1 <!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN">
3 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/faq.sgml,v $
7 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
9 $Id: faq.sgml,v 1.12 2002/03/11 20:13:21 swa Exp $
11 Written by and Copyright (C) 2001 the SourceForge
12 IJBSWA team. http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net
14 Based on the Internet Junkbuster originally written
15 by and Copyright (C) 1997 Anonymous Coders and
16 Junkbusters Corporation. http://www.junkbusters.com
21 <title>Junkbuster Frequently Asked Questions</title>
23 <pubdate>$Id: faq.sgml,v 1.12 2002/03/11 20:13:21 swa Exp $</pubdate>
28 <orgname>By: Junkbuster Developers</orgname>
35 The FAQ document gives users and developers alike answers to frequently asked
36 questions about the Internet Junkbuster. <application>Internet
37 Junkbuster</application> is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities
38 for protecting privacy, filtering web page content, managing cookies,
39 controlling access, and removing ads, banners, pop-ups and other obnoxious
40 Internet Junk. Junkbuster has a very flexible configuration and can be
41 customized to suit individual needs and tastes. <application>Internet
42 Junkbuster</application> has application for both stand-alone systems and
46 You can find the latest version of the document at <ulink url="http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/faq/">http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/faq/</ulink>.
47 Please see the Contact section in the user-manual if you want to contact the developers.
51 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
57 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
60 <sect1 id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
66 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
68 <sect1 id="questions"><title>Frequently Asked Questions</title>
70 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
72 <sect2 id="general"><title>General Information</title>
74 <sect3 id="newjb"><title>What is this new <application>Junkbuster</application>?</title>
76 The original <application>Junkbuster</application> was a product of
77 Junkbusters Corporation (tm). Development of this effort stopped
78 as of version 2.0.2. Stefan Walherr started the ijbswa project on
79 <ulink url="http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net">Sourceforge</ulink> to
80 rekindle development. Other developers subsequently joined with
81 Stefan, and have since added many new features and enhancements.
85 <sect3 id="differs"><title>How does it differ from the old <application>Junkbuster?</application></title>
87 All the old features remain. The new <application>Junkbuster</application>
88 still blocks ads and banners, still manages cookies, and protects
89 privacy. But, these are all enhanced, and many new features have been
90 added, all in the same vein.
93 The configuration has changed significantly. This is something that users
94 will notice right off the bat. The <quote>blocklist</quote> file does
95 not exist any more. This is replaced by <quote>actions</quote>
96 files, such as <filename>ijb.actions</filename>. This is where most of
97 the per site configuration is now.
102 <sect3 id="features"><title>What are some of the new features?</title>
104 The section is in both user-manual and faq. Please keep in sync!!!
111 Integrated browser based configuration and control utility (<ulink
112 url="http://i.j.b">http://i.j.b</ulink>). Browser-based tracing of rule
119 Modularized configuration that will allow for system wide settings, and
120 individual user settings. (not implemented yet, probably a 3.1 feature)
126 Blocking of annoying pop-up browser windows.
132 HTTP/1.1 compliant (most, but not all 1.1 features are supported).
138 Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the configuration files, and
139 generally a more sophisticated and flexible configuration syntax over
152 Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size,
153 invisible <quote>web-bugs</quote>, JavaScript, pop-ups, status bar abuse,
160 Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
167 Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
173 Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
179 User-customizable HTML templates (e.g. 404 error page).
185 Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
191 Builds from source on most UNIX-like systems. Packages available for: Linux
192 (RedHat, SuSE, or Debian), Windows, Sun Solaris, Mac OSX, OS/2, HP-UX 11 and AmigaOS.
199 In addition, the configuration is much more powerful and versatile over-all.
208 <sect3 id="proxymoron"><title>How does <application>Junkbuster</application>
209 work? What is a <quote>proxy</quote>?</title>
211 When you connect to a web site with <application>Junkbuster</application>,
212 you are really connecting to your locally running version of
213 <application>Junkbuster</application>. <application>Junkbuster</application>
214 intercepts your requests for the web page, and relays that to the
215 <quote>real</quote> web site. The web site sends the HTTP data stream
216 back to <application>Junkbuster</application>, where
217 <application>Junkbuster</application> can work its magic before it
218 relays this data back to your web browser.
223 Since <application>Junkbuster</application> sits between you and the
224 WWW, it is in a position to intercept and completely manage all web traffic and
225 HTTP content before it gets to your browser.
226 <application>Junkbuster</application> uses various programming methods to do
227 this, all of which is under your control via the various configuration
233 <sect3 id="browsers2"><title>My browser does the same things as
234 Junkbuster. Why should I use Junkbuster at all?</title>
236 Modern browsers do indeed have <emphasis>some</emphasis> of the same
237 functionality as <application>Junkbuster</application>. Maybe this is
238 adequate for you. But <application>Junkbuster</application> is much more
239 verstatile and flexible, and can do some things that browsers just can't.
242 In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or
243 have a LAN with multiple computers. This way all the configuration
244 is in one place, and you don't have to maintain a similar configuration
245 for possibly many browsers.
