at
7326 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
7327 This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
7328 and the source for it can be found and edited in the
7329 <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
7334 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7338 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7340 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
7343 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
7345 <!-- end boilerplate -->
7349 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7352 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7353 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
7355 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
7357 <!-- end copyright -->
7359 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7360 <sect2><title>License</title>
7361 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
7363 <!-- end copyright -->
7365 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7368 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7370 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
7371 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
7373 <!-- end history -->
7376 <sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
7377 <!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
7379 <!-- end authors -->
7384 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7387 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7388 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
7389 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
7391 <!-- end seealso -->
7396 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7397 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
7400 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7402 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
7404 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
7405 expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
7406 files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
7407 through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
7410 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
7412 <application>PCRS</application> libraries.
7416 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
7417 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
7418 introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
7419 url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
7423 Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
7424 run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
7425 match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
7426 strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
7427 characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
7428 special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
7429 Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
7430 <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
7434 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
7435 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
7436 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
7437 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
7438 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
7439 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
7440 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
7441 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
7445 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
7446 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
7447 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
7448 and then some examples:
7453 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
7454 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
7456 </simplelist></para>
7460 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
7463 </simplelist></para>
7467 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
7470 </simplelist></para>
7474 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
7477 </simplelist></para>
7481 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
7482 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
7483 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
7484 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
7485 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
7486 meta-character meaning of any single character).
7488 </simplelist></para>
7492 <emphasis>[ ]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
7493 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
7494 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
7495 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
7497 </simplelist></para>
7501 <emphasis>( )</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
7502 or multiple sub-expressions.
7504 </simplelist></para>
7508 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
7509 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
7510 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
7511 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
7512 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
7513 example</quote>, and nothing else.
7515 </simplelist></para>
7518 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
7519 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
7520 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
7521 be more illuminating:
7525 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
7526 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
7527 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
7528 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
7529 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
7530 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
7531 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
7532 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
7533 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
7534 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
7535 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
7536 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
7537 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
7538 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
7543 And now something a little more complex:
7547 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
7548 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
7549 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
7550 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
7551 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
7552 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
7553 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
7558 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
7559 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
7560 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
7561 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
7562 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
7563 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
7564 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
7565 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
7566 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
7567 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
7568 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
7569 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
7570 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
7571 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
7572 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
7573 changing our regular expression to:
7574 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
7579 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
7580 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
7581 <quote>[ ]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
7582 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
7583 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
7584 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
7585 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
7586 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
7587 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
7588 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
7589 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
7590 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
7591 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
7592 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
7593 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
7594 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
7595 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
7596 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
7597 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
7598 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
7599 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
7600 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
7601 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
7602 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
7603 in the expression anywhere).
7607 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
7608 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
7609 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
7610 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
7611 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
7616 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
7617 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>
7621 For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications
7622 in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
7627 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7630 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7632 <title>Privoxy's Internal Pages</title>
7635 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
7636 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
7637 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
7638 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
7639 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
7640 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
7641 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
7647 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
7648 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
7649 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
7650 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
7663 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
7667 There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
7668 doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
7669 sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
7675 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
7676 editing of actions files:
7680 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
7687 Show the source code version numbers:
7691 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
7698 Show the browser's request headers:
7702 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
7709 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
7713 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
7720 Toggle Privoxy on or off. This feature can be turned off/on in the main
7721 <filename>config</filename> file. When toggled <quote>off</quote>, <quote>Privoxy</quote>
7722 continues to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking
7727 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
7731 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
7735 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
7740 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
7749 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
7753 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
7754 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
7756 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
7757 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
7758 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
7759 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
7760 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
7761 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
7764 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
7765 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
7766 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
7767 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
7768 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
7769 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
7778 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>
7785 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>
7792 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)
7799 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>
7805 <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>
7811 <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
7818 Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
7819 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com/">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
7820 have more information about bookmarklets.
7829 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7831 <title>Chain of Events</title>
7833 Let's take a quick look at how some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
7834 core features are triggered, and the ensuing sequence of events when a web
7835 page is requested by your browser:
7842 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
7843 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
7844 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
7850 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
7851 pages (e.g <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
7856 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
7858 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
7859 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
7860 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
7862 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT"><quote>+handle-as-empty-document</quote></link>
7863 are then checked, and if there is no match, an
7864 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back to the browser. Otherwise, if
7865 it does match, an image is returned for the former, and an empty text
7866 document for the latter. The type of image would depend on the setting of
7867 <link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
7868 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
7873 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
7874 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
7879 If the URL pattern matches the <link
7880 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
7881 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
7886 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
7887 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
7888 linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
7889 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
7895 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web
7901 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
7902 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
7903 filtered as determined by the
7904 <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
7905 <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
7906 and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
7912 If any <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
7914 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
7915 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
7916 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
7917 <filename>default.filter</filename> and any other filter files) are
7918 processed against the buffered content. Filters are applied in the order
7919 they are specified in one of the filter files. Animated GIFs, if present,
7920 are reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
7921 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
7922 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
7925 If neither a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
7927 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
7928 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
7929 to the client browser as it becomes available.
