2 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/p-config.sgml,v $
4 Purpose : Used with other docs and files only.
6 $Id: p-config.sgml,v 2.11 2006/09/08 02:36:37 hal9 Exp $
8 Copyright (C) 2001-2006 Privoxy Developers http://privoxy.org
11 ========================================================================
12 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
13 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
14 ========================================================================
17 This file contains all the config file comments and options. It used to
18 build both the user-manual config sections, and all of config (yes, the main
21 Rationale: This is broken up into two files since a file with a prolog
22 (DTD, etc) cannot be sourced as a secondary file. config.sgml is basically
23 a wrapper for this file.
27 OPTIONS: The actual options are included in this file and prefixed with
28 '@@', and processed by the Makefile to strip the '@@'. Default options
29 that should appear commented out should be listed as: '@@#OPTION'.
30 Otherwise, as '@@OPTION'. Example:
32 @@listen-address 127.0.0.1:8118
34 The Makefile does significant other processing too. The final results
35 should be checked to make sure that the perl processing does not
36 fubar something!!! Makefile processing requires w3m, fmt (shell line
40 This file is included into:
43 config (the actual Privoxy config file)
48 <!-- This part only goes into user-manual -->
50 <title>The Main Configuration File</title>
53 Again, the main configuration file is named <filename>config</filename> on
54 Linux/Unix/BSD and OS/2, and <filename>config.txt</filename> on Windows.
55 Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list of
56 values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or tabs). For
64 <emphasis>confdir /etc/privoxy</emphasis></literallayout>
70 Assigns the value <literal>/etc/privoxy</literal> to the option
71 <literal>confdir</literal> and thus indicates that the configuration
72 directory is named <quote>/etc/privoxy/</quote>.
76 All options in the config file except for <literal>confdir</literal> and
77 <literal>logdir</literal> are optional. Watch out in the below description
78 for what happens if you leave them unset.
82 The main config file controls all aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>'s
83 operation that are not location dependent (i.e. they apply universally, no matter
84 where you may be surfing).
91 <!-- This part only goes into the config file -->
94 @@TITLE<!-- between the @@ is stripped by Makefile -->@@
95 Sample Configuration File for Privoxy v&p-version;
98 $Id: p-config.sgml,v 2.11 2006/09/08 02:36:37 hal9 Exp $
101 Copyright (C) 2001-2006 Privoxy Developers http://privoxy.org
106 #################################################################
111 II. FORMAT OF THE CONFIGURATION FILE #
113 1. LOCAL SET-UP DOCUMENTATION #
114 2. CONFIGURATION AND LOG FILE LOCATIONS #
116 4. ACCESS CONTROL AND SECURITY #
118 6. WINDOWS GUI OPTIONS #
120 #################################################################
124 <literallayout>I. INTRODUCTION
125 =============== <!-- fuck this madness --></literallayout>
128 This file holds the Privoxy configuration. If you modify this
129 file, you will need to send a couple of requests (of any kind) to the proxy
130 before any changes take effect.
133 When starting Privoxy on Unix systems, give the name of this
134 file as an argument. On Windows systems, Privoxy will look for
135 this file with the name 'config.txt' in the same directory where
136 Privoxy is installed.
140 <literallayout><!-- funky spacing -->
142 II. FORMAT OF THE CONFIGURATION FILE
143 ====================================</literallayout>
146 Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list
147 of values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or
151 actionsfile default.action
154 Indicates that the actionsfile is named 'default.action'.
157 The '#' indicates a comment. Any part of a line following a '#' is
158 ignored, except if the '#' is preceded by a '\'.
161 Thus, by placing a # at the start of an existing configuration line,
162 you can make it a comment and it will be treated as if it weren't there.
163 This is called "commenting out" an option and can be useful.
166 Note that commenting out and option and leaving it at its default
167 are two completely different things! Most options behave very
168 differently when unset. See the the "Effect if unset" explanation
169 in each option's description for details.
172 Long lines can be continued on the next line by using a `\' as
178 <!-- ************************************************ -->
179 <!-- The following is common to both outputs (mostly) -->
180 <!-- ************************************************ -->
184 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
185 <sect2 id="local-set-up">
186 <title>Local Set-up Documentation</title>
189 If you intend to operate <application>Privoxy</application> for more users
190 than just yourself, it might be a good idea to let them know how to reach
191 you, what you block and why you do that, your policies, etc.
195 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
196 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="user-manual"><title>user-manual</title>
199 <term>Specifies:</term>
202 Location of the <application>Privoxy</application> User Manual.
207 <term>Type of value:</term>
209 <para>A fully qualified URI</para>
213 <term>Default value:</term>
215 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
219 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
222 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/<replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable>/user-manual/</ulink>
223 will be used, where <replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable> is the <application>Privoxy</application> version.
