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 "3.0.9">
15 <!entity p-status "UNRELEASED">
16 <!entity % p-authors-formal "INCLUDE"> <!-- include additional text, etc -->
17 <!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
18 <!entity % p-stable "IGNORE">
19 <!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
20 <!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
21 <!entity % p-readme "IGNORE">
22 <!entity % user-man "IGNORE">
23 <!entity % config-file "IGNORE">
24 <!entity % p-supp-userman "IGNORE"> <!-- Omit some from supported.sgml -->
25 <!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
26 <!entity % draft "IGNORE"> <!-- WIP stuff -->
27 <!entity my-app "<application>Privoxy</application>">
30 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
33 This file belongs into
34 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
36 $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.59 2008/02/11 00:52:34 markm68k Exp $
38 Copyright (C) 2001-2008 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
41 ========================================================================
42 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
43 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
44 ========================================================================
51 <title>Privoxy &p-version; User Manual</title>
55 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
56 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
57 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001 - 2008 by
58 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
62 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.59 2008/02/11 00:52:34 markm68k Exp $</pubdate>
66 Note: the following should generate a separate page, and a live link to it,
67 all nicely done. But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave
68 commented unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the
69 copyright/license declarations will be in their own sgml.
82 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
83 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
84 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
90 The <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
91 install, configure and use <ulink
92 url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>.
95 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
97 <!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
100 You can find the latest version of the <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> at <ulink
101 url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
102 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> on how to
103 contact the developers.
107 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
113 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
114 <sect1 label="1" id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
116 This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
117 <application>Privoxy</application>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
118 and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
119 time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
120 configuration files. Development of a new version is currently nearing
121 completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over
122 earlier versions. ]]>.
125 <!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
128 Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
129 documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
130 CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
135 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
136 <sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
138 In addition to the core
139 features of ad blocking and
140 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookie</ulink> management,
141 <application>Privoxy</application> provides many supplemental
142 features<![%p-not-stable;[, some of them currently under development]]>,
143 that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
145 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
147 <!-- end boilerplate -->
152 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
155 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
156 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
159 <application>Privoxy</application> is available both in convenient pre-compiled
160 packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
161 For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
162 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
168 On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if
169 found. (See below for your platform). In any case <emphasis>be sure to backup
170 your old configuration if it is valuable to you.</emphasis> See the <link
171 linkend="upgradersnote">note to upgraders</link> section below.
174 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
175 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
177 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
180 <!-- XXX: The installation sections should be sorted -->
182 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
183 <sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat and Fedora RPMs</title>
186 RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
187 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
188 of configuration files.
192 Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
193 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
194 need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
195 <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods.
199 If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
200 <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
201 will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
205 Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
206 on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
207 Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
208 automatically if found, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
212 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
213 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian and Ubuntu</title>
215 DEBs can be installed with <literal>apt-get install privoxy</literal>,
216 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of
221 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
222 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
225 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
226 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
227 in the same directory as you installed <application>Privoxy</application> in.
230 Version 3.0.5 beta introduced full <application>Windows</application> service
231 functionality. On Windows only, the <application>Privoxy</application>
232 program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
233 <application>Privoxy</application> as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>.
237 <term>Arguments:</term>
240 <replaceable class="parameter">--install</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
243 <replaceable class="parameter">--uninstall</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
249 After invoking <application>Privoxy</application> with
250 <command>--install</command>, you will need to bring up the
251 <application>Windows</application> service console to assign the user you
252 want <application>Privoxy</application> to run under, and whether or not you
253 want it to run whenever the system starts. You can start the
254 <application>Windows</application> services console with the following
255 command: <command>services.msc</command>. If you do not take the manual step
256 of modifying <application>Privoxy's</application> service settings, it will
257 not start. Note too that you will need to give Privoxy a user account that
258 actually exists, or it will not be permitted to
259 write to its log and configuration files.
264 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
265 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris <!--, NetBSD, HP-UX--></title>
268 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
269 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
270 things go. <!-- FIXME, more info needed? -->
274 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
275 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
278 First, make sure that no previous installations of
279 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
280 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
281 system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
282 or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
288 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
289 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
290 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
291 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
295 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
296 into will contain all of the configuration files.
300 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
301 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Mac OS X</title>
303 Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the zipe file
304 icon from the Finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there).
305 Then, double-click on the package installer icon and follow the
306 installation process.
309 The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful
310 installation (in addition to every time your computer starts up). To
311 prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your
312 computer starts up,, remove or rename the folder named
313 <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
316 To manually start or stop the privoxy service, download and install the
317 <ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&package_id=29783">Privoxy Utility</ulink> for Mac OS X.
318 This application controls the privoxy service (e.g. starting and
319 stopping the service as well as uninstalling the software).
322 The Privoxy Utility also provides an option to uninstall the software.
326 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
327 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
329 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
330 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
331 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
332 remove this directory.
336 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
337 <sect3 id="installation-tbz"><title>FreeBSD</title>
340 Privoxy is part of FreeBSD's Ports Collection, you can build and install
341 it with <literal>cd /usr/ports/www/privoxy; make install clean</literal>.
344 If you don't use the ports, you can fetch and install
345 the package with <literal>pkg_add -r privoxy</literal>.
348 The port skeleton and the package can also be downloaded from the
349 <ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">File Release
350 Page</ulink>, but there's no reason to use them unless you're interested in the
351 beta releases which are only available there.
355 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
356 <sect3 id="installattion-gentoo"><title>Gentoo</title>
358 Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for <application>Privoxy</application> are
359 contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page,
360 but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new
361 <application>Privoxy</application> Version is added to the Portage Tree).
364 Before installing <application>Privoxy</application> under Gentoo just do
365 first <literal>emerge rsync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
366 Portage tree. With <literal>emerge privoxy</literal> you install the latest
370 Configuration files are in <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename>, the
371 documentation is in <filename>/usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;</filename>
372 and the Log directory is in <filename>/var/log/privoxy</filename>.
378 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
379 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
382 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
383 is to download the source tarball from our
384 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&package_id=10571">project download
389 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
390 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
391 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
392 CVS repository</ulink>.
394 deprecated...out of business.
395 or simply download <ulink
396 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.bz2">the nightly CVS
401 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
403 <!-- end boilerplate -->
406 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
407 <sect2 id="installation-keepupdated"><title>Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date</title>
409 As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions
410 of both the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link> (as a <ulink
411 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&release_id=103670">separate
412 package</ulink>) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for
417 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
418 <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
419 url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
420 to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
424 In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
425 to the latest <literal>default.action</literal> file we <emphasis>strongly
426 recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> and
427 <literal>user.filter</literal> for your local
428 customizations of <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
429 linkend="actions-file">Chapter on actions files</link> for details.
437 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
439 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
440 <sect1 id="whatsnew">
441 <title>What's New in this Release</title>
443 There are many improvements and new features since <application>Privoxy 3.0.6</application>, the last stable release:
450 Two new actions <link
451 linkend="server-header-tagger">server-header-tagger</link>
453 linkend="client-header-tagger">client-header-tagger</link>
454 that can be used to create arbitrary <quote>tags</quote>
455 based on client and server headers.
456 These <quote>tags</quote> can then subsequently be used
457 to control the other actions used for the current request,
458 greatly increasing &my-app;'s flexibility and selectivity. See <link
459 linkend="tag-pattern">tag patterns</link> for more information on tags.
465 Header filtering is done with dedicated header filters now. As a result
466 the actions <quote>filter-client-headers</quote> and <quote>filter-server-headers</quote>
467 that were introduced with <application>Privoxy 3.0.5</application> to apply
468 content filters to the headers have been removed.
469 See the new actions <link
470 linkend="server-header-filter">server-header-filter</link>
472 linkend="client-header-filter">client-header-filter</link> for details.
477 There are four new options for the main <filename>config</filename> file:
484 linkend="allow-cgi-request-crunching">allow-cgi-request-crunching</link>
485 which allows requests for Privoxy's internal CGI pages to be
486 blocked, redirected or (un)trusted like ordinary requests.
492 linkend="split-large-forms">split-large-forms</link>
493 that will work around a browser bug that caused IE6 and IE7 to
494 ignore the Submit button on the Privoxy's edit-actions-for-url CGI
501 linkend="accept-intercepted-requests">accept-intercepted-requests</link>
502 which allows to combine Privoxy with any packet filter to create an
503 intercepting proxy for HTTP/1.1 requests (and for HTTP/1.0 requests
504 with Host header set). This means clients can be forced to use
505 &my-app; even if their proxy settings are configured differently.
511 linkend="templdir">templdir</link>
512 to designate an alternate location for &my-app;'s
513 locally customized CGI templates so that
514 these are not overwritten during upgrades.
522 A new command line option <literal>--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname</literal> to
523 initialize the resolver library before chroot'ing. On some systems this
524 reduces the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree.
525 (Patch provided by Stephen Gildea)
532 linkend="forward-override">forward-override</link> action
533 allows changing of the forwarding settings through the actions files.
534 Combined with tags, this allows to choose the forwarder based on
535 client headers like the <literal>User-Agent</literal>, or the request origin.
542 linkend="redirect">redirect</link> action can now use regular
543 expression substitutions against the original URL.
549 <application>zlib</application> support is now available as a compile
550 time option to filter compressed content. Patch provided by Wil Mahan.
555 Improve various filters, and add new ones.
562 Include support for RFC 3253 so that <filename>Subversion</filename> works
563 with &my-app;. Patch provided by Petr Kadlec.
569 Logging can be completely turned off by not specifying a logfile directive.
576 A number of improvements to Privoxy's internal CGI pages, including the
577 use of favicons for error and control pages.
583 Many bugfixes, memory leaks addressed, code improvements, and logging
591 For a more detailed list of changes please have a look at the ChangeLog.
594 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
596 <sect2 id="upgradersnote">
597 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
600 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
601 versions of <application>Privoxy</application>:
609 The recommended way to upgrade &my-app; is to backup your old
610 configuration files, install the new ones, verify that &my-app;
611 is working correctly and finally merge back your changes using
612 <application>diff</application> and maybe <application>patch</application>.
615 There are a number of new features in each &my-app; release and
616 most of them have to be explicitly enabled in the configuration
617 files. Old configuration files obviously don't do that and due
618 to syntax changes using old configuration files with a new
619 &my-app; isn't always possible anyway.
624 Note that some installers remove earlier versions completely,
625 including configuration files, therefore you should really save
626 any important configuration files!
631 On the other hand, other installers don't overwrite existing configuration
632 files, thinking you will want to do that yourself.
637 <filename>standard.action</filename> now only includes the enabled actions.
638 Not all actions as before.
643 In the default configuration only fatal errors are logged now.
644 You can change that in the <link linkend="DEBUG">debug section</link>
645 of the configuration file. You may also want to enable more verbose
646 logging until you verified that the new &my-app; version is working
653 Three other config file settings are now off by default:
654 <link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link>,
655 <link linkend="enable-remote-http-toggle">enable-remote-http-toggle</link>,
656 and <link linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link>.
657 If you use or want these, you will need to explicitly enable them, and
658 be aware of the security issues involved.
664 The <quote>filter-client-headers</quote> and
665 <quote>filter-server-headers</quote> actions that were introduced with
666 <application>Privoxy 3.0.5</application> to apply content filters to
667 the headers have been removed and replaced with new actions.
669 linkend="whatsnew">What's New section</link> above.
677 What constitutes a <quote>default</quote> configuration has changed,
678 and you may want to review which actions are <quote>on</quote> by
679 default. This is primarily a matter of emphasis, but some features
680 you may have been used to, may now be <quote>off</quote> by default.
681 There are also a number of new actions and filters you may want to
682 consider, most of which are not fully incorporated into the default
683 settings as yet (see above).
690 The default actions setting is now <literal>Cautious</literal>. Previous
691 releases had a default setting of <literal>Medium</literal>. Experienced
692 users may want to adjust this, as it is fairly conservative by &my-app;
693 standards and past practices. See <ulink
694 url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
695 http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>. New users
696 should try the default settings for a while before turning up the volume.
702 The default setting has filtering turned <emphasis>off</emphasis>, which
703 subsequently means that compression is <emphasis>on</emphasis>. Remember
704 that filtering does not work on compressed pages, so if you use, or want to
705 use, filtering, you will need to force compression off. Example:
709 { +<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{google} +<link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link> }
713 Or if you use a number of filters, or filter many sites, you may just want
714 to turn off compression for all sites in
715 <filename>default.action</filename> (or
716 <filename>user.action</filename>).
723 Also, <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> is
724 off by default now. If you've liked this feature in the past, you may want
725 to turn it back on in <filename>user.action</filename> now.
732 Some installers may not automatically start
733 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
744 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
745 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using Privoxy</title>
751 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
752 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
759 Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
760 service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
761 linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
762 linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
769 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
770 not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
771 <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
777 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
778 HTTPS (SSL) <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>
779 by setting the proxy configuration for address of
780 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
781 <emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> activate proxying for <literal>FTP</literal> or
782 any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) unless you intend to prevent your
783 browser from using these protocols.
789 Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
790 If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage
791 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
792 you should remove any currently stored cookies too.
798 A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
799 most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
800 configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
801 to no initial configuration is required in most cases, you may want
803 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">web-based action editor</ulink> though.
804 Be sure to read the warnings first.
807 See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
808 configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
809 You might also want to look at the <link
810 linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
811 introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
818 If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are
819 blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
820 <application>Privoxy's</application> behavior, take a look at the <link
821 linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
822 find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
823 helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
824 url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
825 Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
826 Action</link></quote> has hints on how to understand and debug actions that
827 <quote>misbehave</quote>.
832 Did anyone test these lately?
836 For easy access to &my-app;'s most important controls, drag the provided
837 <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklets</link> into your browser's
845 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
846 Developers</link> on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get
853 Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
861 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
863 <sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
864 <title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
866 NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
867 want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
870 Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
871 array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
872 user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
875 This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
876 you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
877 information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
880 First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
881 more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
882 things that were not intended. And the more likely that some things
883 may not work as intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
884 extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
885 <quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
886 configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
887 not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
888 the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
889 default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
890 habits and preferences.
893 Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
894 <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
895 the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
896 some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
897 <application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
898 action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
899 <application>actions</application> in <application>Privoxy's</application>
900 arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. <link
901 linkend="actions">Actions</link>, and <link linkend="actions-file">action
902 configuration files</link>, are explained in depth below.
905 Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
906 followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
907 can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
908 wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
909 actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
912 When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
913 of the sections as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
914 or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
915 respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
916 pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
917 use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
918 original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
919 embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
920 or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
921 such embedded URLs. &my-app; can deal with each URL individually, so, for
922 instance, the main page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such
927 The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: <literal><link
928 linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
929 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
931 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal>,and
932 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
940 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this is perhaps
941 the single most used action, and is particularly important for ad blocking.
942 This action stops any contact between your browser and any URL patterns
943 that match this action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads,
944 but also anything that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply
945 stops any communication with the remote server and sends
946 <application>Privoxy</application>'s own built-in BLOCKED page instead to
947 let you now what has happened (with some exceptions, see below).
953 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
954 tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
955 <application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
956 for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
957 is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
958 important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
959 some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
960 <application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
961 a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
962 though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
963 an entire HTML page in most situations.
969 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> -
970 sends an empty document instead of <application>Privoxy's</application>
971 normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither
972 HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files.
979 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> - tells
980 <application>Privoxy</application> what to display in place of an ad image that
981 has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
982 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action somewhere in the
983 configuration, <emphasis>and</emphasis>, it must also match an
984 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action.
987 The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
991 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
992 replacement is obvious. This is the default.
997 <emphasis>blank</emphasis> - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
998 This is the so-called <quote>invisible</quote> configuration option.
1003 <emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any image anywhere
1004 of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
1013 Advanced users will eventually want to explore &my-app;
1014 <literal><link linkend="filter">filters</link></literal> as well. Filters
1015 are very different from <literal><link
1016 linkend="block">blocks</link></literal>.
1017 A <quote>block</quote> blocks a site, page, or unwanted contented. Filters
1018 are a way of filtering or modifying what is actually on the page. An example
1019 filter usage: a text replacement of <quote>no-no</quote> for
1020 <quote>nasty-word</quote>. That is a very simple example. This process can be
1021 used for ad blocking, but it is more in the realm of advanced usage and has
1022 some pitfalls to be wary off.
