2 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/p-config.sgml,v $
4 Purpose : Used with other docs and files only.
6 $Id: p-config.sgml,v 2.5 2006/07/18 14:48:51 david__schmidt Exp $
8 Copyright (C) 2001-2006 Privoxy Developers <developers@privoxy.org>
11 ========================================================================
12 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
13 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
14 ========================================================================
17 This file contains all the config file comments and options. It used to
18 build both the user-manual config sections, and all of config (yes, the main
21 Rationale: This is broken up into two files since a file with a prolog
22 (DTD, etc) cannot be sourced as a secondary file. config.sgml is basically
23 a wrapper for this file.
27 OPTIONS: The actual options are included in this file and prefixed with
28 '@@', and processed by the Makefile to strip the '@@'. Default options
29 that should appear commented out should be listed as: '@@#OPTION'.
30 Otherwise, as '@@OPTION'. Example:
32 @@listen-address 127.0.0.1:8118
34 The Makefile does significant other processing too. The final results
35 should be checked to make sure that the perl processing does not
36 fubar something!!! Makefile processing requires w3m, fmt (shell line
40 This file is included into:
43 config (the actual Privoxy config file)
48 <!-- This part only goes into user-manual -->
50 <title>The Main Configuration File</title>
53 Again, the main configuration file is named <filename>config</filename> on
54 Linux/Unix/BSD and OS/2, and <filename>config.txt</filename> on Windows.
55 Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list of
56 values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or tabs). For
64 <emphasis>confdir /etc/privoxy</emphasis></literallayout>
70 Assigns the value <literal>/etc/privoxy</literal> to the option
71 <literal>confdir</literal> and thus indicates that the configuration
72 directory is named <quote>/etc/privoxy/</quote>.
76 All options in the config file except for <literal>confdir</literal> and
77 <literal>logdir</literal> are optional. Watch out in the below description
78 for what happens if you leave them unset.
82 The main config file controls all aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>'s
83 operation that are not location dependent (i.e. they apply universally, no matter
84 where you may be surfing).
91 <!-- This part only goes into the config file -->
94 @@TITLE<!-- between the @@ is stripped by Makefile -->@@
95 Sample Configuration File for Privoxy v&p-version;
98 $Id: p-config.sgml,v 2.5 2006/07/18 14:48:51 david__schmidt Exp $
101 Copyright (C) 2001-2006 Privoxy Developers http://privoxy.org
106 #################################################################
111 II. FORMAT OF THE CONFIGURATION FILE #
113 1. CONFIGURATION AND LOG FILE LOCATIONS #
114 2. LOCAL SET-UP DOCUMENTATION #
116 4. ACCESS CONTROL AND SECURITY #
118 6. WINDOWS GUI OPTIONS #
120 #################################################################
124 <literallayout>I. INTRODUCTION
125 =============== <!-- fuck this madness --></literallayout>
128 This file holds the Privoxy configuration. If you modify this
129 file, you will need to send a couple of requests (of any kind) to the proxy
130 before any changes take effect.
133 When starting Privoxy on Unix systems, give the name of this
134 file as an argument. On Windows systems, Privoxy will look for
135 this file with the name 'config.txt' in the same directory where
136 Privoxy is installed.
140 <literallayout><!-- funky spacing -->
142 II. FORMAT OF THE CONFIGURATION FILE
143 ====================================</literallayout>
146 Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a list
147 of values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces or
151 actionsfile default.action
154 Indicates that the actionsfile is named 'default.action'.
157 The '#' indicates a comment. Any part of a line following a '#' is
158 ignored, except if the '#' is preceded by a '\'.
161 Thus, by placing a # at the start of an existing configuration line,
162 you can make it a comment and it will be treated as if it weren't there.
163 This is called "commenting out" an option and can be useful.
166 Note that commenting out and option and leaving it at its default
167 are two completely different things! Most options behave very
168 differently when unset. See the the "Effect if unset" explanation
169 in each option's description for details.
172 Long lines can be continued on the next line by using a `\' as
178 <!-- ************************************************ -->
179 <!-- The following is common to both outputs (mostly) -->
180 <!-- ************************************************ -->
182 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
184 <sect2 id="conf-log-loc">
185 <title>Configuration and Log File Locations</title>
188 <application>Privoxy</application> can (and normally does) use a number of
189 other files for additional configuration, help and logging.
190 This section of the configuration file tells <application>Privoxy</application>
191 where to find those other files.
195 The user running <application>Privoxy</application>, must have read
196 permission for all configuration files, and write permission to any files
197 that would be modified, such as log files and actions files.