252 <sect3 id="license"><title>Is there is a license or fee? What about a
253 warranty? Registration?</title>
255 <application>Junkbuster</application> is licensed under the
256 GNU General Public License (GPL). It is free to use, copy,
257 modify or distribute as you wish.
260 There is no warranty of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise. That is something
261 that would cost real money ;-) There is no registration either.
262 <application>Junkbuster</application> really is <emphasis>free</emphasis>
271 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
273 <sect2 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
274 <sect3 id="newinstall"><title>Can I install the new
275 <application>Junkbuster</application> over the old one?</title>
277 We recommend you uninstall the old <application>Junkbuster</application>
278 first to minimize conflicts and confusion. You may want to
279 save your old configuration files for future reference.
282 See the user-manual for platform specific installation instructions.
288 <sect3 id="localhost"><title>What is the proxy address of Junkbuster?</title>
290 If you set up the <application>Junkbuster</application> to run on
291 the computer you browse from (rather than your ISP's server or some
292 networked computer on a LAN), the proxy will be on <quote>localhost</quote>
293 (which is the special name used by every computer on the Internet to refer
294 to itself) and the port will be 8118 (unless you have told the Internet
295 Junkbuster to run on a different port with the
296 <emphasis>listen-address</emphasis> config option).
299 So you when configuring your browser's proxy settings you typically enter
300 the word <quote>localhost</quote> in the boxes next to <quote>HTTP</quote>
301 and <quote>Secure</quote> (HTTPS) and then the number <quote>8118</quote>
302 for <quote>port</quote>.
305 <application>Junkbuster</application> can also be used to proxy for
306 a Local Area Network. In this case, your would enter either the IP
307 address of the LAN host where <application>Junkbuster</application>
308 is running, or the equivalent hostname. Port assignment would be
312 <application>Junkbuster</application> does not currently handle
313 protocols such as FTP, SMTP, IM, IRC, ICQ, or other Internet
320 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
322 <sect2 id="configuration"><title>Configuration</title>
324 <sect3 id="newconfig"><title>Can I use my old config files?</title>
326 No. These will not work. You will need to re-enter your old
327 data into the new configuration structure.
332 <sect3 id="yahoo"><title>How can I make my Yahoo account work?</title>
338 <sect3 id="hotmail"> <title>How can I make my Hotmail account work?</title>
344 <sect3 id="gmx"> <title>How can I make my GMX account work?</title>
350 <sect3 id="configfiles"> <title>What are the differences between
351 ijb-intermediate.action, ijb-basic.action, etc.?</title>
353 Configuring the Internet Junkbuster is not easy. To help you get started, we
354 provide you with three different default configurations. The following table
355 shows you, which features are enabled in each configuration.
358 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
359 <tgroup cols=5 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
367 <entry>Feature</entry>
368 <entry>ijb.action</entry>
369 <entry>ijb-basic.action</entry>
370 <entry>ijb-intermediate.action</entry>
371 <entry>ijb-advanced.action</entry>
377 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
378 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
379 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
380 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
381 <!-- <entry>f5</entry> -->
388 <entry>ad-filtering</entry>
396 <entry>blank image</entry>
404 <entry>de-animate GIFs</entry>
412 <entry>referer forging</entry>
420 <entry>jon's +no-cookies-keep (i.e. session cookies only)</entry>
428 <entry>no-popup windows</entry>
436 <entry>fast redirects</entry>
444 <entry>hide-referrer</entry>
452 <entry>hide-useragent</entry>
460 <entry>content-modification</entry>
468 <entry>feature-x</entry>
476 <entry>feature-y</entry>
484 <entry>feature-z</entry>
497 <sect3 id="browseconfig"> <title>Why can I change the configuration with a
498 browser? Does that not raise security issues?</title>
500 What I don't understand, is how I can browser edit the config file as a
501 regular user, while the whole /etc/junkbuster hierarchy belongs to the user
502 "junkbuster", with only 644 perms.
505 When you use the browser-based editor, JunkBuster itself is writing to the
506 config files. Because JunkBuster is running as the user "junkbuster", it can
507 update the config files.
510 If you don't like this, setting "enable-edit-actions 0" in the config file
511 will disable the browser-based editor. If you're that paranoid, you should
512 also consider setting "enable-remote-toggle 0" to prevent browser-based
513 enabling/disabling of JunkBuster.
516 Note that normally only local users can connect to JunkBuster, so this is not
517 (normally) a security problem.
523 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
525 <sect2 id="misc"><title>Misc</title>
527 <sect3 id="loadingtimes"><title>I noticed considerable
528 delays in page requests compared to the old IJB. What's wrong?</title>
530 Using the default filtering configuration, I noticed considerable delays in
531 page requests compared to the old IJB. Loading pages with large contents
532 seemed to take forever, then suddenly delivering all the content at once.
535 The whole content must be loaded in order to filter, and nothing is is
536 sent to the browser during this time. The loading time does not really
537 change in real numbers, but the feeling is different, because most
538 browsers are able to start rendering incomplete content, giving the
539 user a feeling of "it works".
