1 <!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN" [
2 <!entity % dummy "IGNORE">
3 <!entity supported SYSTEM "supported.sgml">
4 <!entity newfeatures SYSTEM "newfeatures.sgml">
5 <!entity p-intro SYSTEM "privoxy.sgml">
6 <!entity seealso SYSTEM "seealso.sgml">
7 <!entity buildsource SYSTEM "buildsource.sgml">
8 <!entity contacting SYSTEM "contacting.sgml">
9 <!entity history SYSTEM "history.sgml">
10 <!entity copyright SYSTEM "copyright.sgml">
11 <!entity license SYSTEM "license.sgml">
12 <!entity p-authors SYSTEM "p-authors.sgml">
13 <!entity config SYSTEM "p-config.sgml">
14 <!entity p-version "3.0.18">
15 <!entity p-status "stable">
16 <!entity % p-authors-formal "INCLUDE"> <!-- include additional text, etc -->
17 <!entity % p-not-stable "IGNORE">
18 <!entity % p-stable "INCLUDE">
19 <!entity % p-text "IGNORE"> <!-- define we are not a text only doc -->
20 <!entity % p-doc "INCLUDE"> <!-- and we are a formal doc -->
21 <!entity % p-readme "IGNORE">
22 <!entity % user-man "IGNORE">
23 <!entity % config-file "IGNORE">
24 <!entity % p-supp-userman "IGNORE"> <!-- Omit some from supported.sgml -->
25 <!entity my-copy "©"> <!-- kludge for docbook2man -->
26 <!entity % draft "IGNORE"> <!-- WIP stuff -->
27 <!entity % seealso-extra "INCLUDE"> <!-- extra stuff from seealso.sgml -->
28 <!entity my-app "<application>Privoxy</application>">
31 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
34 This file belongs into
35 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
37 $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.138 2011/11/13 17:03:54 fabiankeil Exp $
39 Copyright (C) 2001-2011 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/
42 ========================================================================
43 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
44 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
45 ========================================================================
52 <title>Privoxy &p-version; User Manual</title>
56 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
57 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
58 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001-2011 by
59 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
63 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.138 2011/11/13 17:03:54 fabiankeil Exp $</pubdate>
67 Note: the following should generate a separate page, and a live link to it,
68 all nicely done. But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave
69 commented unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the
70 copyright/license declarations will be in their own sgml.
83 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
84 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
85 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
91 The <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
92 install, configure and use <ulink
93 url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>.
96 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
98 <!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
101 You can find the latest version of the <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> at <ulink
102 url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
103 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> on how to
104 contact the developers.
108 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
114 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
115 <sect1 label="1" id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
117 This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
118 <application>Privoxy</application>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
119 and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
120 time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
121 configuration files. Development of a new version is currently nearing
122 completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over
126 <!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
129 Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
130 documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
131 CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
136 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
137 <sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
139 In addition to the core
140 features of ad blocking and
141 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookie</ulink> management,
142 <application>Privoxy</application> provides many supplemental
143 features<![%p-not-stable;[, some of them currently under development]]>,
144 that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
146 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
148 <!-- end boilerplate -->
153 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
156 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
157 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
160 <application>Privoxy</application> is available both in convenient pre-compiled
161 packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
162 For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
163 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
169 On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if
170 found. (See below for your platform). In any case <emphasis>be sure to backup
171 your old configuration if it is valuable to you.</emphasis> See the <link
172 linkend="upgradersnote">note to upgraders</link> section below.
175 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
176 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
178 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
181 <!-- XXX: The installation sections should be sorted -->
183 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
184 <sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat and Fedora RPMs</title>
187 RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
188 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
189 of configuration files.
193 Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
194 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
195 need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
196 <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods.
200 If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
201 <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
202 will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
206 Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
207 on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
208 Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
209 automatically if found, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
213 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
214 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian and Ubuntu</title>
216 DEBs can be installed with <literal>apt-get install privoxy</literal>,
217 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of
222 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
223 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
226 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
227 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
228 in the same directory as you installed <application>Privoxy</application> in.
231 Version 3.0.5 beta introduced full <application>Windows</application> service
232 functionality. On Windows only, the <application>Privoxy</application>
233 program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
234 <application>Privoxy</application> as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>.
238 <term>Arguments:</term>
241 <replaceable class="parameter">--install</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
244 <replaceable class="parameter">--uninstall</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
250 After invoking <application>Privoxy</application> with
251 <command>--install</command>, you will need to bring up the
252 <application>Windows</application> service console to assign the user you
253 want <application>Privoxy</application> to run under, and whether or not you
254 want it to run whenever the system starts. You can start the
255 <application>Windows</application> services console with the following
256 command: <command>services.msc</command>. If you do not take the manual step
257 of modifying <application>Privoxy's</application> service settings, it will
258 not start. Note too that you will need to give Privoxy a user account that
259 actually exists, or it will not be permitted to
260 write to its log and configuration files.
265 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
266 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris <!--, NetBSD, HP-UX--></title>
269 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
270 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
271 things go. <!-- FIXME, more info needed? -->
275 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
276 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
279 First, make sure that no previous installations of
280 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
281 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
282 system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
283 or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
289 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
290 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
291 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
292 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
296 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
297 into will contain all of the configuration files.
301 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
302 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Mac OS X</title>
304 Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the zip file
305 icon from the Finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there).
306 Then, double-click on the package installer icon and follow the
307 installation process.
310 The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful
311 installation (in addition to every time your computer starts up). To
312 prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your
313 computer starts up, remove or rename the folder named
314 <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
317 To manually start or stop the privoxy service, use the Privoxy Utility
318 for Mac OS X. This application controls the privoxy service (e.g.
319 starting and stopping the service as well as uninstalling the software).
323 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
324 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
326 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
327 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
328 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
329 remove this directory.
333 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
334 <sect3 id="installation-tbz"><title>FreeBSD</title>
337 Privoxy is part of FreeBSD's Ports Collection, you can build and install
338 it with <literal>cd /usr/ports/www/privoxy; make install clean</literal>.
341 If you don't use the ports, you can fetch and install
342 the package with <literal>pkg_add -r privoxy</literal>.
345 The port skeleton and the package can also be downloaded from the
346 <ulink url="https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">File Release
347 Page</ulink>, but there's no reason to use them unless you're interested in the
348 beta releases which are only available there.
352 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
353 <sect3 id="installattion-gentoo"><title>Gentoo</title>
355 Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for <application>Privoxy</application> are
356 contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page,
357 but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new
358 <application>Privoxy</application> Version is added to the Portage Tree).
361 Before installing <application>Privoxy</application> under Gentoo just do
362 first <literal>emerge --sync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
363 Portage tree. With <literal>emerge privoxy</literal> you install the latest
367 Configuration files are in <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename>, the
368 documentation is in <filename>/usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;</filename>
369 and the Log directory is in <filename>/var/log/privoxy</filename>.
375 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
376 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
379 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
380 is to download the source tarball from our
381 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&package_id=10571">project download
386 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
387 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
388 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
389 CVS repository</ulink>.
391 deprecated...out of business.
392 or simply download <ulink
393 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.bz2">the nightly CVS
398 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
400 <!-- end boilerplate -->
403 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
404 <sect2 id="installation-keepupdated"><title>Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date</title>
406 As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions
407 of both the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link> (as a <ulink
408 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&release_id=103670">separate
409 package</ulink>) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for
414 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
415 <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
416 url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
417 to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
421 In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
422 to the latest <literal>default.action</literal> file we <emphasis>strongly
423 recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> and
424 <literal>user.filter</literal> for your local
425 customizations of <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
426 linkend="actions-file">Chapter on actions files</link> for details.
434 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
436 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
437 <sect1 id="whatsnew">
438 <title>What's New in this Release</title>
440 <application>Privoxy 3.0.18</application> is a stable release.
441 The changes since 3.0.17 stable are:
452 Fix a logic bug that could cause Privoxy to reuse a server
453 socket after it got tainted by a server-header-tagger-induced
454 block that was triggered before the whole server response had
455 been read. If keep-alive was enabled and the request following
456 the blocked one was to the same host and using the same forwarding
457 settings, Privoxy would send it on the tainted server socket.
458 While the server would simply treat it as a pipelined request,
459 Privoxy would later on fail to properly parse the server's
460 response as it would try to parse the unread data from the
461 first response as server headers for the second one.
462 Regression introduced in 3.0.17.
467 When implying keep-alive in client_connection(), remember that
468 the client didn't. Fixes a regression introduced in 3.0.13 that
469 would cause Privoxy to wait for additional client requests after
470 receiving a HTTP/1.1 request with "Connection: close" set
471 and connection sharing enabled.
472 With clients which terminates the client connection after detecting
473 that the whole body has been received it doesn't really matter,
474 but with clients that don't the connection would be kept open until
480 Fix a subtle race condition between prepare_csp_for_next_request()
481 and sweep() A thread preparing itself for the next client request
482 could briefly appear to be inactive.
483 If all other threads were already using more recent files,
484 the thread could get its files swept away under its feet.
485 So far this has only been reproduced while stress testing in
486 valgrind while touching action files in a loop. It's unlikely
487 to have caused any actual problems in the real world.
495 General improvements:
499 Privoxy can (re)compress buffered content before delivering
500 it to the client. Disabled by default as most users wouldn't
506 The +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} action checks URL
507 segments separately. If there are other parameters behind
508 the redirect URL, this makes it unnecessary to cut them off
509 by additionally using a +redirect{} pcrs command.
510 Initial patch submitted by Jamie Zawinski in #3429848.
515 When loading action sections, verify that the referenced filters
516 exist. Currently missing filters only result in an error message,
517 but eventually the severity will be upgraded to fatal.
522 Allow to bind to multiple separate addresses.
523 Patch set submitted by Petr Pisar in #3354485.
528 Set socket_error to errno if connecting fails in rfc2553_connect_to()
529 Previously rejected direct connections could be incorrectly reported
535 Disable filters if SDCH compression is used unless filtering is forced.
536 If SDCH was combined with a supported compression algorithm,
537 we'd previously try to decompress it, when successful apply
538 the enabled filters and ditch the Content-Encoding header
539 even though the SDCH compression wasn't removed.
540 Reported by zebul666 in #3225863.
545 Properly deal with FEATURE_TOGGLE being disabled
550 Adjust url_code_map[] so spaces are replaced with %20 instead of '+'
551 While '+' can be used by client's submitting form data, this is not
552 actually what Privoxy is using the lookups for. This is more of a
553 cosmetic issue and doesn't fix any actual problems.
558 When compiled without FEATURE_FAST_REDIRECTS, do not silently
559 ignore +fast-redirect{} directives
564 Added a workaround for GNU libc's strptime() reporting negative
565 year values when the parsed year is only specified with two digits.
566 On affected systems cookies with such a date would not be turned
567 into session cookies by the +session-cookies-only action.
568 Reported by Vaeinoe in #3403560
573 Fixed bind failures with certain GNU libc versions if no non-loopback
574 IP address has been configured on the system. This is mainly an issue
575 if the system is using DHCP and Privoxy is started before the network
576 is completely configured.
577 Reported by Raphael Marichez in #3349356.
578 Additional insight from Petr Pisar.
583 Privoxy log messages now use the ISO 8601 date format %Y-%m-%d.
584 It's only slightly longer than the old format, but contains
585 the full date including the year and allows sorting by date
586 (when grepping in multiple log files) without hassle.
591 Make a copy of the --user value and only mess with that when splitting
592 user and group. On some operating systems modifying the value directly
593 is reflected in the output of ps and friends and can be misleading.
594 Reported by zepard in #3292710.
599 If forwarded-connect-retries is set, only retry if the we are actually
600 forwarding the request. Previously direct connections would be retried
606 Fixed a small memory leak when retrying connection
611 Remove an incorrect assertion in compile_dynamic_pcrs_job_list()
612 It could be triggered by a pcrs job with an invalid pcre
613 pattern (for example one that contains a lone quantifier).
618 In get_last_url(), do not bother trying to decode URLs that do
619 not contain at least one '%' sign. It reduces the log noise and
620 a number of unnecessary memory allocations.
625 If the --user argument user[.group] contains a dot,
626 always bail out if no group has been specified.
627 Previously the intended, but undocumented (and apparently
628 untested), behaviour was to try interpreting the whole
629 argument as user name, but the detection was flawed and
630 checked for '0' isntead of '\0', thus merely preventing
631 group names beginning with a zero.
636 Simplify the signal setup in main()
641 Streamline socks5_connect() slightly
646 In case of SOCKS5 failures, dump the socks response
651 In socks5_connect(), require a complete socks response from the server
652 Previously we didn't care how much data the server response
653 contained as long as the first two bytes contained the expected
655 While at it, shrink the buffer size so we can't read more
656 than a whole socks response. This is required to support
657 Tor's optimistic data extension.
662 In chat(), do not bother to generate a client request in case of
663 direct CONNECT requests
668 Reduce server_last_modified()'s stack size
673 Shorten get_http_time() by using strftime()
678 Constify the known_http_methods pointers in unknown_method()
683 Constify the time_formats pointers in parse_header_time()
688 Constify the formerly_valid_actions pointers in action_used_to_be_valid()
693 In html_code_map[], use a numeric character reference instead of '
694 which wasn't standardized before XHTML 1.0
699 Introduce a GNUMakefile MAN_PAGE variable that defaults to privoxy.1.
700 The Debian package uses section 8 for the man page and this
701 should simplify the patch.
706 Deduplicate the INADDR_NONE definition for Solaris by moving it to jbsockets.h
711 In block_url(), ditch the obsolete workaround for ancient Netscape versions
712 that supposedly couldn't properly deal with status code 403.
717 Remove a useless NULL pointer check in load_trustfile()
722 Remove two useless NULL pointer checks in load_one_re_filterfile().
727 Change url_code_map[] from an array of pointers to an array of arrays
728 It removes an unnecessary layer of indirection and on
729 64bit system reduces the size of the binary a bit.
735 Fixes taken from Debian's 29_typos.dpatch by Roland Rosenfeld.
740 Add a dok-tidy GNUMakefile target to clean up the messy HTML
741 generated by the other dok targets.
746 GNUisms in the GNUMakefile have been removed.
751 Change the HTTP version in static responses to 1.1
756 Synced config.sub and config.guess with upstream
757 2011-11-11/386c7218162c145f5f9e1ff7f558a3fbb66c37c5.
762 Add a dedicated function to parse the values of toggles
763 Reduces duplicated code in load_config() and provides
764 better error handling. Invalid or missing toggle values
765 are now a fatal error instead of being silently ignored.
770 Terminate HTML lines in static error messages with \n instead of \r\n.
775 Simplify cgi_error_unknown() a bit.
780 In LogPutString(), don't bother looking at pszText when not
781 actually logging anything
786 Change ssplit()'s fourth parameter from int to size_t.
787 Fixes a clang complaint.
792 Add a warning that the statistics currently can't be trusted.
793 Mention Privoxy-Log-Parser's --statistics option as
794 an alternative for the time being.
799 In rfc2553_connect_to(), start setting cgi->error_message on error
804 Change the expected status code returned for http://p.p/die depending
805 on whether or not FEATURE_GRACEFUL_TERMINATION is available.
810 In cgi_die(), mark the client connection for closing.
811 If the client will fetch the style sheet through another connection
812 it gets the main thread out of the accept() state and should thus
813 trigger the actual shutdown.
818 Add a proper CGI message for cgi_die().
823 Fix an invalid free when compiled with FEATURE_GRACEFUL_TERMINATION
824 and shut down through http://config.privoxy.org/die
829 Don't enforce a logical line length limit in read_config_line()
834 Slightly refactor server_last_modified() to remove useless gmtime*() calls
839 In get_content_type(), also recognize '.jpeg' as JPEG extension
844 Add '.png' to the list of recognized file extenstions in get_content_type()
849 In block_url(), consistently use the block reason "Request blocked by Privoxy"
850 In two places the reason was "Request for blocked URL" which
851 hides the fact that the request got blocked by Privoxy and
852 isn't necessarly correct as the block may be due to tags.
857 In get_actions(), fix the "temporary" backwards compatibility hack
858 to accept block actions without reason.
859 It also covered other actions that should be rejected as invalid.
860 Reported by Billy Crook.
865 In listen_loop(), reload the configuration files after accepting
866 a new connection instead of before.
867 Previously the first connection that arrived after a configuration
868 change would still be handled with the old configuration.
873 In chat()'s receive-data loop, skip a client socket check if
874 the socket will be written to right away anyway. This can
875 increase the transfer speed for unfiltered content on fast
881 The socket timeout is used for SOCKS negotiation as well.
886 Don't keep the client connection alive if any configuration file
887 changed since the time the connection came in.
888 This is closer to Privoxy's behaviour before keep-alive support
889 for client connection has been added and also less confusing in
895 Treat all Content-Type header values containing the pattern
896 'script' as a sign of text. Reported by pribog in #3134970.
904 Action file improvements:
908 Moved the site-specific block pattern section below the one for the
909 generic patterns so for requests that are matched in both, the block
910 reason for the domain is shown which is usually more useful than showing
911 the one for the generic pattern.
916 Remove -prevent-compression from the fragile alias
917 It's no longer used anywhere by default and isn't
918 known to break stuff anyway.
923 Add a (disabled) section to block various Facebook tracking URLs
924 Reported by Dan Stahlke in #3421764.
929 Add a (disabled) section to rewrite and redirect click-tracking
930 URLs used on news.google.com
931 Reported by Dan Stahlke in #3421755.
936 Unblock linuxcounter.net/
937 Reported by Dan Stahlke in #3422612.
942 Block 'www91.intel.com/' which is used by Omniture.
943 Reported by Adam Piggott in #3167370.
948 Disable the handle-as-empty-doc-returns-ok option and mark it as deprecated.
949 Reminded by tceverling in #2790091.
954 Add ".ivwbox.de/" to the "Cross-site user tracking" section.
955 Reported by Nettozahler in #3172525.
960 Unblock and fast-redirect ".awin1.com/.*=http://"
961 Reported by Adam Piggott in #3170921.
966 Block "b.collective-media.net/".
971 Widen the Debian popcon exception to "qa.debian.org/popcon".
972 Seen in Debian's 05_default_action.dpatch by Roland Rosenfeld.
977 Block ".gemius.pl/" which only seems to be used for user tracking.
978 Reported by johnd16 in #3002731. Additional input from Lee and movax.
983 Disable banners-by-size filters for '.thinkgeek.com/'
984 The filter only seems to catch pictures of the inventory.
989 Block requests for 'go.idmnet.bbelements.com/please/showit/'
990 Reported by kacperdominik in #3372959.
995 Unblock adainitiative.org/
1000 Add a fast-redirects exception for '.googleusercontent.com/.*=cache'
1005 Add a fast-redirects exception for webcache.googleusercontent.com/
1010 Unblock http://adassier.wordpress.com/ and http://adassier.files.wordpress.com/
1018 Filter file improvements:
1022 Let the yahoo filter hide '.ads'
1027 Let the msn filter hide overlay ads for Facebook 'likes' in search results.
1032 Let the msn filter hide elements with the id 's_notf_div'.
1033 They only seem to be used to advertise site 'enhancements'.
1038 Let the js-events filter additionally disarm setInterval()
1039 Suggested by dg1727 in #3423775.
1047 Documentation improvements:
1051 Clarify the effect of compiling Privoxy with zlib support
1052 Suggested by dg1727 in #3423782.
1057 Point out that the SourceForge messaging system works
1058 like a blackhole and should thus not be used to contact
1059 individual developers.
1064 Mention some of the problems one can experience when not
1065 explicitly configuring an IP addresses as listen address.
1070 Explicitly mention that hostnames can be used instead of
1071 IP addresses for the listen-address, that only the first
1072 address returned will be used and what happens if the
1074 Requested by Calestyo in #3302213.
1082 Log message improvements:
1086 If only the server connection is kept alive, do not pretent to
1087 wait for a new client request.
