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 "3.0.4">
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 my-app "<application>Privoxy</application>">
30 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
33 This file belongs into
34 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
36 $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.19 2006/09/08 12:19:02 fabiankeil Exp $
38 Copyright (C) 2001- 2006 Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
41 ========================================================================
42 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
43 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
44 ========================================================================
51 <title>Privoxy &p-version; User Manual</title>
55 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
56 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
57 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001 - 2006 by
58 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
62 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.19 2006/09/08 12:19:02 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
66 Note: the following should generate a separate page, and a live link to it,
67 all nicely done. But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave
68 commented unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the
69 copyright/license declarations will be in their own sgml.
82 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
83 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
84 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
90 The <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
91 install, configure and use <ulink
92 url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>.
95 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
97 <!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
100 You can find the latest version of the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> at <ulink
101 url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
102 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> on how to
103 contact the developers.
107 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
113 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
114 <sect1 label="1" id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
116 This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
117 <application>Privoxy</application>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
118 and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
119 time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
120 configuration files. Development of a new version is currently nearing
121 completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over
122 earlier versions. ]]>.
125 <!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
128 Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
129 documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
130 CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
135 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
136 <sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
138 In addition to the core
139 features of ad blocking and cookie management,
140 <application>Privoxy</application> provides many supplemental
141 features<![%p-not-stable;[, some of them currently under development]]>,
142 that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
144 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
146 <!-- end boilerplate -->
151 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
154 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
155 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
158 <application>Privoxy</application> is available both in convenient pre-compiled
159 packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
160 For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
161 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
167 On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if
168 found. (See below for your platform). In any case <emphasis>be sure to backup
169 your old configuration if it is valuable to you.</emphasis> See the <link
170 linkend="upgradersnote">note to upgraders</link> section below.
173 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
174 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
176 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
179 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
180 <sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat, SuSE and Conectiva RPMs</title>
183 RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
184 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
185 of configuration files.
189 Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
190 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
191 need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
192 <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods.
196 If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
197 <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
198 will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
202 Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
203 on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
204 Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
205 automatically if found, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
209 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
210 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian</title>
212 DEBs can be installed with <literal>apt-get install privoxy</literal>,
213 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of
218 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
219 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
222 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
223 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
224 in the same directory as you installed <application>Privoxy</application> in.
227 Version 3.0.4 introduces full <application>Windows</application> service
228 functionality. On Windows only, the <application>Privoxy</application>
229 program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
230 <application>Privoxy</application> as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>.
234 <term>Arguments:</term>
237 <replaceable class="parameter">--install</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
240 <replaceable class="parameter">--uninstall</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
246 After invoking <application>Privoxy</application> with
247 <command>--install</command>, you will need to bring up the
248 <application>Windows</application> service console to assign the user you
249 want <application>Privoxy</application> to run under, and whether or not you
250 want it to run whenever the system starts. You can start the
251 <application>Windows</application> services console with the following
252 command: <command>services.msc</command> If you do not take the manual step
253 of modifying <application>Privoxy's</application> service settings, it will
254 not start. Note too that you will need to give Privoxy a user account that
255 actually exists, or it will not be permitted to
256 write to its log and configuration files.
261 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
262 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX</title>
265 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
266 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
267 things go. <!-- FIXME, more info needed? -->
271 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
272 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
275 First, make sure that no previous installations of
276 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
277 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
278 system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
279 or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
285 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
286 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
287 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
288 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
292 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
293 into will contain all of the configuration files.
297 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
298 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Mac OSX</title>
300 Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the file
301 from the finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there).
302 Then, double-click on the package installer icon named
303 <literal>Privoxy.pkg</literal>
304 and follow the installation process.
305 <application>Privoxy</application> will be installed in the folder
306 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal>.
307 It will start automatically whenever you start up. To prevent it from
308 starting automatically, remove or rename the folder
309 <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
312 To start Privoxy by hand, double-click on
313 <literal>StartPrivoxy.command</literal> in the
314 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal> folder.
315 Or, type this command in the Terminal:
319 /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
323 You will be prompted for the administrator password.
327 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
328 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
330 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
331 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
332 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
333 remove this directory.
337 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
338 <sect3 id="installattion-gentoo"><title>Gentoo</title>
340 Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for <application>Privoxy</application> are
341 contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page,
342 but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new
343 <application>Privoxy</application> Version is added to the Portage Tree).
346 Before installing <application>Privoxy</application> under Gentoo just do
347 first <literal>emerge rsync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
348 Portage tree. With <literal>emerge privoxy</literal> you install the latest
352 Configuration files are in <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename>, the
353 documentation is in <filename>/usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;</filename>
354 and the Log directory is in <filename>/var/log/privoxy</filename>.
360 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
361 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
364 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
365 is to download the source tarball from our <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/">project
370 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
371 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
372 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
373 CVS repository</ulink>.
375 deprecated...out of business.
376 or simply download <ulink
377 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.bz2">the nightly CVS
382 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
384 <!-- end boilerplate -->
387 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
388 <sect2 id="installation-keepupdated"><title>Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date</title>
390 As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions
391 of both the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link> (as a <ulink
392 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&release_id=103670">separate
393 package</ulink>) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for
398 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
399 <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
400 url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
401 to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
405 In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
406 to the latest <literal>default.action</literal> file we <emphasis>strongly
407 recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> and
408 <literal>user.filter</literal> for your local
409 customizations of <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
410 linkend="actions-file">Chapter on actions files</link> for details.
418 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
420 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
421 <sect1 id="whatsnew">
422 <title>What's New in this Release</title>
424 There are many improvements and new features in <application>Privoxy</application> &p-version;
432 Multiple <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link> can now be specified in <filename>config</filename>. This allows for
433 locally defined filters that can be maintained separately from the filters as
434 supplied by the developers.
440 There are a number of new <link linkend="actions-file">actions</link>:
448 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite</link></literal>
453 <literal><link linkend="crunch-client-header">crunch-client-header</link></literal>
458 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>
463 <literal><link linkend="crunch-server-header">crunch-server-header</link></literal>
468 <literal><link linkend="filter-client-headers">filter-client-headers</link></literal>
473 <literal><link linkend="filter-server-headers">filter-server-headers</link></literal>
478 <literal><link linkend="force-text-mode">force-text-mode</link></literal>
483 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal>
488 <literal><link linkend="hide-accept-language">hide-accept-language</link></literal>
493 <literal><link linkend="hide-content-disposition">hide-content-disposition</link></literal>
498 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
503 <literal><link linkend="inspect-jpegs">inspect-jpegs</link></literal>
508 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
513 <literal><link linkend="redirect">redirect</link></literal>
518 <literal><link linkend="treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks">treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</link></literal>
525 In addition, <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects</link></literal>
526 has been significantly improved with enhanced syntax.
529 And <literal><link linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal>
530 has a new option, <literal>conditional block</literal>.
537 <application>MS-Windows</application> versions can now be
539 linkend="installation-pack-win">installed and
540 started as a <emphasis>Windows service</emphasis></link>.
546 <filename>config</filename> has two new options:
548 linkend="enable-remote-http-toggle">enable-remote-http-toggle</link>,
550 linkend="forwarded-connect-retries">forwarded-connect-retries</link>.
553 And there is improved handling of the <link
554 linkend="user-manual">user-manual</link>
555 option, for placing documentation and help files on the local system.
561 Actions files problems and suggestions are now being directed to: <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288">http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288</ulink>.
562 Please use this to report such configuration related problems as missed
563 ads, sites that don't function properly due to one action or another,
564 innocent images being blocked, etc.
570 In addition, there are various bug fixes and significant enhancements, including
571 error pages should no longer be cached if the problem is fixed, much better DNS
572 error handling, and various logging improvements.
580 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
582 <sect2 id="upgradersnote">
583 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
586 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
587 versions of <application>Privoxy</application>:
595 Some installers may remove earlier versions completely, including
596 configuration files. Save any important configuration files!
601 On the other hand, some installers may not overwrite any existing configuration
602 files, thinking you will want to do that. You may want to manually check
603 your saved files against the newer versions to see if the improvements have
604 merit, or whether there are new options that you may want to consider.
605 There are a number of new features, but most won't be available unless
606 these features are incorporated into your configuration somehow.
611 See the full documentation on
612 <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects</link></literal>
613 which has changed syntax, and may require adjustments to local configs.
618 The <filename>jarfile</filename>, cookie logger, is off by default now.
624 What constitutes a <quote>default</quote> configuration has changed,
625 and you may want to review which actions are <quote>on</quote> by
626 default. This is primarily a matter of emphasis, but some features
627 you may have been used to, may now be <quote>off</quote> by default.
633 <!-- I think it is best to keep this somewhat vague, in case -->
634 <!-- the situation changes under our feet. -->
635 Some installers may not automatically start
636 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
645 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
646 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using Privoxy</title>
652 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
653 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
660 Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
661 service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
662 linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
663 linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
670 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
671 not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
672 <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
678 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
679 HTTPS (SSL) proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of
680 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
681 <emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> activate proxying for <literal>FTP</literal> or
682 any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)! It won't work!
688 Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
689 If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage cookies, you should
690 remove any currently stored cookies too.
696 A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
697 most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
698 configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
699 to no initial configuration is required in most cases.
702 See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
703 configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
704 <![%draft;[ You might also want to look at the <link
705 linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
706 introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
713 If you experience ads that slipped through, innocent images that are
714 blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
715 <application>Privoxy's</application> behaviour, take a look at the <link
716 linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
717 find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
718 helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
719 url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
720 Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Anatomy of an
721 Action</link></quote> has hints how to debug actions that
722 <quote>misbehave</quote>.
728 For easy access to &my-app;'s most important controls, drag the provided
729 <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklets</link> into your browser's
736 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
737 Developers</link> on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get
744 Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
752 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
754 <sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
755 <title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
757 NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
758 want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
761 Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
762 array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
763 user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
766 This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
767 you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
768 information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
771 First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
772 more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
773 things that were not intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
774 extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
775 <quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
776 configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
777 not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
778 the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
779 default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
780 habits and preferences.
783 Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
784 <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
785 the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
786 some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
787 <application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
788 action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
789 <application>actions</application> in <application>Privoxy's</application>
790 arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. <link
791 linkend="actions">Actions</link>, and <link linkend="actions-file">action
792 configuration files</link>, are explained in depth below.
795 Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
796 followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
797 can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
798 wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
799 actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
802 When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
803 of the sections as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
804 or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
805 respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
806 pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
807 use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
808 original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
809 embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
810 or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
815 The actions we need to know about for ad blocking are: <literal><link
816 linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
817 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>, and
818 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
826 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this action stops
827 any contact between your browser and any URL patterns that match this
828 action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads, but also anything
829 that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply stops any
830 communication with the remote server and sends <application>Privoxy</application>'s
831 own built-in BLOCKED page instead to let you now what has happened.
837 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
838 tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
839 <application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
840 for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
841 is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
842 important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
843 some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
844 <application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
845 a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
846 though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
847 an entire HTML page in most situations.
854 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> - tells
855 <application>Privoxy</application> what to display in place of an ad image that
856 has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
857 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action somewhere in the
858 configuration, <emphasis>and</emphasis>, it must also match an
859 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action.
862 The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
866 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
867 replacement is obvious. This is the default.
872 <emphasis>blank</emphasis> - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
873 This is the so-called <quote>invisible</quote> configuration option.
878 <emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any image anywhere
879 of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
888 The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
889 the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
890 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
891 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
892 is an internal page, and does not require Internet access. Select the
893 appropriate <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
894 <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
895 local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
896 meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
897 other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
898 blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
899 <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
903 A quick and simple step by step example:
911 Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
912 <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
920 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
925 Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
926 on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
929 <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
931 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
934 <imagedata fileref="files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
937 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
946 You should have a section with only
947 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
948 <quote>Actions:</quote>.
949 If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
950 button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
951 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
952 This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
953 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
954 in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
960 Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
961 click the <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
962 browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote>.
963 Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
964 <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
965 <quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
970 Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
971 (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
979 This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
980 wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
981 site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
982 the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
987 For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
988 to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
989 The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
996 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
999 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1000 <sect1 id="startup">
1001 <title>Starting Privoxy</title>
1003 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
1004 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
1005 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) proxy. The default is
1006 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
1007 used port 8000). This is the one configuration step <emphasis>that must be done
1011 Please note that <application>Privoxy</application> can only proxy HTTP and
1012 HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
1015 <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
1017 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1018 Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings</title>
1021 <imagedata fileref="proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
1024 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
1032 With <application>Firefox</application>, this can be set under:
1036 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>General</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connection Settings</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Manual Proxy Configuration</guibutton>
1042 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
1043 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
1048 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
1049 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
1050 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton> -> <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
1055 For <application>Internet Explorer v.5-6</application>:
1059 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Internet Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connections</guibutton> -> <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
1063 Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
1064 (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
1065 proxy support too (sometimes labeled <quote>Secure</quote>. Make sure any
1066 checkboxes like <quote>Use the same proxy server for all protocols</quote> is
1067 <emphasis>UNCHECKED</emphasis>. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
1070 <!-- image of IE Proxy configuration -->
1072 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1073 Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings</title>
1076 <imagedata fileref="proxy2.jpg" format="jpg">
1079 <phrase>[ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
1087 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
1088 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
1089 any cookies, if you want <application>Privoxy</application> to manage that. You
1090 are now ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
1091 <application>Privoxy</application>!
