X-Git-Url: http://www.privoxy.org/gitweb/contact.html?a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fsource%2Fuser-manual.sgml;h=08c5dc9a6aa3648df27f477058b8876929d161e0;hb=614fae69575c6fc11b2b887534e465eaf2ecdab3;hp=e214f8d596fe00524ec4c4344fcd03adb725c7e9;hpb=6f8018b445fa18049212b038418193de29c4f32a;p=privoxy.git
diff --git a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml
index e214f8d5..08c5dc9a 100644
--- a/doc/source/user-manual.sgml
+++ b/doc/source/user-manual.sgml
@@ -11,10 +11,10 @@
-
-
+
+
-
+
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
+Privoxy">
]>
- Copyright &my-copy; 2001, 2002 by
+ Copyright &my-copy; 2001 - 2006 by
Privoxy Developers
-$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.2 2002/09/05 05:45:30 hal9 Exp $
+$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.19 2006/09/08 12:19:02 fabiankeil Exp $
@@ -99,7 +89,7 @@ Hal.
The User Manual gives users information on how to
install, configure and use Privoxy.
+ url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy.
@@ -127,10 +117,9 @@ Hal.
Privoxy, v.&p-version;soon ;-)]]>.
+ configuration files. Development of a new version is currently nearing
+ completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over
+ earlier versions. ]]>.
@@ -146,10 +135,11 @@ Hal.
Features
- In addition to Internet Junkbuster's traditional
- features of ad and banner blocking and cookie management,
- Privoxy provides new features:
+ In addition to the core
+ features of ad blocking and cookie management,
+ Privoxy provides many supplemental
+ features,
+ that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
&newfeatures;
@@ -173,13 +163,11 @@ Hal.
- Note: If you have a previous Junkbuster or
- Privoxy installation on your system, you
- will need to remove it. On some platforms, this may be done for you as part
- of their installation procedure. (See below for your platform). In any case
- be sure to backup your old configuration if it is valuable to
- you. See the note to
- upgraders section below.
+ Note:
+ On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if
+ found. (See below for your platform). In any case be sure to backup
+ your old configuration if it is valuable to you. See the note to upgraders section below.
@@ -201,8 +189,7 @@ How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
Note that on Red Hat, Privoxy will
not be automatically started on system boot. You will
need to enable that using chkconfig,
- ntsysv, or similar methods. Note that SuSE will
-automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
+ ntsysv, or similar methods.
@@ -215,17 +202,16 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
Also note that if you have a Junkbuster RPM installed
on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
Otherwise, RPM will try to remove Junkbuster
- automatically, before installing Privoxy.
+ automatically if found, before installing Privoxy.
Debian
- DEBs can be installed with dpkg -i
- privoxy_&p-version;-1.deb, and will use
- /etc/privoxy for the location of configuration
- files.
+ DEBs can be installed with apt-get install privoxy,
+ and will use /etc/privoxy for the location of
+ configuration files.
@@ -235,9 +221,41 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
the installation process. You will find the configuration files
- in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in. We do not
- use the registry of Windows.
+ in the same directory as you installed Privoxy in.
+
+
+ Version 3.0.4 introduces full Windows service
+ functionality. On Windows only, the Privoxy
+ program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
+ Privoxy as a service.
+
+
+
+ Arguments:
+
+
+ --install[:service_name]
+
+
+ --uninstall[:service_name]
+
+
+
+
+
+ After invoking Privoxy with
+ --install, you will need to bring up the
+ Windows service console to assign the user you
+ want Privoxy to run under, and whether or not you
+ want it to run whenever the system starts. You can start the
+ Windows services console with the following
+ command: services.msc If you do not take the manual step
+ of modifying Privoxy's service settings, it will
+ not start. Note too that you will need to give Privoxy a user account that
+ actually exists, or it will not be permitted to
+ write to its log and configuration files.
+
@@ -352,9 +370,13 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
version directly from the
- CVS repository or simply download the nightly CVS
+ CVS repository.
+
@@ -380,10 +402,11 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
- In order not to loose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
+ In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
to the latest default.action file we strongly
- recommend that you use user.action for your
- customization of Privoxy. See the that you use user.action and
+ user.filter for your local
+ customizations of Privoxy. See the Chapter on actions files for details.
@@ -395,76 +418,216 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
-
-Note to Upgraders
+
+What's New in this Release
- There are very significant changes from earlier
- Junkbuster versions to the current
- Privoxy. The number, names, syntax, and
- purposes of configuration files have substantially changed.
- Junkbuster 2.0.x configuration
- files will not migrate, Junkbuster 2.9.x
- and Privoxy configurations will need to be
- ported. The functionalities of the old blockfile,
- cookiefile and imagelist
- are now combined into the actions
- files.
- default.action, is the main actions file. Local
- exceptions should best be put into user.action.
-
-
- A filter file (typically
- default.filter) is new as of Privoxy
- 2.9.x, and provides some of the new sophistication (explained
- below). config is much the same as before.
+ There are many improvements and new features in Privoxy &p-version;
+ :
+
- If upgrading from a 2.0.x version, you will have to use the new config
- files, and possibly adapt any personal rules from your older files.
- When porting personal rules over from the old blockfile
- to the new actions files, please note that even the pattern syntax has
- changed. If upgrading from 2.9.x development versions, it is still
- recommended to use the new configuration files.
+
+
+
+ Multiple filter files can now be specified in config. This allows for
+ locally defined filters that can be maintained separately from the filters as
+ supplied by the developers.
+
+
+
+
+
+ There are a number of new actions:
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ content-type-overwrite
+
+
+
+
+ crunch-client-header
+
+
+
+
+ crunch-if-none-match
+
+
+
+
+ crunch-server-header
+
+
+
+
+ filter-client-headers
+
+
+
+
+ filter-server-headers
+
+
+
+
+ force-text-mode
+
+
+
+
+ handle-as-empty-document
+
+
+
+
+ hide-accept-language
+
+
+
+
+ hide-content-disposition
+
+
+
+
+ hide-if-modified-since
+
+
+
+
+ inspect-jpegs
+
+
+
+
+ overwrite-last-modified
+
+
+
+
+ redirect
+
+
+
+
+ treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ In addition, fast-redirects
+ has been significantly improved with enhanced syntax.
+
+
+ And hide-referrer
+ has a new option, conditional block.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ MS-Windows versions can now be
+ installed and
+ started as a Windows service.
+
+
+
+
+
+ config has two new options:
+ enable-remote-http-toggle,
+ and forwarded-connect-retries.
+
+
+ And there is improved handling of the user-manual
+ option, for placing documentation and help files on the local system.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Actions files problems and suggestions are now being directed to: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288.
