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 "3.0.5">
15 <!entity p-status "BETA">
16 <!entity % p-authors-formal "INCLUDE"> <!-- include additional text, etc -->
17 <!entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE">
18 <!entity % p-stable "IGNORE">
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 my-app "<application>Privoxy</application>">
30 File : $Source: /cvsroot/ijbswa/current/doc/source/user-manual.sgml,v $
33 This file belongs into
34 ijbswa.sourceforge.net:/home/groups/i/ij/ijbswa/htdocs/
36 $Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.21 2006/09/20 03:21:36 david__schmidt Exp $
38 Copyright (C) 2001- 2006 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org
41 ========================================================================
42 NOTE: Please read developer-manual/documentation.html before touching
43 anything in this, or other Privoxy documentation.
44 ========================================================================
51 <title>Privoxy &p-version; User Manual</title>
55 <!-- Completely the wrong markup, but very little is allowed -->
56 <!-- in this part of an article. FIXME -->
57 <link linkend="copyright">Copyright</link> &my-copy; 2001 - 2006 by
58 <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy Developers</ulink>
62 <pubdate>$Id: user-manual.sgml,v 2.21 2006/09/20 03:21:36 david__schmidt Exp $</pubdate>
66 Note: the following should generate a separate page, and a live link to it,
67 all nicely done. But it doesn't for some mysterious reason. Please leave
68 commented unless it can be fixed proper. For the time being, the
69 copyright/license declarations will be in their own sgml.
82 This is here to keep vim syntax file from breaking :/
83 If I knew enough to fix it, I would.
84 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE! HB: hal@foobox.net
90 The <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> gives users information on how to
91 install, configure and use <ulink
92 url="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</ulink>.
95 <!-- Include privoxy.sgml boilerplate: -->
97 <!-- end privoxy.sgml -->
100 You can find the latest version of the <citetitle>Privoxy User Manual</citetitle> at <ulink
101 url="http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/">http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/</ulink>.
102 Please see the <link linkend="contact">Contact section</link> on how to
103 contact the developers.
107 <!-- Feel free to send a note to the developers at <email>ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net</email>. -->
113 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
114 <sect1 label="1" id="introduction"><title>Introduction</title>
116 This documentation is included with the current &p-status; version of
117 <application>Privoxy</application>, v.&p-version;<![%p-not-stable;[,
118 and is mostly complete at this point. The most up to date reference for the
119 time being is still the comments in the source files and in the individual
120 configuration files. Development of a new version is currently nearing
121 completion, and includes significant changes and enhancements over
122 earlier versions. ]]>.
125 <!-- include only in non-stable versions -->
128 Since this is a &p-status; version, not all new features are well tested. This
129 documentation may be slightly out of sync as a result (especially with
130 CVS sources). And there <emphasis>may be</emphasis> bugs, though hopefully
135 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
136 <sect2 id="features"><title>Features</title>
138 In addition to the core
139 features of ad blocking and
140 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookie</ulink> management,
141 <application>Privoxy</application> provides many supplemental
142 features<![%p-not-stable;[, some of them currently under development]]>,
143 that give the end-user more control, more privacy and more freedom:
145 <!-- Include newfeatures.sgml boilerplate here: -->
147 <!-- end boilerplate -->
152 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
155 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
156 <sect1 id="installation"><title>Installation</title>
159 <application>Privoxy</application> is available both in convenient pre-compiled
160 packages for a wide range of operating systems, and as raw source code.
161 For most users, we recommend using the packages, which can be downloaded from our
162 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/">Privoxy Project
168 On some platforms, the installer may remove previously installed versions, if
169 found. (See below for your platform). In any case <emphasis>be sure to backup
170 your old configuration if it is valuable to you.</emphasis> See the <link
171 linkend="upgradersnote">note to upgraders</link> section below.
174 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
175 <sect2 id="installation-packages"><title>Binary Packages</title>
177 How to install the binary packages depends on your operating system:
180 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
181 <sect3 id="installation-pack-rpm"><title>Red Hat, SuSE and Conectiva RPMs</title>
184 RPMs can be installed with <literal>rpm -Uvh privoxy-&p-version;-1.rpm</literal>,
185 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location
186 of configuration files.
190 Note that on Red Hat, <application>Privoxy</application> will
191 <emphasis>not</emphasis> be automatically started on system boot. You will
192 need to enable that using <command>chkconfig</command>,
193 <command>ntsysv</command>, or similar methods.