1095 <application>Privoxy</application> itself is typically started by specifying the
1096 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
1097 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
1098 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
1099 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
1102 <sect2 id="start-redhat">
1103 <title>Red Hat, Fedora and Conectiva</title>
1105 A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use
1106 the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
1111 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
1119 # service privoxy start
1124 <sect2 id="start-debian">
1125 <title>Debian</title>
1127 We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; upon booting per
1128 default. It will use the file
1129 <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
1134 # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1139 <sect2 id="start-suse">
1142 We use a script. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename>
1143 as its main configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting
1153 <sect2 id="start-windows">
1154 <title>Windows</title>
1156 Click on the &my-app; Icon to start <application>Privoxy</application>. If no configuration file is
1157 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
1158 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
1159 automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option
1163 <application>Privoxy</application> can run with full Windows service functionality.
1164 On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments
1165 to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
1166 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Windows Installation
1167 instructions</link> for details.
1171 <sect2 id="start-unices">
1172 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
1174 Example Unix startup command:
1178 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
1183 <sect2 id="start-os2">
1186 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
1187 start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
1188 double-clicking on the <application>Privoxy</application> icon in the
1189 <application>Privoxy</application> folder.
1193 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
1194 <title>Mac OSX</title>
1196 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
1197 start automatically when the system restarts. To start &my-app; manually,
1198 double-click on the <literal>StartPrivoxy.command</literal> icon in the
1199 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal> folder. Or, type this command
1204 /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
1208 You will be prompted for the administrator password.
1213 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
1214 <title>AmigaOS</title>
1216 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
1217 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
1218 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
1219 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
1220 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
1221 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
1222 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
1226 <sect2 id="start-gentoo">
1227 <title>Gentoo</title>
1229 A script is again used. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config
1230 </filename> as its main configuration file.
1234 /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1238 Note that <application>Privoxy</application> is not automatically started at
1239 boot time by default. You can change this with the <literal>rc-update</literal>
1244 rc-update add privoxy default
1252 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
1256 must find a better place for this paragraph
1259 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
1260 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
1261 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
1262 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
1263 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
1264 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
1268 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
1269 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
1270 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
1271 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
1272 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
1273 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
1274 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
1275 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
1276 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
1280 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
1281 sites is the popup-killing (through the <ulink
1282 url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink> and
1284 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>
1285 actions), because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
1286 popups (explained below).
1290 <application>Privoxy</application> is HTTP/1.1 compliant, but not all of
1291 the optional 1.1 features are as yet supported. In the unlikely event that
1292 you experience inexplicable problems with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
1293 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
1294 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
1295 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
1296 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
1297 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
1298 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
1302 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
1303 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
1304 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
1305 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
1306 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
1307 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1308 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1309 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
1310 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
1314 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
1315 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
1316 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
1317 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
1318 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
1319 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
1320 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
1324 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
1325 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
1326 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
1327 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
1328 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
1329 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
1334 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <link
1335 linkend="actions-file">read more about the actions concept</link>
1336 or even dive deep into the <link linkend="actionsanat">Appendix
1341 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
1342 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
1343 section <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
1344 Developers</quote></link> below.
1349 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1350 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
1351 <title>Command Line Options</title>
1353 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
1354 command-line options:
1362 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
1365 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
1370 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
1373 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
1378 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
1381 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
1382 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
1387 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
1391 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
1392 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
1393 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
1394 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
1399 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
1403 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
1404 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
1405 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
1410 <emphasis>--chroot</emphasis>
1414 Before changing to the user ID given in the <emphasis>--user</emphasis> option,
1415 chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
1416 process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
1417 the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy.
1423 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
1426 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
1427 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
1428 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
1429 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
1430 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
1431 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
1439 On <application>MS Windows</application> only there are two addition
1440 options to allow <application>Privoxy</application> to install and
1441 run as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>. See the
1442 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Window Installation section</link>
1450 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1453 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1454 <sect1 id="configuration"><title>Privoxy Configuration</title>
1456 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
1457 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
1458 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
1459 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
1463 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1466 <title>Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser</title>
1468 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
1469 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1470 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1471 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
1472 You will see the following section:
1476 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
1479 <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
1483 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
1486 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
1489 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
1492 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
1495 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
1498 ▪ <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/
1499 &p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
1507 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
1508 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
1509 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
1510 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
1511 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
1512 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
1516 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
1517 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
1518 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
1519 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
1520 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
1521 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
1522 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
1523 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
1529 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1534 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1536 <sect2 id="confoverview">
1537 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
1539 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
1540 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
1541 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
1542 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
1543 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
1544 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
1548 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
1549 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
1550 principle configuration files are:
1558 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
1559 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
1560 on Windows. This is a required file.
1566 <filename>default.action</filename> (the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>)
1567 is used to define which <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
1568 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many
1569 exceptions (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
1570 <application>Privoxy</application> to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on
1571 as many websites as possible.
1574 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
1575 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
1576 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
1577 <filename>default.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
1578 to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in
1579 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can preserve them across
1580 upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is for
1581 <application>Privoxy's</application> internal use.
1584 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
1586 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1588 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
1589 various actions files.
1595 <quote>Filter files</quote> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
1596 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
1597 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
1598 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
1599 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
1600 <filename>default.filter</filename> includes various filters made
1601 available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
1602 others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
1603 filter files in <filename>config</filename> as you can with
1604 actions files. We suggest <filename>user.filter</filename> for any
1605 locally defined filters or customizations.
1613 The syntax of all configuration files has remained the same throughout the
1614 3.x series. There have been enhancements, but no changes that would preclude
1615 the use of any configuration file from one version to the next.
1619 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
1620 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
1621 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
1622 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
1623 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
1624 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
1629 The actions files and filter files
1630 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
1631 maximum flexibility.
1635 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
1636 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
1637 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
1638 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
1639 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
1640 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
1641 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
1646 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
1647 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
1648 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
1649 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
1655 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1658 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1660 <!-- **************************************************** -->
1661 <!-- Include config.sgml here -->
1662 <!-- This is where the entire config file is detailed. -->
1664 <!-- end include -->
1667 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1671 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1673 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
1676 The actions files are used to define what <emphasis>actions</emphasis>
1677 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determines
1678 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
1679 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof).
1680 There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
1681 Each action does something a little different.
1682 These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
1683 our control, preferences and independence.
1687 are three action files included with <application>Privoxy</application> with
1695 <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
1696 that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
1697 provide a base level of functionality for
1698 <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
1699 a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well for users everywhere.
1700 This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and <link
1701 linkend="installation-keepupdated">making available to users</link>.
1702 It is also the file that keeps track of the user's preferences
1703 as set in <filename>standard.action</filename>, e.g. either
1704 <literal>cautious</literal>, <literal>medium</literal>, or
1705 <literal>adventuresome</literal>.
1710 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
1711 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
1712 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
1713 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
1718 <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used by the web based editor
1719 at <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
1720 http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>,
1721 to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
1722 in <filename>default.action</filename>.
1725 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Cautious</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Medium</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Adventuresome</guibutton>
1728 These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no
1729 influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
1733 The <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button allows you to turn each
1734 action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <guibutton>Cautious</guibutton>
1735 button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
1736 a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently there will be
1737 less of a chance for accidental problems. The <guibutton>Medium</guibutton>
1738 button sets the list to a medium level of ad blocking and a low level set of
1739 privacy features. The <guibutton>Adventuresome</guibutton> button
1740 sets the list to a high level of ad blocking and medium level of
1741 privacy. See the chart below. The latter three buttons over-ride
1742 any changes via with the <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button. More
1743 fine-tuning can be done in the lower sections of this internal page.
1746 It is not recommend to edit the <filename>standard.action</filename> file
1750 The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
1751 <filename>standard.action</filename> are:
1754 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
1755 <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
1756 <colspec colname=c1>
1757 <colspec colname=c2>
1758 <colspec colname=c3>
1759 <colspec colname=c4>
1762 <entry>Feature</entry>
1763 <entry>Cautious</entry>
1764 <entry>Medium</entry>
1765 <entry>Adventuresome</entry>
1770 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
1771 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
1772 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
1773 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
1779 <entry>Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</entry>
1781 <entry>medium</entry>
1786 <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
1793 <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
1799 <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
1801 <entry>unsolicited</entry>
1806 <entry>Privacy Features</entry>
1809 <entry>medium</entry>
1813 <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
1815 <entry>session-only</entry>
1820 <entry>Referer forging</entry>
1828 <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
1836 <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
1843 <entry>HTML taming</entry>
1850 <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
1857 <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
1864 <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
1880 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
1881 file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
1882 <filename>default.action</filename> is typically process before
1883 <filename>user.action</filename>). The content of these can all be viewed and
1885 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
1889 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
1890 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
1891 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
1892 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
1893 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
1894 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
1895 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
1896 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
1897 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
1898 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
1899 with the advantage that is a separate file, which makes preserving your
1900 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
1904 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
1905 just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
1906 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
1907 written to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
1908 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
1912 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1914 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
1916 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
1917 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
1918 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
1919 certainly a matter of personal taste. In general, it can be said that the more
1920 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
1921 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
1922 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per
1923 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
1924 regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe
1925 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
1929 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
1930 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
1931 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
1932 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
1936 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1938 <title>How to Edit</title>
1940 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
1941 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
1942 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
1943 The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single feature on a
1944 per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults like
1945 <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or <quote>Adventuresome</quote>.
1946 Warning: the <quote>Adventuresome</quote> setting is not only more aggressive,
1947 but includes settings that are fun and subversive, and which some may find of
1952 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
1953 the actions files. Look at <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly
1959 <sect2 id="actions-apply">
1960 <title>How Actions are Applied to URLs</title>
1962 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
1963 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
1964 be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
1965 heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
1966 of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
1967 Below that, there is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line.
1971 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
1972 compared to all patterns in each <quote>action file</quote> file. Every time it matches, the list of
1973 applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading
1974 of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for
1975 the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not,
1976 the effects are aggregated. E.g. a URL might match a regular section with
1977 a heading line of <literal>{
1978 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> }</literal>,
1979 then later another one with just <literal>{
1980 +<link linkend="block">block</link> }</literal>, resulting
1981 in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply.
1985 You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting <ulink
1986 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
1990 More detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
1991 Anatomy of an Action</link>.
1995 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1996 <sect2 id="af-patterns">
1997 <title>Patterns</title>
1999 As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
2000 to determine what actions might apply to which sites and pages your browser
2001 attempts to access. These <quote>patterns</quote> use wild card type
2002 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> matching to achieve a high degree of
2003 flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
2004 against many similar patterns.
2008 Generally, a <application>Privoxy</application> pattern has the form
2009 <literal><domain>/<path></literal>, where both the
2010 <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal> are
2011 optional. (This is why the special <literal>/</literal> pattern matches all
2012 URLs). Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g.
2013 <literal>http://</literal>) should <emphasis>not</emphasis> be included in
2014 the pattern. This is assumed already!
2019 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
2022 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2023 regardless of which document on that server is requested.
2028 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
2031 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
2037 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
2040 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
2041 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
2046 <term><literal>/index.html</literal></term>
2049 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
2050 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server.
2055 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
2058 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
2059 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>.
2066 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2067 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
2070 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
2071 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
2077 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
2080 matches any domain that <emphasis>ENDS</emphasis> in
2081 <literal>.example.com</literal>
2086 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
2089 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
2090 <literal>www.</literal>
2095 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
2098 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>
2099 (Correctly speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as a domain.)
2106 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
2107 themselves. They work pretty similar to shell wild-cards: <quote>*</quote>
2108 stands for zero or more arbitrary characters, <quote>?</quote> stands for
2109 any single character, you can define character classes in square
2110 brackets and all of that can be freely mixed:
2115 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2118 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
2119 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
2124 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2127 matches all of the above, and then some.
2132 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
2135 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
2136 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
2141 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
2144 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
2145 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
2146 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
2147 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
2155 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2158 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2159 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
2162 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl compatible regular expressions
2163 (through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> library) for
2168 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
2169 expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
2170 at <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt">http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</ulink>.
2171 You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<literal>man perlre</literal>)
2172 useful, which is available on-line at <ulink
2173 url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>.
2177 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
2178 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
2179 for the beginning of a line).
2183 Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
2184 by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
2185 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
2186 only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
2187 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
2193 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2196 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2198 <sect2 id="actions">
2199 <title>Actions</title>
2201 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
2202 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
2203 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
2204 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
2205 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
2206 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
2207 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
2208 previously applied.</quote>
2213 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
2214 separated by whitespace, like in
2215 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
2216 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
2217 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
2218 of the actions file.
2222 There are three classes of actions:
2229 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
2230 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
2234 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
2235 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
2238 Example: <literal>+block</literal>
2245 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
2250 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
2251 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
2252 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
2255 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
2256 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
2259 Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 }</literal>
2265 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
2266 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
2267 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
2268 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
2269 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
2270 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
2274 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
2275 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
2276 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
2277 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
2280 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
2281 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
2289 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
2290 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
2291 normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the
2292 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
2293 files will give a good starting point).
2297 Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions
2298 to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
2299 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files). For
2300 multi-valued actions, the actions are applied in the order they are specified.