1026 The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
1027 the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
1028 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1029 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
1030 is an internal page, and does not require Internet access.
1034 Note that as of <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta the
1035 action editor is disabled by default. Check the
1036 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions
1037 section in the configuration file</ulink> to learn why and in which
1038 cases it's safe to enable again.
1042 If you decided to enable the action editor, select the appropriate
1043 <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
1044 <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
1045 local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
1046 meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
1047 other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
1048 blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
1049 <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
1053 A quick and simple step by step example:
1061 Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
1062 <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
1070 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1075 Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
1076 on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
1079 <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
1081 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
1084 <imagedata fileref="files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
1087 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
1096 You should have a section with only
1097 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
1098 <quote>Actions:</quote>.
1099 If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
1100 button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
1101 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
1102 This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
1103 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
1104 in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
1105 just below the list.
1110 Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
1111 click the <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
1112 browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote>.
1113 Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
1114 <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
1115 <quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
1120 Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
1121 (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
1129 This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
1130 wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
1131 site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
1132 the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
1137 For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
1138 to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
1139 The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
1142 There are also various
1143 <link linkend="filter">filters</link> that can be used for ad blocking
1144 (filters are a special subset of actions). These
1145 fall into the <quote>advanced</quote> usage category, and are explained in
1146 depth in later sections.
1153 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1156 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1157 <sect1 id="startup">
1158 <title>Starting Privoxy</title>
1160 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
1161 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
1162 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)
1163 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>. The default is
1164 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
1165 used port 8000). This is the one configuration step <emphasis>that must be done
1169 Please note that <application>Privoxy</application> can only proxy HTTP and
1170 HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
1173 <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
1175 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1176 Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings</title>
1179 <imagedata fileref="proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
1182 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
1190 With <application>Firefox</application>, this is typically set under:
1194 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Network</guibutton> -><guibutton>Connection</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Settings</guibutton>
1199 Or optionally on some platforms:
1203 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>General</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connection Settings</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Manual Proxy Configuration</guibutton>
1209 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
1210 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
1215 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
1216 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
1217 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton> -> <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
1222 For <application>Internet Explorer v.5-7</application>:
1226 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Internet Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connections</guibutton> -> <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
1230 Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
1231 (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
1232 proxy support too (sometimes labeled <quote>Secure</quote>). Make sure any
1233 checkboxes like <quote>Use the same proxy server for all protocols</quote> is
1234 <emphasis>UNCHECKED</emphasis>. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
1237 <!-- image of IE Proxy configuration -->
1239 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1240 Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings</title>
1243 <imagedata fileref="proxy2.jpg" format="jpg">
1246 <phrase>[ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
1254 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
1255 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
1256 any <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
1257 if you want <application>Privoxy</application> to manage that. You are now
1258 ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
1259 <application>Privoxy</application>!
1263 <application>Privoxy</application> itself is typically started by specifying the
1264 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
1265 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
1266 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
1267 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
1270 <sect2 id="start-redhat">
1271 <title>Red Hat and Fedora</title>
1273 A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use
1274 the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
1279 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
1287 # service privoxy start
1292 <sect2 id="start-debian">
1293 <title>Debian</title>
1295 We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; upon booting per
1296 default. It will use the file
1297 <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
1302 # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1307 <sect2 id="start-windows">
1308 <title>Windows</title>
1310 Click on the &my-app; Icon to start <application>Privoxy</application>. If no configuration file is
1311 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
1312 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
1313 automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option
1317 <application>Privoxy</application> can run with full Windows service functionality.
1318 On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments
1319 to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
1320 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Windows Installation
1321 instructions</link> for details.
1325 <sect2 id="start-unices">
1326 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
1328 Example Unix startup command:
1332 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
1337 <sect2 id="start-os2">
1340 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
1341 start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
1342 double-clicking on the <application>Privoxy</application> icon in the
1343 <application>Privoxy</application> folder.
1347 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
1348 <title>Mac OS X</title>
1350 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
1351 start automatically when the system restarts. To start &my-app; manually,
1352 double-click on the <literal>StartPrivoxy.command</literal> icon in the
1353 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal> folder. Or, type this command
1358 /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
1362 You will be prompted for the administrator password.
1367 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
1368 <title>AmigaOS</title>
1370 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
1371 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
1372 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
1373 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
1374 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
1375 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
1376 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
1380 <sect2 id="start-gentoo">
1381 <title>Gentoo</title>
1383 A script is again used. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config
1384 </filename> as its main configuration file.
1388 /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1392 Note that <application>Privoxy</application> is not automatically started at
1393 boot time by default. You can change this with the <literal>rc-update</literal>
1398 rc-update add privoxy default
1406 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
1410 must find a better place for this paragraph
1413 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
1414 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
1415 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
1416 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
1417 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
1418 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
1422 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
1423 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
1424 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
1425 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
1426 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
1427 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
1428 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
1429 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
1430 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
1434 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
1435 sites is the popup-killing (through the <ulink
1436 url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink> and
1438 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>
1439 actions), because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
1440 popups (explained below).
1444 <application>Privoxy</application> does not support all of the optional HTTP/1.1
1445 features yet. In the unlikely event that you experience inexplicable problems
1446 with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
1447 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
1448 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
1449 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
1450 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
1451 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
1452 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
1456 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
1457 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
1458 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
1459 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
1460 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
1461 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1462 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1463 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
1464 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
1468 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
1469 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
1470 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
1471 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
1472 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
1473 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
1474 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
1478 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
1479 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
1480 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
1481 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
1482 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
1483 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
1488 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <link
1489 linkend="actions-file">read more about the actions concept</link>
1490 or even dive deep into the <link linkend="actionsanat">Appendix
1495 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
1496 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
1497 section <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
1498 Developers</quote></link> below.
1503 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1504 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
1505 <title>Command Line Options</title>
1507 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
1508 command-line options:
1516 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
1519 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
1524 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
1527 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
1532 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
1535 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
1536 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
1541 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
1544 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
1545 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
1546 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
1547 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
1552 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
1555 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
1556 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
1557 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
1562 <emphasis>--chroot</emphasis>
1565 Before changing to the user ID given in the <emphasis>--user</emphasis> option,
1566 chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
1567 process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
1568 the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy.
1574 <emphasis>--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname</emphasis>
1577 Specifies a hostname to look up before doing a chroot. On some systems, initializing the
1578 resolver library involves reading config files from /etc and/or loading additional shared
1579 libraries from /lib. On these systems, doing a hostname lookup before the chroot reduces
1580 the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree.
1583 For fastest startup speed, a good value is a hostname that is not in /etc/hosts but that
1584 your local name server (listed in /etc/resolv.conf) can resolve without recursion
1585 (that is, without having to ask any other name servers). The hostname need not exist,
1586 but if it doesn't, an error message (which can be ignored) will be output.
1592 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
1595 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
1596 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
1597 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
1598 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
1599 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
1600 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
1608 On <application>MS Windows</application> only there are two additional
1609 command-line options to allow <application>Privoxy</application> to install and
1610 run as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>. See the
1611 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Window Installation section</link>
1619 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1622 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1623 <sect1 id="configuration"><title>Privoxy Configuration</title>
1625 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
1626 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
1627 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
1628 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
1632 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1635 <title>Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser</title>
1637 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
1638 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1639 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1640 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
1641 You will see the following section:
1645 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
1648 <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
1652 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
1655 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
1658 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
1661 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
1664 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
1667 ▪ <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/
1668 &p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
1676 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
1677 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
1678 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
1679 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
1680 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
1681 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
1685 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
1686 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
1687 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
1688 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
1689 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
1690 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
1691 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
1692 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
1697 Note that several of the features described above are disabled by default
1698 in <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta and later.
1700 <ulink url="config.html">configuration file</ulink> to learn why
1701 and in which cases it's safe to enable them again.
1706 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1711 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1713 <sect2 id="confoverview">
1714 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
1716 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
1717 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
1718 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
1719 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
1720 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
1721 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
1725 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
1726 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
1727 principle configuration files are:
1735 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
1736 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
1737 on Windows. This is a required file.
1743 <filename>default.action</filename> (the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>)
1744 is used to define which <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
1745 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many
1746 exceptions (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
1747 <application>Privoxy</application> to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on
1748 as many websites as possible.
1751 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
1752 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
1753 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
1754 <filename>default.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
1755 to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in
1756 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can preserve them across
1757 upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is only for
1758 <application>Privoxy's</application> internal use.
1761 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
1763 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1765 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
1766 various actions files.
1772 <quote>Filter files</quote> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
1773 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
1774 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
1775 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
1776 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
1777 <filename>default.filter</filename> includes various filters made
1778 available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
1779 others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
1780 filter files in <filename>config</filename> as you can with
1781 actions files. We suggest <filename>user.filter</filename> for any
1782 locally defined filters or customizations.
1790 The syntax of the configuration and filter files may change between different
1791 Privoxy versions, unfortunately some enhancements cost backwards compatibility.
1792 <!-- Add link to documentation-->
1796 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
1797 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
1798 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
1799 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
1800 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
1801 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
1802 out" that line. Blank lines are ignored.
1806 The actions files and filter files
1807 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
1808 maximum flexibility.
1812 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
1813 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
1814 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
1815 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
1816 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
1817 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
1818 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
1823 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
1824 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
1825 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
1826 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
1832 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1835 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1837 <!-- **************************************************** -->
1838 <!-- Include config.sgml here -->
1839 <!-- This is where the entire config file is detailed. -->
1841 <!-- end include -->
1844 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1848 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1850 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
1853 The actions files are used to define what <emphasis>actions</emphasis>
1854 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determines
1855 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
1856 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof).
1857 There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
1858 Each action does something a little different.
1859 These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
1860 our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that
1861 their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.
1865 are three action files included with <application>Privoxy</application> with
1873 <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
1874 that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
1875 provide a base level of functionality for
1876 <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
1877 a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well as-is for most users.
1878 This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and <link
1879 linkend="installation-keepupdated">making available to users</link>.
1880 The user's preferences as set in <filename>standard.action</filename>,
1881 e.g. either <literal>Cautious</literal> (the default),
1882 <literal>Medium</literal>, or <literal>Advanced</literal> (see
1888 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
1889 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
1890 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
1891 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
1896 <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used only by the web based editor
1897 at <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
1898 http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>,
1899 to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
1900 in <filename>default.action</filename>.
1903 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Cautious</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Medium</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Advanced</guibutton>
1906 These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no
1907 influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
1908 editor</emphasis>. A default installation should be pre-set to
1909 <literal>Cautious</literal> (versions prior to 3.0.5 were set to
1910 <literal>Medium</literal>). New users should try this for a while before
1911 adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
1912 the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
1913 not working as they should.
1916 The <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button allows you to turn each
1917 action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <guibutton>Cautious</guibutton>
1918 button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
1919 ad blocking and a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently
1920 there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
1921 <guibutton>Medium</guibutton> button sets the list to a medium level of
1922 other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
1923 <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> button sets the list to a high level of
1924 ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter
1925 three buttons over-ride any changes via with the
1926 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
1927 lower sections of this internal page.
1930 It is not recommend to edit the <filename>standard.action</filename> file
1934 The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
1935 <filename>standard.action</filename> are<!-- different than this table which is out of date -->:
1938 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
1939 <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
1940 <colspec colname=c1>
1941 <colspec colname=c2>
1942 <colspec colname=c3>
1943 <colspec colname=c4>
1946 <entry>Feature</entry>
1947 <entry>Cautious</entry>
1948 <entry>Medium</entry>
1949 <entry>Advanced</entry>
1954 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
1955 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
1956 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
1957 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
1963 <entry>Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</entry>
1964 <entry>medium</entry>
1970 <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
1977 <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
1983 <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
1984 <entry>blocks only</entry>
1985 <entry>blocks only</entry>
1986 <entry>blocks only</entry>
1990 <entry>Privacy Features</entry>
1992 <entry>medium</entry>
1993 <entry>medium/high</entry>
1997 <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
1999 <entry>session-only</entry>
2004 <entry>Referer forging</entry>
2012 <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
2020 <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
2027 <entry>HTML taming</entry>
2034 <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
2041 <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
2048 <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
2064 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
2065 file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
2066 <filename>default.action</filename> is typically processed before
2067 <filename>user.action</filename>). The content of these can all be viewed and
2069 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2070 The over-riding principle when applying actions, is that the last action that
2071 matches a given URL wins. The broadest, most general rules go first
2072 (defined in <filename>default.action</filename>),
2073 followed by any exceptions (typically also in
2074 <filename>default.action</filename>), which are then followed lastly by any
2075 local preferences (typically in <emphasis>user</emphasis><filename>.action</filename>).
2076 Generally, <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word.
2080 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
2081 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
2082 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
2083 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
2084 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
2085 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
2086 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
2087 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
2088 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
2089 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
2090 with the advantage that it is a separate file, which makes preserving your
2091 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
2095 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
2096 just some obnoxious URL whose content you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
2097 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
2098 written to disk), content can be modified, some JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
2099 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
2103 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2105 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
2107 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
2108 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
2109 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
2110 certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring
2111 refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that the more
2112 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
2113 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
2114 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per
2115 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
2116 regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe
2117 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
2121 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
2122 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
2123 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
2124 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
2128 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2130 <title>How to Edit</title>
2132 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
2133 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
2134 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2135 Note: the config file option <link
2136 linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link> must be enabled for
2137 this to work. The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single
2138 feature on a per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults
2139 like <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or
2140 <quote>Advanced</quote>. Warning: the <quote>Advanced</quote> setting is more
2141 aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites.
2142 Experienced users only!
2146 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
2147 the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at
2148 <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly commented with many
2154 <sect2 id="actions-apply">
2155 <title>How Actions are Applied to Requests</title>
2157 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
2158 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
2159 be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
2160 heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
2161 of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
2162 Below that, there is a list of URL and tag patterns, each on a separate line.
2166 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
2167 compared to all URL patterns in each <quote>action file</quote>.
2168 Every time it matches, the list of applicable actions for the request is
2169 incrementally updated, using the heading of the section in which the
2170 pattern is located. The same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on.
2174 If multiple applying sections set the same action differently,
2175 the last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated.
2176 E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading line of <literal>{
2177 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> }</literal>,
2178 then later another one with just <literal>{
2179 +<link linkend="block">block</link> }</literal>, resulting
2180 in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply. And there may well be
2181 cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
2187 { +<literal>handle-as-image</literal> +<literal>block</literal> }
2188 # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
2190 media.example.com/.*banners
2191 .example.com/images/ads/</screen>
2195 You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by visiting <ulink
2196 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
2200 Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
2201 Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</link> section.
2205 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2206 <sect2 id="af-patterns">
2207 <title>Patterns</title>
2209 As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
2210 to determine what <emphasis>actions</emphasis> might apply to which sites and
2211 pages your browser attempts to access. These <quote>patterns</quote> use wild
2212 card type <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> matching to achieve a high degree of
2213 flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
2214 against many similar patterns.
2218 Generally, an URL pattern has the form
2219 <literal><domain>/<path></literal>, where both the
2220 <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal> are
2221 optional. (This is why the special <literal>/</literal> pattern matches all
2222 URLs). Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g.
2223 <literal>http://</literal>) should <emphasis>not</emphasis> be included in
2224 the pattern. This is assumed already!
2227 The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of
2228 the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
2229 while the path part uses a more flexible
2230 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2231 Expressions (PCRE)</quote></ulink> based syntax.
2236 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
2239 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2240 regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in
2241 this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
2242 simple <literal>example.com</literal> is different and would NOT match.
2247 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
2250 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
2256 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html$</literal></term>
2259 matches all the documents on <literal>www.example.com</literal>
2260 whose name starts with <literal>/index.html</literal>.
2265 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html$</literal></term>
2268 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
2269 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
2274 <term><literal>/index.html$</literal></term>
2277 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
2278 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server anywhere.
2283 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
2286 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
2287 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>. So its
2295 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2296 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
2299 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
2300 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
2306 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
2309 matches any domain with first-level domain <literal>com</literal>
2310 and second-level domain <literal>example</literal>.
2311 For example <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2312 <literal>example.com</literal> and <literal>foo.bar.baz.example.com</literal>.