542 To modify the content of a page (i.e. make frames resizeable again, etc.) and
543 not just replace ads, the Internet Junkbuster needs to download the entire
544 page first, do its content magic and then send the page to the browser.
549 <sect3 id="configurl"><title>What is the "http://i.j.b/"?</title>
551 Since JunkBuster sits between your web browser and the Internet, it can be
552 programmed to handle certain pages specially.
556 With recent versions of JunkBuster (version 2.9.x), you can get some
557 information about JunkBuster and change some settings by going to
558 http://i.j.b/ or, equivalently, http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/
559 (Note that i.j.b is far easier to type but may not work in some
564 These pages are *not* forwarded to a server on the internet - instead they are
565 handled by a special web server which is built in to JunkBuster.
569 If you are not running JunkBuster, then http://i.j.b/ will fail, and
570 http://ijbswa.sourceforge.net/config/ will return a web page telling you
571 you're not running JunkBuster.
575 If you have version 2.0.2, then the equivalent is
576 http://example.com/show-proxy-args (but you get far less information, and you
577 should really consider upgrading to 2.9.x).
582 <sect3 id="badfiledesc"><title>I get the message 'Bad File Descriptor', why?</title>
588 <sect3 id="proxy-chaining"><title>How do I chain Junkbuster with other proxies
589 (e.g. squid)?</title>
595 <sect3 id="jointeam"><title>I would like to help you, what do I do?</title>
597 Well, helping the team is always a good idea. We welcome new developers,
598 RPM gurus or documentation makers. Simply get an account on sourceforge.net
599 and mail your id to the developer mailing list. Once we have added you to
600 the team, you'll have write access to the CVS repository, and together
601 we'll find a suitable task for you.
605 <sect3 id="blocklist"><title>Do you still maintain the blocklists?</title>
607 No. The format of the blocklists has changed significantly in the versions
608 2.9.x. Once we have released the new version, there will again be
609 blocklists that you can update automatically.
613 <sect3 id="newads"><title>How can I submit new ads?</title>
615 As of now, please discontinue to submit new ad blocking infos. Once we
616 have released the new version, there will again be a form on the website,
617 which you can use to contribute new ads.
621 <sect3 id="ip"><title>How can I hide my IP address?</title>
623 You cannot hide your IP address with Junkbuster or any other software, since
624 the server needs to know your IP address to send the answer to you.
627 Fortunately there are many publicly usable anonymous proxies out there, which
628 solve the problem by providing a further level of indirection between you and
629 the web server, shared by many people and thus letting your requests "drown"
630 in white noise of unrelated requests as far as user tracking is concerned.
633 Most of them will, however, log your IP address and make it available to the
634 authorities in case you abuse that anonymity for criminal purposes. In fact
635 you can't even rule out that some of them only exist to *collect* information
636 on (those suspicious) people with a more than average preference for privacy.
639 You can find a list of anonymous public proxies at <ulink
640 url="http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm">multiproxy.org</ulink> and many
645 <!-- <sect3 id="image"><title>What is the imagefile (simage.ini, etc.) for?</title> -->
647 <!-- Anytime the Junkbuster determines (with the help of the blocklist) that a URL -->
648 <!-- contains an advertisement, it has to decide whether this advertisement is an -->
649 <!-- image or not. The Junkbuster uses the imagefile for that purpose. -->
657 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
658 <sect1 id="knownissues"><title>Known Issues</title>
664 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
665 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contact the developers</title>
666 <para>Please see the user manual for information on how to contact the developers.
670 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
671 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Copyright and History</title>
672 <para>Please see the user manual for information on Copyright and History.
676 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
677 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See also</title>
678 <para>Please see the user manual for information on references.
684 Tue 09/11/01 06:38:14 PM EST: Test SGML doc by Hal Burgiss.
686 Last modified: Mon Sep 10 19:22:09 CEST 2001
688 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
689 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
690 Public License as published by the Free Software
691 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
692 your option) any later version.
694 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
695 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
696 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
697 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
698 License for more details.
700 The GNU General Public License should be included with
701 this file. If not, you can view it at
702 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
703 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
704 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
707 Revision 1.12 2002/03/11 20:13:21 swa
710 Revision 1.11 2002/03/11 18:42:27 swa
713 Revision 1.10 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
714 correct feedback channels
716 Revision 1.9 2002/03/10 23:34:04 swa
717 more info on not hiding ip address
719 Revision 1.8 2002/03/09 15:55:48 swa
720 added default config section
722 Revision 1.7 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
725 Revision 1.6 2002/03/07 13:16:31 oes
726 Committing changes by Stefan
728 Revision 1.5 2002/03/02 15:50:04 swa
729 2.9.11 version. more input for docs.
731 Revision 1.4 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
732 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
733 will work - no other changes are needed.
735 Revision 1.3 2001/09/23 10:13:48 swa
736 upload process established. run make webserver and
737 the documentation is moved to the webserver. documents
738 are now linked correctly.
740 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:20:17 swa
741 merged standards into developer manual
743 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
744 source files for junkbuster documentation
746 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
747 first proposal of a structure.
749 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
750 docs should have an author.
752 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
753 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.