2301 Actions files are processed in the order they are defined in
2302 <filename>config</filename> (the default installation has three actions
2303 files). It also quite possible for any given URL pattern to match more than
2304 one pattern and thus more than one set of actions!
2307 <!-- start actions listing -->
2309 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
2313 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2314 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
2315 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
2317 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2320 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2322 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
2323 <title>add-header</title>
2327 <term>Typical use:</term>
2329 <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
2334 <term>Effect:</term>
2337 Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
2344 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2346 <para>Multi-value.</para>
2351 <term>Parameter:</term>
2354 Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
2355 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
2365 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
2366 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
2367 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
2374 <term>Example usage:</term>
2377 <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
2385 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2386 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
2387 <title>block</title>
2391 <term>Typical use:</term>
2393 <para>Block ads or other unwanted content</para>
2398 <term>Effect:</term>
2401 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the requests are not
2402 forwarded to the remote server, but answered locally with a substitute page or image,
2403 as determined by the <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>
2404 and <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> actions.
2411 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2413 <para>Boolean.</para>
2418 <term>Parameter:</term>
2428 <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
2429 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request
2430 was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the
2431 force feature enabled). The <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page adapts to the available
2432 screen space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and text-only
2433 if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using <application>Privoxy</application>
2434 right now, you can take a look at the
2435 <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
2439 A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
2440 <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2441 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
2442 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
2443 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
2444 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
2447 It is important to understand this process, in order
2448 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
2449 ads and other unwanted content.
2452 The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
2453 action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
2454 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
2455 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
2456 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
2462 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2465 <screen>{+block} # Block and replace with "blocked" page
2466 .nasty-stuff.example.com
2468 {+block +handle-as-image} # Block and replace with image
2480 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2481 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="content-type-overwrite">
2485 <title>content-type-overwrite</title>
2489 <term>Typical use:</term>
2491 <para>Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode</para>
2496 <term>Effect:</term>
2499 Replaces the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header.
2506 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2508 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2513 <term>Parameter:</term>
2525 The <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header is used by the
2526 browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this
2527 header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of
2528 displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is
2529 supported by the browser.
2532 The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
2533 the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <quote>text/html</quote>,
2534 many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
2535 If it is send as <quote>application/xml</quote>, browsers with
2536 XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
2539 If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
2540 <quote>Content-Type: text/html</quote>, you can use &my-app;
2541 to overwrite it with <quote>application/xml</quote> and validate
2542 the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
2543 If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
2546 You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints
2547 error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared
2548 as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
2549 <quote>text/html</quote> and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
2552 By default <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal> only replaces
2553 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> headers that look like some kind of text.
2554 If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
2555 <literal><link linkend="force-text-mode">force-text-mode</link></literal>.
2556 This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
2559 Most of the time it's easier to enable
2560 <literal><link linkend="filter-server-headers">filter-server-headers</link></literal>
2561 and replace this action with a custom regular expression. It allows you
2562 to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
2563 only replace the content types you aimed at.
2566 Of course you can apply <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal>
2567 to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
2568 more work to get the same precision.
2574 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
2577 <screen># Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
2578 {+content-type-overwrite {application/xml}}
2580 # but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
2581 {-content-type-overwrite}
2582 www.example.net/*.\.css$
2583 www.example.net/*.style
2592 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2593 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-client-header">
2597 <title>crunch-client-header</title>
2601 <term>Typical use:</term>
2603 <para>Remove a client header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
2608 <term>Effect:</term>
2611 Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
2618 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2620 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2625 <term>Parameter:</term>
2637 This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
2638 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists.
2639 <application>Privoxy</application> will remove every client header that
2640 contains the string you supplied as parameter.
2643 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
2644 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
2645 they contain the same string.
2648 <literal>crunch-client-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
2649 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
2650 parts of them, you should enable
2651 <literal><link linkend="filter-client-headers">filter-client-headers</link></literal>
2652 and create your own filter.
2656 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
2663 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2666 <screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
2667 {+crunch-client-header {Privacy-Violation:}}
2677 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2678 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-if-none-match">
2679 <title>crunch-if-none-match</title>
2685 <term>Typical use:</term>
2687 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
2692 <term>Effect:</term>
2695 Deletes the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header.
2702 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2704 <para>Boolean.</para>
2709 <term>Parameter:</term>
2721 Removing the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header
2722 is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
2723 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote> which
2724 would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
2727 It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
2731 Blocking the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> header shouldn't cause any
2732 caching problems, as long as the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> header
2733 isn't blocked as well.
2736 It is recommended to use this action together with
2737 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
2739 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>.
2745 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2748 <screen># Let the browser revalidate cached documents without being tracked across sessions
2749 {+hide-if-modified-since {-60} \
2750 +overwrite-last-modified {randomize} \
2751 +crunch-if-none-match}
2760 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2761 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
2762 <title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
2766 <term>Typical use:</term>
2769 Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system
2775 <term>Effect:</term>
2778 Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
2785 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2787 <para>Boolean.</para>
2792 <term>Parameter:</term>
2804 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies. For
2805 <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies, use
2806 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
2807 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
2810 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
2811 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
2812 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
2813 <literal><link linkend="filter-content-cookies">filter-content-cookies</link></literal>.
2819 <term>Example usage:</term>
2822 <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
2830 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2831 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-server-header">
2832 <title>crunch-server-header</title>
2838 <term>Typical use:</term>
2840 <para>Remove a server header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
2845 <term>Effect:</term>
2848 Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
2855 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2857 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2862 <term>Parameter:</term>
2874 This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
2875 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists. <application>Privoxy</application>
2876 will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
2879 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
2880 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
2881 they contain the same string.
2884 <literal>crunch-server-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
2885 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
2886 parts of them, you should enable
2887 <literal><link linkend="filter-server-headers">filter-server-headers</link></literal>
2888 and create your own filter.
2892 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
2899 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2902 <screen># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
2903 {+crunch-server-header {no-cache}}
2912 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2913 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
2914 <title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
2918 <term>Typical use:</term>
2921 Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system
2927 <term>Effect:</term>
2930 Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
2937 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2939 <para>Boolean.</para>
2944 <term>Parameter:</term>
2956 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies. For
2957 <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies, use
2958 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
2959 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
2962 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
2963 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
2964 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
2970 <term>Example usage:</term>
2973 <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
2982 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2983 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
2984 <title>deanimate-gifs</title>
2988 <term>Typical use:</term>
2990 <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
2995 <term>Effect:</term>
2998 De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
3005 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3007 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3012 <term>Parameter:</term>
3015 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
3024 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
3025 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
3026 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
3027 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
3028 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
3029 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
3032 You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
3033 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
3040 <term>Example usage:</term>
3043 <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
3050 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3051 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
3052 <title>downgrade-http-version</title>
3056 <term>Typical use:</term>
3058 <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
3063 <term>Effect:</term>
3066 Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
3073 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3075 <para>Boolean.</para>
3080 <term>Parameter:</term>
3092 This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
3093 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
3094 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
3095 out there. Not all (optional) HTTP/1.1 features are supported yet, so there
3096 is a chance you might need this action.
3102 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3105 <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
3106 problem-host.example.com</screen>
3114 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3115 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
3116 <title>fast-redirects</title>
3120 <term>Typical use:</term>
3122 <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.</para>
3127 <term>Effect:</term>
3130 Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting
3131 the redirection server first.
3138 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3140 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3145 <term>Parameter:</term>
3150 <quote>simple-check</quote> to just search for the string <quote>http://</quote>
3151 to detect redirection URLs.
3156 <quote>check-decoded-url</quote> to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching
3157 for redirection URLs.
3168 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
3169 will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
3170 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
3171 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
3172 <quote>http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/</quote>.
3175 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
3176 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
3177 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
3178 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
3179 browser asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
3183 This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
3184 If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
3185 this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
3188 Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil.
3189 Some sites offer a real service that requires this information to work.
3190 For example a validation service needs to know, which document to validate.
3191 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> assumes that every URL parameter that
3192 looks like another URL is a redirection target, and will always redirect to
3193 the last one. Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't,
3194 the user gets redirected anyway.
3197 Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter.
3199 <quote>http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
3200 contains the redirection URL <quote>http://www.example.net/</quote>,
3201 followed by another parameter. <literal>fast-redirects</literal> doesn't know that
3202 and will cause a redirect to <quote>http://www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
3203 Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
3204 or lead to a <quote>page not found</quote> error. It is possible to fix these redirected
3205 requests with <literal><link linkend="filter-client-headers">filter-client-headers</link></literal>
3206 but it requires a little effort.
3209 To detect a redirection URL, <literal>fast-redirects</literal> only
3210 looks for the string <quote>http://</quote>, either in plain text
3211 (invalid but often used) or encoded as <quote>http%3a//</quote>.
3212 Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the address
3213 of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses cases
3214 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> is fooled and the request reaches the
3215 redirection server where it probably gets logged.
3221 <term>Example usage:</term>
3224 <screen>+fast-redirects{simple-check}</screen>
3227 <screen>+fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</screen>
3236 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3237 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
3238 <title>filter</title>
3242 <term>Typical use:</term>
3244 <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size), do fun text replacements, etc.</para>
3249 <term>Effect:</term>
3252 All files of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which this
3253 action applies, are filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular expression
3254 based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents
3255 are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
3256 <literal>text/plain</literal> MIME type for all files whose type they
3257 don't know.) By default, filtering works only on the document content
3258 itself, not the headers.
3265 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3267 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3272 <term>Parameter:</term>
3275 The name of a filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>.
3276 Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
3277 <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
3278 option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>.
3279 <filename>default.filter</filename> is the collection of filters
3280 supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
3281 in their own file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>.
3284 When used in its negative form,
3285 and without parameters, filtering is completely disabled.
3294 For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
3295 in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
3299 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
3300 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
3301 passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
3302 since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
3303 noticeable on slower connections.
3306 This is very powerful feature, and <quote>rolling your own</quote>
3307 filters requires a knowledge of regular expressions and HTML.
3310 The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
3311 <literal><link linkend="buffer-limit">buffer-limit</link></literal>
3312 option in the main <link linkend="config">config file</link>. The
3313 default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
3314 data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
3317 Inadequate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
3318 (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data
3319 (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate
3320 the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might
3321 be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering
3322 by defining appropriate <literal>-filter</literal> sections.
3325 At this time, <application>Privoxy</application> cannot (yet!) uncompress compressed
3326 documents. If you want filtering to work on all documents, even those that
3327 would normally be sent compressed, use the
3328 <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
3329 action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
3332 Filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
3333 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
3334 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
3335 works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
3336 based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
3340 <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or
3341 improved filters is particularly welcome!
3344 The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
3345 predefined filter. There are <link linkend="predefined-filters">more
3346 verbose explanations</link> of what these filters do in the <link
3347 linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>.
3353 <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file).
3354 See <link linkend="PREDEFINED-FILTERS">the Predefined Filters section</link> for
3355 more explanation on each:</term>
3358 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
3359 <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse</screen>
3362 <anchor id="filter-js-events">
3363 <screen>+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites)</screen>
3366 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
3367 <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse</screen>
3370 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
3371 <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content</screen>
3374 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
3375 <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)</screen>
3378 <anchor id="filter-unsolicited-popups">
3379 <screen>+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows</screen>
3382 <anchor id="filter-all-popups">
3383 <screen>+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML</screen>
3386 <anchor id="filter-img-reorder">
3387 <screen>+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective</screen>
3390 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
3391 <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size</screen>
3394 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-link">
3395 <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers</screen>
3398 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
3399 <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)</screen>
3402 <anchor id="filter-tiny-textforms">
3403 <screen>+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap</screen>
3406 <anchor id="filter-jumping-windows">
3407 <screen>+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves</screen>
3410 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
3411 <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable</screen>
3414 <anchor id="filter-demoronizer">
3415 <screen>+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets</screen>
3418 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
3419 <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects</screen>
3422 <anchor id="filter-quicktime-kioskmode">
3423 <screen>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies savable</screen>
3426 <anchor id="filter-fun">
3427 <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
3430 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
3431 <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering (demo only)</screen>
3434 <anchor id="filter-ie-exploits">
3435 <screen>+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits</screen>
3443 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3444 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter-client-headers">
3445 <title>filter-client-headers</title>
3449 <term>Typical use:</term>
3452 To apply filtering to the client's (browser's) headers
3458 <term>Effect:</term>
3461 By default, <application>Privoxy's</application> filters only apply
3462 to the document content itself. This will extend those filters to
3463 include the client's headers as well.
3470 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3472 <para>Boolean.</para>
3477 <term>Parameter:</term>
3489 Regular expressions can be used to filter headers as well. Check your
3490 filters closely before activating this action, as it can easily lead to broken
3494 These filters are applied to each header on its own, not to them
3495 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
3496 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is
3500 The filters are used after the other header actions have finished and can
3501 use their output as input.
3505 Whenever possible one should specify <literal>^</literal>,
3506 <literal>$</literal>, the whole header name and the colon, to make sure
3507 the filter doesn't cause havoc to other headers or the
3508 page itself. For example if you want to transform
3509 <application>Galeon</application> User-Agents to
3510 <application>Firefox</application> User-Agents you
3515 s@Galeon/\d\.\d\.\d @@
3521 s@^(User-Agent:.*) Galeon/\d\.\d\.\d (Firefox/\d\.\d\.\d\.\d)$@$1 $2@
3528 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3532 {+filter-client-headers +filter{test_filter}}
3533 problem-host.example.com
3543 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3544 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter-server-headers">
3545 <title>filter-server-headers</title>
3549 <term>Typical use:</term>
3552 To apply filtering to the server's headers
3558 <term>Effect:</term>
3561 By default, <application>Privoxy's</application> filters only apply
3562 to the document content itself. This will extend those filters to
3563 include the server's headers as well.