1092 Remove a superfluos log message in forget_connection()
1097 In chat(), properly report missing server responses as such
1098 instead of calling them empty
1103 In forwarded_connect(), fix a log message nobody should ever see
1108 Fix a log message in socks5_connect(), a failed write operation
1109 was logged as failed read operation
1114 Let load_one_actions_file() properly complain about a missing
1115 '{' at the beginning of the file
1116 Simply stating that a line is invalid isn't particularly helpful.
1121 Do not claim to listen on a socket until we actually do.
1122 Patch submitted by Petr Pisar #3354485
1127 Prevent a duplicated LOG_LEVEL_CLF message when sending out
1128 the "no-server-data" response
1133 Also log the client socket when dropping a connection.
1138 Include the destination host in the 'Request ... marked for
1139 blocking. limit-connect{...} doesn't allow CONNECT ...' message
1140 Patch submitted by Saperski in #3296250.
1145 Prevent a duplicated log message if none of the resolved IP
1146 addresses were reachable
1151 In connect_to(), do not pretend to retry if forwarded-connect-retries
1157 When a specified user or group can't be found, put the name in
1158 single-quotes when logging it.
1163 In rfc2553_connect_to(), explain getnameinfo() errors differently.
1168 Remove a useless log message in chat()
1173 When retrying to connect, also log the maximum number of connection
1179 Rephrase a log message in compile_dynamic_pcrs_job_list()
1180 Divide the error code and its meaning with a colon.
1181 Call the pcrs job dynamic and not the filter. Filters may
1182 contain dynamic and non-dynamic pcrs jobs at the same time.
1183 Only mention the name of the filter or tagger, but don't
1184 claim it's a filter when it could be a tagger.
1189 In a fatal error message in load_one_actions_file(), cover both
1190 URL and TAG patterns
1195 In pcrs_strerror(), properly report unknown positive error code
1197 Previously they were handled like 0 (no error).
1202 In compile_dynamic_pcrs_job_list(), also log the actual error code as
1203 pcrs_strerror() doesn't handle all errors reported by pcre
1208 Don't bother trying to continue chatting if the client didn't ask for it.
1209 Reduces log noise a bit.
1214 Make two fatal error message in load_one_actions_file() more descriptive
1219 In cgi_send_user_manual(), log when rejecting a file name due to '/' or '..'
1224 In load_file(), log a message if opening a file failed
1225 The CGI error message alone isn't too helpful.
1230 In connection_destination_matches(), improve two log messages to
1231 help understand why the destinations don't match
1236 Rephrase a log message in serve(). Client request arrival
1237 should be differentiated from closed client connections now.
1242 In serve(), log if a client connection isn't reused due to a
1243 configuration file change.
1248 Let mark_server_socket_tainted() always mark the server socket tainted,
1249 just don't talk about it in cases where it has no effect.
1250 It doesn't change Privoxy's behaviour, but makes understanding
1251 the log file easier.
1263 Added a --disable-ipv6-support switch for platforms where support
1264 is detected but doesn't actually work.
1269 Do not check for the existence of strerror() and memmove() twice
1274 Remove a useless test for setpgrp(2). Privoxy doesn't
1275 need it and it can cause problems when cross-compiling
1280 Rename the --disable-acl-files switch to --disable-acl-support
1281 Since about 2001, ACL directives are specified in the standard config file.
1286 Update the URL of the 'Removing outdated PCRE version after the
1287 next stable release' posting.
1288 The old URL stopped working after one of SF's recent layout pessimizations.
1289 Reported by Han Liu.
1297 Privoxy-Regression-Test:
1301 Added --shuffle-tests option to increase the chances of detection race conditions
1306 Added a --local-test-file option that allows to use Privoxy-Regression-Test without Privoxy
1311 Added tests for missing socks4 and socks4a forwarders
1316 The --privoxy-address option now works with IPv6 addresses
1317 containing brackets, too
1322 Perform limited sanity checks for parameters that are supposed
1323 to have numerical values.
1328 Added a --sleep-time option to specify a number of seconds to
1329 sleep between tests, defaults to 0.
1334 Disable the range-requests tagger for tests that break if it's enabled
1339 Log messages use the ISO 8601 date format %Y-%m-%d.
1344 Fix spelling in two error messages.
1349 In the --help output, include a list of supported tests and their default levels.
1361 Perform limited sanity checks for parameters that are supposed
1362 to have numerical values.
1367 Implement a --unbreak-lines-only option to try to revert MUA breakage.
1372 Accept and highlight: Added header: Content-Encoding: deflate
1377 Accept and highlight: Compressed content from 29258 to 8630 bytes.
1382 Accept and highlight: Client request arrived in time on socket 21.
1387 Highlight: Didn't receive data in time: a.fsdn.com:443
1392 Accept log messages with ISO 8601 time stamps, too
1404 Bump generated Firefox version to 8.0
1409 Only randomize the release date if the new --randomize-release-date option is enabled.
1410 Firefox versions after 4 use a fixed date string without meaning.
1420 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1422 <sect2 id="upgradersnote">
1423 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
1426 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
1427 versions of <application>Privoxy</application>:
1435 The recommended way to upgrade &my-app; is to backup your old
1436 configuration files, install the new ones, verify that &my-app;
1437 is working correctly and finally merge back your changes using
1438 <application>diff</application> and maybe <application>patch</application>.
1441 There are a number of new features in each &my-app; release and
1442 most of them have to be explicitly enabled in the configuration
1443 files. Old configuration files obviously don't do that and due
1444 to syntax changes using old configuration files with a new
1445 &my-app; isn't always possible anyway.
1450 Note that some installers remove earlier versions completely,
1451 including configuration files, therefore you should really save
1452 any important configuration files!
1457 On the other hand, other installers don't overwrite existing configuration
1458 files, thinking you will want to do that yourself.
1463 <filename>standard.action</filename> has been merged into
1464 the <filename>default.action</filename> file.
1469 In the default configuration only fatal errors are logged now.
1470 You can change that in the <link linkend="DEBUG">debug section</link>
1471 of the configuration file. You may also want to enable more verbose
1472 logging until you verified that the new &my-app; version is working
1479 Three other config file settings are now off by default:
1480 <link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link>,
1481 <link linkend="enable-remote-http-toggle">enable-remote-http-toggle</link>,
1482 and <link linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link>.
1483 If you use or want these, you will need to explicitly enable them, and
1484 be aware of the security issues involved.
1491 What constitutes a <quote>default</quote> configuration has changed,
1492 and you may want to review which actions are <quote>on</quote> by
1493 default. This is primarily a matter of emphasis, but some features
1494 you may have been used to, may now be <quote>off</quote> by default.
1495 There are also a number of new actions and filters you may want to
1496 consider, most of which are not fully incorporated into the default
1497 settings as yet (see above).
1504 The default actions setting is now <literal>Cautious</literal>. Previous
1505 releases had a default setting of <literal>Medium</literal>. Experienced
1506 users may want to adjust this, as it is fairly conservative by &my-app;
1507 standards and past practices. See <ulink
1508 url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
1509 http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>. New users
1510 should try the default settings for a while before turning up the volume.
1516 The default setting has filtering turned <emphasis>off</emphasis>, which
1517 subsequently means that compression is <emphasis>on</emphasis>. Remember
1518 that filtering does not work on compressed pages, so if you use, or want to
1519 use, filtering, you will need to force compression off. Example:
1523 { +<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{google} +<link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link> }
1527 Or if you use a number of filters, or filter many sites, you may just want
1528 to turn off compression for all sites in
1529 <filename>default.action</filename> (or
1530 <filename>user.action</filename>).
1537 Also, <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> is
1538 off by default now. If you've liked this feature in the past, you may want
1539 to turn it back on in <filename>user.action</filename> now.
1546 Some installers may not automatically start
1547 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
1558 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1559 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using Privoxy</title>
1565 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
1566 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
1573 Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
1574 service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
1575 linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
1576 linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
1583 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
1584 not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
1585 <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
1591 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
1592 HTTPS (SSL) <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>
1593 by setting the proxy configuration for address of
1594 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
1595 <emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> activate proxying for <literal>FTP</literal> or
1596 any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) unless you intend to prevent your
1597 browser from using these protocols.
1603 Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
1604 If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage
1605 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
1606 you should remove any currently stored cookies too.
1612 A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
1613 most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
1614 configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
1615 to no initial configuration is required in most cases, you may want
1617 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">web-based action editor</ulink> though.
1618 Be sure to read the warnings first.
1621 See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
1622 configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
1623 You might also want to look at the <link
1624 linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
1625 introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
1632 If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are
1633 blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
1634 <application>Privoxy's</application> behavior, take a look at the <link
1635 linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
1636 find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
1637 helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
1638 url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
1639 Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
1640 Action</link></quote> has hints on how to understand and debug actions that
1641 <quote>misbehave</quote>.
1646 Did anyone test these lately?
1650 For easy access to &my-app;'s most important controls, drag the provided
1651 <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklets</link> into your browser's
1659 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
1660 Developers</link> on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get
1667 Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
1675 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1677 <sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
1678 <title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
1680 NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
1681 want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
1684 Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
1685 array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
1686 user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
1689 This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
1690 you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
1691 information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
1694 First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
1695 more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
1696 things that were not intended. And the more likely that some things
1697 may not work as intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
1698 extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
1699 <quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
1700 configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
1701 not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
1702 the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
1703 default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
1704 habits and preferences.
1707 Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
1708 <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
1709 the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
1710 some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
1711 <application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
1712 action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
1713 <application>actions</application> in <application>Privoxy's</application>
1714 arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. <link
1715 linkend="actions">Actions</link>, and <link linkend="actions-file">action
1716 configuration files</link>, are explained in depth below.
1719 Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
1720 followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
1721 can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
1722 wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
1723 actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
1726 When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
1727 of the sections as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
1728 or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
1729 respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
1730 pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
1731 use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
1732 original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
1733 embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
1734 or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
1735 such embedded URLs. &my-app; can deal with each URL individually, so, for
1736 instance, the main page text is not touched, but images from such-and-such
1741 The most important actions for basic ad blocking are: <literal><link
1742 linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
1743 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
1745 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal>,and
1746 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
1754 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this is perhaps
1755 the single most used action, and is particularly important for ad blocking.
1756 This action stops any contact between your browser and any URL patterns
1757 that match this action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads,
1758 but also anything that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply
1759 stops any communication with the remote server and sends
1760 <application>Privoxy</application>'s own built-in BLOCKED page instead to
1761 let you now what has happened (with some exceptions, see below).
1767 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
1768 tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
1769 <application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
1770 for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
1771 is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
1772 important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
1773 some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
1774 <application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
1775 a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
1776 though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
1777 an entire HTML page in most situations.
1783 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> -
1784 sends an empty document instead of <application>Privoxy's</application>
1785 normal BLOCKED HTML page. This is useful for file types that are neither
1786 HTML nor images, such as blocking JavaScript files.
1793 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> - tells
1794 <application>Privoxy</application> what to display in place of an ad image that
1795 has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
1796 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action somewhere in the
1797 configuration, <emphasis>and</emphasis>, it must also match an
1798 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action.
1801 The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
1805 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
1806 replacement is obvious. This is the default.
1811 <emphasis>blank</emphasis> - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
1812 This is the so-called <quote>invisible</quote> configuration option.
1817 <emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any image anywhere
1818 of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
1827 Advanced users will eventually want to explore &my-app;
1828 <literal><link linkend="filter">filters</link></literal> as well. Filters
1829 are very different from <literal><link
1830 linkend="block">blocks</link></literal>.
1831 A <quote>block</quote> blocks a site, page, or unwanted contented. Filters
1832 are a way of filtering or modifying what is actually on the page. An example
1833 filter usage: a text replacement of <quote>no-no</quote> for
1834 <quote>nasty-word</quote>. That is a very simple example. This process can be
1835 used for ad blocking, but it is more in the realm of advanced usage and has
1836 some pitfalls to be wary off.
1840 The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
1841 the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
1842 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1843 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
1844 is an internal page, and does not require Internet access.
1848 Note that as of <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta the
1849 action editor is disabled by default. Check the
1850 <ulink url="config.html#ENABLE-EDIT-ACTIONS">enable-edit-actions
1851 section in the configuration file</ulink> to learn why and in which
1852 cases it's safe to enable again.
1856 If you decided to enable the action editor, select the appropriate
1857 <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
1858 <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
1859 local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
1860 meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
1861 other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
1862 blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
1863 <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
1867 A quick and simple step by step example:
1875 Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
1876 <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
1884 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1889 Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
1890 on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
1893 <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
1895 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
1898 <imagedata fileref="files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
1901 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
1910 You should have a section with only
1911 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
1912 <quote>Actions:</quote>.
1913 If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
1914 button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
1915 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
1916 This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
1917 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
1918 in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
1919 just below the list.
1924 Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
1925 click the <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
1926 browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote>.
1927 Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
1928 <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
1929 <quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
1934 Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
1935 (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
1943 This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
1944 wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
1945 site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
1946 the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
1951 For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
1952 to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
1953 The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
1956 There are also various
1957 <link linkend="filter">filters</link> that can be used for ad blocking
1958 (filters are a special subset of actions). These
1959 fall into the <quote>advanced</quote> usage category, and are explained in
1960 depth in later sections.
1967 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1970 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1971 <sect1 id="startup">
1972 <title>Starting Privoxy</title>
1974 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
1975 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
1976 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)
1977 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>. The default is
1978 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
1979 used port 8000). This is the one configuration step <emphasis>that must be done
1983 Please note that <application>Privoxy</application> can only proxy HTTP and
1984 HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
1987 <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
1989 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1990 Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings</title>
1993 <imagedata fileref="proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
1996 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
2004 With <application>Firefox</application>, this is typically set under:
2008 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Network</guibutton> -><guibutton>Connection</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Settings</guibutton>
2013 Or optionally on some platforms:
2017 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>General</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connection Settings</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Manual Proxy Configuration</guibutton>
2023 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
2024 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
2029 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
2030 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
2031 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton> -> <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
2036 For <application>Internet Explorer v.5-7</application>:
2040 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Internet Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connections</guibutton> -> <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
2044 Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
2045 (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
2046 proxy support too (sometimes labeled <quote>Secure</quote>). Make sure any
2047 checkboxes like <quote>Use the same proxy server for all protocols</quote> is
2048 <emphasis>UNCHECKED</emphasis>. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
2051 <!-- image of IE Proxy configuration -->
2053 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
2054 Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings</title>
2057 <imagedata fileref="proxy2.jpg" format="jpg">
2060 <phrase>[ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
2068 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
2069 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
2070 any <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
2071 if you want <application>Privoxy</application> to manage that. You are now
2072 ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
2073 <application>Privoxy</application>!
2077 <application>Privoxy</application> itself is typically started by specifying the
2078 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
2079 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
2080 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
2081 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
2084 <sect2 id="start-redhat">
2085 <title>Red Hat and Fedora</title>
2087 A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use
2088 the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
2093 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
2101 # service privoxy start
2106 <sect2 id="start-debian">
2107 <title>Debian</title>
2109 We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; upon booting per
2110 default. It will use the file
2111 <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
2116 # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
2121 <sect2 id="start-windows">
2122 <title>Windows</title>
2124 Click on the &my-app; Icon to start <application>Privoxy</application>. If no configuration file is
2125 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
2126 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
2127 automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option
2131 <application>Privoxy</application> can run with full Windows service functionality.
2132 On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments
2133 to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
2134 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Windows Installation
2135 instructions</link> for details.
2139 <sect2 id="start-unices">
2140 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
2142 Example Unix startup command:
2146 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
2151 <sect2 id="start-os2">
2154 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
2155 start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
2156 double-clicking on the <application>Privoxy</application> icon in the
2157 <application>Privoxy</application> folder.
2161 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
2162 <title>Mac OS X</title>
2164 After downloading the privoxy software, unzip the downloaded file by
2165 double-clicking on the zip file icon. Then, double-click on the
2166 installer package icon and follow the installation process.
2169 The privoxy service will automatically start after a successful
2170 installation. In addition, the privoxy service will automatically
2171 start every time your computer starts up.
2174 To prevent the privoxy service from automatically starting when your
2175 computer starts up, remove or rename the folder named
2176 /Library/StartupItems/Privoxy.
2179 A simple application named Privoxy Utility has been created which
2180 enables administrators to easily start and stop the privoxy service.
2183 In addition, the Privoxy Utility presents a simple way for
2184 administrators to edit the various privoxy config files. A method
2185 to uninstall the software is also available.
2188 An administrator username and password must be supplied in order for
2189 the Privoxy Utility to perform any of the tasks.
2194 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
2195 <title>AmigaOS</title>
2197 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
2198 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
2199 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
2200 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
2201 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
2202 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
2203 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
2207 <sect2 id="start-gentoo">
2208 <title>Gentoo</title>
2210 A script is again used. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config
2211 </filename> as its main configuration file.
2215 /etc/init.d/privoxy start
2219 Note that <application>Privoxy</application> is not automatically started at
2220 boot time by default. You can change this with the <literal>rc-update</literal>
2225 rc-update add privoxy default
2233 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
2237 must find a better place for this paragraph
2240 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
2241 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
2242 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
2243 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
2244 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
2245 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
2249 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
2250 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
2251 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
2252 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
2253 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
2254 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
2255 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
2256 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
2257 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
2261 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
2262 sites is the popup-killing (through <ulink
2263 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>),
2264 because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
2265 popups (explained below).
2269 <application>Privoxy</application> does not support all of the optional HTTP/1.1
2270 features yet. In the unlikely event that you experience inexplicable problems
2271 with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
2272 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
2273 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
2274 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
2275 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
2276 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
2277 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
2281 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
2282 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
2283 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
2284 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
2285 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
2286 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
2287 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
2288 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
2289 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
2293 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
2294 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
2295 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
2296 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
2297 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
2298 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
2299 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
2303 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
2304 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
2305 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
2306 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
2307 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
2308 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
2313 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <link
2314 linkend="actions-file">read more about the actions concept</link>
2315 or even dive deep into the <link linkend="actionsanat">Appendix
2320 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
2321 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
2322 section <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
2323 Developers</quote></link> below.
2328 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2329 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
2330 <title>Command Line Options</title>
2332 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
2333 command-line options:
2341 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
2344 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
2349 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
2352 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
2357 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
2360 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
2361 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
2366 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
2369 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
2370 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
2371 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
2372 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
2377 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
2380 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
2381 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
2382 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
2387 <emphasis>--chroot</emphasis>
2390 Before changing to the user ID given in the <emphasis>--user</emphasis> option,
2391 chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
2392 process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
2393 the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy.
2399 <emphasis>--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname</emphasis>
2402 Specifies a hostname to look up before doing a chroot. On some systems, initializing the
2403 resolver library involves reading config files from /etc and/or loading additional shared
2404 libraries from /lib. On these systems, doing a hostname lookup before the chroot reduces
2405 the number of files that must be copied into the chroot tree.
2408 For fastest startup speed, a good value is a hostname that is not in /etc/hosts but that
2409 your local name server (listed in /etc/resolv.conf) can resolve without recursion
2410 (that is, without having to ask any other name servers). The hostname need not exist,
2411 but if it doesn't, an error message (which can be ignored) will be output.
2417 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
2420 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
2421 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
2422 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
2423 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
2424 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
2425 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
2433 On <application>MS Windows</application> only there are two additional
2434 command-line options to allow <application>Privoxy</application> to install and
2435 run as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>. See the
2436 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Window Installation section</link>
2444 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2447 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2448 <sect1 id="configuration"><title>Privoxy Configuration</title>
2450 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
2451 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
2452 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
2453 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
2457 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2460 <title>Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser</title>
2462 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
2463 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
2464 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
2465 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
2466 You will see the following section:
2470 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
2473 <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
2477 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
2480 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
2483 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
2486 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
2489 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
2492 ▪ <ulink
2493 url="http://www.privoxy.org/&p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
2501 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
2502 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
2503 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
2504 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
2505 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
2506 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
2510 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
2511 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
2512 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
2513 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
2514 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
2515 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
2516 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
2517 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
2522 Note that several of the features described above are disabled by default
2523 in <application>Privoxy</application> 3.0.7 beta and later.