2313 Note that it wouldn't match if the second-level domain was <literal>another-example</literal>.
2318 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
2321 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
2322 <literal>www.</literal> (It also matches the domain
2323 <literal>www</literal> but most of the time that doesn't matter.)
2328 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
2331 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>.
2332 And, by the way, also included would be any files or documents that exist
2333 within that domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly
2334 speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as
2335 a domain.) This might be <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2336 <literal>news.example.de</literal>, or
2337 <literal>www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</literal> for instance. All these
2345 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
2346 themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
2347 <quote>*</quote> represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
2349 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2350 Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax of <quote>.*</quote>),
2351 <quote>?</quote> represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
2352 regular expression syntax of a simple <quote>.</quote>), and you can define
2353 <quote>character classes</quote> in square brackets which is similar to
2354 the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:
2359 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2362 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
2363 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
2368 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2371 matches all of the above, and then some.
2376 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
2379 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
2380 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
2385 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
2388 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
2389 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
2390 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
2391 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
2398 While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax.
2403 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2406 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2407 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
2410 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl compatible (PCRE)
2411 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2412 Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax
2413 (through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> library) for
2414 matching the path portion (after the slash), and is thus more flexible.
2418 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
2419 expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
2420 at <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt">http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</ulink>.
2421 You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<literal>man perlre</literal>)
2422 useful, which is available on-line at <ulink
2423 url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>.
2427 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
2428 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
2429 for the beginning of a line).
2433 Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
2434 by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
2435 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
2436 only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
2437 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
2442 <term><literal>.example.com/.*</literal></term>
2445 Is equivalent to just <quote>.example.com</quote>, since any documents
2446 within that domain are matched with or without the <quote>.*</quote>
2447 regular expression. This is redundant
2452 <term><literal>.example.com/.*/index.html$</literal></term>
2455 Will match any page in the domain of <quote>example.com</quote> that is
2456 named <quote>index.html</quote>, and that is part of some path. For
2457 example, it matches <quote>www.example.com/testing/index.html</quote> but
2458 NOT <quote>www.example.com/index.html</quote> because the regular
2459 expression called for at least two <quote>/'s</quote>, thus the path
2460 requirement. It also would match
2461 <quote>www.example.com/testing/index_html</quote>, because of the
2462 special meta-character <quote>.</quote>.
2467 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$</literal></term>
2470 This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page
2471 named <quote>index.html</quote> regardless of path which in this case can
2472 have one or more <quote>/'s</quote>. And this one must contain exactly
2473 <quote>.html</quote> (but does not have to end with that!).
2478 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</literal></term>
2481 This regular expression will match any path of <quote>example.com</quote>
2482 that contains any of the words <quote>ads</quote>, <quote>banner</quote>,
2483 <quote>banners</quote> (because of the <quote>?</quote>) or <quote>junk</quote>.
2484 The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
2489 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</literal></term>
2492 This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
2493 <quote>.jpg</quote>, <quote>.jpeg</quote>, <quote>.gif</quote> or <quote>.png</quote>. So this
2494 one is limited to common image formats.
2501 There are many, many good examples to be found in <filename>default.action</filename>,
2502 and more tutorials below in <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>.
2507 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2510 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2511 <sect3 id="tag-pattern"><title>The Tag Pattern</title>
2514 Tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the
2515 request's tags. Tags can be created with either the
2516 <link linkend="CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER">client-header-tagger</link>
2517 or the <link linkend="SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER">server-header-tagger</link> action.
2521 Tag patterns have to start with <quote>TAG:</quote>, so &my-app;
2522 can tell them apart from URL patterns. Everything after the colon
2523 including white space, is interpreted as a regular expression with
2524 path pattern syntax, except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored
2525 automatically (&my-app; doesn't silently add a <quote>^</quote>,
2526 you have to do it yourself if you need it).
2530 To match all requests that are tagged with <quote>foo</quote>
2531 your pattern line should be <quote>TAG:^foo$</quote>,
2532 <quote>TAG:foo</quote> would work as well, but it would also
2533 match requests whose tags contain <quote>foo</quote> somewhere.
2534 <quote>TAG: foo</quote> wouldn't work as it requires white space.
2538 Sections can contain URL and tag patterns at the same time,
2539 but tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus
2540 always overrule them, even if they are located before the URL patterns.
2544 Once a new tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's matched by one
2545 of the tag patterns and updates the action settings accordingly. As a result
2546 tags can be used to activate other tagger actions, as long as these other
2547 taggers look for headers that haven't already be parsed.
2551 For example you could tag client requests which use the
2552 <literal>POST</literal> method,
2553 then use this tag to activate another tagger that adds a tag if cookies
2554 are sent, and then use a block action based on the cookie tag. This allows
2555 the outcome of one action, to be input into a subsequent action. However if
2556 you'd reverse the position of the described taggers, and activated the
2557 method tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method tags would be created.
2558 The method tagger would look for the request line, but at the time
2559 the cookie tag is created, the request line has already been parsed.
2563 While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of
2564 indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't
2565 make too much sense.
2572 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2575 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2577 <sect2 id="actions">
2578 <title>Actions</title>
2580 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
2581 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
2582 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
2583 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
2584 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
2585 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
2586 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
2587 previously applied.</quote>
2592 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
2593 separated by whitespace, like in
2594 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
2595 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
2596 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
2597 of the actions file.
2601 Actions fall into three categories:
2608 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
2609 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
2613 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
2614 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
2617 Example: <literal>+block</literal>
2624 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
2629 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
2630 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
2631 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
2634 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
2635 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
2638 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>
2644 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
2645 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
2646 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
2647 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
2648 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
2649 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
2653 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
2654 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
2655 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
2656 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
2659 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
2660 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
2668 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
2669 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
2670 normal, non-blocking, non-filtering proxy. You must specifically enable the
2671 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
2672 files will give a good starting point).
2676 Later defined action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the same type.
2677 So exceptions to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
2678 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such
2679 as <filename>user.action</filename>). For multi-valued actions, the actions
2680 are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are processed in
2681 the order they are defined in <filename>config</filename> (the default
2682 installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any given
2683 URL to match more than one <quote>pattern</quote> (because of wildcards and
2684 regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last
2688 <!-- start actions listing -->
2690 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
2694 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2695 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
2696 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
2698 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2701 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2703 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
2704 <title>add-header</title>
2708 <term>Typical use:</term>
2710 <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
2715 <term>Effect:</term>
2718 Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
2725 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2727 <para>Multi-value.</para>
2732 <term>Parameter:</term>
2735 Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
2736 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
2746 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
2747 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
2748 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
2755 <term>Example usage:</term>
2758 <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
2766 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2767 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
2768 <title>block</title>
2772 <term>Typical use:</term>
2774 <para>Block ads or other unwanted content</para>
2779 <term>Effect:</term>
2782 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
2783 requests are trapped by &my-app; and the requested URL is never retrieved,
2784 but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
2786 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2788 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>, and
2790 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> actions.
2798 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2800 <para>Boolean.</para>
2805 <term>Parameter:</term>
2815 <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
2816 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request
2817 was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the
2818 force feature enabled). The <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page adapts to the available
2819 screen space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and text-only
2820 if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using <application>Privoxy</application>
2821 right now, you can take a look at the
2822 <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
2826 A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
2827 <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2828 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
2829 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
2830 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
2831 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
2834 It is important to understand this process, in order
2835 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
2836 ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
2837 upon which various other features depend.
2840 The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
2841 action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
2842 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
2843 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
2844 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
2850 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2854 # Block and replace with "blocked" page
2855 .nasty-stuff.example.com
2857 {+block +handle-as-image}
2858 # Block and replace with image
2862 {+block +handle-as-empty-document}
2863 # Block and then ignore
2864 adserver.exampleclick.net/.*\.js$</screen>
2874 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2875 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-filter">
2876 <title>client-header-filter</title>
2880 <term>Typical use:</term>
2883 Rewrite or remove single client headers.
2889 <term>Effect:</term>
2892 All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
2893 the specified regular expression based substitutions.
2900 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2902 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2907 <term>Parameter:</term>
2910 The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the
2911 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
2920 Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
2921 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
2922 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
2923 You can do that by using tags though.
2926 Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
2927 and use their output as input.
2930 If the request URL gets changed, &my-app; will detect that and use the new
2931 one. This can be used to rewrite the request destination behind the client's
2932 back, for example to specify a Tor exit relay for certain requests.
2935 Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
2936 to learn which client-header filters are available by default, and how to
2944 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2948 # Hide Tor exit notation in Host and Referer Headers
2949 {+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
2960 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2961 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-tagger">
2962 <title>client-header-tagger</title>
2966 <term>Typical use:</term>
2969 Block requests based on their headers.
2975 <term>Effect:</term>
2978 Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
2979 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
2987 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2989 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2994 <term>Parameter:</term>
2997 The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the
2998 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
3007 Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
3008 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
3012 Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed
3013 and their tags can be used to control every other action.
3019 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3023 # Tag every request with the User-Agent header
3024 {+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
3035 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3036 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="content-type-overwrite">
3037 <title>content-type-overwrite</title>
3041 <term>Typical use:</term>
3043 <para>Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode</para>
3048 <term>Effect:</term>
3051 Replaces the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header.
3058 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3060 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3065 <term>Parameter:</term>
3077 The <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header is used by the
3078 browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this
3079 header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of
3080 displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is
3081 supported by the browser.
3084 The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
3085 the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <quote>text/html</quote>,
3086 many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
3087 If it is send as <quote>application/xml</quote>, browsers with
3088 XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
3091 If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
3092 <quote>Content-Type: text/html</quote>, you can use &my-app;
3093 to overwrite it with <quote>application/xml</quote> and validate
3094 the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
3095 If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
3098 You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints
3099 error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared
3100 as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
3101 <quote>text/html</quote> and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
3104 By default <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal> only replaces
3105 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> headers that look like some kind of text.
3106 If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
3107 <literal><link linkend="force-text-mode">force-text-mode</link></literal>.
3108 This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
3111 Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom
3112 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
3113 It allows you to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
3114 only replace the content types you aimed at.
3117 Of course you can apply <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal>
3118 to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
3119 more work to get the same precision.
3125 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
3128 <screen># Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
3129 { +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
3132 # but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
3133 {-content-type-overwrite}
3134 www.example.net/.*\.css$
3135 www.example.net/.*style
3144 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3145 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-client-header">
3149 <title>crunch-client-header</title>
3153 <term>Typical use:</term>
3155 <para>Remove a client header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
3160 <term>Effect:</term>
3163 Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
3170 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3172 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3177 <term>Parameter:</term>
3189 This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
3190 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists.
3191 <application>Privoxy</application> will remove every client header that
3192 contains the string you supplied as parameter.
3195 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
3196 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
3197 they contain the same string.
3200 <literal>crunch-client-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
3201 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
3202 parts of them, you should use a
3203 <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header filter</link></literal>.
3207 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
3214 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3217 <screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
3218 { +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
3228 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3229 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-if-none-match">
3230 <title>crunch-if-none-match</title>
3236 <term>Typical use:</term>
3238 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
3243 <term>Effect:</term>
3246 Deletes the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header.
3253 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3255 <para>Boolean.</para>
3260 <term>Parameter:</term>
3272 Removing the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header
3273 is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
3274 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote> which
3275 would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
3278 It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
3279 replacement (unlikely but possible).
3282 Blocking the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> header shouldn't cause any
3283 caching problems, as long as the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> header
3284 isn't blocked or missing as well.
3287 It is recommended to use this action together with
3288 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
3290 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>.
3296 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3299 <screen># Let the browser revalidate cached documents but don't
3300 # allow the server to use the revalidation headers for user tracking.
3301 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
3302 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
3303 +crunch-if-none-match}
3312 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3313 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
3314 <title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
3318 <term>Typical use:</term>
3321 Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your system
3327 <term>Effect:</term>
3330 Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
3337 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3339 <para>Boolean.</para>
3344 <term>Parameter:</term>
3356 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
3357 <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
3358 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
3359 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
3362 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3363 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3364 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
3365 <literal><link linkend="filter-content-cookies">filter-content-cookies</link></literal>.
3371 <term>Example usage:</term>
3374 <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
3382 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3383 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-server-header">
3384 <title>crunch-server-header</title>
3390 <term>Typical use:</term>
3392 <para>Remove a server header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
3397 <term>Effect:</term>
3400 Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
3407 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3409 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3414 <term>Parameter:</term>
3426 This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
3427 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists. <application>Privoxy</application>
3428 will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
3431 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
3432 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
3433 they contain the same string.
3436 <literal>crunch-server-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
3437 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
3438 parts of them, you should use a custom
3439 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
3443 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
3450 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3453 <screen># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
3454 { +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
3463 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3464 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
3465 <title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
3469 <term>Typical use:</term>
3472 Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from your system
3478 <term>Effect:</term>
3481 Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
3488 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3490 <para>Boolean.</para>
3495 <term>Parameter:</term>
3507 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
3508 <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
3509 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
3510 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
3513 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3514 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3515 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
3521 <term>Example usage:</term>
3524 <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
3533 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3534 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
3535 <title>deanimate-gifs</title>
3539 <term>Typical use:</term>
3541 <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
3546 <term>Effect:</term>
3549 De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
3556 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3558 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3563 <term>Parameter:</term>
3566 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
3575 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
3576 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
3577 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
3578 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
3579 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
3580 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
3583 You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
3584 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
3591 <term>Example usage:</term>
3594 <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
3601 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3602 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
3603 <title>downgrade-http-version</title>
3607 <term>Typical use:</term>
3609 <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
3614 <term>Effect:</term>
3617 Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
3624 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3626 <para>Boolean.</para>
3631 <term>Parameter:</term>
3643 This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
3644 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
3645 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
3646 out there. Not all HTTP/1.1 features and requirements are supported yet,
3647 so there is a chance you might need this action.
3653 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3656 <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
3657 problem-host.example.com</screen>
3665 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3666 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
3667 <title>fast-redirects</title>
3671 <term>Typical use:</term>
3673 <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.</para>
3678 <term>Effect:</term>
3681 Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting
3682 the redirection server first.
3689 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3691 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3696 <term>Parameter:</term>
3701 <quote>simple-check</quote> to just search for the string <quote>http://</quote>
3702 to detect redirection URLs.
3707 <quote>check-decoded-url</quote> to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching
3708 for redirection URLs.
3719 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
3720 will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
3721 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
3722 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
3723 <quote>http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/</quote>.
3726 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
3727 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
3728 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
3729 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
3730 browser asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
3734 This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
3735 If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
3736 this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
3739 Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil.
3740 Some sites offer a real service that requires this information to work.
3741 For example a validation service needs to know, which document to validate.
3742 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> assumes that every URL parameter that
3743 looks like another URL is a redirection target, and will always redirect to
3744 the last one. Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't,
3745 the user gets redirected anyway.
3748 Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter.
3750 <quote>http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
3751 contains the redirection URL <quote>http://www.example.net/</quote>,
3752 followed by another parameter. <literal>fast-redirects</literal> doesn't know that
3753 and will cause a redirect to <quote>http://www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
3754 Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
3755 or lead to a <quote>page not found</quote> error. You can prevent this problem by
3756 first using the <literal><link linkend="redirect">redirect</link></literal> action
3757 to remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort.
3760 To detect a redirection URL, <literal>fast-redirects</literal> only
3761 looks for the string <quote>http://</quote>, either in plain text
3762 (invalid but often used) or encoded as <quote>http%3a//</quote>.
3763 Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the address
3764 of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses cases
3765 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> is fooled and the request reaches the
3766 redirection server where it probably gets logged.
3772 <term>Example usage:</term>
3776 { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
3779 { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
3780 another.example.com/testing</screen>
3789 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3790 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
3791 <title>filter</title>
3795 <term>Typical use:</term>
3797 <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
3798 do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.</para>
3803 <term>Effect:</term>
3806 All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
3807 this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular
3808 expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents
3809 are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
3810 <literal>text/plain</literal> MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
3817 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3819 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3824 <term>Parameter:</term>
3827 The name of a content filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>.
3828 Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
3829 <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
3830 option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>.
3831 <filename>default.filter</filename> is the collection of filters
3832 supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
3833 in their own file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>.
3836 When used in its negative form,
3837 and without parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> filtering is completely disabled.
