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6 .TH "PRIVOXY" "1" "13 January 2009" "Privoxy 3.0.11 UNRELEASED" ""
8 privoxy \- Privacy Enhancing Proxy
11 \fBprivoxy\fR [\fB\-\-help\fR ] [\fB\-\-version\fR ] [\fB\-\-no-daemon\fR ] [\fB\-\-pidfile \fIpidfile\fB\fR ] [\fB\-\-user \fIuser[.group]\fB\fR ] [\fB\-\-chroot\fR ] [\fB\-\-pre-chroot-nslookup \fIhostname\fB\fR ] [\fB\fIconfigfile\fB\fR ]
15 \fBPrivoxy\fR may be invoked with the following command line
19 Print brief usage info and exit.
22 Print version info and exit.
25 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
26 leader, don't detach from controlling tty, and do all logging there.
28 \fB\-\-pidfile \fIpidfile\fB\fR
29 On startup, write the process ID to \fIpidfile\fR.
30 Delete the \fIpidfile\fR on exit.
31 Failure to create or delete the \fIpidfile\fR
32 is non-fatal. If no \fB\-\-pidfile\fR option is given, no PID file will be used.
34 \fB\-\-user \fIuser[.group]\fB\fR
35 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
36 \fIuser\fR and the GID of
37 \fIgroup\fR, or, if the optional
38 \fIgroup\fR was not given, the default group of
39 \fIuser\fR. Exit if the privileges are not
43 Before changing to the user ID given in the \-\-user option, chroot to
44 that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the
45 \fBPrivoxy\fR process that the directory tree starts
46 there. If set up carefully, this can limit the impact of possible
47 vulnerabilities in \fBPrivoxy\fR to the files contained in
50 \fB\-\-pre-chroot-nslookup \fIhostname\fB\fR
51 Initialize the resolver library using \fIhostname\fR
52 before chroot'ing. On some systems this reduces the number of files
53 that must be copied into the chroot tree.
55 If the \fIconfigfile\fR is not specified on the command line,
56 \fBPrivoxy\fR will look for a file named
57 \fIconfig\fR in the current directory . If no
58 \fIconfigfile\fR is found, \fBPrivoxy\fR will
62 Privoxy is a non-caching
64 with advanced filtering capabilities for enhancing privacy,
65 modifying web page data, managing HTTP
67 controlling access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious
68 Internet junk. Privoxy has a flexible configuration and can be
69 customized to suit individual needs and tastes. Privoxy has application for
70 both stand-alone systems and multi-user networks.
72 Privoxy is based on Internet Junkbuster (tm).
73 .SH "INSTALLATION AND USAGE"
75 Browsers can either be individually configured to use
76 \fBPrivoxy\fR as a HTTP proxy (recommended),
77 or \fBPrivoxy\fR can be combined with a packet
78 filter to build an intercepting proxy
79 (see \fIconfig\fR). The default setting is for
80 localhost, on port 8118 (configurable in the main config file). To set the
81 HTTP proxy in Netscape and Mozilla, go through: \fBEdit\fR;
82 \fBPreferences\fR; \fBAdvanced\fR;
83 \fBProxies\fR; \fBManual Proxy Configuration\fR;
86 For Firefox, go through: \fBTools\fR;
87 \fBOptions\fR; \fBGeneral\fR;
88 \fBConnection Settings\fR;
89 \fBManual Proxy Configuration\fR.
91 For Internet Explorer, go through: \fBTools\fR;
92 \fBInternet Properties\fR; \fBConnections\fR;
95 The Secure (SSL) Proxy should also be set to the same values, otherwise
96 https: URLs will not be proxied. Note: \fBPrivoxy\fR can only
97 proxy HTTP and HTTPS traffic. Do not try it with FTP or other protocols.
98 HTTPS presents some limitations, and not all features will work with HTTPS
101 For other browsers, check the documentation.
104 \fBPrivoxy\fR can be configured with the various configuration
105 files. The default configuration files are: \fIconfig\fR,
106 \fIdefault.filter\fR, and
107 \fIdefault.action\fR. \fIuser.action\fR should
108 be used for locally defined exceptions to the default rules of
109 \fIdefault.action\fR, and \fIuser.filter\fR for
110 locally defined filters. These are well commented. On Unix
111 and Unix-like systems, these are located in
112 \fI/etc/privoxy/\fR by default.
114 \fBPrivoxy\fR uses the concept of \fBactions\fR
115 in order to manipulate the data stream between the browser and remote sites.
116 There are various actions available with specific functions for such things
117 as blocking web sites, managing cookies, etc. These actions can be invoked
118 individually or combined, and used against individual URLs, or groups of URLs
119 that can be defined using wildcards and regular expressions. The result is
120 that the user has greatly enhanced control and freedom.
122 The actions list (ad blocks, etc) can also be configured with your
123 web browser at http://config.privoxy.org/
124 (assuming the configuration allows it).
125 \fBPrivoxy's\fR configuration parameters can also be viewed at
126 the same page. In addition, \fBPrivoxy\fR can be toggled on/off.
127 This is an internal page, and does not require Internet access.
129 See the \fIUser Manual\fR for a detailed
130 explanation of installation, general usage, all configuration options, new
131 features and notes on upgrading.