201 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
202 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="confdir"><title>confdir</title>
206 <term>Specifies:</term>
208 <para>The directory where the other configuration files are located</para>
212 <term>Type of value:</term>
214 <para>Path name</para>
218 <term>Default value:</term>
220 <para>/etc/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
224 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
226 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
233 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
236 When development goes modular and multi-user, the blocker, filter, and
237 per-user config will be stored in subdirectories of <quote>confdir</quote>.
238 For now, the configuration directory structure is flat, except for
239 <filename>confdir/templates</filename>, where the HTML templates for CGI
240 output reside (e.g. <application>Privoxy's</application> 404 error page).
246 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@confdir .</literallayout>]]>
250 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
251 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logdir"><title>logdir</title>
255 <term>Specifies:</term>
258 The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where <filename>logfile</filename> and
259 <filename>jarfile</filename> are located)
264 <term>Type of value:</term>
266 <para>Path name</para>
270 <term>Default value:</term>
272 <para>/var/log/privoxy (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> <application>Privoxy</application> installation dir (Windows) </para>
276 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
278 <para><emphasis>Mandatory</emphasis></para>
285 No trailing <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, please
291 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@logdir .</literallayout>]]>
295 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
296 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="actionsfile"><title>
299 <anchor id="default.action">
300 <anchor id="standard.action">
301 <anchor id="user.action">
302 <!-- Note: slightly modified this section 04/28/02, hal. See NOTE. -->
305 <term>Specifies:</term>
308 The <link linkend="actions-file">actions file(s)</link> to use
313 <term>Type of value:</term>
315 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal>, without the <literal>.action</literal> suffix</para>
319 <term>Default values:</term>
323 <msgtext><literallayout> standard # Internal purposes, no editing recommended</literallayout></msgtext>
326 <msgtext><literallayout> default # Main actions file</literallayout></msgtext>
329 <msgtext><literallayout> user # User customizations</literallayout></msgtext>
335 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
338 No actions are taken at all. Simple neutral proxying.
346 Multiple <literal>actionsfile</literal> lines are permitted, and are in fact recommended!
349 The default values include standard.action, which is used for internal
350 purposes and should be loaded, default.action, which is the
351 <quote>main</quote> actions file maintained by the developers, and
352 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can make your personal additions.
355 Actions files are where all the per site and per URL configuration is done for
356 ad blocking, cookie management, privacy considerations, etc.
357 There is no point in using <application>Privoxy</application> without at
358 least one actions file.
364 <!-- NOTE: alternate markup to make a simpler list doesn't work due to -->
365 <!-- html -> text conversion, blah -->
366 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@actionsfile standard # Internal purpose, recommended</literallayout>]]>
367 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@actionsfile default # Main actions file</literallayout>]]>
368 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@actionsfile user # User customizations</literallayout>]]>
371 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
372 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filterfile"><title>filterfile</title>
373 <anchor id="default.filter">
376 <term>Specifies:</term>
379 The <link linkend="filter-file">filter file(s)</link> to use
384 <term>Type of value:</term>
386 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
390 <term>Default value:</term>
392 <para>default.filter (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> default.filter.txt (Windows)</para>
396 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
399 No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all
400 <literal>+<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>}</literal>
401 actions in the actions files are turned neutral.
409 Multiple <literal>filterfiles</literal> lines are permitted.
412 The <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link> contain content modification
413 rules that use <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link>. These rules permit
414 powerful changes on the content of Web pages, and optionally the headers
415 as well, e.g., you could disable your favorite JavaScript annoyances,
416 re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some fun replacing
417 <quote>Microsoft</quote> with <quote>MicroSuck</quote> wherever it appears
422 <literal>+<link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>}</literal>
423 actions rely on the relevant filter (<replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>)
424 to be defined in a filter file!
427 A pre-defined filter file called <filename>default.filter</filename> that contains
428 a number of useful filters for common problems is included in the distribution.
429 See the section on the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
433 It is recommended to place any locally adapted filters into a separate
434 file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>.
440 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@filterfile default.filter</literallayout>]]>
444 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
445 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="logfile"><title>logfile</title>
449 <term>Specifies:</term>
457 <term>Type of value:</term>
459 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
463 <term>Default value:</term>
465 <para>logfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.log (Windows)</para>
469 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
472 No log file is used, all log messages go to the console (<literal>STDERR</literal>).
480 removed per bug report 688728 02/20/03 HB
483 The windows version will additionally log to the console.
487 The logfile is where all logging and error messages are written. The level
488 of detail and number of messages are set with the <literal>debug</literal>
489 option (see below). The logfile can be useful for tracking down a problem with
490 <application>Privoxy</application> (e.g., it's not blocking an ad you
491 think it should block) but in most cases you probably will never look at it.