231 The User Manual URI is the single best source of information on
232 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is used for help links from some
233 of the internal CGI pages. The manual itself is normally packaged with the
234 binary distributions, so you probably want to set this to a locally
242 Unix, in local filesystem (may not work with all browsers):
245 <screen> user-manual file:///usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;/user-manual/</screen>
248 Windows, in local filesystem, <emphasis>must</emphasis> use forward slash notation:
251 <screen> user-manual file:/c:/some-dir/privoxy-&p-version;/user-manual/</screen>
254 Windows, UNC notation (with forward slashes):
257 <screen> user-manual file://///some-server/some-path/privoxy-&p-version;/user-manual/</screen>
261 The best all purpose solution is simply to put the full local
262 <literal>PATH</literal> to where the <citetitle>User Manual</citetitle> is
266 <screen> user-manual /usr/share/doc/privoxy/user-manual</screen>
269 The User Manual is then available to anyone with access to the proxy, by
270 following the built-in URL: <literal>http://config.privoxy.org/user-manual/</literal>
271 (or the shortcut: <literal>http://p.p/user-manual/</literal>).
274 If the documentation is not on the local system, it can be accessed
275 from a remote server, as:
278 <screen> user-manual http://example.com/privoxy/user-manual/</screen>
281 <!-- this gets hammered in conversion to config. Text repeated below. -->
284 If set, this option should be <emphasis>the first option in the config
285 file</emphasis>, because it is used while the config file is being read
298 If set, this option should be the first option in the config
299 file, because it is used while the config file is being read.
308 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#user-manual http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</literallayout>]]>
312 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
313 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trust-info-url"><title>trust-info-url</title>
317 <term>Specifies:</term>
320 A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if access to an untrusted page is denied.
325 <term>Type of value:</term>
331 <term>Default value:</term>
333 <para>Two example URL are provided</para>
337 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
340 No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page.
348 The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust mechanism has been
349 activated. (See <link linkend="trustfile"><emphasis>trustfile</emphasis></link> above.)
352 If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line
353 documentation about your trust policy and to specify the URL(s) here.
354 Use multiple times for multiple URLs.
357 The URL(s) should be added to the trustfile as well, so users don't end up
358 locked out from the information on why they were locked out in the first place!
364 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@trust-info-url http://www.example.com/why_we_block.html</literallayout>]]>
365 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@trust-info-url http://www.example.com/what_we_allow.html</literallayout>]]>
369 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
370 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="admin-address"><title>admin-address</title>
374 <term>Specifies:</term>
377 An email address to reach the proxy administrator.
382 <term>Type of value:</term>
384 <para>Email address</para>
388 <term>Default value:</term>
390 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
394 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
397 No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
405 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
406 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
413 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#admin-address privoxy-admin@example.com</literallayout>]]>
417 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
418 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="proxy-info-url"><title>proxy-info-url</title>
422 <term>Specifies:</term>
425 A URL to documentation about the local <application>Privoxy</application> setup,
426 configuration or policies.
431 <term>Type of value:</term>
437 <term>Default value:</term>
439 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
443 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
446 No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
454 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
455 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
459 This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-)
465 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#proxy-info-url http://www.example.com/proxy-service.html</literallayout>]]>
469 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
473 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
475 <sect2 id="conf-log-loc">
476 <title>Configuration and Log File Locations</title>
479 <application>Privoxy</application> can (and normally does) use a number of
480 other files for additional configuration, help and logging.
481 This section of the configuration file tells <application>Privoxy</application>
482 where to find those other files.
486 The user running <application>Privoxy</application>, must have read
487 permission for all configuration files, and write permission to any files
488 that would be modified, such as log files and actions files.
492 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
493 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="confdir"><title>confdir</title>
497 <term>Specifies:</term>
499 <para>The directory where the other configuration files are located</para>
503 <term>Type of value:</term>
505 <para>Path name</para>
509 <term>Default value:</term>
511 <para>/etc/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
515 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
517 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
524 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
527 This is really outdated and not likely to happen. HB 09/20/06
529 When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and
530 per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of <quote>confdir</quote>.
531 For now, the configuration directory structure is flat, except for
532 <filename>confdir/templates</filename>, where the HTML templates for CGI
533 output reside (e.g. <application>Privoxy's</application> 404 error page).