3846 For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
3847 in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
3851 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
3852 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
3853 passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
3854 since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
3855 noticeable on slower connections.
3858 <quote>Rolling your own</quote>
3859 filters requires a knowledge of
3860 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
3861 Expressions</quote></ulink> and
3862 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"><quote>HTML</quote></ulink>.
3863 This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
3864 Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent
3865 <quote>action</quote> is not available.
3868 The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
3869 <literal><link linkend="buffer-limit">buffer-limit</link></literal>
3870 option in the main <link linkend="config">config file</link>. The
3871 default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
3872 data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
3875 Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
3876 (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data
3877 (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate
3878 the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might
3879 be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering
3880 by defining appropriate <literal>-filter</literal> exceptions.
3883 Compressed content can't be filtered either, unless &my-app;
3884 is compiled with zlib support (requires at least &my-app; 3.0.7),
3885 in which case &my-app; will decompress the content before filtering
3889 If you use a &my-app; version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on
3890 as much documents as possible, even those that would normally be sent compressed,
3891 you must use the <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
3892 action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
3895 Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
3896 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
3897 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
3898 works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
3899 based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
3903 <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or
3904 improved filters is particularly welcome!
3907 The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
3908 predefined filter. There are <link linkend="predefined-filters">more
3909 verbose explanations</link> of what these filters do in the <link
3910 linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>.
3916 <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file).
3917 See <link linkend="PREDEFINED-FILTERS">the Predefined Filters section</link> for
3918 more explanation on each:</term>
3921 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
3922 <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse</screen>
3925 <anchor id="filter-js-events">
3926 <screen>+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites)</screen>
3929 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
3930 <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse</screen>
3933 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
3934 <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content</screen>
3937 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
3938 <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)</screen>
3941 <anchor id="filter-unsolicited-popups">
3942 <screen>+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
3945 <anchor id="filter-all-popups">
3946 <screen>+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
3949 <anchor id="filter-img-reorder">
3950 <screen>+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective</screen>
3953 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
3954 <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size</screen>
3957 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-link">
3958 <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers</screen>
3961 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
3962 <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)</screen>
3965 <anchor id="filter-tiny-textforms">
3966 <screen>+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap</screen>
3969 <anchor id="filter-jumping-windows">
3970 <screen>+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves</screen>
3973 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
3974 <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable</screen>
3977 <anchor id="filter-demoronizer">
3978 <screen>+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets</screen>
3981 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
3982 <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects</screen>
3985 <anchor id="filter-quicktime-kioskmode">
3986 <screen>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies savable</screen>
3989 <anchor id="filter-fun">
3990 <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
3993 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
3994 <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering (demo only)</screen>
3997 <anchor id="filter-ie-exploits">
3998 <screen>+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable a known Internet Explorer bug exploits</screen>
4001 <anchor id="filter-site-specifics">
4002 <screen>+filter{site-specifics} # Custom filters for specific site related problems</screen>
4005 <anchor id="filter-google">
4006 <screen>+filter{google} # Removes text ads and other Google specific improvements</screen>
4009 <anchor id="filter-yahoo">
4010 <screen>+filter{yahoo} # Removes text ads and other Yahoo specific improvements</screen>
4013 <anchor id="filter-msn">
4014 <screen>+filter{msn} # Removes text ads and other MSN specific improvements</screen>
4017 <anchor id="filter-blogspot">
4018 <screen>+filter{blogspot} # Cleans up Blogspot blogs</screen>
4021 <anchor id="filter-no-ping">
4022 <screen>+filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes from anchor and area tags</screen>
4030 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4031 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="force-text-mode">
4032 <title>force-text-mode</title>
4038 <term>Typical use:</term>
4040 <para>Force <application>Privoxy</application> to treat a document as if it was in some kind of <emphasis>text</emphasis> format. </para>
4045 <term>Effect:</term>
4048 Declares a document as text, even if the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> isn't detected as such.
4055 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4057 <para>Boolean.</para>
4062 <term>Parameter:</term>
4074 As explained <literal><link linkend="filter">above</link></literal>,
4075 <application>Privoxy</application> tries to only filter files that are
4076 in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to
4077 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite</link></literal>.
4078 <literal>force-text-mode</literal> declares a document as text,
4079 without looking at the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> first.
4083 Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
4084 with regular expressions can cause file damage.
4091 <term>Example usage:</term>
4104 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4105 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward-override">
4106 <title>forward-override</title>
4112 <term>Typical use:</term>
4114 <para>Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin</para>
4119 <term>Effect:</term>
4122 Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file.
4129 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4131 <para>Multi-value.</para>
4136 <term>Parameter:</term>
4140 <para><quote>forward .</quote> to use a direct connection without any additional proxies.</para>
4144 <quote>forward 127.0.0.1:8123</quote> to use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123.
4149 <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 .</quote> to use the socks4a proxy listening at
4150 127.0.0.1 port 9050. Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote>
4151 to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
4152 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
4157 <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 proxy.example.org:8000</quote> to use the socks4a proxy
4158 listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy listening at proxy.example.org port 8000.
4159 Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote> to use a socks4 connection
4160 (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
4161 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
4172 This action takes parameters similar to the
4173 <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives in the configuration
4174 file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used as replacement, but normally it's only
4175 used in cases where matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient.
4179 Please read the description for the <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives before
4180 using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will reduce your privacy and increase the
4181 chances of man-in-the-middle attacks.
4184 If the ports are missing or invalid, default values will be used. This might change
4185 in the future and you shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect syntax causes Privoxy
4189 Use the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">show-url-info CGI page</ulink>
4190 to verify that your forward settings do what you thought the do.
4197 <term>Example usage:</term>
4201 # Always use direct connections for requests previously tagged as
4202 # <quote>User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0</quote> and make sure
4203 # resuming downloads continues to work.
4204 # This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing,
4205 # without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates
4206 # or downloads of bigger files like ISOs.
4207 # Note that HTTP headers are easy to fake and therefore their
4208 # values are as (un)trustworthy as your clients and users.
4209 {+forward-override{forward .} \
4210 -hide-if-modified-since \
4211 -overwrite-last-modified \
4213 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$
4222 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4223 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-empty-document">
4224 <title>handle-as-empty-document</title>
4230 <term>Typical use:</term>
4232 <para>Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis></para>
4237 <term>Effect:</term>
4240 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
4241 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
4242 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote>
4243 page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
4244 The <emphasis>empty</emphasis> document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
4251 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4253 <para>Boolean.</para>
4258 <term>Parameter:</term>
4270 Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
4271 are blocked with <application>Privoxy's</application>
4272 default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
4273 And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the &my-app;
4274 BLOCKED message in frames.
4277 The content type for the empty document can be specified with
4278 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{}</link></literal>,
4279 but usually this isn't necessary.
4285 <term>Example usage:</term>
4288 <screen># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
4289 # but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
4290 {+block +handle-as-empty-document}
4300 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4301 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
4302 <title>handle-as-image</title>
4306 <term>Typical use:</term>
4308 <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>
4313 <term>Effect:</term>
4316 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
4317 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
4318 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
4319 page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
4320 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
4321 client as a substitute for the blocked content.
4328 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4330 <para>Boolean.</para>
4335 <term>Parameter:</term>
4347 The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
4348 It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
4352 Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
4353 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
4354 reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
4357 Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
4358 frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
4359 Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
4360 ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
4366 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
4369 <screen># Generic image extensions:
4372 /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
4374 # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
4375 # blocked as images:
4377 {+block +handle-as-image}
4378 some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash
4380 # Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
4390 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4391 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-accept-language">
4392 <title>hide-accept-language</title>
4398 <term>Typical use:</term>
4400 <para>Pretend to use different language settings.</para>
4405 <term>Effect:</term>
4408 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> HTTP header in client requests.
4415 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4417 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4422 <term>Parameter:</term>
4425 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4434 Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
4435 foreign User-Agent set with
4436 <literal><link linkend="hide-user-agent">hide-user-agent</link></literal>
4440 However some sites with content in different languages check the
4441 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> to decide which one to take by default.
4442 Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
4443 changing the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header first.
4446 Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
4447 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header to languages you understand,
4448 or to languages that aren't wide spread.
4451 Before setting the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header
4452 to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to
4453 make your requests unique and thus easier to trace.
4454 If you don't plan to change this header frequently,
4455 you should stick to a common language.
4461 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4464 <screen># Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
4465 {+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
4466 +hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
4476 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4477 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-content-disposition">
4478 <title>hide-content-disposition</title>
4484 <term>Typical use:</term>
4486 <para>Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.</para>
4491 <term>Effect:</term>
4494 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header set by some servers.
4501 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4503 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4508 <term>Parameter:</term>
4511 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4520 Some servers set the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header for
4521 documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
4522 The <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header contains the file name
4523 the browser is supposed to use by default.
4526 In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
4527 <emphasis>just view</emphasis> the document, without downloading it first,
4528 even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
4531 Removing the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header helps
4532 to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
4533 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> header, before they decide if they can
4534 display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have
4535 to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
4539 It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion
4540 to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set
4544 This action will probably be removed in the future,
4545 use server-header filters instead.
4551 <term>Example usage:</term>
4554 <screen># Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
4556 +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
4557 +hide-content-disposition{block} }
4558 .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php</screen>
4566 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4567 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-if-modified-since">
4568 <title>hide-if-modified-since</title>
4574 <term>Typical use:</term>
4576 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
4581 <term>Effect:</term>
4584 Deletes the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> HTTP client header or modifies its value.
4591 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4593 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4598 <term>Parameter:</term>
4601 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
4610 Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
4611 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the
4612 browser to use a cached copy of the page.
4615 Instead of removing the header, <literal>hide-if-modified-since</literal> can
4616 also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value.
4617 You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and
4618 <application>Privoxy</application> does the rest. A negative value means
4619 subtracting, a positive value adding.
4622 Randomizing the value of the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> makes
4623 it less likely that the server can use the time as a cookie replacement,
4624 but you will run into caching problems if the random range is too high.
4627 It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
4628 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
4629 handle the greater changes.
4632 It is also recommended to use this action together with
4633 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>,
4634 otherwise it's more or less pointless.
4640 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4643 <screen># Let the browser revalidate but make tracking based on the time less likely.
4644 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
4645 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
4646 +crunch-if-none-match}
4655 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4656 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
4657 <title>hide-forwarded-for-headers</title>
4660 <term>Typical use:</term>
4662 <para>Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request in the HTTP headers.</para>
4667 <term>Effect:</term>
4670 Deletes any existing <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> HTTP header from client requests.
4677 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4679 <para>Boolean.</para>
4684 <term>Parameter:</term>
4696 It is safe and recommended to leave this on.
4702 <term>Example usage:</term>
4705 <screen>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</screen>
4713 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4714 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
4715 <title>hide-from-header</title>
4719 <term>Typical use:</term>
4721 <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
4726 <term>Effect:</term>
4729 Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
4737 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4739 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4744 <term>Parameter:</term>
4747 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4756 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
4757 (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
4761 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
4762 server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
4763 is actually used by a real person.
4766 This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
4767 <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
4773 <term>Example usage:</term>
4776 <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
4777 <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
4785 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4786 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
4787 <title>hide-referrer</title>
4788 <anchor id="hide-referer">
4791 <term>Typical use:</term>
4793 <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
4798 <term>Effect:</term>
4801 Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
4802 or replaces it with a forged one.
4809 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4811 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4816 <term>Parameter:</term>
4820 <para><quote>conditional-block</quote> to delete the header completely if the host has changed.</para>
4823 <para><quote>conditional-forge</quote> to forge the header if the host has changed.</para>
4826 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header unconditionally.</para>
4829 <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
4832 <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
4842 <literal>conditional-block</literal> is the only parameter,
4843 that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the
4844 referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or
4845 typed in the address directly.
4848 Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
4849 allows the server owner to see the visitor's <quote>click path</quote>,
4850 but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing
4851 other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't
4852 a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between
4856 Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
4857 failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
4858 requests, in an attempt to prevent their content from being
4859 embedded or linked to elsewhere.
4862 Both <literal>conditional-block</literal> and <literal>forge</literal>
4863 will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page
4864 are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case.
4867 <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
4868 <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
4869 substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
4870 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
4871 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
4877 <term>Example usage:</term>
4880 <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
4881 <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
4889 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4890 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
4891 <title>hide-user-agent</title>
4895 <term>Typical use:</term>
4897 <para>Try to conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
4902 <term>Effect:</term>
4905 Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
4906 in client requests with the specified value.
4913 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4915 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4920 <term>Parameter:</term>
4923 Any user-defined string.
4933 This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at this header in
4934 order to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
4935 way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the right thing to do: good web sites
4936 work browser-independently).
4940 Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
4941 browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
4942 <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
4943 setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
4944 the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
4945 OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
4946 sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
4947 reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
4948 let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
4949 <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
4950 (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
4953 More information on known user-agent strings can be found at
4954 <ulink url="http://www.user-agents.org/">http://www.user-agents.org/</ulink>
4956 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</ulink>.
4962 <term>Example usage:</term>
4965 <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
4973 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4974 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="inspect-jpegs">
4975 <title>inspect-jpegs</title>
4978 <term>Typical use:</term>
4980 <para>Try to protect against a MS buffer over-run in JPEG processing</para>
4985 <term>Effect:</term>
4988 Protect against a known exploit
4995 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4997 <para>Boolean.</para>
5002 <term>Parameter:</term>
5014 See Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-028. JPEG images are one of the most
5015 common image types found across the Internet. The exploit as described can
5016 allow execution of code on the target system, giving an attacker access
5017 to the system in question by merely planting an altered JPEG image, which
5018 would have no obvious indications of what lurks inside. This action
5019 tries to prevent this exploit if delivered through unencrypted HTTP.
5022 Note that the exploit mentioned is several years old
5023 and it's unlikely that your client is still vulnerable
5024 against it. This action may be removed in one of the
5032 <term>Example usage:</term>
5034 <para><screen>+inspect-jpegs</screen></para>
5041 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5042 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="kill-popups">
5043 <title>kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"></title>
5047 <term>Typical use:</term>
5049 <para>Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows (deprecated)</para>
5054 <term>Effect:</term>
5057 While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens
5058 pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly.
5065 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5067 <para>Boolean.</para>
5072 <term>Parameter:</term>
5084 This action is basically a built-in, hardwired special-purpose filter
5085 action, but there are important differences: For <literal>kill-popups</literal>,
5086 the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while
5087 downloading. But <literal>kill-popups</literal> doesn't catch as many pop-ups as
5089 linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>all-popups</replaceable>}</link></literal>
5090 does and is not as smart as <literal><link
5091 linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>unsolicited-popups</replaceable>}</link>
5095 Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you
5096 can use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make
5097 sense to combine it with any <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action,
5098 since as soon as one <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> applies,
5099 the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the advantage of
5100 the <literal>kill-popups</literal> action over its filter equivalent.
5103 Killing all pop-ups unconditionally is problematic. Many shops and banks rely on
5104 pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and the <literal><link
5105 linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>unsolicited-popups</replaceable>}</link>
5106 </literal> does a better job of catching only the unwanted ones.
5109 If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those
5110 <emphasis>really nasty</emphasis> windows that appear when you close an other
5111 one), you might want to use
5113 linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>js-annoyances</replaceable>}</literal>
5117 This action is most appropriate for browsers that don't have any controls
5118 for unwanted pop-ups. Not recommended for general usage.
5121 This action doesn't work very reliable and may be removed in future releases.
5127 <term>Example usage:</term>
5129 <para><screen>+kill-popups</screen></para>
5136 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5137 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
5138 <title>limit-connect</title>
5142 <term>Typical use:</term>
5144 <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</para>
5149 <term>Effect:</term>
5152 Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
5159 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5161 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5166 <term>Parameter:</term>
5169 A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
5170 defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
5179 By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
5180 <application>Privoxy</application> only allows HTTP CONNECT
5181 requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
5182 <literal>limit-connect</literal> if more fine-grained control is desired
5183 for some or all destinations.
5186 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
5187 (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
5188 the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
5189 short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
5190 This means CONNECT-enabled proxies can be used as TCP relays very easily.
5193 <application>Privoxy</application> relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
5194 the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent &my-app;'s
5195 filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
5196 If you plan to disable SSL by default, consider enabling
5197 <literal><link linkend="treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks ">treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</link></literal>
5198 as well, to be able to quickly create exceptions.