494 Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably want to
495 periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do this with a cron job
496 (see <quote>man cron</quote>). For Red Hat, a <command>logrotate</command>
497 script has been included.
500 On SuSE Linux systems, you can place a line like <quote>/var/log/privoxy.*
501 +1024k 644 nobody.nogroup</quote> in <filename>/etc/logfiles</filename>, with
502 the effect that cron.daily will automatically archive, gzip, and empty the
503 log, when it exceeds 1M size.
506 Any log files must be writable by whatever user <application>Privoxy</application>
507 is being run as (default on UNIX, user id is <quote>privoxy</quote>).
513 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@logfile logfile</literallayout>]]>
517 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
518 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="jarfile"><title>jarfile</title>
522 <term>Specifies:</term>
525 The file to store intercepted cookies in
530 <term>Type of value:</term>
532 <para>File name, relative to <literal>logdir</literal></para>
536 <term>Default value:</term>
538 <para>jarfile (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> privoxy.jar (Windows)</para>
542 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
545 Intercepted cookies are not stored at all.
553 The jarfile may grow to ridiculous sizes over time.
559 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@jarfile jarfile</literallayout>]]>
563 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
564 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trustfile"><title>trustfile</title>
567 <term>Specifies:</term>
570 The trust file to use
575 <term>Type of value:</term>
577 <para>File name, relative to <literal>confdir</literal></para>
581 <term>Default value:</term>
583 <para><emphasis>Unset (commented out)</emphasis>. When activated: trust (Unix) <emphasis>or</emphasis> trust.txt (Windows)</para>
587 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
590 The entire trust mechanism is turned off.
598 The trust mechanism is an experimental feature for building white-lists and should
599 be used with care. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> recommended for the casual user.
602 If you specify a trust file, <application>Privoxy</application> will only allow
603 access to sites that are specified in the trustfile. Sites can be listed
607 Prepending a <literal>~</literal> character limits access to this site
608 only (and any sub-paths within this site), e.g.
609 <literal>~www.example.com</literal>.
612 Or, you can designate sites as <emphasis>trusted referrers</emphasis>, by
613 prepending the name with a <literal>+</literal> character. The effect is that
614 access to untrusted sites will be granted -- but only if a link from this
615 trusted referrer was used. The link target will then be added to the
616 <quote>trustfile</quote> so that future, direct accesses will be granted.
617 Sites added via this mechanism do not become trusted referrers themselves
618 (i.e. they are added with a <literal>~</literal> designation).
621 If you use the <literal>+</literal> operator in the trust file, it may grow
622 considerably over time.
625 It is recommended that <application>Privoxy</application> be compiled with
626 the <literal>--disable-force</literal>, <literal>--disable-toggle</literal> and
627 <literal> --disable-editor</literal> options, if this feature is to be
631 Possible applications include limiting Internet access for children.
638 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#trustfile trust</literallayout>]]>
642 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
645 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
646 <sect2 id="local-set-up">
647 <title>Local Set-up Documentation</title>
650 If you intend to operate <application>Privoxy</application> for more users
651 than just yourself, it might be a good idea to let them know how to reach
652 you, what you block and why you do that, your policies, etc.
656 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
657 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="user-manual"><title>user-manual</title>
660 <term>Specifies:</term>
663 Location of the <application>Privoxy</application> User Manual.
668 <term>Type of value:</term>
670 <para>A fully qualified URI</para>
674 <term>Default value:</term>
676 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
680 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
683 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/<replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable>/user-manual/</ulink>
684 will be used, where <replaceable class="parameter">version</replaceable> is the <application>Privoxy</application> version.
692 The User Manual URI is used for help links from some of the internal CGI pages.
693 The manual itself is normally packaged with the binary distributions, so you probably want
694 to set this to a locally installed copy. For multi-user setups, you could provide a copy on
695 a local webserver for all your users and use the corresponding URL here.
701 Unix, in local filesystem:
704 <screen> user-manual file:///usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;/user-manual/</screen>
707 Windows, in local filesystem, <emphasis>must</emphasis> use forward slash notation:
710 <screen> user-manual file:/c:/some-dir/privoxy-&p-version;/user-manual/</screen>
713 Windows, UNC notation (with forward slashes):
716 <screen> user-manual file://///some-server/some-path/privoxy-&p-version;/user-manual/</screen>
719 Any platform, on local webserver (called <quote>local-webserver</quote>):
722 <screen> user-manual http://local-webserver/privoxy-user-manual/</screen>
725 <!-- this gets hammered in conversion to config. Text repeated below. -->
728 If set, this option should be <emphasis>the first option in the config
729 file</emphasis>, because it is used while the config file is being read.