3570 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3572 <para>Boolean.</para>
3577 <term>Parameter:</term>
3589 Similar to <literal>filter-client-headers</literal>, but works on
3590 the server instead. To filter both server and client, use both.
3593 As with <literal>filter-client-headers</literal>, check your
3594 filters before activating this action, as it can easily lead to broken
3598 These filters are applied to each header on its own, not to them
3599 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
3600 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is
3604 The filters are used after the other header actions have finished and can
3605 use their output as input.
3608 Remember too, whenever possible one should specify <literal>^</literal>,
3609 <literal>$</literal>, the whole header name and the colon, to make sure
3610 the filter doesn't cause havoc to other headers or the
3611 page itself. See above for example.
3618 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3622 {+filter-server-headers +filter{test_filter}}
3623 problem-host.example.com
3633 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3634 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="force-text-mode">
3635 <title>force-text-mode</title>
3641 <term>Typical use:</term>
3643 <para>Force <application>Privoxy</application> to treat a document as if it was in some kind of <emphasis>text</emphasis> format. </para>
3648 <term>Effect:</term>
3651 Declares a document as text, even if the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> isn't detected as such.
3658 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3660 <para>Boolean.</para>
3665 <term>Parameter:</term>
3677 As explained <literal><link linkend="filter">above</link></literal>,
3678 <application>Privoxy</application> tries to only filter files that are
3679 in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to
3680 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite</link></literal>.
3681 <literal>force-text-mode</literal> declares a document as text,
3682 without looking at the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> first.
3686 Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
3687 with regular expressions can cause file damage.
3694 <term>Example usage:</term>
3707 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3708 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-empty-document">
3709 <title>handle-as-empty-document</title>
3715 <term>Typical use:</term>
3717 <para>Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis></para>
3722 <term>Effect:</term>
3725 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
3726 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
3727 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
3728 page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
3729 The <emphasis>empty</emphasis> document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
3736 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3738 <para>Boolean.</para>
3743 <term>Parameter:</term>
3755 Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
3756 are blocked with <application>Privoxy's</application>
3757 default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
3760 The content type for the empty document can be specified with
3761 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{}</link></literal>,
3762 but usually this isn't necessary.
3768 <term>Example usage:</term>
3771 <screen># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
3772 # but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
3773 {+block +handle-as-empty-document}
3783 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3784 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
3785 <title>handle-as-image</title>
3789 <term>Typical use:</term>
3791 <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>
3796 <term>Effect:</term>
3799 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
3800 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
3801 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
3802 page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
3803 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
3804 client as a substitute for the blocked content.
3811 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3813 <para>Boolean.</para>
3818 <term>Parameter:</term>
3830 The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
3831 It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
3835 Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
3836 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
3837 reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
3840 Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
3841 frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
3842 Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
3843 ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
3849 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
3852 <screen># Generic image extensions:
3855 /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
3857 # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
3858 # blocked as images:
3860 {+block +handle-as-image}
3861 some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash
3863 # Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
3873 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3874 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-accept-language">
3875 <title>hide-accept-language</title>
3881 <term>Typical use:</term>
3883 <para>Pretend to use different language settings.</para>
3888 <term>Effect:</term>
3891 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> HTTP header in client requests.
3898 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3900 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3905 <term>Parameter:</term>
3908 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
3917 Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
3918 foreign User-Agent set with
3919 <literal><link linkend="hide-user-agent">hide-user-agent</link></literal>
3923 However some sites with content in different languages check the
3924 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> to decide which one to take by default.
3925 Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
3926 changing the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header first.
3929 Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
3930 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header to languages you understand,
3931 or to languages that aren't wide spread.
3934 Before setting the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header
3935 to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to
3936 make your requests unique and thus easier to trace.
3937 If you don't plan to change this header frequently,
3938 you should stick to a common language.
3944 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3947 <screen># Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
3948 {+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
3949 +hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
3959 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3960 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-content-disposition">
3961 <title>hide-content-disposition</title>
3967 <term>Typical use:</term>
3969 <para>Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.</para>
3974 <term>Effect:</term>
3977 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header set by some servers.
3984 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3986 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3991 <term>Parameter:</term>
3994 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4003 Some servers set the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header for
4004 documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
4005 The <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header contains the file name
4006 the browser is supposed to use by default.
4009 In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
4010 <emphasis>just view</emphasis> the document, without downloading it first,
4011 even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
4014 Removing the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header helps
4015 to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
4016 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> header, before they decide if they can
4017 display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have
4018 to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
4022 It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion
4023 to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set
4030 <term>Example usage:</term>
4033 <screen># Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
4035 +content-type-overwrite {text/plain}\
4036 +hide-content-disposition {block} }
4037 .sourceforge.net/tracker/download.php</screen>
4045 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4046 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-if-modified-since">
4047 <title>hide-if-modified-since</title>
4053 <term>Typical use:</term>
4055 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
4060 <term>Effect:</term>
4063 Deletes the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> HTTP client header or modifies its value.
4070 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4072 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4077 <term>Parameter:</term>
4080 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
4089 Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
4090 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the
4091 browser to use a cached copy of the page.
4094 Instead of removing the header, <literal>hide-if-modified-since</literal> can
4095 also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value.
4096 You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and
4097 <application>Privoxy</application> does the rest. A negative value means
4098 subtracting, a positive value adding.
4101 Randomizing the value of the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> makes
4102 sure it isn't used as a cookie replacement, but you will run into
4103 caching problems if the random range is too high.
4106 It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
4107 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
4108 handle the greater changes.
4111 It is also recommended to use this action together with
4112 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
4118 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4121 <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
4122 {+hide-if-modified-since {-60}\
4123 +overwrite-last-modified {randomize}\
4124 +crunch-if-none-match}
4133 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4134 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
4135 <title>hide-forwarded-for-headers</title>
4141 <term>Typical use:</term>
4143 <para>Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request</para>
4148 <term>Effect:</term>
4151 Deletes any existing <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> HTTP header from client requests,
4152 and prevents adding a new one.
4159 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4161 <para>Boolean.</para>
4166 <term>Parameter:</term>
4178 It is fairly safe to leave this on.
4181 This action is scheduled for improvement: It should be able to generate forged
4182 <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> headers using random IP addresses from a specified network,
4183 to make successive requests from the same client look like requests from a pool of different
4184 users sharing the same proxy.
4190 <term>Example usage:</term>
4193 <screen>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</screen>
4201 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4202 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
4203 <title>hide-from-header</title>
4207 <term>Typical use:</term>
4209 <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
4214 <term>Effect:</term>
4217 Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
4225 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4227 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4232 <term>Parameter:</term>
4235 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4244 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
4245 (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
4249 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
4250 server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
4251 is actually used by a real person.
4254 This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
4255 <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
4261 <term>Example usage:</term>
4264 <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
4265 <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
4273 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4274 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
4275 <title>hide-referrer</title>
4276 <anchor id="hide-referer">
4279 <term>Typical use:</term>
4281 <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
4286 <term>Effect:</term>
4289 Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
4290 or replaces it with a forged one.
4297 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4299 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4304 <term>Parameter:</term>
4308 <para><quote>conditional-block</quote> to delete the header completely if the host has changed.</para>
4311 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header unconditionally.</para>
4314 <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
4317 <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
4327 <literal>conditional-block</literal> is the only parameter,
4328 that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the
4329 referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or
4330 typed in the address directly.
4333 Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
4334 allows the server owner to see the visitor's <quote>click path</quote>,
4335 but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing
4336 other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't
4337 a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between
4341 Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
4342 failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
4343 requests, in an attempt to prevent their valuable content from being
4344 embedded or linked to elsewhere.
4347 Both <literal>conditional-block</literal> and <literal>forge</literal>
4348 will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page
4349 are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case.
4352 <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
4353 <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
4354 substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
4355 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
4356 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
4362 <term>Example usage:</term>
4365 <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
4366 <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
4374 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4375 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
4376 <title>hide-user-agent</title>
4380 <term>Typical use:</term>
4382 <para>Conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
4387 <term>Effect:</term>
4390 Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
4391 in client requests with the specified value.
4398 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4400 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4405 <term>Parameter:</term>
4408 Any user-defined string.
4418 This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at this header in
4419 order to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
4420 way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the right thing to do: good web sites
4421 work browser-independently).
4423 <ulink url="http://www.javascriptkit.com/javaindex.shtml">smart way to do
4429 Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
4430 browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
4431 <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
4432 setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
4433 the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
4434 OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
4435 sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
4436 reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
4437 let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
4438 <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
4439 (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
4442 This action is scheduled for improvement.
4448 <term>Example usage:</term>
4451 <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
4459 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4460 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="inspect-jpegs">
4461 <title>inspect-jpegs</title>
4467 <term>Typical use:</term>
4469 <para>To protect against the MS buffer over-run in JPEG processing</para>
4474 <term>Effect:</term>
4477 Protect against a known exploit
4484 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4486 <para>Boolean.</para>
4491 <term>Parameter:</term>
4503 See Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-028. JPEG images are one of the most
4504 common image types found across the Internet. The exploit as described can
4505 allow execution of code on the target system, giving an attacker access
4506 to the system in question by merely planting an altered JPEG image, which
4507 would have no obvious indications of what lurks inside. This action
4508 prevents unwanted intrusion.
4515 <term>Example usage:</term>
4517 <para><screen>+inspect-jpegs</screen></para>
4526 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4527 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="kill-popups">
4528 <title>kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"></title>
4532 <term>Typical use:</term>
4534 <para>Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows (deprecated)</para>
4539 <term>Effect:</term>
4542 While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens
4543 pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly.
4550 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4552 <para>Boolean.</para>
4557 <term>Parameter:</term>
4569 This action is basically a built-in, hardwired special-purpose filter
4570 action, but there are important differences: For <literal>kill-popups</literal>,
4571 the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while
4572 downloading. But <literal>kill-popups</literal> doesn't catch as many pop-ups as
4574 linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>all-popups</replaceable>}</link></literal>
4575 does and is not as smart as <literal><link
4576 linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>unsolicited-popups</replaceable>}</link>
4580 Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you
4581 can use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make
4582 sense to combine it with any <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action,
4583 since as soon as one <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> applies,
4584 the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the advantage of
4585 the <literal>kill-popups</literal> action over its filter equivalent.
4588 Killing all pop-ups unconditionally is problematic. Many shops and banks rely on
4589 pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and the <literal><link
4590 linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>unsolicited-popups</replaceable>}</link>
4591 </literal> does a fairly good job of catching only the unwanted ones.
4594 If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those
4595 <emphasis>really nasty</emphasis> windows that appear when you close an other
4596 one), you might want to use
4598 linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>js-annoyances</replaceable>}</literal>
4604 An alternate spelling is <literal>+kill-popup</literal>, which is
4612 <term>Example usage:</term>
4614 <para><screen>+kill-popups</screen></para>
4621 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4622 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
4623 <title>limit-connect</title>
4627 <term>Typical use:</term>
4629 <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</para>
4634 <term>Effect:</term>
4637 Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
4644 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4646 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4651 <term>Parameter:</term>
4654 A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
4655 defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
4664 By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
4665 <application>Privoxy</application> only allows HTTP CONNECT
4666 requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
4667 <literal>limit-connect</literal> if more fine-grained control is desired
4668 for some or all destinations.
4671 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
4672 (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
4673 the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
4674 short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
4675 This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be
4676 abused as TCP relays very easily.
4679 <application>Privoxy</application> relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
4680 the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent &my-app;'s
4681 filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
4682 If you plan to disable SSL by default, consider enabling
4683 <literal><link linkend="treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks ">treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</link></literal>
4684 as well, to be able to quickly create exceptions.
4690 <term>Example usages:</term>
4692 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
4693 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
4694 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
4696 <screen>+limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
4697 +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
4698 +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
4699 +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
4700 +limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</screen>
4707 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4708 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
4709 <title>prevent-compression</title>
4713 <term>Typical use:</term>
4716 Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
4717 passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s.
4723 <term>Effect:</term>
4726 Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
4733 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4735 <para>Boolean.</para>
4740 <term>Parameter:</term>
4752 More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
4753 is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the <literal><link
4754 linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>, <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
4755 and <literal><link linkend="kill-popups">kill-popups</link></literal> actions to work,
4756 <application>Privoxy</application> needs access to the uncompressed data.
4757 Unfortunately, <application>Privoxy</application> can't yet(!) uncompress, filter, and
4758 re-compress the content on the fly. So if you want to ensure that all websites, including
4759 those that normally compress, can be filtered, you need to use this action.