540 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@confdir .</literallayout>]]>
544 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
545 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logdir"><title>logdir</title>
549 <term>Specifies:</term>
552 The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where <filename>logfile</filename> and
553 <filename>jarfile</filename> are located)
558 <term>Type of value:</term>
560 <para>Path name</para>
564 <term>Default value:</term>
566 <para>/var/log/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
570 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
572 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
579 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
585 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@logdir .</literallayout>]]>
589 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
590 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="actionsfile"><title>
593 <anchor id="default.action">
594 <anchor id="standard.action">
595 <anchor id="user.action">
596 <!-- Note: slightly modified this section 04/28/02, hal. See NOTE. -->
599 <term>Specifies:</term>
602 The <link linkend="actions-file">actions file(s)</link> to use
607 <term>Type of value:</term>
609 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal>, without the <literal>.action</literal> suffix</para>
613 <term>Default values:</term>
617 <msgtext><literallayout> standard # Internal purposes, no editing recommended</literallayout></msgtext>
620 <msgtext><literallayout> default # Main actions file</literallayout></msgtext>
623 <msgtext><literallayout> user # User customizations</literallayout></msgtext>
629 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
632 No actions are taken at all. Simple neutral proxying.
640 Multiple <literal>actionsfile</literal> lines are permitted, and are in fact recommended!
643 The default values include standard.action, which is used for internal
644 purposes and should be loaded, default.action, which is the
645 <quote>main</quote> actions file maintained by the developers, and
646 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can make your personal additions.
649 Actions files are where all the per site and per URL configuration is done for
650 ad blocking, cookie management, privacy considerations, etc.
651 There is no point in using <application>Privoxy</application> without at
652 least one actions file.
658 <!-- NOTE: alternate markup to make a simpler list doesn't work due to -->
659 <!-- html -> text conversion, blah -->
660 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@actionsfile standard # Internal purpose, recommended</literallayout>]]>
661 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@actionsfile default # Main actions file</literallayout>]]>
662 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@actionsfile user # User customizations</literallayout>]]>
665 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
666 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filterfile"><title>filterfile</title>
667 <anchor id="default.filter">
670 <term>Specifies:</term>
673 The <link linkend="filter-file">filter file(s)</link> to use
678 <term>Type of value:</term>
680 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
684 <term>Default value:</term>
686 <para>default.filter (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> default.filter.txt (Windows)</para>
690 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
693 No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all
694 <literal>+<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>}</literal>
695 actions in the actions files are turned neutral.
703 Multiple <literal>filterfile</literal> lines are permitted.
706 The <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link> contain content modification
707 rules that use <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link>. These rules permit
708 powerful changes on the content of Web pages, and optionally the headers
709 as well, e.g., you could disable your favorite JavaScript annoyances,
710 re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some fun
711 playing buzzword bingo with web pages.
715 <literal>+<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>}</literal>
716 actions rely on the relevant filter (<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>)
717 to be defined in a filter file!
720 A pre-defined filter file called <filename>default.filter</filename> that contains
721 a number of useful filters for common problems is included in the distribution.
722 See the section on the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
726 It is recommended to place any locally adapted filters into a separate
727 file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>.
733 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@filterfile default.filter</literallayout>]]>
734 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#filterfile user.filter # User customizations</literallayout>]]>
738 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
739 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logfile"><title>logfile</title>
743 <term>Specifies:</term>
751 <term>Type of value:</term>
753 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
757 <term>Default value:</term>
759 <para>logfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.log (Windows)</para>
763 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
766 No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (<literal>STDERR</literal>).
774 removed per bug report 688728 02/20/03 HB
777 The windows version will additionally log to the console.
781 The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The level
782 of detail and number of messages are set with the <literal>debug</literal>
783 option (see below). The logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with
784 <application>Privoxy</application> (e.g., it's not blocking an ad you
785 think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look at it.
788 Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to
789 periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job
790 (see <quote>man cron</quote>). For Red Hat, a <command>logrotate</command>
791 script has been included.
794 On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like <quote>/var/log/privoxy.*
795 +1024k 644 nobody.nogroup</quote> in <filename>/etc/logfiles</filename>, with
796 the effect that cron.daily will automatically archive, gzip, and empty the
797 log, when it exceeds 1M size.
800 Any log files must be writable by whatever user <application>Privoxy</application>
801 is being run as (default on UNIX, user id is <quote>privoxy</quote>).
807 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@logfile logfile</literallayout>]]>
811 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
812 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jarfile"><title>jarfile</title>
816 <term>Specifies:</term>
819 The file to store intercepted cookies in
824 <term>Type of value:</term>
826 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
830 <term>Default value:</term>
832 <para>Unset (commented out). When activated: jarfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.jar (Windows)</para>
836 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
839 Intercepted cookies are not stored in a dedicated log file.
847 The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time.
850 If debug 8 (show header parsing) is enabled, cookies are
851 written to the logfile with the rest of the headers.