741 If set, this option should be the first option in the config
742 file, because it is used while the config file is being read.
751 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#user-manual http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</literallayout>]]>
755 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
756 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="trust-info-url"><title>trust-info-url</title>
760 <term>Specifies:</term>
763 A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if access to an untrusted page is denied.
768 <term>Type of value:</term>
774 <term>Default value:</term>
776 <para>Two example URL are provided</para>
780 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
783 No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page.
791 The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust mechanism has been
792 activated. (See <link linkend="trustfile"><emphasis>trustfile</emphasis></link> above.)
795 If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write up some on-line
796 documentation about your trust policy and to specify the URL(s) here.
797 Use multiple times for multiple URLs.
800 The URL(s) should be added to the trustfile as well, so users don't end up
801 locked out from the information on why they were locked out in the first place!
807 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@trust-info-url http://www.example.com/why_we_block.html</literallayout>]]>
808 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@trust-info-url http://www.example.com/what_we_allow.html</literallayout>]]>
812 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
813 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="admin-address"><title>admin-address</title>
817 <term>Specifies:</term>
820 An email address to reach the proxy administrator.
825 <term>Type of value:</term>
827 <para>Email address</para>
831 <term>Default value:</term>
833 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
837 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
840 No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
848 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
849 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
856 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#admin-address privoxy-admin@example.com</literallayout>]]>
860 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
861 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="proxy-info-url"><title>proxy-info-url</title>
865 <term>Specifies:</term>
868 A URL to documentation about the local <application>Privoxy</application> setup,
869 configuration or policies.
874 <term>Type of value:</term>
880 <term>Default value:</term>
882 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
886 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
889 No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and the CGI user interface.
897 If both <literal>admin-address</literal> and <literal>proxy-info-url</literal>
898 are unset, the whole "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will
902 This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-)
908 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#proxy-info-url http://www.example.com/proxy-service.html</literallayout>]]>
912 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
914 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
915 <sect2 id="debugging">
916 <title>Debugging</title>
919 These options are mainly useful when tracing a problem.
920 Note that you might also want to invoke
921 <application>Privoxy</application> with the <literal>--no-daemon</literal>
922 command line option when debugging.
925 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="debug"><title>debug</title>
929 <term>Specifies:</term>
932 Key values that determine what information gets logged to the
933 <link linkend="logfile"><emphasis>logfile</emphasis></link>.
938 <term>Type of value:</term>
940 <para>Integer values</para>
944 <term>Default value:</term>
946 <para>12289 (i.e.: URLs plus informational and warning messages)</para>
950 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
961 The available debug levels are:
965 debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
966 debug 2 # show each connection status
967 debug 4 # show I/O status
968 debug 8 # show header parsing
969 debug 16 # log all data into the logfile
970 debug 32 # debug force feature
971 debug 64 # debug regular expression filter
972 debug 128 # debug fast redirects
973 debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation
974 debug 512 # Common Log Format
975 debug 1024 # debug kill pop-ups
976 debug 2048 # CGI user interface
977 debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings.
978 debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors
982 To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or use
983 multiple <literal>debug</literal> lines.
986 A debug level of 1 is informative because it will show you each request
987 as it happens. <emphasis>1, 4096 and 8192 are highly recommended</emphasis>
988 so that you will notice when things go wrong. The other levels are probably
989 only of interest if you are hunting down a specific problem. They can produce
990 a hell of an output (especially 16).
994 The reporting of <emphasis>fatal</emphasis> errors (i.e. ones which crash
995 <application>Privoxy</application>) is always on and cannot be disabled.
998 If you want to use CLF (Common Log Format), you should set <quote>debug
999 512</quote> <emphasis>ONLY</emphasis> and not enable anything else.
1005 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request</literallayout>]]>
1006 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings</literallayout>]]>
1007 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@debug 8192 # Errors - *we highly recommended enabling this*</literallayout>]]>
1011 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1012 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="single-threaded"><title>single-threaded</title>
1016 <term>Specifies:</term>
1019 Whether to run only one server thread
1024 <term>Type of value:</term>
1026 <para><emphasis>None</emphasis></para>
1030 <term>Default value:</term>
1032 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1036 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1039 Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, i.e. the ability to
1040 serve multiple requests simultaneously.