5204 <term>Example usages:</term>
5206 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
5207 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
5208 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
5210 <screen>+limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
5211 +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
5212 +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
5213 +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
5214 +limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</screen>
5221 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5222 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
5223 <title>prevent-compression</title>
5227 <term>Typical use:</term>
5230 Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
5231 passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s.
5237 <term>Effect:</term>
5240 Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
5247 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5249 <para>Boolean.</para>
5254 <term>Parameter:</term>
5266 More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
5267 is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the <literal><link
5268 linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>, <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
5269 and <literal><link linkend="kill-popups">kill-popups</link></literal> actions need
5270 access to the uncompressed data.
5273 When compiled with zlib support (available since &my-app; 3.0.7), content that should be
5274 filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't have to worry about this action.
5275 If you are using an older &my-app; version, or one that hasn't been compiled with zlib
5276 support, this action can be used to convince the server to send the content uncompressed.
5279 Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is seldom decreased by less than 50%,
5280 for markup-heavy instances like news feeds saving more than 90% of the original size isn't
5284 Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should only
5285 enable this action if you really need it. As of &my-app; 3.0.7 it's disabled in all
5286 predefined action settings.
5289 Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
5290 documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an empty document body,
5291 some IIS versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable
5292 <literal>prevent-compression</literal> per default, you might want to add
5293 exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
5299 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
5303 # Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
5305 { +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
5306 # Match only these sites
5311 # Or instead, we could set a universal default:
5313 { +prevent-compression }
5316 # Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites:
5318 { -prevent-compression }
5319 .compusa.com/</screen>
5328 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5329 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="overwrite-last-modified">
5330 <title>overwrite-last-modified</title>
5336 <term>Typical use:</term>
5338 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
5343 <term>Effect:</term>
5346 Deletes the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> HTTP server header or modifies its value.
5353 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5355 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5360 <term>Parameter:</term>
5363 One of the keywords: <quote>block</quote>, <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote>
5364 and <quote>randomize</quote>
5373 Removing the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header is useful for filter
5374 testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
5375 code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
5376 version of the page.
5379 The <quote>randomize</quote> option overwrites the value of the
5380 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with a randomly chosen time
5381 between the original value and the current time. In theory the server
5382 could send each document with a different <quote>Last-Modified:</quote>
5383 header to track visits without using cookies. <quote>Randomize</quote>
5384 makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
5387 <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote> overwrites the value of the
5388 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with the current time. You could use
5389 this option together with
5390 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>
5391 to further customize your random range.
5394 The preferred parameter here is <quote>randomize</quote>. It is safe
5395 to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct.
5396 If the server sets the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header to the time
5397 of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same.
5398 Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with
5399 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>,
5403 It is also recommended to use this action together with
5404 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
5410 <term>Example usage:</term>
5413 <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
5414 { +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
5415 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
5416 +crunch-if-none-match}
5425 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5426 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="redirect">
5427 <title>redirect</title>
5433 <term>Typical use:</term>
5436 Redirect requests to other sites.
5442 <term>Effect:</term>
5445 Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
5446 to another location and the browser should get it from there.
5453 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5455 <para>Parameterized</para>
5460 <term>Parameter:</term>
5463 An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
5472 Requests to which this action applies are answered with a
5473 HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is
5474 either provided as parameter, or derived by applying a
5475 single pcrs command to the original URL.
5478 This action will be ignored if you use it together with
5479 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>.
5480 It can be combined with
5481 <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</link></literal>
5482 to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL.
5485 Use this action carefully, make sure not to create redirection loops
5486 and be aware that using your own redirects might make it
5487 possible to fingerprint your requests.
5493 <term>Example usages:</term>
5496 <screen># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
5497 { +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
5498 example.com/stylesheet\.css
5500 # Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
5501 # (relies on the browser accept and forward invalid URLs to &my-app;)
5502 { +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
5505 # Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles
5506 # (Note the $ at the end of the URL pattern to make sure
5507 # the request for the rewritten URL isn't redirected as well)
5508 {+redirect{s@$@&mode=expanded@}}
5509 undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$</screen>
5518 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5519 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-vanilla-wafer">
5520 <title>send-vanilla-wafer</title>
5524 <term>Typical use:</term>
5527 Feed log analysis scripts with useless data.
5533 <term>Effect:</term>
5536 Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any copyright
5537 on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track you.
5544 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5546 <para>Boolean.</para>
5551 <term>Parameter:</term>
5563 The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you.
5566 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
5572 <term>Example usage:</term>
5575 <screen>+send-vanilla-wafer</screen>
5584 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5585 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-wafer">
5586 <title>send-wafer</title>
5590 <term>Typical use:</term>
5593 Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data.
5599 <term>Effect:</term>
5602 Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request.
5609 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5611 <para>Multi-value.</para>
5616 <term>Parameter:</term>
5619 A string of the form <quote><replaceable class="option">name</replaceable>=<replaceable
5620 class="parameter">value</replaceable></quote>.
5629 Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request,
5630 resulting in multiple cookies being sent.
5633 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
5638 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5641 <screen>{+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
5642 my-internal-testing-server.void</screen>
5650 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5651 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-filter">
5652 <title>server-header-filter</title>
5656 <term>Typical use:</term>
5659 Rewrite or remove single server headers.
5665 <term>Effect:</term>
5668 All server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly
5669 through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
5676 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
5678 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5683 <term>Parameter:</term>
5686 The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the
5687 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
5696 Server-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
5697 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
5698 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
5699 You can do that by using tags though.
5702 Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
5703 and use their output as input.
5706 Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
5707 to learn which server-header filters are available by default, and how to
5714 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5718 {+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}}
5719 example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html
5721 {+server-header-filter{xml-to-html}}
5722 example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not
5732 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5733 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-tagger">
5734 <title>server-header-tagger</title>
5738 <term>Typical use:</term>
5741 Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
5747 <term>Effect:</term>
5750 Server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
5751 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
5759 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
5761 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5766 <term>Parameter:</term>
5769 The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the
5770 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
5779 Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
5780 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
5784 Server-header taggers are executed before all other header actions
5785 that modify server headers. Their tags can be used to control
5786 all of the other server-header actions, the content filters
5787 and the crunch actions (<link linkend="redirect">redirect</link>
5788 and <link linkend="block">block</link>).
5791 Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header taggers
5792 doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the server's log file.
5799 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5803 # Tag every request with the content type declared by the server
5804 {+server-header-tagger{content-type}}
5815 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5816 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
5817 <title>session-cookies-only</title>
5821 <term>Typical use:</term>
5824 Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current
5825 browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
5831 <term>Effect:</term>
5834 Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote>
5835 server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
5836 forget them in between sessions.
5843 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5845 <para>Boolean.</para>
5850 <term>Parameter:</term>
5862 This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
5863 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
5864 websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
5867 Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
5868 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
5869 This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
5870 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
5871 sites, and is the recommended setting.
5874 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
5875 together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
5876 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
5877 will be plainly killed.
5880 Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
5881 field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
5884 This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
5885 previously by the browser before starting <application>Privoxy</application>.
5886 These would have to be removed manually.
5889 <application>Privoxy</application> also uses
5890 the <link linkend="filter-content-cookies">content-cookies filter</link>
5891 to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
5892 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>.
5898 <term>Example usage:</term>
5901 <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
5909 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5910 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
5911 <title>set-image-blocker</title>
5915 <term>Typical use:</term>
5917 <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
5922 <term>Effect:</term>
5925 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
5926 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
5927 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
5928 apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
5929 <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
5930 sent as a replacement.
5937 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5939 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5944 <term>Parameter:</term>
5949 <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
5950 decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
5955 <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
5956 completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
5957 images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
5958 has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
5963 <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
5964 send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
5965 to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via <quote>file:///</quote> URL.
5966 (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
5969 A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
5970 URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
5971 This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
5972 the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
5973 it over and over again.
5984 The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
5985 class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
5986 either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
5989 There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
5990 used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
5991 Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
5997 <term>Example usage:</term>
6003 <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
6006 Redirect to the BSD daemon:
6009 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
6012 Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
6015 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
6023 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6024 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks">
6025 <title>treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</title>
6031 <term>Typical use:</term>
6033 <para>Block forbidden connects with an easy to find error message.</para>
6038 <term>Effect:</term>
6041 If this action is enabled, <application>Privoxy</application> no longer
6042 makes a difference between forbidden connects and ordinary blocks.
6049 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
6051 <para>Boolean</para>
6056 <term>Parameter:</term>
6066 By default <application>Privoxy</application> answers
6067 <link linkend="limit-connect">forbidden <quote>Connect</quote> requests</link>
6068 with a short error message inside the headers. If the browser doesn't display
6069 headers (most don't), you just see an empty page.
6072 With this action enabled, <application>Privoxy</application> displays
6073 the message that is used for ordinary blocks instead. If you decide
6074 to make an exception for the page in question, you can do so by
6075 following the <quote>See why</quote> link.
6078 For <quote>Connect</quote> requests the clients tell
6079 <application>Privoxy</application> which host they are interested
6080 in, but not which document they plan to get later. As a result, the
6081 <quote>Go there anyway</quote> wouldn't work and is therefore suppressed.
6087 <term>Example usage:</term>
6090 <screen>+treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</screen>
6098 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6100 <title>Summary</title>
6102 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
6103 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
6104 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
6105 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
6106 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
6107 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
6113 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6114 <sect2 id="aliases">
6115 <title>Aliases</title>
6117 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
6118 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
6119 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
6120 Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
6122 <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
6123 recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
6124 <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
6125 Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
6126 <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
6130 Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
6131 defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
6132 And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
6133 have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
6137 There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
6138 used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
6139 decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
6140 <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
6141 <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
6142 in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
6143 by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
6146 Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
6147 <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
6148 editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
6149 them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
6150 but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
6155 Now let's define some aliases...
6160 # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
6162 # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
6163 # must be at the top of the actions file!
6167 # These aliases just save typing later:
6168 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
6170 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6171 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6172 +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
6173 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
6175 # These aliases define combinations of actions
6176 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
6178 fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> -<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link>
6180 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link>
6182 # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
6184 c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
6185 c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
6189 ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
6190 actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
6191 up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
6196 # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
6197 # user data and require minimal interference to work:
6200 .office.microsoft.com
6201 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
6202 # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com
6206 # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
6210 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
6213 # These shops require pop-ups:
6215 {-kill-popups -filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
6217 .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
6221 Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are typically used for
6222 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require more than one action to be disabled
6223 in order to function properly.
6229 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6230 <sect2 id="act-examples">
6231 <title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
6233 The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
6234 there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
6235 linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
6236 to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
6237 define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
6238 example <filename>default.action</filename> and <filename>user.action</filename>
6239 file and see how all these pieces come together:
6242 <sect3><title>default.action</title>
6245 Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:
6249 <screen># Sample default.action file <ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net></screen>
6253 Then, since this is the <filename>default.action</filename> file, the
6254 first section is a special section for internal use that you needn't
6255 change or worry about:
6260 ##########################################################################
6261 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
6262 ##########################################################################
6265 for-privoxy-version=3.0</screen>
6269 After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
6270 section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
6271 that also explains why and how aliases are used:
6276 ##########################################################################
6278 ##########################################################################
6281 # These aliases just save typing later:
6282 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
6284 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6285 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6286 +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
6287 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
6289 # These aliases define combinations of actions
6290 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
6292 fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link>
6293 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></screen>
6297 Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied
6298 by URL patterns to which they apply. Remember <emphasis>all actions
6299 are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>, so we have to explicitly
6300 enable the ones we want.
6304 The first regular section is probably the most important. It has only
6305 one pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
6306 <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the
6307 set of actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
6308 be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
6309 wholly overridden by later matches further down this file, or in user.action,
6310 but it will still be largely responsible for your overall browsing
6315 Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
6316 no need to disable any actions here. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
6317 preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
6318 Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
6319 multiple lines with line continuation.
6324 ##########################################################################
6325 # "Defaults" section:
6326 ##########################################################################
6328 +<link linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</link> \
6329 +<link linkend="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES">filter{html-annoyances}</link> \
6330 +<link linkend="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">filter{refresh-tags}</link> \
6331 +<link linkend="FILTER-WEBBUGS">filter{webbugs}</link> \
6332 +<link linkend="FILTER-IE-EXPLOITS">filter{ie-exploits}</link> \
6333 +<link linkend="HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS">hide-forwarded-for-headers</link> \
6334 +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
6335 +<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer{forge}</link> \
6336 +<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link> \
6337 +<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> \
6338 +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
6340 / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.</screen>
6344 The default behavior is now set.
6346 This needs rewording, but it can wait for now.
6349 Note that some actions, like not hiding
6350 the user agent, are part of a <quote>general policy</quote> that applies
6351 universally and won't get any exceptions defined later. Other choices,
6352 like not blocking (which is <emphasis>understandably</emphasis> the
6353 default!) need exceptions, i.e. we need to specify explicitly what we
6354 want to block in later sections.
6359 The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
6360 sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
6361 very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
6362 make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
6363 our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
6364 of actions explicitly:
6369 ##########################################################################
6370 # Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
6371 ##########################################################################
6373 # "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
6376 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
6377 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
6378 mail.google.com</screen>
6382 Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
6383 require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
6384 carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
6393 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
6395 .scan.co.uk</screen>
6398 <!-- No longer needed BEGIN OF COMMENTED OUT BLOCK
6401 Then, there are sites which rely on pop-up windows (yuck!) to work.
6402 Since we made pop-up-killing our default above, we need to make exceptions
6403 now. <ulink url="http://www.mozilla.org/">Mozilla</ulink> users, who
6404 can turn on smart handling of unwanted pop-ups in their browsers, can
6406 -<literal><link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link></literal> (and
6407 -<literal><link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></literal>) above
6408 and hence don't need this section. Anyway, disabling an already disabled
6409 action doesn't hurt, so we'll define our exceptions regardless of what was
6410 chosen in the defaults section:
6415 # These sites require pop-ups too :(
6417 { -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> }
6420 .deutsche-bank-24.de</screen>
6423 END OF COMMENTED OUT BLOCK -->
6426 The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
6427 action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable
6428 it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
6433 { -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
6437 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
6438 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
6439 .nytimes.com</screen>
6443 It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
6444 URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
6445 be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
6446 Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
6447 would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
6448 would feed the advertisers (in terms of money <emphasis>and</emphasis>
6449 information). We can mark any URL as an image with the <literal><link
6450 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
6451 and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
6457 ##########################################################################
6459 ##########################################################################
6461 # Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
6462 # blocked further down this file:
6464 { +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
6465 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
6469 And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
6470 generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
6471 request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
6472 mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
6473 <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
6474 course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
6475 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
6476 Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
6477 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
6478 action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
6479 <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
6480 action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
6485 # Known ad generators:
6490 .ad.*.doubleclick.net
6491 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
6492 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
6498 One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
6499 is to block banners. Many of these can be <quote>blocked</quote>
6500 by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
6501 action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
6502 images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
6503 them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
6504 doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
6505 need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
6506 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
6509 First comes many generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
6510 matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
6511 a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
6512 to keep the example short:
6517 ##########################################################################
6518 # Block these fine banners:
6519 ##########################################################################
6520 { <link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link> }
6528 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
6529 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
6531 # Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
6533 .hitbox.com</screen>
6537 It's quite remarkable how many advertisers actually call their banner
6538 servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
6539 in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
6540 generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
6543 But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
6544 to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
6545 <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
6546 but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
6547 <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
6548 well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
6552 Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
6553 <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
6554 so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
6555 URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
6556 action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
6557 general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
6558 <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
6559 <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
6560 applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
6561 with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
6566 ##########################################################################
6567 # Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
6568 ##########################################################################
6572 { -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
6573 adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
6574 adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
6575 adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
6576 ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
6577 .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
6578 .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
6586 www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
6587 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
6591 Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
6592 so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
6593 and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
6594 <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
6595 disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
6600 # Don't filter code!
6602 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
6607 .sourceforge.net</screen>
6611 The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course much more
6612 comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
6617 <sect3><title>user.action</title>
6620 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
6621 which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
6622 you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
6623 are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
6624 be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
6625 be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
6626 actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
6627 defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
6628 <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
6629 <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
6630 <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
6631 to install updated versions from time to time.