857 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#jarfile jarfile</literallayout>]]>
861 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
862 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trustfile"><title>trustfile</title>
865 <term>Specifies:</term>
868 The name of the trust file to use
873 <term>Type of value:</term>
875 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
879 <term>Default value:</term>
881 <para><emphasis>Unset (commented out)</emphasis>. When activated: trust (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> trust.txt (Windows)</para>
885 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
888 The entire trust mechanism is disabled.
896 The trust mechanism is an experimental feature for building white-lists and should
897 be used with care. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> recommended for the casual user.
900 If you specify a trust file, <application>Privoxy</application> will only allow
901 access to sites that are specified in the trustfile. Sites can be listed
905 Prepending a <literal>~</literal> character limits access to this site
906 only (and any sub-paths within this site), e.g.
907 <literal>~www.example.com</literal> allows access to
908 <literal>~www.example.com/features/news.html</literal>, etc.
911 Or, you can designate sites as <emphasis>trusted referrers</emphasis>, by
912 prepending the name with a <literal>+</literal> character. The effect is that
913 access to untrusted sites will be granted -- but only if a link from this
914 trusted referrer was used to get there. The link target will then be added
915 to the <quote>trustfile</quote> so that future, direct accesses will be
916 granted. Sites added via this mechanism do not become trusted referrers
917 themselves (i.e. they are added with a <literal>~</literal> designation).
918 There is a limit of 512 such entries, after which new entries will not be
922 If you use the <literal>+</literal> operator in the trust file, it may grow
923 considerably over time.
926 It is recommended that <application>Privoxy</application> be compiled with
927 the <literal>--disable-force</literal>, <literal>--disable-toggle</literal> and
928 <literal> --disable-editor</literal> options, if this feature is to be
932 Possible applications include limiting Internet access for children.
939 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#trustfile trust</literallayout>]]>
943 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
945 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
946 <sect2 id="debugging">
947 <title>Debugging</title>
950 These options are mainly useful when tracing a problem.
951 Note that you might also want to invoke
952 <application>Privoxy</application> with the <literal>--no-daemon</literal>
953 command line option when debugging.
956 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="debug"><title>debug</title>
960 <term>Specifies:</term>
963 Key values that determine what information gets logged to the
964 <link linkend="logfile"><emphasis>logfile</emphasis></link>.
969 <term>Type of value:</term>
971 <para>Integer values</para>
975 <term>Default value:</term>
977 <para>12289 (i.e.: URLs plus informational and warning messages)</para>
981 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
992 The available debug levels are:
996 debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
997 debug 2 # show each connection status
998 debug 4 # show I/O status
999 debug 8 # show header parsing
1000 debug 16 # log all data into the logfile
1001 debug 32 # debug force feature
1002 debug 64 # debug regular expression filter
1003 debug 128 # debug fast redirects
1004 debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation
1005 debug 512 # Common Log Format
1006 debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups
1007 debug 2048 # CGI user interface
1008 debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
1009 debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
1013 To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or use
1014 multiple <literal>debug</literal> lines.
1017 A debug level of 1 is informative because it will show you each request
1018 as it happens. <emphasis>1, 4096 and 8192 are highly recommended</emphasis>
1019 so that you will notice when things go wrong. The other levels are probably
1020 only of interest if you are hunting down a specific problem. They can produce
1021 a hell of an output (especially 16).
1025 The reporting of <emphasis>fatal</emphasis> errors (i.e. ones which crash
1026 <application>Privoxy</application>) is always on and cannot be disabled.
1029 If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set <quote>debug
1030 512</quote> <emphasis>ONLY</emphasis> and not enable anything else.
1036 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request</literallayout>]]>
1037 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings</literallayout>]]>
1038 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@debug 8192 # Errors - *we highly recommended enabling this*</literallayout>]]>
1042 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1043 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="single-threaded"><title>single-threaded</title>
1047 <term>Specifies:</term>
1050 Whether to run only one server thread
1055 <term>Type of value:</term>
1057 <para><emphasis>None</emphasis></para>
1061 <term>Default value:</term>
1063 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1067 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1070 Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, i.e. the ability to
1071 serve multiple requests simultaneously.
1079 This option is only there for debug purposes and you should never
1080 need to use it. <emphasis>It will drastically reduce performance.</emphasis>
1086 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#single-threaded</literallayout>]]>
1091 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1094 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1095 <sect2 id="access-control">
1096 <title>Access Control and Security</title>
1099 This section of the config file controls the security-relevant aspects
1100 of <application>Privoxy</application>'s configuration.