2525 <ulink url="config.html">configuration file</ulink> to learn why
2526 and in which cases it's safe to enable them again.
2531 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2536 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2538 <sect2 id="confoverview">
2539 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
2541 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
2542 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
2543 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
2544 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
2545 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
2546 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
2550 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
2551 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
2552 principle configuration files are:
2560 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
2561 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
2562 on Windows. This is a required file.
2568 <filename>match-all.action</filename> is used to define which <quote>actions</quote>
2569 relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups, content modification, cookie handling
2570 etc should be applied by default. It should be the first actions file loaded.
2573 <filename>default.action</filename> defines many exceptions (both positive and negative)
2574 from the default set of actions that's configured in <filename>match-all.action</filename>.
2575 It should be the second actions file loaded and shouldn't be edited by the user.
2578 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
2579 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
2580 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
2581 <filename>match-all.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
2582 to define sooner or later) are best applied in <filename>user.action</filename>,
2583 where you can preserve them across upgrades. The file isn't installed by all
2584 installers, but you can easily create it yourself with a text editor.
2587 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
2589 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
2591 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
2592 various actions files.
2598 <quote>Filter files</quote> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
2599 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
2600 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
2601 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
2602 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
2603 <filename>default.filter</filename> includes various filters made
2604 available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
2605 others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
2606 filter files in <filename>config</filename> as you can with
2607 actions files. We suggest <filename>user.filter</filename> for any
2608 locally defined filters or customizations.
2616 The syntax of the configuration and filter files may change between different
2617 Privoxy versions, unfortunately some enhancements cost backwards compatibility.
2618 <!-- Add link to documentation-->
2622 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
2623 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
2624 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
2625 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
2626 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
2627 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
2628 out" that line. Blank lines are ignored.
2632 The actions files and filter files
2633 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
2634 maximum flexibility.
2638 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
2639 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
2640 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
2641 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
2642 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
2643 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
2644 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
2649 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
2650 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
2651 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
2652 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
2658 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2661 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
2663 <!-- **************************************************** -->
2664 <!-- Include config.sgml here -->
2665 <!-- This is where the entire config file is detailed. -->
2667 <!-- end include -->
2670 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2674 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
2676 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
2680 XXX: similar descriptions are in the Configuration Files sections.
2681 We should only describe them at one place.
2684 The actions files are used to define what <emphasis>actions</emphasis>
2685 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determines
2686 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
2687 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof).
2688 There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
2689 Each action does something a little different.
2690 These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
2691 our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that
2692 their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.
2696 are three action files included with <application>Privoxy</application> with
2703 <filename>match-all.action</filename> - is used to define which
2704 <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
2705 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default.
2706 It should be the first actions file loaded
2711 <filename>default.action</filename> - defines many exceptions (both
2712 positive and negative) from the default set of actions that's configured
2713 in <filename>match-all.action</filename>. It is a set of rules that should
2714 work reasonably well as-is for most users. This file is only supposed to
2715 be edited by the developers. It should be the second actions file loaded.
2720 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
2721 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
2722 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
2723 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
2728 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Cautious</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Medium</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Advanced</guibutton>
2731 These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no
2732 influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
2733 editor</emphasis>. A default installation should be pre-set to
2734 <literal>Cautious</literal>. New users should try this for a while before
2735 adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels. The more aggressive
2736 the settings, then the more likelihood there is of problems such as sites
2737 not working as they should.
2740 The <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button allows you to turn each
2741 action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <guibutton>Cautious</guibutton>
2742 button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
2743 ad blocking and a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently
2744 there will be less of a chance for accidental problems. The
2745 <guibutton>Medium</guibutton> button sets the list to a medium level of
2746 other features and a low level set of privacy features. The
2747 <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> button sets the list to a high level of
2748 ad blocking and medium level of privacy. See the chart below. The latter
2749 three buttons over-ride any changes via with the
2750 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button. More fine-tuning can be done in the
2751 lower sections of this internal page.
2754 While the actions file editor allows to enable these settings in all
2755 actions files, they are only supposed to be enabled in the first one
2756 to make sure you don't unintentionally overrule earlier rules.
2759 The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
2760 <filename>default.action</filename> are:
2763 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
2764 <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
2765 <colspec colname=c1>
2766 <colspec colname=c2>
2767 <colspec colname=c3>
2768 <colspec colname=c4>
2771 <entry>Feature</entry>
2772 <entry>Cautious</entry>
2773 <entry>Medium</entry>
2774 <entry>Advanced</entry>
2779 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
2780 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
2781 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
2782 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
2788 <entry>Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</entry>
2789 <entry>medium</entry>
2795 <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
2802 <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
2808 <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
2809 <entry>blocks only</entry>
2810 <entry>blocks only</entry>
2811 <entry>blocks only</entry>
2815 <entry>Privacy Features</entry>
2817 <entry>medium</entry>
2818 <entry>medium/high</entry>
2822 <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
2824 <entry>session-only</entry>
2829 <entry>Referer forging</entry>
2836 <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
2843 <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
2850 <entry>HTML taming</entry>
2857 <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
2864 <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
2871 <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
2887 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
2888 file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
2889 <filename>default.action</filename> is typically processed before
2890 <filename>user.action</filename>). The content of these can all be viewed and
2892 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2893 The over-riding principle when applying actions, is that the last action that
2894 matches a given URL wins. The broadest, most general rules go first
2895 (defined in <filename>default.action</filename>),
2896 followed by any exceptions (typically also in
2897 <filename>default.action</filename>), which are then followed lastly by any
2898 local preferences (typically in <emphasis>user</emphasis><filename>.action</filename>).
2899 Generally, <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word.
2903 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
2904 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
2905 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
2906 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
2907 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
2908 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
2909 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
2910 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
2911 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
2912 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
2913 with the advantage that it is a separate file, which makes preserving your
2914 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
2918 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
2919 just some obnoxious URL whose content you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
2920 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
2921 written to disk), content can be modified, some JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
2922 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
2926 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2928 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
2930 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
2931 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
2932 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
2933 certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring
2934 refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that the more
2935 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
2936 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
2937 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per
2938 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
2939 regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe
2940 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
2944 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
2945 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
2946 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
2947 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
2951 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2953 <title>How to Edit</title>
2955 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
2956 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
2957 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
2958 Note: the config file option <link
2959 linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link> must be enabled for
2960 this to work. The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single
2961 feature on a per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults
2962 like <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or
2963 <quote>Advanced</quote>. Warning: the <quote>Advanced</quote> setting is more
2964 aggressive, and will be more likely to cause problems for some sites.
2965 Experienced users only!
2969 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
2970 the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at
2971 <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly commented with many
2977 <sect2 id="actions-apply">
2978 <title>How Actions are Applied to Requests</title>
2980 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
2981 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
2982 be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
2983 heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
2984 of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
2985 Below that, there is a list of URL and tag patterns, each on a separate line.
2989 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
2990 compared to all URL patterns in each <quote>action file</quote>.
2991 Every time it matches, the list of applicable actions for the request is
2992 incrementally updated, using the heading of the section in which the
2993 pattern is located. The same is done again for tags and tag patterns later on.
2997 If multiple applying sections set the same action differently,
2998 the last match wins. If not, the effects are aggregated.
2999 E.g. a URL might match a regular section with a heading line of <literal>{
3000 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> }</literal>,
3001 then later another one with just <literal>{
3002 +<link linkend="block">block</link> }</literal>, resulting
3003 in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply. And there may well be
3004 cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
3010 { +<literal>handle-as-image</literal> +<literal>block{Banner ads.}</literal> }
3011 # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
3013 media.example.com/.*banners
3014 .example.com/images/ads/</screen>
3018 You can trace this process for URL patterns and any given URL by visiting <ulink
3019 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
3023 Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
3024 Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</link> section.
3028 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3029 <sect2 id="af-patterns">
3030 <title>Patterns</title>
3032 As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
3033 to determine what <emphasis>actions</emphasis> might apply to which sites and
3034 pages your browser attempts to access. These <quote>patterns</quote> use wild
3035 card type <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> matching to achieve a high degree of
3036 flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
3037 against many similar patterns.
3041 Generally, an URL pattern has the form
3042 <literal><domain><port>/<path></literal>, where the
3043 <literal><domain></literal>, the <literal><port></literal>
3044 and the <literal><path></literal> are optional. (This is why the special
3045 <literal>/</literal> pattern matches all URLs). Note that the protocol
3046 portion of the URL pattern (e.g. <literal>http://</literal>) should
3047 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be included in the pattern. This is assumed already!
3050 The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of
3051 the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
3052 while the path part uses more flexible
3053 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
3054 Expressions</quote></ulink> (POSIX 1003.2).
3057 The port part of a pattern is a decimal port number preceded by a colon
3058 (<literal>:</literal>). If the domain part contains a numerical IPv6 address,
3059 it has to be put into angle brackets
3060 (<literal><</literal>, <literal>></literal>).
3065 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
3068 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
3069 regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in
3070 this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
3071 simple <literal>example.com</literal> is different and would NOT match.
3076 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
3079 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
3085 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
3088 matches all the documents on <literal>www.example.com</literal>
3089 whose name starts with <literal>/index.html</literal>.
3094 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html$</literal></term>
3097 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
3098 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
3103 <term><literal>/index.html$</literal></term>
3106 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
3107 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server anywhere.
3112 <term><literal>/</literal></term>
3115 Matches any URL because there's no requirement for either the
3116 domain or the path to match anything.
3121 <term><literal>:8000/</literal></term>
3124 Matches any URL pointing to TCP port 8000.
3129 <term><literal><2001:db8::1>/</literal></term>
3132 Matches any URL with the host address <literal>2001:db8::1</literal>.
3133 (Note that the real URL uses plain brackets, not angle brackets.)
3138 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
3141 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
3142 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>. So its
3150 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3151 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
3154 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
3155 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
3161 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
3164 matches any domain with first-level domain <literal>com</literal>
3165 and second-level domain <literal>example</literal>.
3166 For example <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
3167 <literal>example.com</literal> and <literal>foo.bar.baz.example.com</literal>.
3168 Note that it wouldn't match if the second-level domain was <literal>another-example</literal>.
3173 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
3176 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
3177 <literal>www.</literal> (It also matches the domain
3178 <literal>www</literal> but most of the time that doesn't matter.)
3183 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
3186 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>.
3187 And, by the way, also included would be any files or documents that exist
3188 within that domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly
3189 speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as
3190 a domain.) This might be <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
3191 <literal>news.example.de</literal>, or
3192 <literal>www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</literal> for instance. All these
3200 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
3201 themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
3202 <quote>*</quote> represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
3204 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
3205 Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax of <quote>.*</quote>),
3206 <quote>?</quote> represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
3207 regular expression syntax of a simple <quote>.</quote>), and you can define
3208 <quote>character classes</quote> in square brackets which is similar to
3209 the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:
3214 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
3217 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
3218 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
3223 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
3226 matches all of the above, and then some.
3231 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
3234 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
3235 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
3240 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
3243 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
3244 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
3245 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
3246 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
3253 While flexible, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax.
3258 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
3261 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3262 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
3265 <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>modern</quote> POSIX 1003.2
3266 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
3267 Expressions</quote></ulink> for matching the path portion (after the slash),
3268 and is thus more flexible.
3272 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
3273 expressions, you also might want to have a look at your operating system's documentation
3274 on regular expressions (try <literal>man re_format</literal>).
3278 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
3279 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
3280 for the beginning of a line).
3284 Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
3285 by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
3286 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
3287 only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
3288 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
3293 <term><literal>.example.com/.*</literal></term>
3296 Is equivalent to just <quote>.example.com</quote>, since any documents
3297 within that domain are matched with or without the <quote>.*</quote>
3298 regular expression. This is redundant
3303 <term><literal>.example.com/.*/index.html$</literal></term>
3306 Will match any page in the domain of <quote>example.com</quote> that is
3307 named <quote>index.html</quote>, and that is part of some path. For
3308 example, it matches <quote>www.example.com/testing/index.html</quote> but
3309 NOT <quote>www.example.com/index.html</quote> because the regular
3310 expression called for at least two <quote>/'s</quote>, thus the path
3311 requirement. It also would match
3312 <quote>www.example.com/testing/index_html</quote>, because of the
3313 special meta-character <quote>.</quote>.
3318 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html$</literal></term>
3321 This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page
3322 named <quote>index.html</quote> regardless of path which in this case can
3323 have one or more <quote>/'s</quote>. And this one must contain exactly
3324 <quote>.html</quote> (but does not have to end with that!).
3329 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</literal></term>
3332 This regular expression will match any path of <quote>example.com</quote>
3333 that contains any of the words <quote>ads</quote>, <quote>banner</quote>,
3334 <quote>banners</quote> (because of the <quote>?</quote>) or <quote>junk</quote>.
3335 The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
3340 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</literal></term>
3343 This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
3344 <quote>.jpg</quote>, <quote>.jpeg</quote>, <quote>.gif</quote> or <quote>.png</quote>. So this
3345 one is limited to common image formats.
3352 There are many, many good examples to be found in <filename>default.action</filename>,
3353 and more tutorials below in <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>.
3358 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
3361 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3362 <sect3 id="tag-pattern"><title>The Tag Pattern</title>
3365 Tag patterns are used to change the applying actions based on the
3366 request's tags. Tags can be created with either the
3367 <link linkend="CLIENT-HEADER-TAGGER">client-header-tagger</link>
3368 or the <link linkend="SERVER-HEADER-TAGGER">server-header-tagger</link> action.
3372 Tag patterns have to start with <quote>TAG:</quote>, so &my-app;
3373 can tell them apart from URL patterns. Everything after the colon
3374 including white space, is interpreted as a regular expression with
3375 path pattern syntax, except that tag patterns aren't left-anchored
3376 automatically (&my-app; doesn't silently add a <quote>^</quote>,
3377 you have to do it yourself if you need it).
3381 To match all requests that are tagged with <quote>foo</quote>
3382 your pattern line should be <quote>TAG:^foo$</quote>,
3383 <quote>TAG:foo</quote> would work as well, but it would also
3384 match requests whose tags contain <quote>foo</quote> somewhere.
3385 <quote>TAG: foo</quote> wouldn't work as it requires white space.
3389 Sections can contain URL and tag patterns at the same time,
3390 but tag patterns are checked after the URL patterns and thus
3391 always overrule them, even if they are located before the URL patterns.
3395 Once a new tag is added, Privoxy checks right away if it's matched by one
3396 of the tag patterns and updates the action settings accordingly. As a result
3397 tags can be used to activate other tagger actions, as long as these other
3398 taggers look for headers that haven't already be parsed.
3402 For example you could tag client requests which use the
3403 <literal>POST</literal> method,
3404 then use this tag to activate another tagger that adds a tag if cookies
3405 are sent, and then use a block action based on the cookie tag. This allows
3406 the outcome of one action, to be input into a subsequent action. However if
3407 you'd reverse the position of the described taggers, and activated the
3408 method tagger based on the cookie tagger, no method tags would be created.
3409 The method tagger would look for the request line, but at the time
3410 the cookie tag is created, the request line has already been parsed.
3414 While this is a limitation you should be aware of, this kind of
3415 indirection is seldom needed anyway and even the example doesn't
3416 make too much sense.
3423 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
3426 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3428 <sect2 id="actions">
3429 <title>Actions</title>
3431 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
3432 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
3433 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
3434 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
3435 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
3436 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
3437 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
3438 previously applied.</quote>
3443 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
3444 separated by whitespace, like in
3445 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
3446 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
3447 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
3448 of the actions file.
3452 Actions fall into three categories:
3459 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
3460 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
3464 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
3465 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
3468 Example: <literal>+handle-as-image</literal>
3475 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
3480 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
3481 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
3482 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
3485 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
3486 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
3489 Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070602 Firefox/2.0.0.4}</literal>
3495 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
3496 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
3497 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
3498 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
3499 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
3500 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
3504 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
3505 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
3506 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
3507 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
3510 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
3511 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
3519 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
3520 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
3521 normal, non-blocking, non-filtering proxy. You must specifically enable the
3522 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
3523 files will give a good starting point).
3527 Later defined action sections always over-ride earlier ones of the same type.
3528 So exceptions to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
3529 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such
3530 as <filename>user.action</filename>). For multi-valued actions, the actions
3531 are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are processed in
3532 the order they are defined in <filename>config</filename> (the default
3533 installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any given
3534 URL to match more than one <quote>pattern</quote> (because of wildcards and
3535 regular expressions), and thus to trigger more than one set of actions! Last
3539 <!-- start actions listing -->
3541 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
3545 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
3546 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
3547 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
3549 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
3552 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3554 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
3555 <title>add-header</title>
3559 <term>Typical use:</term>
3561 <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
3566 <term>Effect:</term>
3569 Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
3576 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3578 <para>Multi-value.</para>
3583 <term>Parameter:</term>
3586 Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
3587 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
3597 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
3598 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
3599 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
3603 Headers added by this action are not modified by other actions.
3609 <term>Example usage:</term>
3612 <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
3620 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3621 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
3622 <title>block</title>
3626 <term>Typical use:</term>
3628 <para>Block ads or other unwanted content</para>
3633 <term>Effect:</term>
3636 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
3637 requests are trapped by &my-app; and the requested URL is never retrieved,
3638 but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
3640 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
3642 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>, and
3644 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> actions.
3652 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3654 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3659 <term>Parameter:</term>
3661 <para>A block reason that should be given to the user.</para>
3669 <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
3670 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains the block reason given as
3671 parameter, a link to find out why the block action applies, and a click-through
3672 to the blocked content (the latter only if the force feature is available and
3676 A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
3677 <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
3678 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
3679 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
3680 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
3681 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
3684 It is important to understand this process, in order
3685 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
3686 ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
3687 upon which various other features depend.
3690 The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
3691 action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
3692 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
3693 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
3694 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
3700 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3703 <screen>{+block{No nasty stuff for you.}}
3704 # Block and replace with "blocked" page
3705 .nasty-stuff.example.com
3707 {+block{Doubleclick banners.} +handle-as-image}
3708 # Block and replace with image
3712 {+block{Layered ads.} +handle-as-empty-document}
3713 # Block and then ignore
3714 adserver.example.net/.*\.js$</screen>
3724 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3725 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="change-x-forwarded-for">
3726 <title>change-x-forwarded-for</title>
3730 <term>Typical use:</term>
3732 <para>Improve privacy by not forwarding the source of the request in the HTTP headers.</para>
3737 <term>Effect:</term>
3740 Deletes the <quote>X-Forwarded-For:</quote> HTTP header from the client request,
3748 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3750 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3755 <term>Parameter:</term>
3759 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header.</para>
3763 <quote>add</quote> to create the header (or append
3764 the client's IP address to an already existing one).
3775 It is safe and recommended to use <literal>block</literal>.
3778 Forwarding the source address of the request may make
3779 sense in some multi-user setups but is also a privacy risk.
3784 <term>Example usage:</term>
3787 <screen>+change-x-forwarded-for{block}</screen>
3794 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3795 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-filter">
3796 <title>client-header-filter</title>
3800 <term>Typical use:</term>
3803 Rewrite or remove single client headers.
3809 <term>Effect:</term>
3812 All client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
3813 the specified regular expression based substitutions.
3820 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3822 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3827 <term>Parameter:</term>
3830 The name of a client-header filter, as defined in one of the
3831 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
3840 Client-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
3841 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
3842 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
3843 You can do that by using tags though.
3846 Client-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
3847 and use their output as input.