6635 So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
6636 <filename>user.action</filename>:
6640 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
6644 # My user.action file. <fred@example.com></screen>
6648 As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
6649 file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
6650 <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
6655 # Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
6656 # (Re-)define aliases for this file:
6660 # These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
6661 # be self explanatory.
6663 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
6664 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
6665 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
6666 allow-popups = -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
6667 +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
6668 -block-as-image = -block
6670 # These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
6671 # certain types of sites:
6673 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
6674 shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
6676 # Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
6678 allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
6680 # Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
6681 # MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
6682 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>
6687 Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
6688 you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
6689 to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
6690 <literal>allow-all-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
6691 that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
6692 processing of cookies to make them only temporary.
6697 { allow-all-cookies }
6701 .redhat.com</screen>
6705 Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:
6710 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
6711 .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
6715 Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
6720 # Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
6721 # erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
6726 # And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
6727 # so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
6729 stupid-server.example.com/</screen>
6733 Example of a simple <link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> action. Say you've
6734 seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of.
6735 You have right-clicked the image, selected <quote>copy image location</quote>
6736 and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a
6737 <literal>{ +block }</literal> section. Note that <literal>{ +handle-as-image
6738 }</literal> need not be specified, since all URLs ending in
6739 <literal>.gif</literal> will be tagged as images by the general rules as set
6740 in default.action anyway:
6745 { +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
6746 www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
6747 another.example.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
6751 The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner
6752 farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which
6753 makes it impossible for <application>Privoxy</application> to guess
6754 the file type just by looking at the URL.
6755 You can use the <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above for
6757 Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an
6758 image are typically rendered as a <quote>broken image</quote> icon by the
6759 browser. Use cautiously.
6768 ar.atwola.com/</screen>
6772 Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
6773 but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
6774 were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
6775 you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
6776 -- <emphasis>whoa!</emphasis> -- it worked. The <literal>fragile</literal>
6777 aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also,
6778 good for testing purposes to see if it is <application>Privoxy</application>
6779 that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular sites
6780 that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:
6788 .mybank.com</screen>
6792 You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
6793 but it is disabled in the distributed actions file.
6794 So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
6795 update-safe config, once and for all:
6800 { +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
6801 / # For ALL sites!</screen>
6805 Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
6806 to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
6807 really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
6808 <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
6809 won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
6813 You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are
6814 funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
6815 to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
6816 sites that you feel provide value to you:
6828 Note that <literal>allow-ads</literal> has been aliased to
6829 <literal>-<link linkend="block">block</link></literal>,
6830 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-size">filter{banners-by-size}</link></literal>, and
6831 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-link">filter{banners-by-link}</link></literal> above.
6835 Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type <literal>
6836 application/x-sh</literal> which typically would open a download type
6837 dialog. In my case, I want to look at the shell script, and then I can save
6838 it should I choose to.
6848 <filename>user.action</filename> is generally the best place to define
6849 exceptions and additions to the default policies of
6850 <filename>default.action</filename>. Some actions are safe to have their
6851 default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
6852 <quote>blank</quote> image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for
6853 <emphasis>ALL</emphasis> sites. <quote>/</quote> of course matches all URL
6859 { +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
6860 / # ALL sites</screen>
6866 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6870 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6872 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6874 <sect1 id="filter-file">
6875 <title>Filter Files</title>
6878 On-the-fly text substitutions need
6879 to be defined in a <quote>filter file</quote>. Once defined, they
6880 can then be invoked as an <quote>action</quote>.
6884 &my-app; supports three different filter actions:
6885 <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> to
6886 rewrite the content that is send to the client,
6887 <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header-filter</link></literal>
6888 to rewrite headers that are send by the client, and
6889 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header-filter</link></literal>
6890 to rewrite headers that are send by the server.
6894 &my-app; also supports two tagger actions:
6895 <literal><link linkend="client-header-tagger">client-header-tagger</link></literal>
6897 <literal><link linkend="server-header-tagger">server-header-tagger</link></literal>.
6898 Taggers and filters use the same syntax in the filter files, the difference
6899 is that taggers don't modify the text they are filtering, but use a rewritten
6900 version of the filtered text as tag. The tags can then be used to change the
6901 applying actions through sections with <link linkend="tag-pattern">tag-patterns</link>.
6906 Multiple filter files can be defined through the <literal> <link
6907 linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config directive. The filters
6908 as supplied by the developers are located in
6909 <filename>default.filter</filename>. It is recommended that any locally
6910 defined or modified filters go in a separately defined file such as
6911 <filename>user.filter</filename>.
6915 Common tasks for content filters are to eliminate common annoyances in
6916 HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
6917 exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
6918 infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
6919 width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
6920 or just to have fun.
6924 Enabled content filters are applied to any content whose
6925 <quote>Content Type</quote> header is recognised as a sign
6926 of text-based content, with the exception of <literal>text/plain</literal>.
6927 Use the <link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> action
6928 to also filter other content.
6932 Substitutions are made at the source level, so if you want to <quote>roll
6933 your own</quote> filters, you should first be familiar with HTML syntax,
6934 and, of course, regular expressions.
6938 Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
6939 filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
6940 here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with one of the
6941 <emphasis>keywords</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>,
6942 <literal>CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER:</literal> or <literal>SERVER-HEADER-FILTER:</literal>
6943 followed by the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
6944 <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
6945 come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
6946 text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
6947 should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
6948 comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
6949 user interface</ulink>.
6953 Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
6954 in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
6955 +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
6956 in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
6960 Filter definitions start with a header line that contains the filter
6961 type, the filter name and the filter description.
6962 A content filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
6967 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
6971 Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that
6972 define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified
6973 in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
6974 <literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
6975 will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
6976 PCRS documentation for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most
6977 notably, the non-standard option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported,
6978 which turns the default to ungreedy matching.
6983 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
6984 Expressions</quote></ulink>, you might want to take a look at
6985 the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
6986 see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl
6988 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlop.html">the
6989 <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
6990 url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
6991 expressions</ulink> in general.
6992 The below examples might also help to get you started.
6996 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6998 <sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
7000 Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> content filter. We have already defined
7001 the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
7002 <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
7007 <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
7011 But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
7012 of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
7013 care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
7014 we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
7018 <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
7022 Our complete filter now looks like this:
7025 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
7026 s/foo/bar/g</screen>
7030 Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
7031 a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
7032 abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
7038 FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
7040 # Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
7042 s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
7046 Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
7047 <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
7048 the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
7049 by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
7053 Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
7054 enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
7055 means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
7056 matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
7057 it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
7061 That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
7062 matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
7063 be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
7064 special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
7065 Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
7066 the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
7067 in the page (and appear in that order).
7071 But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
7072 is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
7073 means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
7074 tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
7075 <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
7079 This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
7080 The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
7081 remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
7082 the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
7083 that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
7084 text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
7085 of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
7086 only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
7087 tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
7088 multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
7089 substitution is global.
7093 So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
7094 <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
7095 (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
7096 <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
7097 that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
7101 Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
7102 lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
7103 easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
7104 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
7105 the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
7106 This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
7107 (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
7108 Business!"</literal>.
7112 The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
7113 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
7114 <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
7115 since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
7116 string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
7117 information anymore.
7121 We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
7122 this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
7127 # The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
7129 s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
7133 <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
7134 carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
7135 or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
7136 makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
7137 option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
7138 <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>. Finally, <literal>\1</literal> is
7139 a back-reference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
7140 with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
7141 a back-reference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
7145 So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
7146 strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
7147 (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
7148 real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
7149 descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
7150 you move your mouse over links.
7155 # Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
7157 s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
7162 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
7163 event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
7164 When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
7165 This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
7166 <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
7167 Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
7168 case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee
7169 a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use <literal>[^>]*</literal>
7170 instead of <literal>.*</literal> to prevent the match from exceeding the
7171 <body> tag if it doesn't contain <quote>OnUnload</quote>, but the page's
7176 The last example is from the fun department:
7181 FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
7183 # Spice the daily news:
7185 s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
7189 Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
7190 in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
7191 <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
7192 in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while
7193 still replacing the word everywhere else.
7198 # Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
7200 s* industry[ -]leading \
7202 | customer[ -]focused \
7203 | market[ -]driven \
7204 | award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
7205 | high[ -]performance \
7206 | solutions[ -]based \
7210 *<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
7215 The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
7216 e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
7224 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
7226 <sect2 id="predefined-filters"><title>The Pre-defined Filters</title>
7230 Note each filter is also listed in the +filter action section above. Please
7231 keep these listings in sync.
7236 The distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file contains a selection of
7237 pre-defined filters for your convenience:
7242 <term><emphasis>js-annoyances</emphasis></term>
7245 The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.
7250 replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
7251 with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the <literal><link
7252 linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal> action on the content level.
7257 removes the bindings to the DOM's
7258 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">unload
7259 event</ulink> which we feel has no right to exist and is responsible for most <quote>exit consoles</quote>, i.e.
7260 nasty windows that pop up when you close another one.
7265 removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being
7266 full-screen, non-resizeable, without location, status or menu bar etc.
7272 Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that
7273 rely heavily on JavaScript.
7279 <term><emphasis>js-events</emphasis></term>
7282 This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event bindings, which
7283 means that scripts can not react to user actions such as mouse movements or clicks, window
7284 resizing etc, anymore. Use with caution!
7287 We <emphasis>strongly discourage</emphasis> using this filter as a default since it breaks
7288 many legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should you really
7295 <term><emphasis>html-annoyances</emphasis></term>
7298 This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
7301 The <literal>BLINK</literal> and <literal>MARQUEE</literal> tags
7302 are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser windows will be created as
7303 resizeable (as of course they should be!), and will have location,
7304 scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
7310 <term><emphasis>content-cookies</emphasis></term>
7313 Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialog, where they can be intercepted
7315 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>
7316 and <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>
7317 actions. But web sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript
7318 to sneak cookies to the browser on the content level.
7321 This filter disables most HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets
7322 cookies. It cannot detect all clever uses of these types of code, so it
7323 should not be relied on as an absolute fix. Use it wherever you would also
7324 use the cookie crunch actions.
7330 <term><emphasis>refresh tags</emphasis></term>
7333 Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
7334 that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
7335 for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
7342 <term><emphasis>unsolicited-popups</emphasis></term>
7345 This filter attempts to prevent only <quote>unsolicited</quote> pop-up
7346 windows from opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user
7347 has explicitly chosen to open. It was added in version 3.0.1,
7348 as an improvement over earlier such filters.
7351 Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
7352 function to a dummy function, <literal>PrivoxyWindowOpen()</literal>,
7353 during the loading and rendering phase of each HTML page access, and
7354 restoring the function afterward.
7357 This is recommended only for browsers that cannot perform this function
7358 reliably themselves. And be aware that some sites require such windows
7359 in order to function normally. Use with caution.
7365 <term><emphasis>all-popups</emphasis></term>
7368 Attempt to prevent <emphasis>all</emphasis> pop-up windows from opening.
7369 Note this should be used with even more discretion than the above, since
7370 it is more likely to break some sites that require pop-ups for normal
7371 usage. Use with caution.
7377 <term><emphasis>img-reorder</emphasis></term>
7380 This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the
7381 <literal>banners-by-size</literal> and <literal>banners-by-link</literal>
7382 (see below) filters more effective and should be enabled together with them.
7388 <term><emphasis>banners-by-size</emphasis></term>
7391 This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are. Fortunately
7392 for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain standardized
7393 sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad stripping purposes.
7396 Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not ads,
7397 but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes.
7400 Recommended only for those who require extreme ad blocking. The default
7401 block rules should catch 95+% of all ads <emphasis>without</emphasis> this filter enabled.
7407 <term><emphasis>banners-by-link</emphasis></term>
7410 This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if
7411 their URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently
7412 not of much value and is not recommended for use by default.
7418 <term><emphasis>webbugs</emphasis></term>
7421 Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that
7422 are used to track users across websites, and collect information on them.
7423 As an HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the
7424 browser to contact a third-party site, disclosing the tracking information
7425 through the requested URL and/or cookies for that third-party domain, without
7426 the user ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party site.
7427 HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email addresses.
7430 This filter removes the HTML code that loads such <quote>webbugs</quote>.
7436 <term><emphasis>tiny-textforms</emphasis></term>
7439 A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas (those
7440 multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in them.
7441 It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such boxes are
7442 a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too.
7445 It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
7451 <term><emphasis>jumping-windows</emphasis></term>
7454 Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This filter
7455 neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might not display
7456 or behave as intended when using this filter. Use with caution.
7462 <term><emphasis>frameset-borders</emphasis></term>
7465 Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view their
7466 web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution etc,
7467 because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame sizes,
7468 yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they be too
7469 small to show their whole content.
7472 This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to sites
7479 <term><emphasis>demoronizer</emphasis></term>
7482 Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions (read:
7483 violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This can cause those
7484 HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant platforms.
7487 This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents.
7488 It is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of
7489 all documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly
7490 worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if weird garbage characters
7491 sometimes appear on some pages, or user agents that don't correct for this on
7494 My version of Mozilla (ancient) shows litte square boxes for quote
7495 characters, and apostrophes on moronized pages. So many pages have this, I
7496 can read them fine now. HB 08/27/06
7503 <term><emphasis>shockwave-flash</emphasis></term>
7506 A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips code
7507 out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects.
7515 <term><emphasis>quicktime-kioskmode</emphasis></term>
7518 Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
7519 prevents saving, is disabled.
7525 <term><emphasis>fun</emphasis></term>
7528 Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
7529 Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
7535 <term><emphasis>crude-parental</emphasis></term>
7538 A demonstration-only filter that shows how <application>Privoxy</application>
7539 can be used to delete web content on a keyword basis.
7545 <term><emphasis>ie-exploits</emphasis></term>
7548 An experimental collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
7549 code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
7552 Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug, and
7553 would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
7559 <term><emphasis>site-specifics</emphasis></term>
7562 Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't apply
7563 anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
7566 This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be applied
7567 to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
7568 <filename>default.action</filename> file does. Users shouldn't need to change
7569 anything regarding this filter.
7575 <term><emphasis>google</emphasis></term>
7578 A CSS based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation
7579 and the toolbar advertisement.
7585 <term><emphasis>yahoo</emphasis></term>
7588 Another CSS based block, this time for Yahoo text ads. And removes
7589 a width limitation as well.
7595 <term><emphasis>msn</emphasis></term>
7598 Another CSS based block, this time for MSN text ads. And removes
7599 tracking URLs, as well as a width limitation.
7605 <term><emphasis>blogspot</emphasis></term>
7608 Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this one!
7611 This filter also intentionally removes some navigation stuff and sets the
7612 page width to 100%. As a result, some rounded <quote>corners</quote> would
7613 appear to early or not at all and as fixing this would require a browser
7614 that understands background-size (CSS3), they are removed instead.
7620 <term><emphasis>xml-to-html</emphasis></term>
7623 Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from xml to html.
7629 <term><emphasis>html-to-xml</emphasis></term>
7632 Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from html to xml.
7638 <term><emphasis>no-ping</emphasis></term>
7641 Removes the non-standard <literal>ping</literal> attribute from
7642 anchor and area HTML tags.
7648 <term><emphasis>hide-tor-exit-notation</emphasis></term>
7651 Client-header filter to remove the <command>Tor</command> exit node notation
7652 found in Host and Referer headers.
7655 If &my-app; and <command>Tor</command> are chained and &my-app;
7656 is configured to use socks4a, one can use <quote>http://www.example.org.foobar.exit/</quote>
7657 to access the host <quote>www.example.org</quote> through the
7658 <command>Tor</command> exit node <quote>foobar</quote>.
7661 As the HTTP client isn't aware of this notation, it treats the
7662 whole string <quote>www.example.org.foobar.exit</quote> as host and uses it
7663 for the <quote>Host</quote> and <quote>Referer</quote> headers. From the
7664 server's point of view the resulting headers are invalid and can cause problems.
7667 An invalid <quote>Referer</quote> header can trigger <quote>hot-linking</quote>
7668 protections, an invalid <quote>Host</quote> header will make it impossible for
7669 the server to find the right vhost (several domains hosted on the same IP address).