+ Please use this to report such configuration related problems as missed
+ ads, sites that don't function properly due to one action or another,
+ innocent images being blocked, etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+ In addition, there are various bug fixes and significant enhancements, including
+ error pages should no longer be cached if the problem is fixed, much better DNS
+ error handling, and various logging improvements.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Note to Upgraders
+
- A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading:
+ A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
+ versions of Privoxy:
-
- The default listening port is now 8118 due to a conflict with another
- service (NAS).
+
+ Some installers may remove earlier versions completely, including
+ configuration files. Save any important configuration files!
-
+
- Some installers may remove earlier versions completely. Save any
- important configuration files!
+ On the other hand, some installers may not overwrite any existing configuration
+ files, thinking you will want to do that. You may want to manually check
+ your saved files against the newer versions to see if the improvements have
+ merit, or whether there are new options that you may want to consider.
+ There are a number of new features, but most won't be available unless
+ these features are incorporated into your configuration somehow.
-
- Privoxy is controllable with a web browser
- at the special URL: http://config.privoxy.org/
- (Shortcut: http://p.p/). Many
- aspects of configuration can be done here, including temporarily disabling
- Privoxy.
-
-
+
+ See the full documentation on
+ fast-redirects
+ which has changed syntax, and may require adjustments to local configs.
+
+
-
- The primary configuration files for cookie management, ad and banner
- blocking, and many other aspects of Privoxy
- configuration are the actions
- files. It is strongly recommended to become familiar with the new
- actions concept below, before modifying these files. Locally defined rules
- should go into user.action.
+
+ The jarfile, cookie logger, is off by default now.
+
+
+
+
+
+ What constitutes a default configuration has changed,
+ and you may want to review which actions are on by
+ default. This is primarily a matter of emphasis, but some features
+ you may have been used to, may now be off by default.
-
+
+
@@ -476,20 +639,14 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
+
-Quickstart to Using Privoxy
+Quickstart to Using Privoxy
-
-
- If upgrading, from versions before 2.9.16, please back up any configuration
- files. See the Note to Upgraders Section.
-
-
-
Install Privoxy. See the
Set your browser to use Privoxy as HTTP and
- HTTPS proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of
+ HTTPS (SSL) proxy by setting the proxy configuration for address of
127.0.0.1 and port 8118.
- (Junkbuster and earlier versions of
- Privoxy used port 8000.) See the section Starting Privoxy below
- for more details on this.
+ DO NOT activate proxying for FTP or
+ any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)! It won't work!
Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
+ If using Privoxy to manage cookies, you should
+ remove any currently stored cookies too.
@@ -548,7 +705,7 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section for a quick
introduction to how Privoxy blocks ads and
banners.]]>
-
+
@@ -566,17 +723,25 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
+
+
+ For easy access to &my-app;'s most important controls, drag the provided
+ Bookmarklets into your browser's
+ personal toolbar.
+
+
+
Please see the section Contacting the
- Developers on how to report bugs or problems with websites or to get
+ Developers on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get
help.
- Now enjoy surfing with enhanced comfort and privacy!
+ Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
@@ -766,7 +931,7 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
Actions Files in Use
-
+ [ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]
@@ -833,13 +998,14 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
-Starting Privoxy
+Starting Privoxy
Before launching Privoxy for the first time, you
will want to configure your browser(s) to use
- Privoxy as a HTTP and HTTPS proxy. The default is
+ Privoxy as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) proxy. The default is
127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
- used port 8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done!
+ used port 8000). This is the one configuration step that must be done
+!
Please note that Privoxy can only proxy HTTP and
@@ -848,10 +1014,11 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
- Proxy Configuration (Mozilla)
+ Proxy Configuration Showing
+ Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings
-
+ [ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]
@@ -860,56 +1027,72 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
+
+
+ With Firefox, this can be set under:
+
+
+
+ Tools -> Options -> General -> Connection Settings -> Manual Proxy Configuration
+
+
+
+
With Netscape (and
Mozilla), this can be set under:
-
+
+
- Edit
- |_
- Preferences
- |_
- Advanced
- |_
- Proxies
- |_
- HTTP Proxy
+ Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Proxies -> HTTP Proxy
+
- For Internet Explorer:
+ For Internet Explorer v.5-6:
-
-
- Tools
- |_
- Internet Properties
- |_
- Connections
- |_
- LAN Settings
+ Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN Settings
Then, check Use Proxy and fill in the appropriate info
(Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
- proxy support too.
+ proxy support too (sometimes labeled Secure. Make sure any
+ checkboxes like Use the same proxy server for all protocols is
+ UNCHECKED. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
+
+
+ Proxy Configuration Showing
+ Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings
+
+
+
+
+
+ [ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ]
+
+
+
+
+
+
After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
- re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. You
+ re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
+ any cookies, if you want Privoxy to manage that. You
are now ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
Privoxy!
- Privoxy is typically started by specifying the
+ Privoxy itself is typically started by specifying the
main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
file is specified on the command line, Privoxy
will look for a file named config in the current
@@ -917,23 +1100,31 @@ automatically start Privoxy in the boot process.
-Red Hat and Conectiva
+Red Hat, Fedora and Conectiva
- We use a script. Note that Red Hat does not start Privoxy upon booting per
- default. It will use the file /etc/privoxy/config as
- its main configuration file.
+ A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use
+ the file /etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration
+ file.
# /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
+
+ Or ...
+
+
+
+ # service privoxy start
+
+Debian
- We use a script. Note that Debian starts Privoxy upon booting per
+ We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; upon booting per
default. It will use the file
/etc/privoxy/config as its main configuration
file.
@@ -962,10 +1153,18 @@ your PC.
Windows
-Click on the Privoxy Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is
+Click on the &my-app; Icon to start Privoxy. If no configuration file is
specified on the command line, Privoxy will look
for a file named config.txt. Note that Windows will
- automatically start Privoxy upon booting you PC.
+ automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option
+ when installing.
+
+
+ Privoxy can run with full Windows service functionality.
+ On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments
+ to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
+ Windows Installation
+ instructions for details.
@@ -995,7 +1194,7 @@ Example Unix startup command:
Mac OSX
During installation, Privoxy is configured to
- start automatically when the system restarts. To start Privoxy by hand,
+ start automatically when the system restarts. To start &my-app; manually,
double-click on the StartPrivoxy.command icon in the
/Library/Privoxy folder. Or, type this command
in the Terminal:
@@ -1051,7 +1250,7 @@ Example Unix startup command:
See the section Command line options for
- furher info.