1048 This option is only there for debug purposes and you should never
1049 need to use it. <emphasis>It will drastically reduce performance.</emphasis>
1055 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#single-threaded</literallayout>]]>
1060 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1063 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1064 <sect2 id="access-control">
1065 <title>Access Control and Security</title>
1068 This section of the config file controls the security-relevant aspects
1069 of <application>Privoxy</application>'s configuration.
1073 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1074 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="listen-address"><title>listen-address</title>
1078 <term>Specifies:</term>
1081 The IP address and TCP port on which <application>Privoxy</application> will
1082 listen for client requests.
1087 <term>Type of value:</term>
1089 <para>[<replaceable class="parameter">IP-Address</replaceable>]:<replaceable class="parameter">Port</replaceable></para>
1094 <term>Default value:</term>
1096 <para>127.0.0.1:8118</para>
1100 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1103 Bind to 127.0.0.1 (localhost), port 8118. This is suitable and recommended for
1104 home users who run <application>Privoxy</application> on the same machine as
1113 You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address and port.
1116 If you already have another service running on port 8118, or if you want to
1117 serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your local network) as well, you
1118 will need to override the default.
1121 If you leave out the IP address, <application>Privoxy</application> will
1122 bind to all interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable
1123 from the Internet. In that case, consider using <link
1124 linkend="acls">access control lists</link> (ACL's, see below), and/or
1128 If you open <application>Privoxy</application> to untrusted users, you will
1129 also want to turn off the <literal><link
1130 linkend="enable-edit-actions">enable-edit-actions</link></literal> and
1131 <literal><link linkend="enable-remote-toggle">enable-remote-toggle</link></literal>
1137 <term>Example:</term>
1140 Suppose you are running <application>Privoxy</application> on
1141 a machine which has the address 192.168.0.1 on your local private network
1142 (192.168.0.0) and has another outside connection with a different address.
1143 You want it to serve requests from inside only:
1147 listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118
1154 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@listen-address 127.0.0.1:8118</literallayout>]]>
1158 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1159 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="toggle"><title>toggle</title>
1163 <term>Specifies:</term>
1166 Initial state of "toggle" status
1171 <term>Type of value:</term>
1177 <term>Default value:</term>
1183 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1186 Act as if toggled on
1194 If set to 0, <application>Privoxy</application> will start in
1195 <quote>toggled off</quote> mode, i.e. behave like a normal, content-neutral
1196 proxy where all ad blocking, filtering, etc are disabled. See
1197 <literal>enable-remote-toggle</literal> below. This is not really useful
1198 anymore, since toggling is much easier via <ulink
1199 url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">the web interface</ulink> than via
1200 editing the <filename>conf</filename> file.
1203 The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the system tray
1204 if this option is present.
1210 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@toggle 1</literallayout>]]>
1214 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1215 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-remote-toggle"><title>enable-remote-toggle</title>
1218 <term>Specifies:</term>
1221 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">web-based toggle
1222 feature</ulink> may be used
1227 <term>Type of value:</term>
1233 <term>Default value:</term>
1239 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1242 The web-based toggle feature is disabled.
1250 When toggled off, <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal,
1251 content-neutral proxy, i.e. it acts as if none of the actions applied to
1255 For the time being, access to the toggle feature can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
1256 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
1257 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
1258 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
1259 toggle it for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>
1260 for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
1263 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
1264 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
1270 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@enable-remote-toggle 1</literallayout>]]>
1274 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1275 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="enable-edit-actions"><title>enable-edit-actions</title>
1278 <term>Specifies:</term>
1281 Whether or not the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">web-based actions
1282 file editor</ulink> may be used
1287 <term>Type of value:</term>
1293 <term>Default value:</term>
1299 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1302 The web-based actions file editor is disabled.
1310 For the time being, access to the editor can <emphasis>not</emphasis> be
1311 controlled separately by <quote>ACLs</quote> or HTTP authentication,
1312 so that everybody who can access <application>Privoxy</application> (see
1313 <quote>ACLs</quote> and <literal>listen-address</literal> above) can
1314 modify its configuration for all users. So this option is <emphasis>not
1315 recommended</emphasis> for multi-user environments with untrusted users.
1318 Note that you must have compiled <application>Privoxy</application> with
1319 support for this feature, otherwise this option has no effect.
