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6 Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature Requests
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44 <a name="CONTACT">11. Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and
48 We value your feedback. In fact, we rely on it to improve <span
49 class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> and its configuration. However,
50 please note the following hints, so we can provide you with the best
55 <a name="SUFFICIENT-INFORMATION">11.1. Please provide sufficient
59 A lot of support requests don't contain enough information and
60 can't be solved without a lot of back and forth which causes
61 unnecessary delays. Reading this section should help to prevent
65 Before contacting us to report a problem, please try to verify that
66 it is a <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> problem, and not a
67 browser or site problem or documented behaviour that just happens
68 to be different than what you expected. If unsure, try <a href=
69 "http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable" target=
70 "_top">toggling off</a> <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>,
71 and see if the problem persists.
74 If you are using your own custom configuration, please try the
75 default configuration to see if the problem is configuration
76 related. If you're having problems with a feature that is disabled
77 by default, please ask around on the mailing list if others can
78 reproduce the problem.
81 If you aren't using the latest Privoxy version, the problem may
82 have been found and fixed in the meantime. We would appreciate if
83 you could take the time to <a href=
84 "https://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/installation.html" target=
85 "_top">upgrade to the latest version</a> and verify that the
89 Please be sure to provide the following information when reporting
90 problems or requesting support:
97 The exact <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> version you
103 The operating system and versions you run <span class=
104 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> on, e.g. <span class=
105 "APPLICATION">Windows XP SP2</span>.
110 The name, platform, and version of the <span class=
111 "APPLICATION">browser</span> you were using (e.g. <span class=
112 "APPLICATION">Internet Explorer v5.5</span> for Mac).
117 The URL where the problem occurred, or some way for us to
118 duplicate the problem (e.g. <tt class=
119 "LITERAL">http://somesite.example.com/?somethingelse=123</tt>).
124 Whether your version of <span class=
125 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> is one supplied by the <span
126 class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> developers via SourceForge,
127 or if you got your copy somewhere else.
132 Whether you are using <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>
133 together with another proxy such as <span class=
134 "APPLICATION">Tor</span>. If so, please temporary disable the
135 other proxy to see if the symptoms change.
140 Whether you are using a personal firewall product. If so, does
141 <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> work without it?
146 Any other pertinent information to help identify the problem
147 such as config or log file excerpts (yes, you should have log
148 file entries for each action taken). To get a meaningful
149 logfile, please make sure that the <a href=
150 "../user-manual/config.html#LOGFILE" target="_top">logfile
151 directive</a> is being used and the following <a href=
152 "../user-manual/config.html#DEBUG" target="_top">debug
153 options</a> are enabled (all of them):
155 <p class="LITERALLAYOUT">
156 debug 1 # Log the destination for each request Privoxy let through. See also debug 1024.<br>
158 debug 2 # show each connection status<br>
160 debug 4 # show I/O status<br>
162 debug 8 # show header parsing<br>
164 debug 128 # debug redirects<br>
166 debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation<br>
168 debug 512 # Common Log Format<br>
170 debug 1024 # Log the destination for requests Privoxy didn't let through, and the reason why.<br>
172 debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.<br>
174 debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
178 If you are having trouble with a filter, please additionally
181 <p class="LITERALLAYOUT">
182 debug 64 # debug regular expression filters
184 If you are using Privoxy 3.0.17 or later and suspect that it
185 interprets the request or the response incorrectly, please enable
187 <p class="LITERALLAYOUT">
188 debug 32768 # log all data read from the network
192 It's easy for us to ignore log messages that aren't relevant
193 but missing log messages may make it impossible to investigate
194 a problem. If you aren't sure which of the debug directives are
195 relevant, please just enable all of them and let us worry about
199 Note that Privoxy log files may contain sensitive information
200 so please don't submit any logfiles you didn't read first. You
201 can mask sensitive information as long as it's clear that you
208 You don't have to tell us your actual name when filing a problem
209 report, but if you don't, please use a nickname so we can
210 differentiate between your messages and the ones entered by other
211 "anonymous" users that may respond to your request if they have the
212 same problem or already found a solution. Note that due to spam the
213 trackers may not always allow to post without being logged into
214 SourceForge. If that's the case, you are still free to create a
215 login that isn't directly linked to your name, though.
218 Please also check the status of your request a few days after
219 submitting it, as we may request additional information. If you use
220 a SF id, you should automatically get a mail when someone responds
221 to your request. Please don't bother to add an email address when
222 using the tracker. If you prefer to communicate through email, just
223 use one of the mailing lists directly.