1104 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1105 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="listen-address"><title>listen-address</title>
1109 <term>Specifies:</term>
1112 The IP address and TCP port on which <application>Privoxy</application> will
1113 listen for client requests.
1118 <term>Type of value:</term>
1120 <para>[<replaceable class="parameter">IP-Address</replaceable>]:<replaceable class="parameter">Port</replaceable></para>
1125 <term>Default value:</term>
1127 <para>127.0.0.1:8118</para>
1131 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1134 Bind to 127.0.0.1 (localhost), port 8118. This is suitable and recommended for
1135 home users who run <application>Privoxy</application> on the same machine as
1144 You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address and port.
1147 If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to
1148 serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well, you
1149 will need to override the default.
1152 If you leave out the IP address, <application>Privoxy</application> will
1153 bind to all interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable
1154 from the Internet. In that case, consider using <link
1155 linkend="acls">access control lists</link> (ACL's, see below), and/or
1159 If you open <application>Privoxy</application> to untrusted users, you will
1160 also want to turn off the <literal><link
1161 linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link></literal> and
1162 <literal><link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link></literal>
1168 <term>Example:</term>
1171 Suppose you are running <application>Privoxy</application> on
1172 a machine which has the address 192.168.0.1 on your local private network
1173 (192.168.0.0) and has another outside connection with a different address.
1174 You want it to serve requests from inside only:
1178 listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
1185 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@listen-address 127.0.0.1:8118</literallayout>]]>
1189 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1190 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="toggle"><title>toggle</title>
1194 <term>Specifies:</term>
1197 Initial state of "toggle" status
1202 <term>Type of value:</term>
1208 <term>Default value:</term>
1214 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1217 Act as if toggled on
1225 If set to 0, <application>Privoxy</application> will start in
1226 <quote>toggled off</quote> mode, i.e. behave like a normal, content-neutral
1227 proxy where all ad blocking, filtering, etc are disabled. See
1228 <literal>enable-remote-toggle</literal> below. This is not really useful
1229 anymore, since toggling is much easier via <ulink
1230 url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">the web interface</ulink> than via
1231 editing the <filename>conf</filename> file.
1234 The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the system tray
1235 if this option is present.
1241 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@toggle 1</literallayout>]]>
1245 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1246 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-remote-toggle"><title>enable-remote-toggle</title>
1249 <term>Specifies:</term>
1252 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">web-based toggle
1253 feature</ulink> may be used
1258 <term>Type of value:</term>
1264 <term>Default value:</term>
1270 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1273 The web-based toggle feature is disabled.
1281 When toggled off, <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal,
1282 content-neutral proxy, i.e. it acts as if none of the actions applied to
1286 For the time being, access to the toggle feature can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
1287 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
1288 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
1289 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
1290 toggle it for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>
1291 for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
1294 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
1295 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
1301 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@enable-remote-toggle 1</literallayout>]]>
1305 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1306 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-remote-http-toggle"><title>enable-remote-http-toggle</title>
1309 <term>Specifies:</term>
1312 Whether or not Privoxy recognizes special HTTP headers to change its behaviour.
1317 <term>Type of value:</term>
1323 <term>Default value:</term>
1329 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1332 Privoxy ignores special HTTP headers.
1340 When toggled on, the client can change <application>Privoxy's</application>
1341 behaviour by setting special HTTP headers. Currently the only supported
1342 special header is <quote>X-Filter: No</quote>, to disable filtering for
1343 the ongoing request, even if it is enabled in one of the action files.
1346 If you are using <application>Privoxy</application> in a
1347 multi-user environment or with untrustworthy clients and want to
1348 enforce filtering, you will have to disable this option,
1349 otherwise you can ignore it.
1355 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@enable-remote-http-toggle 1</literallayout>]]>
1359 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1360 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-edit-actions"><title>enable-edit-actions</title>
1363 <term>Specifies:</term>
1366 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions
1367 file editor</ulink> may be used
1372 <term>Type of value:</term>
1378 <term>Default value:</term>
1384 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1387 The web-based actions file editor is disabled.
1395 For the time being, access to the editor can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
1396 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
1397 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
1398 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
1399 modify its configuration for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not
1400 recommended</emphasis> for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
1403 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
1404 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
1410 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@enable-edit-actions 1</literallayout>]]>
1413 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1414 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="acls"><title>
1415 ACLs: permit-access and deny-access</title>
1416 <anchor id="permit-access">
1417 <anchor id="deny-access">
1421 <term>Specifies:</term>
1424 Who can access what.
1429 <term>Type of value:</term>
1432 <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable>]
1433 [<replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable>]]
1436 Where <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable> and
1437 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid
1438 DNS names, and <replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable> and
1439 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable> are subnet masks in CIDR notation, i.e. integer
1440 values from 2 to 30 representing the length (in bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole
1441 destination part are optional.