+ further info.
must find a better place for this paragraph
@@ -1205,7 +1404,20 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
USER, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
-
+
+
+
+ --chroot
+
+
+
+ Before changing to the user ID given in the --user option,
+ chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
+ process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
+ the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy.
+ Unix only.
+
+ configfile
@@ -1223,6 +1435,14 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
+
+ On MS Windows only there are two addition
+ options to allow Privoxy to install and
+ run as a service. See the
+Window Installation section
+for details.
+
+
@@ -1231,7 +1451,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
-Privoxy Configuration
+Privoxy Configuration
All Privoxy configuration is stored
in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
@@ -1243,7 +1463,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
-Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser
+Controlling Privoxy with Your Web BrowserPrivoxy's user interface can be reached through the special
URL http://config.privoxy.org/
@@ -1275,7 +1495,8 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
▪ Toggle Privoxy on or off
- ▪ Documentation
+ ▪ Documentation
@@ -1371,17 +1592,29 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
- default.filter (the filter
+ Filter files (the filter
file) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
- whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
+ whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
+ default.filter includes various filters made
+ available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
+ others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
+ filter files in config as you can with
+ actions files. We suggest user.filter for any
+ locally defined filters or customizations.
+
+ The syntax of all configuration files has remained the same throughout the
+ 3.x series. There have been enhancements, but no changes that would preclude
+ the use of any configuration file from one version to the next.
+
+
All files use the # character to denote a
comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
@@ -1393,7 +1626,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
- The actions files and default.filter
+ The actions files and filter files
can use Perl style regular expressions for
maximum flexibility.
@@ -1440,13 +1673,20 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
Actions Files
- The actions files are used to define what actions
- Privoxy takes for which URLs, and thus determine
+ The actions files are used to define what actions
+ Privoxy takes for which URLs, and thus determines
how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
- transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof). There
- are three such files included with Privoxy, with
- differing purposes:
-
+ transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof).
+ There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
+ Each action does something a little different.
+ These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
+ our control, preferences and independence.
+
+
+ There
+ are three action files included with Privoxy with
+ differing purposes:
+
@@ -1459,6 +1699,10 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well for users everywhere.
This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and making available to users.
+ It is also the file that keeps track of the user's preferences
+ as set in standard.action, e.g. either
+ cautious, medium, or
+ adventuresome.
@@ -1471,21 +1715,173 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
- standard.action - is used by the web based editor,
+ standard.action - is used by the web based editor
+ at
+ http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default,
to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
- in default.action. These have increasing levels of
- aggressiveness and have no influence on your browsing unless
- you select them explicitly in the editor. It is not recommend
- to edit this file.
+ in default.action.
+
+
+ EditSet to CautiousSet to MediumSet to Adventuresome
+
+
+ These have increasing levels of aggressiveness and have no
+ influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
+ editor.
+
+
+ The Edit button allows you to turn each
+ action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The Cautious
+ button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
+ a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently there will be
+ less of a chance for accidental problems. The Medium
+ button sets the list to a medium level of ad blocking and a low level set of
+ privacy features. The Adventuresome button
+ sets the list to a high level of ad blocking and medium level of
+ privacy. See the chart below. The latter three buttons over-ride
+ any changes via with the Edit button. More
+ fine-tuning can be done in the lower sections of this internal page.
+
+
+ It is not recommend to edit the standard.action file
+ itself.
+
+
+ The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
+ standard.action are:
+
+
+
Default Configurations
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Feature
+ Cautious
+ Medium
+ Adventuresome
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Ad-blocking Aggressiveness
+ low
+ medium
+ high
+
+
+
+ Ad-filtering by size
+ no
+ yes
+ yes
+
+
+
+ Ad-filtering by link
+ no
+ no
+ yes
+
+
+ Pop-up killing
+ no
+ unsolicited
+ all
+
+
+
+ Privacy Features
+ none
+ low
+ medium
+
+
+
+ Cookie handling
+ none
+ session-only
+ kill
+
+
+
+ Referer forging
+ no
+ yes
+ yes
+
+
+
+
+ GIF de-animation
+ no
+ yes
+ yes
+
+
+
+
+ Fast redirects
+ no
+ no
+ yes
+
+
+
+ HTML taming
+ no
+ yes
+ yes
+
+
+
+ JavaScript taming
+ no
+ yes
+ yes
+
+
+
+ Web-bug killing
+ no
+ yes
+ yes
+
+
+
+ Image tag reordering
+ no
+ no
+ yes
+
+
+
+
+
+
The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
- file, and are processed in the order they are defined. The content of these
- can all be viewed and edited from default.action is typically process before
+ user.action). The content of these can all be viewed and
+ edited from http://config.privoxy.org/show-status.
@@ -1523,10 +1919,10 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
certainly a matter of personal taste. In general, it can be said that the more
aggressive your default settings (in the top section of the
actions file) are, the more exceptions for trusted sites you
- will have to make later. If, for example, you want to kill popup windows per
+ will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per
default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
- regularly use and that require popups for actually useful content, like maybe
- your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
+ regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe
+ your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
@@ -1546,7 +1942,10 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status.
The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single feature on a
per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults like
- Cautious, Medium or Advanced.
+ Cautious, Medium or Adventuresome.
+ Warning: the Adventuresome setting is not only more aggressive,
+ but includes settings that are fun and subversive, and which some may find of
+ dubious merit!
@@ -1570,7 +1969,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
- compared to all patterns in each action file file. Every time it matches, the list of
+ compared to all patterns in each action file file. Every time it matches, the list of
applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading
of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for
the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not,
@@ -1679,7 +2078,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
matches any domain that ENDS in
- .example.com (e.g. www.example.com)
+ .example.com
@@ -1771,7 +2170,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
at http://www.pcre.org/man.txt.
You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (man perlre)
useful, which is available on-line at http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.6/pod/perlre.html.
+ url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html.
@@ -1991,7 +2390,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
Typical use:
- Block ads or other obnoxious content
+ Block ads or other unwanted content
@@ -2077,17 +2476,19 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
+
-
-crunch-incoming-cookies
+
+
+content-type-overwriteTypical use:
-
- Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system
-
+ Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode
@@ -2095,7 +2496,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
Effect:
- Deletes any Set-Cookie: HTTP headers from server replies.
+ Replaces the Content-Type: HTTP server header.
@@ -2104,7 +2505,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
Type:
- Boolean.
+ Parameterized.
@@ -2112,8 +2513,8 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
Parameter:
- N/A
-
+ Any string.
+
@@ -2121,25 +2522,66 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
Notes:
- This action is only concerned with incoming cookies. For
- outgoing cookies, use
- crunch-outgoing-cookies.
- Use both to disable cookies completely.