4762 This will slow down transfers from those websites, though. If you use any of the above-mentioned
4763 actions, you will typically want to use <literal>prevent-compression</literal> in conjunction
4767 Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
4768 documents correctly (they send an empty document body). If you use <literal>prevent-compression</literal>
4769 per default, you'll have to add exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
4775 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
4778 <screen># Set default:
4780 {+prevent-compression}
4783 # Make exceptions for ill sites:
4785 {-prevent-compression}
4787 www.pclinuxonline.com</screen>
4796 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4797 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="overwrite-last-modified">
4798 <title>overwrite-last-modified</title>
4804 <term>Typical use:</term>
4806 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
4811 <term>Effect:</term>
4814 Deletes the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> HTTP server header or modifies its value.
4821 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4823 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4828 <term>Parameter:</term>
4831 One of the keywords: <quote>block</quote>, <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote>
4832 and <quote>randomize</quote>
4841 Removing the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header is useful for filter
4842 testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
4843 code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
4844 version of the page.
4847 The <quote>randomize</quote> option overwrites the value of the
4848 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with a randomly chosen time
4849 between the original value and the current time. In theory the server
4850 could send each document with a different <quote>Last-Modified:</quote>
4851 header to track visits without using cookies. <quote>Randomize</quote>
4852 makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
4855 <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote> overwrites the value of the
4856 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with the current time. You could use
4857 this option together with
4858 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>
4859 to further customize your random range.
4862 The preferred parameter here is <quote>randomize</quote>. It is safe
4863 to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct.
4864 If the server sets the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header to the time
4865 of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same.
4866 Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with
4867 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>,
4871 It is also recommended to use this action together with
4872 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
4878 <term>Example usage:</term>
4881 <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
4882 {+hide-if-modified-since {-60}\
4883 +overwrite-last-modified {randomize}\
4884 +crunch-if-none-match}
4893 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4894 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="redirect">
4895 <title>redirect</title>
4901 <term>Typical use:</term>
4904 Redirect requests to other sites.
4910 <term>Effect:</term>
4913 Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
4914 to another location and the browser should get it from there.
4921 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4923 <para>Parameterized</para>
4928 <term>Parameter:</term>
4940 This action is useful to replace whole documents with your own
4941 ones. For that to work, they have to be available on another server,
4942 and both should resolve.
4945 You can do the same by combining the actions
4946 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>,
4947 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> and
4948 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{URL}</link></literal>.
4949 It doesn't sound right for non-image documents, and that's why this action
4953 This action will be ignored if you use it together with
4954 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>.
4960 <term>Example usage:</term>
4963 <screen># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
4964 {+redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css}}
4965 example.com/stylesheet.css</screen>
4974 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4975 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-vanilla-wafer">
4976 <title>send-vanilla-wafer</title>
4980 <term>Typical use:</term>
4983 Feed log analysis scripts with useless data.
4989 <term>Effect:</term>
4992 Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any copyright
4993 on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track you.
5000 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5002 <para>Boolean.</para>
5007 <term>Parameter:</term>
5019 The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you.
5022 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
5028 <term>Example usage:</term>
5031 <screen>+send-vanilla-wafer</screen>
5040 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5041 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-wafer">
5042 <title>send-wafer</title>
5046 <term>Typical use:</term>
5049 Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data.
5055 <term>Effect:</term>
5058 Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request.
5065 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5067 <para>Multi-value.</para>
5072 <term>Parameter:</term>
5075 A string of the form <quote><replaceable class="option">name</replaceable>=<replaceable
5076 class="parameter">value</replaceable></quote>.
5085 Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request,
5086 resulting in multiple cookies being sent.
5089 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
5094 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5097 <screen>{+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
5098 my-internal-testing-server.void</screen>
5106 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5107 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
5108 <title>session-cookies-only</title>
5112 <term>Typical use:</term>
5115 Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current
5116 browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
5122 <term>Effect:</term>
5125 Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote>
5126 server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
5127 forget them in between sessions.
5134 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5136 <para>Boolean.</para>
5141 <term>Parameter:</term>
5153 This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
5154 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
5155 websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
5158 Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
5159 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
5160 This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
5161 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
5162 sites, and is the recommended setting.
5165 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
5166 together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
5167 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
5168 will be plainly killed.
5171 Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
5172 field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
5175 This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
5176 previously by the browser before starting <application>Privoxy</application>.
5177 These would have to be removed manually.
5180 <application>Privoxy</application> also uses
5181 the <link linkend="filter-content-cookies">content-cookies filter</link>
5182 to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
5183 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>.
5189 <term>Example usage:</term>
5192 <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
5200 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5201 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
5202 <title>set-image-blocker</title>
5206 <term>Typical use:</term>
5208 <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
5213 <term>Effect:</term>
5216 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
5217 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
5218 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
5219 apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
5220 <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
5221 sent as a replacement.
5228 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5230 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5235 <term>Parameter:</term>
5240 <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
5241 decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
5246 <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
5247 completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
5248 images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
5249 has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
5254 <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
5255 send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
5256 to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via <quote>file:///</quote> URL.
5257 (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
5260 A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
5261 URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
5262 This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
5263 the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
5264 it over and over again.
5275 The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
5276 class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
5277 either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
5280 There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
5281 used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
5282 Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
5288 <term>Example usage:</term>
5294 <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
5297 Redirect to the BSD devil:
5300 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
5303 Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
5306 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
5314 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5315 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks">
5316 <title>treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</title>
5322 <term>Typical use:</term>
5324 <para>Block forbidden connects with an easy to find error message.</para>
5329 <term>Effect:</term>
5332 If this action is enabled, <application>Privoxy</application> no longer
5333 makes a difference between forbidden connects and ordinary blocks.
5340 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5342 <para>Boolean</para>
5347 <term>Parameter:</term>
5357 By default <application>Privoxy</application> answers
5358 <link linkend="limit-connect">forbidden <quote>Connect</quote> requests</link>
5359 with a short error message inside the headers. If the browser doesn't display
5360 headers (most don't), you just see an empty page.
5363 With this action enabled, <application>Privoxy</application> displays
5364 the message that is used for ordinary blocks instead. If you decide
5365 to make an exception for the page in question, you can do so by
5366 following the <quote>See why</quote> link.
5369 For <quote>Connect</quote> requests the clients tell
5370 <application>Privoxy</application> which host they are interested
5371 in, but not which document they plan to get later. As a result, the
5372 <quote>Go there anyway</quote> link becomes rather useless:
5373 it lets the client request the home page of the forbidden host
5374 through unencrypted HTTP, still using the port of the last request.
5377 If you previously configured <application>Privoxy</application> to do the
5378 request through a SSL tunnel, everything will work. Most likely you haven't
5379 and the server will respond with an error message because it is expecting
5386 <term>Example usage:</term>
5389 <screen>+treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</screen>
5397 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5399 <title>Summary</title>
5401 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
5402 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
5403 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
5404 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
5405 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
5406 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
5412 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5413 <sect2 id="aliases">
5414 <title>Aliases</title>
5416 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
5417 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
5418 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
5419 Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
5421 <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
5422 recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
5423 <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
5424 Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
5425 <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
5429 Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
5430 defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
5431 And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
5432 have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
5436 There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
5437 used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
5438 decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
5439 <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
5440 <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
5441 in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
5442 by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
5445 Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
5446 <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
5447 editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
5448 them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
5449 but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
5451 This is likely to change in future versions of <application>Privoxy</application>.
5455 Now let's define some aliases...
5460 # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
5462 # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
5463 # must be at the top of the actions file!
5467 # These aliases just save typing later:
5468 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
5470 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5471 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5472 block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
5473 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
5475 # These aliases define combinations of actions
5476 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
5478 fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link>
5479 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link>
5481 # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
5483 c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
5484 c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
5488 ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
5489 actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
5490 up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
5495 # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
5496 # user data and require minimal interference to work:
5499 .office.microsoft.com
5500 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
5504 # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
5508 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
5511 # These shops require pop-ups:
5513 {shop -kill-popups -filter{all-popups}}
5515 .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
5519 Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are often used for
5520 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require some actions to be disabled
5521 in order to function properly.
5527 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5528 <sect2 id="act-examples">
5529 <title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
5531 The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
5532 there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
5533 linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
5534 to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
5535 define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
5536 example <filename>default.action</filename> and <filename>user.action</filename>
5537 file and see how all these pieces come together:
5540 <sect3><title>default.action</title>
5543 Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:
5547 <screen># Sample default.action file <ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net></screen>
5551 Then, since this is the <filename>default.action</filename> file, the
5552 first section is a special section for internal use that you needn't
5553 change or worry about:
5558 ##########################################################################
5559 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
5560 ##########################################################################
5563 for-privoxy-version=3.0</screen>
5567 After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
5568 section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
5569 that also explains why and how aliases are used:
5574 ##########################################################################
5576 ##########################################################################
5579 # These aliases just save typing later:
5580 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
5582 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5583 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5584 block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
5585 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
5587 # These aliases define combinations of actions
5588 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
5590 fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link>
5591 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></screen>
5595 Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied
5596 by URL patterns to which they apply. Remember <emphasis>all actions
5597 are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>, so we have to explicitly
5598 enable the ones we want.
5602 The first regular section is probably the most important. It has only
5603 one pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
5604 <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the
5605 set of actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
5606 be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
5607 wholly overridden by later matches further down this file, or in user.action,
5608 but it will still be largely responsible for your overall browsing
5613 Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
5614 no real need to disable any actions here, but we will do that nonetheless,
5615 to have a complete listing for your reference. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
5616 preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
5617 Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
5618 multiple lines with line continuation.
5623 ##########################################################################
5624 # "Defaults" section:
5625 ##########################################################################
5627 -<link linkend="ADD-HEADER">add-header</link> \
5628 -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> \
5629 -<link linkend="CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE">content-type-overwrite</link> \
5630 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-CLIENT-HEADER">crunch-client-header</link> \
5631 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH">crunch-if-none-match</link> \
5632 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> \
5633 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-SERVER-HEADER">crunch-server-header</link> \
5634 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link> \
5635 +<link linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</link> \
5636 -<link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION">downgrade-http-version</link> \
5637 +<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</link> \
5638 +<link linkend="FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES">filter{js-annoyances}</link> \
5639 -<link linkend="FILTER-JS-EVENTS">filter{js-events}</link> \
5640 +<link linkend="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES">filter{html-annoyances}</link> \
5641 -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link> \
5642 +<link linkend="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">filter{refresh-tags}</link> \
5643 +<link linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{unsolicited-popups}</link> \
5644 -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link> \
5645 +<link linkend="FILTER-IMG-REORDER">filter{img-reorder}</link> \
5646 +<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">filter{banners-by-size}</link> \
5647 -<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK">filter{banners-by-link}</link> \
5648 +<link linkend="FILTER-WEBBUGS">filter{webbugs}</link> \
5649 -<link linkend="FILTER-TINY-TEXTFORMS">filter{tiny-textforms}</link> \
5650 +<link linkend="FILTER-JUMPING-WINDOWS">filter{jumping-windows}</link> \
5651 -<link linkend="FILTER-FRAMESET-BORDERS">filter{frameset-borders}</link> \
5652 -<link linkend="FILTER-DEMORONIZER">filter{demoronizer}</link> \
5653 -<link linkend="FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH">filter{shockwave-flash}</link> \
5654 -<link linkend="FILTER-QUICKTIME-KIOSKMODE">filter{quicktime-kioskmode}</link> \
5655 -<link linkend="FILTER-FUN">filter{fun}</link> \
5656 -<link linkend="FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL">filter{crude-parental}</link> \
5657 +<link linkend="FILTER-IE-EXPLOITS">filter{ie-exploits}</link> \
5658 -<link linkend="FILTER-CLIENT-HEADERS">filter-client-headers</link> \
5659 -<link linkend="FILTER-SERVER-HEADERS">filter-server-headers</link> \
5660 -<link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> \
5661 -<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT">handle-as-empty-document</link> \
5662 -<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> \
5663 -<link linkend="HIDE-ACCEPT-LANGUAGE">hide-accept-language</link> \
5664 -<link linkend="HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION">hide-content-disposition</link> \
5665 -<link linkend="HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE">hide-if-modified-since</link> \
5666 +<link linkend="HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS">hide-forwarded-for-headers</link> \
5667 +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
5668 +<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer{forge}</link> \
5669 -<link linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT">hide-user-agent</link> \
5670 -<link linkend="INSPECT-JPEGS">inspect-jpegs</link> \
5671 -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> \
5672 -<link linkend="LIMIT-CONNECT">limit-connect</link> \
5673 +<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link> \
5674 -<link linkend="OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED">overwrite-last-modified</link> \
5675 -<link linkend="REDIRECT">redirect</link> \
5676 -<link linkend="SEND-VANILLA-WAFER">send-vanilla-wafer</link> \
5677 -<link linkend="SEND-WAFER">send-wafer</link> \
5678 +<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> \
5679 +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
5680 -<link linkend="TREAT-FORBIDDEN-CONNECTS-LIKE-BLOCKS">treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</link> \
5682 / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.</screen>
5686 The default behavior is now set. Note that some actions, like not hiding
5687 the user agent, are part of a <quote>general policy</quote> that applies
5688 universally and won't get any exceptions defined later. Other choices,
5689 like not blocking (which is <emphasis>understandably</emphasis> the
5690 default!) need exceptions, i.e. we need to specify explicitly what we
5691 want to block in later sections.