1446 <term>Default value:</term>
1448 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1452 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1455 Don't restrict access further than implied by <literal>listen-address</literal>
1463 Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems
1464 administrators, and <emphasis>are not usually needed by individual users</emphasis>.
1465 For a typical home user, it will normally suffice to ensure that
1466 <application>Privoxy</application> only listens on the localhost
1467 (127.0.0.1) or internal (home) network address by means of the
1468 <link linkend="listen-address"><emphasis>listen-address</emphasis></link>
1472 Please see the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute
1473 for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security
1477 Multiple ACL lines are OK.
1478 If any ACLs are specified, then the <application>Privoxy</application>
1479 talks only to IP addresses that match at least one <literal>permit-access</literal> line
1480 and don't match any subsequent <literal>deny-access</literal> line. In other words, the
1481 last match wins, with the default being <literal>deny-access</literal>.
1484 If <application>Privoxy</application> is using a forwarder (see <literal>forward</literal> below)
1485 for a particular destination URL, the <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>
1486 that is examined is the address of the forwarder and <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the address
1487 of the ultimate target. This is necessary because it may be impossible for the local
1488 <application>Privoxy</application> to determine the IP address of the
1489 ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for).
1492 You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because the address lookups take
1493 time. All DNS names must resolve! You can <emphasis>not</emphasis> use domain patterns
1494 like <quote>*.org</quote> or partial domain names. If a DNS name resolves to multiple
1495 IP addresses, only the first one is used.
1498 Denying access to particular sites by ACL may have undesired side effects
1499 if the site in question is hosted on a machine which also hosts other sites.
1504 <term>Examples:</term>
1507 Explicitly define the default behavior if no ACL and
1508 <literal>listen-address</literal> are set: <quote>localhost</quote>
1509 is OK. The absence of a <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> implies that
1510 <emphasis>all</emphasis> destination addresses are OK:
1514 permit-access localhost
1518 Allow any host on the same class C subnet as www.privoxy.org access to
1519 nothing but www.example.com:
1523 permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32
1527 Allow access from any host on the 26-bit subnet 192.168.45.64 to anywhere,
1528 with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access www.dirty-stuff.example.com:
1532 permit-access 192.168.45.64/26
1533 deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com
1542 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1543 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="buffer-limit"><title>buffer-limit</title>
1547 <term>Specifies:</term>
1550 Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering.
1555 <term>Type of value:</term>
1557 <para>Size in Kbytes</para>
1561 <term>Default value:</term>
1567 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1570 Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit.
1578 For content filtering, i.e. the <literal>+filter</literal> and
1579 <literal>+deanimate-gif</literal> actions, it is necessary that
1580 <application>Privoxy</application> buffers the entire document body.
1581 This can be potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending
1582 data indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust -- with nasty consequences.
1586 When a document buffer size reaches the <literal>buffer-limit</literal>, it is
1587 flushed to the client unfiltered and no further attempt to
1588 filter the rest of the document is made. Remember that there may be multiple threads
1589 running, which might require up to <literal>buffer-limit</literal> Kbytes
1590 <emphasis>each</emphasis>, unless you have enabled <quote>single-threaded</quote>
1597 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@buffer-limit 4096</literallayout>]]>
1602 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1605 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1607 <sect2 id="forwarding">
1608 <title>Forwarding</title>
1611 This feature allows routing of HTTP requests through a chain of
1613 It can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when
1614 accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains
1615 through an anonymous public proxy. Or to use a caching proxy to speed up browsing. Or chaining to a parent
1616 proxy may be necessary because the machine that <application>Privoxy</application>
1617 runs on has no direct Internet access.
1621 Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. <application>Privoxy</application>
1622 supports the SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A protocols.
1625 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward"><title>forward</title>
1628 <term>Specifies:</term>
1631 To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed.
1636 <term>Type of value:</term>
1639 <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable>
1640 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1643 where <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable> is a <link linkend="af-patterns">URL pattern</link>
1644 that specifies to which requests (i.e. URLs) this forward rule shall apply. Use <literal>/</literal> to
1645 denote <quote>all URLs</quote>.
1646 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1647 is the DNS name or IP address of the parent HTTP proxy through which the requests should be forwarded,
1648 optionally followed by its listening port (default: 8080).
1649 Use a single dot (<literal>.</literal>) to denote <quote>no forwarding</quote>.
1654 <term>Default value:</term>
1656 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1660 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1663 Don't use parent HTTP proxies.