1325 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@enable-edit-actions 1</literallayout>]]>
1328 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1329 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="acls"><title>
1330 ACLs: permit-access and deny-access</title>
1331 <anchor id="permit-access">
1332 <anchor id="deny-access">
1336 <term>Specifies:</term>
1339 Who can access what.
1344 <term>Type of value:</term>
1347 <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable>]
1348 [<replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>[/<replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable>]]
1351 Where <replaceable class="parameter">src_addr</replaceable> and
1352 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid
1353 DNS names, and <replaceable class="parameter">src_masklen</replaceable> and
1354 <replaceable class="parameter">dst_masklen</replaceable> are subnet masks in CIDR notation, i.e. integer
1355 values from 2 to 30 representing the length (in bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole
1356 destination part are optional.
1361 <term>Default value:</term>
1363 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1367 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1370 Don't restrict access further than implied by <literal>listen-address</literal>
1378 Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems
1379 administrators, and <emphasis>are not usually needed by individual users</emphasis>.
1380 For a typical home user, it will normally suffice to ensure that
1381 <application>Privoxy</application> only listens on the localhost
1382 (127.0.0.1) or internal (home) network address by means of the
1383 <link linkend="listen-address"><emphasis>listen-address</emphasis></link>
1387 Please see the warnings in the FAQ that this proxy is not intended to be a substitute
1388 for a firewall or to encourage anyone to defer addressing basic security
1392 Multiple ACL lines are OK.
1393 If any ACLs are specified, then the <application>Privoxy</application>
1394 talks only to IP addresses that match at least one <literal>permit-access</literal> line
1395 and don't match any subsequent <literal>deny-access</literal> line. In other words, the
1396 last match wins, with the default being <literal>deny-access</literal>.
1399 If <application>Privoxy</application> is using a forwarder (see <literal>forward</literal> below)
1400 for a particular destination URL, the <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable>
1401 that is examined is the address of the forwarder and <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the address
1402 of the ultimate target. This is necessary because it may be impossible for the local
1403 <application>Privoxy</application> to determine the IP address of the
1404 ultimate target (that's often what gateways are used for).
1407 You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because the address lookups take
1408 time. All DNS names must resolve! You can <emphasis>not</emphasis> use domain patterns
1409 like <quote>*.org</quote> or partial domain names. If a DNS name resolves to multiple
1410 IP addresses, only the first one is used.
1413 Denying access to particular sites by ACL may have undesired side effects
1414 if the site in question is hosted on a machine which also hosts other sites.
1419 <term>Examples:</term>
1422 Explicitly define the default behavior if no ACL and
1423 <literal>listen-address</literal> are set: <quote>localhost</quote>
1424 is OK. The absence of a <replaceable class="parameter">dst_addr</replaceable> implies that
1425 <emphasis>all</emphasis> destination addresses are OK:
1429 permit-access localhost
1433 Allow any host on the same class C subnet as www.privoxy.org access to
1434 nothing but www.example.com:
1438 permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32
1442 Allow access from any host on the 26-bit subnet 192.168.45.64 to anywhere,
1443 with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access www.dirty-stuff.example.com:
1447 permit-access 192.168.45.64/26
1448 deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com
1457 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1458 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="buffer-limit"><title>buffer-limit</title>
1462 <term>Specifies:</term>
1465 Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering.
1470 <term>Type of value:</term>
1472 <para>Size in Kbytes</para>
1476 <term>Default value:</term>
1482 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1485 Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit.
1493 For content filtering, i.e. the <literal>+filter</literal> and
1494 <literal>+deanimate-gif</literal> actions, it is necessary that
1495 <application>Privoxy</application> buffers the entire document body.
1496 This can be potentially dangerous, since a server could just keep sending
1497 data indefinitely and wait for your RAM to exhaust -- with nasty consequences.
1501 When a document buffer size reaches the <literal>buffer-limit</literal>, it is
1502 flushed to the client unfiltered and no further attempt to
1503 filter the rest of the document is made. Remember that there may be multiple threads
1504 running, which might require up to <literal>buffer-limit</literal> Kbytes
1505 <emphasis>each</emphasis>, unless you have enabled <quote>single-threaded</quote>
1512 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@buffer-limit 4096</literallayout>]]>
1517 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1520 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1522 <sect2 id="forwarding">
1523 <title>Forwarding</title>
1526 This feature allows routing of HTTP requests through a chain of
1528 It can be used to better protect privacy and confidentiality when
1529 accessing specific domains by routing requests to those domains
1530 through an anonymous public proxy (see e.g. <ulink
1531 url="http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm">http://www.multiproxy.org/anon_list.htm</ulink>)
1532 Or to use a caching proxy to speed up browsing. Or chaining to a parent
1533 proxy may be necessary because the machine that <application>Privoxy</application>
1534 runs on has no direct Internet access.