197 If you have problems with failed dependencies, try rebuilding the SRC RPM:
198 <literal>rpm --rebuild privoxy-&p-version;-1.src.rpm</literal>. This
199 will use your locally installed libraries and RPM version.
203 Also note that if you have a <application>Junkbuster</application> RPM installed
204 on your system, you need to remove it first, because the packages conflict.
205 Otherwise, RPM will try to remove <application>Junkbuster</application>
206 automatically if found, before installing <application>Privoxy</application>.
210 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
211 <sect3 id="installation-deb"><title>Debian</title>
213 DEBs can be installed with <literal>apt-get install privoxy</literal>,
214 and will use <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename> for the location of
219 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
220 <sect3 id="installation-pack-win"><title>Windows</title>
223 Just double-click the installer, which will guide you through
224 the installation process. You will find the configuration files
225 in the same directory as you installed <application>Privoxy</application> in.
228 Version 3.0.4 introduced full <application>Windows</application> service
229 functionality. On Windows only, the <application>Privoxy</application>
230 program has two new command line arguments to install and uninstall
231 <application>Privoxy</application> as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>.
235 <term>Arguments:</term>
238 <replaceable class="parameter">--install</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
241 <replaceable class="parameter">--uninstall</replaceable>[:<replaceable class="parameter">service_name</replaceable>]
247 After invoking <application>Privoxy</application> with
248 <command>--install</command>, you will need to bring up the
249 <application>Windows</application> service console to assign the user you
250 want <application>Privoxy</application> to run under, and whether or not you
251 want it to run whenever the system starts. You can start the
252 <application>Windows</application> services console with the following
253 command: <command>services.msc</command>. If you do not take the manual step
254 of modifying <application>Privoxy's</application> service settings, it will
255 not start. Note too that you will need to give Privoxy a user account that
256 actually exists, or it will not be permitted to
257 write to its log and configuration files.
262 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
263 <sect3 id="installation-pack-bintgz"><title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX</title>
266 Create a new directory, <literal>cd</literal> to it, then unzip and
267 untar the archive. For the most part, you'll have to figure out where
268 things go. <!-- FIXME, more info needed? -->
272 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
273 <sect3 id="installation-os2"><title>OS/2</title>
276 First, make sure that no previous installations of
277 <application>Junkbuster</application> and / or
278 <application>Privoxy</application> are left on your
279 system. Check that no <application>Junkbuster</application>
280 or <application>Privoxy</application> objects are in
286 Then, just double-click the WarpIN self-installing archive, which will
287 guide you through the installation process. A shadow of the
288 <application>Privoxy</application> executable will be placed in your
289 startup folder so it will start automatically whenever OS/2 starts.
293 The directory you choose to install <application>Privoxy</application>
294 into will contain all of the configuration files.
298 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
299 <sect3 id="installation-mac"><title>Mac OSX</title>
301 Unzip the downloaded file (you can either double-click on the file
302 from the finder, or from the desktop if you downloaded it there).
303 Then, double-click on the package installer icon named
304 <literal>Privoxy.pkg</literal>
305 and follow the installation process.
306 <application>Privoxy</application> will be installed in the folder
307 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal>.
308 It will start automatically whenever you start up. To prevent it from
309 starting automatically, remove or rename the folder
310 <literal>/Library/StartupItems/Privoxy</literal>.
313 To start Privoxy by hand, double-click on
314 <literal>StartPrivoxy.command</literal> in the
315 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal> folder.
316 Or, type this command in the Terminal:
320 /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
324 You will be prompted for the administrator password.
328 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
329 <sect3 id="installation-amiga"><title>AmigaOS</title>
331 Copy and then unpack the <filename>lha</filename> archive to a suitable location.
332 All necessary files will be installed into <application>Privoxy</application>
333 directory, including all configuration and log files. To uninstall, just
334 remove this directory.
338 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
339 <sect3 id="installattion-gentoo"><title>Gentoo</title>
341 Gentoo source packages (Ebuilds) for <application>Privoxy</application> are
342 contained in the Gentoo Portage Tree (they are not on the download page,
343 but there is a Gentoo section, where you can see when a new
344 <application>Privoxy</application> Version is added to the Portage Tree).
347 Before installing <application>Privoxy</application> under Gentoo just do
348 first <literal>emerge rsync</literal> to get the latest changes from the
349 Portage tree. With <literal>emerge privoxy</literal> you install the latest
353 Configuration files are in <filename>/etc/privoxy</filename>, the
354 documentation is in <filename>/usr/share/doc/privoxy-&p-version;</filename>
355 and the Log directory is in <filename>/var/log/privoxy</filename>.