7934 As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it
7935 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
7936 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
7937 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a
7938 separate request (this is easily viewable in <application>Privoxy's</application>
7939 logs). And each such request is in turn processed just as above. Note that a
7940 complex web page will have many, many such embedded URLs. If these
7941 secondary requests are to a different server, then quite possibly a very
7942 differing set of actions is triggered.
7949 NOTE: This is somewhat of a simplistic overview of what happens with each URL
7950 request. For the sake of brevity and simplicity, we have focused on
7951 <application>Privoxy's</application> core features only.
7957 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7958 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
7959 <title>Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</title>
7962 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
7963 <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
7964 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
7965 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
7966 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
7967 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
7968 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
7969 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
7970 <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
7975 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
7976 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
7977 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
7978 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
7979 logs is a good idea too. (Note that both the toggle feature and logging are
7980 enabled via <filename>config</filename> file settings, and may need to be
7981 turned <quote>on</quote>.)
7984 Another easy troubleshooting step to try is if you have done any
7985 customization of your installation, revert back to the installed
7986 defaults and see if that helps. There are times the developers get complaints
7987 about one thing or another, and the problem is more related to a customized
7988 configuration issue.
7992 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
7993 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
7994 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
7995 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
7999 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
8000 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
8001 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
8002 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
8003 linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
8004 one of the filter files since this is handled very
8005 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
8006 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
8007 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
8008 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
8009 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
8010 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
8011 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
8016 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
8017 and look at it one section at a time in a sample configuration (your real
8018 configuration may vary):
8023 Matches for http://www.google.com:
8025 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8027 {+change-x-forwarded-for{block}
8028 +deanimate-gifs {last}
8029 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
8030 +filter {refresh-tags}
8031 +filter {img-reorder}
8032 +filter {banners-by-size}
8034 +filter {jumping-windows}
8035 +filter {ie-exploits}
8036 +hide-from-header {block}
8037 +hide-referrer {forge}
8038 +session-cookies-only
8039 +set-image-blocker {pattern}
8042 { -session-cookies-only }
8048 In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8049 (no matches in this file)
8054 This is telling us how we have defined our
8055 <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
8056 which ones match for our test case, <quote>google.com</quote>.
8057 Displayed is all the actions that are available to us. Remember,
8058 the <literal>+</literal> sign denotes <quote>on</quote>. <literal>-</literal>
8059 denotes <quote>off</quote>. So some are <quote>on</quote> here, but many
8060 are <quote>off</quote>. Each example we try may provide a slightly different
8061 end result, depending on our configuration directives.
8065 is for our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line
8066 listing, is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default
8067 settings. If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the
8068 section just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This
8069 will apply to all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end
8070 of the listing -- <quote> / </quote>.
8074 But we have defined additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
8075 rules, and then we list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions
8076 would apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit
8077 matches for <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous
8078 cookie setting, which was for <link
8079 linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
8080 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google, at
8081 least that is how it is in this example. The second turns
8082 <emphasis>off</emphasis> any <link
8083 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
8084 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
8085 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
8086 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
8087 <quote>www.google.com</quote> or <quote>mail.google.com</quote>. But it would not
8088 match <quote>www.google.de</quote>! So, apparently, we have these two actions
8089 defined as exceptions to the general rules at the top somewhere in the lower
8090 part of our <filename>default.action</filename> file, and
8091 <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter sections.
8095 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
8096 So there is nothing google-specific that we might have added to our own, local
8097 configuration. If there was, those actions would over-rule any actions from
8098 previously processed files, such as <filename>default.action</filename>.