3850 If the request URL gets changed, &my-app; will detect that and use the new
3851 one. This can be used to rewrite the request destination behind the client's
3852 back, for example to specify a Tor exit relay for certain requests.
3855 Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
3856 to learn which client-header filters are available by default, and how to
3864 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3868 # Hide Tor exit notation in Host and Referer Headers
3869 {+client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}}
3880 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3881 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="client-header-tagger">
3882 <title>client-header-tagger</title>
3886 <term>Typical use:</term>
3889 Block requests based on their headers.
3895 <term>Effect:</term>
3898 Client headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
3899 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
3907 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3909 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3914 <term>Parameter:</term>
3917 The name of a client-header tagger, as defined in one of the
3918 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
3927 Client-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
3928 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
3932 Client-header taggers are the first actions that are executed
3933 and their tags can be used to control every other action.
3939 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3943 # Tag every request with the User-Agent header
3944 {+client-header-tagger{user-agent}}
3947 # Tagging itself doesn't change the action
3948 # settings, sections with TAG patterns do:
3950 # If it's a download agent, use a different forwarding proxy,
3951 # show the real User-Agent and make sure resume works.
3952 {+forward-override{forward-socks5 10.0.0.2:2222 .} \
3953 -hide-if-modified-since \
3954 -overwrite-last-modified \
3959 TAG:^User-Agent: NetBSD-ftp/
3960 TAG:^User-Agent: Novell ZYPP Installer
3961 TAG:^User-Agent: RPM APT-HTTP/
3962 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/
3963 TAG:^User-Agent: Ubuntu APT-HTTP/
3964 TAG:^User-Agent: MPlayer/
3974 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3975 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="content-type-overwrite">
3976 <title>content-type-overwrite</title>
3980 <term>Typical use:</term>
3982 <para>Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode</para>
3987 <term>Effect:</term>
3990 Replaces the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header.
3997 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3999 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4004 <term>Parameter:</term>
4016 The <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header is used by the
4017 browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this
4018 header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of
4019 displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is
4020 supported by the browser.
4023 The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
4024 the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <quote>text/html</quote>,
4025 many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
4026 If it is send as <quote>application/xml</quote>, browsers with
4027 XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
4030 If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
4031 <quote>Content-Type: text/html</quote>, you can use &my-app;
4032 to overwrite it with <quote>application/xml</quote> and validate
4033 the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
4034 If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
4037 You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints
4038 error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared
4039 as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
4040 <quote>text/html</quote> and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
4043 By default <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal> only replaces
4044 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> headers that look like some kind of text.
4045 If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
4046 <literal><link linkend="force-text-mode">force-text-mode</link></literal>.
4047 This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
4050 Most of the time it's easier to replace this action with a custom
4051 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
4052 It allows you to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
4053 only replace the content types you aimed at.
4056 Of course you can apply <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal>
4057 to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
4058 more work to get the same precision.
4064 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
4067 <screen># Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
4068 { +content-type-overwrite{application/xml} }
4071 # but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
4072 {-content-type-overwrite}
4073 www.example.net/.*\.css$
4074 www.example.net/.*style
4083 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4084 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-client-header">
4088 <title>crunch-client-header</title>
4092 <term>Typical use:</term>
4094 <para>Remove a client header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
4099 <term>Effect:</term>
4102 Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
4109 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4111 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4116 <term>Parameter:</term>
4128 This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
4129 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists.
4130 <application>Privoxy</application> will remove every client header that
4131 contains the string you supplied as parameter.
4134 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
4135 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
4136 they contain the same string.
4139 <literal>crunch-client-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
4140 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
4141 parts of them, you should use a
4142 <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header filter</link></literal>.
4146 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
4153 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4156 <screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
4157 { +crunch-client-header{Privacy-Violation:} }
4167 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4168 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-if-none-match">
4169 <title>crunch-if-none-match</title>
4175 <term>Typical use:</term>
4177 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
4182 <term>Effect:</term>
4185 Deletes the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header.
4192 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4194 <para>Boolean.</para>
4199 <term>Parameter:</term>
4211 Removing the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header
4212 is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
4213 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote> which
4214 would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
4217 It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
4218 replacement (unlikely but possible).
4221 Blocking the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> header shouldn't cause any
4222 caching problems, as long as the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> header
4223 isn't blocked or missing as well.
4226 It is recommended to use this action together with
4227 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
4229 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>.
4235 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4238 <screen># Let the browser revalidate cached documents but don't
4239 # allow the server to use the revalidation headers for user tracking.
4240 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
4241 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
4242 +crunch-if-none-match}
4251 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4252 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
4253 <title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
4257 <term>Typical use:</term>
4260 Prevent the web server from setting HTTP cookies on your system
4266 <term>Effect:</term>
4269 Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
4276 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4278 <para>Boolean.</para>
4283 <term>Parameter:</term>
4295 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
4296 <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
4297 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
4298 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
4301 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
4302 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
4303 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
4304 <literal><link linkend="filter-content-cookies">filter-content-cookies</link></literal>.
4310 <term>Example usage:</term>
4313 <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
4321 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4322 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-server-header">
4323 <title>crunch-server-header</title>
4329 <term>Typical use:</term>
4331 <para>Remove a server header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
4336 <term>Effect:</term>
4339 Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
4346 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4348 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4353 <term>Parameter:</term>
4365 This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
4366 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists. <application>Privoxy</application>
4367 will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
4370 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
4371 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
4372 they contain the same string.
4375 <literal>crunch-server-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
4376 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
4377 parts of them, you should use a custom
4378 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header filter</link></literal>.
4382 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
4389 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4392 <screen># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
4393 { +crunch-server-header{no-cache} }
4402 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4403 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
4404 <title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
4408 <term>Typical use:</term>
4411 Prevent the web server from reading any HTTP cookies from your system
4417 <term>Effect:</term>
4420 Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
4427 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4429 <para>Boolean.</para>
4434 <term>Parameter:</term>
4446 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> HTTP cookies. For
4447 <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> HTTP cookies, use
4448 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
4449 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable HTTP cookies completely.
4452 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
4453 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
4454 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
4460 <term>Example usage:</term>
4463 <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
4472 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4473 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
4474 <title>deanimate-gifs</title>
4478 <term>Typical use:</term>
4480 <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
4485 <term>Effect:</term>
4488 De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
4495 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
4497 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4502 <term>Parameter:</term>
4505 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
4514 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
4515 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
4516 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
4517 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
4518 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
4519 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
4522 You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
4523 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
4530 <term>Example usage:</term>
4533 <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
4540 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4541 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
4542 <title>downgrade-http-version</title>
4546 <term>Typical use:</term>
4548 <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
4553 <term>Effect:</term>
4556 Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
4563 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
4565 <para>Boolean.</para>
4570 <term>Parameter:</term>
4582 This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
4583 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
4584 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
4585 out there. Not all HTTP/1.1 features and requirements are supported yet,
4586 so there is a chance you might need this action.
4592 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4595 <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
4596 problem-host.example.com</screen>
4604 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4605 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
4606 <title>fast-redirects</title>
4610 <term>Typical use:</term>
4612 <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.</para>
4617 <term>Effect:</term>
4620 Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting
4621 the redirection server first.
4628 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
4630 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4635 <term>Parameter:</term>
4640 <quote>simple-check</quote> to just search for the string <quote>http://</quote>
4641 to detect redirection URLs.
4646 <quote>check-decoded-url</quote> to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching
4647 for redirection URLs.
4658 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
4659 will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
4660 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
4661 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
4662 <quote>http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/</quote>.
4665 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
4666 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
4667 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
4668 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
4669 browser asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
4673 This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
4674 If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
4675 this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
4678 Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil.
4679 Some sites offer a real service that requires this information to work.
4680 For example a validation service needs to know, which document to validate.
4681 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> assumes that every URL parameter that
4682 looks like another URL is a redirection target, and will always redirect to
4683 the last one. Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't,
4684 the user gets redirected anyway.
4687 Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter.
4689 <quote>http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
4690 contains the redirection URL <quote>http://www.example.net/</quote>,
4691 followed by another parameter. <literal>fast-redirects</literal> doesn't know that
4692 and will cause a redirect to <quote>http://www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
4693 Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
4694 or lead to a <quote>page not found</quote> error. You can prevent this problem by
4695 first using the <literal><link linkend="redirect">redirect</link></literal> action
4696 to remove the last part of the URL, but it requires a little effort.
4699 To detect a redirection URL, <literal>fast-redirects</literal> only
4700 looks for the string <quote>http://</quote>, either in plain text
4701 (invalid but often used) or encoded as <quote>http%3a//</quote>.
4702 Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the address
4703 of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses cases
4704 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> is fooled and the request reaches the
4705 redirection server where it probably gets logged.
4711 <term>Example usage:</term>
4715 { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
4718 { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
4719 another.example.com/testing</screen>
4728 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4729 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
4730 <title>filter</title>
4734 <term>Typical use:</term>
4736 <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size),
4737 do fun text replacements, add personalized effects, etc.</para>
4742 <term>Effect:</term>
4745 All instances of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which
4746 this action applies, can be filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular
4747 expression based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents
4748 are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
4749 <literal>text/plain</literal> MIME type for all files whose type they don't know.)
4756 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
4758 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4763 <term>Parameter:</term>
4766 The name of a content filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>.
4767 Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
4768 <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
4769 option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>.
4770 <filename>default.filter</filename> is the collection of filters
4771 supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
4772 in their own file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>.
4775 When used in its negative form,
4776 and without parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> filtering is completely disabled.
4785 For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
4786 in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
4790 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
4791 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
4792 passed the filters. (The total time until the page is completely rendered
4793 doesn't change much, but it may be perceived as slower since the page is
4794 not incrementally displayed.)
4795 This effect will be more noticeable on slower connections.
4798 <quote>Rolling your own</quote>
4799 filters requires a knowledge of
4800 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
4801 Expressions</quote></ulink> and
4802 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"><quote>HTML</quote></ulink>.
4803 This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive.
4804 Filters should be used with caution, and where an equivalent
4805 <quote>action</quote> is not available.
4808 The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
4809 <literal><link linkend="buffer-limit">buffer-limit</link></literal>
4810 option in the main <link linkend="config">config file</link>. The
4811 default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
4812 data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
4815 Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
4816 (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data
4817 (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate
4818 the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might
4819 be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering
4820 by defining appropriate <literal>-filter</literal> exceptions.
4823 Compressed content can't be filtered either, but if &my-app;
4824 is compiled with zlib support and a supported compression algorithm
4825 is used (gzip or deflate), &my-app; can first decompress the content
4829 If you use a &my-app; version without zlib support, but want filtering to work on
4830 as much documents as possible, even those that would normally be sent compressed,
4831 you must use the <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
4832 action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
4835 Content filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
4836 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
4837 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
4838 works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
4839 based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
4843 <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or
4844 improved filters is particularly welcome!
4847 The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
4848 predefined filter. There are <link linkend="predefined-filters">more
4849 verbose explanations</link> of what these filters do in the <link
4850 linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>.
4856 <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file).
4857 See <link linkend="PREDEFINED-FILTERS">the Predefined Filters section</link> for
4858 more explanation on each:</term>
4861 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
4862 <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.</screen>
4865 <anchor id="filter-js-events">
4866 <screen>+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings and timers (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites).</screen>
4869 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
4870 <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse.</screen>
4873 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
4874 <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content.</screen>
4877 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
4878 <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups).</screen>
4881 <anchor id="filter-unsolicited-popups">
4882 <screen>+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
4885 <anchor id="filter-all-popups">
4886 <screen>+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML. Useful if your browser lacks this ability.</screen>
4889 <anchor id="filter-img-reorder">
4890 <screen>+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective.</screen>
4893 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
4894 <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size.</screen>
4897 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-link">
4898 <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers.</screen>
4901 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
4902 <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking).</screen>
4905 <anchor id="filter-tiny-textforms">
4906 <screen>+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap.</screen>
4909 <anchor id="filter-jumping-windows">
4910 <screen>+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves.</screen>
4913 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
4914 <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizable.</screen>
4917 <anchor id="filter-demoronizer">
4918 <screen>+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets.</screen>
4921 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
4922 <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects.</screen>
4925 <anchor id="filter-quicktime-kioskmode">
4926 <screen>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies saveable.</screen>
4929 <anchor id="filter-fun">
4930 <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
4933 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
4934 <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering. Note that this filter doesn't work reliably.</screen>
4937 <anchor id="filter-ie-exploits">
4938 <screen>+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits.</screen>
4941 <anchor id="filter-site-specifics">
4942 <screen>+filter{site-specifics} # Cure for site-specific problems. Don't apply generally!</screen>
4945 <anchor id="filter-no-ping">
4946 <screen>+filter{no-ping} # Removes non-standard ping attributes in <a> and <area> tags.</screen>
4949 <anchor id="filter-google">
4950 <screen>+filter{google} # CSS-based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation and the toolbar advertisement.</screen>
4953 <anchor id="filter-yahoo">
4954 <screen>+filter{yahoo} # CSS-based block for Yahoo text ads. Also removes a width limitation.</screen>
4957 <anchor id="filter-msn">
4958 <screen>+filter{msn} # CSS-based block for MSN text ads. Also removes tracking URLs and a width limitation.</screen>
4961 <anchor id="filter-blogspot">
4962 <screen>+filter{blogspot} # Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this.</screen>
4970 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4971 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="force-text-mode">
4972 <title>force-text-mode</title>
4978 <term>Typical use:</term>
4980 <para>Force <application>Privoxy</application> to treat a document as if it was in some kind of <emphasis>text</emphasis> format. </para>
4985 <term>Effect:</term>
4988 Declares a document as text, even if the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> isn't detected as such.
4995 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4997 <para>Boolean.</para>
5002 <term>Parameter:</term>
5014 As explained <literal><link linkend="filter">above</link></literal>,
5015 <application>Privoxy</application> tries to only filter files that are
5016 in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to
5017 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite</link></literal>.
5018 <literal>force-text-mode</literal> declares a document as text,
5019 without looking at the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> first.
5023 Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
5024 with regular expressions can cause file damage.
5031 <term>Example usage:</term>
5044 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5045 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward-override">
5046 <title>forward-override</title>
5052 <term>Typical use:</term>
5054 <para>Change the forwarding settings based on User-Agent or request origin</para>
5059 <term>Effect:</term>
5062 Overrules the forward directives in the configuration file.
5069 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5071 <para>Multi-value.</para>
5076 <term>Parameter:</term>
5080 <para><quote>forward .</quote> to use a direct connection without any additional proxies.</para>
5084 <quote>forward 127.0.0.1:8123</quote> to use the HTTP proxy listening at 127.0.0.1 port 8123.
5089 <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 .</quote> to use the socks4a proxy listening at
5090 127.0.0.1 port 9050. Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote>
5091 to use a socks4 connection (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
5092 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
5097 <quote>forward-socks4a 127.0.0.1:9050 proxy.example.org:8000</quote> to use the socks4a proxy
5098 listening at 127.0.0.1 port 9050 to reach the HTTP proxy listening at proxy.example.org port 8000.
5099 Replace <quote>forward-socks4a</quote> with <quote>forward-socks4</quote> to use a socks4 connection
5100 (with local DNS resolution) instead, use <quote>forward-socks5</quote>
5101 for socks5 connections (with remote DNS resolution).
5112 This action takes parameters similar to the
5113 <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives in the configuration
5114 file, but without the URL pattern. It can be used as replacement, but normally it's only
5115 used in cases where matching based on the request URL isn't sufficient.
5119 Please read the description for the <link linkend="forwarding">forward</link> directives before
5120 using this action. Forwarding to the wrong people will reduce your privacy and increase the
5121 chances of man-in-the-middle attacks.
5124 If the ports are missing or invalid, default values will be used. This might change
5125 in the future and you shouldn't rely on it. Otherwise incorrect syntax causes Privoxy
5129 Use the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">show-url-info CGI page</ulink>
5130 to verify that your forward settings do what you thought the do.
5137 <term>Example usage:</term>
5141 # Always use direct connections for requests previously tagged as
5142 # <quote>User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2.0</quote> and make sure
5143 # resuming downloads continues to work.
5144 # This way you can continue to use Tor for your normal browsing,
5145 # without overloading the Tor network with your FreeBSD ports updates
5146 # or downloads of bigger files like ISOs.
5147 # Note that HTTP headers are easy to fake and therefore their
5148 # values are as (un)trustworthy as your clients and users.
5149 {+forward-override{forward .} \
5150 -hide-if-modified-since \
5151 -overwrite-last-modified \
5153 TAG:^User-Agent: fetch libfetch/2\.0$
5162 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5163 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-empty-document">
5164 <title>handle-as-empty-document</title>
5170 <term>Typical use:</term>
5172 <para>Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis></para>
5177 <term>Effect:</term>
5180 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
5181 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
5182 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote>
5183 page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
5184 The <emphasis>empty</emphasis> document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
5191 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5193 <para>Boolean.</para>
5198 <term>Parameter:</term>
5210 Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
5211 are blocked with <application>Privoxy's</application>
5212 default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
5213 And of course this action can also be used to eliminate the &my-app;
5214 BLOCKED message in frames.
5217 The content type for the empty document can be specified with
5218 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{}</link></literal>,
5219 but usually this isn't necessary.
5225 <term>Example usage:</term>
5228 <screen># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
5229 # but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
5230 {+block{Blocked JavaScript} +handle-as-empty-document}
5240 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5241 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
5242 <title>handle-as-image</title>
5246 <term>Typical use:</term>
5248 <para>Mark URLs as belonging to images (so they'll be replaced by images <emphasis>if they do get blocked</emphasis>, rather than HTML pages)</para>
5253 <term>Effect:</term>
5256 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
5257 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
5258 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
5259 page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
5260 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
5261 client as a substitute for the blocked content.
5268 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5270 <para>Boolean.</para>
5275 <term>Parameter:</term>
5287 The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
5288 It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
5292 Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
5293 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
5294 reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
5297 Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
5298 frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
5299 Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
5300 ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
5306 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
5309 <screen># Generic image extensions:
5312 /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
5314 # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
5315 # blocked as images:
5317 {+block{Nasty banners.} +handle-as-image}
5318 nasty-banner-server.example.com/junk.cgi\?output=trash
5327 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5328 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-accept-language">
5329 <title>hide-accept-language</title>
5335 <term>Typical use:</term>
5337 <para>Pretend to use different language settings.</para>
5342 <term>Effect:</term>
5345 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> HTTP header in client requests.
5352 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5354 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5359 <term>Parameter:</term>
5362 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
5371 Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
5372 foreign User-Agent set with
5373 <literal><link linkend="hide-user-agent">hide-user-agent</link></literal>
5377 However some sites with content in different languages check the
5378 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> to decide which one to take by default.
5379 Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
5380 changing the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header first.
5383 Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
5384 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header to languages you understand,
5385 or to languages that aren't wide spread.
5388 Before setting the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header
5389 to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to
5390 make your requests unique and thus easier to trace.
5391 If you don't plan to change this header frequently,
5392 you should stick to a common language.
5398 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5401 <screen># Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
5402 {+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
5403 +hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
5413 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5414 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-content-disposition">
5415 <title>hide-content-disposition</title>
5421 <term>Typical use:</term>
5423 <para>Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.</para>
5428 <term>Effect:</term>
5431 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header set by some servers.
5438 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5440 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5445 <term>Parameter:</term>
5448 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
5457 Some servers set the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header for
5458 documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
5459 The <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header contains the file name
5460 the browser is supposed to use by default.
5463 In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
5464 <emphasis>just view</emphasis> the document, without downloading it first,
5465 even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
5468 Removing the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header helps
5469 to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
5470 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> header, before they decide if they can
5471 display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have
5472 to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
5476 It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion
5477 to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set
5481 This action will probably be removed in the future,
5482 use server-header filters instead.