361 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
362 <sect2 id="installation-source"><title>Building from Source</title>
365 The most convenient way to obtain the <application>Privoxy</application> sources
366 is to download the source tarball from our <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/ijbswa/">project
371 If you like to live on the bleeding edge and are not afraid of using
372 possibly unstable development versions, you can check out the up-to-the-minute
373 version directly from <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=11118">the
374 CVS repository</ulink>.
376 deprecated...out of business.
377 or simply download <ulink
378 url="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/ijbswa-cvsroot.tar.bz2">the nightly CVS
383 <!-- include buildsource.sgml boilerplate: -->
385 <!-- end boilerplate -->
388 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
389 <sect2 id="installation-keepupdated"><title>Keeping your Installation Up-to-Date</title>
391 As user feedback comes in and development continues, we will make updated versions
392 of both the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link> (as a <ulink
393 url="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118&release_id=103670">separate
394 package</ulink>) and the software itself (including the actions file) available for
399 If you wish to receive an email notification whenever we release updates of
400 <application>Privoxy</application> or the actions file, <ulink
401 url="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ijbswa-announce/">subscribe
402 to our announce mailing list</ulink>, ijbswa-announce@lists.sourceforge.net.
406 In order not to lose your personal changes and adjustments when updating
407 to the latest <literal>default.action</literal> file we <emphasis>strongly
408 recommend</emphasis> that you use <literal>user.action</literal> and
409 <literal>user.filter</literal> for your local
410 customizations of <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
411 linkend="actions-file">Chapter on actions files</link> for details.
419 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
421 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
422 <sect1 id="whatsnew">
423 <title>What's New in this Release</title>
425 There are many improvements and new features in <application>Privoxy</application> &p-version;
433 Multiple <link linkend="filter-file">filter files</link> can now be specified in <filename>config</filename>. This allows for
434 locally defined filters that can be maintained separately from the filters as
435 supplied by the developers, i.e. <filename>default.filter</filename>.
441 There are a number of new <link linkend="actions-file">actions</link>:
449 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite</link></literal>
454 <literal><link linkend="crunch-client-header">crunch-client-header</link></literal>
459 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>
464 <literal><link linkend="crunch-server-header">crunch-server-header</link></literal>
469 <literal><link linkend="filter-client-headers">filter-client-headers</link></literal>
474 <literal><link linkend="filter-server-headers">filter-server-headers</link></literal>
479 <literal><link linkend="force-text-mode">force-text-mode</link></literal>
484 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal>
489 <literal><link linkend="hide-accept-language">hide-accept-language</link></literal>
494 <literal><link linkend="hide-content-disposition">hide-content-disposition</link></literal>
499 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
504 <literal><link linkend="inspect-jpegs">inspect-jpegs</link></literal>
509 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
514 <literal><link linkend="redirect">redirect</link></literal>
519 <literal><link linkend="treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks">treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</link></literal>
526 In addition, <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects</link></literal>
527 has been significantly improved with enhanced syntax.
530 And <literal><link linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal>
531 has a new option, <literal>conditional block</literal>.
538 <application>MS-Windows</application> versions can now be
540 linkend="installation-pack-win">installed and
541 started as a <emphasis>Windows service</emphasis></link>.
547 <filename>config</filename> has two new options:
549 linkend="enable-remote-http-toggle">enable-remote-http-toggle</link>,
551 linkend="forwarded-connect-retries">forwarded-connect-retries</link>.
554 And there is improved handling of the <link
555 linkend="user-manual">user-manual</link>
556 option, for placing documentation and help files on the local system.
562 Actions files problems and suggestions are now being directed to:
563 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288">http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288</ulink>.
564 Please use this to report such configuration related problems as missed
565 ads, sites that don't function properly due to one action or another,
566 innocent images being blocked, etc.
572 In addition, there are numerous bug fixes and significant enhancements,
573 including error pages should no longer be cached if the problem is fixed,
574 much better DNS error handling, and various logging improvements.
580 The default actions setting is now <literal>Cautious</literal>. Previous
581 releases had a default setting of <literal>Medium</literal>. Experienced
582 users may want to adjust this, as it is fairly conservative by &my-app;
583 standards and past practices. See <ulink
584 url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
585 http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>. New users
586 should try the default settings for a while before turning up the volume.