1671 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
1672 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made directly to the web servers.
1675 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
1680 <term>Examples:</term>
1683 Everything goes to an example anonymizing proxy, except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle):
1687 forward / anon-proxy.example.org:8080
1692 Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for requests
1693 to that ISP's sites:
1697 forward / caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000
1698 forward .example-isp.net .
1707 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1708 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="socks"><title>
1709 forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a</title>
1710 <anchor id="forward-socks4">
1711 <anchor id="forward-socks4a">
1715 <term>Specifies:</term>
1718 Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific requests should be routed.
1723 <term>Type of value:</term>
1726 <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable>
1727 <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1728 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1731 where <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable> is a <link linkend="af-patterns">URL pattern</link>
1732 that specifies to which requests (i.e. URLs) this forward rule shall apply. Use <literal>/</literal> to
1733 denote <quote>all URLs</quote>.
1734 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> and <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>
1735 are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid DNS names (<replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>
1736 may be <quote>.</quote> to denote <quote>no HTTP forwarding</quote>), and the optional
1737 <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1 to 64535
1742 <term>Default value:</term>
1744 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1748 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1751 Don't use SOCKS proxies.
1759 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
1762 The difference between <literal>forward-socks4</literal> and <literal>forward-socks4a</literal>
1763 is that in the SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the target hostname happens on the SOCKS
1764 server, while in SOCKS 4 it happens locally.
1767 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
1768 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made (HTTP-wise) directly to the web servers, albeit through
1774 <term>Examples:</term>
1777 From the company example.com, direct connections are made to all
1778 <quote>internal</quote> domains, but everything outbound goes through
1779 their ISP's proxy by way of example.com's corporate SOCKS 4A gateway to
1784 forward-socks4a / socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080
1785 forward .example.com .
1789 A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no HTTP parent looks like this:
1793 forward-socks4 / socks-gw.example.com:1080 .
1798 To chain Privoxy and Tor, both running on the same system, you should use
1803 forward-socks4 / 127.0.0.1:9050 .
1808 The public <application>Tor</application> network can't be used to reach your local network,
1809 therefore it's a good idea to make some exceptions:
1813 forward 192.168.*.*/ .
1815 forward 127.*.*.*/ .
1819 Unencrypted connections to systems in these address ranges will
1820 be as (un)secure as the local network is, but the alternative is that you
1821 can't reach the network at all.
1824 If you also want to be able to reach servers in your local network by
1825 using their names, you will need additional exceptions that look like
1830 forward localhost/ .
1839 <![%user-man;[ <!-- not included in config due to length -->
1840 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1841 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="advanced-forwarding-examples"><title>Advanced Forwarding Examples</title>
1844 If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content
1845 only to their subscribers, you can configure multiple <application>Privoxies</application>
1846 which have connections to the respective ISPs to act as forwarders to each other, so that
1847 <emphasis>your</emphasis> users can see the internal content of all ISPs.
1851 Assume that host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.net. And host-b has a PPP connection to
1852 isp-b.net. Both run <application>Privoxy</application>. Their forwarding
1853 configuration can look like this:
1863 forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118
1874 forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118
1879 Now, your users can set their browser's proxy to use either
1880 host-a or host-b and be able to browse the internal content
1881 of both isp-a and isp-b.
1885 If you intend to chain <application>Privoxy</application> and
1886 <application>squid</application> locally, then chain as
1887 <literal>browser -> squid -> privoxy</literal> is the recommended way.
1891 Assuming that <application>Privoxy</application> and <application>squid</application>
1892 run on the same box, your <application>squid</application> configuration could then look like this:
1897 # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP)
1898 cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query
1900 # Define ACL for protocol FTP
1903 # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy
1904 always_direct allow ftp
1906 # Forward all the rest to Privoxy
1907 never_direct allow all</screen>
1911 You would then need to change your browser's proxy settings to <application>squid</application>'s address and port.
1912 Squid normally uses port 3128. If unsure consult <literal>http_port</literal> in <filename>squid.conf</filename>.
1916 You could just as well decide to only forward requests for Windows executables through
1917 a virus-scanning parent proxy, say, on <literal>antivir.example.com</literal>, port 8010:
1923 forward /.*\.(exe|com|dll|zip)$ antivir.example.com:8010</screen>
1929 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forwarded-connect-retries"><title>forwarded-connect-retries</title>
1932 <term>Specifies:</term>
1935 How often Privoxy retries if a forwarded connection request fails.
1940 <term>Type of value:</term>
1943 <replaceable class="parameter">Number of retries.</replaceable>
1948 <term>Default value:</term>
1950 <para><emphasis>0</emphasis></para>
1954 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1957 Forwarded connections are treated like direct connections and no retry attempts are made.