132 .SH "SAMPLE CONFIGURATION"
134 A brief example of what a simple \fIdefault.action\fR
135 configuration might look like:
138 # Define a few useful custom aliases for later use
141 # Useful aliases that combine more than one action
142 +crunch-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
143 \-crunch-cookies = \-crunch-incoming-cookies \-crunch-outgoing-cookies
144 +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
146 # Fragile sites should have the minimum changes
147 fragile = \-block \-deanimate-gifs \-fast-redirects \-filter \\
148 \-hide-referer \-prevent-cookies
150 ## Turn some actions on ################################
151 ## NOTE: Actions are off by default, unless explictily turned on
152 ## otherwise with the '+' operator.
155 +change-x-forwarded-for{block} \\
156 +deanimate-gifs{last} \\
157 +filter{refresh-tags} \\
158 +filter{img-reorder} \\
159 +filter{banners-by-size} \\
161 +filter{jumping-windows} \\
162 +filter{ie-exploits} \\
163 +hide-from-header{block} \\
164 +hide-referrer{conditional-block} \\
165 +session-cookies-only \\
166 +set-image-blocker{pattern} \\
168 / # '/' Match *all* URL patterns
171 # Block all URLs that match these patterns
177 /.*count(er)?\\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
179 media./.*(ads|banner)
181 # Block, and treat these URL patterns as if they were 'images'.
182 # We would expect these to be ads.
185 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
188 # Make exceptions for these harmless ones that would be
189 # caught by our +block patterns just above.
195 # uploads or downloads
199 Then for a \fIuser.action\fR, we would put local,
200 narrowly defined exceptions:
203 # Re-define aliases as needed here
207 \-crunch-cookies = \-crunch-incoming-cookies \-crunch-outgoing-cookies
209 # Set personal exceptions to the policies in default.action #######
211 # Sites where we want persistent cookies, so allow *all* cookies
212 { \-crunch-cookies \-session-cookies-only }
217 # These sites break easily. Use our "fragile" alias here.
222 # Replace example.com's style sheet with one of my choosing
223 { +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
224 .example.com/stylesheet.css
227 See the comments in the configuration files themselves, or the
229 for full explanations of the above syntax, and other \fBPrivoxy\fR
230 configuration options.
235 \fI/usr/sbin/privoxy\fR
236 \fI/etc/privoxy/config\fR
237 \fI/etc/privoxy/default.action\fR
238 \fI/etc/privoxy/user.action\fR
239 \fI/etc/privoxy/default.filter\fR
240 \fI/etc/privoxy/user.filter\fR
241 \fI/etc/privoxy/trust\fR
242 \fI/etc/privoxy/templates/*\fR
243 \fI/var/log/privoxy/logfile\fR
246 Various other files should be included, but may vary depending on platform
247 and build configuration. Additional documentation should be included in the local
248 documentation directory.
251 \fBPrivoxy\fR terminates on the \fBSIGINT\fR,
252 \fBSIGTERM\fR and \fBSIGABRT\fR signals. Log
253 rotation scripts may cause a re-opening of the logfile by sending a
254 \fBSIGHUP\fR to \fBPrivoxy\fR. Note that unlike
255 other daemons, \fBPrivoxy\fR does not need to be made aware of
256 config file changes by \fBSIGHUP\fR -- it will detect them
260 This is a UNRELEASED version of \fBPrivoxy\fR. Not
261 all features are well tested.
263 Please see the \fIUser Manual\fR on how to contact the
264 developers, for feature requests, reporting problems, and other questions.
267 Other references and sites of interest to \fBPrivoxy\fR
271 http://www.privoxy.org/,
272 the \fBPrivoxy\fR Home page.
274 http://www.privoxy.org/faq/,
275 the \fBPrivoxy\fR FAQ.
277 http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/,
278 the Project Page for \fBPrivoxy\fR on
281 http://config.privoxy.org/,
282 the web-based user interface. \fBPrivoxy\fR must be
283 running for this to work. Shortcut: http://p.p/
285 http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288, to submit ``misses'' and other
286 configuration related suggestions to the developers.
288 http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html,
289 an explanation how cookies are used to track web users.
291 http://www.junkbusters.com/ijb.html,
292 the original Internet Junkbuster.
294 http://privacy.net/, a useful site
295 to check what information about you is leaked while you browse the web.
297 http://www.squid-cache.org/, a popular
298 caching proxy, which is often used together with \fBPrivoxy\fR.
300 http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/software/polipo/,
301 \fBPolipo\fR is a caching proxy with advanced features
302 like pipelining, multiplexing and caching of partial instances. In many setups
303 it can be used as \fBSquid\fR replacement.
306 \fBTor\fR can help anonymize web browsing,
307 web publishing, instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications.
309 http://www.privoxy.org/developer-manual/,
310 the \fBPrivoxy\fR developer manual.
311 .SH "DEVELOPMENT TEAM"
314 Fabian Keil, lead developer
315 David Schmidt, developer
324 .SH "COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE"
327 Copyright (C) 2001-2008 by Privoxy Developers <ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net>
329 Some source code is based on code Copyright (C) 1997 by Anonymous Coders
330 and Junkbusters, Inc. and licensed under the \fIGNU General Public
334 \fBPrivoxy\fR is free software; you can
335 redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the
336 \fIGNU General Public License\fR, version 2,
337 as published by the Free Software Foundation.
339 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
340 ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
341 FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the \fIGNU General Public License\fR for details.
343 You should have received a copy of the \fIGNU GPL\fR
344 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
345 Foundation, Inc. 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor
346 Boston, MA 02110-1301