8099 <filename>user.action</filename> typically has the last word. This is the
8100 best place to put hard and fast exceptions,
8104 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
8105 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
8106 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
8117 +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
8118 -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
8119 -content-type-overwrite
8120 -crunch-client-header
8121 -crunch-if-none-match
8122 -crunch-incoming-cookies
8123 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
8124 -crunch-server-header
8125 +deanimate-gifs {last}
8126 -downgrade-http-version
8129 -filter {content-cookies}
8130 -filter {all-popups}
8131 -filter {banners-by-link}
8132 -filter {tiny-textforms}
8133 -filter {frameset-borders}
8134 -filter {demoronizer}
8135 -filter {shockwave-flash}
8136 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
8138 -filter {crude-parental}
8139 -filter {site-specifics}
8140 -filter {js-annoyances}
8141 -filter {html-annoyances}
8142 +filter {refresh-tags}
8143 -filter {unsolicited-popups}
8144 +filter {img-reorder}
8145 +filter {banners-by-size}
8147 +filter {jumping-windows}
8148 +filter {ie-exploits}
8155 -handle-as-empty-document
8157 -hide-accept-language
8158 -hide-content-disposition
8159 +hide-from-header {block}
8160 -hide-if-modified-since
8161 +hide-referrer {forge}
8164 -overwrite-last-modified
8165 -prevent-compression
8167 -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
8168 -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
8169 -session-cookies-only
8170 +set-image-blocker {pattern} </screen>
8174 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
8175 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>,
8176 which are activated specifically for this site in our configuration,
8177 and thus show in the <quote>Final Results</quote>.
8181 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
8187 { +block{Domains starts with "ad"} }
8190 { +block{Domain contains "ad"} }
8193 { +block{Doubleclick banner server} +handle-as-image }
8194 .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
8199 We'll just show the interesting part here - the explicit matches. It is
8200 matched three different times. Two <quote>+block{}</quote> sections,
8201 and a <quote>+block{} +handle-as-image</quote>,
8202 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
8203 <quote>+block-as-image</quote>. (<link
8204 linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
8205 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
8210 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
8211 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
8212 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
8213 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
8214 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
8215 is done here -- as both a <link
8216 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block{}</quote></link>
8217 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
8218 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
8219 The custom alias <quote><literal>+block-as-image</literal></quote> just
8220 simplifies the process and make it more readable.
8224 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
8225 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
8231 Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
8233 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8237 +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
8238 -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
8239 -content-type-overwrite
8240 -crunch-client-header
8241 -crunch-if-none-match
8242 -crunch-incoming-cookies
8243 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
8244 -crunch-server-header
8246 -downgrade-http-version
8247 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
8249 -filter {content-cookies}
8250 -filter {all-popups}
8251 -filter {banners-by-link}
8252 -filter {tiny-textforms}
8253 -filter {frameset-borders}
8254 -filter {demoronizer}
8255 -filter {shockwave-flash}
8256 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
8258 -filter {crude-parental}
8259 -filter {site-specifics}
8260 -filter {js-annoyances}
8261 -filter {html-annoyances}
8262 +filter {refresh-tags}
8263 -filter {unsolicited-popups}
8264 +filter {img-reorder}
8265 +filter {banners-by-size}
8267 +filter {jumping-windows}
8268 +filter {ie-exploits}
8275 -handle-as-empty-document
8277 -hide-accept-language
8278 -hide-content-disposition
8279 +hide-from-header{block}
8280 +hide-referer{forge}
8282 -overwrite-last-modified
8283 +prevent-compression
8285 -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
8286 -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
8287 +session-cookies-only
8288 +set-image-blocker{blank} }
8291 { +block{Path contains "ads".} +handle-as-image }
8297 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote> in our
8298 configuration! But we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the
8299 blank page. It is actually triggering two different actions here, and
8300 the effects are aggregated so that the URL is blocked, and &my-app; is told
8301 to treat the block as if it were an image. But this is, of course, all wrong.
8302 We could now add a new action below this (or better in our own
8303 <filename>user.action</filename> file) that explicitly
8304 <emphasis>un</emphasis> blocks (
8305 <link linkend="BLOCK"><quote>{-block}</quote></link>) paths with
8306 <quote>adsl</quote> in them (remember, last match in the configuration
8307 wins). There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
8319 Now the page displays ;-)
8320 Remember to flush your browser's caches when making these kinds of changes to
8321 your configuration to insure that you get a freshly delivered page! Or, try
8322 using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
8326 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
8333 { +block{Path starts with "ads".} +handle-as-image }
8339 That actually was very helpful and pointed us quickly to where the problem
8340 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
8341 rules in the first section of <filename>default.action</filename> is causing
8342 the problem. This would require some guesswork, and maybe a little trial and
8343 error to isolate the offending rule. One likely cause would be one of the
8344 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> actions.
8345 These tend to be harder to troubleshoot.
8346 Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off
8347 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>:
8355 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
8363 <quote><literal>{ shop }</literal></quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
8364 <quote><literal>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</literal></quote>.
8365 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
8373 # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
8381 This would turn off all filtering for these sites. This is best
8382 put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
8383 exceptions. Note that when a simple domain pattern is used by itself (without
8384 the subsequent path portion), all sub-pages within that domain are included
8385 automatically in the scope of the action.
8389 Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
8390 <link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"><quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote></link>
8392 that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well
8393 <emphasis>most of the time</emphasis> since these tend to be standardized).