5488 <term>Example usage:</term>
5491 <screen># Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
5493 +content-type-overwrite{text/plain}\
5494 +hide-content-disposition{block} }
5495 .sourceforge.net/tracker/download\.php</screen>
5503 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5504 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-if-modified-since">
5505 <title>hide-if-modified-since</title>
5511 <term>Typical use:</term>
5513 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
5518 <term>Effect:</term>
5521 Deletes the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> HTTP client header or modifies its value.
5528 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5530 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5535 <term>Parameter:</term>
5538 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
5547 Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
5548 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the
5549 browser to use a cached copy of the page.
5552 Instead of removing the header, <literal>hide-if-modified-since</literal> can
5553 also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value.
5554 You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and
5555 <application>Privoxy</application> does the rest. A negative value means
5556 subtracting, a positive value adding.
5559 Randomizing the value of the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> makes
5560 it less likely that the server can use the time as a cookie replacement,
5561 but you will run into caching problems if the random range is too high.
5564 It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
5565 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
5566 handle the greater changes.
5569 It is also recommended to use this action together with
5570 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>,
5571 otherwise it's more or less pointless.
5577 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5580 <screen># Let the browser revalidate but make tracking based on the time less likely.
5581 {+hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
5582 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
5583 +crunch-if-none-match}
5592 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5593 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
5594 <title>hide-from-header</title>
5598 <term>Typical use:</term>
5600 <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
5605 <term>Effect:</term>
5608 Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
5616 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5618 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5623 <term>Parameter:</term>
5626 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
5635 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
5636 (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
5640 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
5641 server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
5642 is actually used by a real person.
5645 This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
5646 <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
5652 <term>Example usage:</term>
5655 <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
5656 <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
5664 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5665 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
5666 <title>hide-referrer</title>
5667 <anchor id="hide-referer">
5670 <term>Typical use:</term>
5672 <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
5677 <term>Effect:</term>
5680 Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
5681 or replaces it with a forged one.
5688 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5690 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5695 <term>Parameter:</term>
5699 <para><quote>conditional-block</quote> to delete the header completely if the host has changed.</para>
5702 <para><quote>conditional-forge</quote> to forge the header if the host has changed.</para>
5705 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header unconditionally.</para>
5708 <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
5711 <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
5721 <literal>conditional-block</literal> is the only parameter,
5722 that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the
5723 referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or
5724 typed in the address directly.
5727 Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
5728 allows the server owner to see the visitor's <quote>click path</quote>,
5729 but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing
5730 other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't
5731 a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between
5735 Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
5736 failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
5737 requests, in an attempt to prevent their content from being
5738 embedded or linked to elsewhere.
5741 Both <literal>conditional-block</literal> and <literal>forge</literal>
5742 will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page
5743 are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case.
5746 <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
5747 <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
5748 substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
5749 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
5750 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
5756 <term>Example usage:</term>
5759 <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
5760 <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
5768 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5769 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
5770 <title>hide-user-agent</title>
5774 <term>Typical use:</term>
5776 <para>Try to conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
5781 <term>Effect:</term>
5784 Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
5785 in client requests with the specified value.
5792 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5794 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5799 <term>Parameter:</term>
5802 Any user-defined string.
5812 This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at this header in
5813 order to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
5814 way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the right thing to do: good web sites
5815 work browser-independently).
5819 Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
5820 browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
5821 <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
5822 setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
5823 the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
5824 OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
5825 sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
5826 reason in some cases).
5829 More information on known user-agent strings can be found at
5830 <ulink url="http://www.user-agents.org/">http://www.user-agents.org/</ulink>
5832 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent</ulink>.
5838 <term>Example usage:</term>
5841 <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
5849 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5850 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
5851 <title>limit-connect</title>
5855 <term>Typical use:</term>
5857 <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</para>
5862 <term>Effect:</term>
5865 Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
5872 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5874 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5879 <term>Parameter:</term>
5882 A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
5883 defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
5892 By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
5893 <application>Privoxy</application> allows HTTP CONNECT requests to all
5894 ports. Use <literal>limit-connect</literal> if fine-grained control
5895 is desired for some or all destinations.
5898 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
5899 (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
5900 the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
5901 short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
5902 This means CONNECT-enabled proxies can be used as TCP relays very easily.
5905 <application>Privoxy</application> relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
5906 the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent &my-app;'s
5907 filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
5913 <term>Example usages:</term>
5915 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
5916 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
5917 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
5919 <screen>+limit-connect{443} # Port 443 is OK.
5920 +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
5921 +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
5922 +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
5923 +limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</screen>
5930 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5931 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
5932 <title>prevent-compression</title>
5936 <term>Typical use:</term>
5939 Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
5940 passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s.
5946 <term>Effect:</term>
5949 Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
5956 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5958 <para>Boolean.</para>
5963 <term>Parameter:</term>
5975 More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
5976 is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But the <literal><link
5977 linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> and
5978 <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
5979 actions need access to the uncompressed data.
5982 When compiled with zlib support (available since &my-app; 3.0.7), content that should be
5983 filtered is decompressed on-the-fly and you don't have to worry about this action.
5984 If you are using an older &my-app; version, or one that hasn't been compiled with zlib
5985 support, this action can be used to convince the server to send the content uncompressed.
5988 Most text-based instances compress very well, the size is seldom decreased by less than 50%,
5989 for markup-heavy instances like news feeds saving more than 90% of the original size isn't
5993 Not using compression will therefore slow down the transfer, and you should only
5994 enable this action if you really need it. As of &my-app; 3.0.7 it's disabled in all
5995 predefined action settings.
5998 Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
5999 documents correctly. Broken PHP applications tend to send an empty document body,
6000 some IIS versions only send the beginning of the content. If you enable
6001 <literal>prevent-compression</literal> per default, you might want to add
6002 exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
6008 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
6012 # Selectively turn off compression, and enable a filter
6014 { +filter{tiny-textforms} +prevent-compression }
6015 # Match only these sites
6020 # Or instead, we could set a universal default:
6022 { +prevent-compression }
6025 # Then maybe make exceptions for broken sites:
6027 { -prevent-compression }
6028 .compusa.com/</screen>
6037 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6038 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="overwrite-last-modified">
6039 <title>overwrite-last-modified</title>
6045 <term>Typical use:</term>
6047 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
6052 <term>Effect:</term>
6055 Deletes the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> HTTP server header or modifies its value.
6062 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
6064 <para>Parameterized.</para>
6069 <term>Parameter:</term>
6072 One of the keywords: <quote>block</quote>, <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote>
6073 and <quote>randomize</quote>
6082 Removing the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header is useful for filter
6083 testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
6084 code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
6085 version of the page.
6088 The <quote>randomize</quote> option overwrites the value of the
6089 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with a randomly chosen time
6090 between the original value and the current time. In theory the server
6091 could send each document with a different <quote>Last-Modified:</quote>
6092 header to track visits without using cookies. <quote>Randomize</quote>
6093 makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
6096 <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote> overwrites the value of the
6097 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with the current time. You could use
6098 this option together with
6099 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
6100 to further customize your random range.
6103 The preferred parameter here is <quote>randomize</quote>. It is safe
6104 to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct.
6105 If the server sets the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header to the time
6106 of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same.
6107 Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with
6108 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>,
6112 It is also recommended to use this action together with
6113 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
6119 <term>Example usage:</term>
6122 <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
6123 { +hide-if-modified-since{-60} \
6124 +overwrite-last-modified{randomize} \
6125 +crunch-if-none-match}
6134 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6135 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="redirect">
6136 <title>redirect</title>
6142 <term>Typical use:</term>
6145 Redirect requests to other sites.
6151 <term>Effect:</term>
6154 Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
6155 to another location and the browser should get it from there.
6162 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
6164 <para>Parameterized</para>
6169 <term>Parameter:</term>
6172 An absolute URL or a single pcrs command.
6181 Requests to which this action applies are answered with a
6182 HTTP redirect to URLs of your choosing. The new URL is
6183 either provided as parameter, or derived by applying a
6184 single pcrs command to the original URL.
6187 This action will be ignored if you use it together with
6188 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>.
6189 It can be combined with
6190 <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</link></literal>
6191 to redirect to a decoded version of a rewritten URL.
6194 Use this action carefully, make sure not to create redirection loops
6195 and be aware that using your own redirects might make it
6196 possible to fingerprint your requests.
6199 In case of problems with your redirects, or simply to watch
6200 them working, enable <link linkend="DEBUG">debug 128</link>.
6206 <term>Example usages:</term>
6209 <screen># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
6210 { +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
6211 example.com/stylesheet\.css
6213 # Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
6214 # (relies on the browser accept and forward invalid URLs to &my-app;)
6215 { +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
6218 # Always use the expanded view for Undeadly.org articles
6219 # (Note the $ at the end of the URL pattern to make sure
6220 # the request for the rewritten URL isn't redirected as well)
6221 {+redirect{s@$@&mode=expanded@}}
6222 undeadly.org/cgi\?action=article&sid=\d*$
6224 # Redirect Google search requests to MSN
6225 {+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/search\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=$1@}}
6228 # Redirect MSN search requests to Yahoo
6229 {+redirect{s@^http://[^/]*/results\.aspx\?q=([^&]*).*@http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=$1@}}
6230 search.msn.com//results\.aspx\?q=
6232 # Redirect remote requests for this manual
6233 # to the local version delivered by Privoxy
6234 {+redirect{s@^http://www@http://config@}}
6235 www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</screen>
6244 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6245 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-filter">
6246 <title>server-header-filter</title>
6250 <term>Typical use:</term>
6253 Rewrite or remove single server headers.
6259 <term>Effect:</term>
6262 All server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly
6263 through the specified regular expression based substitutions.
6270 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
6272 <para>Parameterized.</para>
6277 <term>Parameter:</term>
6280 The name of a server-header filter, as defined in one of the
6281 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
6290 Server-header filters are applied to each header on its own, not to
6291 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
6292 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is z.
6293 You can do that by using tags though.
6296 Server-header filters are executed after the other header actions have finished
6297 and use their output as input.
6300 Please refer to the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>
6301 to learn which server-header filters are available by default, and how to
6308 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
6312 {+server-header-filter{html-to-xml}}
6313 example.org/xml-instance-that-is-delivered-as-html
6315 {+server-header-filter{xml-to-html}}
6316 example.org/instance-that-is-delivered-as-xml-but-is-not
6326 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6327 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="server-header-tagger">
6328 <title>server-header-tagger</title>
6332 <term>Typical use:</term>
6335 Enable or disable filters based on the Content-Type header.
6341 <term>Effect:</term>
6344 Server headers to which this action applies are filtered on-the-fly through
6345 the specified regular expression based substitutions, the result is used as
6353 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
6355 <para>Parameterized.</para>
6360 <term>Parameter:</term>
6363 The name of a server-header tagger, as defined in one of the
6364 <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link>.
6373 Server-header taggers are applied to each header on its own,
6374 and as the header isn't modified, each tagger <quote>sees</quote>
6378 Server-header taggers are executed before all other header actions
6379 that modify server headers. Their tags can be used to control
6380 all of the other server-header actions, the content filters
6381 and the crunch actions (<link linkend="redirect">redirect</link>
6382 and <link linkend="block">block</link>).
6385 Obviously crunching based on tags created by server-header taggers
6386 doesn't prevent the request from showing up in the server's log file.
6393 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
6397 # Tag every request with the content type declared by the server
6398 {+server-header-tagger{content-type}}
6409 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6410 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
6411 <title>session-cookies-only</title>
6415 <term>Typical use:</term>
6418 Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current
6419 browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
6425 <term>Effect:</term>
6428 Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote>
6429 server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
6430 forget them in between sessions.
6437 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
6439 <para>Boolean.</para>
6444 <term>Parameter:</term>
6456 This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
6457 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
6458 websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
6461 Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
6462 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
6463 This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
6464 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
6465 sites, and is the recommended setting.
6468 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
6469 together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
6470 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
6471 will be plainly killed.
6474 Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
6475 field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
6478 This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
6479 previously by the browser before starting <application>Privoxy</application>.
6480 These would have to be removed manually.
6483 <application>Privoxy</application> also uses
6484 the <link linkend="filter-content-cookies">content-cookies filter</link>
6485 to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
6486 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>.
6492 <term>Example usage:</term>
6495 <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
6503 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6504 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
6505 <title>set-image-blocker</title>
6509 <term>Typical use:</term>
6511 <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
6516 <term>Effect:</term>
6519 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
6520 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
6521 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
6522 apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
6523 <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
6524 sent as a replacement.
6531 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
6533 <para>Parameterized.</para>
6538 <term>Parameter:</term>
6543 <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
6544 decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
6549 <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
6550 completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
6551 images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
6552 has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
6557 <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
6558 send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
6559 to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via <quote>file:///</quote> URL.
6560 (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
6563 A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
6564 URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
6565 This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
6566 the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
6567 it over and over again.
6578 The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
6579 class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
6580 either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
6583 There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
6584 used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
6585 Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
6591 <term>Example usage:</term>
6597 <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
6600 Redirect to the BSD daemon:
6603 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
6606 Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
6609 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
6617 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6619 <title>Summary</title>
6621 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
6622 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
6623 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
6624 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
6625 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
6626 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
6632 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6633 <sect2 id="aliases">
6634 <title>Aliases</title>
6636 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
6637 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
6638 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
6639 Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
6641 <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
6642 recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
6643 <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
6644 Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
6645 <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
6649 Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
6650 defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
6651 And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
6652 have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
6656 There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
6657 used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
6658 decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
6659 <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
6660 <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
6661 in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
6662 by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
6665 Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
6666 <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
6667 editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
6668 them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
6669 but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
6674 Now let's define some aliases...
6679 # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
6681 # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
6682 # must be at the top of the actions file!
6686 # These aliases just save typing later:
6687 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
6689 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6690 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6691 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
6692 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
6694 # These aliases define combinations of actions
6695 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
6697 fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link> -<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link>
6699 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link>
6701 # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
6703 c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
6704 c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
6708 ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
6709 actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
6710 up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
6715 # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
6716 # user data and require minimal interference to work:
6719 .office.microsoft.com
6720 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
6721 # Gmail is really mail.google.com, not gmail.com
6725 # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
6729 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
6732 # These shops require pop-ups:
6734 {-filter{all-popups} -filter{unsolicited-popups}}
6736 .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
6740 Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are typically used for
6741 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require more than one action to be disabled
6742 in order to function properly.
6748 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
6749 <sect2 id="act-examples">
6750 <title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
6752 The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
6753 there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
6754 linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
6755 to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
6756 define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
6757 example <filename>match-all.action</filename>, <filename>default.action</filename>
6758 and <filename>user.action</filename> file and see how all these pieces come together:
6762 <title>match-all.action</title>
6764 Remember <emphasis>all actions are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>,
6765 so we have to explicitly enable the ones we want.
6769 While the <filename>match-all.action</filename> file only contains a
6770 single section, it is probably the most important one. It has only one
6771 pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
6772 <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the set of
6773 actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
6774 be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
6775 wholly overridden by other actions files like <filename>default.action</filename>
6776 and <filename>user.action</filename>, but it will still be largely responsible
6777 for your overall browsing experience.
6781 Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
6782 no need to disable any actions here. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
6783 preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
6784 Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
6785 multiple lines with line continuation.
6791 +<link linkend="CHANGE-X-FORWARDED-FOR">change-x-forwarded-for{block}</link> \
6792 +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
6793 +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
6800 The default behavior is now set.
6805 <title>default.action</title>
6808 If you aren't a developer, there's no need for you to edit the
6809 <filename>default.action</filename> file. It is maintained by
6810 the &my-app; developers and if you disagree with some of the
6811 sections, you should overrule them in your <filename>user.action</filename>.
6815 Understanding the <filename>default.action</filename> file can
6816 help you with your <filename>user.action</filename>, though.
6820 The first section in this file is a special section for internal use
6821 that prevents older &my-app; versions from reading the file:
6826 ##########################################################################
6827 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
6828 ##########################################################################
6830 for-privoxy-version=3.0.11</screen>
6834 After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
6835 section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
6836 that also explains why and how aliases are used:
6841 ##########################################################################
6843 ##########################################################################
6846 # These aliases just save typing later:
6847 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
6849 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6850 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
6851 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked image.} +handle-as-image
6852 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
6854 # These aliases define combinations of actions
6855 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
6857 fragile = -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer</link>
6858 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link></screen>
6862 The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
6863 sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
6864 very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
6865 make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
6866 our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
6867 of actions explicitly:
6872 ##########################################################################
6873 # Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
6874 ##########################################################################
6876 # "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
6879 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
6880 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
6881 mail.google.com</screen>
6885 Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
6886 require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
6887 carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
6896 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
6898 .scan.co.uk</screen>
6902 The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
6903 action, which may have been enabled in <filename>match-all.action</filename>,
6904 breaks some sites. So disable it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
6909 { -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
6913 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
6914 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
6915 .nytimes.com</screen>
6919 It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
6920 URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
6921 be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
6922 Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
6923 would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
6924 would feed the advertisers information about you. We can mark any
6925 URL as an image with the <literal><link
6926 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
6927 and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
6933 ##########################################################################
6935 ##########################################################################
6937 # Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
6938 # blocked further down this file:
6940 { +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
6941 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
6945 And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
6946 generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
6947 request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
6948 mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
6949 <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
6950 course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
6951 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
6952 Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
6953 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
6954 action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
6955 <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
6956 action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
6961 # Known ad generators:
6966 .ad.*.doubleclick.net
6967 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
6968 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
6974 One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
6975 is to block banners. Many of these can be <quote>blocked</quote>
6976 by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
6977 action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
6978 images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
6979 them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
6980 doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
6981 need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
6982 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
6985 First comes many generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
6986 matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
6987 a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
6988 to keep the example short:
6993 ##########################################################################
6994 # Block these fine banners:
6995 ##########################################################################
6996 { <link linkend="BLOCK">+block{Banner ads.}</link> }
7004 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
7005 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
7007 # Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
7009 .hitbox.com</screen>
7013 It's quite remarkable how many advertisers actually call their banner
7014 servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
7015 in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
7016 generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
7019 But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
7020 to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
7021 <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
7022 but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
7023 <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
7024 well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
7028 Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
7029 <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
7030 so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
7031 URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
7032 action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
7033 general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
7034 <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
7035 <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
7036 applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
7037 with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
7042 ##########################################################################
7043 # Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
7044 ##########################################################################
7048 { -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
7049 adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
7050 adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
7051 adobe. # (has nothing to do with ads either)
7052 ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
7053 .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
7054 .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
7062 www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
7063 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
7067 Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
7068 so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
7069 and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
7070 <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
7071 disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
7076 # Don't filter code!
7078 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
7083 .sourceforge.net</screen>
7087 The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course much more
7088 comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
7093 <sect3><title>user.action</title>
7096 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
7097 which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
7098 you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
7099 are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
7100 be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
7101 be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
7102 actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
7103 defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
7104 <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
7105 <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
7106 <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
7107 to install updated versions from time to time.
7111 So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
7112 <filename>user.action</filename>:
7116 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
7120 # My user.action file. <fred@example.com></screen>
7124 As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
7125 file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
7126 <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
7131 # Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
7132 # (Re-)define aliases for this file:
7136 # These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
7137 # be self explanatory.
7139 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
7140 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
7141 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
7142 allow-popups = -filter{all-popups}
7143 +block-as-image = +block{Blocked as image.} +handle-as-image
7144 -block-as-image = -block
7146 # These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
7147 # certain types of sites:
7149 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer
7150 shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
7152 # Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
7154 allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
7156 # Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
7157 # MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
7158 handle-as-text = -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> +-<link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{text/plain}</link> +-<link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> -<link linkend="HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION">hide-content-disposition</link></screen>
7163 Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
7164 you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
7165 to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
7166 <literal>allow-all-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
7167 that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
7168 processing of cookies to make them only temporary.