5695 The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
5696 sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
5697 very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
5698 make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
5699 our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
5700 of actions explicitly:
5705 ##########################################################################
5706 # Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
5707 ##########################################################################
5709 # "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
5712 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
5713 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com</screen>
5717 Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
5718 require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
5719 carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
5728 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
5730 .scan.co.uk</screen>
5733 <!-- No longer needed BEGIN OF COMMENTED OUT BLOCK
5736 Then, there are sites which rely on pop-up windows (yuck!) to work.
5737 Since we made pop-up-killing our default above, we need to make exceptions
5738 now. <ulink url="http://www.mozilla.org/">Mozilla</ulink> users, who
5739 can turn on smart handling of unwanted pop-ups in their browsers, can
5741 -<literal><link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link></literal> (and
5742 -<literal><link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></literal>) above
5743 and hence don't need this section. Anyway, disabling an already disabled
5744 action doesn't hurt, so we'll define our exceptions regardless of what was
5745 chosen in the defaults section:
5750 # These sites require pop-ups too :(
5752 { -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> }
5755 .deutsche-bank-24.de</screen>
5758 END OF COMMENTED OUT BLOCK -->
5761 The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
5762 action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable
5763 it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
5768 { -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
5772 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
5773 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
5774 .nytimes.com</screen>
5778 It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
5779 URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
5780 be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
5781 Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
5782 would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
5783 would feed the advertisers (in terms of money <emphasis>and</emphasis>
5784 information). We can mark any URL as an image with the <literal><link
5785 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
5786 and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
5792 ##########################################################################
5794 ##########################################################################
5796 # Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
5797 # blocked further down this file:
5799 { +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
5800 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
5804 And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
5805 generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
5806 request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
5807 mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
5808 <literal>block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
5809 course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
5810 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
5811 Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
5812 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
5813 action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
5814 <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
5815 action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
5820 # Known ad generators:
5825 .ad.*.doubleclick.net
5826 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
5827 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
5834 One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
5835 is to block banners. A huge bunch of them can be <quote>blocked</quote>
5836 by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
5837 action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
5838 images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
5839 them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
5840 doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
5841 need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
5842 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
5845 First comes a bunch of generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
5846 matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
5847 a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
5848 to keep the example short:
5853 ##########################################################################
5854 # Block these fine banners:
5855 ##########################################################################
5856 { <link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link> }
5864 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
5865 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
5867 # Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
5869 .hitbox.com</screen>
5873 You wouldn't believe how many advertisers actually call their banner
5874 servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
5875 in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
5876 generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
5879 But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
5880 to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
5881 <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
5882 but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
5883 <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
5884 well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
5888 Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
5889 <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
5890 so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
5891 URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
5892 action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
5893 general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
5894 <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
5895 <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
5896 applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
5897 with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
5902 ##########################################################################
5903 # Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
5904 ##########################################################################
5908 { -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
5909 adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
5910 adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
5911 ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
5912 .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
5913 .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
5921 www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
5922 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
5926 Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
5927 so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
5928 and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
5929 <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
5930 disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
5935 # Don't filter code!
5937 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
5939 .sourceforge.net</screen>
5943 The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course much more
5944 comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
5949 <sect3><title>user.action</title>
5952 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
5953 which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
5954 you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
5955 are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
5956 be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
5957 be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
5958 actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
5959 defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
5960 <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
5961 <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
5962 <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
5963 to install updated versions from time to time.
5967 So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
5968 <filename>user.action</filename>:
5972 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
5976 # My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com></screen>
5980 As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
5981 file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
5982 <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
5987 # Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
5988 # (Re-)define aliases for this file:
5992 # These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
5993 # be self explanatory.
5995 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
5996 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
5997 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
5998 allow-popups = -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
5999 +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
6000 -block-as-image = -block
6002 # These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
6003 # certain types of sites:
6005 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
6006 shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
6008 # Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
6010 allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
6012 # Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
6013 # MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
6014 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>
6019 Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
6020 you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
6021 to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
6022 <literal>allow-all-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
6023 that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
6024 processing of cookies to make them only temporary.
6029 { allow-all-cookies }
6035 .redhat.com</screen>
6039 Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:
6044 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
6045 .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
6049 Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
6054 # Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
6055 # erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
6060 # And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
6061 # so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
6063 stupid-server.example.com/</screen>
6067 Example of a simple <link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> action. Say you've
6068 seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of.
6069 You have right-clicked the image, selected <quote>copy image location</quote>
6070 and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a
6071 <literal>{ +block }</literal> section. Note that <literal>{ +handle-as-image
6072 }</literal> need not be specified, since all URLs ending in
6073 <literal>.gif</literal> will be tagged as images by the general rules as set
6074 in default.action anyway:
6079 { +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
6080 www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.gif
6081 another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
6085 The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner
6086 farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which
6087 makes it impossible for <application>Privoxy</application> to guess
6088 the file type just by looking at the URL.
6089 You can use the <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above for
6091 Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an
6092 image are typically rendered as a <quote>broken image</quote> icon by the
6093 browser. Use cautiously.
6101 ar.atwola.com/</screen>
6105 Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
6106 but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
6107 were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
6108 you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
6109 -- <emphasis>whoa!</emphasis> -- it worked. The <literal>fragile</literal>
6110 aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also,
6111 good for testing purposes to see if it is <application>Privoxy</application>
6112 that is causing the problem or not.
6118 .forbes.com</screen>
6122 You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
6123 but it is disabled in the distributed actions file. (My colleagues on the team just
6124 don't have a sense of humour, that's why! ;-). So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
6125 update-safe config, once and for all:
6130 { +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
6131 / # For ALL sites!</screen>
6135 Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
6136 to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
6137 really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
6138 <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
6139 won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
6143 You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are
6144 funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
6145 to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
6146 sites that you feel provide value to you:
6158 Note that <literal>allow-ads</literal> has been aliased to
6159 <literal>-<link linkend="block">block</link></literal>,
6160 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-size">filter{banners-by-size}</link></literal>, and
6161 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-link">filter{banners-by-link}</link></literal> above.
6165 Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type <literal>
6166 application/x-sh</literal> which typically would open a download type
6167 dialog. In my case, I want to look at the shell script, and then I can save
6168 it should I choose to.
6178 <filename>user.action</filename> is generally the best place to define
6179 exceptions and additions to the default policies of
6180 <filename>default.action</filename>. Some actions are safe to have their
6181 default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
6182 <quote>blank</quote> image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for
6183 <emphasis>ALL</emphasis> sites. <quote>/</quote> of course matches all URL
6189 { +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
6190 / # ALL sites</screen>
6196 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6200 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6202 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6204 <sect1 id="filter-file">
6205 <title>Filter Files</title>
6208 On-the-fly text substitutions that can be invoked through the
6209 <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action need
6210 to be defined in a <quote>filter file</quote>. Once defined, they
6211 can then be invoked as an <quote>action</quote>. Multiple filter files can be
6212 defined through the <literal> <link
6213 linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config directive. The filters
6214 as supplied by the developers will be found in
6215 <filename>default.filter</filename>. It is recommended that any locally
6216 defined or modified filters go in a separately defined file such as
6217 <filename>user.filter</filename>.
6222 Typical reasons for doing these kinds of substitutions are to eliminate
6223 common annoyances in HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
6224 exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
6225 infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
6226 width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
6227 or just to have fun. The possibilities are endless.
6231 Filtering works on any text-based document type, including
6232 HTML, JavaScript, CSS etc. (all <literal>text/*</literal>
6233 MIME types, <emphasis>except</emphasis> <literal>text/plain</literal>).
6234 Substitutions are made at the source level, so if you want to <quote>roll
6235 your own</quote> filters, you should first be familiar with HTML syntax,
6236 and, of course, regular expressions. By default, filters are only applied
6237 to the document content, but can be extended to the headers with
6238 the supplemental actions:
6239 <link linkend="filter-client-headers">filter-client-headers</link> and
6240 <link linkend="filter-server-headers">filter-server-headers</link>.
6244 Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
6245 filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
6246 here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with the
6247 <emphasis>keyword</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>, followed by
6248 the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
6249 <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
6250 come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
6251 text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
6252 should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
6253 comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
6254 user interface</ulink>.
6258 Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
6259 in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
6260 +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
6261 in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
6265 A filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
6270 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
6274 Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that
6275 define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified
6276 in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
6277 <literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
6278 will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
6279 PCRS documentation for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most
6280 notably, the non-standard option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported,
6281 which turns the default to ungreedy matching.
6285 If you are new to regular expressions, you might want to take a look at
6286 the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
6287 see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl
6289 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlop.html">the
6290 <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
6291 url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
6292 expressions</ulink> in general.
6293 The below examples might also help to get you started.
6297 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6299 <sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
6301 Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> filter. We have already defined
6302 the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
6303 <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
6308 <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
6312 But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
6313 of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
6314 care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
6315 we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
6319 <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
6323 Our complete filter now looks like this:
6326 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
6327 s/foo/bar/g</screen>
6331 Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
6332 a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
6333 abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
6339 FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
6341 # Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
6343 s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
6347 Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
6348 <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
6349 the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
6350 by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
6354 Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
6355 enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
6356 means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
6357 matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
6358 it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
6362 That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
6363 matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
6364 be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
6365 special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
6366 Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
6367 the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
6368 in the page (and appear in that order).
6372 But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
6373 is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
6374 means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
6375 tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
6376 <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
6380 This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
6381 The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
6382 remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
6383 the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
6384 that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
6385 text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
6386 of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
6387 only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
6388 tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
6389 multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
6390 substitution is global.
6394 So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
6395 <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
6396 (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
6397 <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
6398 that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
6402 Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
6403 lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
6404 easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
6405 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
6406 the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
6407 This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
6408 (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
6409 Business!"</literal>.
6413 The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
6414 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
6415 <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
6416 since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
6417 string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
6418 information anymore.
6422 We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
6423 this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
6428 # The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
6430 s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
6434 <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
6435 carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
6436 or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
6437 makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
6438 option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
6439 <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>. Finally, <literal>\1</literal> is
6440 a back-reference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
6441 with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
6442 a back-reference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
6446 So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
6447 strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
6448 (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
6449 real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
6450 descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
6451 you move your mouse over links.
6456 # Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
6458 s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
6463 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
6464 event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
6465 When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
6466 This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
6467 <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
6468 Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
6469 case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee
6470 a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use <literal>[^>]*</literal>
6471 instead of <literal>.*</literal> to prevent the match from exceeding the
6472 <body> tag if it doesn't contain <quote>OnUnload</quote>, but the page's
6477 The last example is from the fun department:
6482 FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
6484 # Spice the daily news:
6486 s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
6490 Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
6491 in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
6492 <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
6493 in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while
6494 still replacing the word everywhere else.
6499 # Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
6501 s* industry[ -]leading \
6503 | customer[ -]focused \
6504 | market[ -]driven \
6505 | award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
6506 | high[ -]performance \
6507 | solutions[ -]based \
6511 *<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
6516 The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
6517 e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
6525 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6527 <sect2 id="predefined-filters"><title>The Pre-defined Filters</title>
6531 Note each filter is also listed in the +filter action section above. Please
6532 keep these listings in sync.
6537 The distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file contains a selection of
6538 pre-defined filters for your convenience:
6543 <term><emphasis>js-annoyances</emphasis></term>
6546 The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.
6551 replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
6552 with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the <literal><link
6553 linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal> action on the content level.
6558 removes the bindings to the DOM's
6559 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">unload
6560 event</ulink> which we feel has no right to exist and is responsible for most <quote>exit consoles</quote>, i.e.
6561 nasty windows that pop up when you close another one.
6566 removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being
6567 full-screen, non-resizeable, without location, status or menu bar etc.
6576 <term><emphasis>js-events</emphasis></term>
6579 This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event bindings, which
6580 means that scripts can not react to user actions such as mouse movements or clicks, window
6581 resizing etc, anymore.
6584 We <emphasis>strongly discourage</emphasis> using this filter as a default since it breaks
6585 many legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should you really
6592 <term><emphasis>html-annoyances</emphasis></term>
6595 This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
6598 The <literal>BLINK</literal> and <literal>MARQUEE</literal> tags
6599 are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser windows will be created as
6600 resizeable (as of course they should be!), and will have location,
6601 scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
6607 <term><emphasis>content-cookies</emphasis></term>
6610 Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialog, where they can be intercepted
6612 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>
6613 and <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>
6614 actions. But web sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript
6615 to sneak cookies to the browser on the content level.
6618 This filter disables HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets cookies. Use
6619 it wherever you would also use the cookie crunch actions.
6625 <term><emphasis>refresh tags</emphasis></term>
6628 Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
6629 that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
6630 for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
6637 <term><emphasis>unsolicited-popups</emphasis></term>
6640 This filter attempts to prevent only <quote>unsolicited</quote> pop-up
6641 windows from opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user
6642 has explicitly chosen to open. It was added in version 3.0.1,
6643 as an improvement over earlier such filters.
6646 Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
6647 function to a dummy function during the loading and rendering phase of each
6648 HTML page access, and restoring the function afterward.
6654 <term><emphasis>all-popups</emphasis></term>
6657 Attempt to prevent <emphasis>all</emphasis> pop-up windows from opening.
6658 Note this should be used with more discretion than the above, since it is
6659 more likely to break some sites that require pop-ups for normal usage. Use
6666 <term><emphasis>img-reorder</emphasis></term>
6669 This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the
6670 <literal>banners-by-size</literal> and <literal>banners-by-link</literal>
6671 (see below) filters more effective and should be enabled together with them.
6677 <term><emphasis>banners-by-size</emphasis></term>
6680 This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are. Fortunately
6681 for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain standardized
6682 sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad stripping purposes.