7672 This client-header filter removes the <quote>foo.exit</quote> part in those headers
7673 to prevent the mentioned problems. Note that it only modifies
7674 the HTTP headers, it doesn't make it impossible for the server
7675 to detect your <command>Tor</command> exit node based on the IP address
7676 the request is coming from.
7683 <term><emphasis> </emphasis></term>
7697 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7701 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7703 <sect1 id="templates">
7704 <title>Privoxy's Template Files</title>
7706 All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
7707 <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
7708 error page</ulink>, the <ulink
7709 url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
7711 and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
7712 user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
7713 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
7718 These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
7719 directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On Unixish platforms,
7721 <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
7725 The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
7726 or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. It
7727 is possible to edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want
7728 to customize them. (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual
7729 user</emphasis>). Should you create your own custom templates, you should use
7730 the <filename>config</filename> setting <link linkend="templdir">templdir</link>
7731 to specify an alternate location, so your templates do not get overwritten
7735 Note that just like in configuration files, lines starting
7736 with <literal>#</literal> are ignored when the templates are filled in.
7740 The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
7741 find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
7742 in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
7743 always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
7744 code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
7748 A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
7749 blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
7750 for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
7751 our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
7752 is in an alpha or beta development stage:
7757 <!-- @if-unstable-start -->
7759 ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
7761 <!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
7765 If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
7766 <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
7767 will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
7771 <screen><!-- --></screen>
7775 There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
7776 mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
7781 All templates refer to a style located at
7782 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
7783 This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
7784 and the source for it can be found and edited in the
7785 <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
7790 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7794 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7796 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
7799 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
7801 <!-- end boilerplate -->
7805 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7808 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7809 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
7811 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
7813 <!-- end copyright -->
7815 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7816 <sect2><title>License</title>
7817 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
7819 <!-- end copyright -->
7821 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7824 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7826 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
7827 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
7829 <!-- end history -->
7832 <sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
7833 <!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
7835 <!-- end authors -->
7840 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7843 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7844 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
7845 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
7847 <!-- end seealso -->
7852 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7853 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
7856 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7858 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
7860 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
7861 expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
7862 files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
7863 through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
7866 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
7868 <application>PCRS</application> libraries.
7872 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
7873 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
7874 introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
7875 url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
7879 Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
7880 run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
7881 match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
7882 strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
7883 characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
7884 special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
7885 Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
7886 <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
7890 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
7891 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
7892 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
7893 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
7894 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
7895 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
7896 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
7897 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
7901 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
7902 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
7903 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
7904 and then some examples:
7909 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
7910 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
7912 </simplelist></para>
7916 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
7919 </simplelist></para>
7923 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
7926 </simplelist></para>
7930 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
7933 </simplelist></para>
7937 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
7938 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
7939 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
7940 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
7941 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
7942 meta-character meaning of any single character).
7944 </simplelist></para>
7948 <emphasis>[ ]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
7949 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
7950 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
7951 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
7953 </simplelist></para>
7957 <emphasis>( )</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
7958 or multiple sub-expressions.
7960 </simplelist></para>
7964 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
7965 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
7966 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
7967 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
7968 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
7969 example</quote>, and nothing else.
7971 </simplelist></para>
7974 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
7975 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
7976 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
7977 be more illuminating:
7981 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
7982 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
7983 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
7984 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
7985 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
7986 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
7987 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
7988 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
7989 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
7990 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
7991 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
7992 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
7993 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
7994 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
7999 And now something a little more complex:
8003 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
8004 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
8005 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
8006 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
8007 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
8008 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
8009 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
8014 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
8015 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
8016 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
8017 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
8018 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
8019 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
8020 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
8021 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
8022 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
8023 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
8024 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
8025 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
8026 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
8027 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
8028 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
8029 changing our regular expression to:
8030 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
8035 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
8036 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
8037 <quote>[ ]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
8038 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
8039 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
8040 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
8041 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
8042 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
8043 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
8044 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
8045 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
8046 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
8047 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
8048 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
8049 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
8050 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
8051 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
8052 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
8053 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
8054 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
8055 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
8056 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
8057 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
8058 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
8059 in the expression anywhere).
8063 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
8064 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
8065 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
8066 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
8067 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
8072 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
8073 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>
8077 For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications
8078 in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
8083 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
8086 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8088 <title>Privoxy's Internal Pages</title>
8091 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
8092 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
8093 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
8094 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
8095 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
8096 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
8097 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
8103 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
8104 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
8105 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
8106 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
8119 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
8123 There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
8124 doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
8125 sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
8131 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
8132 editing of actions files:
8136 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
8143 Show the source code version numbers:
8147 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
8154 Show the browser's request headers:
8158 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
8165 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
8169 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
8176 Toggle Privoxy on or off. This feature can be turned off/on in the main
8177 <filename>config</filename> file. When toggled <quote>off</quote>, <quote>Privoxy</quote>
8178 continues to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking
8183 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
8187 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
8191 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
8196 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
8205 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
8209 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
8210 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
8212 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
8213 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
8214 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
8215 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
8216 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
8217 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
8220 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
8221 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
8222 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
8223 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
8224 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
8225 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
8234 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>
8241 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>
8248 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)
8255 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>
8261 <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>
8267 <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
8274 Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
8275 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com/">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
8276 have more information about bookmarklets.
8285 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8287 <title>Chain of Events</title>
8289 Let's take a quick look at how some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
8290 core features are triggered, and the ensuing sequence of events when a web
8291 page is requested by your browser:
8298 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
8299 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
8300 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
8306 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
8307 pages (e.g <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
8312 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
8314 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
8315 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
8316 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
8318 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT"><quote>+handle-as-empty-document</quote></link>
8319 are then checked, and if there is no match, an
8320 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back to the browser. Otherwise, if
8321 it does match, an image is returned for the former, and an empty text
8322 document for the latter. The type of image would depend on the setting of
8323 <link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
8324 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
8329 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
8330 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
8335 If the URL pattern matches the <link
8336 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
8337 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
8342 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
8343 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
8344 linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
8345 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
8351 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web
8357 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
8358 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
8359 filtered as determined by the
8360 <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
8361 <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
8362 and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
8368 If the <link linkend="KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></link>
8369 action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript document, the popup-code in the
8370 response is filtered on-the-fly as it is received.
8375 If any <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
8377 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
8378 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
8379 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
8380 <filename>default.filter</filename> and any other filter files) are
8381 processed against the buffered content. Filters are applied in the order
8382 they are specified in one of the filter files. Animated GIFs, if present,
8383 are reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
8384 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
8385 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
8388 If neither a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
8390 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
8391 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
8392 to the client browser as it becomes available.
8397 As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it
8398 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
8399 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
8400 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a
8401 separate request (this is easily viewable in <application>Privoxy's</application>
8402 logs). And each such request is in turn processed just as above. Note that a
8403 complex web page will have many, many such embedded URLs. If these
8404 secondary requests are to a different server, then quite possibly a very
8405 differing set of actions is triggered.
8412 NOTE: This is somewhat of a simplistic overview of what happens with each URL
8413 request. For the sake of brevity and simplicity, we have focused on
8414 <application>Privoxy's</application> core features only.
8420 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8421 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
8422 <title>Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</title>
8425 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
8426 <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
8427 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
8428 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
8429 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
8430 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
8431 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
8432 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
8433 <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
8438 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
8439 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
8440 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
8441 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
8442 logs is a good idea too. (Note that both the toggle feature and logging are
8443 enabled via <filename>config</filename> file settings, and may need to be
8444 turned <quote>on</quote>.)
8447 Another easy troubleshooting step to try is if you have done any
8448 customization of your installation, revert back to the installed
8449 defaults and see if that helps. There are times the developers get complaints
8450 about one thing or another, and the problem is more related to a customized
8451 configuration issue.
8455 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
8456 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
8457 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
8458 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
8462 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
8463 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
8464 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
8465 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
8466 linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
8467 one of the filter files since this is handled very
8468 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
8469 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
8470 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
8471 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
8472 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
8473 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
8474 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
8479 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
8480 and look at it one section at a time in a sample configuration (your real
8481 configuration may vary):
8486 Matches for http://www.google.com:
8488 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8490 {+deanimate-gifs {last}
8491 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
8492 +filter {refresh-tags}
8493 +filter {img-reorder}
8494 +filter {banners-by-size}
8496 +filter {jumping-windows}
8497 +filter {ie-exploits}
8498 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
8499 +hide-from-header {block}
8500 +hide-referrer {forge}
8501 +session-cookies-only
8502 +set-image-blocker {pattern}
8505 { -session-cookies-only }
8511 In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8512 (no matches in this file)
8517 This is telling us how we have defined our
8518 <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
8519 which ones match for our test case, <quote>google.com</quote>.
8520 Displayed is all the actions that are available to us. Remember,
8521 the <literal>+</literal> sign denotes <quote>on</quote>. <literal>-</literal>
8522 denotes <quote>off</quote>. So some are <quote>on</quote> here, but many
8523 are <quote>off</quote>. Each example we try may provide a slightly different
8524 end result, depending on our configuration directives.
8528 is for our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line
8529 listing, is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default
8530 settings. If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the
8531 section just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This
8532 will apply to all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end
8533 of the listing -- <quote> / </quote>.
8537 But we have defined additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
8538 rules, and then we list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions
8539 would apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit
8540 matches for <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous
8541 cookie setting, which was for <link
8542 linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
8543 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google, at
8544 least that is how it is in this example. The second turns
8545 <emphasis>off</emphasis> any <link
8546 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
8547 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
8548 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
8549 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
8550 <quote>www.google.com</quote> or <quote>mail.google.com</quote>. But it would not
8551 match <quote>www.google.de</quote>! So, apparently, we have these two actions
8552 defined as exceptions to the general rules at the top somewhere in the lower
8553 part of our <filename>default.action</filename> file, and
8554 <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter sections.
8558 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
8559 So there is nothing google-specific that we might have added to our own, local
8560 configuration. If there was, those actions would over-rule any actions from
8561 previously processed files, such as <filename>default.action</filename>.
8562 <filename>user.action</filename> typically has the last word. This is the
8563 best place to put hard and fast exceptions,
8567 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
8568 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
8569 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
8580 -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
8581 -content-type-overwrite
8582 -crunch-client-header
8583 -crunch-if-none-match
8584 -crunch-incoming-cookies
8585 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
8586 -crunch-server-header
8587 +deanimate-gifs {last}
8588 -downgrade-http-version
8591 -filter {content-cookies}
8592 -filter {all-popups}
8593 -filter {banners-by-link}
8594 -filter {tiny-textforms}
8595 -filter {frameset-borders}
8596 -filter {demoronizer}
8597 -filter {shockwave-flash}
8598 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
8600 -filter {crude-parental}
8601 -filter {site-specifics}
8602 -filter {js-annoyances}
8603 -filter {html-annoyances}
8604 +filter {refresh-tags}
8605 -filter {unsolicited-popups}
8606 +filter {img-reorder}
8607 +filter {banners-by-size}
8609 +filter {jumping-windows}
8610 +filter {ie-exploits}
8617 -handle-as-empty-document
8619 -hide-accept-language
8620 -hide-content-disposition
8621 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
8622 +hide-from-header {block}
8623 -hide-if-modified-since
8624 +hide-referrer {forge}
8629 -overwrite-last-modified
8630 -prevent-compression
8634 -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
8635 -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
8636 -session-cookies-only
8637 +set-image-blocker {pattern}
8638 -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks </screen>
8642 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
8643 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>,
8644 which are activated specifically for this site in our configuration,
8645 and thus show in the <quote>Final Results</quote>.
8649 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
8661 { +block +handle-as-image }
8662 .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
8667 We'll just show the interesting part here - the explicit matches. It is
8668 matched three different times. Two <quote>+block</quote> sections,
8669 and a <quote>+block +handle-as-image</quote>,
8670 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
8671 <quote>+block-as-image</quote>. (<link
8672 linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
8673 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
8678 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
8679 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
8680 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
8681 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
8682 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
8683 is done here -- as both a <link
8684 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link>
8685 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
8686 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
8687 The custom alias <quote><literal>+block-as-image</literal></quote> just
8688 simplifies the process and make it more readable.
8692 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
8693 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
8699 Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
8701 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8705 -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
8706 -content-type-overwrite
8707 -crunch-client-header
8708 -crunch-if-none-match
8709 -crunch-incoming-cookies
8710 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
8711 -crunch-server-header
8713 -downgrade-http-version
8714 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
8716 -filter {content-cookies}
8717 -filter {all-popups}
8718 -filter {banners-by-link}
8719 -filter {tiny-textforms}
8720 -filter {frameset-borders}
8721 -filter {demoronizer}
8722 -filter {shockwave-flash}
8723 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
8725 -filter {crude-parental}
8726 -filter {site-specifics}
8727 -filter {js-annoyances}
8728 -filter {html-annoyances}
8729 +filter {refresh-tags}
8730 -filter {unsolicited-popups}
8731 +filter {img-reorder}
8732 +filter {banners-by-size}
8734 +filter {jumping-windows}
8735 +filter {ie-exploits}
8742 -handle-as-empty-document
8744 -hide-accept-language
8745 -hide-content-disposition
8746 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
8747 +hide-from-header{block}
8748 +hide-referer{forge}
8752 -overwrite-last-modified
8753 +prevent-compression
8757 -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
8758 -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
8759 +session-cookies-only
8760 +set-image-blocker{blank}
8761 -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks }
8764 { +block +handle-as-image }
8770 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote> in our
8771 configuration! But we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the
8772 blank page. It is actually triggering two different actions here, and
8773 the effects are aggregated so that the URL is blocked, and &my-app; is told
8774 to treat the block as if it were an image. But this is, of course, all wrong.
8775 We could now add a new action below this (or better in our own
8776 <filename>user.action</filename> file) that explicitly
8777 <emphasis>un</emphasis> blocks (
8778 <link linkend="BLOCK"><quote>{-block}</quote></link>) paths with
8779 <quote>adsl</quote> in them (remember, last match in the configuration
8780 wins). There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
8792 Now the page displays ;-)
8793 Remember to flush your browser's caches when making these kinds of changes to
8794 your configuration to insure that you get a freshly delivered page! Or, try
8795 using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
8799 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
8806 { +block +handle-as-image }
8812 That actually was very helpful and pointed us quickly to where the problem
8813 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
8814 rules in the first section of <filename>default.action</filename> is causing
8815 the problem. This would require some guesswork, and maybe a little trial and
8816 error to isolate the offending rule. One likely cause would be one of the
8817 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> actions.
8818 These tend to be harder to troubleshoot.
8819 Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off
8820 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>:
8828 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
8836 <quote><literal>{ shop }</literal></quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
8837 <quote><literal>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</literal></quote>.
8838 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
8846 # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
8854 This would turn off all filtering for these sites. This is best
8855 put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
8856 exceptions. Note that when a simple domain pattern is used by itself (without
8857 the subsequent path portion), all sub-pages within that domain are included
8858 automatically in the scope of the action.
8862 Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
8863 <link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"><quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote></link>
8865 that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well
8866 <emphasis>most of the time</emphasis> since these tend to be standardized).
8870 <quote><literal>{ fragile }</literal></quote> is an alias that disables most
8871 actions that are the most likely to cause trouble. This can be used as a
8872 last resort for problem sites.
8878 # Handle with care: easy to break
8880 mybank.example.com</screen>
8885 <emphasis>Remember to flush caches!</emphasis> Note that the
8886 <literal>mail.google</literal> reference lacks the TLD portion (e.g.
8887 <quote>.com</quote>). This will effectively match any TLD with
8888 <literal>google</literal> in it, such as <literal>mail.google.de.</literal>,
8892 If this still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining
8893 actions one by one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
8902 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
8903 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
8904 Public License as published by the Free Software
8905 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
8906 your option) any later version.
8908 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
8909 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
8910 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
8911 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
8912 License for more details.
8914 The GNU General Public License should be included with
8915 this file. If not, you can view it at
8916 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
8917 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
8918 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301,
8921 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
8922 Revision 2.59 2008/02/11 00:52:34 markm68k
8923 reflect new changes for mac os x
8925 Revision 2.58 2008/02/03 21:37:40 hal9
8926 Apply patch from Mark: s/OSX/OS X/
8928 Revision 2.57 2008/02/03 19:10:14 fabiankeil
8929 Mention forward-socks5.
8931 Revision 2.56 2008/01/31 19:11:35 fabiankeil
8932 Let the +client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation} example apply
8933 to all requests as "tainted" Referers aren't limited to exit TLDs.