1538 Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. <application>Privoxy</application>
1539 supports the SOCKS 4 and SOCKS 4A protocols.
1542 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="forward"><title>forward</title>
1545 <term>Specifies:</term>
1548 To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed.
1553 <term>Type of value:</term>
1556 <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable>
1557 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1560 where <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable> is a <link linkend="af-patterns">URL pattern</link>
1561 that specifies to which requests (i.e. URLs) this forward rule shall apply. Use <literal>/</literal> to
1562 denote <quote>all URLs</quote>.
1563 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1564 is the DNS name or IP address of the parent HTTP proxy through which the requests should be forwarded,
1565 optionally followed by its listening port (default: 8080).
1566 Use a single dot (<literal>.</literal>) to denote <quote>no forwarding</quote>.
1571 <term>Default value:</term>
1573 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1577 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1580 Don't use parent HTTP proxies.
1588 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
1589 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made directly to the web servers.
1592 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
1597 <term>Examples:</term>
1600 Everything goes to an example anonymizing proxy, except SSL on port 443 (which it doesn't handle):
1604 forward / anon-proxy.example.org:8080
1609 Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for requests
1610 to that ISP's sites:
1614 forward / caching-proxy.example-isp.net:8000
1615 forward .example-isp.net .
1624 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1625 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="socks"><title>
1626 forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a</title>
1627 <anchor id="forward-socks4">
1628 <anchor id="forward-socks4a">
1632 <term>Specifies:</term>
1635 Through which SOCKS proxy (and to which parent HTTP proxy) specific requests should be routed.
1640 <term>Type of value:</term>
1643 <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable>
1644 <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1645 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable>]
1648 where <replaceable class="parameter">target_pattern</replaceable> is a <link linkend="af-patterns">URL pattern</link>
1649 that specifies to which requests (i.e. URLs) this forward rule shall apply. Use <literal>/</literal> to
1650 denote <quote>all URLs</quote>.
1651 <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> and <replaceable class="parameter">socks_proxy</replaceable>
1652 are IP addresses in dotted decimal notation or valid DNS names (<replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable>
1653 may be <quote>.</quote> to denote <quote>no HTTP forwarding</quote>), and the optional
1654 <replaceable class="parameter">port</replaceable> parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1 to 64535
1659 <term>Default value:</term>
1661 <para><emphasis>Unset</emphasis></para>
1665 <term>Effect if unset:</term>
1668 Don't use SOCKS proxies.
1676 Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the last match wins.
1679 The difference between <literal>forward-socks4</literal> and <literal>forward-socks4a</literal>
1680 is that in the SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the target hostname happens on the SOCKS
1681 server, while in SOCKS 4 it happens locally.
1684 If <replaceable class="parameter">http_parent</replaceable> is <quote>.</quote>, then requests are not
1685 forwarded to another HTTP proxy but are made (HTTP-wise) directly to the web servers, albeit through
1691 <term>Examples:</term>
1694 From the company example.com, direct connections are made to all
1695 <quote>internal</quote> domains, but everything outbound goes through
1696 their ISP's proxy by way of example.com's corporate SOCKS 4A gateway to
1701 forward-socks4a / socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.example-isp.net:8080
1702 forward .example.com .
1706 A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no HTTP parent looks like this:
1710 forward-socks4 / socks-gw.example.com:1080 .
1718 <![%user-man;[ <!-- not included in config due to length -->
1719 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1720 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="advanced-forwarding-examples"><title>Advanced Forwarding Examples</title>
1723 If you have links to multiple ISPs that provide various special content
1724 only to their subscribers, you can configure multiple <application>Privoxies</application>
1725 which have connections to the respective ISPs to act as forwarders to each other, so that
1726 <emphasis>your</emphasis> users can see the internal content of all ISPs.
1730 Assume that host-a has a PPP connection to isp-a.net. And host-b has a PPP connection to
1731 isp-b.net. Both run <application>Privoxy</application>. Their forwarding
1732 configuration can look like this:
1742 forward .isp-b.net host-b:8118
1753 forward .isp-a.net host-a:8118
1758 Now, your users can set their browser's proxy to use either
1759 host-a or host-b and be able to browse the internal content
1760 of both isp-a and isp-b.
1764 If you intend to chain <application>Privoxy</application> and
1765 <application>squid</application> locally, then chain as
1766 <literal>browser -> squid -> privoxy</literal> is the recommended way.
