strengths is that it is highly configurable giving you the ability to
completely personalize your installation. Being familiar with, or at least
having an interest in learning about <ulink
- url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Http">HTTP</ulink> and other networking
- protocols, <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html">HTML</ulink>, and
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
+ url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Http">HTTP</ulink> and other networking
+ protocols, <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html">HTML</ulink>, and
+ <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
Expressions</quote></ulink>
will be a big plus and will help you get the most out of &my-app;.
A new installation just includes a very basic configuration. The user
</para>
<para>
Much of <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration can be done
- with a <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser">Web browser</ulink>.
+ with a <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser">Web browser</ulink>.
But there are areas where configuration is done using a
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_editors">text editor</ulink>
+ <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_editors">text editor</ulink>
to edit configuration files. Also note that the web-based action editor
doesn't use authentication and should only be enabled in environments
where all clients with access to &my-app; listening port can be trusted.
<sect2 renderas="sect3" id="proxymoron"><title>What is a <quote>proxy</quote>? How does
Privoxy work? </title>
<para>
- A <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">web proxy</ulink>
+ A <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">web proxy</ulink>
is a service, based on a software such as &my-app;, that clients
(i.e. browsers) can use instead of connecting to web servers directly.
The clients then ask the proxy to request objects (web pages, images, movies etc)
on their behalf and to forward the data to the clients.
It is a <quote>go-between</quote>. For details, see
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">Wikipedia's proxy definition</ulink>.
+ <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">Wikipedia's proxy definition</ulink>.
</para>
<para>
There are many reasons to use web proxies, such as security (firewalling),
<application>Junkbuster</application> left off.
<application>Privoxy</application> still blocks ads and banners,
still manages <ulink
- url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>, and still
+ url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>, and still
helps protect your privacy. But, most of these features have been enhanced,
and many new ones have been added, all in the same vein.
</para>
<ulink url="../user-manual/startup.html">the User Manual for more
details</ulink>. You should also flush your browser's memory and disk
cache to get rid of any cached junk items, and remove any stored
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>.
+ <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>.
</para>
</sect2>
for single URLs, whole web sites, groups or parts thereof etc. Actions can also be
grouped together and then applied to requests matching one or more patterns.
There are many possible actions that might apply to any given site. As an example,
- if you are blocking <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>
+ if you are blocking <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>
as one of your default actions, but need to accept cookies from a given site,
you would need to define an exception for this site in one of your actions
files, preferably in <filename>user.action</filename>.
<para>
The default configuration shouldn't impact the usability of any of these services.
It may, however, make all <ulink
- url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>
+ url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>
temporary, so that your browser will forget your
login credentials in between browser sessions. If you would like not to have to log
in manually each time you access those websites, simply turn off all cookie handling
.login.yahoo.com</screen>
<para>
These kinds of sites are often quite complex and heavy with
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javascript">Javascript</ulink> and
+ <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javascript">Javascript</ulink> and
thus <quote>fragile</quote>. So if <emphasis>still</emphasis> a problem,
we have an <ulink
url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#ALIASES">alias</ulink> just for such
<title>I sometimes notice cookies sneaking through. How?</title>
<para>
<ulink
- url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">Cookies</ulink> can be
+ url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">Cookies</ulink> can be
set in several ways. The classic method is via the
<literal>Set-Cookie</literal> HTTP header. This is straightforward, and an
easy one to manipulate, such as the &my-app; concept of
<ulink url="../user-manual/actions-file.html#SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</ulink>.
There is also the possibility of using
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javascript">Javascript</ulink> to
+ <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javascript">Javascript</ulink> to
set cookies (&my-app; calls these <literal>content-cookies</literal>). This
is trickier because the syntax can vary widely, and thus requires a certain
amount of guesswork. It is not realistic to catch all of these short of
<para>
No, in fact there are many beneficial uses of
<ulink
- url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>. Cookies are just a
+ url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>. Cookies are just a
method that browsers can use to store data between pages, or between browser
sessions. Sometimes there is a good reason for this, and the user's life is a
bit easier as a result. But there is a long history of some websites taking
</para>
<para>
See the
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">Wikipedia cookie
+ <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">Wikipedia cookie
definition</ulink> for more.
</para>
</sect2>
</title>
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application> is attempting to disable malicious
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javascript">Javascript</ulink>
+ <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javascript">Javascript</ulink>
in this case, with the <literal>unsolicited-popups</literal>
filter. <application>Privoxy</application> cannot tell very well
<quote>good</quote> code snippets from <quote>bad</quote> code snippets.
<para>
In addition to the core
features of ad blocking and
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookie</ulink> management,
+ <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookie</ulink> management,
<application>Privoxy</application> provides many supplemental
features<![%p-not-stable;[, some of them currently under development]]>,
that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
<listitem>
<para>
Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
- HTTPS (SSL) <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>
+ HTTPS (SSL) <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>
by setting the proxy configuration for address of
<literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
<emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> activate proxying for <literal>FTP</literal> or
<para>
Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
+ <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
you should remove any currently stored cookies too.
</para>
</listitem>
Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
will want to configure your browser(s) to use
<application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>. The default is
+ <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>. The default is
127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
used port 8000). This is the one configuration step <emphasis>that must be done
</emphasis>!
<para>
After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
- any <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
+ any <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
if you want <application>Privoxy</application> to manage that. You are now
ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
<application>Privoxy</application>!
The pattern matching syntax is different for the host and path parts of
the URL. The host part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
while the path part uses more flexible
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
+ <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
Expressions</quote></ulink> (POSIX 1003.2).
</para>
<para>
themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
<quote>*</quote> represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
equivalent to the
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
+ <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax of <quote>.*</quote>),
<quote>?</quote> represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
regular expression syntax of a simple <quote>.</quote>), and you can define
<para>
<application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>modern</quote> POSIX 1003.2
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
+ <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
Expressions</quote></ulink> for matching the path portion (after the slash),
and is thus more flexible.
</para>
<para>
<quote>Rolling your own</quote>
filters requires a knowledge of
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
+ <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
Expressions</quote></ulink> and
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"><quote>HTML</quote></ulink>.
+ <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"><quote>HTML</quote></ulink>.
This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent
<quote>action</quote> is not available.
More information on known user-agent strings can be found at
<ulink url="http://www.user-agents.org/">http://www.user-agents.org/</ulink>
and
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</ulink>.
+ <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</ulink>.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<para>
If you are new to
- <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
+ <ulink url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
Expressions</quote></ulink>, you might want to take a look at
the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl