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 "3.0.13">
15 <!entity p-status "beta">
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 % seealso-extra "INCLUDE"> <!-- extra stuff from seealso.sgml -->
28 <!entity my-app "<application>Privoxy</application>">
31 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
34 This file belongs into
35 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
37 $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.106 2009/06/12 11:04:13 fabiankeil Exp $
39 Copyright (C) 2001-2009 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
42 ========================================================================
43 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
44 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
45 ========================================================================
52 <title>Privoxy &p-version; User Manual</title>
56 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
57 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
58 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001-2009 by
59 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
63 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.106 2009/06/12 11:04:13 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
67 Note: the following should generate a separate page, and a live link to it,
68 all nicely done. But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave
69 commented unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the
70 copyright/license declarations will be in their own sgml.
83 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
84 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
85 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
91 The <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
92 install, configure and use <ulink
93 url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>.
96 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
98 <!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
101 You can find the latest version of the <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> at <ulink
102 url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
103 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> on how to
104 contact the developers.
108 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
114 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
115 <sect1 label="1" id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
117 This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
118 <application>Privoxy</application>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
119 and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
120 time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
121 configuration files. Development of a new version is currently nearing
122 completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over
123 earlier versions. ]]>.
126 <!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
129 Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
130 documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
131 CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
136 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
137 <sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
139 In addition to the core
140 features of ad blocking and
141 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookie</ulink> management,
142 <application>Privoxy</application> provides many supplemental
143 features<![%p-not-stable;[, some of them currently under development]]>,
144 that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
146 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
148 <!-- end boilerplate -->
153 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
156 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
157 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
160 <application>Privoxy</application> is available both in convenient pre-compiled
161 packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
162 For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
163 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
169 On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if
170 found. (See below for your platform). In any case <emphasis>be sure to backup
171 your old configuration if it is valuable to you.</emphasis> See the <link
172 linkend="upgradersnote">note to upgraders</link> section below.
175 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
176 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
178 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
181 <!-- XXX: The installation sections should be sorted -->
183 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
184 <sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat and Fedora RPMs</title>
187 RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
188 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
189 of configuration files.
193 Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
194 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
195 need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
196 <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods.
200 If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
201 <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
202 will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
206 Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
207 on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
208 Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
209 automatically if found, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
213 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
214 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian and Ubuntu</title>
216 DEBs can be installed with <literal>apt-get install privoxy</literal>,
217 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of
222 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
223 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
226 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
227 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
228 in the same directory as you installed <application>Privoxy</application> in.
231 Version 3.0.5 beta introduced full <application>Windows</application> service
232 functionality. On Windows only, the <application>Privoxy</application>
233 program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
234 <application>Privoxy</application> as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>.
238 <term>Arguments:</term>
241 <replaceable class="parameter">--install</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
244 <replaceable class="parameter">--uninstall</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
250 After invoking <application>Privoxy</application> with
251 <command>--install</command>, you will need to bring up the
252 <application>Windows</application> service console to assign the user you
253 want <application>Privoxy</application> to run under, and whether or not you
254 want it to run whenever the system starts. You can start the
255 <application>Windows</application> services console with the following
256 command: <command>services.msc</command>. If you do not take the manual step
257 of modifying <application>Privoxy's</application> service settings, it will
258 not start. Note too that you will need to give Privoxy a user account that
259 actually exists, or it will not be permitted to
260 write to its log and configuration files.
265 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
266 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris <!--, NetBSD, HP-UX--></title>
269 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
270 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
271 things go. <!-- FIXME, more info needed? -->
275 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
276 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
279 First, make sure that no previous installations of
280 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
281 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
282 system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
283 or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
289 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
290 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
291 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
292 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
296 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
297 into will contain all of the configuration files.
301 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
302 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Mac OS X</title>
304 Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the zip file
305 icon from the Finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there).
306 Then, double-click on the package installer icon and follow the
307 installation process.
310 The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful
311 installation (in addition to every time your computer starts up). To
312 prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your
313 computer starts up, remove or rename the folder named
314 <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
317 To manually start or stop the privoxy service, use the Privoxy Utility
318 for Mac OS X. This application controls the privoxy service (e.g.
319 starting and stopping the service as well as uninstalling the software).
323 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
324 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
326 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
327 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
328 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
329 remove this directory.
333 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
334 <sect3 id="installation-tbz"><title>FreeBSD</title>
337 Privoxy is part of FreeBSD's Ports Collection, you can build and install
338 it with <literal>cd /usr/ports/www/privoxy; make install clean</literal>.
341 If you don't use the ports, you can fetch and install
342 the package with <literal>pkg_add -r privoxy</literal>.
345 The port skeleton and the package can also be downloaded from the
346 <ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">File Release
347 Page</ulink>, but there's no reason to use them unless you're interested in the
348 beta releases which are only available there.
352 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
353 <sect3 id="installattion-gentoo"><title>Gentoo</title>
355 Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for <application>Privoxy</application> are
356 contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page,
357 but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new
358 <application>Privoxy</application> Version is added to the Portage Tree).
361 Before installing <application>Privoxy</application> under Gentoo just do
362 first <literal>emerge --sync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
363 Portage tree. With <literal>emerge privoxy</literal> you install the latest
367 Configuration files are in <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename>, the
368 documentation is in <filename>/usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;</filename>
369 and the Log directory is in <filename>/var/log/privoxy</filename>.
375 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
376 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
379 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
380 is to download the source tarball from our
381 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&package_id=10571">project download
386 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
387 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
388 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
389 CVS repository</ulink>.
391 deprecated...out of business.
392 or simply download <ulink
393 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.bz2">the nightly CVS
398 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
400 <!-- end boilerplate -->
403 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
404 <sect2 id="installation-keepupdated"><title>Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date</title>
406 As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions
407 of both the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link> (as a <ulink
408 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&release_id=103670">separate
409 package</ulink>) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for
414 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
415 <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
416 url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
417 to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
421 In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
422 to the latest <literal>default.action</literal> file we <emphasis>strongly
423 recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> and
424 <literal>user.filter</literal> for your local
425 customizations of <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
426 linkend="actions-file">Chapter on actions files</link> for details.
434 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
436 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
437 <sect1 id="whatsnew">
438 <title>What's New in this Release</title>
440 <application>Privoxy 3.0.13</application> introduces IPv6 support,
441 improved keep-alive support and a bunch of minor improvements:
448 Added IPv6 support. Thanks to Petr Pisar who not only provided
449 the initial patch but also helped a lot with the integration.
454 Added client-side keep-alive support. This should also allow
455 NTLM authentication through Privoxy, but this hasn't been
461 The connection sharing code is only used if the connection-sharing
467 The max-client-connections option has been added to restrict
468 the number of client connections below a value enforced by
469 the operating system.
474 Fixed a regression reintroduced in 3.0.12 that could cause
475 crashes on mingw32 if header date randomization was enabled.
480 Compressed content with extra fields couldn't be decompressed
481 and would get passed to the client unfiltered. This problem
482 has only be detected through statical analysis with clang as
483 nobody seems to be using extra fields anyway.
488 If the server resets the Connection after sending only the headers
489 Privoxy forwards what it got to the client. Previously Privoxy
490 would deliver an error message instead.
495 Error messages in case of connection timeouts use the right
501 If spawning a child to handle a request fails, the client
502 gets an error message and Privoxy continues to listen for
503 new requests right away.
508 The error messages in case of server-connection timeouts or
509 prematurely closed server connections are now template-based.
514 If zlib support isn't compiled in, Privoxy no longer tries to
515 filter compressed content unless explicitly asked to do so.
520 In case of connections that are denied based on ACL directives,
521 the memory used for the client IP is no longer leaked.
526 Fixed another small memory leak if the client request times out
527 while waiting for client headers other than the request line.
532 The client socket is kept open until the server socket has
533 been marked as unused. This should increase the chances that
534 the still-open connection will be reused for the client's next
535 request to the same destination. Note that this only matters
536 if connection-sharing is enabled.
541 A TODO list has been added to the source tarballs to give potential
542 volunteers a better idea of what the current goals are. Donations
543 are still welcome too: http://www.privoxy.org/faq/general.html#DONATE
550 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
552 <sect2 id="upgradersnote">
553 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
556 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
557 versions of <application>Privoxy</application>:
565 The recommended way to upgrade &my-app; is to backup your old
566 configuration files, install the new ones, verify that &my-app;
567 is working correctly and finally merge back your changes using
568 <application>diff</application> and maybe <application>patch</application>.
571 There are a number of new features in each &my-app; release and
572 most of them have to be explicitly enabled in the configuration
573 files. Old configuration files obviously don't do that and due
574 to syntax changes using old configuration files with a new
575 &my-app; isn't always possible anyway.
580 Note that some installers remove earlier versions completely,
581 including configuration files, therefore you should really save
582 any important configuration files!
587 On the other hand, other installers don't overwrite existing configuration
588 files, thinking you will want to do that yourself.
593 <filename>standard.action</filename> has been merged into
594 the <filename>default.action</filename> file.
599 In the default configuration only fatal errors are logged now.
600 You can change that in the <link linkend="DEBUG">debug section</link>
601 of the configuration file. You may also want to enable more verbose
602 logging until you verified that the new &my-app; version is working
609 Three other config file settings are now off by default:
610 <link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link>,
611 <link linkend="enable-remote-http-toggle">enable-remote-http-toggle</link>,
612 and <link linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link>.
613 If you use or want these, you will need to explicitly enable them, and
614 be aware of the security issues involved.
621 What constitutes a <quote>default</quote> configuration has changed,
622 and you may want to review which actions are <quote>on</quote> by
623 default. This is primarily a matter of emphasis, but some features
624 you may have been used to, may now be <quote>off</quote> by default.
625 There are also a number of new actions and filters you may want to
626 consider, most of which are not fully incorporated into the default
627 settings as yet (see above).
634 The default actions setting is now <literal>Cautious</literal>. Previous
635 releases had a default setting of <literal>Medium</literal>. Experienced
636 users may want to adjust this, as it is fairly conservative by &my-app;
637 standards and past practices. See <ulink
638 url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
639 http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>. New users
640 should try the default settings for a while before turning up the volume.
646 The default setting has filtering turned <emphasis>off</emphasis>, which
647 subsequently means that compression is <emphasis>on</emphasis>. Remember
648 that filtering does not work on compressed pages, so if you use, or want to
649 use, filtering, you will need to force compression off. Example:
653 { +<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{google} +<link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link> }
657 Or if you use a number of filters, or filter many sites, you may just want
658 to turn off compression for all sites in
659 <filename>default.action</filename> (or
660 <filename>user.action</filename>).
667 Also, <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> is
668 off by default now. If you've liked this feature in the past, you may want
669 to turn it back on in <filename>user.action</filename> now.
676 Some installers may not automatically start
677 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
688 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
689 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using Privoxy</title>
695 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
696 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
703 Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
704 service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
705 linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
706 linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
713 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
714 not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
715 <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
721 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
722 HTTPS (SSL) <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>
723 by setting the proxy configuration for address of
724 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
725 <emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> activate proxying for <literal>FTP</literal> or
726 any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) unless you intend to prevent your
727 browser from using these protocols.
733 Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
734 If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage
735 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
736 you should remove any currently stored cookies too.
742 A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
743 most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
744 configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
745 to no initial configuration is required in most cases, you may want
747 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">web-based action editor</ulink> though.
748 Be sure to read the warnings first.
751 See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
752 configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
753 You might also want to look at the <link
754 linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
755 introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
762 If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are
763 blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
764 <application>Privoxy's</application> behavior, take a look at the <link
765 linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
766 find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
767 helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
768 url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
769 Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
770 Action</link></quote> has hints on how to understand and debug actions that
771 <quote>misbehave</quote>.
776 Did anyone test these lately?
780 For easy access to &my-app;'s most important controls, drag the provided
781 <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklets</link> into your browser's
789 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
790 Developers</link> on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get
797 Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
805 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
807 <sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
808 <title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
810 NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
811 want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
814 Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
815 array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
816 user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
819 This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
820 you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
821 information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
824 First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
825 more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
826 things that were not intended. And the more likely that some things
827 may not work as intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
828 extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
829 <quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
830 configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
831 not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
832 the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
833 default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
834 habits and preferences.
837 Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
838 <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
839 the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
840 some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
841 <application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
842 action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
843 <application>actions</application> in <application>Privoxy's</application>
844 arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. <link
845 linkend="actions">Actions</link>, and <link linkend="actions-file">action
846 configuration files</link>, are explained in depth below.
849 Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
850 followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
851 can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
852 wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
853 actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
856 When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
857 of the sections as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
858 or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
859 respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
860 pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
861 use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
862 original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
863 embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
864 or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
865 such embedded URLs. &my-app; can deal with each URL individually, so, for
866 instance, the main page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such
871 The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: <literal><link
872 linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
873 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
875 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal>,and
876 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
884 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this is perhaps
885 the single most used action, and is particularly important for ad blocking.
886 This action stops any contact between your browser and any URL patterns
887 that match this action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads,
888 but also anything that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply
889 stops any communication with the remote server and sends
890 <application>Privoxy</application>'s own built-in BLOCKED page instead to
891 let you now what has happened (with some exceptions, see below).
897 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
898 tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
899 <application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
900 for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
901 is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
902 important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
903 some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
904 <application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
905 a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
906 though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
907 an entire HTML page in most situations.
913 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> -
914 sends an empty document instead of <application>Privoxy's</application>
915 normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither
916 HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files.
923 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> - tells
924 <application>Privoxy</application> what to display in place of an ad image that
925 has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
926 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action somewhere in the
927 configuration, <emphasis>and</emphasis>, it must also match an
928 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action.
931 The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
935 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
936 replacement is obvious. This is the default.
941 <emphasis>blank</emphasis> - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
942 This is the so-called <quote>invisible</quote> configuration option.
947 <emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any image anywhere
948 of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
957 Advanced users will eventually want to explore &my-app;
958 <literal><link linkend="filter">filters</link></literal> as well. Filters
959 are very different from <literal><link
960 linkend="block">blocks</link></literal>.
961 A <quote>block</quote> blocks a site, page, or unwanted contented. Filters
962 are a way of filtering or modifying what is actually on the page. An example
963 filter usage: a text replacement of <quote>no-no</quote> for
964 <quote>nasty-word</quote>. That is a very simple example. This process can be
965 used for ad blocking, but it is more in the realm of advanced usage and has
966 some pitfalls to be wary off.
970 The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
971 the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
972 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
973 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
974 is an internal page, and does not require Internet access.
978 Note that as of <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta the
979 action editor is disabled by default. Check the
980 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions
981 section in the configuration file</ulink> to learn why and in which
982 cases it's safe to enable again.
986 If you decided to enable the action editor, select the appropriate
987 <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
988 <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
989 local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
990 meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
991 other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
992 blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
993 <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
997 A quick and simple step by step example:
1005 Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
1006 <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
1014 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1019 Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
1020 on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
1023 <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
1025 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
1028 <imagedata fileref="files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
1031 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
1040 You should have a section with only
1041 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
1042 <quote>Actions:</quote>.
1043 If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
1044 button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
1045 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
1046 This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
1047 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
1048 in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
1049 just below the list.
1054 Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
1055 click the <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
1056 browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote>.
1057 Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
1058 <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
1059 <quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
1064 Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
1065 (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
1073 This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
1074 wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
1075 site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
1076 the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
1081 For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
1082 to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
1083 The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
1086 There are also various
1087 <link linkend="filter">filters</link> that can be used for ad blocking
1088 (filters are a special subset of actions). These
1089 fall into the <quote>advanced</quote> usage category, and are explained in
1090 depth in later sections.
1097 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1100 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1101 <sect1 id="startup">
1102 <title>Starting Privoxy</title>
1104 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
1105 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
1106 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)
1107 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>. The default is
1108 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
1109 used port 8000). This is the one configuration step <emphasis>that must be done
1113 Please note that <application>Privoxy</application> can only proxy HTTP and
1114 HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
1117 <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
1119 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1120 Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings</title>
1123 <imagedata fileref="proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
1126 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
1134 With <application>Firefox</application>, this is typically set under:
1138 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Network</guibutton> -><guibutton>Connection</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Settings</guibutton>
1143 Or optionally on some platforms:
1147 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>General</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connection Settings</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Manual Proxy Configuration</guibutton>
1153 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
1154 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
1159 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
1160 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
1161 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton> -> <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
1166 For <application>Internet Explorer v.5-7</application>:
1170 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Internet Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connections</guibutton> -> <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
1174 Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
1175 (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
1176 proxy support too (sometimes labeled <quote>Secure</quote>). Make sure any
1177 checkboxes like <quote>Use the same proxy server for all protocols</quote> is
1178 <emphasis>UNCHECKED</emphasis>. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
1181 <!-- image of IE Proxy configuration -->
1183 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1184 Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings</title>
1187 <imagedata fileref="proxy2.jpg" format="jpg">
1190 <phrase>[ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
1198 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
1199 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
1200 any <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
1201 if you want <application>Privoxy</application> to manage that. You are now
1202 ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
1203 <application>Privoxy</application>!
1207 <application>Privoxy</application> itself is typically started by specifying the
1208 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
1209 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
1210 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
1211 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
1214 <sect2 id="start-redhat">
1215 <title>Red Hat and Fedora</title>
1217 A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use
1218 the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
1223 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
1231 # service privoxy start
1236 <sect2 id="start-debian">
1237 <title>Debian</title>
1239 We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; upon booting per
1240 default. It will use the file
1241 <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
1246 # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1251 <sect2 id="start-windows">
1252 <title>Windows</title>
1254 Click on the &my-app; Icon to start <application>Privoxy</application>. If no configuration file is
1255 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
1256 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
1257 automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option
1261 <application>Privoxy</application> can run with full Windows service functionality.
1262 On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments
1263 to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
1264 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Windows Installation
1265 instructions</link> for details.
1269 <sect2 id="start-unices">
1270 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
1272 Example Unix startup command:
1276 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
1281 <sect2 id="start-os2">
1284 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
1285 start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
1286 double-clicking on the <application>Privoxy</application> icon in the
1287 <application>Privoxy</application> folder.
1291 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
1292 <title>Mac OS X</title>
1294 After downloading the privoxy software, unzip the downloaded file by
1295 double-clicking on the zip file icon. Then, double-click on the
1296 installer package icon and follow the installation process.
1299 The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful
1300 installation. In addition, the privoxy service will automatically
1301 start every time your computer starts up.
1304 To prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your
1305 computer starts up, remove or rename the folder named
1306 /Library/StartupItems/Privoxy.
1309 A simple application named Privoxy Utility has been created which
1310 enables administrators to easily start and stop the privoxy service.
1313 In addition, the Privoxy Utility presents a simple way for
1314 administrators to edit the various privoxy config files. A method
1315 to uninstall the software is also available.
1318 An administrator username and password must be supplied in order for
1319 the Privoxy Utility to perform any of the tasks.
1324 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
1325 <title>AmigaOS</title>
1327 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
1328 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
1329 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
1330 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
1331 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
1332 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
1333 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
1337 <sect2 id="start-gentoo">
1338 <title>Gentoo</title>
1340 A script is again used. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config
1341 </filename> as its main configuration file.
1345 /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1349 Note that <application>Privoxy</application> is not automatically started at
1350 boot time by default. You can change this with the <literal>rc-update</literal>
1355 rc-update add privoxy default
1363 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
1367 must find a better place for this paragraph
1370 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
1371 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
1372 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
1373 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
1374 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
1375 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
1379 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
1380 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
1381 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
1382 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
1383 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
1384 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
1385 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
1386 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
1387 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
1391 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
1392 sites is the popup-killing (through <ulink
1393 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>),
1394 because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
1395 popups (explained below).
1399 <application>Privoxy</application> does not support all of the optional HTTP/1.1
1400 features yet. In the unlikely event that you experience inexplicable problems
1401 with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
1402 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
1403 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
1404 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
1405 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
1406 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
1407 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
1411 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
1412 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
1413 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
1414 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
1415 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
1416 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1417 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1418 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
1419 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
1423 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
1424 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
1425 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
1426 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
1427 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
1428 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
1429 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
1433 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
1434 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
1435 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
1436 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
1437 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
1438 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
1443 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <link
1444 linkend="actions-file">read more about the actions concept</link>
1445 or even dive deep into the <link linkend="actionsanat">Appendix
1450 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
1451 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
1452 section <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
1453 Developers</quote></link> below.
1458 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1459 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
1460 <title>Command Line Options</title>
1462 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
1463 command-line options:
1471 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
1474 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
1479 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
1482 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
1487 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
1490 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
1491 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
1496 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
1499 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
1500 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
1501 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
1502 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
1507 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
1510 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
1511 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
1512 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
1517 <emphasis>--chroot</emphasis>
1520 Before changing to the user ID given in the <emphasis>--user</emphasis> option,
1521 chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
1522 process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
1523 the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy.
1529 <emphasis>--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname</emphasis>
1532 Specifies a hostname to look up before doing a chroot. On some systems, initializing the
1533 resolver library involves reading config files from /etc and/or loading additional shared
1534 libraries from /lib. On these systems, doing a hostname lookup before the chroot reduces
1535 the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree.
1538 For fastest startup speed, a good value is a hostname that is not in /etc/hosts but that
1539 your local name server (listed in /etc/resolv.conf) can resolve without recursion
1540 (that is, without having to ask any other name servers). The hostname need not exist,
1541 but if it doesn't, an error message (which can be ignored) will be output.
1547 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
1550 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
1551 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
1552 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
1553 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
1554 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
1555 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
1563 On <application>MS Windows</application> only there are two additional
1564 command-line options to allow <application>Privoxy</application> to install and
1565 run as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>. See the
1566 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Window Installation section</link>
1574 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1577 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1578 <sect1 id="configuration"><title>Privoxy Configuration</title>
1580 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
1581 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
1582 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
1583 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
1587 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1590 <title>Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser</title>
1592 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
1593 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1594 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1595 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
1596 You will see the following section:
1600 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
1603 <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
1607 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
1610 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
1613 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
1616 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
1619 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
1622 ▪ <ulink
1623 url="http://www.privoxy.org/&p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
1631 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
1632 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
1633 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
1634 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
1635 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
1636 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
1640 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
1641 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
1642 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
1643 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
1644 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
1645 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
1646 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
1647 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
1652 Note that several of the features described above are disabled by default
1653 in <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta and later.
1655 <ulink url="config.html">configuration file</ulink> to learn why
1656 and in which cases it's safe to enable them again.
1661 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1666 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1668 <sect2 id="confoverview">
1669 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
1671 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
1672 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
1673 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
1674 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
1675 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
1676 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
1680 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
1681 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
1682 principle configuration files are:
1690 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
1691 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
1692 on Windows. This is a required file.
1698 <filename>match-all.action</filename> is used to define which <quote>actions</quote>
1699 relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups, content modification, cookie handling
1700 etc should be applied by default. It should be the first actions file loaded.
1703 <filename>default.action</filename> defines many exceptions (both positive and negative)
1704 from the default set of actions that's configured in <filename>match-all.action</filename>.
1705 It should be the second actions file loaded and shouldn't be edited by the user.
1708 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
1709 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
1710 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
1711 <filename>match-all.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
1712 to define sooner or later) are best applied in <filename>user.action</filename>,
1713 where you can preserve them across upgrades. The file isn't installed by all
1714 installers, but you can easily create it yourself with a text editor.
1717 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
1719 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1721 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
1722 various actions files.
1728 <quote>Filter files</quote> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
1729 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
1730 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
1731 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
1732 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
1733 <filename>default.filter</filename> includes various filters made
1734 available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
1735 others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
1736 filter files in <filename>config</filename> as you can with
1737 actions files. We suggest <filename>user.filter</filename> for any
1738 locally defined filters or customizations.
1746 The syntax of the configuration and filter files may change between different
1747 Privoxy versions, unfortunately some enhancements cost backwards compatibility.
1748 <!-- Add link to documentation-->
1752 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
1753 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
1754 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
1755 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
1756 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
1757 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
1758 out" that line. Blank lines are ignored.
1762 The actions files and filter files
1763 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
1764 maximum flexibility.
1768 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
1769 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
1770 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
1771 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
1772 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
1773 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
1774 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
1779 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
1780 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
1781 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
1782 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
1788 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1791 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1793 <!-- **************************************************** -->
1794 <!-- Include config.sgml here -->
1795 <!-- This is where the entire config file is detailed. -->
1797 <!-- end include -->
1800 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1804 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1806 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
1810 XXX: similar descriptions are in the Configuration Files sections.
1811 We should only describe them at one place.
1814 The actions files are used to define what <emphasis>actions</emphasis>
1815 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determines
1816 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
1817 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof).
1818 There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
1819 Each action does something a little different.
1820 These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
1821 our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that
1822 their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.
1826 are three action files included with <application>Privoxy</application> with
1833 <filename>match-all.action</filename> - is used to define which
1834 <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
1835 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default.
1836 It should be the first actions file loaded
1841 <filename>default.action</filename> - defines many exceptions (both
1842 positive and negative) from the default set of actions that's configured
1843 in <filename>match-all.action</filename>. It is a set of rules that should
1844 work reasonably well as-is for most users. This file is only supposed to
1845 be edited by the developers. It should be the second actions file loaded.
1850 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
1851 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
1852 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
1853 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
1858 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Cautious</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Medium</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Advanced</guibutton>
1861 These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no
1862 influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
1863 editor</emphasis>. A default installation should be pre-set to
1864 <literal>Cautious</literal>. New users should try this for a while before
1865 adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
1866 the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
1867 not working as they should.
1870 The <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button allows you to turn each
1871 action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <guibutton>Cautious</guibutton>
1872 button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
1873 ad blocking and a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently
1874 there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
1875 <guibutton>Medium</guibutton> button sets the list to a medium level of
1876 other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
1877 <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> button sets the list to a high level of
1878 ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter
1879 three buttons over-ride any changes via with the
1880 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
1881 lower sections of this internal page.
1884 While the actions file editor allows to enable these settings in all
1885 actions files, they are only supposed to be enabled in the first one
1886 to make sure you don't unintentionally overrule earlier rules.
1889 The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
1890 <filename>default.action</filename> are:
1893 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
1894 <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
1895 <colspec colname=c1>
1896 <colspec colname=c2>
1897 <colspec colname=c3>
1898 <colspec colname=c4>
1901 <entry>Feature</entry>
1902 <entry>Cautious</entry>
1903 <entry>Medium</entry>
1904 <entry>Advanced</entry>
1909 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
1910 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
1911 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
1912 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
1918 <entry>Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</entry>
1919 <entry>medium</entry>
1925 <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
1932 <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
1938 <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
1939 <entry>blocks only</entry>
1940 <entry>blocks only</entry>
1941 <entry>blocks only</entry>
1945 <entry>Privacy Features</entry>
1947 <entry>medium</entry>
1948 <entry>medium/high</entry>
1952 <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
1954 <entry>session-only</entry>
1959 <entry>Referer forging</entry>
1966 <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
1973 <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
1980 <entry>HTML taming</entry>
1987 <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
1994 <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
2001 <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
2017 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
2018 file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
2019 <filename>default.action</filename> is typically processed before
2020 <filename>user.action</filename>). The content of these can all be viewed and
2022 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2023 The over-riding principle when applying actions, is that the last action that
2024 matches a given URL wins. The broadest, most general rules go first
2025 (defined in <filename>default.action</filename>),
2026 followed by any exceptions (typically also in
2027 <filename>default.action</filename>), which are then followed lastly by any
2028 local preferences (typically in <emphasis>user</emphasis><filename>.action</filename>).
2029 Generally, <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word.
2033 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
2034 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
2035 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
2036 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
2037 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
2038 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
2039 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
2040 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
2041 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
2042 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
2043 with the advantage that it is a separate file, which makes preserving your
2044 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
2048 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
2049 just some obnoxious URL whose content you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
2050 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
2051 written to disk), content can be modified, some JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
2052 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
2056 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2058 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
2060 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
2061 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
2062 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
2063 certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring
2064 refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that the more
2065 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
2066 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
2067 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per
2068 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
2069 regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe
2070 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
2074 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
2075 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
2076 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
2077 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
2081 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2083 <title>How to Edit</title>
2085 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
2086 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
2087 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2088 Note: the config file option <link
2089 linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link> must be enabled for
2090 this to work. The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single
2091 feature on a per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults
2092 like <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or
2093 <quote>Advanced</quote>. Warning: the <quote>Advanced</quote> setting is more
2094 aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites.
2095 Experienced users only!
2099 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
2100 the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at
2101 <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly commented with many
2107 <sect2 id="actions-apply">
2108 <title>How Actions are Applied to Requests</title>
2110 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
2111 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
2112 be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
2113 heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
2114 of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
2115 Below that, there is a list of URL and tag patterns, each on a separate line.
2119 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
2120 compared to all URL patterns in each <quote>action file</quote>.
2121 Every time it matches, the list of applicable actions for the request is
2122 incrementally updated, using the heading of the section in which the
2123 pattern is located. The same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on.
2127 If multiple applying sections set the same action differently,
2128 the last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated.
2129 E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading line of <literal>{
2130 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> }</literal>,
2131 then later another one with just <literal>{
2132 +<link linkend="block">block</link> }</literal>, resulting
2133 in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply. And there may well be
2134 cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
2140 { +<literal>handle-as-image</literal> +<literal>block{Banner ads.}</literal> }
2141 # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
2143 media.example.com/.*banners
2144 .example.com/images/ads/</screen>
2148 You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by visiting <ulink
2149 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
2153 Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
2154 Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</link> section.
2158 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2159 <sect2 id="af-patterns">
2160 <title>Patterns</title>
2162 As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
2163 to determine what <emphasis>actions</emphasis> might apply to which sites and
2164 pages your browser attempts to access. These <quote>patterns</quote> use wild
2165 card type <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> matching to achieve a high degree of
2166 flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
2167 against many similar patterns.
2171 Generally, an URL pattern has the form
2172 <literal><domain><port>/<path></literal>, where the
2173 <literal><domain></literal>, the <literal><port></literal>
2174 and the <literal><path></literal> are optional. (This is why the special
2175 <literal>/</literal> pattern matches all URLs). Note that the protocol
2176 portion of the URL pattern (e.g. <literal>http://</literal>) should
2177 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be included in the pattern. This is assumed already!
2180 The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of
2181 the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
2182 while the path part uses more flexible
2183 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2184 Expressions</quote></ulink> (POSIX 1003.2).
2187 The port part of a pattern is a decimal port number preceded by a colon
2188 (<literal>:</literal>). If the domain part contains a numerical IPv6 address,
2189 it has to be put into angle brackets
2190 (<literal><</literal>, <literal>></literal>).
2195 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
2198 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2199 regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in
2200 this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
2201 simple <literal>example.com</literal> is different and would NOT match.
2206 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
2209 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
2215 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
2218 matches all the documents on <literal>www.example.com</literal>
2219 whose name starts with <literal>/index.html</literal>.
2224 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html$</literal></term>
2227 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
2228 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
2233 <term><literal>/index.html$</literal></term>
2236 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
2237 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server anywhere.
2242 <term><literal>:8000/</literal></term>
2245 Matches any URL pointing to TCP port 8000.
2250 <term><literal><2001:db8::1>/</literal></term>
2253 Matches any URL with the host address <literal>2001:db8::1</literal>.
2254 (Note that the real URL uses plain brackets, not angle brackets.)
2259 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
2262 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
2263 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>. So its
2271 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2272 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
2275 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
2276 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
2282 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
2285 matches any domain with first-level domain <literal>com</literal>
2286 and second-level domain <literal>example</literal>.
2287 For example <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2288 <literal>example.com</literal> and <literal>foo.bar.baz.example.com</literal>.
2289 Note that it wouldn't match if the second-level domain was <literal>another-example</literal>.
2294 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
2297 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
2298 <literal>www.</literal> (It also matches the domain
2299 <literal>www</literal> but most of the time that doesn't matter.)
2304 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
2307 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>.
2308 And, by the way, also included would be any files or documents that exist
2309 within that domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly
2310 speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as
2311 a domain.) This might be <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2312 <literal>news.example.de</literal>, or
2313 <literal>www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</literal> for instance. All these
2321 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
2322 themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
2323 <quote>*</quote> represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
2325 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2326 Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax of <quote>.*</quote>),
2327 <quote>?</quote> represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
2328 regular expression syntax of a simple <quote>.</quote>), and you can define
2329 <quote>character classes</quote> in square brackets which is similar to
2330 the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:
2335 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2338 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
2339 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
2344 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2347 matches all of the above, and then some.
2352 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
2355 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
2356 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
2361 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
2364 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
2365 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
2366 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
2367 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
2374 While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax.
2379 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2382 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2383 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
2386 <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>modern</quote> POSIX 1003.2
2387 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2388 Expressions</quote></ulink> for matching the path portion (after the slash),
2389 and is thus more flexible.
2393 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
2394 expressions, you also might want to have a look at your operating system's documentation
2395 on regular expressions (try <literal>man re_format</literal>).
2399 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
2400 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
2401 for the beginning of a line).
2405 Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
2406 by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
2407 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
2408 only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
2409 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
2414 <term><literal>.example.com/.*</literal></term>
2417 Is equivalent to just <quote>.example.com</quote>, since any documents
2418 within that domain are matched with or without the <quote>.*</quote>
2419 regular expression. This is redundant
2424 <term><literal>.example.com/.*/index.html$</literal></term>
2427 Will match any page in the domain of <quote>example.com</quote> that is
2428 named <quote>index.html</quote>, and that is part of some path. For
2429 example, it matches <quote>www.example.com/testing/index.html</quote> but
2430 NOT <quote>www.example.com/index.html</quote> because the regular
2431 expression called for at least two <quote>/'s</quote>, thus the path
2432 requirement. It also would match
2433 <quote>www.example.com/testing/index_html</quote>, because of the
2434 special meta-character <quote>.</quote>.
2439 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$</literal></term>
2442 This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page
2443 named <quote>index.html</quote> regardless of path which in this case can
2444 have one or more <quote>/'s</quote>. And this one must contain exactly
2445 <quote>.html</quote> (but does not have to end with that!).
2450 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</literal></term>
2453 This regular expression will match any path of <quote>example.com</quote>
2454 that contains any of the words <quote>ads</quote>, <quote>banner</quote>,
2455 <quote>banners</quote> (because of the <quote>?</quote>) or <quote>junk</quote>.
2456 The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
2461 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</literal></term>
2464 This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
2465 <quote>.jpg</quote>, <quote>.jpeg</quote>, <quote>.gif</quote> or <quote>.png</quote>. So this
2466 one is limited to common image formats.
2473 There are many, many good examples to be found in <filename>default.action</filename>,
2474 and more tutorials below in <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>.
2479 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2482 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2483 <sect3 id="tag-pattern"><title>The Tag Pattern</title>
2486 Tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the
2487 request's tags. Tags can be created with either the
2488 <link linkend="CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER">client-header-tagger</link>
2489 or the <link linkend="SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER">server-header-tagger</link> action.
2493 Tag patterns have to start with <quote>TAG:</quote>, so &my-app;
2494 can tell them apart from URL patterns. Everything after the colon
2495 including white space, is interpreted as a regular expression with
2496 path pattern syntax, except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored
2497 automatically (&my-app; doesn't silently add a <quote>^</quote>,
2498 you have to do it yourself if you need it).
2502 To match all requests that are tagged with <quote>foo</quote>
2503 your pattern line should be <quote>TAG:^foo$</quote>,
2504 <quote>TAG:foo</quote> would work as well, but it would also
2505 match requests whose tags contain <quote>foo</quote> somewhere.
2506 <quote>TAG: foo</quote> wouldn't work as it requires white space.
2510 Sections can contain URL and tag patterns at the same time,
2511 but tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus
2512 always overrule them, even if they are located before the URL patterns.
2516 Once a new tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's matched by one
2517 of the tag patterns and updates the action settings accordingly. As a result
2518 tags can be used to activate other tagger actions, as long as these other
2519 taggers look for headers that haven't already be parsed.
2523 For example you could tag client requests which use the
2524 <literal>POST</literal> method,
2525 then use this tag to activate another tagger that adds a tag if cookies
2526 are sent, and then use a block action based on the cookie tag. This allows
2527 the outcome of one action, to be input into a subsequent action. However if
2528 you'd reverse the position of the described taggers, and activated the
2529 method tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method tags would be created.
2530 The method tagger would look for the request line, but at the time
2531 the cookie tag is created, the request line has already been parsed.
2535 While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of
2536 indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't
2537 make too much sense.
2544 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2547 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2549 <sect2 id="actions">
2550 <title>Actions</title>
2552 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
2553 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
2554 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
2555 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
2556 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
2557 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
2558 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
2559 previously applied.</quote>
2564 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
2565 separated by whitespace, like in
2566 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
2567 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
2568 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
2569 of the actions file.
2573 Actions fall into three categories:
2580 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
2581 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
2585 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
2586 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
2589 Example: <literal>+handle-as-image</literal>
2596 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
2601 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
2602 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
2603 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
2606 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
2607 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
2610 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>
2616 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
2617 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
2618 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
2619 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
2620 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
2621 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
2625 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
2626 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
2627 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
2628 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
2631 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
2632 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
2640 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
2641 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
2642 normal, non-blocking, non-filtering proxy. You must specifically enable the
2643 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
2644 files will give a good starting point).
2648 Later defined action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the same type.
2649 So exceptions to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
2650 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such
2651 as <filename>user.action</filename>). For multi-valued actions, the actions
2652 are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are processed in
2653 the order they are defined in <filename>config</filename> (the default
2654 installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any given
2655 URL to match more than one <quote>pattern</quote> (because of wildcards and
2656 regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last
2660 <!-- start actions listing -->
2662 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
2666 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2667 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
2668 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
2670 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2673 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2675 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
2676 <title>add-header</title>
2680 <term>Typical use:</term>
2682 <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
2687 <term>Effect:</term>
2690 Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
2697 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2699 <para>Multi-value.</para>
2704 <term>Parameter:</term>
2707 Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
2708 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
2718 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
2719 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
2720 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
2727 <term>Example usage:</term>
2730 <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
2738 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2739 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
2740 <title>block</title>
2744 <term>Typical use:</term>
2746 <para>Block ads or other unwanted content</para>
2751 <term>Effect:</term>
2754 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
2755 requests are trapped by &my-app; and the requested URL is never retrieved,
2756 but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
2758 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2760 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>, and
2762 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> actions.
2770 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2772 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2777 <term>Parameter:</term>
2779 <para>A block reason that should be given to the user.</para>
2787 <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
2788 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains the block reason given as
2789 parameter, a link to find out why the block action applies, and a click-through
2790 to the blocked content (the latter only if the force feature is available and
2794 A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
2795 <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2796 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
2797 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
2798 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
2799 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
2802 It is important to understand this process, in order
2803 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
2804 ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
2805 upon which various other features depend.
2808 The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
2809 action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
2810 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
2811 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
2812 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
2818 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2821 <screen>{+block{No nasty stuff for you.}}
2822 # Block and replace with "blocked" page
2823 .nasty-stuff.example.com
2825 {+block{Doubleclick banners.} +handle-as-image}
2826 # Block and replace with image
2830 {+block{Layered ads.} +handle-as-empty-document}
2831 # Block and then ignore
2832 adserver.example.net/.*\.js$</screen>
2842 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2843 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="change-x-forwarded-for">
2844 <title>change-x-forwarded-for</title>
2848 <term>Typical use:</term>
2850 <para>Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request in the HTTP headers.</para>
2855 <term>Effect:</term>
2858 Deletes the <quote>X-Forwarded-For:</quote> HTTP header from the client request,
2866 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2868 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2873 <term>Parameter:</term>
2877 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header.</para>
2881 <quote>add</quote> to create the header (or append
2882 the client's IP address to an already existing one).
2893 It is safe and recommended to use <literal>block</literal>.
2896 Forwarding the source address of the request may make
2897 sense in some multi-user setups but is also a privacy risk.
2902 <term>Example usage:</term>
2905 <screen>+change-x-forwarded-for{block}</screen>
2912 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2913 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-filter">
2914 <title>client-header-filter</title>
2918 <term>Typical use:</term>
2921 Rewrite or remove single client headers.
2927 <term>Effect:</term>
2930 All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
2931 the specified regular expression based substitutions.
2938 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2940 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2945 <term>Parameter:</term>
2948 The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the
2949 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
2958 Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
2959 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
2960 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
2961 You can do that by using tags though.
2964 Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
2965 and use their output as input.
2968 If the request URL gets changed, &my-app; will detect that and use the new
2969 one. This can be used to rewrite the request destination behind the client's
2970 back, for example to specify a Tor exit relay for certain requests.
2973 Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
2974 to learn which client-header filters are available by default, and how to
2982 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2986 # Hide Tor exit notation in Host and Referer Headers
2987 {+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
2998 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2999 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-tagger">
3000 <title>client-header-tagger</title>
3004 <term>Typical use:</term>
3007 Block requests based on their headers.
3013 <term>Effect:</term>
3016 Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
3017 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
3025 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3027 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3032 <term>Parameter:</term>
3035 The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the
3036 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
3045 Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
3046 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
3050 Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed
3051 and their tags can be used to control every other action.
3057 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3061 # Tag every request with the User-Agent header
3062 {+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
3065 # Tagging itself doesn't change the action
3066 # settings, sections with TAG patterns do:
3068 # If it's a download agent, use a different forwarding proxy,
3069 # show the real User-Agent and make sure resume works.
3070 {+forward-override{forward-socks5 10.0.0.2:2222 .} \
3071 -hide-if-modified-since \
3072 -overwrite-last-modified \
3077 TAG:^User-Agent: NetBSD-ftp/
3078 TAG:^User-Agent: Novell ZYPP Installer
3079 TAG:^User-Agent: RPM APT-HTTP/
3080 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/
3081 TAG:^User-Agent: Ubuntu APT-HTTP/
3082 TAG:^User-Agent: MPlayer/
3092 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3093 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="content-type-overwrite">
3094 <title>content-type-overwrite</title>
3098 <term>Typical use:</term>
3100 <para>Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode</para>
3105 <term>Effect:</term>
3108 Replaces the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header.
3115 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3117 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3122 <term>Parameter:</term>
3134 The <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header is used by the
3135 browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this
3136 header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of
3137 displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is
3138 supported by the browser.
3141 The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
3142 the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <quote>text/html</quote>,
3143 many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
3144 If it is send as <quote>application/xml</quote>, browsers with
3145 XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
3148 If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
3149 <quote>Content-Type: text/html</quote>, you can use &my-app;
3150 to overwrite it with <quote>application/xml</quote> and validate
3151 the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
3152 If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
3155 You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints
3156 error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared
3157 as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
3158 <quote>text/html</quote> and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
3161 By default <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal> only replaces
3162 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> headers that look like some kind of text.
3163 If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
3164 <literal><link linkend="force-text-mode">force-text-mode</link></literal>.
3165 This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
3168 Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom
3169 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
3170 It allows you to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
3171 only replace the content types you aimed at.
3174 Of course you can apply <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal>
3175 to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
3176 more work to get the same precision.
3182 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
3185 <screen># Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
3186 { +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
3189 # but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
3190 {-content-type-overwrite}
3191 www.example.net/.*\.css$
3192 www.example.net/.*style
3201 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3202 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-client-header">
3206 <title>crunch-client-header</title>
3210 <term>Typical use:</term>
3212 <para>Remove a client header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
3217 <term>Effect:</term>
3220 Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
3227 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3229 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3234 <term>Parameter:</term>
3246 This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
3247 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists.
3248 <application>Privoxy</application> will remove every client header that
3249 contains the string you supplied as parameter.
3252 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
3253 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
3254 they contain the same string.
3257 <literal>crunch-client-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
3258 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
3259 parts of them, you should use a
3260 <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header filter</link></literal>.
3264 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
3271 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3274 <screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
3275 { +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
3285 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3286 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-if-none-match">
3287 <title>crunch-if-none-match</title>
3293 <term>Typical use:</term>
3295 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
3300 <term>Effect:</term>
3303 Deletes the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header.
3310 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3312 <para>Boolean.</para>
3317 <term>Parameter:</term>
3329 Removing the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header
3330 is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
3331 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote> which
3332 would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
3335 It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
3336 replacement (unlikely but possible).
3339 Blocking the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> header shouldn't cause any
3340 caching problems, as long as the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> header
3341 isn't blocked or missing as well.
3344 It is recommended to use this action together with
3345 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
3347 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>.
3353 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3356 <screen># Let the browser revalidate cached documents but don't
3357 # allow the server to use the revalidation headers for user tracking.
3358 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
3359 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
3360 +crunch-if-none-match}
3369 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3370 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
3371 <title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
3375 <term>Typical use:</term>
3378 Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your system
3384 <term>Effect:</term>
3387 Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
3394 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3396 <para>Boolean.</para>
3401 <term>Parameter:</term>
3413 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
3414 <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
3415 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
3416 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
3419 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3420 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3421 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
3422 <literal><link linkend="filter-content-cookies">filter-content-cookies</link></literal>.
3428 <term>Example usage:</term>
3431 <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
3439 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3440 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-server-header">
3441 <title>crunch-server-header</title>
3447 <term>Typical use:</term>
3449 <para>Remove a server header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
3454 <term>Effect:</term>
3457 Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
3464 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3466 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3471 <term>Parameter:</term>
3483 This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
3484 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists. <application>Privoxy</application>
3485 will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
3488 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
3489 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
3490 they contain the same string.
3493 <literal>crunch-server-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
3494 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
3495 parts of them, you should use a custom
3496 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
3500 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
3507 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3510 <screen># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
3511 { +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
3520 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3521 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
3522 <title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
3526 <term>Typical use:</term>
3529 Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from your system
3535 <term>Effect:</term>
3538 Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
3545 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3547 <para>Boolean.</para>
3552 <term>Parameter:</term>
3564 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
3565 <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
3566 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
3567 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
3570 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3571 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3572 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
3578 <term>Example usage:</term>
3581 <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
3590 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3591 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
3592 <title>deanimate-gifs</title>
3596 <term>Typical use:</term>
3598 <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
3603 <term>Effect:</term>
3606 De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
3613 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3615 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3620 <term>Parameter:</term>
3623 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
3632 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
3633 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
3634 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
3635 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
3636 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
3637 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
3640 You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
3641 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
3648 <term>Example usage:</term>
3651 <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
3658 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3659 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
3660 <title>downgrade-http-version</title>
3664 <term>Typical use:</term>
3666 <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
3671 <term>Effect:</term>
3674 Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
3681 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3683 <para>Boolean.</para>
3688 <term>Parameter:</term>
3700 This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
3701 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
3702 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
3703 out there. Not all HTTP/1.1 features and requirements are supported yet,
3704 so there is a chance you might need this action.
3710 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3713 <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
3714 problem-host.example.com</screen>
3722 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3723 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
3724 <title>fast-redirects</title>
3728 <term>Typical use:</term>
3730 <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.</para>
3735 <term>Effect:</term>
3738 Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting
3739 the redirection server first.
3746 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3748 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3753 <term>Parameter:</term>
3758 <quote>simple-check</quote> to just search for the string <quote>http://</quote>
3759 to detect redirection URLs.
3764 <quote>check-decoded-url</quote> to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching
3765 for redirection URLs.
3776 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
3777 will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
3778 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
3779 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
3780 <quote>http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/</quote>.
3783 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
3784 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
3785 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
3786 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
3787 browser asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
3791 This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
3792 If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
3793 this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
3796 Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil.
3797 Some sites offer a real service that requires this information to work.
3798 For example a validation service needs to know, which document to validate.
3799 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> assumes that every URL parameter that
3800 looks like another URL is a redirection target, and will always redirect to
3801 the last one. Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't,
3802 the user gets redirected anyway.
3805 Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter.
3807 <quote>http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
3808 contains the redirection URL <quote>http://www.example.net/</quote>,
3809 followed by another parameter. <literal>fast-redirects</literal> doesn't know that
3810 and will cause a redirect to <quote>http://www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
3811 Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
3812 or lead to a <quote>page not found</quote> error. You can prevent this problem by
3813 first using the <literal><link linkend="redirect">redirect</link></literal> action
3814 to remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort.
3817 To detect a redirection URL, <literal>fast-redirects</literal> only
3818 looks for the string <quote>http://</quote>, either in plain text
3819 (invalid but often used) or encoded as <quote>http%3a//</quote>.
3820 Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the address
3821 of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses cases
3822 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> is fooled and the request reaches the
3823 redirection server where it probably gets logged.
3829 <term>Example usage:</term>
3833 { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
3836 { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
3837 another.example.com/testing</screen>
3846 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3847 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
3848 <title>filter</title>
3852 <term>Typical use:</term>
3854 <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
3855 do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.</para>
3860 <term>Effect:</term>
3863 All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
3864 this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular
3865 expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents
3866 are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
3867 <literal>text/plain</literal> MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
3874 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3876 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3881 <term>Parameter:</term>
3884 The name of a content filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>.
3885 Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
3886 <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
3887 option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>.
3888 <filename>default.filter</filename> is the collection of filters
3889 supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
3890 in their own file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>.
3893 When used in its negative form,
3894 and without parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> filtering is completely disabled.
3903 For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
3904 in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
3908 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
3909 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
3910 passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
3911 since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
3912 noticeable on slower connections.
3915 <quote>Rolling your own</quote>
3916 filters requires a knowledge of
3917 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
3918 Expressions</quote></ulink> and
3919 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"><quote>HTML</quote></ulink>.
3920 This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
3921 Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent
3922 <quote>action</quote> is not available.
3925 The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
3926 <literal><link linkend="buffer-limit">buffer-limit</link></literal>
3927 option in the main <link linkend="config">config file</link>. The
3928 default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
3929 data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
3932 Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
3933 (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data
3934 (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate
3935 the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might
3936 be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering
3937 by defining appropriate <literal>-filter</literal> exceptions.
3940 Compressed content can't be filtered either, unless &my-app;
3941 is compiled with zlib support (requires at least &my-app; 3.0.7),
3942 in which case &my-app; will decompress the content before filtering
3946 If you use a &my-app; version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on
3947 as much documents as possible, even those that would normally be sent compressed,
3948 you must use the <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
3949 action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
3952 Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
3953 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
3954 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
3955 works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
3956 based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
3960 <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or
3961 improved filters is particularly welcome!
3964 The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
3965 predefined filter. There are <link linkend="predefined-filters">more
3966 verbose explanations</link> of what these filters do in the <link
3967 linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>.
3973 <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file).
3974 See <link linkend="PREDEFINED-FILTERS">the Predefined Filters section</link> for
3975 more explanation on each:</term>
3978 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
3979 <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.</screen>
3982 <anchor id="filter-js-events">
3983 <screen>+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings and timers (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites).</screen>
3986 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
3987 <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</screen>
3990 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
3991 <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content.</screen>
3994 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
3995 <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups).</screen>
3998 <anchor id="filter-unsolicited-popups">
3999 <screen>+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
4002 <anchor id="filter-all-popups">
4003 <screen>+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
4006 <anchor id="filter-img-reorder">
4007 <screen>+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective.</screen>
4010 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
4011 <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size.</screen>
4014 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-link">
4015 <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers.</screen>
4018 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
4019 <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking).</screen>
4022 <anchor id="filter-tiny-textforms">
4023 <screen>+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap.</screen>
4026 <anchor id="filter-jumping-windows">
4027 <screen>+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves.</screen>
4030 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
4031 <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizable.</screen>
4034 <anchor id="filter-demoronizer">
4035 <screen>+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets.</screen>
4038 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
4039 <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects.</screen>
4042 <anchor id="filter-quicktime-kioskmode">
4043 <screen>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies saveable.</screen>
4046 <anchor id="filter-fun">
4047 <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
4050 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
4051 <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering. Note that this filter doesn't work reliably.</screen>
4054 <anchor id="filter-ie-exploits">
4055 <screen>+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits.</screen>
4058 <anchor id="filter-site-specifics">
4059 <screen>+filter{site-specifics} # Cure for site-specific problems. Don't apply generally!</screen>
4062 <anchor id="filter-no-ping">
4063 <screen>+filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes in <a> and <area> tags.</screen>
4066 <anchor id="filter-google">
4067 <screen>+filter{google} # CSS-based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation and the toolbar advertisement.</screen>
4070 <anchor id="filter-yahoo">
4071 <screen>+filter{yahoo} # CSS-based block for Yahoo text ads. Also removes a width limitation.</screen>
4074 <anchor id="filter-msn">
4075 <screen>+filter{msn} # CSS-based block for MSN text ads. Also removes tracking URLs and a width limitation.</screen>
4078 <anchor id="filter-blogspot">
4079 <screen>+filter{blogspot} # Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this.</screen>
4087 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4088 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="force-text-mode">
4089 <title>force-text-mode</title>
4095 <term>Typical use:</term>
4097 <para>Force <application>Privoxy</application> to treat a document as if it was in some kind of <emphasis>text</emphasis> format. </para>
4102 <term>Effect:</term>
4105 Declares a document as text, even if the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> isn't detected as such.
4112 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4114 <para>Boolean.</para>
4119 <term>Parameter:</term>
4131 As explained <literal><link linkend="filter">above</link></literal>,
4132 <application>Privoxy</application> tries to only filter files that are
4133 in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to
4134 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite</link></literal>.
4135 <literal>force-text-mode</literal> declares a document as text,
4136 without looking at the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> first.
4140 Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
4141 with regular expressions can cause file damage.
4148 <term>Example usage:</term>
4161 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4162 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward-override">
4163 <title>forward-override</title>
4169 <term>Typical use:</term>
4171 <para>Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin</para>
4176 <term>Effect:</term>
4179 Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file.
4186 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4188 <para>Multi-value.</para>
4193 <term>Parameter:</term>
4197 <para><quote>forward .</quote> to use a direct connection without any additional proxies.</para>
4201 <quote>forward 127.0.0.1:8123</quote> to use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123.
4206 <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 .</quote> to use the socks4a proxy listening at
4207 127.0.0.1 port 9050. Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote>
4208 to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
4209 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
4214 <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 proxy.example.org:8000</quote> to use the socks4a proxy
4215 listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy listening at proxy.example.org port 8000.
4216 Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote> to use a socks4 connection
4217 (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
4218 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
4229 This action takes parameters similar to the
4230 <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives in the configuration
4231 file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used as replacement, but normally it's only
4232 used in cases where matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient.
4236 Please read the description for the <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives before
4237 using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will reduce your privacy and increase the
4238 chances of man-in-the-middle attacks.
4241 If the ports are missing or invalid, default values will be used. This might change
4242 in the future and you shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect syntax causes Privoxy
4246 Use the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">show-url-info CGI page</ulink>
4247 to verify that your forward settings do what you thought the do.
4254 <term>Example usage:</term>
4258 # Always use direct connections for requests previously tagged as
4259 # <quote>User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0</quote> and make sure
4260 # resuming downloads continues to work.
4261 # This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing,
4262 # without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates
4263 # or downloads of bigger files like ISOs.
4264 # Note that HTTP headers are easy to fake and therefore their
4265 # values are as (un)trustworthy as your clients and users.
4266 {+forward-override{forward .} \
4267 -hide-if-modified-since \
4268 -overwrite-last-modified \
4270 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$
4279 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4280 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-empty-document">
4281 <title>handle-as-empty-document</title>
4287 <term>Typical use:</term>
4289 <para>Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis></para>
4294 <term>Effect:</term>
4297 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
4298 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
4299 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote>
4300 page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
4301 The <emphasis>empty</emphasis> document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
4308 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4310 <para>Boolean.</para>
4315 <term>Parameter:</term>
4327 Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
4328 are blocked with <application>Privoxy's</application>
4329 default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
4330 And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the &my-app;
4331 BLOCKED message in frames.
4334 The content type for the empty document can be specified with
4335 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{}</link></literal>,
4336 but usually this isn't necessary.
4342 <term>Example usage:</term>
4345 <screen># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
4346 # but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
4347 {+block{Blocked JavaScript} +handle-as-empty-document}
4357 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4358 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
4359 <title>handle-as-image</title>
4363 <term>Typical use:</term>
4365 <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>
4370 <term>Effect:</term>
4373 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
4374 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
4375 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
4376 page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
4377 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
4378 client as a substitute for the blocked content.
4385 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4387 <para>Boolean.</para>
4392 <term>Parameter:</term>
4404 The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
4405 It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
4409 Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
4410 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
4411 reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
4414 Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
4415 frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
4416 Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
4417 ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
4423 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
4426 <screen># Generic image extensions:
4429 /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
4431 # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
4432 # blocked as images:
4434 {+block{Nasty banners.} +handle-as-image}
4435 nasty-banner-server.example.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash
4444 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4445 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-accept-language">
4446 <title>hide-accept-language</title>
4452 <term>Typical use:</term>
4454 <para>Pretend to use different language settings.</para>
4459 <term>Effect:</term>
4462 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> HTTP header in client requests.
4469 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4471 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4476 <term>Parameter:</term>
4479 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4488 Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
4489 foreign User-Agent set with
4490 <literal><link linkend="hide-user-agent">hide-user-agent</link></literal>
4494 However some sites with content in different languages check the
4495 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> to decide which one to take by default.
4496 Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
4497 changing the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header first.
4500 Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
4501 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header to languages you understand,
4502 or to languages that aren't wide spread.
4505 Before setting the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header
4506 to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to
4507 make your requests unique and thus easier to trace.
4508 If you don't plan to change this header frequently,
4509 you should stick to a common language.
4515 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4518 <screen># Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
4519 {+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
4520 +hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
4530 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4531 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-content-disposition">
4532 <title>hide-content-disposition</title>
4538 <term>Typical use:</term>
4540 <para>Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.</para>
4545 <term>Effect:</term>
4548 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header set by some servers.
4555 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4557 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4562 <term>Parameter:</term>
4565 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4574 Some servers set the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header for
4575 documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
4576 The <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header contains the file name
4577 the browser is supposed to use by default.
4580 In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
4581 <emphasis>just view</emphasis> the document, without downloading it first,
4582 even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
4585 Removing the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header helps
4586 to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
4587 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> header, before they decide if they can
4588 display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have
4589 to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
4593 It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion
4594 to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set
4598 This action will probably be removed in the future,
4599 use server-header filters instead.
4605 <term>Example usage:</term>
4608 <screen># Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
4610 +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
4611 +hide-content-disposition{block} }
4612 .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php</screen>
4620 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4621 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-if-modified-since">
4622 <title>hide-if-modified-since</title>
4628 <term>Typical use:</term>
4630 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
4635 <term>Effect:</term>
4638 Deletes the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> HTTP client header or modifies its value.
4645 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4647 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4652 <term>Parameter:</term>
4655 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
4664 Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
4665 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the
4666 browser to use a cached copy of the page.
4669 Instead of removing the header, <literal>hide-if-modified-since</literal> can
4670 also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value.
4671 You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and
4672 <application>Privoxy</application> does the rest. A negative value means
4673 subtracting, a positive value adding.
4676 Randomizing the value of the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> makes
4677 it less likely that the server can use the time as a cookie replacement,
4678 but you will run into caching problems if the random range is too high.
4681 It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
4682 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
4683 handle the greater changes.
4686 It is also recommended to use this action together with
4687 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>,
4688 otherwise it's more or less pointless.
4694 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4697 <screen># Let the browser revalidate but make tracking based on the time less likely.
4698 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
4699 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
4700 +crunch-if-none-match}
4709 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4710 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
4711 <title>hide-from-header</title>
4715 <term>Typical use:</term>
4717 <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
4722 <term>Effect:</term>
4725 Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
4733 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4735 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4740 <term>Parameter:</term>
4743 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4752 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
4753 (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
4757 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
4758 server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
4759 is actually used by a real person.
4762 This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
4763 <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
4769 <term>Example usage:</term>
4772 <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
4773 <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
4781 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4782 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
4783 <title>hide-referrer</title>
4784 <anchor id="hide-referer">
4787 <term>Typical use:</term>
4789 <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
4794 <term>Effect:</term>
4797 Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
4798 or replaces it with a forged one.
4805 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4807 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4812 <term>Parameter:</term>
4816 <para><quote>conditional-block</quote> to delete the header completely if the host has changed.</para>
4819 <para><quote>conditional-forge</quote> to forge the header if the host has changed.</para>
4822 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header unconditionally.</para>
4825 <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
4828 <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
4838 <literal>conditional-block</literal> is the only parameter,
4839 that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the
4840 referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or
4841 typed in the address directly.
4844 Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
4845 allows the server owner to see the visitor's <quote>click path</quote>,
4846 but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing
4847 other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't
4848 a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between
4852 Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
4853 failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
4854 requests, in an attempt to prevent their content from being
4855 embedded or linked to elsewhere.
4858 Both <literal>conditional-block</literal> and <literal>forge</literal>
4859 will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page
4860 are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case.
4863 <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
4864 <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
4865 substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
4866 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
4867 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
4873 <term>Example usage:</term>
4876 <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
4877 <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
4885 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4886 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
4887 <title>hide-user-agent</title>
4891 <term>Typical use:</term>
4893 <para>Try to conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
4898 <term>Effect:</term>
4901 Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
4902 in client requests with the specified value.
4909 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4911 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4916 <term>Parameter:</term>
4919 Any user-defined string.
4929 This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at this header in
4930 order to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
4931 way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the right thing to do: good web sites
4932 work browser-independently).
4936 Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
4937 browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
4938 <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
4939 setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
4940 the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
4941 OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
4942 sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
4943 reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
4944 let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
4945 <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
4946 (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
4949 More information on known user-agent strings can be found at
4950 <ulink url="http://www.user-agents.org/">http://www.user-agents.org/</ulink>
4952 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</ulink>.
4958 <term>Example usage:</term>
4961 <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
4969 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4970 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
4971 <title>limit-connect</title>
4975 <term>Typical use:</term>
4977 <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</para>
4982 <term>Effect:</term>
4985 Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
4992 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4994 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4999 <term>Parameter:</term>
5002 A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
5003 defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
5012 By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
5013 <application>Privoxy</application> allows HTTP CONNECT requests to all
5014 ports. Use <literal>limit-connect</literal> if fine-grained control
5015 is desired for some or all destinations.
5018 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
5019 (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
5020 the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
5021 short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
5022 This means CONNECT-enabled proxies can be used as TCP relays very easily.
5025 <application>Privoxy</application> relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
5026 the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent &my-app;'s
5027 filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
5033 <term>Example usages:</term>
5035 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
5036 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
5037 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
5039 <screen>+limit-connect{443} # Port 443 is OK.
5040 +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
5041 +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
5042 +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
5043 +limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</screen>
5050 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5051 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
5052 <title>prevent-compression</title>
5056 <term>Typical use:</term>
5059 Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
5060 passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s.
5066 <term>Effect:</term>
5069 Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
5076 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5078 <para>Boolean.</para>
5083 <term>Parameter:</term>
5095 More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
5096 is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the <literal><link
5097 linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> and
5098 <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
5099 actions need access to the uncompressed data.
5102 When compiled with zlib support (available since &my-app; 3.0.7), content that should be
5103 filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't have to worry about this action.
5104 If you are using an older &my-app; version, or one that hasn't been compiled with zlib
5105 support, this action can be used to convince the server to send the content uncompressed.
5108 Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is seldom decreased by less than 50%,
5109 for markup-heavy instances like news feeds saving more than 90% of the original size isn't
5113 Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should only
5114 enable this action if you really need it. As of &my-app; 3.0.7 it's disabled in all
5115 predefined action settings.
5118 Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
5119 documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an empty document body,
5120 some IIS versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable
5121 <literal>prevent-compression</literal> per default, you might want to add
5122 exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
5128 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
5132 # Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
5134 { +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
5135 # Match only these sites
5140 # Or instead, we could set a universal default:
5142 { +prevent-compression }
5145 # Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites:
5147 { -prevent-compression }
5148 .compusa.com/</screen>
5157 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5158 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="overwrite-last-modified">
5159 <title>overwrite-last-modified</title>
5165 <term>Typical use:</term>
5167 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
5172 <term>Effect:</term>
5175 Deletes the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> HTTP server header or modifies its value.
5182 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5184 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5189 <term>Parameter:</term>
5192 One of the keywords: <quote>block</quote>, <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote>
5193 and <quote>randomize</quote>
5202 Removing the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header is useful for filter
5203 testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
5204 code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
5205 version of the page.
5208 The <quote>randomize</quote> option overwrites the value of the
5209 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with a randomly chosen time
5210 between the original value and the current time. In theory the server
5211 could send each document with a different <quote>Last-Modified:</quote>
5212 header to track visits without using cookies. <quote>Randomize</quote>
5213 makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
5216 <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote> overwrites the value of the
5217 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with the current time. You could use
5218 this option together with
5219 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
5220 to further customize your random range.
5223 The preferred parameter here is <quote>randomize</quote>. It is safe
5224 to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct.
5225 If the server sets the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header to the time
5226 of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same.
5227 Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with
5228 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>,
5232 It is also recommended to use this action together with
5233 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
5239 <term>Example usage:</term>
5242 <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
5243 { +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
5244 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
5245 +crunch-if-none-match}
5254 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5255 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="redirect">
5256 <title>redirect</title>
5262 <term>Typical use:</term>
5265 Redirect requests to other sites.
5271 <term>Effect:</term>
5274 Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
5275 to another location and the browser should get it from there.
5282 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5284 <para>Parameterized</para>
5289 <term>Parameter:</term>
5292 An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
5301 Requests to which this action applies are answered with a
5302 HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is
5303 either provided as parameter, or derived by applying a
5304 single pcrs command to the original URL.
5307 This action will be ignored if you use it together with
5308 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>.
5309 It can be combined with
5310 <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</link></literal>
5311 to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL.
5314 Use this action carefully, make sure not to create redirection loops
5315 and be aware that using your own redirects might make it
5316 possible to fingerprint your requests.
5319 In case of problems with your redirects, or simply to watch
5320 them working, enable <link linkend="DEBUG">debug 128</link>.
5326 <term>Example usages:</term>
5329 <screen># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
5330 { +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
5331 example.com/stylesheet\.css
5333 # Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
5334 # (relies on the browser accept and forward invalid URLs to &my-app;)
5335 { +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
5338 # Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles
5339 # (Note the $ at the end of the URL pattern to make sure
5340 # the request for the rewritten URL isn't redirected as well)
5341 {+redirect{s@$@&mode=expanded@}}
5342 undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$
5344 # Redirect Google search requests to MSN
5345 {+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/search\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=$1@}}
5348 # Redirect MSN search requests to Yahoo
5349 {+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/results\.aspx\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=$1@}}
5350 search.msn.com//results\.aspx\?q=
5352 # Redirect remote requests for this manual
5353 # to the local version delivered by Privoxy
5354 {+redirect{s@^http://www@http://config@}}
5355 www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</screen>
5364 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5365 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-filter">
5366 <title>server-header-filter</title>
5370 <term>Typical use:</term>
5373 Rewrite or remove single server headers.
5379 <term>Effect:</term>
5382 All server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly
5383 through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
5390 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
5392 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5397 <term>Parameter:</term>
5400 The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the
5401 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
5410 Server-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
5411 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
5412 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
5413 You can do that by using tags though.
5416 Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
5417 and use their output as input.
5420 Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
5421 to learn which server-header filters are available by default, and how to
5428 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5432 {+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}}
5433 example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html
5435 {+server-header-filter{xml-to-html}}
5436 example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not
5446 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5447 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-tagger">
5448 <title>server-header-tagger</title>
5452 <term>Typical use:</term>
5455 Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
5461 <term>Effect:</term>
5464 Server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
5465 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
5473 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
5475 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5480 <term>Parameter:</term>
5483 The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the
5484 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
5493 Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
5494 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
5498 Server-header taggers are executed before all other header actions
5499 that modify server headers. Their tags can be used to control
5500 all of the other server-header actions, the content filters
5501 and the crunch actions (<link linkend="redirect">redirect</link>
5502 and <link linkend="block">block</link>).
5505 Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header taggers
5506 doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the server's log file.
5513 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5517 # Tag every request with the content type declared by the server
5518 {+server-header-tagger{content-type}}
5529 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5530 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
5531 <title>session-cookies-only</title>
5535 <term>Typical use:</term>
5538 Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current
5539 browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
5545 <term>Effect:</term>
5548 Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote>
5549 server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
5550 forget them in between sessions.
5557 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5559 <para>Boolean.</para>
5564 <term>Parameter:</term>
5576 This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
5577 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
5578 websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
5581 Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
5582 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
5583 This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
5584 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
5585 sites, and is the recommended setting.
5588 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
5589 together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
5590 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
5591 will be plainly killed.
5594 Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
5595 field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
5598 This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
5599 previously by the browser before starting <application>Privoxy</application>.
5600 These would have to be removed manually.
5603 <application>Privoxy</application> also uses
5604 the <link linkend="filter-content-cookies">content-cookies filter</link>
5605 to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
5606 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>.
5612 <term>Example usage:</term>
5615 <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
5623 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5624 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
5625 <title>set-image-blocker</title>
5629 <term>Typical use:</term>
5631 <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
5636 <term>Effect:</term>
5639 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
5640 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
5641 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
5642 apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
5643 <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
5644 sent as a replacement.
5651 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5653 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5658 <term>Parameter:</term>
5663 <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
5664 decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
5669 <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
5670 completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
5671 images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
5672 has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
5677 <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
5678 send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
5679 to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via <quote>file:///</quote> URL.
5680 (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
5683 A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
5684 URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
5685 This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
5686 the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
5687 it over and over again.
5698 The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
5699 class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
5700 either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
5703 There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
5704 used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
5705 Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
5711 <term>Example usage:</term>
5717 <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
5720 Redirect to the BSD daemon:
5723 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
5726 Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
5729 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
5737 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5739 <title>Summary</title>
5741 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
5742 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
5743 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
5744 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
5745 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
5746 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
5752 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5753 <sect2 id="aliases">
5754 <title>Aliases</title>
5756 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
5757 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
5758 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
5759 Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
5761 <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
5762 recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
5763 <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
5764 Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
5765 <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
5769 Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
5770 defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
5771 And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
5772 have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
5776 There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
5777 used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
5778 decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
5779 <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
5780 <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
5781 in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
5782 by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
5785 Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
5786 <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
5787 editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
5788 them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
5789 but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
5794 Now let's define some aliases...
5799 # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
5801 # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
5802 # must be at the top of the actions file!
5806 # These aliases just save typing later:
5807 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
5809 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5810 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5811 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
5812 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
5814 # These aliases define combinations of actions
5815 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
5817 fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link>
5819 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link>
5821 # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
5823 c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
5824 c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
5828 ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
5829 actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
5830 up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
5835 # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
5836 # user data and require minimal interference to work:
5839 .office.microsoft.com
5840 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
5841 # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com
5845 # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
5849 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
5852 # These shops require pop-ups:
5854 {-filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
5856 .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
5860 Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are typically used for
5861 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require more than one action to be disabled
5862 in order to function properly.
5868 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5869 <sect2 id="act-examples">
5870 <title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
5872 The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
5873 there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
5874 linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
5875 to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
5876 define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
5877 example <filename>match-all.action</filename>, <filename>default.action</filename>
5878 and <filename>user.action</filename> file and see how all these pieces come together:
5882 <title>match-all.action</title>
5884 Remember <emphasis>all actions are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>,
5885 so we have to explicitly enable the ones we want.
5889 While the <filename>match-all.action</filename> file only contains a
5890 single section, it is probably the most important one. It has only one
5891 pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
5892 <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the set of
5893 actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
5894 be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
5895 wholly overridden by other actions files like <filename>default.action</filename>
5896 and <filename>user.action</filename>, but it will still be largely responsible
5897 for your overall browsing experience.
5901 Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
5902 no need to disable any actions here. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
5903 preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
5904 Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
5905 multiple lines with line continuation.
5911 +<link linkend="CHANGE-X-FORWARDED-FOR">change-x-forwarded-for{block}</link> \
5912 +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
5913 +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
5920 The default behavior is now set.
5925 <title>default.action</title>
5928 If you aren't a developer, there's no need for you to edit the
5929 <filename>default.action</filename> file. It is maintained by
5930 the &my-app; developers and if you disagree with some of the
5931 sections, you should overrule them in your <filename>user.action</filename>.
5935 Understanding the <filename>default.action</filename> file can
5936 help you with your <filename>user.action</filename>, though.
5940 The first section in this file is a special section for internal use
5941 that prevents older &my-app; versions from reading the file:
5946 ##########################################################################
5947 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
5948 ##########################################################################
5950 for-privoxy-version=3.0.11</screen>
5954 After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
5955 section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
5956 that also explains why and how aliases are used:
5961 ##########################################################################
5963 ##########################################################################
5966 # These aliases just save typing later:
5967 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
5969 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5970 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5971 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
5972 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
5974 # These aliases define combinations of actions
5975 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
5977 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>
5978 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link></screen>
5982 The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
5983 sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
5984 very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
5985 make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
5986 our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
5987 of actions explicitly:
5992 ##########################################################################
5993 # Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
5994 ##########################################################################
5996 # "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
5999 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
6000 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
6001 mail.google.com</screen>
6005 Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
6006 require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
6007 carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
6016 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
6018 .scan.co.uk</screen>
6022 The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
6023 action, which may have been enabled in <filename>match-all.action</filename>,
6024 breaks some sites. So disable it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
6029 { -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
6033 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
6034 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
6035 .nytimes.com</screen>
6039 It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
6040 URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
6041 be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
6042 Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
6043 would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
6044 would feed the advertisers information about you. We can mark any
6045 URL as an image with the <literal><link
6046 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
6047 and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
6053 ##########################################################################
6055 ##########################################################################
6057 # Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
6058 # blocked further down this file:
6060 { +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
6061 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
6065 And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
6066 generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
6067 request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
6068 mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
6069 <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
6070 course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
6071 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
6072 Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
6073 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
6074 action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
6075 <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
6076 action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
6081 # Known ad generators:
6086 .ad.*.doubleclick.net
6087 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
6088 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
6094 One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
6095 is to block banners. Many of these can be <quote>blocked</quote>
6096 by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
6097 action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
6098 images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
6099 them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
6100 doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
6101 need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
6102 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
6105 First comes many generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
6106 matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
6107 a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
6108 to keep the example short:
6113 ##########################################################################
6114 # Block these fine banners:
6115 ##########################################################################
6116 { <link linkend="BLOCK">+block{Banner ads.}</link> }
6124 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
6125 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
6127 # Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
6129 .hitbox.com</screen>
6133 It's quite remarkable how many advertisers actually call their banner
6134 servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
6135 in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
6136 generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
6139 But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
6140 to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
6141 <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
6142 but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
6143 <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
6144 well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
6148 Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
6149 <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
6150 so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
6151 URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
6152 action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
6153 general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
6154 <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
6155 <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
6156 applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
6157 with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
6162 ##########################################################################
6163 # Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
6164 ##########################################################################
6168 { -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
6169 adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
6170 adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
6171 adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
6172 ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
6173 .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
6174 .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
6182 www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
6183 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
6187 Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
6188 so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
6189 and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
6190 <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
6191 disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
6196 # Don't filter code!
6198 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
6203 .sourceforge.net</screen>
6207 The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course much more
6208 comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
6213 <sect3><title>user.action</title>
6216 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
6217 which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
6218 you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
6219 are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
6220 be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
6221 be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
6222 actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
6223 defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
6224 <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
6225 <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
6226 <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
6227 to install updated versions from time to time.
6231 So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
6232 <filename>user.action</filename>:
6236 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
6240 # My user.action file. <fred@example.com></screen>
6244 As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
6245 file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
6246 <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
6251 # Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
6252 # (Re-)define aliases for this file:
6256 # These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
6257 # be self explanatory.
6259 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
6260 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
6261 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
6262 allow-popups = -filter{all-popups}
6263 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked as image.} +handle-as-image
6264 -block-as-image = -block
6266 # These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
6267 # certain types of sites:
6269 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer
6270 shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
6272 # Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
6274 allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
6276 # Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
6277 # MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
6278 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>
6283 Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
6284 you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
6285 to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
6286 <literal>allow-all-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
6287 that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
6288 processing of cookies to make them only temporary.
6293 { allow-all-cookies }
6297 .redhat.com</screen>
6301 Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:
6306 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
6307 .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
6311 Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
6316 # Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
6317 # erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
6322 # And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
6323 # so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
6325 stupid-server.example.com/</screen>
6329 Example of a simple <link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> action. Say you've
6330 seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of.
6331 You have right-clicked the image, selected <quote>copy image location</quote>
6332 and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a
6333 <literal>{ +block{} }</literal> section. Note that <literal>{ +handle-as-image
6334 }</literal> need not be specified, since all URLs ending in
6335 <literal>.gif</literal> will be tagged as images by the general rules as set
6336 in default.action anyway:
6341 { +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link>{Nasty ads.} }
6342 www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
6343 another.example.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
6347 The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner
6348 farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which
6349 makes it impossible for <application>Privoxy</application> to guess
6350 the file type just by looking at the URL.
6351 You can use the <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above for
6353 Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an
6354 image are typically rendered as a <quote>broken image</quote> icon by the
6355 browser. Use cautiously.
6364 ar.atwola.com/</screen>
6368 Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
6369 but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
6370 were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
6371 you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
6372 -- <emphasis>whoa!</emphasis> -- it worked. The <literal>fragile</literal>
6373 aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also,
6374 good for testing purposes to see if it is <application>Privoxy</application>
6375 that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular sites
6376 that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:
6384 .mybank.com</screen>
6388 You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
6389 but it is disabled in the distributed actions file.
6390 So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
6391 update-safe config, once and for all:
6396 { +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
6397 / # For ALL sites!</screen>
6401 Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
6402 to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
6403 really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
6404 <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
6405 won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
6409 You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are
6410 funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
6411 to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
6412 sites that you feel provide value to you:
6424 Note that <literal>allow-ads</literal> has been aliased to
6425 <literal>-<link linkend="block">block</link></literal>,
6426 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-size">filter{banners-by-size}</link></literal>, and
6427 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-link">filter{banners-by-link}</link></literal> above.
6431 Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type <literal>
6432 application/x-sh</literal> which typically would open a download type
6433 dialog. In my case, I want to look at the shell script, and then I can save
6434 it should I choose to.
6444 <filename>user.action</filename> is generally the best place to define
6445 exceptions and additions to the default policies of
6446 <filename>default.action</filename>. Some actions are safe to have their
6447 default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
6448 <quote>blank</quote> image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for
6449 <emphasis>ALL</emphasis> sites. <quote>/</quote> of course matches all URL
6455 { +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
6456 / # ALL sites</screen>
6462 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6466 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6468 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6470 <sect1 id="filter-file">
6471 <title>Filter Files</title>
6474 On-the-fly text substitutions need
6475 to be defined in a <quote>filter file</quote>. Once defined, they
6476 can then be invoked as an <quote>action</quote>.
6480 &my-app; supports three different filter actions:
6481 <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> to
6482 rewrite the content that is send to the client,
6483 <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header-filter</link></literal>
6484 to rewrite headers that are send by the client, and
6485 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header-filter</link></literal>
6486 to rewrite headers that are send by the server.
6490 &my-app; also supports two tagger actions:
6491 <literal><link linkend="client-header-tagger">client-header-tagger</link></literal>
6493 <literal><link linkend="server-header-tagger">server-header-tagger</link></literal>.
6494 Taggers and filters use the same syntax in the filter files, the difference
6495 is that taggers don't modify the text they are filtering, but use a rewritten
6496 version of the filtered text as tag. The tags can then be used to change the
6497 applying actions through sections with <link linkend="tag-pattern">tag-patterns</link>.
6502 Multiple filter files can be defined through the <literal> <link
6503 linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config directive. The filters
6504 as supplied by the developers are located in
6505 <filename>default.filter</filename>. It is recommended that any locally
6506 defined or modified filters go in a separately defined file such as
6507 <filename>user.filter</filename>.
6511 Common tasks for content filters are to eliminate common annoyances in
6512 HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
6513 exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
6514 infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
6515 width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
6516 or just to have fun.
6520 Enabled content filters are applied to any content whose
6521 <quote>Content Type</quote> header is recognised as a sign
6522 of text-based content, with the exception of <literal>text/plain</literal>.
6523 Use the <link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> action
6524 to also filter other content.
6528 Substitutions are made at the source level, so if you want to <quote>roll
6529 your own</quote> filters, you should first be familiar with HTML syntax,
6530 and, of course, regular expressions.
6534 Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
6535 filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
6536 here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with one of the
6537 <emphasis>keywords</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>,
6538 <literal>CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER:</literal> or <literal>SERVER-HEADER-FILTER:</literal>
6539 followed by the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
6540 <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
6541 come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
6542 text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
6543 should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
6544 comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
6545 user interface</ulink>.
6549 Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
6550 in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
6551 +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
6552 in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
6556 Filter definitions start with a header line that contains the filter
6557 type, the filter name and the filter description.
6558 A content filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
6563 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
6567 Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that
6568 define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified
6569 in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
6570 <literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
6571 will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
6572 PCRS documentation for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most
6573 notably, the non-standard option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported,
6574 which turns the default to ungreedy matching.
6579 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
6580 Expressions</quote></ulink>, you might want to take a look at
6581 the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
6582 see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl
6584 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlop.html">the
6585 <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
6586 url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
6587 expressions</ulink> in general.
6588 The below examples might also help to get you started.
6592 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6594 <sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
6596 Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> content filter. We have already defined
6597 the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
6598 <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
6603 <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
6607 But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
6608 of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
6609 care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
6610 we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
6614 <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
6618 Our complete filter now looks like this:
6621 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
6622 s/foo/bar/g</screen>
6626 Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
6627 a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
6628 abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
6634 FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
6636 # Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
6638 s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
6642 Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
6643 <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
6644 the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
6645 by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
6649 Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
6650 enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
6651 means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
6652 matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
6653 it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
6657 That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
6658 matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
6659 be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
6660 special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
6661 Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
6662 the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
6663 in the page (and appear in that order).
6667 But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
6668 is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
6669 means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
6670 tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
6671 <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
6675 This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
6676 The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
6677 remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
6678 the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
6679 that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
6680 text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
6681 of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
6682 only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
6683 tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
6684 multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
6685 substitution is global.
6689 So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
6690 <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
6691 (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
6692 <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
6693 that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
6697 Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
6698 lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
6699 easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
6700 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
6701 the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
6702 This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
6703 (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
6704 Business!"</literal>.
6708 The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
6709 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
6710 <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
6711 since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
6712 string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
6713 information anymore.
6717 We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
6718 this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
6723 # The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
6725 s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
6729 <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
6730 carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
6731 or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
6732 makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
6733 option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
6734 <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>. Finally, <literal>\1</literal> is
6735 a back-reference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
6736 with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
6737 a back-reference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
6741 So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
6742 strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
6743 (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
6744 real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
6745 descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
6746 you move your mouse over links.
6751 # Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
6753 s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
6758 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
6759 event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
6760 When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
6761 This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
6762 <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
6763 Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
6764 case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee
6765 a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use <literal>[^>]*</literal>
6766 instead of <literal>.*</literal> to prevent the match from exceeding the
6767 <body> tag if it doesn't contain <quote>OnUnload</quote>, but the page's
6772 The last example is from the fun department:
6777 FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
6779 # Spice the daily news:
6781 s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
6785 Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
6786 in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
6787 <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
6788 in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while
6789 still replacing the word everywhere else.
6794 # Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
6796 s* industry[ -]leading \
6798 | customer[ -]focused \
6799 | market[ -]driven \
6800 | award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
6801 | high[ -]performance \
6802 | solutions[ -]based \
6806 *<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
6811 The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
6812 e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
6820 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6822 <sect2 id="predefined-filters"><title>The Pre-defined Filters</title>
6826 Note each filter is also listed in the +filter action section above. Please
6827 keep these listings in sync.
6832 The distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file contains a selection of
6833 pre-defined filters for your convenience:
6838 <term><emphasis>js-annoyances</emphasis></term>
6841 The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.
6846 replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
6847 with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the <literal><link
6848 linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal> action on the content level.
6853 removes the bindings to the DOM's
6854 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">unload
6855 event</ulink> which we feel has no right to exist and is responsible for most <quote>exit consoles</quote>, i.e.
6856 nasty windows that pop up when you close another one.
6861 removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being
6862 full-screen, non-resizeable, without location, status or menu bar etc.
6868 Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that
6869 rely heavily on JavaScript.
6875 <term><emphasis>js-events</emphasis></term>
6878 This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event bindings, which
6879 means that scripts can not react to user actions such as mouse movements or clicks, window
6880 resizing etc, anymore. Use with caution!
6883 We <emphasis>strongly discourage</emphasis> using this filter as a default since it breaks
6884 many legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should you really
6891 <term><emphasis>html-annoyances</emphasis></term>
6894 This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
6897 The <literal>BLINK</literal> and <literal>MARQUEE</literal> tags
6898 are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser windows will be created as
6899 resizeable (as of course they should be!), and will have location,
6900 scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
6906 <term><emphasis>content-cookies</emphasis></term>
6909 Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialog, where they can be intercepted
6911 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>
6912 and <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>
6913 actions. But web sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript
6914 to sneak cookies to the browser on the content level.
6917 This filter disables most HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets
6918 cookies. It cannot detect all clever uses of these types of code, so it
6919 should not be relied on as an absolute fix. Use it wherever you would also
6920 use the cookie crunch actions.
6926 <term><emphasis>refresh tags</emphasis></term>
6929 Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
6930 that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
6931 for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
6938 <term><emphasis>unsolicited-popups</emphasis></term>
6941 This filter attempts to prevent only <quote>unsolicited</quote> pop-up
6942 windows from opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user
6943 has explicitly chosen to open. It was added in version 3.0.1,
6944 as an improvement over earlier such filters.
6947 Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
6948 function to a dummy function, <literal>PrivoxyWindowOpen()</literal>,
6949 during the loading and rendering phase of each HTML page access, and
6950 restoring the function afterward.
6953 This is recommended only for browsers that cannot perform this function
6954 reliably themselves. And be aware that some sites require such windows
6955 in order to function normally. Use with caution.
6961 <term><emphasis>all-popups</emphasis></term>
6964 Attempt to prevent <emphasis>all</emphasis> pop-up windows from opening.
6965 Note this should be used with even more discretion than the above, since
6966 it is more likely to break some sites that require pop-ups for normal
6967 usage. Use with caution.
6973 <term><emphasis>img-reorder</emphasis></term>
6976 This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the
6977 <literal>banners-by-size</literal> and <literal>banners-by-link</literal>
6978 (see below) filters more effective and should be enabled together with them.
6984 <term><emphasis>banners-by-size</emphasis></term>
6987 This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are. Fortunately
6988 for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain standardized
6989 sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad stripping purposes.
6992 Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not ads,
6993 but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes.
6996 Recommended only for those who require extreme ad blocking. The default
6997 block rules should catch 95+% of all ads <emphasis>without</emphasis> this filter enabled.
7003 <term><emphasis>banners-by-link</emphasis></term>
7006 This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if
7007 their URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently
7008 not of much value and is not recommended for use by default.
7014 <term><emphasis>webbugs</emphasis></term>
7017 Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that
7018 are used to track users across websites, and collect information on them.
7019 As an HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the
7020 browser to contact a third-party site, disclosing the tracking information
7021 through the requested URL and/or cookies for that third-party domain, without
7022 the user ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party site.
7023 HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email addresses.
7026 This filter removes the HTML code that loads such <quote>webbugs</quote>.
7032 <term><emphasis>tiny-textforms</emphasis></term>
7035 A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas (those
7036 multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in them.
7037 It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such boxes are
7038 a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too.
7041 It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
7047 <term><emphasis>jumping-windows</emphasis></term>
7050 Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This filter
7051 neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might not display
7052 or behave as intended when using this filter. Use with caution.
7058 <term><emphasis>frameset-borders</emphasis></term>
7061 Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view their
7062 web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution etc,
7063 because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame sizes,
7064 yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they be too
7065 small to show their whole content.
7068 This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to sites
7075 <term><emphasis>demoronizer</emphasis></term>
7078 Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions (read:
7079 violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This can cause those
7080 HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant platforms.
7083 This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents.
7084 It is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of
7085 all documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly
7086 worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if weird garbage characters
7087 sometimes appear on some pages, or user agents that don't correct for this on
7090 My version of Mozilla (ancient) shows litte square boxes for quote
7091 characters, and apostrophes on moronized pages. So many pages have this, I
7092 can read them fine now. HB 08/27/06
7099 <term><emphasis>shockwave-flash</emphasis></term>
7102 A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips code
7103 out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects.
7111 <term><emphasis>quicktime-kioskmode</emphasis></term>
7114 Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
7115 prevents saving, is disabled.
7121 <term><emphasis>fun</emphasis></term>
7124 Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
7125 Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
7131 <term><emphasis>crude-parental</emphasis></term>
7134 A demonstration-only filter that shows how <application>Privoxy</application>
7135 can be used to delete web content on a keyword basis.
7141 <term><emphasis>ie-exploits</emphasis></term>
7144 An experimental collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
7145 code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
7148 Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug, and
7149 would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
7155 <term><emphasis>site-specifics</emphasis></term>
7158 Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't apply
7159 anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
7162 This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be applied
7163 to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
7164 <filename>default.action</filename> file does. Users shouldn't need to change
7165 anything regarding this filter.
7171 <term><emphasis>google</emphasis></term>
7174 A CSS based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation
7175 and the toolbar advertisement.
7181 <term><emphasis>yahoo</emphasis></term>
7184 Another CSS based block, this time for Yahoo text ads. And removes
7185 a width limitation as well.
7191 <term><emphasis>msn</emphasis></term>
7194 Another CSS based block, this time for MSN text ads. And removes
7195 tracking URLs, as well as a width limitation.
7201 <term><emphasis>blogspot</emphasis></term>
7204 Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this one!
7207 This filter also intentionally removes some navigation stuff and sets the
7208 page width to 100%. As a result, some rounded <quote>corners</quote> would
7209 appear to early or not at all and as fixing this would require a browser
7210 that understands background-size (CSS3), they are removed instead.
7216 <term><emphasis>xml-to-html</emphasis></term>
7219 Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from xml to html.
7225 <term><emphasis>html-to-xml</emphasis></term>
7228 Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from html to xml.
7234 <term><emphasis>no-ping</emphasis></term>
7237 Removes the non-standard <literal>ping</literal> attribute from
7238 anchor and area HTML tags.
7244 <term><emphasis>hide-tor-exit-notation</emphasis></term>
7247 Client-header filter to remove the <command>Tor</command> exit node notation
7248 found in Host and Referer headers.
7251 If &my-app; and <command>Tor</command> are chained and &my-app;
7252 is configured to use socks4a, one can use <quote>http://www.example.org.foobar.exit/</quote>
7253 to access the host <quote>www.example.org</quote> through the
7254 <command>Tor</command> exit node <quote>foobar</quote>.
7257 As the HTTP client isn't aware of this notation, it treats the
7258 whole string <quote>www.example.org.foobar.exit</quote> as host and uses it
7259 for the <quote>Host</quote> and <quote>Referer</quote> headers. From the
7260 server's point of view the resulting headers are invalid and can cause problems.
7263 An invalid <quote>Referer</quote> header can trigger <quote>hot-linking</quote>
7264 protections, an invalid <quote>Host</quote> header will make it impossible for
7265 the server to find the right vhost (several domains hosted on the same IP address).
7268 This client-header filter removes the <quote>foo.exit</quote> part in those headers
7269 to prevent the mentioned problems. Note that it only modifies
7270 the HTTP headers, it doesn't make it impossible for the server
7271 to detect your <command>Tor</command> exit node based on the IP address
7272 the request is coming from.
7279 <term><emphasis> </emphasis></term>
7293 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7297 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7299 <sect1 id="templates">
7300 <title>Privoxy's Template Files</title>
7302 All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
7303 <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
7304 error page</ulink>, the <ulink
7305 url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
7307 and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
7308 user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
7309 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
7314 These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
7315 directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On Unixish platforms,
7317 <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
7321 The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
7322 or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. It
7323 is possible to edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want
7324 to customize them. (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual
7325 user</emphasis>). Should you create your own custom templates, you should use
7326 the <filename>config</filename> setting <link linkend="templdir">templdir</link>
7327 to specify an alternate location, so your templates do not get overwritten
7331 Note that just like in configuration files, lines starting
7332 with <literal>#</literal> are ignored when the templates are filled in.
7336 The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
7337 find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
7338 in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
7339 always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
7340 code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
7344 A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
7345 blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
7346 for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
7347 our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
7348 is in an alpha or beta development stage:
7353 <!-- @if-unstable-start -->
7355 ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
7357 <!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
7361 If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
7362 <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
7363 will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
7367 <screen><!-- --></screen>
7371 There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
7372 mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
7377 All templates refer to a style located at
7378 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
7379 This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
7380 and the source for it can be found and edited in the
7381 <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
7386 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7390 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7392 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
7395 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
7397 <!-- end boilerplate -->
7401 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7404 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7405 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
7407 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
7409 <!-- end copyright -->
7411 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7412 <sect2><title>License</title>
7413 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
7415 <!-- end copyright -->
7417 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7420 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7422 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
7423 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
7425 <!-- end history -->
7428 <sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
7429 <!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
7431 <!-- end authors -->
7436 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7439 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7440 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
7441 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
7443 <!-- end seealso -->
7448 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7449 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
7452 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7454 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
7456 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
7457 expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
7458 files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
7459 through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
7462 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
7464 <application>PCRS</application> libraries.
7468 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
7469 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
7470 introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
7471 url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
7475 Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
7476 run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
7477 match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
7478 strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
7479 characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
7480 special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
7481 Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
7482 <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
7486 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
7487 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
7488 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
7489 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
7490 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
7491 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
7492 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
7493 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
7497 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
7498 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
7499 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
7500 and then some examples:
7505 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
7506 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
7508 </simplelist></para>
7512 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
7515 </simplelist></para>
7519 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
7522 </simplelist></para>
7526 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
7529 </simplelist></para>
7533 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
7534 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
7535 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
7536 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
7537 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
7538 meta-character meaning of any single character).
7540 </simplelist></para>
7544 <emphasis>[ ]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
7545 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
7546 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
7547 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
7549 </simplelist></para>
7553 <emphasis>( )</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
7554 or multiple sub-expressions.
7556 </simplelist></para>
7560 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
7561 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
7562 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
7563 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
7564 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
7565 example</quote>, and nothing else.
7567 </simplelist></para>
7570 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
7571 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
7572 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
7573 be more illuminating:
7577 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
7578 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
7579 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
7580 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
7581 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
7582 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
7583 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
7584 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
7585 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
7586 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
7587 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
7588 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
7589 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
7590 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
7595 And now something a little more complex:
7599 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
7600 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
7601 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
7602 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
7603 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
7604 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
7605 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
7610 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
7611 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
7612 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
7613 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
7614 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
7615 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
7616 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
7617 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
7618 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
7619 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
7620 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
7621 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
7622 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
7623 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
7624 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
7625 changing our regular expression to:
7626 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
7631 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
7632 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
7633 <quote>[ ]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
7634 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
7635 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
7636 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
7637 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
7638 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
7639 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
7640 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
7641 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
7642 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
7643 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
7644 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
7645 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
7646 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
7647 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
7648 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
7649 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
7650 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
7651 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
7652 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
7653 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
7654 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
7655 in the expression anywhere).
7659 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
7660 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
7661 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
7662 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
7663 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
7668 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
7669 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>
7673 For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications
7674 in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
7679 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7682 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7684 <title>Privoxy's Internal Pages</title>
7687 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
7688 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
7689 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
7690 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
7691 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
7692 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
7693 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
7699 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
7700 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
7701 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
7702 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
7715 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
7719 There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
7720 doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
7721 sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
7727 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
7728 editing of actions files:
7732 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
7739 Show the source code version numbers:
7743 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
7750 Show the browser's request headers:
7754 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
7761 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
7765 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
7772 Toggle Privoxy on or off. This feature can be turned off/on in the main
7773 <filename>config</filename> file. When toggled <quote>off</quote>, <quote>Privoxy</quote>
7774 continues to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking
7779 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
7783 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
7787 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
7792 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
7801 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
7805 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
7806 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
7808 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
7809 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
7810 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
7811 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
7812 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
7813 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
7816 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
7817 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
7818 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
7819 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
7820 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
7821 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
7830 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>
7837 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>
7844 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)
7851 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>
7857 <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>
7863 <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
7870 Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
7871 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com/">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
7872 have more information about bookmarklets.
7881 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7883 <title>Chain of Events</title>
7885 Let's take a quick look at how some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
7886 core features are triggered, and the ensuing sequence of events when a web
7887 page is requested by your browser:
7894 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
7895 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
7896 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
7902 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
7903 pages (e.g <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
7908 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
7910 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
7911 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
7912 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
7914 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT"><quote>+handle-as-empty-document</quote></link>
7915 are then checked, and if there is no match, an
7916 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back to the browser. Otherwise, if
7917 it does match, an image is returned for the former, and an empty text
7918 document for the latter. The type of image would depend on the setting of
7919 <link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
7920 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
7925 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
7926 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
7931 If the URL pattern matches the <link
7932 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
7933 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
7938 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
7939 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
7940 linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
7941 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
7947 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web
7953 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
7954 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
7955 filtered as determined by the
7956 <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
7957 <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
7958 and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
7964 If any <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
7966 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
7967 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
7968 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
7969 <filename>default.filter</filename> and any other filter files) are
7970 processed against the buffered content. Filters are applied in the order
7971 they are specified in one of the filter files. Animated GIFs, if present,
7972 are reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
7973 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
7974 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
7977 If neither a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
7979 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
7980 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
7981 to the client browser as it becomes available.
7986 As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it
7987 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
7988 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
7989 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a
7990 separate request (this is easily viewable in <application>Privoxy's</application>
7991 logs). And each such request is in turn processed just as above. Note that a
7992 complex web page will have many, many such embedded URLs. If these
7993 secondary requests are to a different server, then quite possibly a very
7994 differing set of actions is triggered.
8001 NOTE: This is somewhat of a simplistic overview of what happens with each URL
8002 request. For the sake of brevity and simplicity, we have focused on
8003 <application>Privoxy's</application> core features only.
8009 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8010 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
8011 <title>Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</title>
8014 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
8015 <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
8016 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
8017 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
8018 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
8019 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
8020 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
8021 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
8022 <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
8027 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
8028 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
8029 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
8030 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
8031 logs is a good idea too. (Note that both the toggle feature and logging are
8032 enabled via <filename>config</filename> file settings, and may need to be
8033 turned <quote>on</quote>.)
8036 Another easy troubleshooting step to try is if you have done any
8037 customization of your installation, revert back to the installed
8038 defaults and see if that helps. There are times the developers get complaints
8039 about one thing or another, and the problem is more related to a customized
8040 configuration issue.
8044 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
8045 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
8046 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
8047 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
8051 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
8052 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
8053 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
8054 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
8055 linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
8056 one of the filter files since this is handled very
8057 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
8058 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
8059 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
8060 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
8061 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
8062 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
8063 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
8068 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
8069 and look at it one section at a time in a sample configuration (your real
8070 configuration may vary):
8075 Matches for http://www.google.com:
8077 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8079 {+change-x-forwarded-for{block}
8080 +deanimate-gifs {last}
8081 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
8082 +filter {refresh-tags}
8083 +filter {img-reorder}
8084 +filter {banners-by-size}
8086 +filter {jumping-windows}
8087 +filter {ie-exploits}
8088 +hide-from-header {block}
8089 +hide-referrer {forge}
8090 +session-cookies-only
8091 +set-image-blocker {pattern}
8094 { -session-cookies-only }
8100 In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8101 (no matches in this file)
8106 This is telling us how we have defined our
8107 <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
8108 which ones match for our test case, <quote>google.com</quote>.
8109 Displayed is all the actions that are available to us. Remember,
8110 the <literal>+</literal> sign denotes <quote>on</quote>. <literal>-</literal>
8111 denotes <quote>off</quote>. So some are <quote>on</quote> here, but many
8112 are <quote>off</quote>. Each example we try may provide a slightly different
8113 end result, depending on our configuration directives.
8117 is for our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line
8118 listing, is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default
8119 settings. If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the
8120 section just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This
8121 will apply to all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end
8122 of the listing -- <quote> / </quote>.
8126 But we have defined additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
8127 rules, and then we list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions
8128 would apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit
8129 matches for <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous
8130 cookie setting, which was for <link
8131 linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
8132 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google, at
8133 least that is how it is in this example. The second turns
8134 <emphasis>off</emphasis> any <link
8135 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
8136 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
8137 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
8138 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
8139 <quote>www.google.com</quote> or <quote>mail.google.com</quote>. But it would not
8140 match <quote>www.google.de</quote>! So, apparently, we have these two actions
8141 defined as exceptions to the general rules at the top somewhere in the lower
8142 part of our <filename>default.action</filename> file, and
8143 <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter sections.
8147 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
8148 So there is nothing google-specific that we might have added to our own, local
8149 configuration. If there was, those actions would over-rule any actions from
8150 previously processed files, such as <filename>default.action</filename>.
8151 <filename>user.action</filename> typically has the last word. This is the
8152 best place to put hard and fast exceptions,
8156 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
8157 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
8158 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
8169 +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
8170 -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
8171 -content-type-overwrite
8172 -crunch-client-header
8173 -crunch-if-none-match
8174 -crunch-incoming-cookies
8175 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
8176 -crunch-server-header
8177 +deanimate-gifs {last}
8178 -downgrade-http-version
8181 -filter {content-cookies}
8182 -filter {all-popups}
8183 -filter {banners-by-link}
8184 -filter {tiny-textforms}
8185 -filter {frameset-borders}
8186 -filter {demoronizer}
8187 -filter {shockwave-flash}
8188 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
8190 -filter {crude-parental}
8191 -filter {site-specifics}
8192 -filter {js-annoyances}
8193 -filter {html-annoyances}
8194 +filter {refresh-tags}
8195 -filter {unsolicited-popups}
8196 +filter {img-reorder}
8197 +filter {banners-by-size}
8199 +filter {jumping-windows}
8200 +filter {ie-exploits}
8207 -handle-as-empty-document
8209 -hide-accept-language
8210 -hide-content-disposition
8211 +hide-from-header {block}
8212 -hide-if-modified-since
8213 +hide-referrer {forge}
8216 -overwrite-last-modified
8217 -prevent-compression
8219 -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
8220 -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
8221 -session-cookies-only
8222 +set-image-blocker {pattern} </screen>
8226 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
8227 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>,
8228 which are activated specifically for this site in our configuration,
8229 and thus show in the <quote>Final Results</quote>.
8233 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
8239 { +block{Domains starts with "ad"} }
8242 { +block{Domain contains "ad"} }
8245 { +block{Doubleclick banner server} +handle-as-image }
8246 .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
8251 We'll just show the interesting part here - the explicit matches. It is
8252 matched three different times. Two <quote>+block{}</quote> sections,
8253 and a <quote>+block{} +handle-as-image</quote>,
8254 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
8255 <quote>+block-as-image</quote>. (<link
8256 linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
8257 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
8262 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
8263 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
8264 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
8265 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
8266 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
8267 is done here -- as both a <link
8268 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block{}</quote></link>
8269 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
8270 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
8271 The custom alias <quote><literal>+block-as-image</literal></quote> just
8272 simplifies the process and make it more readable.
8276 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
8277 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
8283 Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
8285 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8289 +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
8290 -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
8291 -content-type-overwrite
8292 -crunch-client-header
8293 -crunch-if-none-match
8294 -crunch-incoming-cookies
8295 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
8296 -crunch-server-header
8298 -downgrade-http-version
8299 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
8301 -filter {content-cookies}
8302 -filter {all-popups}
8303 -filter {banners-by-link}
8304 -filter {tiny-textforms}
8305 -filter {frameset-borders}
8306 -filter {demoronizer}
8307 -filter {shockwave-flash}
8308 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
8310 -filter {crude-parental}
8311 -filter {site-specifics}
8312 -filter {js-annoyances}
8313 -filter {html-annoyances}
8314 +filter {refresh-tags}
8315 -filter {unsolicited-popups}
8316 +filter {img-reorder}
8317 +filter {banners-by-size}
8319 +filter {jumping-windows}
8320 +filter {ie-exploits}
8327 -handle-as-empty-document
8329 -hide-accept-language
8330 -hide-content-disposition
8331 +hide-from-header{block}
8332 +hide-referer{forge}
8334 -overwrite-last-modified
8335 +prevent-compression
8337 -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
8338 -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
8339 +session-cookies-only
8340 +set-image-blocker{blank} }
8343 { +block{Path contains "ads".} +handle-as-image }
8349 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote> in our
8350 configuration! But we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the
8351 blank page. It is actually triggering two different actions here, and
8352 the effects are aggregated so that the URL is blocked, and &my-app; is told
8353 to treat the block as if it were an image. But this is, of course, all wrong.
8354 We could now add a new action below this (or better in our own
8355 <filename>user.action</filename> file) that explicitly
8356 <emphasis>un</emphasis> blocks (
8357 <link linkend="BLOCK"><quote>{-block}</quote></link>) paths with
8358 <quote>adsl</quote> in them (remember, last match in the configuration
8359 wins). There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
8371 Now the page displays ;-)
8372 Remember to flush your browser's caches when making these kinds of changes to
8373 your configuration to insure that you get a freshly delivered page! Or, try
8374 using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
8378 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
8385 { +block{Path starts with "ads".} +handle-as-image }
8391 That actually was very helpful and pointed us quickly to where the problem
8392 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
8393 rules in the first section of <filename>default.action</filename> is causing
8394 the problem. This would require some guesswork, and maybe a little trial and
8395 error to isolate the offending rule. One likely cause would be one of the
8396 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> actions.
8397 These tend to be harder to troubleshoot.
8398 Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off
8399 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>:
8407 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
8415 <quote><literal>{ shop }</literal></quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
8416 <quote><literal>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</literal></quote>.
8417 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
8425 # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
8433 This would turn off all filtering for these sites. This is best
8434 put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
8435 exceptions. Note that when a simple domain pattern is used by itself (without
8436 the subsequent path portion), all sub-pages within that domain are included
8437 automatically in the scope of the action.
8441 Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
8442 <link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"><quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote></link>
8444 that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well
8445 <emphasis>most of the time</emphasis> since these tend to be standardized).
8449 <quote><literal>{ fragile }</literal></quote> is an alias that disables most
8450 actions that are the most likely to cause trouble. This can be used as a
8451 last resort for problem sites.
8457 # Handle with care: easy to break
8459 mybank.example.com</screen>
8464 <emphasis>Remember to flush caches!</emphasis> Note that the
8465 <literal>mail.google</literal> reference lacks the TLD portion (e.g.
8466 <quote>.com</quote>). This will effectively match any TLD with
8467 <literal>google</literal> in it, such as <literal>mail.google.de.</literal>,
8471 If this still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining
8472 actions one by one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
8481 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
8482 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
8483 Public License as published by the Free Software
8484 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
8485 your option) any later version.
8487 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
8488 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
8489 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
8490 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
8491 License for more details.
8493 The GNU General Public License should be included with
8494 this file. If not, you can view it at
8495 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
8496 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
8497 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301,
8500 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
8501 Revision 2.106 2009/06/12 11:04:13 fabiankeil
8502 Import ChangeLog for 3.0.13 beta.
8504 Revision 2.105 2009/04/17 11:32:57 fabiankeil
8505 Grammar and spelling fixes.
8507 Revision 2.104 2009/04/17 11:27:49 fabiankeil
8508 Petr Pisar's privoxy-3.0.12-ipv6-3.diff.
8510 Revision 2.103 2009/03/21 10:49:05 fabiankeil
8511 Merge updated ChangeLog.
8513 Revision 2.102 2009/03/15 19:31:36 fabiankeil
8514 Update "What's New in this Release" section.
8516 Revision 2.101 2009/02/25 19:01:56 fabiankeil
8519 Revision 2.100 2009/02/19 17:14:11 fabiankeil
8520 - Copy the release cycle description from announce.txt into
8521 the "What's New" section.
8522 - Stop referring to the ChangeLog for a "complete list of changes".
8523 The "What's New" section already contains the complete list.
8525 Revision 2.99 2009/02/19 02:20:22 hal9
8526 Make some links in seealso conditional. Man page is now privoxy only links.
8528 Revision 2.98 2009/02/16 17:10:33 fabiankeil
8529 Fix entry about shortened log messages. Noticed by Lee.
8531 Revision 2.97 2009/02/14 18:01:00 fabiankeil
8534 Revision 2.96 2009/02/14 13:14:03 fabiankeil
8537 Revision 2.95 2009/02/14 12:51:26 fabiankeil
8538 Mention match-all.action in the "Actions Files Tutorial" section.
8540 Revision 2.94 2009/02/14 11:50:31 fabiankeil
8541 Some indentation fixes.
8543 Revision 2.93 2009/02/14 10:14:42 fabiankeil
8544 Mention match-all.action in the action file descriptions.
8546 Revision 2.92 2009/02/12 16:08:26 fabiankeil
8547 Declare the code stable.
8549 Revision 2.91 2009/01/13 16:50:35 fabiankeil
8550 The standard.action file is gone.
8552 Revision 2.90 2008/09/26 16:53:09 fabiankeil
8553 Update "What's new" section.
8555 Revision 2.89 2008/09/21 15:38:56 fabiankeil
8556 Fix Portage tree sync instructions in Gentoo section.
8557 Anonymously reported at ijbswa-developers@.
8559 Revision 2.88 2008/09/21 14:42:52 fabiankeil
8560 Add documentation for change-x-forwarded-for{},
8561 remove documentation for hide-forwarded-for-headers.
8563 Revision 2.87 2008/08/30 15:37:35 fabiankeil
8566 Revision 2.86 2008/08/16 10:12:23 fabiankeil
8567 Merge two sentences and move the URL to the end of the item.
8569 Revision 2.85 2008/08/16 10:04:59 fabiankeil
8570 Some more syntax fixes. This version actually builds.
8572 Revision 2.84 2008/08/16 09:42:45 fabiankeil
8573 Turns out building docs works better if the syntax is valid.
8575 Revision 2.83 2008/08/16 09:32:02 fabiankeil
8576 Mention changes since 3.0.9 beta.
8578 Revision 2.82 2008/08/16 09:00:52 fabiankeil
8579 Fix example URL pattern (once more with feeling).
8581 Revision 2.81 2008/08/16 08:51:28 fabiankeil
8582 Update version-related entities.
8584 Revision 2.80 2008/07/18 16:54:30 fabiankeil
8585 Remove erroneous whitespace in documentation link.
8586 Reported by John Chronister in #2021611.
8588 Revision 2.79 2008/06/27 18:00:53 markm68k
8589 remove outdated startup information for mac os x
8591 Revision 2.78 2008/06/21 17:03:03 fabiankeil
8594 Revision 2.77 2008/06/14 13:45:22 fabiankeil
8595 Re-add a colon I unintentionally removed a few revisions ago.
8597 Revision 2.76 2008/06/14 13:21:28 fabiankeil
8598 Prepare for the upcoming 3.0.9 beta release.
8600 Revision 2.75 2008/06/13 16:06:48 fabiankeil
8601 Update the "What's New in this Release" section with
8602 the ChangeLog entries changelog2doc.pl could handle.
8604 Revision 2.74 2008/05/26 15:55:46 fabiankeil
8605 - Update "default profiles" table.
8606 - Add some more pcrs redirect examples and note that
8607 enabling debug 128 helps to get redirects working.
8609 Revision 2.73 2008/05/23 14:43:18 fabiankeil
8610 Remove previously out-commented block that caused syntax problems.
8612 Revision 2.72 2008/05/12 10:26:14 fabiankeil
8613 Synchronize content filter descriptions with the ones in default.filter.
8615 Revision 2.71 2008/04/10 17:37:16 fabiankeil
8616 Actually we use "modern" POSIX 1003.2 regular
8617 expressions in path patterns, not PCRE.
8619 Revision 2.70 2008/04/10 15:59:12 fabiankeil
8620 Add another section to the client-header-tagger example that shows
8621 how to actually change the action settings once the tag is created.
8623 Revision 2.69 2008/03/29 12:14:25 fabiankeil
8624 Remove send-wafer and send-vanilla-wafer actions.
8626 Revision 2.68 2008/03/28 15:13:43 fabiankeil
8627 Remove inspect-jpegs action.
8629 Revision 2.67 2008/03/27 18:31:21 fabiankeil
8630 Remove kill-popups action.
8632 Revision 2.66 2008/03/06 16:33:47 fabiankeil
8633 If limit-connect isn't used, don't limit CONNECT requests to port 443.
8635 Revision 2.65 2008/03/04 18:30:40 fabiankeil
8636 Remove the treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks action. We now
8637 use the "blocked" page for forbidden CONNECT requests by default.
8639 Revision 2.64 2008/03/01 14:10:28 fabiankeil
8640 Use new block syntax. Still needs some polishing.
8642 Revision 2.63 2008/02/22 05:50:37 markm68k
8645 Revision 2.62 2008/02/11 11:52:23 hal9
8646 Fix entity ... s/&/&
8648 Revision 2.61 2008/02/11 03:41:47 markm68k
8649 more updates for mac os x
8651 Revision 2.60 2008/02/11 03:40:25 markm68k
8652 more updates for mac os x
8654 Revision 2.59 2008/02/11 00:52:34 markm68k
8655 reflect new changes for mac os x
8657 Revision 2.58 2008/02/03 21:37:40 hal9
8658 Apply patch from Mark: s/OSX/OS X/
8660 Revision 2.57 2008/02/03 19:10:14 fabiankeil
8661 Mention forward-socks5.
8663 Revision 2.56 2008/01/31 19:11:35 fabiankeil
8664 Let the +client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation} example apply
8665 to all requests as "tainted" Referers aren't limited to exit TLDs.