7173 { allow-all-cookies }
7177 .redhat.com</screen>
7181 Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:
7186 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
7187 .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
7191 Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
7196 # Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
7197 # erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
7202 # And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
7203 # so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
7205 stupid-server.example.com/</screen>
7209 Example of a simple <link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> action. Say you've
7210 seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of.
7211 You have right-clicked the image, selected <quote>copy image location</quote>
7212 and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a
7213 <literal>{ +block{} }</literal> section. Note that <literal>{ +handle-as-image
7214 }</literal> need not be specified, since all URLs ending in
7215 <literal>.gif</literal> will be tagged as images by the general rules as set
7216 in default.action anyway:
7221 { +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link>{Nasty ads.} }
7222 www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor\.gif
7223 another.example.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
7227 The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner
7228 farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which
7229 makes it impossible for <application>Privoxy</application> to guess
7230 the file type just by looking at the URL.
7231 You can use the <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above for
7233 Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an
7234 image are typically rendered as a <quote>broken image</quote> icon by the
7235 browser. Use cautiously.
7244 ar.atwola.com/</screen>
7248 Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
7249 but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
7250 were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
7251 you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
7252 -- <emphasis>whoa!</emphasis> -- it worked. The <literal>fragile</literal>
7253 aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also,
7254 good for testing purposes to see if it is <application>Privoxy</application>
7255 that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular sites
7256 that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:
7264 .mybank.com</screen>
7268 You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
7269 but it is disabled in the distributed actions file.
7270 So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
7271 update-safe config, once and for all:
7276 { +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
7277 / # For ALL sites!</screen>
7281 Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
7282 to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
7283 really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
7284 <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
7285 won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
7289 You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are
7290 funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
7291 to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
7292 sites that you feel provide value to you:
7304 Note that <literal>allow-ads</literal> has been aliased to
7305 <literal>-<link linkend="block">block</link></literal>,
7306 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-size">filter{banners-by-size}</link></literal>, and
7307 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-link">filter{banners-by-link}</link></literal> above.
7311 Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type <literal>
7312 application/x-sh</literal> which typically would open a download type
7313 dialog. In my case, I want to look at the shell script, and then I can save
7314 it should I choose to.
7324 <filename>user.action</filename> is generally the best place to define
7325 exceptions and additions to the default policies of
7326 <filename>default.action</filename>. Some actions are safe to have their
7327 default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
7328 <quote>blank</quote> image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for
7329 <emphasis>ALL</emphasis> sites. <quote>/</quote> of course matches all URL
7335 { +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
7336 / # ALL sites</screen>
7342 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7346 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7348 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
7350 <sect1 id="filter-file">
7351 <title>Filter Files</title>
7354 On-the-fly text substitutions need
7355 to be defined in a <quote>filter file</quote>. Once defined, they
7356 can then be invoked as an <quote>action</quote>.
7360 &my-app; supports three different filter actions:
7361 <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> to
7362 rewrite the content that is send to the client,
7363 <literal><link linkend="client-header-filter">client-header-filter</link></literal>
7364 to rewrite headers that are send by the client, and
7365 <literal><link linkend="server-header-filter">server-header-filter</link></literal>
7366 to rewrite headers that are send by the server.
7370 &my-app; also supports two tagger actions:
7371 <literal><link linkend="client-header-tagger">client-header-tagger</link></literal>
7373 <literal><link linkend="server-header-tagger">server-header-tagger</link></literal>.
7374 Taggers and filters use the same syntax in the filter files, the difference
7375 is that taggers don't modify the text they are filtering, but use a rewritten
7376 version of the filtered text as tag. The tags can then be used to change the
7377 applying actions through sections with <link linkend="tag-pattern">tag-patterns</link>.
7382 Multiple filter files can be defined through the <literal> <link
7383 linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config directive. The filters
7384 as supplied by the developers are located in
7385 <filename>default.filter</filename>. It is recommended that any locally
7386 defined or modified filters go in a separately defined file such as
7387 <filename>user.filter</filename>.
7391 Common tasks for content filters are to eliminate common annoyances in
7392 HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
7393 exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
7394 infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
7395 width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
7396 or just to have fun.
7400 Enabled content filters are applied to any content whose
7401 <quote>Content Type</quote> header is recognised as a sign
7402 of text-based content, with the exception of <literal>text/plain</literal>.
7403 Use the <link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> action
7404 to also filter other content.
7408 Substitutions are made at the source level, so if you want to <quote>roll
7409 your own</quote> filters, you should first be familiar with HTML syntax,
7410 and, of course, regular expressions.
7414 Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
7415 filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
7416 here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with one of the
7417 <emphasis>keywords</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>,
7418 <literal>CLIENT-HEADER-FILTER:</literal> or <literal>SERVER-HEADER-FILTER:</literal>
7419 followed by the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
7420 <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
7421 come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
7422 text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
7423 should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
7424 comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
7425 user interface</ulink>.
7429 Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
7430 in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
7431 +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
7432 in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
7436 Filter definitions start with a header line that contains the filter
7437 type, the filter name and the filter description.
7438 A content filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
7443 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
7447 Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that
7448 define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified
7449 in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
7450 <literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
7451 will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
7452 PCRS documentation for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most
7453 notably, the non-standard option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported,
7454 which turns the default to ungreedy matching.
7459 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
7460 Expressions</quote></ulink>, you might want to take a look at
7461 the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
7462 see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl
7464 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlop.html">the
7465 <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
7466 url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
7467 expressions</ulink> in general.
7468 The below examples might also help to get you started.
7472 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
7474 <sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
7476 Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> content filter. We have already defined
7477 the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
7478 <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
7483 <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
7487 But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
7488 of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
7489 care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
7490 we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
7494 <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
7498 Our complete filter now looks like this:
7501 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
7502 s/foo/bar/g</screen>
7506 Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
7507 a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
7508 abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
7514 FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
7516 # Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
7518 s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
7522 Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
7523 <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
7524 the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
7525 by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
7529 Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
7530 enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
7531 means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
7532 matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
7533 it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
7537 That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
7538 matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
7539 be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
7540 special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
7541 Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
7542 the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
7543 in the page (and appear in that order).
7547 But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
7548 is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
7549 means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
7550 tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
7551 <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
7555 This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
7556 The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
7557 remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
7558 the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
7559 that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
7560 text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
7561 of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
7562 only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
7563 tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
7564 multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
7565 substitution is global.
7569 So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
7570 <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
7571 (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
7572 <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
7573 that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
7577 Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
7578 lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
7579 easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
7580 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
7581 the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
7582 This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
7583 (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
7584 Business!"</literal>.
7588 The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
7589 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
7590 <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
7591 since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
7592 string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
7593 information anymore.
7597 We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
7598 this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
7603 # The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
7605 s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
7609 <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
7610 carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
7611 or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
7612 makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
7613 option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
7614 <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>. Finally, <literal>\1</literal> is
7615 a back-reference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
7616 with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
7617 a back-reference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
7621 So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
7622 strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
7623 (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
7624 real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
7625 descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
7626 you move your mouse over links.
7631 # Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
7633 s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
7638 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
7639 event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
7640 When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
7641 This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
7642 <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
7643 Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
7644 case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee
7645 a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use <literal>[^>]*</literal>
7646 instead of <literal>.*</literal> to prevent the match from exceeding the
7647 <body> tag if it doesn't contain <quote>OnUnload</quote>, but the page's
7652 The last example is from the fun department:
7657 FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
7659 # Spice the daily news:
7661 s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
7665 Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
7666 in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
7667 <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
7668 in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while
7669 still replacing the word everywhere else.
7674 # Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
7676 s* industry[ -]leading \
7678 | customer[ -]focused \
7679 | market[ -]driven \
7680 | award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
7681 | high[ -]performance \
7682 | solutions[ -]based \
7686 *<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
7691 The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
7692 e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
7700 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
7702 <sect2 id="predefined-filters"><title>The Pre-defined Filters</title>
7706 Note each filter is also listed in the +filter action section above. Please
7707 keep these listings in sync.
7712 The distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file contains a selection of
7713 pre-defined filters for your convenience:
7718 <term><emphasis>js-annoyances</emphasis></term>
7721 The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.
7726 replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
7727 with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the <literal><link
7728 linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal> action on the content level.
7733 removes the bindings to the DOM's
7734 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">unload
7735 event</ulink> which we feel has no right to exist and is responsible for most <quote>exit consoles</quote>, i.e.
7736 nasty windows that pop up when you close another one.
7741 removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being
7742 full-screen, non-resizeable, without location, status or menu bar etc.
7748 Use with caution. This is an aggressive filter, and can break sites that
7749 rely heavily on JavaScript.
7755 <term><emphasis>js-events</emphasis></term>
7758 This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event bindings, which
7759 means that scripts can not react to user actions such as mouse movements or clicks, window
7760 resizing etc, anymore. Use with caution!
7763 We <emphasis>strongly discourage</emphasis> using this filter as a default since it breaks
7764 many legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should you really
7771 <term><emphasis>html-annoyances</emphasis></term>
7774 This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
7777 The <literal>BLINK</literal> and <literal>MARQUEE</literal> tags
7778 are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser windows will be created as
7779 resizeable (as of course they should be!), and will have location,
7780 scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
7786 <term><emphasis>content-cookies</emphasis></term>
7789 Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialog, where they can be intercepted
7791 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>
7792 and <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>
7793 actions. But web sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript
7794 to sneak cookies to the browser on the content level.
7797 This filter disables most HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets
7798 cookies. It cannot detect all clever uses of these types of code, so it
7799 should not be relied on as an absolute fix. Use it wherever you would also
7800 use the cookie crunch actions.
7806 <term><emphasis>refresh tags</emphasis></term>
7809 Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
7810 that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
7811 for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
7818 <term><emphasis>unsolicited-popups</emphasis></term>
7821 This filter attempts to prevent only <quote>unsolicited</quote> pop-up
7822 windows from opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user
7823 has explicitly chosen to open. It was added in version 3.0.1,
7824 as an improvement over earlier such filters.
7827 Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
7828 function to a dummy function, <literal>PrivoxyWindowOpen()</literal>,
7829 during the loading and rendering phase of each HTML page access, and
7830 restoring the function afterward.
7833 This is recommended only for browsers that cannot perform this function
7834 reliably themselves. And be aware that some sites require such windows
7835 in order to function normally. Use with caution.
7841 <term><emphasis>all-popups</emphasis></term>
7844 Attempt to prevent <emphasis>all</emphasis> pop-up windows from opening.
7845 Note this should be used with even more discretion than the above, since
7846 it is more likely to break some sites that require pop-ups for normal
7847 usage. Use with caution.
7853 <term><emphasis>img-reorder</emphasis></term>
7856 This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the
7857 <literal>banners-by-size</literal> and <literal>banners-by-link</literal>
7858 (see below) filters more effective and should be enabled together with them.
7864 <term><emphasis>banners-by-size</emphasis></term>
7867 This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are. Fortunately
7868 for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain standardized
7869 sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad stripping purposes.
7872 Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not ads,
7873 but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes.
7876 Recommended only for those who require extreme ad blocking. The default
7877 block rules should catch 95+% of all ads <emphasis>without</emphasis> this filter enabled.
7883 <term><emphasis>banners-by-link</emphasis></term>
7886 This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if
7887 their URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently
7888 not of much value and is not recommended for use by default.
7894 <term><emphasis>webbugs</emphasis></term>
7897 Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that
7898 are used to track users across websites, and collect information on them.
7899 As an HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the
7900 browser to contact a third-party site, disclosing the tracking information
7901 through the requested URL and/or cookies for that third-party domain, without
7902 the user ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party site.
7903 HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email addresses.
7906 This filter removes the HTML code that loads such <quote>webbugs</quote>.
7912 <term><emphasis>tiny-textforms</emphasis></term>
7915 A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas (those
7916 multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in them.
7917 It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such boxes are
7918 a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too.
7921 It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
7927 <term><emphasis>jumping-windows</emphasis></term>
7930 Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This filter
7931 neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might not display
7932 or behave as intended when using this filter. Use with caution.
7938 <term><emphasis>frameset-borders</emphasis></term>
7941 Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view their
7942 web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution etc,
7943 because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame sizes,
7944 yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they be too
7945 small to show their whole content.
7948 This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to sites
7955 <term><emphasis>demoronizer</emphasis></term>
7958 Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions (read:
7959 violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This can cause those
7960 HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant platforms.
7963 This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents.
7964 It is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of
7965 all documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly
7966 worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if weird garbage characters
7967 sometimes appear on some pages, or user agents that don't correct for this on
7970 My version of Mozilla (ancient) shows litte square boxes for quote
7971 characters, and apostrophes on moronized pages. So many pages have this, I
7972 can read them fine now. HB 08/27/06
7979 <term><emphasis>shockwave-flash</emphasis></term>
7982 A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips code
7983 out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects.
7991 <term><emphasis>quicktime-kioskmode</emphasis></term>
7994 Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
7995 prevents saving, is disabled.
8001 <term><emphasis>fun</emphasis></term>
8004 Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
8005 Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
8011 <term><emphasis>crude-parental</emphasis></term>
8014 A demonstration-only filter that shows how <application>Privoxy</application>
8015 can be used to delete web content on a keyword basis.
8021 <term><emphasis>ie-exploits</emphasis></term>
8024 An experimental collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
8025 code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
8028 Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug, and
8029 would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
8035 <term><emphasis>site-specifics</emphasis></term>
8038 Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't apply
8039 anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
8042 This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be applied
8043 to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
8044 <filename>default.action</filename> file does. Users shouldn't need to change
8045 anything regarding this filter.
8051 <term><emphasis>google</emphasis></term>
8054 A CSS based block for Google text ads. Also removes a width limitation
8055 and the toolbar advertisement.
8061 <term><emphasis>yahoo</emphasis></term>
8064 Another CSS based block, this time for Yahoo text ads. And removes
8065 a width limitation as well.
8071 <term><emphasis>msn</emphasis></term>
8074 Another CSS based block, this time for MSN text ads. And removes
8075 tracking URLs, as well as a width limitation.
8081 <term><emphasis>blogspot</emphasis></term>
8084 Cleans up some Blogspot blogs. Read the fine print before using this one!
8087 This filter also intentionally removes some navigation stuff and sets the
8088 page width to 100%. As a result, some rounded <quote>corners</quote> would
8089 appear to early or not at all and as fixing this would require a browser
8090 that understands background-size (CSS3), they are removed instead.
8096 <term><emphasis>xml-to-html</emphasis></term>
8099 Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from xml to html.
8105 <term><emphasis>html-to-xml</emphasis></term>
8108 Server-header filter to change the Content-Type from html to xml.
8114 <term><emphasis>no-ping</emphasis></term>
8117 Removes the non-standard <literal>ping</literal> attribute from
8118 anchor and area HTML tags.
8124 <term><emphasis>hide-tor-exit-notation</emphasis></term>
8127 Client-header filter to remove the <command>Tor</command> exit node notation
8128 found in Host and Referer headers.
8131 If &my-app; and <command>Tor</command> are chained and &my-app;
8132 is configured to use socks4a, one can use <quote>http://www.example.org.foobar.exit/</quote>
8133 to access the host <quote>www.example.org</quote> through the
8134 <command>Tor</command> exit node <quote>foobar</quote>.
8137 As the HTTP client isn't aware of this notation, it treats the
8138 whole string <quote>www.example.org.foobar.exit</quote> as host and uses it
8139 for the <quote>Host</quote> and <quote>Referer</quote> headers. From the
8140 server's point of view the resulting headers are invalid and can cause problems.
8143 An invalid <quote>Referer</quote> header can trigger <quote>hot-linking</quote>
8144 protections, an invalid <quote>Host</quote> header will make it impossible for
8145 the server to find the right vhost (several domains hosted on the same IP address).
8148 This client-header filter removes the <quote>foo.exit</quote> part in those headers
8149 to prevent the mentioned problems. Note that it only modifies
8150 the HTTP headers, it doesn't make it impossible for the server
8151 to detect your <command>Tor</command> exit node based on the IP address
8152 the request is coming from.
8159 <term><emphasis> </emphasis></term>
8173 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
8177 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8179 <sect1 id="templates">
8180 <title>Privoxy's Template Files</title>
8182 All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
8183 <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
8184 error page</ulink>, the <ulink
8185 url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
8187 and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
8188 user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
8189 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
8194 These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
8195 directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On Unixish platforms,
8197 <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
8201 The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
8202 or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. It
8203 is possible to edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want
8204 to customize them. (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual
8205 user</emphasis>). Should you create your own custom templates, you should use
8206 the <filename>config</filename> setting <link linkend="templdir">templdir</link>
8207 to specify an alternate location, so your templates do not get overwritten
8211 Note that just like in configuration files, lines starting
8212 with <literal>#</literal> are ignored when the templates are filled in.
8216 The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
8217 find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
8218 in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
8219 always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
8220 code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
8224 A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
8225 blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
8226 for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
8227 our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
8228 is in an alpha or beta development stage:
8233 <!-- @if-unstable-start -->
8235 ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
8237 <!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
8241 If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
8242 <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
8243 will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
8247 <screen><!-- --></screen>
8251 There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
8252 mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
8257 All templates refer to a style located at
8258 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
8259 This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
8260 and the source for it can be found and edited in the
8261 <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
8266 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
8270 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8272 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
8275 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
8277 <!-- end boilerplate -->
8281 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
8284 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8285 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
8287 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
8289 <!-- end copyright -->
8291 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8292 <sect2><title>License</title>
8293 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
8295 <!-- end copyright -->
8297 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
8300 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8302 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
8303 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
8305 <!-- end history -->
8308 <sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
8309 <!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
8311 <!-- end authors -->
8316 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
8319 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8320 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
8321 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
8323 <!-- end seealso -->
8328 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8329 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
8332 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8334 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
8336 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
8337 expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
8338 files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
8339 through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
8342 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
8344 <application>PCRS</application> libraries.
8348 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
8349 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
8350 introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
8351 url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
8355 Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
8356 run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
8357 match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
8358 strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
8359 characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
8360 special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
8361 Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
8362 <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
8366 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
8367 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
8368 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
8369 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
8370 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
8371 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
8372 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
8373 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
8377 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
8378 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
8379 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
8380 and then some examples:
8385 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
8386 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
8388 </simplelist></para>
8392 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
8395 </simplelist></para>
8399 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
8402 </simplelist></para>
8406 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
8409 </simplelist></para>
8413 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
8414 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
8415 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
8416 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
8417 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
8418 meta-character meaning of any single character).
8420 </simplelist></para>
8424 <emphasis>[ ]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
8425 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
8426 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
8427 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
8429 </simplelist></para>
8433 <emphasis>( )</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
8434 or multiple sub-expressions.
8436 </simplelist></para>
8440 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
8441 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
8442 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
8443 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
8444 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
8445 example</quote>, and nothing else.
8447 </simplelist></para>
8450 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
8451 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
8452 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
8453 be more illuminating:
8457 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
8458 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
8459 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
8460 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
8461 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
8462 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
8463 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
8464 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
8465 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
8466 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
8467 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
8468 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
8469 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
8470 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
8475 And now something a little more complex:
8479 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
8480 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
8481 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
8482 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
8483 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
8484 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
8485 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
8490 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
8491 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
8492 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
8493 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
8494 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
8495 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
8496 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
8497 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
8498 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
8499 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
8500 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
8501 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
8502 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
8503 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
8504 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
8505 changing our regular expression to:
8506 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
8511 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
8512 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
8513 <quote>[ ]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
8514 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
8515 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
8516 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
8517 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
8518 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
8519 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
8520 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
8521 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
8522 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
8523 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
8524 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
8525 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
8526 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
8527 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
8528 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
8529 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
8530 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
8531 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
8532 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
8533 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
8534 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
8535 in the expression anywhere).