8397 <quote><literal>{ fragile }</literal></quote> is an alias that disables most
8398 actions that are the most likely to cause trouble. This can be used as a
8399 last resort for problem sites.
8405 # Handle with care: easy to break
8407 mybank.example.com</screen>
8412 <emphasis>Remember to flush caches!</emphasis> Note that the
8413 <literal>mail.google</literal> reference lacks the TLD portion (e.g.
8414 <quote>.com</quote>). This will effectively match any TLD with
8415 <literal>google</literal> in it, such as <literal>mail.google.de.</literal>,
8419 If this still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining
8420 actions one by one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
8429 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
8430 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
8431 Public License as published by the Free Software
8432 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
8433 your option) any later version.
8435 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
8436 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
8437 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
8438 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
8439 License for more details.
8441 The GNU General Public License should be included with
8442 this file. If not, you can view it at
8443 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
8444 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
8445 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301,
8448 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
8449 Revision 2.101 2009/02/25 19:01:56 fabiankeil
8452 Revision 2.100 2009/02/19 17:14:11 fabiankeil
8453 - Copy the release cycle description from announce.txt into
8454 the "What's New" section.
8455 - Stop referring to the ChangeLog for a "complete list of changes".
8456 The "What's New" section already contains the complete list.
8458 Revision 2.99 2009/02/19 02:20:22 hal9
8459 Make some links in seealso conditional. Man page is now privoxy only links.
8461 Revision 2.98 2009/02/16 17:10:33 fabiankeil
8462 Fix entry about shortened log messages. Noticed by Lee.
8464 Revision 2.97 2009/02/14 18:01:00 fabiankeil
8467 Revision 2.96 2009/02/14 13:14:03 fabiankeil
8470 Revision 2.95 2009/02/14 12:51:26 fabiankeil
8471 Mention match-all.action in the "Actions Files Tutorial" section.
8473 Revision 2.94 2009/02/14 11:50:31 fabiankeil
8474 Some indentation fixes.
8476 Revision 2.93 2009/02/14 10:14:42 fabiankeil
8477 Mention match-all.action in the action file descriptions.
8479 Revision 2.92 2009/02/12 16:08:26 fabiankeil
8480 Declare the code stable.
8482 Revision 2.91 2009/01/13 16:50:35 fabiankeil
8483 The standard.action file is gone.
8485 Revision 2.90 2008/09/26 16:53:09 fabiankeil
8486 Update "What's new" section.
8488 Revision 2.89 2008/09/21 15:38:56 fabiankeil
8489 Fix Portage tree sync instructions in Gentoo section.
8490 Anonymously reported at ijbswa-developers@.
8492 Revision 2.88 2008/09/21 14:42:52 fabiankeil
8493 Add documentation for change-x-forwarded-for{},
8494 remove documentation for hide-forwarded-for-headers.
8496 Revision 2.87 2008/08/30 15:37:35 fabiankeil
8499 Revision 2.86 2008/08/16 10:12:23 fabiankeil
8500 Merge two sentences and move the URL to the end of the item.
8502 Revision 2.85 2008/08/16 10:04:59 fabiankeil
8503 Some more syntax fixes. This version actually builds.
8505 Revision 2.84 2008/08/16 09:42:45 fabiankeil
8506 Turns out building docs works better if the syntax is valid.
8508 Revision 2.83 2008/08/16 09:32:02 fabiankeil
8509 Mention changes since 3.0.9 beta.
8511 Revision 2.82 2008/08/16 09:00:52 fabiankeil
8512 Fix example URL pattern (once more with feeling).
8514 Revision 2.81 2008/08/16 08:51:28 fabiankeil
8515 Update version-related entities.
8517 Revision 2.80 2008/07/18 16:54:30 fabiankeil
8518 Remove erroneous whitespace in documentation link.
8519 Reported by John Chronister in #2021611.
8521 Revision 2.79 2008/06/27 18:00:53 markm68k
8522 remove outdated startup information for mac os x
8524 Revision 2.78 2008/06/21 17:03:03 fabiankeil
8527 Revision 2.77 2008/06/14 13:45:22 fabiankeil
8528 Re-add a colon I unintentionally removed a few revisions ago.
8530 Revision 2.76 2008/06/14 13:21:28 fabiankeil
8531 Prepare for the upcoming 3.0.9 beta release.
8533 Revision 2.75 2008/06/13 16:06:48 fabiankeil
8534 Update the "What's New in this Release" section with
8535 the ChangeLog entries changelog2doc.pl could handle.
8537 Revision 2.74 2008/05/26 15:55:46 fabiankeil
8538 - Update "default profiles" table.
8539 - Add some more pcrs redirect examples and note that
8540 enabling debug 128 helps to get redirects working.