+ The Content-Type: HTTP server header is used by the
+ browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this
+ header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of
+ displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is
+ supported by the browser.
- It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction
- with the session-cookies-only action,
- since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
- filter-content-cookies.
+ The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
+ the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as text/html,
+ many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
+ If it is send as application/xml, browsers with
+ XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
+
+
+ If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
+ Content-Type: text/html, you can use &my-app;
+ to overwrite it with application/xml and validate
+ the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
+ If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
+
+
+ You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints
+ error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared
+ as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
+ text/html and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
+
+
+ By default content-type-overwrite only replaces
+ Content-Type: headers that look like some kind of text.
+ If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
+ force-text-mode.
+ This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
+
+
+ Most of the time it's easier to enable
+ filter-server-headers
+ and replace this action with a custom regular expression. It allows you
+ to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
+ only replace the content types you aimed at.
+
+
+ Of course you can apply content-type-overwrite
+ to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
+ more work to get the same precision.
- Example usage:
+ Example usage (sections):
-
- +crunch-incoming-cookies
+
+ # Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
+{+content-type-overwrite {application/xml}}
+www.example.net/
+# but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
+{-content-type-overwrite}
+www.example.net/*.\.css$
+www.example.net/*.style
+
@@ -2148,16 +2590,17 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
-
-crunch-outgoing-cookies
+
+
+crunch-client-headerTypical use:
-
- Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system
-
+ Remove a client header Privoxy has no dedicated action for.
@@ -2165,7 +2608,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
Effect:
- Deletes any Cookie: HTTP headers from client requests.
+ Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
@@ -2174,7 +2617,7 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
Type:
- Boolean.
+ Parameterized.
@@ -2182,8 +2625,8 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
Parameter:
- N/A
-
+ Any string.
+
@@ -2191,41 +2634,57 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
Notes:
- This action is only concerned with outgoing cookies. For
- incoming cookies, use
- crunch-incoming-cookies.
- Use both to disable cookies completely.
+ This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
+ Privoxy action exists.
+ Privoxy will remove every client header that
+ contains the string you supplied as parameter.
- It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction
- with the session-cookies-only action,
- since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
+ Regular expressions are not supported and you can't
+ use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
+ they contain the same string.
+
+
+ crunch-client-header is only meant for quick tests.
+ If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
+ parts of them, you should enable
+ filter-client-headers
+ and create your own filter.
+
+
+ Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
+
+
- Example usage:
+ Example usage (section):
-
- +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+
+ # Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
+{+crunch-client-header {Privacy-Violation:}}
+/
+
-
-
-deanimate-gifs
-
+
+crunch-if-none-match
+
Typical use:
- Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.
+ Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.
@@ -2233,16 +2692,16 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
Effect:
- De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
+ Deletes the If-None-Match: HTTP client header.
Type:
-
+
- Parameterized.
+ Boolean.
@@ -2250,8 +2709,8 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
Parameter:
- last or first
-
+ N/A
+
@@ -2259,12 +2718,315 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
Notes:
- This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
- the option first is given, the first frame of the animation
- is used as the replacement. If last is given, the last
- frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
- most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
- last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
+ Removing the If-None-Match: HTTP client header
+ is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
+ reload instead of getting status code 304 which
+ would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
+
+
+ It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
+ replacement.
+
+
+ Blocking the If-None-Match: header shouldn't cause any
+ caching problems, as long as the If-Modified-Since: header
+ isn't blocked as well.
+
+
+ It is recommended to use this action together with
+ hide-if-modified-since
+ and
+ overwrite-last-modified.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Example usage (section):
+
+
+ # Let the browser revalidate cached documents without being tracked across sessions
+{+hide-if-modified-since {-60} \
++overwrite-last-modified {randomize} \
++crunch-if-none-match}
+/
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+crunch-incoming-cookies
+
+
+
+ Typical use:
+
+
+ Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system
+
+
+
+
+
+ Effect:
+
+
+ Deletes any Set-Cookie: HTTP headers from server replies.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Type:
+
+
+ Boolean.
+
+
+
+
+ Parameter:
+
+
+ N/A
+
+
+
+
+
+ Notes:
+
+
+ This action is only concerned with incoming cookies. For
+ outgoing cookies, use
+ crunch-outgoing-cookies.
+ Use both to disable cookies completely.
+
+
+ It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction
+ with the session-cookies-only action,
+ since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
+ filter-content-cookies.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Example usage:
+
+
+ +crunch-incoming-cookies
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+crunch-server-header
+
+
+
+ Typical use:
+
+ Remove a server header Privoxy has no dedicated action for.
+
+
+
+
+ Effect:
+
+
+ Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Type:
+
+
+ Parameterized.
+
+
+
+
+ Parameter:
+
+
+ Any string.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Notes:
+
+
+ This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
+ Privoxy action exists. Privoxy
+ will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
+
+
+ Regular expressions are not supported and you can't
+ use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
+ they contain the same string.
+
+
+ crunch-server-header is only meant for quick tests.
+ If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
+ parts of them, you should enable
+ filter-server-headers
+ and create your own filter.
+
+
+
+ Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Example usage (section):
+
+
+ # Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
+{+crunch-server-header {no-cache}}
+/
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+crunch-outgoing-cookies
+
+
+
+ Typical use:
+
+
+ Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system
+
+
+
+
+
+ Effect:
+
+
+ Deletes any Cookie: HTTP headers from client requests.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Type:
+
+
+ Boolean.
+
+
+
+
+ Parameter:
+
+
+ N/A
+
+
+
+
+
+ Notes:
+
+
+ This action is only concerned with outgoing cookies. For
+ incoming cookies, use
+ crunch-incoming-cookies.
+ Use both to disable cookies completely.
+
+
+ It makes no sense at all to use this action in conjunction
+ with the session-cookies-only action,
+ since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Example usage:
+
+
+ +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+deanimate-gifs
+
+
+
+ Typical use:
+
+ Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.
+
+
+
+
+ Effect:
+
+
+ De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Type:
+
+
+ Parameterized.
+
+
+
+
+ Parameter:
+
+
+ last or first
+
+
+
+
+
+ Notes:
+
+
+ This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
+ the option first is given, the first frame of the animation
+ is used as the replacement. If last is given, the last
+ frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
+ most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
+ last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
@@ -2275,25 +3037,520 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
- Example usage:
+ Example usage:
+
+
+ +deanimate-gifs{last}
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+downgrade-http-version
+
+
+
+ Typical use:
+
+ Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1
+
+
+
+
+ Effect:
+
+
+ Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Type:
+
+
+ Boolean.