1770 Assuming that <application>Privoxy</application> and <application>squid</application>
1771 run on the same box, your <application>squid</application> configuration could then look like this:
1776 # Define Privoxy as parent proxy (without ICP)
1777 cache_peer 127.0.0.1 parent 8118 7 no-query
1779 # Define ACL for protocol FTP
1782 # Do not forward FTP requests to Privoxy
1783 always_direct allow ftp
1785 # Forward all the rest to Privoxy
1786 never_direct allow all</screen>
1790 You would then need to change your browser's proxy settings to <application>squid</application>'s address and port.
1791 Squid normally uses port 3128. If unsure consult <literal>http_port</literal> in <filename>squid.conf</filename>.
1795 You could just as well decide to only forward requests for Windows executables through
1796 a virus-scanning parent proxy, say, on <literal>antivir.example.com</literal>, port 8010:
1802 forward /.*\.(exe|com|dll|zip)$ antivir.example.com:8010</screen>
1810 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1813 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1815 <sect2 id="windows-gui">
1816 <title>Windows GUI Options</title>
1818 <application>Privoxy</application> has a number of options specific to the
1819 Windows GUI interface:
1822 <anchor id="activity-animation">
1823 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1825 If <quote>activity-animation</quote> is set to 1, the
1826 <application>Privoxy</application> icon will animate when
1827 <quote>Privoxy</quote> is active. To turn off, set to 0.
1830 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#activity-animation 1</literallayout>]]>
1836 <emphasis>activity-animation 1</emphasis>
1843 <anchor id="log-messages">
1844 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1846 If <quote>log-messages</quote> is set to 1,
1847 <application>Privoxy</application> will log messages to the console
1851 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-messages 1</literallayout>]]>
1857 <emphasis>log-messages 1</emphasis>
1864 <anchor id="log-buffer-size">
1865 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1867 If <quote>log-buffer-size</quote> is set to 1, the size of the log buffer,
1868 i.e. the amount of memory used for the log messages displayed in the
1869 console window, will be limited to <quote>log-max-lines</quote> (see below).
1873 Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow infinitely and
1874 eat up all your memory!
1877 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-buffer-size 1</literallayout>]]>
1883 <emphasis>log-buffer-size 1</emphasis>
1890 <anchor id="log-max-lines">
1891 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1893 <application>log-max-lines</application> is the maximum number of lines held
1894 in the log buffer. See above.
1897 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-max-lines 200</literallayout>]]>
1903 <emphasis>log-max-lines 200</emphasis>
1910 <anchor id="log-highlight-messages">
1911 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1913 If <quote>log-highlight-messages</quote> is set to 1,
1914 <application>Privoxy</application> will highlight portions of the log
1915 messages with a bold-faced font:
1918 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-highlight-messages 1</literallayout>]]>
1924 <emphasis>log-highlight-messages 1</emphasis>
1931 <anchor id="log-font-name">
1932 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1934 The font used in the console window:
1937 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-font-name Comic Sans MS</literallayout>]]>
1943 <emphasis>log-font-name Comic Sans MS</emphasis>
1950 <anchor id="log-font-size">
1951 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1953 Font size used in the console window:
1956 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#log-font-size 8</literallayout>]]>
1962 <emphasis>log-font-size 8</emphasis>
1969 <anchor id="show-on-task-bar">
1970 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1972 <quote>show-on-task-bar</quote> controls whether or not
1973 <application>Privoxy</application> will appear as a button on the Task bar
1977 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#show-on-task-bar 0</literallayout>]]>
1983 <emphasis>show-on-task-bar 0</emphasis>
1990 <anchor id="close-button-minimizes">
1991 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
1993 If <quote>close-button-minimizes</quote> is set to 1, the Windows close
1994 button will minimize <application>Privoxy</application> instead of closing
1995 the program (close with the exit option on the File menu).
1998 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#close-button-minimizes 1</literallayout>]]>
2004 <emphasis>close-button-minimizes 1</emphasis>
2011 <anchor id="hide-console">
2012 <![%config-file;[<para>@@</para>]]> <!-- for spacing -->
2014 The <quote>hide-console</quote> option is specific to the MS-Win console
2015 version of <application>Privoxy</application>. If this option is used,
2016 <application>Privoxy</application> will disconnect from and hide the
2020 <![%config-file;[<literallayout>@@#hide-console</literallayout>]]>
2026 #<emphasis>hide-console</emphasis>
2036 <!-- end config content common to both outputs -->
2039 <!-- These are dummy anchors to keep the processor quiet -->
2040 <!-- when building config-file only (ie. they are used in u-m only) -->
2043 <anchor id="filter">
2044 <anchor id="filter-file">
2046 <anchor id="actions-file">
2047 <anchor id="af-patterns">
2051 <!-- eof p-config.sgml -->