8542 Revision 2.73 2008/05/23 14:43:18 fabiankeil
8543 Remove previously out-commented block that caused syntax problems.
8545 Revision 2.72 2008/05/12 10:26:14 fabiankeil
8546 Synchronize content filter descriptions with the ones in default.filter.
8548 Revision 2.71 2008/04/10 17:37:16 fabiankeil
8549 Actually we use "modern" POSIX 1003.2 regular
8550 expressions in path patterns, not PCRE.
8552 Revision 2.70 2008/04/10 15:59:12 fabiankeil
8553 Add another section to the client-header-tagger example that shows
8554 how to actually change the action settings once the tag is created.
8556 Revision 2.69 2008/03/29 12:14:25 fabiankeil
8557 Remove send-wafer and send-vanilla-wafer actions.
8559 Revision 2.68 2008/03/28 15:13:43 fabiankeil
8560 Remove inspect-jpegs action.
8562 Revision 2.67 2008/03/27 18:31:21 fabiankeil
8563 Remove kill-popups action.
8565 Revision 2.66 2008/03/06 16:33:47 fabiankeil
8566 If limit-connect isn't used, don't limit CONNECT requests to port 443.
8568 Revision 2.65 2008/03/04 18:30:40 fabiankeil
8569 Remove the treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks action. We now
8570 use the "blocked" page for forbidden CONNECT requests by default.
8572 Revision 2.64 2008/03/01 14:10:28 fabiankeil
8573 Use new block syntax. Still needs some polishing.
8575 Revision 2.63 2008/02/22 05:50:37 markm68k
8578 Revision 2.62 2008/02/11 11:52:23 hal9
8579 Fix entity ... s/&/&
8581 Revision 2.61 2008/02/11 03:41:47 markm68k
8582 more updates for mac os x
8584 Revision 2.60 2008/02/11 03:40:25 markm68k
8585 more updates for mac os x
8587 Revision 2.59 2008/02/11 00:52:34 markm68k
8588 reflect new changes for mac os x
8590 Revision 2.58 2008/02/03 21:37:40 hal9
8591 Apply patch from Mark: s/OSX/OS X/
8593 Revision 2.57 2008/02/03 19:10:14 fabiankeil
8594 Mention forward-socks5.
8596 Revision 2.56 2008/01/31 19:11:35 fabiankeil
8597 Let the +client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation} example apply
8598 to all requests as "tainted" Referers aren't limited to exit TLDs.
8600 Revision 2.55 2008/01/19 21:26:37 hal9
8601 Add IE7 to configuration section per Gerry.
8603 Revision 2.54 2008/01/19 17:52:39 hal9
8604 Re-commit to fix various minor issues for new release.
8606 Revision 2.53 2008/01/19 15:03:05 hal9
8607 Doc sources tagged for 3.0.8 release.
8609 Revision 2.52 2008/01/17 01:49:51 hal9
8610 Change copyright notice for docs s/2007/2008/. All these will be rebuilt soon
8613 Revision 2.51 2007/12/23 16:48:24 fabiankeil
8614 Use more precise example descriptions for the mysterious domain patterns.
8616 Revision 2.50 2007/12/08 12:44:36 fabiankeil
8617 - Remove already commented out pre-3.0.7 changes.
8618 - Update the "new log defaults" paragraph.
8620 Revision 2.49 2007/12/06 18:21:55 fabiankeil
8621 Update hide-forwarded-for-headers description.
8623 Revision 2.48 2007/11/24 19:07:17 fabiankeil
8624 - Mention request rewriting.
8625 - Enable the conditional-forge paragraph.
8628 Revision 2.47 2007/11/18 14:59:47 fabiankeil
8629 A few "Note to Upgraders" updates.
8631 Revision 2.46 2007/11/17 17:24:44 fabiankeil
8632 - Use new action defaults.
8633 - Minor fixes and rewordings.
8635 Revision 2.45 2007/11/16 11:48:46 hal9
8636 Fix one typo, and add a couple of small refinements.
8638 Revision 2.44 2007/11/15 03:30:20 hal9
8639 Results of spell check.
8641 Revision 2.43 2007/11/14 18:45:39 fabiankeil
8642 - Mention some more contributors in the "New in this Release" list.
8645 Revision 2.42 2007/11/12 03:32:40 hal9
8646 Updates for "What's New" and "Notes to Upgraders". Various other changes in
8647 preparation for new release. User Manual is almost ready.
8649 Revision 2.41 2007/11/11 16:32:11 hal9
8650 This is primarily syncing What's New and Note to Upgraders sections with the many
8651 new features and changes (gleaned from memory but mostly from ChangeLog).
8653 Revision 2.40 2007/11/10 17:10:59 fabiankeil
8654 In the first third of the file, mention several times that
8655 the action editor is disabled by default in 3.0.7 beta and later.