593 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
595 <sect2 id="upgradersnote">
596 <title>Note to Upgraders</title>
599 A quick list of things to be aware of before upgrading from earlier
600 versions of <application>Privoxy</application>:
608 Some installers may remove earlier versions completely, including
609 configuration files. Save any important configuration files!
614 On the other hand, other installers may not overwrite any existing configuration
615 files, thinking you will want to do that. You may want to manually check
616 your saved files against the newer versions to see if the improvements have
617 merit, or whether there are new options that you may want to consider.
618 There are a number of new features, but most won't be available unless
619 these features are incorporated into your configuration somehow.
624 See the full documentation on
625 <literal><link linkend="fast-redirects">fast-redirects</link></literal>
626 which has changed syntax, and will require adjustments to local configs,
627 such as <filename>user.action</filename>. You must reference the new
632 { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
641 The <filename>jarfile</filename>,
642 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookie</ulink> logger, is off by default now.
648 What constitutes a <quote>default</quote> configuration has changed,
649 and you may want to review which actions are <quote>on</quote> by
650 default. This is primarily a matter of emphasis, but some features
651 you may have been used to, may now be <quote>off</quote> by default.
652 There are also a number of new actions you may want to consider, most of
653 which are not incorporated into the default settings as yet (see above).
659 <!-- I think it is best to keep this somewhat vague, in case -->
660 <!-- the situation changes under our feet. -->
661 Some installers may not automatically start
662 <application>Privoxy</application> after installation.
671 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
672 <sect1 id="quickstart"><title>Quickstart to Using Privoxy</title>
678 Install <application>Privoxy</application>. See the <link
679 linkend="installation">Installation Section</link> below for platform specific
686 Advanced users and those who want to offer <application>Privoxy</application>
687 service to more than just their local machine should check the <link
688 linkend="config">main config file</link>, especially the <link
689 linkend="access-control">security-relevant</link> options. These are
696 Start <application>Privoxy</application>, if the installation program has
697 not done this already (may vary according to platform). See the section
698 <link linkend="startup">Starting <application>Privoxy</application></link>.
704 Set your browser to use <application>Privoxy</application> as HTTP and
705 HTTPS (SSL) <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>
706 by setting the proxy configuration for address of
707 <literal>127.0.0.1</literal> and port <literal>8118</literal>.
708 <emphasis>DO NOT</emphasis> activate proxying for <literal>FTP</literal> or
709 any protocols besides HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)! It won't work!
715 Flush your browser's disk and memory caches, to remove any cached ad images.
716 If using <application>Privoxy</application> to manage
717 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
718 you should remove any currently stored cookies too.
724 A default installation should provide a reasonable starting point for
725 most. There will undoubtedly be occasions where you will want to adjust the
726 configuration, but that can be dealt with as the need arises. Little
727 to no initial configuration is required in most cases.
730 See the <link linkend="configuration">Configuration section</link> for more
731 configuration options, and how to customize your installation.
732 You might also want to look at the <link
733 linkend="quickstart-ad-blocking">next section</link> for a quick
734 introduction to how <application>Privoxy</application> blocks ads and
741 If you experience ads that slip through, innocent images that are
742 blocked, or otherwise feel the need to fine-tune
743 <application>Privoxy's</application> behavior, take a look at the <link
744 linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>. As a quick start, you might
745 find the <link linkend="act-examples">richly commented examples</link>
746 helpful. You can also view and edit the actions files through the <ulink
747 url="http://config.privoxy.org">web-based user interface</ulink>. The
748 Appendix <quote><link linkend="actionsanat">Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an
749 Action</link></quote> has hints how to understand and debug actions that
750 <quote>misbehave</quote>.
756 For easy access to &my-app;'s most important controls, drag the provided
757 <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklets</link> into your browser's
764 Please see the section <link linkend="contact">Contacting the
765 Developers</link> on how to report bugs, problems with websites or to get
772 Now enjoy surfing with enhanced control, comfort and privacy!
780 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
782 <sect2 id="quickstart-ad-blocking">
783 <title>Quickstart to Ad Blocking</title>
785 NOTE: This section is deliberately redundant for those that don't
786 want to read the whole thing (which is getting lengthy).
789 Ad blocking is but one of <application>Privoxy's</application>
790 array of features. Many of these features are for the technically minded advanced
791 user. But, ad and banner blocking is surely common ground for everybody.