226 If you are new to reporting problems, you might be interested in <a
227 href="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html"
228 target="_top">How to Report Bugs Effectively</a>.
232 "https://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/appendix.html#ACTIONSANAT"
233 target="_top">appendix of the Privoxy User Manual</a> also has
234 helpful information on understanding <tt class=
235 "LITERAL">actions</tt>, and <tt class="LITERAL">action</tt>
241 <a name="CONTACT-SUPPORT">11.2. Get Support</a>
244 All users are welcome to discuss their issues on the <a href=
245 "https://lists.privoxy.org/mailman/listinfo/privoxy-users" target=
246 "_top">users mailing list</a>, where the developers also hang
250 Please don't send private support requests to individual Privoxy
251 developers, either use the mailing lists or the support trackers.
254 If you have to contact a Privoxy developer directly for other
255 reasons, please send a real mail and do not bother with
256 SourceForge's messaging system. Answers to SourceForge messages are
257 usually bounced by SourceForge's mail server in which case the
258 developer wasted time writing a response you don't get. From your
259 point of view it will look like your message has been completely
260 ignored, so this is frustrating for all parties involved.
263 Note that the Privoxy mailing lists are moderated. Posts from
264 unsubscribed addresses have to be accepted manually by a moderator.
265 This may cause a delay of several days and if you use a subject
266 that doesn't clearly mention Privoxy or one of its features, your
267 message may be accidentally discarded as spam.
270 If you aren't subscribed, you should therefore spend a few seconds
271 to come up with a proper subject. Additionally you should make it
272 clear that you want to get CC'd. Otherwise some responses will be
273 directed to the mailing list only, and you won't see them.
278 <a name="REPORTING">11.3. Reporting Problems</a>
281 <span class="QUOTE">"Problems"</span> for our purposes, come in two
287 Configuration issues, such as ads that slip through, or sites
288 that don't function properly due to one <span class=
289 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> <span class=
290 "QUOTE">"action"</span> or another being turned <span class=
296 <span class="QUOTE">"Bugs"</span> in the programming code that
297 makes up <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>, such as that
298 might cause a crash. Documentation issues, for example spelling
299 errors and unclear descriptions, are bugs, too.
305 <a name="CONTACT-ADS">11.3.1. Reporting Ads or Other
306 Configuration Problems</a>
309 Please send feedback on ads that slipped through, innocent images
310 that were blocked, sites that don't work properly, and other
311 configuration related problem of <tt class=
312 "FILENAME">default.action</tt> file, to <a href=
313 "https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288"
315 "_top">https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288</a>,
316 the Actions File Tracker.
321 <a name="CONTACT-BUGS">11.3.2. Reporting Bugs</a>
324 Before reporting bugs, please make sure that the bug has <span
325 class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">not already been
326 submitted</i></span> and observe the additional hints at the top
328 "https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=add&group_id=11118&atid=111118"
329 target="_top">submit form</a>. If already submitted, please feel
330 free to add any info to the original report that might help to
337 <a name="SECURITY-CONTACT">11.4. Reporting security problems</a>
340 If you discovered a security problem or merely suspect that a bug
341 might be a security issue, please mail Fabian Keil
342 <fk@fabiankeil.de> (OpenPGP fingerprint: 4F36 C17F 3816 9136
343 54A1 E850 6918 2291 8BA2 371C).
346 Usually you should get a response within a day, otherwise it's
347 likely that either your mail or the response didn't make it. If
348 that happens, please mail to the developer list to request a status
354 <a name="MAILING-LISTS">11.5. Mailing Lists</a>
357 If you prefer to communicate through email, instead of using a web
358 interface, feel free to use one of the mailing lists. To discuss
359 issues that haven't been completely diagnosed yet, please use the
360 Privoxy users list. Technically interested users and people who
361 wish to contribute to the project are always welcome on the
362 developers list. You can find an overview of all <span class=
363 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>-related mailing lists, including list
364 archives, at: <a href="https://lists.privoxy.org/mailman/listinfo"
365 target="_top">https://lists.privoxy.org/mailman/listinfo</a>. The
366 lists hosted on privoxy.org have been created in 2016, the
367 previously-used lists hosted at SourceForge are deprecated but the
368 archives may still be useful: <a href=
369 "https://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=11118" target=
370 "_top">https://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=11118</a>.
375 <a name="SF-TRACKERS">11.6. SourceForge support trackers</a>
379 "https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=211118"
380 target="_top">SourceForge support trackers</a> may be used as well,
381 but have various technical problems that are unlikely to be fixed
382 anytime soon. If you don't get a timely response, please try the
383 mailing list as well.
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