+
+
+
+
+ Parameter:
+
+
+ N/A
+
+
+
+
+
+ Notes:
+
+
+ This is a left-over from the time when Privoxy
+ didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
+ unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
+ out there. Not all (optional) HTTP/1.1 features are supported yet, so there
+ is a chance you might need this action.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Example usage (section):
+
+
+ {+downgrade-http-version}
+problem-host.example.com
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+fast-redirects
+
+
+
+ Typical use:
+
+ Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.
+
+
+
+
+ Effect:
+
+
+ Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting
+ the redirection server first.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Type:
+
+
+ Parameterized.
+
+
+
+
+ Parameter:
+
+
+
+
+ simple-check to just search for the string http://
+ to detect redirection URLs.
+
+
+
+
+ check-decoded-url to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching
+ for redirection URLs.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Notes:
+
+
+ Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
+ will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
+ parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
+ resulting from this scheme typically look like:
+ http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/.
+
+
+ Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
+ URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
+ since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
+ to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
+ browser asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
+ the advertisers.
+
+
+ This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
+ If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
+ this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
+
+
+ Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil.
+ Some sites offer a real service that requires this information to work.
+ For example a validation service needs to know, which document to validate.
+ fast-redirects assumes that every URL parameter that
+ looks like another URL is a redirection target, and will always redirect to
+ the last one. Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't,
+ the user gets redirected anyway.
+
+
+ Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter.
+ The URL:
+ http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar.
+ contains the redirection URL http://www.example.net/,
+ followed by another parameter. fast-redirects doesn't know that
+ and will cause a redirect to http://www.example.net/&foo=bar.
+ Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
+ or lead to a page not found error. It is possible to fix these redirected
+ requests with filter-client-headers
+ but it requires a little effort.
+
+
+ To detect a redirection URL, fast-redirects only
+ looks for the string http://, either in plain text
+ (invalid but often used) or encoded as http%3a//.
+ Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the address
+ of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses cases
+ fast-redirects is fooled and the request reaches the
+ redirection server where it probably gets logged.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Example usage:
+
+
+ +fast-redirects{simple-check}
+
+
+ +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+filter
+
+
+
+ Typical use:
+
+ Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size), do fun text replacements, etc.
+
+
+
+
+ Effect:
+
+
+ All files of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which this
+ action applies, are filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular expression
+ based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents
+ are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
+ text/plain MIME type for all files whose type they
+ don't know.) By default, filtering works only on the document content
+ itself, not the headers.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Type:
+
+
+ Parameterized.
+
+
+
+
+ Parameter:
+
+
+ The name of a filter, as defined in the filter file.
+ Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
+ filterfile
+ option in the config file.
+ default.filter is the collection of filters
+ supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
+ in their own file, such as user.filter.
+
+
+ When used in its negative form,
+ and without parameters, filtering is completely disabled.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Notes:
+
+
+ For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
+ in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
+ a list.
+
+
+ Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
+ slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
+ passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
+ since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
+ noticeable on slower connections.
+
+
+ This is very powerful feature, and rolling your own
+ filters requires a knowledge of regular expressions and HTML.
+
+
+ The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
+ buffer-limit
+ option in the main config file. The
+ default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
+ data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
+
+
+ Inadequate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
+ (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data
+ (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate
+ the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might
+ be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering
+ by defining appropriate -filter sections.
+
+
+ At this time, Privoxy cannot (yet!) uncompress compressed
+ documents. If you want filtering to work on all documents, even those that
+ would normally be sent compressed, use the
+ prevent-compression
+ action in conjunction with filter.
+
+
+ Filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
+ block
+ action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
+ works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
+ based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
+ standardized.
+
+
+ Feedback with suggestions for new or
+ improved filters is particularly welcome!
+
+
+ The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
+ predefined filter. There are more
+ verbose explanations of what these filters do in the filter file chapter.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Example usage (with filters from the distribution default.filter file).
+ See the Predefined Filters section for
+ more explanation on each:
+
+
+
+ +filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
+
+
+
+ +filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites)
+
+
+
+ +filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse
+
+
+
+ +filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content
+
+
+
+ +filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)
+
+
+
+ +filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows
+
+
+
+ +filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML
+
+
+
+ +filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective
+
+
+
+ +filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size
+
+
+
+ +filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers
+
+
+
+ +filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)
+
+
+
+ +filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap
+
+
+
+ +filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves
+
+
+
+ +filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable
+
+
+
+ +filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets
+
+
+
+ +filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects
+
+
+
+ +filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies savable
+
+
+
+ +filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!
+
+
+
+ +filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering (demo only)
+
+
+
+ +filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+filter-client-headers
+
+
+
+ Typical use:
+
+
+ To apply filtering to the client's (browser's) headers
+
+
+
+
+
+ Effect:
+
+
+ By default, Privoxy's filters only apply
+ to the document content itself. This will extend those filters to
+ include the client's headers as well.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Type:
+
+
+ Boolean.
+
+
+
+
+ Parameter:
+
+
+ N/A
+
+
+
+
+
+ Notes:
+
+
+ Regular expressions can be used to filter headers as well. Check your
+ filters closely before activating this action, as it can easily lead to broken
+ requests.
+
+
+ These filters are applied to each header on its own, not to them
+ all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
+ you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is
+ z.
+
+
+ The filters are used after the other header actions have finished and can
+ use their output as input.
+
+
+
+ Whenever possible one should specify ^,
+ $, the whole header name and the colon, to make sure
+ the filter doesn't cause havoc to other headers or the
+ page itself. For example if you want to transform
+ Galeon User-Agents to
+ Firefox User-Agents you
+ shouldn't use:
+
+
+
+s@Galeon/\d\.\d\.\d @@
+
+
+ but:
+
+
+s@^(User-Agent:.*) Galeon/\d\.\d\.\d (Firefox/\d\.\d\.\d\.\d)$@$1 $2@
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Example usage (section):
- +deanimate-gifs{last}
+
+{+filter-client-headers +filter{test_filter}}
+problem-host.example.com
+
+
+
-
-downgrade-http-version
+
+filter-server-headersTypical use:
- Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1
+
+ To apply filtering to the server's headers
+
@@ -2301,7 +3558,9 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
Effect:
- Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
+ By default, Privoxy's filters only apply
+ to the document content itself. This will extend those filters to
+ include the server's headers as well.
@@ -2327,12 +3586,31 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
Notes:
- This is a left-over from the time when Privoxy
- didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
- unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
- out there. Not all (optional) HTTP/1.1 features are supported yet, so there
- is a chance you might need this action.
+ Similar to filter-client-headers, but works on
+ the server instead. To filter both server and client, use both.