794 This section will provide a quick summary of ad blocking so
795 you can get up to speed quickly without having to read the more extensive
796 information provided below, though this is highly recommended.
799 First a bit of a warning ... blocking ads is much like blocking SPAM: the
800 more aggressive you are about it, the more likely you are to block
801 things that were not intended. So there is a trade off here. If you want
802 extreme ad free browsing, be prepared to deal with more
803 <quote>problem</quote> sites, and to spend more time adjusting the
804 configuration to solve these unintended consequences. In short, there is
805 not an easy way to eliminate <emphasis>all</emphasis> ads. Either take
806 the easy way and settle for <emphasis>most</emphasis> ads blocked with the
807 default configuration, or jump in and tweak it for your personal surfing
808 habits and preferences.
811 Secondly, a brief explanation of <application>Privoxy's </application>
812 <quote>actions</quote>. <quote>Actions</quote> in this context, are
813 the directives we use to tell <application>Privoxy</application> to perform
814 some task relating to HTTP transactions (i.e. web browsing). We tell
815 <application>Privoxy</application> to take some <quote>action</quote>. Each
816 action has a unique name and function. While there are many potential
817 <application>actions</application> in <application>Privoxy's</application>
818 arsenal, only a few are used for ad blocking. <link
819 linkend="actions">Actions</link>, and <link linkend="actions-file">action
820 configuration files</link>, are explained in depth below.
823 Actions are specified in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
824 followed by one or more URLs to which the action should apply. URLs
825 can actually be URL type <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> that use
826 wildcards so they can apply potentially to a range of similar URLs. The
827 actions, together with the URL patterns are called a section.
830 When you connect to a website, the full URL will either match one or more
831 of the sections as defined in <application>Privoxy's</application> configuration,
832 or not. If so, then <application>Privoxy</application> will perform the
833 respective actions. If not, then nothing special happens. Furthermore, web
834 pages may contain embedded, secondary URLs that your web browser will
835 use to load additional components of the page, as it parses the
836 original page's HTML content. An ad image for instance, is just an URL
837 embedded in the page somewhere. The image itself may be on the same server,
838 or a server somewhere else on the Internet. Complex web pages will have many
843 The actions we need to know about for ad blocking are: <literal><link
844 linkend="block">block</link></literal>, <literal><link
845 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>, and
846 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>:
854 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> - this action stops
855 any contact between your browser and any URL patterns that match this
856 action's configuration. It can be used for blocking ads, but also anything
857 that is determined to be unwanted. By itself, it simply stops any
858 communication with the remote server and sends <application>Privoxy</application>'s
859 own built-in BLOCKED page instead to let you now what has happened.
865 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> -
866 tells <application>Privoxy</application> to treat this URL as an image.
867 <application>Privoxy</application>'s default configuration already does this
868 for all common image types (e.g. GIF), but there are many situations where this
869 is not so easy to determine. So we'll force it in these cases. This is particularly
870 important for ad blocking, since only if we know that it's an image of
871 some kind, can we replace it with an image of our choosing, instead of the
872 <application>Privoxy</application> BLOCKED page (which would only result in
873 a <quote>broken image</quote> icon). There are some limitations to this
874 though. For instance, you can't just brute-force an image substitution for
875 an entire HTML page in most situations.
882 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> - tells
883 <application>Privoxy</application> what to display in place of an ad image that
884 has hit a block rule. For this to come into play, the URL must match a
885 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action somewhere in the
886 configuration, <emphasis>and</emphasis>, it must also match an
887 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action.
890 The configuration options on what to display instead of the ad are:
894 <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> - a checkerboard pattern, so that an ad
895 replacement is obvious. This is the default.
900 <emphasis>blank</emphasis> - A very small empty GIF image is displayed.
901 This is the so-called <quote>invisible</quote> configuration option.
906 <emphasis>http://<URL></emphasis> - A redirect to any image anywhere
907 of the user's choosing (advanced usage).
916 The quickest way to adjust any of these settings is with your browser through
917 the special <application>Privoxy</application> editor at <ulink
918 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
919 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>). This
920 is an internal page, and does not require Internet access. Select the
921 appropriate <quote>actions</quote> file, and click
922 <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>. It is best to put personal or
923 local preferences in <filename>user.action</filename> since this is not
924 meant to be overwritten during upgrades, and will over-ride the settings in
925 other files. Here you can insert new <quote>actions</quote>, and URLs for ad
926 blocking or other purposes, and make other adjustments to the configuration.
927 <application>Privoxy</application> will detect these changes automatically.