8667 Revision 2.55 2008/01/19 21:26:37 hal9
8668 Add IE7 to configuration section per Gerry.
8670 Revision 2.54 2008/01/19 17:52:39 hal9
8671 Re-commit to fix various minor issues for new release.
8673 Revision 2.53 2008/01/19 15:03:05 hal9
8674 Doc sources tagged for 3.0.8 release.
8676 Revision 2.52 2008/01/17 01:49:51 hal9
8677 Change copyright notice for docs s/2007/2008/. All these will be rebuilt soon
8680 Revision 2.51 2007/12/23 16:48:24 fabiankeil
8681 Use more precise example descriptions for the mysterious domain patterns.
8683 Revision 2.50 2007/12/08 12:44:36 fabiankeil
8684 - Remove already commented out pre-3.0.7 changes.
8685 - Update the "new log defaults" paragraph.
8687 Revision 2.49 2007/12/06 18:21:55 fabiankeil
8688 Update hide-forwarded-for-headers description.
8690 Revision 2.48 2007/11/24 19:07:17 fabiankeil
8691 - Mention request rewriting.
8692 - Enable the conditional-forge paragraph.
8695 Revision 2.47 2007/11/18 14:59:47 fabiankeil
8696 A few "Note to Upgraders" updates.
8698 Revision 2.46 2007/11/17 17:24:44 fabiankeil
8699 - Use new action defaults.
8700 - Minor fixes and rewordings.
8702 Revision 2.45 2007/11/16 11:48:46 hal9
8703 Fix one typo, and add a couple of small refinements.
8705 Revision 2.44 2007/11/15 03:30:20 hal9
8706 Results of spell check.
8708 Revision 2.43 2007/11/14 18:45:39 fabiankeil
8709 - Mention some more contributors in the "New in this Release" list.
8712 Revision 2.42 2007/11/12 03:32:40 hal9
8713 Updates for "What's New" and "Notes to Upgraders". Various other changes in
8714 preparation for new release. User Manual is almost ready.
8716 Revision 2.41 2007/11/11 16:32:11 hal9
8717 This is primarily syncing What's New and Note to Upgraders sections with the many
8718 new features and changes (gleaned from memory but mostly from ChangeLog).
8720 Revision 2.40 2007/11/10 17:10:59 fabiankeil
8721 In the first third of the file, mention several times that
8722 the action editor is disabled by default in 3.0.7 beta and later.
8724 Revision 2.39 2007/11/05 02:34:49 hal9
8725 Various changes in preparation for the upcoming release. Much yet to be done.
8727 Revision 2.38 2007/09/22 16:01:42 fabiankeil
8728 Update embedded show-url-info output.
8730 Revision 2.37 2007/08/27 16:09:55 fabiankeil
8731 Fix pre-chroot-nslookup description which I failed to
8732 copy and paste properly. Reported by Stephen Gildea.
8734 Revision 2.36 2007/08/26 16:47:14 fabiankeil
8735 Add Stephen Gildea's pre-chroot-nslookup patch [#1276666],
8736 extensive comments moved to user manual.
8738 Revision 2.35 2007/08/26 14:59:49 fabiankeil
8739 Minor rewordings and fixes.
8741 Revision 2.34 2007/08/05 15:19:50 fabiankeil
8742 - Don't claim HTTP/1.1 compliance.
8743 - Use $ in some of the path pattern examples.
8744 - Use a hide-user-agent example argument without
8745 leading and trailing space.
8746 - Make it clear that the cookie actions work with
8748 - Rephrase the inspect-jpegs text to underline
8749 that it's only meant to protect against a single
8752 Revision 2.33 2007/07/27 10:57:35 hal9
8753 Add references for user-agent strings for hide-user-agenet
8755 Revision 2.32 2007/06/07 12:36:22 fabiankeil
8756 Apply Roland's 29_usermanual.dpatch to fix a bunch
8757 of syntax errors I collected over the last months.
8759 Revision 2.31 2007/06/02 14:01:37 fabiankeil
8760 Start to document forward-override{}.
8762 Revision 2.30 2007/04/25 15:10:36 fabiankeil
8763 - Describe installation for FreeBSD.
8764 - Start to document taggers and tag patterns.
8765 - Don't confuse devils and daemons.
8767 Revision 2.29 2007/04/05 11:47:51 fabiankeil
8768 Some updates regarding header filtering,
8769 handling of compressed content and redirect's
8770 support for pcrs commands.
8772 Revision 2.28 2006/12/10 23:42:48 hal9
8773 Fix various typos reported by Adam P. Thanks.
8775 Revision 2.27 2006/11/14 01:57:47 hal9
8776 Dump all docs prior to 3.0.6 release. Various minor changes to faq and user
8779 Revision 2.26 2006/10/24 11:16:44 hal9
8782 Revision 2.25 2006/10/18 10:50:33 hal9
8783 Add note that since filters are off in Cautious, compression is ON. Turn off
8784 compression to make filters work on all sites.
8786 Revision 2.24 2006/10/03 11:13:54 hal9
8787 More references to the new filters. Include html this time around.
8789 Revision 2.23 2006/10/02 22:43:53 hal9
8790 Contains new filter definitions from Fabian, and few other miscellaneous
8793 Revision 2.22 2006/09/22 01:27:55 hal9
8794 Final commit of probably various minor changes here and there. Unless
8795 something changes this should be ready for pending release.
8797 Revision 2.21 2006/09/20 03:21:36 david__schmidt
8798 Just the tiniest tweak. Wafer thin!
8800 Revision 2.20 2006/09/10 14:53:54 hal9
8801 Results of spell check. User manual has some updates to standard.actions file
8804 Revision 2.19 2006/09/08 12:19:02 fabiankeil
8805 Adjust hide-if-modified-since example values
8806 to reflect the recent changes.
8808 Revision 2.18 2006/09/08 02:38:57 hal9
8810 -Fix a number of broken links.
8811 -Migrate the new Windows service command line options, and reference as
8813 -Rebuild so that can be used with the new "user-manual" config capabilities.
8816 Revision 2.17 2006/09/05 13:25:12 david__schmidt
8817 Add Windows service invocation stuff (duplicated) in FAQ and in user manual under Windows startup. One probably ought to reference the other.
8819 Revision 2.16 2006/09/02 12:49:37 hal9
8820 Various small updates for new actions, filterfiles, etc.
8822 Revision 2.15 2006/08/30 11:15:22 hal9
8823 More work on the new actions, especially filter-*-headers, and What's New
8824 section. User Manual is close to final form for 3.0.4 release. Some tinkering
8825 and proof reading left to do.
8827 Revision 2.14 2006/08/29 10:59:36 hal9
8828 Add a "Whats New in this release" Section. Further work on multiple filter
8829 files, and assorted other minor changes.
8831 Revision 2.13 2006/08/22 11:04:59 hal9
8832 Silence warnings and errors. This should build now. New filters were only
8833 stubbed in. More to be done.
8835 Revision 2.12 2006/08/14 08:40:39 fabiankeil
8836 Documented new actions that were part of
8837 the "minor Privoxy improvements".
8839 Revision 2.11 2006/07/18 14:48:51 david__schmidt
8840 Reorganizing the repository: swapping out what was HEAD (the old 3.1 branch)
8841 with what was really the latest development (the v_3_0_branch branch)
8843 Revision 1.123.2.43 2005/05/23 09:59:10 hal9
8846 Revision 1.123.2.42 2004/12/04 14:39:57 hal9
8847 Fix two minor typos per bug SF report.
8849 Revision 1.123.2.41 2004/03/23 12:58:42 oes
8852 Revision 1.123.2.40 2004/02/27 12:48:49 hal9
8853 Add comment re: redirecting to local file system for set-image-blocker may
8854 is dependent on browser.
8856 Revision 1.123.2.39 2004/01/30 22:31:40 oes
8857 Added a hint re bookmarklets to Quickstart section
8859 Revision 1.123.2.38 2004/01/30 16:47:51 oes
8860 Some minor clarifications
8862 Revision 1.123.2.37 2004/01/29 22:36:11 hal9
8863 Updates for no longer filtering text/plain, and demoronizer default settings,
8864 and copyright notice dates.
8866 Revision 1.123.2.36 2003/12/10 02:26:26 hal9
8867 Changed the demoronizer filter description.
8869 Revision 1.123.2.35 2003/11/06 13:36:37 oes
8870 Updated link to nightly CVS tarball
8872 Revision 1.123.2.34 2003/06/26 23:50:16 hal9
8873 Add a small bit on filtering and problems re: source code being corrupted.
8875 Revision 1.123.2.33 2003/05/08 18:17:33 roro
8876 Use apt-get instead of dpkg to install Debian package, which is more
8877 solid, uses the correct and most recent Debian version automatically.
8879 Revision 1.123.2.32 2003/04/11 03:13:57 hal9
8880 Add small note about only one filterfile (as opposed to multiple actions
8883 Revision 1.123.2.31 2003/03/26 02:03:43 oes
8884 Updated hard-coded copyright dates
8886 Revision 1.123.2.30 2003/03/24 12:58:56 hal9
8887 Add new section on Predefined Filters.
8889 Revision 1.123.2.29 2003/03/20 02:45:29 hal9
8890 More problems with \-\-chroot causing markup problems :(
8892 Revision 1.123.2.28 2003/03/19 00:35:24 hal9
8893 Manual edit of revision log because 'chroot' (even inside a comment) was
8894 causing Docbook to hang here (due to double hyphen and the processor thinking
8897 Revision 1.123.2.27 2003/03/18 19:37:14 oes
8898 s/Advanced|Radical/Adventuresome/g to avoid complaints re fun filter
8900 Revision 1.123.2.26 2003/03/17 16:50:53 oes
8901 Added documentation for new chroot option
8903 Revision 1.123.2.25 2003/03/15 18:36:55 oes
8904 Adapted to the new filters
8906 Revision 1.123.2.24 2002/11/17 06:41:06 hal9
8907 Move default profiles table from FAQ to U-M, and other minor related changes.
8910 Revision 1.123.2.23 2002/10/21 02:32:01 hal9
8911 Updates to the user.action examples section. A few new ones.
8913 Revision 1.123.2.22 2002/10/12 00:51:53 hal9
8914 Add demoronizer to filter section.
8916 Revision 1.123.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 hal9
8917 s/Advanced/Radical/ and added very brief note.
8919 Revision 1.123.2.20 2002/10/10 03:49:21 hal9
8920 Add notes to session-cookies-only and Quickstart about pre-existing
8921 cookies. Also, note content-cookies work differently.
8923 Revision 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9
8924 More explanation on Privoxy patterns, more on content-cookies and SSL.
8926 Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9
8927 Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match
8930 Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9
8931 Spell checked (only one typo this time!).
8933 Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt
8934 Update to Mac OS X startup script name
8936 Revision 1.123.2.15 2002/08/07 17:32:11 oes
8937 Converted some internal links from ulink to link for PDF creation; no content changed
8939 Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes
8940 Nits re: actions file download
8942 Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff
8943 Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections
8945 Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff
8946 Added 2 Gentoo sections
8948 Revision 1.123.2.11 2002/07/26 15:20:31 oes
8949 - Added version info to title
8950 - Added info on new filters
8951 - Revised parts of the filter file tutorial
8952 - Added info on where to get updated actions files
8954 Revision 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
8955 Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
8957 Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt
8959 Updated Mac OS X sections due to installation location change
8961 Revision 1.123.2.8 2002/06/09 16:36:32 hal9
8962 Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
8964 Revision 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9
8965 Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy.
8967 Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9
8968 Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs.
8970 Revision 1.123.2.5 2002/05/29 02:01:02 hal9
8971 This is break out of the entire config section from u-m, so it can
8972 eventually be used to generate the comments, etc in the main config file
8973 so that these are in sync with each other.
8975 Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
8976 Ooops missed something from David.
8978 Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9
8979 Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and Mac OS X startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat).
8980 That's a wrap, I think.
8982 Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9
8983 Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section.
8985 Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
8986 -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
8988 Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9
8989 Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton.
8990 Minor corrections/clarifications here and there.
8992 Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
8993 Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
8995 Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes
8996 - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the
8997 <literal><link> style.
8998 - Small fixes in the actions chapter
8999 - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking
9000 - Removed <emphasis> from <title>s since the new doc CSS
9001 renders them red (bad in TOC).
9003 Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
9004 Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
9006 Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
9009 Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
9010 -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
9011 -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
9013 Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
9014 - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
9015 - Small changes to Regex appendix
9016 - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
9018 Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
9019 Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
9021 Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
9022 Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
9024 Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
9025 More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
9027 Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
9028 Extended and further commented the example actions files
9030 Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
9031 Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
9034 Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes
9037 Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes
9038 Restored alphabetical order of actions
9040 Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes
9041 Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs
9043 Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
9044 Completed proofreading the actions chapter
9046 Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9
9047 Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this
9048 apparently an important distinction for some OS's.
9050 Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
9051 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
9052 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
9053 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
9055 Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
9056 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
9058 Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
9061 Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
9062 -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
9063 -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
9065 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
9066 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
9068 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
9069 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
9070 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
9072 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
9073 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
9075 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
9076 more structure in starting section
9078 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
9079 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
9080 will probably break links elsewhere :(
9082 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
9083 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
9084 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
9086 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
9087 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
9088 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
9090 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
9091 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
9093 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
9094 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
9095 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
9097 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
9098 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
9099 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
9101 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
9102 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
9104 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
9105 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
9107 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
9108 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
9110 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
9111 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
9113 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
9114 Updated Mac OS X installation section
9115 Added a few English tweaks here an there
9117 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
9118 Re-write actions section.
9120 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
9121 Fix ugly typo (mine).
9123 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
9124 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
9126 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
9127 Added RPM install detail
9129 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
9132 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
9133 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
9135 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
9136 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
9138 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
9139 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
9141 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
9144 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
9145 Proofreading, part one
9147 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
9148 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
9149 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
9151 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
9152 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
9154 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
9155 Add small section on submitting actions.
9157 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
9160 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
9161 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
9163 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
9164 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
9166 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
9169 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
9170 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
9171 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
9172 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
9173 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
9175 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
9176 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
9178 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
9179 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
9181 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
9182 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
9183 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
9184 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
9185 eventually be set by Makefile.
9186 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
9188 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
9189 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
9191 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
9192 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
9194 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
9195 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
9197 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
9198 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
9199 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
9200 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
9202 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
9205 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
9206 Added more to Anatomy section.
9208 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
9209 Touch up intro for new name.
9211 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
9212 we have a new homepage!
9214 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
9215 A few minor catch ups with name change.
9217 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
9218 configure needs to be generated.
9220 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
9221 we are too lazy to make a block-built
9222 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
9224 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
9225 name change related issue.
9227 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
9228 name change. changed filenames.
9230 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
9233 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
9234 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
9235 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
9236 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
9237 comments and remarks to history untouched.
9239 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
9242 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
9243 New section in Appendix.
9245 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
9246 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
9248 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
9249 correct feedback channels
9251 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
9252 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
9254 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
9257 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
9258 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
9260 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
9261 Added imageblock{pattern}.
9263 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
9266 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
9267 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
9269 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
9270 provide correct feedback channels
9272 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
9273 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
9275 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
9276 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
9278 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
9279 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
9281 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
9282 Add new - - user option.
9284 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
9285 Added section on command line options.
9287 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
9288 Changed default port to 8118
9290 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
9291 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
9293 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
9294 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
9295 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
9298 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
9301 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
9302 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
9304 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
9305 Update OS/2 build section
9307 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
9308 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
9309 will work - no other changes are needed.
9311 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
9312 Added a very short section on Templates
9314 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
9315 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
9317 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
9318 Touch ups for *.action files.
9320 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
9323 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
9324 Updates for recent changes.
9326 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
9327 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
9329 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
9330 Correct 2 minor errors
9332 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
9333 *** empty log message ***
9335 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
9336 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
9338 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
9339 wrong url in documentation
9341 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
9342 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
9344 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
9347 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
9350 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
9353 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
9354 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
9356 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
9357 Some additions, and re-arranging.
9359 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
9362 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
9363 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
9365 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
9368 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
9369 source files for junkbuster documentation
9371 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
9372 first proposal of a structure.
9374 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
9375 docs should have an author.
9377 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
9378 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.