1965 <replaceable class="parameter">forwarded-connect-retries</replaceable> is mainly interesting
1966 for socks4a connections, where Privoxy can't detect why the connections failed.
1967 The connection might have failed because of a DNS timeout in which case a retry makes sense,
1968 but it might also have failed because the server doesn't exist or isn't reachable. In this
1969 case the retry will just delay the appearance of Privoxy's error message.
1972 Only use this option, if you are getting many forwarding related error messages,
1973 that go away when you try again manually. Start with a small value and check Privoxy's
1974 logfile from time to time, to see how many retries are usually needed.
1979 <term>Examples:</term>
1982 forwarded-connect-retries 1
1987 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@forwarded-connect-retries 0</literallayout>]]>
1992 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1995 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1997 <sect2 id="windows-gui">
1998 <title>Windows GUI Options</title>
2000 <application>Privoxy</application> has a number of options specific to the
2001 Windows GUI interface:
2004 <anchor id="activity-animation">
2005 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
2007 If <quote>activity-animation</quote> is set to 1, the
2008 <application>Privoxy</application> icon will animate when
2009 <quote>Privoxy</quote> is active. To turn off, set to 0.
2012 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#activity-animation 1</literallayout>]]>
2018 <emphasis>activity-animation 1</emphasis>
2025 <anchor id="log-messages">
2026 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
2028 If <quote>log-messages</quote> is set to 1,
2029 <application>Privoxy</application> will log messages to the console
2033 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-messages 1</literallayout>]]>
2039 <emphasis>log-messages 1</emphasis>
2046 <anchor id="log-buffer-size">
2047 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
2049 If <quote>log-buffer-size</quote> is set to 1, the size of the log buffer,
2050 i.e. the amount of memory used for the log messages displayed in the
2051 console window, will be limited to <quote>log-max-lines</quote> (see below).
2055 Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and
2056 eat up all your memory!
2059 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-buffer-size 1</literallayout>]]>
2065 <emphasis>log-buffer-size 1</emphasis>
2072 <anchor id="log-max-lines">
2073 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
2075 <application>log-max-lines</application> is the maximum number of lines held
2076 in the log buffer. See above.
2079 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-max-lines 200</literallayout>]]>
2085 <emphasis>log-max-lines 200</emphasis>
2092 <anchor id="log-highlight-messages">
2093 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
2095 If <quote>log-highlight-messages</quote> is set to 1,
2096 <application>Privoxy</application> will highlight portions of the log
2097 messages with a bold-faced font:
2100 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-highlight-messages 1</literallayout>]]>
2106 <emphasis>log-highlight-messages 1</emphasis>
2113 <anchor id="log-font-name">
2114 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
2116 The font used in the console window:
2119 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-font-name Comic Sans MS</literallayout>]]>
2125 <emphasis>log-font-name Comic Sans MS</emphasis>
2132 <anchor id="log-font-size">
2133 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
2135 Font size used in the console window:
2138 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-font-size 8</literallayout>]]>
2144 <emphasis>log-font-size 8</emphasis>
2151 <anchor id="show-on-task-bar">
2152 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
2154 <quote>show-on-task-bar</quote> controls whether or not
2155 <application>Privoxy</application> will appear as a button on the Task bar
2159 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#show-on-task-bar 0</literallayout>]]>
2165 <emphasis>show-on-task-bar 0</emphasis>
2172 <anchor id="close-button-minimizes">
2173 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
2175 If <quote>close-button-minimizes</quote> is set to 1, the Windows close
2176 button will minimize <application>Privoxy</application> instead of closing
2177 the program (close with the exit option on the File menu).
2180 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#close-button-minimizes 1</literallayout>]]>
2186 <emphasis>close-button-minimizes 1</emphasis>
2193 <anchor id="hide-console">
2194 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
2196 The <quote>hide-console</quote> option is specific to the MS-Win console
2197 version of <application>Privoxy</application>. If this option is used,
2198 <application>Privoxy</application> will disconnect from and hide the
2202 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#hide-console</literallayout>]]>
2208 #<emphasis>hide-console</emphasis>
2218 <!-- end config content common to both outputs -->
2221 <!-- These are dummy anchors to keep the processor quiet -->
2222 <!-- when building config-file only (ie. they are used in u-m only) -->
2225 <anchor id="filter">
2226 <anchor id="filter-file">
2228 <anchor id="actions-file">
2229 <anchor id="af-patterns">
2233 <!-- eof p-config.sgml -->