8657 Revision 2.39 2007/11/05 02:34:49 hal9
8658 Various changes in preparation for the upcoming release. Much yet to be done.
8660 Revision 2.38 2007/09/22 16:01:42 fabiankeil
8661 Update embedded show-url-info output.
8663 Revision 2.37 2007/08/27 16:09:55 fabiankeil
8664 Fix pre-chroot-nslookup description which I failed to
8665 copy and paste properly. Reported by Stephen Gildea.
8667 Revision 2.36 2007/08/26 16:47:14 fabiankeil
8668 Add Stephen Gildea's pre-chroot-nslookup patch [#1276666],
8669 extensive comments moved to user manual.
8671 Revision 2.35 2007/08/26 14:59:49 fabiankeil
8672 Minor rewordings and fixes.
8674 Revision 2.34 2007/08/05 15:19:50 fabiankeil
8675 - Don't claim HTTP/1.1 compliance.
8676 - Use $ in some of the path pattern examples.
8677 - Use a hide-user-agent example argument without
8678 leading and trailing space.
8679 - Make it clear that the cookie actions work with
8681 - Rephrase the inspect-jpegs text to underline
8682 that it's only meant to protect against a single
8685 Revision 2.33 2007/07/27 10:57:35 hal9
8686 Add references for user-agent strings for hide-user-agenet
8688 Revision 2.32 2007/06/07 12:36:22 fabiankeil
8689 Apply Roland's 29_usermanual.dpatch to fix a bunch
8690 of syntax errors I collected over the last months.
8692 Revision 2.31 2007/06/02 14:01:37 fabiankeil
8693 Start to document forward-override{}.
8695 Revision 2.30 2007/04/25 15:10:36 fabiankeil
8696 - Describe installation for FreeBSD.
8697 - Start to document taggers and tag patterns.
8698 - Don't confuse devils and daemons.
8700 Revision 2.29 2007/04/05 11:47:51 fabiankeil
8701 Some updates regarding header filtering,
8702 handling of compressed content and redirect's
8703 support for pcrs commands.
8705 Revision 2.28 2006/12/10 23:42:48 hal9
8706 Fix various typos reported by Adam P. Thanks.
8708 Revision 2.27 2006/11/14 01:57:47 hal9
8709 Dump all docs prior to 3.0.6 release. Various minor changes to faq and user
8712 Revision 2.26 2006/10/24 11:16:44 hal9
8715 Revision 2.25 2006/10/18 10:50:33 hal9
8716 Add note that since filters are off in Cautious, compression is ON. Turn off
8717 compression to make filters work on all sites.
8719 Revision 2.24 2006/10/03 11:13:54 hal9
8720 More references to the new filters. Include html this time around.
8722 Revision 2.23 2006/10/02 22:43:53 hal9
8723 Contains new filter definitions from Fabian, and few other miscellaneous
8726 Revision 2.22 2006/09/22 01:27:55 hal9
8727 Final commit of probably various minor changes here and there. Unless
8728 something changes this should be ready for pending release.
8730 Revision 2.21 2006/09/20 03:21:36 david__schmidt
8731 Just the tiniest tweak. Wafer thin!
8733 Revision 2.20 2006/09/10 14:53:54 hal9
8734 Results of spell check. User manual has some updates to standard.actions file
8737 Revision 2.19 2006/09/08 12:19:02 fabiankeil
8738 Adjust hide-if-modified-since example values
8739 to reflect the recent changes.
8741 Revision 2.18 2006/09/08 02:38:57 hal9
8743 -Fix a number of broken links.
8744 -Migrate the new Windows service command line options, and reference as
8746 -Rebuild so that can be used with the new "user-manual" config capabilities.
8749 Revision 2.17 2006/09/05 13:25:12 david__schmidt
8750 Add Windows service invocation stuff (duplicated) in FAQ and in user manual under Windows startup. One probably ought to reference the other.
8752 Revision 2.16 2006/09/02 12:49:37 hal9
8753 Various small updates for new actions, filterfiles, etc.
8755 Revision 2.15 2006/08/30 11:15:22 hal9
8756 More work on the new actions, especially filter-*-headers, and What's New
8757 section. User Manual is close to final form for 3.0.4 release. Some tinkering
8758 and proof reading left to do.
8760 Revision 2.14 2006/08/29 10:59:36 hal9
8761 Add a "Whats New in this release" Section. Further work on multiple filter
8762 files, and assorted other minor changes.
8764 Revision 2.13 2006/08/22 11:04:59 hal9
8765 Silence warnings and errors. This should build now. New filters were only
8766 stubbed in. More to be done.
8768 Revision 2.12 2006/08/14 08:40:39 fabiankeil
8769 Documented new actions that were part of
8770 the "minor Privoxy improvements".