8539 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
8540 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
8541 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
8542 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
8543 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
8548 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
8549 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>
8553 For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications
8554 in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
8559 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
8562 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8564 <title>Privoxy's Internal Pages</title>
8567 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
8568 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
8569 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
8570 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
8571 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
8572 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
8573 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
8579 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
8580 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
8581 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
8582 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
8595 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
8599 There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
8600 doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
8601 sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
8607 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
8608 editing of actions files:
8612 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
8619 Show the source code version numbers:
8623 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
8630 Show the browser's request headers:
8634 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
8641 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
8645 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
8652 Toggle Privoxy on or off. This feature can be turned off/on in the main
8653 <filename>config</filename> file. When toggled <quote>off</quote>, <quote>Privoxy</quote>
8654 continues to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking
8659 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
8663 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
8667 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
8672 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
8681 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
8685 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
8686 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
8688 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
8689 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
8690 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
8691 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
8692 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
8693 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
8696 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
8697 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
8698 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
8699 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
8700 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
8701 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
8710 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=enabled','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Enable</ulink>
8717 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=disabled','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Disable</ulink>
8724 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y&set=toggle','ijbstatus','width=250,height=100,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Toggle Privoxy</ulink> (Toggles between enabled and disabled)
8731 url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?mini=y','ijbstatus','width=250,height=2,resizable=yes,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy- View Status</ulink>
8737 <ulink url="javascript:w=Math.floor(screen.width/2);h=Math.floor(screen.height*0.9);void(window.open('http://www.privoxy.org/actions/index.php?url='+escape(location.href),'Feedback','screenx='+w+',width='+w+',height='+h+',scrollbars=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,copyhistory=no').focus());">Privoxy - Submit Actions File Feedback</ulink>
8743 <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
8750 Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
8751 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com/">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
8752 have more information about bookmarklets.
8761 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8763 <title>Chain of Events</title>
8765 Let's take a quick look at how some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
8766 core features are triggered, and the ensuing sequence of events when a web
8767 page is requested by your browser:
8774 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
8775 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
8776 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
8782 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
8783 pages (e.g <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
8788 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
8790 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
8791 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
8792 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
8794 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT"><quote>+handle-as-empty-document</quote></link>
8795 are then checked, and if there is no match, an
8796 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back to the browser. Otherwise, if
8797 it does match, an image is returned for the former, and an empty text
8798 document for the latter. The type of image would depend on the setting of
8799 <link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
8800 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
8805 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
8806 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
8811 If the URL pattern matches the <link
8812 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
8813 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
8818 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
8819 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
8820 linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
8821 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
8827 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web
8833 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
8834 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
8835 filtered as determined by the
8836 <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
8837 <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
8838 and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
8844 If any <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
8846 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
8847 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
8848 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
8849 <filename>default.filter</filename> and any other filter files) are
8850 processed against the buffered content. Filters are applied in the order
8851 they are specified in one of the filter files. Animated GIFs, if present,
8852 are reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
8853 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
8854 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
8857 If neither a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action
8859 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
8860 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
8861 to the client browser as it becomes available.
8866 As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it
8867 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
8868 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
8869 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a
8870 separate request (this is easily viewable in <application>Privoxy's</application>
8871 logs). And each such request is in turn processed just as above. Note that a
8872 complex web page will have many, many such embedded URLs. If these
8873 secondary requests are to a different server, then quite possibly a very
8874 differing set of actions is triggered.
8881 NOTE: This is somewhat of a simplistic overview of what happens with each URL
8882 request. For the sake of brevity and simplicity, we have focused on
8883 <application>Privoxy's</application> core features only.
8889 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
8890 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
8891 <title>Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</title>
8894 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
8895 <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
8896 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
8897 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
8898 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
8899 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
8900 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
8901 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
8902 <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
8907 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
8908 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
8909 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
8910 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
8911 logs is a good idea too. (Note that both the toggle feature and logging are
8912 enabled via <filename>config</filename> file settings, and may need to be
8913 turned <quote>on</quote>.)
8916 Another easy troubleshooting step to try is if you have done any
8917 customization of your installation, revert back to the installed
8918 defaults and see if that helps. There are times the developers get complaints
8919 about one thing or another, and the problem is more related to a customized
8920 configuration issue.
8924 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
8925 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
8926 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
8927 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
8931 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
8932 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
8933 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
8934 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
8935 linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
8936 one of the filter files since this is handled very
8937 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
8938 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
8939 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
8940 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
8941 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
8942 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
8943 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
8948 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
8949 and look at it one section at a time in a sample configuration (your real
8950 configuration may vary):
8955 Matches for http://www.google.com:
8957 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8959 {+change-x-forwarded-for{block}
8960 +deanimate-gifs {last}
8961 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
8962 +filter {refresh-tags}
8963 +filter {img-reorder}
8964 +filter {banners-by-size}
8966 +filter {jumping-windows}
8967 +filter {ie-exploits}
8968 +hide-from-header {block}
8969 +hide-referrer {forge}
8970 +session-cookies-only
8971 +set-image-blocker {pattern}
8974 { -session-cookies-only }
8980 In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8981 (no matches in this file)
8986 This is telling us how we have defined our
8987 <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
8988 which ones match for our test case, <quote>google.com</quote>.
8989 Displayed is all the actions that are available to us. Remember,
8990 the <literal>+</literal> sign denotes <quote>on</quote>. <literal>-</literal>
8991 denotes <quote>off</quote>. So some are <quote>on</quote> here, but many
8992 are <quote>off</quote>. Each example we try may provide a slightly different
8993 end result, depending on our configuration directives.
8997 is for our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line
8998 listing, is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default
8999 settings. If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the
9000 section just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This
9001 will apply to all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end
9002 of the listing -- <quote> / </quote>.
9006 But we have defined additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
9007 rules, and then we list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions
9008 would apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit
9009 matches for <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous
9010 cookie setting, which was for <link
9011 linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
9012 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google, at
9013 least that is how it is in this example. The second turns
9014 <emphasis>off</emphasis> any <link
9015 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
9016 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
9017 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
9018 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
9019 <quote>www.google.com</quote> or <quote>mail.google.com</quote>. But it would not
9020 match <quote>www.google.de</quote>! So, apparently, we have these two actions
9021 defined as exceptions to the general rules at the top somewhere in the lower
9022 part of our <filename>default.action</filename> file, and
9023 <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter sections.
9027 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
9028 So there is nothing google-specific that we might have added to our own, local
9029 configuration. If there was, those actions would over-rule any actions from
9030 previously processed files, such as <filename>default.action</filename>.
9031 <filename>user.action</filename> typically has the last word. This is the
9032 best place to put hard and fast exceptions,
9036 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
9037 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
9038 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
9049 +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
9050 -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
9051 -content-type-overwrite
9052 -crunch-client-header
9053 -crunch-if-none-match
9054 -crunch-incoming-cookies
9055 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
9056 -crunch-server-header
9057 +deanimate-gifs {last}
9058 -downgrade-http-version
9061 -filter {content-cookies}
9062 -filter {all-popups}
9063 -filter {banners-by-link}
9064 -filter {tiny-textforms}
9065 -filter {frameset-borders}
9066 -filter {demoronizer}
9067 -filter {shockwave-flash}
9068 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
9070 -filter {crude-parental}
9071 -filter {site-specifics}
9072 -filter {js-annoyances}
9073 -filter {html-annoyances}
9074 +filter {refresh-tags}
9075 -filter {unsolicited-popups}
9076 +filter {img-reorder}
9077 +filter {banners-by-size}
9079 +filter {jumping-windows}
9080 +filter {ie-exploits}
9087 -handle-as-empty-document
9089 -hide-accept-language
9090 -hide-content-disposition
9091 +hide-from-header {block}
9092 -hide-if-modified-since
9093 +hide-referrer {forge}
9096 -overwrite-last-modified
9097 -prevent-compression
9099 -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
9100 -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
9101 -session-cookies-only
9102 +set-image-blocker {pattern} </screen>
9106 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
9107 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>,
9108 which are activated specifically for this site in our configuration,
9109 and thus show in the <quote>Final Results</quote>.
9113 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
9119 { +block{Domains starts with "ad"} }
9122 { +block{Domain contains "ad"} }
9125 { +block{Doubleclick banner server} +handle-as-image }
9126 .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
9131 We'll just show the interesting part here - the explicit matches. It is
9132 matched three different times. Two <quote>+block{}</quote> sections,
9133 and a <quote>+block{} +handle-as-image</quote>,
9134 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
9135 <quote>+block-as-image</quote>. (<link
9136 linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
9137 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
9142 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
9143 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
9144 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
9145 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
9146 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
9147 is done here -- as both a <link
9148 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block{}</quote></link>
9149 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
9150 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
9151 The custom alias <quote><literal>+block-as-image</literal></quote> just
9152 simplifies the process and make it more readable.
9156 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
9157 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
9163 Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
9165 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
9169 +change-x-forwarded-for{block}
9170 -client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation}
9171 -content-type-overwrite
9172 -crunch-client-header
9173 -crunch-if-none-match
9174 -crunch-incoming-cookies
9175 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
9176 -crunch-server-header
9178 -downgrade-http-version
9179 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
9181 -filter {content-cookies}
9182 -filter {all-popups}
9183 -filter {banners-by-link}
9184 -filter {tiny-textforms}
9185 -filter {frameset-borders}
9186 -filter {demoronizer}
9187 -filter {shockwave-flash}
9188 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
9190 -filter {crude-parental}
9191 -filter {site-specifics}
9192 -filter {js-annoyances}
9193 -filter {html-annoyances}
9194 +filter {refresh-tags}
9195 -filter {unsolicited-popups}
9196 +filter {img-reorder}
9197 +filter {banners-by-size}
9199 +filter {jumping-windows}
9200 +filter {ie-exploits}
9207 -handle-as-empty-document
9209 -hide-accept-language
9210 -hide-content-disposition
9211 +hide-from-header{block}
9212 +hide-referer{forge}
9214 -overwrite-last-modified
9215 +prevent-compression
9217 -server-header-filter{xml-to-html}
9218 -server-header-filter{html-to-xml}
9219 +session-cookies-only
9220 +set-image-blocker{blank} }
9223 { +block{Path contains "ads".} +handle-as-image }
9229 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote> in our
9230 configuration! But we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the
9231 blank page. It is actually triggering two different actions here, and
9232 the effects are aggregated so that the URL is blocked, and &my-app; is told
9233 to treat the block as if it were an image. But this is, of course, all wrong.
9234 We could now add a new action below this (or better in our own
9235 <filename>user.action</filename> file) that explicitly
9236 <emphasis>un</emphasis> blocks (
9237 <link linkend="BLOCK"><quote>{-block}</quote></link>) paths with
9238 <quote>adsl</quote> in them (remember, last match in the configuration
9239 wins). There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
9251 Now the page displays ;-)
9252 Remember to flush your browser's caches when making these kinds of changes to
9253 your configuration to insure that you get a freshly delivered page! Or, try
9254 using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
9258 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
9265 { +block{Path starts with "ads".} +handle-as-image }
9271 That actually was very helpful and pointed us quickly to where the problem
9272 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
9273 rules in the first section of <filename>default.action</filename> is causing
9274 the problem. This would require some guesswork, and maybe a little trial and
9275 error to isolate the offending rule. One likely cause would be one of the
9276 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> actions.
9277 These tend to be harder to troubleshoot.
9278 Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off
9279 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>:
9287 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
9295 <quote><literal>{ shop }</literal></quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
9296 <quote><literal>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</literal></quote>.
9297 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
9305 # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
9313 This would turn off all filtering for these sites. This is best
9314 put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
9315 exceptions. Note that when a simple domain pattern is used by itself (without
9316 the subsequent path portion), all sub-pages within that domain are included
9317 automatically in the scope of the action.
9321 Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
9322 <link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"><quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote></link>
9324 that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well
9325 <emphasis>most of the time</emphasis> since these tend to be standardized).
9329 <quote><literal>{ fragile }</literal></quote> is an alias that disables most
9330 actions that are the most likely to cause trouble. This can be used as a
9331 last resort for problem sites.
9337 # Handle with care: easy to break
9339 mybank.example.com</screen>
9344 <emphasis>Remember to flush caches!</emphasis> Note that the
9345 <literal>mail.google</literal> reference lacks the TLD portion (e.g.
9346 <quote>.com</quote>). This will effectively match any TLD with
9347 <literal>google</literal> in it, such as <literal>mail.google.de.</literal>,
9351 If this still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining
9352 actions one by one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
9361 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
9362 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
9363 Public License as published by the Free Software
9364 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
9365 your option) any later version.
9367 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
9368 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
9369 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
9370 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
9371 License for more details.
9373 The GNU General Public License should be included with
9374 this file. If not, you can view it at
9375 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
9376 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
9377 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301,
9380 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
9381 Revision 2.138 2011/11/13 17:03:54 fabiankeil
9382 Bump entities for 3.0.18 stable
9384 Revision 2.137 2011/11/13 17:02:59 fabiankeil
9385 Import the first ChangeLog draft for 3.0.18 stable
9387 Revision 2.136 2011/10/14 16:53:10 fabiankeil
9388 Clarify the effect of compiling Privoxy with zlib support
9390 Suggested by dg1727 in #3423782.
9392 zlib support has been available for years now,
9393 so drop the reference to Privoxy 3.0.7
9395 Revision 2.135 2011/09/04 11:10:12 fabiankeil
9396 Ditch trailing whitespace
9398 Revision 2.134 2011/08/18 11:45:02 fabiankeil
9399 Don't use unspecified MSN sites as examples for User-Agent-based descrimination
9401 Without knowing the URLs, nobody can easily verify it and it could
9402 be mistaken as FUD. I also assume that it's no longer an issue anyway.
9404 Revision 2.133 2011/08/18 11:42:50 fabiankeil
9405 Bump some more documentation copyright ranges.
9407 Revision 2.132 2011/08/17 10:40:07 fabiankeil
9408 Update the entities.
9410 This commit is chronological out of order.
9412 Revision 2.131 2011/04/19 13:14:10 fabiankeil
9413 Fix spelling errors in the documentation. Found with codespell.
9415 Revision 2.130 2010/12/01 19:28:28 fabiankeil
9416 Hopefully unbreak the dok target when using some kind of jade.
9420 Revision 2.129 2010/11/13 20:17:11 fabiankeil
9421 Merge ChangeLog updates
9423 Revision 2.128 2010/11/10 22:00:13 fabiankeil
9424 Update the first paragraph of the 'What's New' section.
9426 Revision 2.127 2010/11/10 21:48:54 fabiankeil
9427 Update the "What's New" section.
9429 Revision 2.126 2010/11/06 12:55:48 fabiankeil
9430 Set p-version to 3.0.17
9432 Revision 2.125 2010/09/03 17:39:37 fabiankeil
9433 Slightly improve the explanation of why filtering may appear slower than it is.
9435 Revision 2.124 2010/05/01 18:21:30 fabiankeil
9436 Explicitly mention how to match any URL.
9438 Revision 2.123 2010/02/19 16:00:38 fabiankeil
9441 Revision 2.122 2010/02/19 15:22:47 fabiankeil
9444 Revision 2.121 2010/02/15 15:30:13 fabiankeil
9445 Mention the use of the no-such-domain template for DNS problems with FEATURE_IPV6_SUPPORT enabled.
9447 Revision 2.120 2010/02/13 17:38:39 fabiankeil
9448 Update entities for 3.0.16 stable.
9450 Revision 2.119 2010/02/13 16:37:37 fabiankeil
9451 Update 'What's new?' section.
9453 Revision 2.118 2010/02/11 13:59:48 fabiankeil
9454 Mention that the headers added by the add-header action aren't modified by other actions.
9456 Revision 2.117 2010/01/11 12:56:04 fabiankeil
9457 Bump copyright range as p-config.sgml's copyright line is only used in the config file.
9459 Revision 2.116 2009/11/15 14:24:12 fabiankeil
9460 Prepare to generate docs for 3.0.16 UNRELEASED.
9462 Revision 2.115 2009/10/10 06:19:34 fabiankeil
9463 Ditch a duplicated 'since'.
9465 Revision 2.114 2009/10/10 05:51:48 fabiankeil
9466 Update "What's new" section.
9468 Revision 2.113 2009/10/10 05:48:55 fabiankeil
9469 Prepare for 3.0.15 beta.
9471 Revision 2.112 2009/07/24 12:20:30 fabiankeil
9472 Remove duplicated period.
9474 Revision 2.111 2009/07/18 18:11:11 fabiankeil
9475 Don't claim that NTLM should work when there are multiple reports that it doesn't.
9477 Revision 2.110 2009/07/18 16:25:17 fabiankeil
9478 Fix trailing whitespace.
9480 Revision 2.109 2009/07/18 16:24:39 fabiankeil
9481 Bump entities for 3.0.14 beta.
9483 Revision 2.108 2009/07/18 15:49:23 fabiankeil
9484 Add most of the changes in 3.0.14 to the "What's New" section.
9486 Revision 2.107 2009/06/12 14:30:58 fabiankeil
9487 Update entities for 3.0.13 beta.
9489 Revision 2.106 2009/06/12 11:04:13 fabiankeil
9490 Import ChangeLog for 3.0.13 beta.
9492 Revision 2.105 2009/04/17 11:32:57 fabiankeil
9493 Grammar and spelling fixes.
9495 Revision 2.104 2009/04/17 11:27:49 fabiankeil
9496 Petr Pisar's privoxy-3.0.12-ipv6-3.diff.
9498 Revision 2.103 2009/03/21 10:49:05 fabiankeil
9499 Merge updated ChangeLog.
9501 Revision 2.102 2009/03/15 19:31:36 fabiankeil
9502 Update "What's New in this Release" section.
9504 Revision 2.101 2009/02/25 19:01:56 fabiankeil
9507 Revision 2.100 2009/02/19 17:14:11 fabiankeil
9508 - Copy the release cycle description from announce.txt into
9509 the "What's New" section.
9510 - Stop referring to the ChangeLog for a "complete list of changes".
9511 The "What's New" section already contains the complete list.
9513 Revision 2.99 2009/02/19 02:20:22 hal9
9514 Make some links in seealso conditional. Man page is now privoxy only links.
9516 Revision 2.98 2009/02/16 17:10:33 fabiankeil
9517 Fix entry about shortened log messages. Noticed by Lee.
9519 Revision 2.97 2009/02/14 18:01:00 fabiankeil
9522 Revision 2.96 2009/02/14 13:14:03 fabiankeil
9525 Revision 2.95 2009/02/14 12:51:26 fabiankeil
9526 Mention match-all.action in the "Actions Files Tutorial" section.
9528 Revision 2.94 2009/02/14 11:50:31 fabiankeil
9529 Some indentation fixes.
9531 Revision 2.93 2009/02/14 10:14:42 fabiankeil
9532 Mention match-all.action in the action file descriptions.
9534 Revision 2.92 2009/02/12 16:08:26 fabiankeil
9535 Declare the code stable.
9537 Revision 2.91 2009/01/13 16:50:35 fabiankeil
9538 The standard.action file is gone.
9540 Revision 2.90 2008/09/26 16:53:09 fabiankeil
9541 Update "What's new" section.
9543 Revision 2.89 2008/09/21 15:38:56 fabiankeil
9544 Fix Portage tree sync instructions in Gentoo section.
9545 Anonymously reported at ijbswa-developers@.
9547 Revision 2.88 2008/09/21 14:42:52 fabiankeil
9548 Add documentation for change-x-forwarded-for{},
9549 remove documentation for hide-forwarded-for-headers.