+
+
+ As with filter-client-headers, check your
+ filters before activating this action, as it can easily lead to broken
+ requests.
+
+
+ These filters are applied to each header on its own, not to them
+ all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
+ you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is
+ z.
+
+
+ The filters are used after the other header actions have finished and can
+ use their output as input.
+
+
+ Remember too, whenever possible one should specify ^,
+ $, the whole header name and the colon, to make sure
+ the filter doesn't cause havoc to other headers or the
+ page itself. See above for example.
+
@@ -2340,24 +3618,269 @@ must find a better place for this paragraph
Example usage (section):
- {+downgrade-http-version}
-problem-host.example.com
+
+{+filter-server-headers +filter{test_filter}}
+problem-host.example.com
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+force-text-mode
+
+
+
+ Typical use:
+
+ Force Privoxy to treat a document as if it was in some kind of text format.
+
+
+
+
+ Effect:
+
+
+ Declares a document as text, even if the Content-Type: isn't detected as such.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Type:
+
+
+ Boolean.
+
+
+
+
+ Parameter:
+
+
+ N/A
+
+
+
+
+
+ Notes:
+
+
+ As explained above,
+ Privoxy tries to only filter files that are
+ in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to
+ content-type-overwrite.
+ force-text-mode declares a document as text,
+ without looking at the Content-Type: first.
+
+
+
+ Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
+ with regular expressions can cause file damage.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Example usage:
+
+
+
++force-text-mode
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+handle-as-empty-document
+
+
+
+ Typical use:
+
+ Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents if they get blocked
+
+
+
+
+ Effect:
+
+
+ This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
+ If the block action also applies,
+ the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML blocked
+ page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
+ The empty document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Type:
+
+
+ Boolean.
+
+
+
+
+ Parameter:
+
+
+ N/A
+
+
+
+
+
+ Notes:
+
+
+ Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
+ are blocked with Privoxy's
+ default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
+
+
+ The content type for the empty document can be specified with
+ content-type-overwrite{},
+ but usually this isn't necessary.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Example usage:
+
+
+ # Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
+# but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
+{+block +handle-as-empty-document}
+example.org/.*\.js$
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+handle-as-image
+
+
+
+ Typical use:
+
+ Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images if they do get blocked, rather than HTML pages)
+
+
+
+
+ Effect:
+
+
+ This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
+ If the block action also applies,
+ the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML blocked
+ page, or a replacement image (as determined by the set-image-blocker action) will be sent to the
+ client as a substitute for the blocked content.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Type:
+
+
+ Boolean.
+
+
+
+
+ Parameter:
+
+
+ N/A
+
+
+
+
+
+ Notes:
+
+
+ The below generic example section is actually part of default.action.
+ It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
+ be left intact.
+
+
+ Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
+ block, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
+ reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
+
+
+ Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
+ frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
+ Forcing handle-as-image in this situation will not replace the
+ ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Example usage (sections):
+
+
+ # Generic image extensions:
+#
+{+handle-as-image}
+/.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
+
+# These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
+# blocked as images:
+#
+{+block +handle-as-image}
+some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash
+
+# Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
+ad.doubleclick.net
+
+
-
-
-
-fast-redirects
+
+
+hide-accept-language
+
Typical use:
- Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links
+ Pretend to use different language settings.
@@ -2365,16 +3888,16 @@ problem-host.example.com
Effect:
- Cut off all but the last valid URL from requests.
+ Deletes or replaces the Accept-Language: HTTP header in client requests.
Type:
-
+
- Boolean.
+ Parameterized.
@@ -2382,61 +3905,68 @@ problem-host.example.com
Parameter:
- N/A
-
+ Keyword: block, or any user defined value.
+
-
+
Notes:
-
- Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
- will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
- parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
- resulting from this scheme typically look like:
- http://some.place/click-tracker.cgi?target=http://some.where.else.
-
- Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
- URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
- since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
- to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
- browser ask the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
- the advertisers.
+ Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
+ foreign User-Agent set with
+ hide-user-agent
+ more believable.
- This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
- It is likely to break some sites. You should expect to need possibly
- many exceptions to this action, if it is enabled by default in
- default.action. Some sites just don't work without
- it.
+ However some sites with content in different languages check the
+ Accept-Language: to decide which one to take by default.
+ Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
+ changing the Accept-Language: header first.
+
+
+ Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
+ Accept-Language: header to languages you understand,
+ or to languages that aren't wide spread.
+
+
+ Before setting the Accept-Language: header
+ to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to
+ make your requests unique and thus easier to trace.
+ If you don't plan to change this header frequently,
+ you should stick to a common language.
- Example usage:
+ Example usage (section):
- {+fast-redirects}
-
+ # Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
+{+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
++hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
+}
+/
+
-
-
-filter
-
+
+hide-content-disposition
+
Typical use:
- Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size), do fun text replacements, etc.
+ Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.
@@ -2444,16 +3974,14 @@ problem-host.example.com
Effect:
- Text documents, including HTML and JavaScript, to which this action
- applies, are filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular expression
- based substitutions.
+ Deletes or replaces the Content-Disposition: HTTP header set by some servers.
Type:
-
+
Parameterized.
@@ -2463,12 +3991,8 @@ problem-host.example.com
Parameter:
- The name of a filter, as defined in the filter file
- (typically default.filter, set by the
- filterfile
- option in the config file). Filtering
- can be completely disabled without the use of parameters.
-
+ Keyword: block, or any user defined value.
+
@@ -2476,117 +4000,41 @@ problem-host.example.com
Notes:
- For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
- in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
- a list.
-
-
- This is potentially a very powerful feature! But rolling your own
- filters requires a knowledge of regular expressions and HTML.
-
-
- Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
- slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
- passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
- since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
- noticeable on slower connections.
-
-
- The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
- buffer-limit
- option in the main config file. The
- default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
- data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
-
-
- Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
- Encrypted SSL data (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either since
- this would violate the integrity of the secure transaction.
+ Some servers set the Content-Disposition: HTTP header for
+ documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
+ The Content-Disposition: header contains the file name
+ the browser is supposed to use by default.
- At this time, Privoxy cannot (yet!) uncompress compressed
- documents. If you want filtering to work on all documents, even those that
- would normally be sent compressed, use the
- prevent-compression
- action in conjunction with filter.
+ In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
+ just view the document, without downloading it first,
+ even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
- Filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
- block
- action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
- works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
- based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
- standardized.
+ Removing the Content-Disposition: header helps
+ to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
+ Content-Type: header, before they decide if they can
+ display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have
+ to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
+ download menus.
- Feedback with suggestions for new or
- improved filters is particularly welcome!
+ It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion
+ to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set
+ it up.