8772 Revision 2.11 2006/07/18 14:48:51 david__schmidt
8773 Reorganizing the repository: swapping out what was HEAD (the old 3.1 branch)
8774 with what was really the latest development (the v_3_0_branch branch)
8776 Revision 1.123.2.43 2005/05/23 09:59:10 hal9
8779 Revision 1.123.2.42 2004/12/04 14:39:57 hal9
8780 Fix two minor typos per bug SF report.
8782 Revision 1.123.2.41 2004/03/23 12:58:42 oes
8785 Revision 1.123.2.40 2004/02/27 12:48:49 hal9
8786 Add comment re: redirecting to local file system for set-image-blocker may
8787 is dependent on browser.
8789 Revision 1.123.2.39 2004/01/30 22:31:40 oes
8790 Added a hint re bookmarklets to Quickstart section
8792 Revision 1.123.2.38 2004/01/30 16:47:51 oes
8793 Some minor clarifications
8795 Revision 1.123.2.37 2004/01/29 22:36:11 hal9
8796 Updates for no longer filtering text/plain, and demoronizer default settings,
8797 and copyright notice dates.
8799 Revision 1.123.2.36 2003/12/10 02:26:26 hal9
8800 Changed the demoronizer filter description.
8802 Revision 1.123.2.35 2003/11/06 13:36:37 oes
8803 Updated link to nightly CVS tarball
8805 Revision 1.123.2.34 2003/06/26 23:50:16 hal9
8806 Add a small bit on filtering and problems re: source code being corrupted.
8808 Revision 1.123.2.33 2003/05/08 18:17:33 roro
8809 Use apt-get instead of dpkg to install Debian package, which is more
8810 solid, uses the correct and most recent Debian version automatically.
8812 Revision 1.123.2.32 2003/04/11 03:13:57 hal9
8813 Add small note about only one filterfile (as opposed to multiple actions
8816 Revision 1.123.2.31 2003/03/26 02:03:43 oes
8817 Updated hard-coded copyright dates
8819 Revision 1.123.2.30 2003/03/24 12:58:56 hal9
8820 Add new section on Predefined Filters.
8822 Revision 1.123.2.29 2003/03/20 02:45:29 hal9
8823 More problems with \-\-chroot causing markup problems :(
8825 Revision 1.123.2.28 2003/03/19 00:35:24 hal9
8826 Manual edit of revision log because 'chroot' (even inside a comment) was
8827 causing Docbook to hang here (due to double hyphen and the processor thinking
8830 Revision 1.123.2.27 2003/03/18 19:37:14 oes
8831 s/Advanced|Radical/Adventuresome/g to avoid complaints re fun filter
8833 Revision 1.123.2.26 2003/03/17 16:50:53 oes
8834 Added documentation for new chroot option
8836 Revision 1.123.2.25 2003/03/15 18:36:55 oes
8837 Adapted to the new filters
8839 Revision 1.123.2.24 2002/11/17 06:41:06 hal9
8840 Move default profiles table from FAQ to U-M, and other minor related changes.
8843 Revision 1.123.2.23 2002/10/21 02:32:01 hal9
8844 Updates to the user.action examples section. A few new ones.
8846 Revision 1.123.2.22 2002/10/12 00:51:53 hal9
8847 Add demoronizer to filter section.
8849 Revision 1.123.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 hal9
8850 s/Advanced/Radical/ and added very brief note.
8852 Revision 1.123.2.20 2002/10/10 03:49:21 hal9
8853 Add notes to session-cookies-only and Quickstart about pre-existing
8854 cookies. Also, note content-cookies work differently.
8856 Revision 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9
8857 More explanation on Privoxy patterns, more on content-cookies and SSL.
8859 Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9
8860 Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match
8863 Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9
8864 Spell checked (only one typo this time!).
8866 Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt
8867 Update to Mac OS X startup script name
8869 Revision 1.123.2.15 2002/08/07 17:32:11 oes
8870 Converted some internal links from ulink to link for PDF creation; no content changed
8872 Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes
8873 Nits re: actions file download
8875 Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff
8876 Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections
8878 Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff
8879 Added 2 Gentoo sections
8881 Revision 1.123.2.11 2002/07/26 15:20:31 oes
8882 - Added version info to title
8883 - Added info on new filters
8884 - Revised parts of the filter file tutorial
8885 - Added info on where to get updated actions files
8887 Revision 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
8888 Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
8890 Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt
8892 Updated Mac OS X sections due to installation location change
8894 Revision 1.123.2.8 2002/06/09 16:36:32 hal9
8895 Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
8897 Revision 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9
8898 Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy.
8900 Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9
8901 Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs.