6685 Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not ads,
6686 but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes.
6692 <term><emphasis>banners-by-link</emphasis></term>
6695 This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if
6696 their URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently
6697 not of much value and is not recommended for use by default.
6703 <term><emphasis>webbugs</emphasis></term>
6706 Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that
6707 are used to track users across websites, and collect information on them.
6708 As an HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the
6709 browser to contact a third-party site, disclosing the tracking information
6710 through the requested URL and/or cookies for that third-party domain, without
6711 the use ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party site.
6712 HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email addresses.
6715 This filter removes the HTML code that loads such <quote>webbugs</quote>.
6721 <term><emphasis>tiny-textforms</emphasis></term>
6724 A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas (those
6725 multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in them.
6726 It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such boxes are
6727 a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too.
6730 It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
6736 <term><emphasis>jumping-windows</emphasis></term>
6739 Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This filter
6740 neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might not display
6741 or behave as intended when using this filter.
6747 <term><emphasis>frameset-borders</emphasis></term>
6750 Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view their
6751 web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution etc,
6752 because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame sizes,
6753 yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they be too
6754 small to show their whole content.
6757 This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to sites
6764 <term><emphasis>demoronizer</emphasis></term>
6767 Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions (read:
6768 violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This can cause those
6769 HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant platforms.
6772 This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents.
6773 It is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of
6774 all documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly
6775 worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if weird garbage characters
6776 sometimes appear on some pages, or user agents that don't correct for this on
6779 My version of Mozilla (ancient) shows litte square boxes for quote
6780 characters, and apostrophes on moronized pages. So many pages have this, I
6781 can read them fine now. HB 08/27/06
6788 <term><emphasis>shockwave-flash</emphasis></term>
6791 A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips code
6792 out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects.
6800 <term><emphasis>quicktime-kioskmode</emphasis></term>
6803 Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
6804 prevents saving, is disabled.
6810 <term><emphasis>fun</emphasis></term>
6813 Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
6814 Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
6820 <term><emphasis>crude-parental</emphasis></term>
6823 A demonstration-only filter that shows how <application>Privoxy</application>
6824 can be used to delete web content on a keyword basis.
6830 <term><emphasis>ie-exploits</emphasis></term>
6833 A collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
6834 code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
6837 Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug, and
6838 would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
6844 <term><emphasis>site-specifics</emphasis></term>
6847 Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't apply
6848 anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
6851 This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be applied
6852 to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
6853 <filename>default.action</filename> file does. Users shouldn't need to change
6854 anything regarding this filter.
6861 <term><emphasis> </emphasis></term>
6875 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6879 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6881 <sect1 id="templates">
6882 <title>Templates</title>
6884 All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
6885 <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
6886 error page</ulink>, the <ulink
6887 url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
6889 and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
6890 user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
6891 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
6896 These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
6897 directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On Unixish platforms,
6899 <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
6903 The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
6904 or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. You can
6905 edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want to customize them.
6906 (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual user</emphasis>). Note that
6907 just like in configuration files, lines starting with <literal>#</literal> are
6908 ignored when the templates are filled in.
6912 The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
6913 find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
6914 in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
6915 always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
6916 code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
6920 A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
6921 blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
6922 for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
6923 our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
6924 is in an alpha or beta development stage:
6929 <!-- @if-unstable-start -->
6931 ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
6933 <!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
6937 If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
6938 <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
6939 will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
6943 <screen><!-- --></screen>
6947 There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
6948 mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
6953 All templates refer to a style located at
6954 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
6955 This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
6956 and the source for it can be found and edited in the
6957 <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
6962 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6966 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6968 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
6971 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
6973 <!-- end boilerplate -->
6977 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6980 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6981 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
6983 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
6985 <!-- end copyright -->
6987 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6988 <sect2><title>License</title>
6989 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
6991 <!-- end copyright -->
6993 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6996 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6998 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
6999 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
7001 <!-- end history -->
7004 <sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
7005 <!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
7007 <!-- end authors -->
7012 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7015 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7016 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
7017 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
7019 <!-- end seealso -->
7024 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7025 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
7028 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7030 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
7032 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
7033 expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
7034 files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
7035 through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
7038 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
7040 <application>PCRS</application> libraries.
7044 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
7045 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
7046 introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
7047 url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
7051 Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
7052 run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
7053 match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
7054 strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
7055 characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
7056 special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
7057 Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
7058 <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
7062 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
7063 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
7064 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
7065 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
7066 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
7067 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
7068 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
7069 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
7073 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
7074 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
7075 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
7076 and then some examples:
7081 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
7082 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
7084 </simplelist></para>
7088 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
7091 </simplelist></para>
7095 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
7098 </simplelist></para>
7102 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
7105 </simplelist></para>
7109 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
7110 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
7111 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
7112 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
7113 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
7114 meta-character meaning of any single character).
7116 </simplelist></para>
7120 <emphasis>[ ]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
7121 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
7122 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
7123 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
7125 </simplelist></para>
7129 <emphasis>( )</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
7130 or multiple sub-expressions.
7132 </simplelist></para>
7136 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
7137 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
7138 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
7139 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
7140 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
7141 example</quote>, and nothing else.
7143 </simplelist></para>
7146 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
7147 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
7148 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
7149 be more illuminating:
7153 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
7154 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
7155 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
7156 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
7157 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
7158 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
7159 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
7160 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
7161 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
7162 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
7163 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
7164 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
7165 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
7166 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
7171 And now something a little more complex:
7175 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
7176 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
7177 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
7178 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
7179 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
7180 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
7181 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
7186 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
7187 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
7188 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
7189 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
7190 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
7191 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
7192 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
7193 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
7194 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
7195 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
7196 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
7197 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
7198 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
7199 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
7200 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
7201 changing our regular expression to:
7202 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
7207 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
7208 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
7209 <quote>[ ]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
7210 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
7211 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
7212 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
7213 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
7214 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
7215 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
7216 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
7217 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
7218 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
7219 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
7220 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
7221 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
7222 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
7223 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
7224 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
7225 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
7226 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
7227 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
7228 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
7229 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
7230 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
7231 in the expression anywhere).
7235 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
7236 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
7237 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
7238 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
7239 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
7244 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
7245 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>
7249 For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications
7250 in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
7255 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7258 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7260 <title>Privoxy's Internal Pages</title>
7263 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
7264 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
7265 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
7266 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
7267 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
7268 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
7269 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
7275 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
7276 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
7277 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
7278 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
7291 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
7295 There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
7296 doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
7297 sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
7303 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
7304 editing of actions files:
7308 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
7315 Show the source code version numbers:
7319 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
7326 Show the browser's request headers:
7330 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
7337 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
7341 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
7348 Toggle Privoxy on or off. In this case, <quote>Privoxy</quote> continues
7349 to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking place:
7353 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
7357 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
7361 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
7366 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
7375 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
7379 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
7380 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
7382 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
7383 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
7384 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
7385 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
7386 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
7387 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
7390 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
7391 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
7392 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
7393 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
7394 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
7395 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
7404 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>
7411 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>
7418 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)
7425 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>
7431 <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>
7437 <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
7444 Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
7445 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com/">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
7446 have more information about bookmarklets.
7455 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7457 <title>Chain of Events</title>
7459 Let's take a quick look at the basic sequence of events when a web page is
7460 requested by your browser and <application>Privoxy</application> is on duty:
7467 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
7468 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
7469 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
7475 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
7476 pages (e.g <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
7481 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
7483 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
7484 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
7485 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
7486 is then checked and if it does not match, an
7487 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back. Otherwise, if it does match,
7488 an image is returned. The type of image depends on the setting of <link
7489 linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
7490 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
7495 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
7496 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
7501 If the URL pattern matches the <link
7502 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
7503 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
7508 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
7509 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
7510 linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
7511 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
7517 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web page and related
7523 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
7524 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
7525 filtered as determined by the
7526 <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
7527 <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
7528 and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
7534 If the <link linkend="KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></link>
7535 action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript document, the popup-code in the
7536 response is filtered on-the-fly as it is received.
7541 If a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
7543 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
7544 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
7545 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
7546 <filename>default.filter</filename> and any other filter files) are
7547 processed against the buffered content. Filters are applied in the order
7548 they are specified in one of the filter files. Animated GIFs, if present,
7549 are reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
7550 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
7551 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
7554 If neither <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
7556 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
7557 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
7558 to the client browser as it becomes available.
7563 As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it
7564 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
7565 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
7566 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a new
7567 request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a
7568 complex web page may have many such embedded URLs.
7578 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7579 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
7580 <title>Anatomy of an Action</title>
7583 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
7584 <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
7585 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
7586 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
7587 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
7588 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
7589 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
7590 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
7591 <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
7596 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
7597 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
7598 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
7599 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
7600 logs is a good idea too.
7604 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
7605 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
7606 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
7607 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
7611 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
7612 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
7613 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
7614 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
7615 linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
7616 one of the filter files since this is handled very
7617 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
7618 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
7619 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
7620 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
7621 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
7622 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
7623 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
7628 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
7629 and look at it one section at a time in a sample configuration (your real
7630 configuration may vary):
7635 Matches for http://google.com:
7637 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
7641 -content-type-overwrite
7642 -crunch-client-header
7643 -crunch-if-none-match
7644 -crunch-incoming-cookies
7645 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
7646 -crunch-server-header
7647 +deanimate-gifs {last}
7648 -downgrade-http-version
7649 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
7651 -filter {content-cookies}
7652 -filter {all-popups}
7653 -filter {banners-by-link}
7654 -filter {tiny-textforms}
7655 -filter {frameset-borders}
7656 -filter {demoronizer}
7657 -filter {shockwave-flash}
7658 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
7660 -filter {crude-parental}
7661 -filter {site-specifics}
7662 +filter {js-annoyances}
7663 +filter {html-annoyances}
7664 +filter {refresh-tags}
7665 +filter {unsolicited-popups}
7666 +filter {img-reorder}
7667 +filter {banners-by-size}
7669 +filter {jumping-windows}
7670 +filter {ie-exploits}
7671 -filter-client-headers
7672 -filter-server-headers
7674 -handle-as-empty-document
7676 -hide-accept-language
7677 -hide-content-disposition
7678 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
7679 +hide-from-header {block}
7680 -hide-if-modified-since
7681 +hide-referrer {forge}
7686 -overwrite-last-modified
7687 +prevent-compression
7691 +session-cookies-only
7692 +set-image-blocker {pattern}
7693 -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks }
7696 { -session-cookies-only }
7702 In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
7703 (no matches in this file)
7708 This is telling us how we have defined our
7709 <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
7710 which ones match for our test case, <quote>google.com</quote>.
7711 Displayed is all the actions that are available to us. Remember,
7712 the <literal>+</literal> sign denotes <quote>on</quote>. <literal>-</literal>
7713 denotes <quote>off</quote>. So some are <quote>on</quote> here, but many
7714 are <quote>off</quote>. Each example we try may provide a slightly different
7715 end result, depending on our configuration directives.
7719 is any matches for the <filename>standard.action</filename> file. No hits at
7720 all here on <quote>standard</quote>. Then next is <quote>default</quote>, or
7721 our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line listing,
7722 is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default settings.
7723 If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the section
7724 just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This will apply to
7725 all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end of the listing
7726 -- <quote>/</quote>.
7730 But we can define additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
7731 rules, and then list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions would
7732 apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit matches for
7733 <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous cookie setting,
7735 linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
7736 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google, at
7737 least that is how it is in this example. The second turns
7738 <emphasis>off</emphasis> any
7740 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
7741 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
7742 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
7743 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
7744 <quote>www.google.com</quote>. So, apparently, we have these two actions
7745 defined somewhere in the lower part of our <filename>default.action</filename>
7746 file, and <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter
7751 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
7752 So there is nothing google-specific that we might have added to our own, local
7757 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
7758 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
7759 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
7770 -content-type-overwrite
7771 -crunch-client-header
7772 -crunch-if-none-match
7773 -crunch-incoming-cookies
7774 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
7775 -crunch-server-header
7776 +deanimate-gifs {last}
7777 -downgrade-http-version
7779 +filter {js-annoyances}
7780 +filter {html-annoyances}
7781 +filter {refresh-tags}
7782 +filter {unsolicited-popups}
7783 +filter {img-reorder}
7784 +filter {banners-by-size}
7786 +filter {jumping-windows}
7787 +filter {ie-exploits}
7788 -filter-client-headers
7789 -filter-server-headers
7791 -handle-as-empty-document
7793 -hide-accept-language
7794 -hide-content-disposition
7795 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
7796 +hide-from-header {block}
7797 -hide-if-modified-since
7798 +hide-referrer {forge}
7803 -overwrite-last-modified
7804 +prevent-compression
7808 -session-cookies-only
7809 +set-image-blocker {pattern}
7810 -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks </screen>
7814 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
7815 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>,
7816 which are activated specifically for this site in our configuration,
7817 and thus show in the <quote>Final Results</quote>.