- Example usage (with filters from the distribution default.filter file):
+ Example usage:
-
-
- +filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.
-
-
-
- +filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
-
-
-
- +filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners based on their size for this page (very efficient!)
-
-
-
- +filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners based on the link they are contained in (experimental)
-
-
-
- +filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective
-
-
-
- +filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come sneaking in the HTML or JS content
-
-
-
- +filter{popups} # Kill all popups in JS and HTML
-
-
-
- +filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)
-
-
-
- +filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!
-
-
-
- +filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable
-
-
-
- +filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)
-
-
-
- +filter{nimda} # Remove Nimda (virus) code.
-
-
-
- +filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects
-
-
-
- +filter{crude-parental} # Kill all web pages that contain the words "sex" or "warez"
-
-
-
- +filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites)
+
+ # Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
+{-filter\
++content-type-overwrite {text/plain}\
++hide-content-disposition {block} }
+.sourceforge.net/tracker/download.php
@@ -2595,14 +4043,16 @@ problem-host.example.com
-
-handle-as-image
-
+
+hide-if-modified-since
+
Typical use:
- Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images if they get blocked)
+ Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.
@@ -2610,12 +4060,7 @@ problem-host.example.com
Effect:
- This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
- If the block action also applies,
- the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML blocked
- page, or a replacement image (as determined by the set-image-blocker action) will be sent to the
- client as a substitute for the blocked content.
+ Deletes the If-Modified-Since: HTTP client header or modifies its value.
@@ -2624,7 +4069,7 @@ problem-host.example.com
Type:
- Boolean.
+ Parameterized.
@@ -2632,8 +4077,8 @@ problem-host.example.com
Parameter:
- N/A
-
+ Keyword: block, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
+
@@ -2641,42 +4086,43 @@ problem-host.example.com
Notes:
- The below generic example section is actually part of default.action.
- It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
- be left intact.
+ Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
+ reload instead of getting status code 304, which would cause the
+ browser to use a cached copy of the page.
- Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
- block, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
- reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
+ Instead of removing the header, hide-if-modified-since can
+ also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value.
+ You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and
+ Privoxy does the rest. A negative value means
+ subtracting, a positive value adding.
- Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
- frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
- Forcing handle-as-image in this situation will not replace the
- ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
+ Randomizing the value of the If-Modified-Since: makes
+ sure it isn't used as a cookie replacement, but you will run into
+ caching problems if the random range is too high.
+
+
+ It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
+ overwrite-last-modified
+ handle the greater changes.
+
+
+ It is also recommended to use this action together with
+ crunch-if-none-match.
- Example usage (sections):
+ Example usage (section):
-
- # Generic image extensions:
-#
-{+handle-as-image}
-/.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
-
-# These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
-# blocked as images:
-#
-{+block +handle-as-image}
-some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash
-
-# Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
-ad.doubleclick.net
-
+
+ # Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
+{+hide-if-modified-since {-60}\
++overwrite-last-modified {randomize}\
++crunch-if-none-match}
+/
@@ -2687,7 +4133,9 @@ ad.doubleclick.net
hide-forwarded-for-headers
-
+
Typical use:
@@ -2857,7 +4305,10 @@ ad.doubleclick.net
- block to delete the header completely.
+ conditional-block to delete the header completely if the host has changed.
+
+
+ block to delete the header unconditionally.forge to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.
@@ -2873,18 +4324,37 @@ ad.doubleclick.net
Notes:
- forge is the preferred option here, since some servers will
- not send images back otherwise, in an attempt to prevent their valuable
- content from being embedded elsewhere (and hence, without being surrounded
- by their banners).
+ conditional-block is the only parameter,
+ that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the
+ referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or
+ typed in the address directly.
+
+
+ Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
+ allows the server owner to see the visitor's click path,
+ but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing
+ other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't
+ a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between
+ different requests.
+
+
+ Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
+ failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
+ requests, in an attempt to prevent their valuable content from being
+ embedded or linked to elsewhere.
+
+
+ Both conditional-block and forge
+ will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page
+ are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case.
+
+
+ hide-referer is an alternate spelling of
+ hide-referrer and the two can be can be freely
+ substituted with each other. (referrer is the
+ correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
+ requires it to be spelled as referer.)
-
- hide-referer is an alternate spelling of
- hide-referrer and the two can be can be freely
- substituted with each other. (referrer is the
- correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
- requires it to be spelled as referer.)
-
@@ -2945,11 +4415,14 @@ ad.doubleclick.net
- This breaks many web sites that depend on looking at this header in order
- to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
- way, is NOT a smart way to do
+ This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at this header in
+ order to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
+ way, is NOT the right thing to do: good web sites
+ work browser-independently).
+
@@ -2974,15 +4447,82 @@ ad.doubleclick.net
Example usage:
-
- +hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}
-
+
+ +hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+inspect-jpegs
+
+
+
+ Typical use:
+
+ To protect against the MS buffer over-run in JPEG processing
+
+
+
+
+ Effect:
+
+
+ Protect against a known exploit
+
+
+
+
+
+ Type:
+
+
+ Boolean.
+
+
+
+
+ Parameter:
+
+
+ N/A
+
+
+
+
+
+ Notes:
+
+
+ See Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-028. JPEG images are one of the most
+ common image types found across the Internet. The exploit as described can
+ allow execution of code on the target system, giving an attacker access
+ to the system in question by merely planting an altered JPEG image, which
+ would have no obvious indications of what lurks inside. This action
+ prevents unwanted intrusion.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Example usage:
+
+ +inspect-jpegs
+
+
kill-popups
@@ -2991,7 +4531,7 @@ ad.doubleclick.net
Typical use:
- Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows
+ Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows (deprecated)
@@ -3026,13 +4566,15 @@ ad.doubleclick.net
Notes:
- This action is easily confused with the built-in, hardwired filter
+ This action is basically a built-in, hardwired special-purpose filter
action, but there are important differences: For kill-popups,
the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while
downloading. But kill-popups doesn't catch as many pop-ups as
filter{popups}
- does.
+ linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}
+ does and is not as smart as filter{unsolicited-popups}
+ is.
Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you
@@ -3043,9 +4585,12 @@ ad.doubleclick.net
the kill-popups action over its filter equivalent.
- Killing all pop-ups is a dangerous business. Many shops and banks rely on
- pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and killing only the unwanted pop-ups
- would require artificial intelligence in Privoxy.
+ Killing all pop-ups unconditionally is problematic. Many shops and banks rely on
+ pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and the filter{unsolicited-popups}
+ does a fairly good job of catching only the unwanted ones.