8903 Revision 1.123.2.5 2002/05/29 02:01:02 hal9
8904 This is break out of the entire config section from u-m, so it can
8905 eventually be used to generate the comments, etc in the main config file
8906 so that these are in sync with each other.
8908 Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
8909 Ooops missed something from David.
8911 Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9
8912 Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and Mac OS X startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat).
8913 That's a wrap, I think.
8915 Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9
8916 Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section.
8918 Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
8919 -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
8921 Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9
8922 Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton.
8923 Minor corrections/clarifications here and there.
8925 Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
8926 Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
8928 Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes
8929 - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the
8930 <literal><link> style.
8931 - Small fixes in the actions chapter
8932 - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking
8933 - Removed <emphasis> from <title>s since the new doc CSS
8934 renders them red (bad in TOC).
8936 Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
8937 Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
8939 Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
8942 Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
8943 -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
8944 -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
8946 Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
8947 - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
8948 - Small changes to Regex appendix
8949 - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
8951 Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
8952 Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
8954 Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
8955 Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
8957 Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
8958 More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
8960 Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
8961 Extended and further commented the example actions files
8963 Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
8964 Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
8967 Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes
8970 Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes
8971 Restored alphabetical order of actions
8973 Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes
8974 Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs
8976 Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
8977 Completed proofreading the actions chapter
8979 Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9
8980 Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this
8981 apparently an important distinction for some OS's.
8983 Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
8984 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
8985 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
8986 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
8988 Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
8989 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
8991 Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
8994 Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
8995 -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
8996 -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
8998 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
8999 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
9001 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
9002 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
9003 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
9005 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
9006 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
9008 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
9009 more structure in starting section
9011 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
9012 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
9013 will probably break links elsewhere :(
9015 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
9016 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
9017 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
9019 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
9020 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
9021 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
9023 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
9024 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
9026 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
9027 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
9028 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
9030 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
9031 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
9032 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
9034 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
9035 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
9037 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
9038 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
9040 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
9041 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
9043 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
9044 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
9046 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
9047 Updated Mac OS X installation section
9048 Added a few English tweaks here an there
9050 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
9051 Re-write actions section.
9053 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
9054 Fix ugly typo (mine).
9056 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
9057 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
9059 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
9060 Added RPM install detail
9062 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
9065 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
9066 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
9068 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
9069 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
9071 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
9072 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
9074 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
9077 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
9078 Proofreading, part one
9080 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
9081 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
9082 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
9084 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
9085 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
9087 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
9088 Add small section on submitting actions.
9090 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
9093 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
9094 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
9096 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
9097 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
9099 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
9102 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
9103 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
9104 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
9105 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
9106 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
9108 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
9109 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
9111 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
9112 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
9114 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
9115 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
9116 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
9117 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
9118 eventually be set by Makefile.
9119 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
9121 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
9122 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
9124 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
9125 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
9127 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
9128 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
9130 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
9131 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
9132 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
9133 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
9135 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
9138 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
9139 Added more to Anatomy section.
9141 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
9142 Touch up intro for new name.
9144 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
9145 we have a new homepage!
9147 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
9148 A few minor catch ups with name change.
9150 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
9151 configure needs to be generated.
9153 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
9154 we are too lazy to make a block-built
9155 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
9157 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
9158 name change related issue.
9160 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
9161 name change. changed filenames.
9163 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
9166 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
9167 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
9168 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
9169 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
9170 comments and remarks to history untouched.
9172 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
9175 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
9176 New section in Appendix.
9178 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
9179 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
9181 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
9182 correct feedback channels
9184 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
9185 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
9187 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
9190 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
9191 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
9193 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
9194 Added imageblock{pattern}.
9196 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
9199 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
9200 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
9202 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
9203 provide correct feedback channels
9205 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
9206 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
9208 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
9209 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
9211 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
9212 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
9214 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
9215 Add new - - user option.
9217 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
9218 Added section on command line options.
9220 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
9221 Changed default port to 8118
9223 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
9224 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
9226 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
9227 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
9228 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
9231 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
9234 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
9235 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
9237 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
9238 Update OS/2 build section
9240 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
9241 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
9242 will work - no other changes are needed.
9244 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
9245 Added a very short section on Templates
9247 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
9248 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
9250 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
9251 Touch ups for *.action files.
9253 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
9256 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
9257 Updates for recent changes.
9259 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
9260 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
9262 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
9263 Correct 2 minor errors
9265 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
9266 *** empty log message ***
9268 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
9269 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
9271 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
9272 wrong url in documentation
9274 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
9275 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
9277 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
9280 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
9283 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
9286 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
9287 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
9289 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
9290 Some additions, and re-arranging.
9292 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
9295 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
9296 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
9298 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
9301 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
9302 source files for junkbuster documentation
9304 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
9305 first proposal of a structure.
9307 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
9308 docs should have an author.
9310 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
9311 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.