7821 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
7827 { +block +handle-as-image }
7830 { +block +handle-as-image }
7833 { +block +handle-as-image }
7839 We'll just show the interesting part here, the explicit matches. It is
7840 matched three different times. Each as an <quote>+block +handle-as-image</quote>,
7841 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
7842 <quote>+imageblock</quote>. (<link
7843 linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
7844 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
7849 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
7850 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
7851 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
7852 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
7853 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
7854 is done here -- as both a <link
7855 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link>
7856 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
7858 linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
7859 The custom alias <quote>+imageblock</quote> just simplifies the process and make
7864 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
7865 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
7871 Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
7873 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
7877 -content-type-overwrite
7878 -crunch-client-header
7879 -crunch-if-none-match
7880 -crunch-incoming-cookies
7881 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
7882 -crunch-server-header
7884 -downgrade-http-version
7885 +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}
7886 +filter{html-annoyances}
7887 +filter{js-annoyances}
7888 +filter{kill-popups}
7891 +filter{banners-by-size}
7894 -filter-client-headers
7895 -filter-server-headers
7897 -handle-as-empty-document
7899 -hide-accept-language
7900 -hide-content-disposition
7901 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
7902 +hide-from-header{block}
7903 +hide-referer{forge}
7907 -overwrite-last-modified
7908 +prevent-compression
7912 +session-cookies-only
7913 +set-image-blocker{blank}
7914 -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks }
7917 { +block +handle-as-image }
7923 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote> in our
7924 configuration! But we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the
7925 blank page. We could now add a new action below this that explicitly
7926 <emphasis>un</emphasis> blocks (<quote>{-block}</quote>) paths with
7927 <quote>adsl</quote> in them (remember, last match in the configuration wins).
7928 There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
7940 Now the page displays ;-) Be sure to flush your browser's caches when
7941 making such changes. Or, try using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
7945 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
7952 { +block +handle-as-image }
7958 That actually was very telling and pointed us quickly to where the problem
7959 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
7960 rules in the first section is causing the problem. This would require some
7961 guesswork, and maybe a little trial and error to isolate the offending rule.
7962 One likely cause would be one of the <quote>{+filter}</quote> actions. These
7963 tend to be harder to troubleshoot. Try adding the URL for the site to one of
7964 aliases that turn off <quote>+filter</quote>:
7972 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
7980 <quote>{shop}</quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
7981 <quote>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</quote>.
7982 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
7995 This would turn off all filtering for that site. This would probably be most
7996 appropriately put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
8001 Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
8002 <quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote> rule, which assumes
8003 that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well most of the time
8004 since these tend to be standardized).
8008 <quote>{fragile}</quote> is an alias that disables most actions. This can be
8009 used as a last resort for problem sites. Remember to flush caches! If this
8010 still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining actions one by
8011 one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
8020 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
8021 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
8022 Public License as published by the Free Software
8023 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
8024 your option) any later version.
8026 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
8027 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
8028 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
8029 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
8030 License for more details.
8032 The GNU General Public License should be included with
8033 this file. If not, you can view it at
8034 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
8035 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
8036 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301,
8039 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
8040 Revision 2.19 2006/09/08 12:19:02 fabiankeil
8041 Adjust hide-if-modified-since example values
8042 to reflect the recent changes.
8044 Revision 2.18 2006/09/08 02:38:57 hal9
8046 -Fix a number of broken links.
8047 -Migrate the new Windows service command line options, and reference as
8049 -Rebuild so that can be used with the new "user-manual" config capabilities.
8052 Revision 2.17 2006/09/05 13:25:12 david__schmidt
8053 Add Windows service invocation stuff (duplicated) in FAQ and in user manual under Windows startup. One probably ought to reference the other.
8055 Revision 2.16 2006/09/02 12:49:37 hal9
8056 Various small updates for new actions, filterfiles, etc.
8058 Revision 2.15 2006/08/30 11:15:22 hal9
8059 More work on the new actions, especially filter-*-headers, and What's New
8060 section. User Manual is close to final form for 3.0.4 release. Some tinkering
8061 and proof reading left to do.
8063 Revision 2.14 2006/08/29 10:59:36 hal9
8064 Add a "Whats New in this release" Section. Further work on multiple filter
8065 files, and assorted other minor changes.
8067 Revision 2.13 2006/08/22 11:04:59 hal9
8068 Silence warnings and errors. This should build now. New filters were only
8069 stubbed in. More to be done.
8071 Revision 2.12 2006/08/14 08:40:39 fabiankeil
8072 Documented new actions that were part of
8073 the "minor Privoxy improvements".
8075 Revision 2.11 2006/07/18 14:48:51 david__schmidt
8076 Reorganizing the repository: swapping out what was HEAD (the old 3.1 branch)
8077 with what was really the latest development (the v_3_0_branch branch)
8079 Revision 1.123.2.43 2005/05/23 09:59:10 hal9
8082 Revision 1.123.2.42 2004/12/04 14:39:57 hal9
8083 Fix two minor typos per bug SF report.
8085 Revision 1.123.2.41 2004/03/23 12:58:42 oes
8088 Revision 1.123.2.40 2004/02/27 12:48:49 hal9
8089 Add comment re: redirecting to local file system for set-image-blocker may
8090 is dependent on browser.
8092 Revision 1.123.2.39 2004/01/30 22:31:40 oes
8093 Added a hint re bookmarklets to Quickstart section
8095 Revision 1.123.2.38 2004/01/30 16:47:51 oes
8096 Some minor clarifications
8098 Revision 1.123.2.37 2004/01/29 22:36:11 hal9
8099 Updates for no longer filtering text/plain, and demoronizer default settings,
8100 and copyright notice dates.
8102 Revision 1.123.2.36 2003/12/10 02:26:26 hal9
8103 Changed the demoronizer filter description.
8105 Revision 1.123.2.35 2003/11/06 13:36:37 oes
8106 Updated link to nightly CVS tarball
8108 Revision 1.123.2.34 2003/06/26 23:50:16 hal9
8109 Add a small bit on filtering and problems re: source code being corrupted.
8111 Revision 1.123.2.33 2003/05/08 18:17:33 roro
8112 Use apt-get instead of dpkg to install Debian package, which is more
8113 solid, uses the correct and most recent Debian version automatically.
8115 Revision 1.123.2.32 2003/04/11 03:13:57 hal9
8116 Add small note about only one filterfile (as opposed to multiple actions
8119 Revision 1.123.2.31 2003/03/26 02:03:43 oes
8120 Updated hard-coded copyright dates
8122 Revision 1.123.2.30 2003/03/24 12:58:56 hal9
8123 Add new section on Predefined Filters.
8125 Revision 1.123.2.29 2003/03/20 02:45:29 hal9
8126 More problems with \-\-chroot causing markup problems :(
8128 Revision 1.123.2.28 2003/03/19 00:35:24 hal9
8129 Manual edit of revision log because 'chroot' (even inside a comment) was
8130 causing Docbook to hang here (due to double hyphen and the processor thinking
8133 Revision 1.123.2.27 2003/03/18 19:37:14 oes
8134 s/Advanced|Radical/Adventuresome/g to avoid complaints re fun filter
8136 Revision 1.123.2.26 2003/03/17 16:50:53 oes
8137 Added documentation for new chroot option
8139 Revision 1.123.2.25 2003/03/15 18:36:55 oes
8140 Adapted to the new filters
8142 Revision 1.123.2.24 2002/11/17 06:41:06 hal9
8143 Move default profiles table from FAQ to U-M, and other minor related changes.
8146 Revision 1.123.2.23 2002/10/21 02:32:01 hal9
8147 Updates to the user.action examples section. A few new ones.
8149 Revision 1.123.2.22 2002/10/12 00:51:53 hal9
8150 Add demoronizer to filter section.
8152 Revision 1.123.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 hal9
8153 s/Advanced/Radical/ and added very brief note.
8155 Revision 1.123.2.20 2002/10/10 03:49:21 hal9
8156 Add notes to session-cookies-only and Quickstart about pre-existing
8157 cookies. Also, note content-cookies work differently.
8159 Revision 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9
8160 More explanation on Privoxy patterns, more on content-cookies and SSL.
8162 Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9
8163 Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match
8166 Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9
8167 Spell checked (only one typo this time!).
8169 Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt
8170 Update to Mac OSX startup script name
8172 Revision 1.123.2.15 2002/08/07 17:32:11 oes
8173 Converted some internal links from ulink to link for PDF creation; no content changed
8175 Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes
8176 Nits re: actions file download
8178 Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff
8179 Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections
8181 Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff
8182 Added 2 Gentoo sections
8184 Revision 1.123.2.11 2002/07/26 15:20:31 oes
8185 - Added version info to title
8186 - Added info on new filters
8187 - Revised parts of the filter file tutorial
8188 - Added info on where to get updated actions files
8190 Revision 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
8191 Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
8193 Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt
8195 Updated Mac OSX sections due to installation location change
8197 Revision 1.123.2.8 2002/06/09 16:36:32 hal9
8198 Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
8200 Revision 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9
8201 Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy.
8203 Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9
8204 Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs.
8206 Revision 1.123.2.5 2002/05/29 02:01:02 hal9
8207 This is break out of the entire config section from u-m, so it can
8208 eventually be used to generate the comments, etc in the main config file
8209 so that these are in sync with each other.
8211 Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
8212 Ooops missed something from David.
8214 Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9
8215 Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and OSX startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat).
8216 That's a wrap, I think.
8218 Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9
8219 Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section.
8221 Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
8222 -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
8224 Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9
8225 Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton.
8226 Minor corrections/clarifications here and there.
8228 Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
8229 Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
8231 Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes
8232 - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the
8233 <literal><link> style.
8234 - Small fixes in the actions chapter
8235 - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking
8236 - Removed <emphasis> from <title>s since the new doc CSS
8237 renders them red (bad in TOC).
8239 Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
8240 Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
8242 Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
8245 Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
8246 -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
8247 -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
8249 Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
8250 - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
8251 - Small changes to Regex appendix
8252 - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
8254 Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
8255 Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
8257 Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
8258 Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
8260 Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
8261 More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
8263 Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
8264 Extended and further commented the example actions files
8266 Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
8267 Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
8270 Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes
8273 Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes
8274 Restored alphabetical order of actions
8276 Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes
8277 Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs
8279 Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
8280 Completed proofreading the actions chapter
8282 Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9
8283 Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this
8284 apparently an important distinction for some OS's.
8286 Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
8287 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
8288 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
8289 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
8291 Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
8292 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
8294 Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
8297 Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
8298 -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
8299 -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
8301 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
8302 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
8304 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
8305 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
8306 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
8308 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
8309 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
8311 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
8312 more structure in starting section
8314 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
8315 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
8316 will probably break links elsewhere :(
8318 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
8319 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
8320 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
8322 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
8323 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
8324 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
8326 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
8327 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
8329 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
8330 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
8331 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
8333 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
8334 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
8335 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
8337 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
8338 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
8340 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
8341 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
8343 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
8344 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
8346 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
8347 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
8349 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
8350 Updated OSX installation section
8351 Added a few English tweaks here an there
8353 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
8354 Re-write actions section.
8356 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
8357 Fix ugly typo (mine).
8359 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
8360 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
8362 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
8363 Added RPM install detail
8365 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
8368 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
8369 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
8371 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
8372 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
8374 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
8375 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
8377 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
8380 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
8381 Proofreading, part one
8383 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
8384 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
8385 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
8387 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
8388 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
8390 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
8391 Add small section on submitting actions.
8393 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
8396 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
8397 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
8399 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
8400 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
8402 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
8405 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
8406 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
8407 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
8408 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
8409 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
8411 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
8412 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
8414 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
8415 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
8417 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
8418 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
8419 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
8420 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
8421 eventually be set by Makefile.
8422 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
8424 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
8425 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
8427 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
8428 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
8430 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
8431 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
8433 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
8434 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
8435 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
8436 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
8438 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
8441 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
8442 Added more to Anatomy section.
8444 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
8445 Touch up intro for new name.
8447 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
8448 we have a new homepage!
8450 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
8451 A few minor catch ups with name change.
8453 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
8454 configure needs to be generated.
8456 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
8457 we are too lazy to make a block-built
8458 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
8460 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
8461 name change related issue.
8463 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
8464 name change. changed filenames.
8466 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
8469 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
8470 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
8471 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
8472 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
8473 comments and remarks to history untouched.
8475 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
8478 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
8479 New section in Appendix.
8481 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
8482 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
8484 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
8485 correct feedback channels
8487 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
8488 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
8490 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
8493 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
8494 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
8496 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
8497 Added imageblock{pattern}.
8499 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
8502 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
8503 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
8505 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
8506 provide correct feedback channels
8508 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
8509 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
8511 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
8512 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
8514 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
8515 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
8517 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
8518 Add new - - user option.
8520 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
8521 Added section on command line options.
8523 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
8524 Changed default port to 8118
8526 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
8527 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
8529 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
8530 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
8531 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
8534 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
8537 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
8538 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
8540 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
8541 Update OS/2 build section
8543 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
8544 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
8545 will work - no other changes are needed.
8547 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
8548 Added a very short section on Templates
8550 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
8551 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
8553 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
8554 Touch ups for *.action files.
8556 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
8559 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
8560 Updates for recent changes.
8562 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
8563 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
8565 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
8566 Correct 2 minor errors
8568 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
8569 *** empty log message ***
8571 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
8572 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
8574 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
8575 wrong url in documentation
8577 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
8578 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
8580 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
8583 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
8586 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
8589 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
8590 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
8592 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
8593 Some additions, and re-arranging.
8595 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
8598 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
8599 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
8601 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
8604 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
8605 source files for junkbuster documentation
8607 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
8608 first proposal of a structure.
8610 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
8611 docs should have an author.
8613 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
8614 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.