+
+
If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those
really nasty windows that appear when you close an other
one), you might want to use
@@ -3081,7 +4626,7 @@ ad.doubleclick.net
Typical use:
- Prevent abuse of Privoxy as a TCP proxy relay
+ Prevent abuse of Privoxy as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites
@@ -3131,8 +4676,12 @@ ad.doubleclick.net
abused as TCP relays very easily.
- If you don't know what any of this means, there probably is no reason to
- change this one, since the default is already very restrictive.
+ Privoxy relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
+ the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent &my-app;'s
+ filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
+ If you plan to disable SSL by default, consider enabling
+ treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks
+ as well, to be able to quickly create exceptions.
@@ -3147,7 +4696,8 @@ ad.doubleclick.net
+limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
+limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
+limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
-+limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK (gaping security hole!)
++limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
++limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed
@@ -3164,7 +4714,7 @@ ad.doubleclick.net
Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
- passed through filters
+ passed through filters.
@@ -3173,7 +4723,7 @@ ad.doubleclick.net
Effect:
- Adds a header to the request that asks for uncompressed transfer.
+ Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
@@ -3243,6 +4793,184 @@ www.pclinuxonline.com
+
+
+overwrite-last-modified
+
+
+
+ Typical use:
+
+ Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.
+
+
+
+
+ Effect:
+
+
+ Deletes the Last-Modified: HTTP server header or modifies its value.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Type:
+
+
+ Parameterized.
+
+
+
+
+ Parameter:
+
+
+ One of the keywords: block, reset-to-request-time
+ and randomize
+
+
+
+
+
+ Notes:
+
+
+ Removing the Last-Modified: header is useful for filter
+ testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
+ code 304, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
+ version of the page.
+
+
+ The randomize option overwrites the value of the
+ Last-Modified: header with a randomly chosen time
+ between the original value and the current time. In theory the server
+ could send each document with a different Last-Modified:
+ header to track visits without using cookies. Randomize
+ makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
+
+
+ reset-to-request-time overwrites the value of the
+ Last-Modified: header with the current time. You could use
+ this option together with
+ hided-if-modified-since
+ to further customize your random range.
+
+
+ The preferred parameter here is randomize. It is safe
+ to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct.
+ If the server sets the Last-Modified: header to the time
+ of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same.
+ Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with
+ hided-if-modified-since,
+ just to be sure.
+
+
+ It is also recommended to use this action together with
+ crunch-if-none-match.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Example usage:
+
+
+ # Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
+{+hide-if-modified-since {-60}\
++overwrite-last-modified {randomize}\
++crunch-if-none-match}
+/
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+redirect
+
+
+
+ Typical use:
+
+
+ Redirect requests to other sites.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Effect:
+
+
+ Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
+ to another location and the browser should get it from there.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Type:
+
+
+ Parameterized
+
+
+
+
+ Parameter:
+
+
+ Any URL.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Notes:
+
+
+ This action is useful to replace whole documents with your own
+ ones. For that to work, they have to be available on another server,
+ and both should resolve.
+
+
+ You can do the same by combining the actions
+ block,
+ handle-as-image and
+ set-image-blocker{URL}.
+ It doesn't sound right for non-image documents, and that's why this action
+ was created.
+
+
+ This action will be ignored if you use it together with
+ block.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Example usage:
+
+
+ # Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
+{+redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css}}
+example.com/stylesheet.css
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
send-vanilla-wafer
@@ -3384,7 +5112,8 @@ my-internal-testing-server.void
Typical use:
- Allow only temporary session cookies (for the current browser session only).
+ Allow only temporary session cookies (for the current
+ browser session only).
@@ -3393,8 +5122,9 @@ my-internal-testing-server.void
Effect:
- Deletes the expires field from Set-Cookie: server headers.
- Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and forget them in between sessions.
+ Deletes the expires field from Set-Cookie:
+ server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
+ forget them in between sessions.
@@ -3441,6 +5171,17 @@ my-internal-testing-server.void
Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an expires
field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
+
+ This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
+ previously by the browser before starting Privoxy.
+ These would have to be removed manually.
+
+
+ Privoxy also uses
+ the content-cookies filter
+ to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
+ session-cookies-only.
+
@@ -3512,7 +5253,8 @@ my-internal-testing-server.void
target-url to
send a redirect to target-url. You can redirect
- to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem (via file:/// URL).
+ to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via file:/// URL.
+ (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
A good application of redirects is to use special Privoxy-built-in
@@ -3569,6 +5311,89 @@ my-internal-testing-server.void
+
+
+treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks
+
+
+
+ Typical use:
+
+ Block forbidden connects with an easy to find error message.
+
+
+
+
+ Effect:
+
+
+ If this action is enabled, Privoxy no longer
+ makes a difference between forbidden connects and ordinary blocks.
+
+
+
+
+
+ Type:
+
+
+ Boolean
+
+
+
+
+ Parameter:
+
+ N/A
+
+
+
+
+ Notes:
+
+
+ By default Privoxy answers
+ forbidden Connect requests
+ with a short error message inside the headers. If the browser doesn't display
+ headers (most don't), you just see an empty page.
+
+
+ With this action enabled, Privoxy displays
+ the message that is used for ordinary blocks instead. If you decide
+ to make an exception for the page in question, you can do so by
+ following the See why link.
+
+
+ For Connect requests the clients tell
+ Privoxy which host they are interested
+ in, but not which document they plan to get later. As a result, the
+ Go there anyway link becomes rather useless:
+ it lets the client request the home page of the forbidden host
+ through unencrypted HTTP, still using the port of the last request.
+
+
+ If you previously configured Privoxy to do the
+ request through a SSL tunnel, everything will work. Most likely you haven't
+ and the server will respond with an error message because it is expecting
+ HTTPS (SSL).
+
+
+
+
+
+ Example usage:
+
+
+ +treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Summary
@@ -3642,16 +5467,16 @@ my-internal-testing-server.void
# These aliases just save typing later:
# (Note that some already use other aliases!)
#
- +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
- -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
+ -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
- mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
+ mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only -filter{content-cookies}
# These aliases define combinations of actions
# that are useful for certain types of sites:
#
- fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referer -kill-popups
- shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{popups} -kill-popups
+ fragile = -block -filter -crunch-all-cookies -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
+ shop = -crunch-all-cookies -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
# Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
#
@@ -3685,7 +5510,7 @@ my-internal-testing-server.void
# These shops require pop-ups:
#
- {shop -kill-popups -filter{popups}}
+ {shop -kill-popups -filter{all-popups}}
.dabs.com
.overclockers.co.uk
@@ -3696,7 +5521,9 @@ my-internal-testing-server.void
in order to function properly.