9551 Revision 2.87 2008/08/30 15:37:35 fabiankeil
9554 Revision 2.86 2008/08/16 10:12:23 fabiankeil
9555 Merge two sentences and move the URL to the end of the item.
9557 Revision 2.85 2008/08/16 10:04:59 fabiankeil
9558 Some more syntax fixes. This version actually builds.
9560 Revision 2.84 2008/08/16 09:42:45 fabiankeil
9561 Turns out building docs works better if the syntax is valid.
9563 Revision 2.83 2008/08/16 09:32:02 fabiankeil
9564 Mention changes since 3.0.9 beta.
9566 Revision 2.82 2008/08/16 09:00:52 fabiankeil
9567 Fix example URL pattern (once more with feeling).
9569 Revision 2.81 2008/08/16 08:51:28 fabiankeil
9570 Update version-related entities.
9572 Revision 2.80 2008/07/18 16:54:30 fabiankeil
9573 Remove erroneous whitespace in documentation link.
9574 Reported by John Chronister in #2021611.
9576 Revision 2.79 2008/06/27 18:00:53 markm68k
9577 remove outdated startup information for mac os x
9579 Revision 2.78 2008/06/21 17:03:03 fabiankeil
9582 Revision 2.77 2008/06/14 13:45:22 fabiankeil
9583 Re-add a colon I unintentionally removed a few revisions ago.
9585 Revision 2.76 2008/06/14 13:21:28 fabiankeil
9586 Prepare for the upcoming 3.0.9 beta release.
9588 Revision 2.75 2008/06/13 16:06:48 fabiankeil
9589 Update the "What's New in this Release" section with
9590 the ChangeLog entries changelog2doc.pl could handle.
9592 Revision 2.74 2008/05/26 15:55:46 fabiankeil
9593 - Update "default profiles" table.
9594 - Add some more pcrs redirect examples and note that
9595 enabling debug 128 helps to get redirects working.
9597 Revision 2.73 2008/05/23 14:43:18 fabiankeil
9598 Remove previously out-commented block that caused syntax problems.
9600 Revision 2.72 2008/05/12 10:26:14 fabiankeil
9601 Synchronize content filter descriptions with the ones in default.filter.
9603 Revision 2.71 2008/04/10 17:37:16 fabiankeil
9604 Actually we use "modern" POSIX 1003.2 regular
9605 expressions in path patterns, not PCRE.
9607 Revision 2.70 2008/04/10 15:59:12 fabiankeil
9608 Add another section to the client-header-tagger example that shows
9609 how to actually change the action settings once the tag is created.
9611 Revision 2.69 2008/03/29 12:14:25 fabiankeil
9612 Remove send-wafer and send-vanilla-wafer actions.
9614 Revision 2.68 2008/03/28 15:13:43 fabiankeil
9615 Remove inspect-jpegs action.
9617 Revision 2.67 2008/03/27 18:31:21 fabiankeil
9618 Remove kill-popups action.
9620 Revision 2.66 2008/03/06 16:33:47 fabiankeil
9621 If limit-connect isn't used, don't limit CONNECT requests to port 443.
9623 Revision 2.65 2008/03/04 18:30:40 fabiankeil
9624 Remove the treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks action. We now
9625 use the "blocked" page for forbidden CONNECT requests by default.
9627 Revision 2.64 2008/03/01 14:10:28 fabiankeil
9628 Use new block syntax. Still needs some polishing.
9630 Revision 2.63 2008/02/22 05:50:37 markm68k
9633 Revision 2.62 2008/02/11 11:52:23 hal9
9634 Fix entity ... s/&/&
9636 Revision 2.61 2008/02/11 03:41:47 markm68k
9637 more updates for mac os x
9639 Revision 2.60 2008/02/11 03:40:25 markm68k
9640 more updates for mac os x
9642 Revision 2.59 2008/02/11 00:52:34 markm68k
9643 reflect new changes for mac os x
9645 Revision 2.58 2008/02/03 21:37:40 hal9
9646 Apply patch from Mark: s/OSX/OS X/
9648 Revision 2.57 2008/02/03 19:10:14 fabiankeil
9649 Mention forward-socks5.
9651 Revision 2.56 2008/01/31 19:11:35 fabiankeil
9652 Let the +client-header-filter{hide-tor-exit-notation} example apply
9653 to all requests as "tainted" Referers aren't limited to exit TLDs.
9655 Revision 2.55 2008/01/19 21:26:37 hal9
9656 Add IE7 to configuration section per Gerry.
9658 Revision 2.54 2008/01/19 17:52:39 hal9
9659 Re-commit to fix various minor issues for new release.
9661 Revision 2.53 2008/01/19 15:03:05 hal9
9662 Doc sources tagged for 3.0.8 release.
9664 Revision 2.52 2008/01/17 01:49:51 hal9
9665 Change copyright notice for docs s/2007/2008/. All these will be rebuilt soon
9668 Revision 2.51 2007/12/23 16:48:24 fabiankeil
9669 Use more precise example descriptions for the mysterious domain patterns.
9671 Revision 2.50 2007/12/08 12:44:36 fabiankeil
9672 - Remove already commented out pre-3.0.7 changes.
9673 - Update the "new log defaults" paragraph.
9675 Revision 2.49 2007/12/06 18:21:55 fabiankeil
9676 Update hide-forwarded-for-headers description.
9678 Revision 2.48 2007/11/24 19:07:17 fabiankeil
9679 - Mention request rewriting.
9680 - Enable the conditional-forge paragraph.
9683 Revision 2.47 2007/11/18 14:59:47 fabiankeil
9684 A few "Note to Upgraders" updates.
9686 Revision 2.46 2007/11/17 17:24:44 fabiankeil
9687 - Use new action defaults.
9688 - Minor fixes and rewordings.
9690 Revision 2.45 2007/11/16 11:48:46 hal9
9691 Fix one typo, and add a couple of small refinements.
9693 Revision 2.44 2007/11/15 03:30:20 hal9
9694 Results of spell check.
9696 Revision 2.43 2007/11/14 18:45:39 fabiankeil
9697 - Mention some more contributors in the "New in this Release" list.
9700 Revision 2.42 2007/11/12 03:32:40 hal9
9701 Updates for "What's New" and "Notes to Upgraders". Various other changes in
9702 preparation for new release. User Manual is almost ready.
9704 Revision 2.41 2007/11/11 16:32:11 hal9
9705 This is primarily syncing What's New and Note to Upgraders sections with the many
9706 new features and changes (gleaned from memory but mostly from ChangeLog).
9708 Revision 2.40 2007/11/10 17:10:59 fabiankeil
9709 In the first third of the file, mention several times that
9710 the action editor is disabled by default in 3.0.7 beta and later.
9712 Revision 2.39 2007/11/05 02:34:49 hal9
9713 Various changes in preparation for the upcoming release. Much yet to be done.
9715 Revision 2.38 2007/09/22 16:01:42 fabiankeil
9716 Update embedded show-url-info output.
9718 Revision 2.37 2007/08/27 16:09:55 fabiankeil
9719 Fix pre-chroot-nslookup description which I failed to
9720 copy and paste properly. Reported by Stephen Gildea.
9722 Revision 2.36 2007/08/26 16:47:14 fabiankeil
9723 Add Stephen Gildea's pre-chroot-nslookup patch [#1276666],
9724 extensive comments moved to user manual.
9726 Revision 2.35 2007/08/26 14:59:49 fabiankeil
9727 Minor rewordings and fixes.
9729 Revision 2.34 2007/08/05 15:19:50 fabiankeil
9730 - Don't claim HTTP/1.1 compliance.
9731 - Use $ in some of the path pattern examples.
9732 - Use a hide-user-agent example argument without
9733 leading and trailing space.
9734 - Make it clear that the cookie actions work with
9736 - Rephrase the inspect-jpegs text to underline
9737 that it's only meant to protect against a single
9740 Revision 2.33 2007/07/27 10:57:35 hal9
9741 Add references for user-agent strings for hide-user-agenet
9743 Revision 2.32 2007/06/07 12:36:22 fabiankeil
9744 Apply Roland's 29_usermanual.dpatch to fix a bunch
9745 of syntax errors I collected over the last months.
9747 Revision 2.31 2007/06/02 14:01:37 fabiankeil
9748 Start to document forward-override{}.
9750 Revision 2.30 2007/04/25 15:10:36 fabiankeil
9751 - Describe installation for FreeBSD.
9752 - Start to document taggers and tag patterns.
9753 - Don't confuse devils and daemons.
9755 Revision 2.29 2007/04/05 11:47:51 fabiankeil
9756 Some updates regarding header filtering,
9757 handling of compressed content and redirect's
9758 support for pcrs commands.
9760 Revision 2.28 2006/12/10 23:42:48 hal9
9761 Fix various typos reported by Adam P. Thanks.
9763 Revision 2.27 2006/11/14 01:57:47 hal9
9764 Dump all docs prior to 3.0.6 release. Various minor changes to faq and user
9767 Revision 2.26 2006/10/24 11:16:44 hal9
9770 Revision 2.25 2006/10/18 10:50:33 hal9
9771 Add note that since filters are off in Cautious, compression is ON. Turn off
9772 compression to make filters work on all sites.
9774 Revision 2.24 2006/10/03 11:13:54 hal9
9775 More references to the new filters. Include html this time around.
9777 Revision 2.23 2006/10/02 22:43:53 hal9
9778 Contains new filter definitions from Fabian, and few other miscellaneous
9781 Revision 2.22 2006/09/22 01:27:55 hal9
9782 Final commit of probably various minor changes here and there. Unless
9783 something changes this should be ready for pending release.
9785 Revision 2.21 2006/09/20 03:21:36 david__schmidt
9786 Just the tiniest tweak. Wafer thin!
9788 Revision 2.20 2006/09/10 14:53:54 hal9
9789 Results of spell check. User manual has some updates to standard.actions file
9792 Revision 2.19 2006/09/08 12:19:02 fabiankeil
9793 Adjust hide-if-modified-since example values
9794 to reflect the recent changes.
9796 Revision 2.18 2006/09/08 02:38:57 hal9
9798 -Fix a number of broken links.
9799 -Migrate the new Windows service command line options, and reference as
9801 -Rebuild so that can be used with the new "user-manual" config capabilities.
9804 Revision 2.17 2006/09/05 13:25:12 david__schmidt
9805 Add Windows service invocation stuff (duplicated) in FAQ and in user manual under Windows startup. One probably ought to reference the other.
9807 Revision 2.16 2006/09/02 12:49:37 hal9
9808 Various small updates for new actions, filterfiles, etc.
9810 Revision 2.15 2006/08/30 11:15:22 hal9
9811 More work on the new actions, especially filter-*-headers, and What's New
9812 section. User Manual is close to final form for 3.0.4 release. Some tinkering
9813 and proof reading left to do.
9815 Revision 2.14 2006/08/29 10:59:36 hal9
9816 Add a "Whats New in this release" Section. Further work on multiple filter
9817 files, and assorted other minor changes.
9819 Revision 2.13 2006/08/22 11:04:59 hal9
9820 Silence warnings and errors. This should build now. New filters were only
9821 stubbed in. More to be done.
9823 Revision 2.12 2006/08/14 08:40:39 fabiankeil
9824 Documented new actions that were part of
9825 the "minor Privoxy improvements".
9827 Revision 2.11 2006/07/18 14:48:51 david__schmidt
9828 Reorganizing the repository: swapping out what was HEAD (the old 3.1 branch)
9829 with what was really the latest development (the v_3_0_branch branch)
9831 Revision 1.123.2.43 2005/05/23 09:59:10 hal9
9834 Revision 1.123.2.42 2004/12/04 14:39:57 hal9
9835 Fix two minor typos per bug SF report.
9837 Revision 1.123.2.41 2004/03/23 12:58:42 oes
9840 Revision 1.123.2.40 2004/02/27 12:48:49 hal9
9841 Add comment re: redirecting to local file system for set-image-blocker may
9842 is dependent on browser.
9844 Revision 1.123.2.39 2004/01/30 22:31:40 oes
9845 Added a hint re bookmarklets to Quickstart section
9847 Revision 1.123.2.38 2004/01/30 16:47:51 oes
9848 Some minor clarifications
9850 Revision 1.123.2.37 2004/01/29 22:36:11 hal9
9851 Updates for no longer filtering text/plain, and demoronizer default settings,
9852 and copyright notice dates.
9854 Revision 1.123.2.36 2003/12/10 02:26:26 hal9
9855 Changed the demoronizer filter description.
9857 Revision 1.123.2.35 2003/11/06 13:36:37 oes
9858 Updated link to nightly CVS tarball
9860 Revision 1.123.2.34 2003/06/26 23:50:16 hal9
9861 Add a small bit on filtering and problems re: source code being corrupted.
9863 Revision 1.123.2.33 2003/05/08 18:17:33 roro
9864 Use apt-get instead of dpkg to install Debian package, which is more
9865 solid, uses the correct and most recent Debian version automatically.
9867 Revision 1.123.2.32 2003/04/11 03:13:57 hal9
9868 Add small note about only one filterfile (as opposed to multiple actions
9871 Revision 1.123.2.31 2003/03/26 02:03:43 oes
9872 Updated hard-coded copyright dates
9874 Revision 1.123.2.30 2003/03/24 12:58:56 hal9
9875 Add new section on Predefined Filters.
9877 Revision 1.123.2.29 2003/03/20 02:45:29 hal9
9878 More problems with \-\-chroot causing markup problems :(
9880 Revision 1.123.2.28 2003/03/19 00:35:24 hal9
9881 Manual edit of revision log because 'chroot' (even inside a comment) was
9882 causing Docbook to hang here (due to double hyphen and the processor thinking
9885 Revision 1.123.2.27 2003/03/18 19:37:14 oes
9886 s/Advanced|Radical/Adventuresome/g to avoid complaints re fun filter
9888 Revision 1.123.2.26 2003/03/17 16:50:53 oes
9889 Added documentation for new chroot option
9891 Revision 1.123.2.25 2003/03/15 18:36:55 oes
9892 Adapted to the new filters
9894 Revision 1.123.2.24 2002/11/17 06:41:06 hal9
9895 Move default profiles table from FAQ to U-M, and other minor related changes.
9898 Revision 1.123.2.23 2002/10/21 02:32:01 hal9
9899 Updates to the user.action examples section. A few new ones.
9901 Revision 1.123.2.22 2002/10/12 00:51:53 hal9
9902 Add demoronizer to filter section.
9904 Revision 1.123.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 hal9
9905 s/Advanced/Radical/ and added very brief note.
9907 Revision 1.123.2.20 2002/10/10 03:49:21 hal9
9908 Add notes to session-cookies-only and Quickstart about pre-existing
9909 cookies. Also, note content-cookies work differently.
9911 Revision 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9
9912 More explanation on Privoxy patterns, more on content-cookies and SSL.
9914 Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9
9915 Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match
9918 Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9
9919 Spell checked (only one typo this time!).
9921 Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt
9922 Update to Mac OS X startup script name
9924 Revision 1.123.2.15 2002/08/07 17:32:11 oes
9925 Converted some internal links from ulink to link for PDF creation; no content changed
9927 Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes
9928 Nits re: actions file download
9930 Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff
9931 Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections
9933 Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff
9934 Added 2 Gentoo sections
9936 Revision 1.123.2.11 2002/07/26 15:20:31 oes
9937 - Added version info to title
9938 - Added info on new filters
9939 - Revised parts of the filter file tutorial
9940 - Added info on where to get updated actions files
9942 Revision 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
9943 Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
9945 Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt
9947 Updated Mac OS X sections due to installation location change
9949 Revision 1.123.2.8 2002/06/09 16:36:32 hal9
9950 Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
9952 Revision 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9
9953 Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy.
9955 Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9
9956 Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs.
9958 Revision 1.123.2.5 2002/05/29 02:01:02 hal9
9959 This is break out of the entire config section from u-m, so it can
9960 eventually be used to generate the comments, etc in the main config file
9961 so that these are in sync with each other.
9963 Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
9964 Ooops missed something from David.
9966 Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9
9967 Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and Mac OS X startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat).
9968 That's a wrap, I think.
9970 Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9
9971 Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section.
9973 Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
9974 -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
9976 Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9
9977 Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton.
9978 Minor corrections/clarifications here and there.
9980 Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
9981 Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
9983 Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes
9984 - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the
9985 <literal><link> style.
9986 - Small fixes in the actions chapter
9987 - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking
9988 - Removed <emphasis> from <title>s since the new doc CSS
9989 renders them red (bad in TOC).
9991 Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
9992 Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
9994 Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
9997 Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
9998 -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
9999 -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
10001 Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
10002 - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
10003 - Small changes to Regex appendix
10004 - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
10006 Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
10007 Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
10009 Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
10010 Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
10012 Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
10013 More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
10015 Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
10016 Extended and further commented the example actions files
10018 Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
10019 Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
10022 Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes
10025 Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes
10026 Restored alphabetical order of actions
10028 Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes
10029 Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs
10031 Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
10032 Completed proofreading the actions chapter
10034 Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9
10035 Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this
10036 apparently an important distinction for some OS's.
10038 Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
10039 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
10040 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
10041 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
10043 Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
10044 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
10046 Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
10049 Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
10050 -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
10051 -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
10053 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
10054 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
10056 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
10057 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
10058 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
10060 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
10061 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
10063 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
10064 more structure in starting section
10066 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
10067 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
10068 will probably break links elsewhere :(
10070 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
10071 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
10072 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
10074 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
10075 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
10076 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
10078 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
10079 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
10081 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
10082 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
10083 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
10085 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
10086 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
10087 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
10089 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
10090 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
10092 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
10093 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
10095 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
10096 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
10098 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
10099 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
10101 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
10102 Updated Mac OS X installation section
10103 Added a few English tweaks here an there
10105 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
10106 Re-write actions section.
10108 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
10109 Fix ugly typo (mine).
10111 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
10112 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
10114 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
10115 Added RPM install detail
10117 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
10120 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
10121 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
10123 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
10124 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
10126 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
10127 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
10129 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
10130 Proofreading part 2
10132 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
10133 Proofreading, part one
10135 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
10136 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
10137 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
10139 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
10140 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
10142 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
10143 Add small section on submitting actions.
10145 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
10148 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
10149 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
10151 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
10152 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
10154 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
10157 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
10158 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
10159 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
10160 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
10161 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
10163 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
10164 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
10166 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
10167 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
10169 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
10170 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
10171 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
10172 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
10173 eventually be set by Makefile.
10174 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
10176 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
10177 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
10179 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
10180 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
10182 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
10183 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
10185 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
10186 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
10187 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
10188 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
10190 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
10193 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
10194 Added more to Anatomy section.
10196 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
10197 Touch up intro for new name.
10199 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
10200 we have a new homepage!
10202 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
10203 A few minor catch ups with name change.
10205 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
10206 configure needs to be generated.
10208 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
10209 we are too lazy to make a block-built
10210 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
10212 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
10213 name change related issue.
10215 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
10216 name change. changed filenames.
10218 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
10221 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
10222 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
10223 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
10224 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
10225 comments and remarks to history untouched.
10227 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
10230 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
10231 New section in Appendix.
10233 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
10234 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
10236 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
10237 correct feedback channels
10239 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
10240 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
10242 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
10245 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
10246 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
10248 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
10249 Added imageblock{pattern}.
10251 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
10254 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
10255 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
10257 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
10258 provide correct feedback channels
10260 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
10261 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
10263 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
10264 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
10266 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
10267 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
10269 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
10270 Add new - - user option.
10272 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
10273 Added section on command line options.
10275 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
10276 Changed default port to 8118
10278 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
10279 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
10281 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
10282 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
10283 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
10286 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
10289 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
10290 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
10292 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
10293 Update OS/2 build section
10295 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
10296 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
10297 will work - no other changes are needed.
10299 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
10300 Added a very short section on Templates
10302 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
10303 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
10305 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
10306 Touch ups for *.action files.
10308 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
10311 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
10312 Updates for recent changes.
10314 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
10315 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
10317 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
10318 Correct 2 minor errors
10320 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
10321 *** empty log message ***
10323 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
10324 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
10326 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
10327 wrong url in documentation
10329 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
10330 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
10332 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
10333 Very minor changes.
10335 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
10338 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
10341 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
10342 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
10344 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
10345 Some additions, and re-arranging.
10347 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
10350 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
10351 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
10353 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
10356 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
10357 source files for junkbuster documentation
10359 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
10360 first proposal of a structure.
10362 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
10363 docs should have an author.
10365 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
10366 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.