8935 Revision 2.55 2008/01/19 21:26:37 hal9
8936 Add IE7 to configuration section per Gerry.
8938 Revision 2.54 2008/01/19 17:52:39 hal9
8939 Re-commit to fix various minor issues for new release.
8941 Revision 2.53 2008/01/19 15:03:05 hal9
8942 Doc sources tagged for 3.0.8 release.
8944 Revision 2.52 2008/01/17 01:49:51 hal9
8945 Change copyright notice for docs s/2007/2008/. All these will be rebuilt soon
8948 Revision 2.51 2007/12/23 16:48:24 fabiankeil
8949 Use more precise example descriptions for the mysterious domain patterns.
8951 Revision 2.50 2007/12/08 12:44:36 fabiankeil
8952 - Remove already commented out pre-3.0.7 changes.
8953 - Update the "new log defaults" paragraph.
8955 Revision 2.49 2007/12/06 18:21:55 fabiankeil
8956 Update hide-forwarded-for-headers description.
8958 Revision 2.48 2007/11/24 19:07:17 fabiankeil
8959 - Mention request rewriting.
8960 - Enable the conditional-forge paragraph.
8963 Revision 2.47 2007/11/18 14:59:47 fabiankeil
8964 A few "Note to Upgraders" updates.
8966 Revision 2.46 2007/11/17 17:24:44 fabiankeil
8967 - Use new action defaults.
8968 - Minor fixes and rewordings.
8970 Revision 2.45 2007/11/16 11:48:46 hal9
8971 Fix one typo, and add a couple of small refinements.
8973 Revision 2.44 2007/11/15 03:30:20 hal9
8974 Results of spell check.
8976 Revision 2.43 2007/11/14 18:45:39 fabiankeil
8977 - Mention some more contributors in the "New in this Release" list.
8980 Revision 2.42 2007/11/12 03:32:40 hal9
8981 Updates for "What's New" and "Notes to Upgraders". Various other changes in
8982 preparation for new release. User Manual is almost ready.
8984 Revision 2.41 2007/11/11 16:32:11 hal9
8985 This is primarily syncing What's New and Note to Upgraders sections with the many
8986 new features and changes (gleaned from memory but mostly from ChangeLog).
8988 Revision 2.40 2007/11/10 17:10:59 fabiankeil
8989 In the first third of the file, mention several times that
8990 the action editor is disabled by default in 3.0.7 beta and later.
8992 Revision 2.39 2007/11/05 02:34:49 hal9
8993 Various changes in preparation for the upcoming release. Much yet to be done.
8995 Revision 2.38 2007/09/22 16:01:42 fabiankeil
8996 Update embedded show-url-info output.
8998 Revision 2.37 2007/08/27 16:09:55 fabiankeil
8999 Fix pre-chroot-nslookup description which I failed to
9000 copy and paste properly. Reported by Stephen Gildea.
9002 Revision 2.36 2007/08/26 16:47:14 fabiankeil
9003 Add Stephen Gildea's pre-chroot-nslookup patch [#1276666],
9004 extensive comments moved to user manual.
9006 Revision 2.35 2007/08/26 14:59:49 fabiankeil
9007 Minor rewordings and fixes.
9009 Revision 2.34 2007/08/05 15:19:50 fabiankeil
9010 - Don't claim HTTP/1.1 compliance.
9011 - Use $ in some of the path pattern examples.
9012 - Use a hide-user-agent example argument without
9013 leading and trailing space.
9014 - Make it clear that the cookie actions work with
9016 - Rephrase the inspect-jpegs text to underline
9017 that it's only meant to protect against a single
9020 Revision 2.33 2007/07/27 10:57:35 hal9
9021 Add references for user-agent strings for hide-user-agenet
9023 Revision 2.32 2007/06/07 12:36:22 fabiankeil
9024 Apply Roland's 29_usermanual.dpatch to fix a bunch
9025 of syntax errors I collected over the last months.
9027 Revision 2.31 2007/06/02 14:01:37 fabiankeil
9028 Start to document forward-override{}.
9030 Revision 2.30 2007/04/25 15:10:36 fabiankeil
9031 - Describe installation for FreeBSD.
9032 - Start to document taggers and tag patterns.
9033 - Don't confuse devils and daemons.
9035 Revision 2.29 2007/04/05 11:47:51 fabiankeil
9036 Some updates regarding header filtering,
9037 handling of compressed content and redirect's
9038 support for pcrs commands.
9040 Revision 2.28 2006/12/10 23:42:48 hal9
9041 Fix various typos reported by Adam P. Thanks.
9043 Revision 2.27 2006/11/14 01:57:47 hal9
9044 Dump all docs prior to 3.0.6 release. Various minor changes to faq and user
9047 Revision 2.26 2006/10/24 11:16:44 hal9
9050 Revision 2.25 2006/10/18 10:50:33 hal9
9051 Add note that since filters are off in Cautious, compression is ON. Turn off
9052 compression to make filters work on all sites.
9054 Revision 2.24 2006/10/03 11:13:54 hal9
9055 More references to the new filters. Include html this time around.
9057 Revision 2.23 2006/10/02 22:43:53 hal9
9058 Contains new filter definitions from Fabian, and few other miscellaneous
9061 Revision 2.22 2006/09/22 01:27:55 hal9
9062 Final commit of probably various minor changes here and there. Unless
9063 something changes this should be ready for pending release.
9065 Revision 2.21 2006/09/20 03:21:36 david__schmidt
9066 Just the tiniest tweak. Wafer thin!
9068 Revision 2.20 2006/09/10 14:53:54 hal9
9069 Results of spell check. User manual has some updates to standard.actions file
9072 Revision 2.19 2006/09/08 12:19:02 fabiankeil
9073 Adjust hide-if-modified-since example values
9074 to reflect the recent changes.
9076 Revision 2.18 2006/09/08 02:38:57 hal9
9078 -Fix a number of broken links.
9079 -Migrate the new Windows service command line options, and reference as
9081 -Rebuild so that can be used with the new "user-manual" config capabilities.
9084 Revision 2.17 2006/09/05 13:25:12 david__schmidt
9085 Add Windows service invocation stuff (duplicated) in FAQ and in user manual under Windows startup. One probably ought to reference the other.
9087 Revision 2.16 2006/09/02 12:49:37 hal9
9088 Various small updates for new actions, filterfiles, etc.
9090 Revision 2.15 2006/08/30 11:15:22 hal9
9091 More work on the new actions, especially filter-*-headers, and What's New
9092 section. User Manual is close to final form for 3.0.4 release. Some tinkering
9093 and proof reading left to do.
9095 Revision 2.14 2006/08/29 10:59:36 hal9
9096 Add a "Whats New in this release" Section. Further work on multiple filter
9097 files, and assorted other minor changes.
9099 Revision 2.13 2006/08/22 11:04:59 hal9
9100 Silence warnings and errors. This should build now. New filters were only
9101 stubbed in. More to be done.
9103 Revision 2.12 2006/08/14 08:40:39 fabiankeil
9104 Documented new actions that were part of
9105 the "minor Privoxy improvements".
9107 Revision 2.11 2006/07/18 14:48:51 david__schmidt
9108 Reorganizing the repository: swapping out what was HEAD (the old 3.1 branch)
9109 with what was really the latest development (the v_3_0_branch branch)
9111 Revision 1.123.2.43 2005/05/23 09:59:10 hal9
9114 Revision 1.123.2.42 2004/12/04 14:39:57 hal9
9115 Fix two minor typos per bug SF report.
9117 Revision 1.123.2.41 2004/03/23 12:58:42 oes
9120 Revision 1.123.2.40 2004/02/27 12:48:49 hal9
9121 Add comment re: redirecting to local file system for set-image-blocker may
9122 is dependent on browser.
9124 Revision 1.123.2.39 2004/01/30 22:31:40 oes
9125 Added a hint re bookmarklets to Quickstart section
9127 Revision 1.123.2.38 2004/01/30 16:47:51 oes
9128 Some minor clarifications
9130 Revision 1.123.2.37 2004/01/29 22:36:11 hal9
9131 Updates for no longer filtering text/plain, and demoronizer default settings,
9132 and copyright notice dates.
9134 Revision 1.123.2.36 2003/12/10 02:26:26 hal9
9135 Changed the demoronizer filter description.
9137 Revision 1.123.2.35 2003/11/06 13:36:37 oes
9138 Updated link to nightly CVS tarball
9140 Revision 1.123.2.34 2003/06/26 23:50:16 hal9
9141 Add a small bit on filtering and problems re: source code being corrupted.
9143 Revision 1.123.2.33 2003/05/08 18:17:33 roro
9144 Use apt-get instead of dpkg to install Debian package, which is more
9145 solid, uses the correct and most recent Debian version automatically.
9147 Revision 1.123.2.32 2003/04/11 03:13:57 hal9
9148 Add small note about only one filterfile (as opposed to multiple actions
9151 Revision 1.123.2.31 2003/03/26 02:03:43 oes
9152 Updated hard-coded copyright dates
9154 Revision 1.123.2.30 2003/03/24 12:58:56 hal9
9155 Add new section on Predefined Filters.
9157 Revision 1.123.2.29 2003/03/20 02:45:29 hal9
9158 More problems with \-\-chroot causing markup problems :(
9160 Revision 1.123.2.28 2003/03/19 00:35:24 hal9
9161 Manual edit of revision log because 'chroot' (even inside a comment) was
9162 causing Docbook to hang here (due to double hyphen and the processor thinking
9165 Revision 1.123.2.27 2003/03/18 19:37:14 oes
9166 s/Advanced|Radical/Adventuresome/g to avoid complaints re fun filter
9168 Revision 1.123.2.26 2003/03/17 16:50:53 oes
9169 Added documentation for new chroot option
9171 Revision 1.123.2.25 2003/03/15 18:36:55 oes
9172 Adapted to the new filters
9174 Revision 1.123.2.24 2002/11/17 06:41:06 hal9
9175 Move default profiles table from FAQ to U-M, and other minor related changes.
9178 Revision 1.123.2.23 2002/10/21 02:32:01 hal9
9179 Updates to the user.action examples section. A few new ones.
9181 Revision 1.123.2.22 2002/10/12 00:51:53 hal9
9182 Add demoronizer to filter section.
9184 Revision 1.123.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 hal9
9185 s/Advanced/Radical/ and added very brief note.
9187 Revision 1.123.2.20 2002/10/10 03:49:21 hal9
9188 Add notes to session-cookies-only and Quickstart about pre-existing
9189 cookies. Also, note content-cookies work differently.
9191 Revision 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9
9192 More explanation on Privoxy patterns, more on content-cookies and SSL.
9194 Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9
9195 Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match
9198 Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9
9199 Spell checked (only one typo this time!).
9201 Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt
9202 Update to Mac OS X startup script name
9204 Revision 1.123.2.15 2002/08/07 17:32:11 oes
9205 Converted some internal links from ulink to link for PDF creation; no content changed
9207 Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes
9208 Nits re: actions file download
9210 Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff
9211 Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections
9213 Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff
9214 Added 2 Gentoo sections
9216 Revision 1.123.2.11 2002/07/26 15:20:31 oes
9217 - Added version info to title
9218 - Added info on new filters
9219 - Revised parts of the filter file tutorial
9220 - Added info on where to get updated actions files
9222 Revision 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
9223 Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
9225 Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt
9227 Updated Mac OS X sections due to installation location change
9229 Revision 1.123.2.8 2002/06/09 16:36:32 hal9
9230 Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
9232 Revision 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9
9233 Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy.
9235 Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9
9236 Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs.
9238 Revision 1.123.2.5 2002/05/29 02:01:02 hal9
9239 This is break out of the entire config section from u-m, so it can
9240 eventually be used to generate the comments, etc in the main config file
9241 so that these are in sync with each other.
9243 Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
9244 Ooops missed something from David.
9246 Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9
9247 Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and Mac OS X startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat).
9248 That's a wrap, I think.
9250 Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9
9251 Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section.
9253 Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
9254 -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
9256 Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9
9257 Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton.
9258 Minor corrections/clarifications here and there.
9260 Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
9261 Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
9263 Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes
9264 - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the
9265 <literal><link> style.
9266 - Small fixes in the actions chapter
9267 - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking
9268 - Removed <emphasis> from <title>s since the new doc CSS
9269 renders them red (bad in TOC).
9271 Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
9272 Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
9274 Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
9277 Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
9278 -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
9279 -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
9281 Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
9282 - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
9283 - Small changes to Regex appendix
9284 - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
9286 Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
9287 Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
9289 Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
9290 Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
9292 Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
9293 More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
9295 Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
9296 Extended and further commented the example actions files
9298 Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
9299 Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
9302 Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes
9305 Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes
9306 Restored alphabetical order of actions
9308 Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes
9309 Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs
9311 Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
9312 Completed proofreading the actions chapter
9314 Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9
9315 Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this
9316 apparently an important distinction for some OS's.
9318 Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
9319 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
9320 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
9321 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
9323 Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
9324 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
9326 Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
9329 Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
9330 -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
9331 -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
9333 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
9334 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
9336 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
9337 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
9338 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
9340 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
9341 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
9343 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
9344 more structure in starting section
9346 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
9347 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
9348 will probably break links elsewhere :(
9350 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
9351 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
9352 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
9354 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
9355 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
9356 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
9358 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
9359 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
9361 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
9362 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
9363 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
9365 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
9366 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
9367 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
9369 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
9370 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
9372 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
9373 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
9375 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
9376 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
9378 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
9379 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
9381 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
9382 Updated Mac OS X installation section
9383 Added a few English tweaks here an there
9385 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
9386 Re-write actions section.
9388 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
9389 Fix ugly typo (mine).
9391 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
9392 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
9394 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
9395 Added RPM install detail
9397 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
9400 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
9401 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
9403 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
9404 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
9406 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
9407 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
9409 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
9412 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
9413 Proofreading, part one
9415 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
9416 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
9417 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
9419 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
9420 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
9422 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
9423 Add small section on submitting actions.
9425 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
9428 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
9429 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
9431 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
9432 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
9434 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
9437 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
9438 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
9439 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
9440 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
9441 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
9443 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
9444 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
9446 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
9447 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
9449 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
9450 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
9451 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
9452 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
9453 eventually be set by Makefile.
9454 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
9456 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
9457 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
9459 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
9460 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
9462 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
9463 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
9465 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
9466 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
9467 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
9468 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
9470 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
9473 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
9474 Added more to Anatomy section.
9476 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
9477 Touch up intro for new name.
9479 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
9480 we have a new homepage!
9482 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
9483 A few minor catch ups with name change.
9485 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
9486 configure needs to be generated.
9488 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
9489 we are too lazy to make a block-built
9490 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
9492 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
9493 name change related issue.
9495 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
9496 name change. changed filenames.
9498 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
9501 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
9502 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
9503 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
9504 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
9505 comments and remarks to history untouched.
9507 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
9510 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
9511 New section in Appendix.
9513 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
9514 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
9516 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
9517 correct feedback channels
9519 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
9520 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
9522 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
9525 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
9526 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
9528 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
9529 Added imageblock{pattern}.
9531 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
9534 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
9535 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
9537 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
9538 provide correct feedback channels
9540 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
9541 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
9543 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
9544 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
9546 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
9547 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
9549 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
9550 Add new - - user option.
9552 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
9553 Added section on command line options.
9555 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
9556 Changed default port to 8118
9558 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
9559 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
9561 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
9562 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
9563 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
9566 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
9569 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
9570 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
9572 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
9573 Update OS/2 build section
9575 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
9576 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
9577 will work - no other changes are needed.
9579 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
9580 Added a very short section on Templates
9582 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
9583 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
9585 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
9586 Touch ups for *.action files.
9588 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
9591 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
9592 Updates for recent changes.
9594 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
9595 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
9597 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
9598 Correct 2 minor errors
9600 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
9601 *** empty log message ***
9603 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
9604 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
9606 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
9607 wrong url in documentation
9609 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
9610 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
9612 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
9615 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
9618 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
9621 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
9622 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
9624 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
9625 Some additions, and re-arranging.
9627 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
9630 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
9631 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
9633 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
9636 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
9637 source files for junkbuster documentation
9639 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
9640 first proposal of a structure.
9642 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
9643 docs should have an author.
9645 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
9646 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.