931 A quick and simple step by step example:
939 Right click on the ad image to be blocked, then select
940 <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote> from the
948 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
953 Find <filename>user.action</filename> in the top section, and click
954 on <quote><guibutton>Edit</guibutton></quote>:
957 <!-- image of editor and actions files selections -->
959 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Actions Files in Use</title>
962 <imagedata fileref="files-in-use.jpg" format="jpg">
965 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Actions Files in Use ]</phrase>
974 You should have a section with only
975 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> listed under
976 <quote>Actions:</quote>.
977 If not, click a <quote><guibutton>Insert new section below</guibutton></quote>
978 button, and in the new section that just appeared, click the
979 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button right under the word <quote>Actions:</quote>.
980 This will bring up a list of all actions. Find
981 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> near the top, and click
982 in the <quote>Enabled</quote> column, then <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote>
988 Now, in the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> actions section,
989 click the <quote><guibutton>Add</guibutton></quote> button, and paste the URL the
990 browser got from <quote><guimenuitem>Copy Link Location</guimenuitem></quote>.
991 Remove the <literal>http://</literal> at the beginning of the URL. Then, click
992 <quote><guibutton>Submit</guibutton></quote> (or
993 <quote><guibutton>OK</guibutton></quote> if in a pop-up window).
998 Now go back to the original page, and press <keycap>SHIFT-Reload</keycap>
999 (or flush all browser caches). The image should be gone now.
1007 This is a very crude and simple example. There might be good reasons to use a
1008 wildcard pattern match to include potentially similar images from the same
1009 site. For a more extensive explanation of <quote>patterns</quote>, and
1010 the entire actions concept, see <link linkend="actions-file">the Actions
1015 For advanced users who want to hand edit their config files, you might want
1016 to now go to the <link linkend="act-examples">Actions Files Tutorial</link>.
1017 The ideas explained therein also apply to the web-based editor.
1024 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1027 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1028 <sect1 id="startup">
1029 <title>Starting Privoxy</title>
1031 Before launching <application>Privoxy</application> for the first time, you
1032 will want to configure your browser(s) to use
1033 <application>Privoxy</application> as a HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)
1034 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server">proxy</ulink>. The default is
1035 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) for the proxy address, and port 8118 (earlier versions
1036 used port 8000). This is the one configuration step <emphasis>that must be done
1040 Please note that <application>Privoxy</application> can only proxy HTTP and
1041 HTTPS traffic. It will not work with FTP or other protocols.
1044 <!-- image of Mozilla Proxy configuration -->
1046 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1047 Mozilla/Netscape HTTP and HTTPS (SSL) Settings</title>
1050 <imagedata fileref="proxy_setup.jpg" format="jpg">
1053 <phrase>[ Screenshot of Mozilla Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
1061 With <application>Firefox</application>, this can be set under:
1065 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>General</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connection Settings</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Manual Proxy Configuration</guibutton>
1071 With <application>Netscape</application> (and
1072 <application>Mozilla</application>), this can be set under:
1077 <!-- Mix ascii and gui art, something for everybody -->
1078 <!-- spacing on this is tricky -->
1079 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Preferences</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Proxies</guibutton> -> <guibutton>HTTP Proxy</guibutton>
1084 For <application>Internet Explorer v.5-6</application>:
1088 <guibutton>Tools</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Internet Options</guibutton> -> <guibutton>Connections</guibutton> -> <guibutton>LAN Settings</guibutton>
1092 Then, check <quote>Use Proxy</quote> and fill in the appropriate info
1093 (Address: 127.0.0.1, Port: 8118). Include HTTPS (SSL), if you want HTTPS
1094 proxy support too (sometimes labeled <quote>Secure</quote>). Make sure any
1095 checkboxes like <quote>Use the same proxy server for all protocols</quote> is
1096 <emphasis>UNCHECKED</emphasis>. You want only HTTP and HTTPS (SSL)!
1099 <!-- image of IE Proxy configuration -->
1101 <figure pgwide="0" float="0"><title>Proxy Configuration Showing
1102 Internet Explorer HTTP and HTTPS (Secure) Settings</title>
1105 <imagedata fileref="proxy2.jpg" format="jpg">
1108 <phrase>[ Screenshot of IE Proxy Configuration ]</phrase>
1116 After doing this, flush your browser's disk and memory caches to force a
1117 re-reading of all pages and to get rid of any ads that may be cached. Remove
1118 any <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_cookie">cookies</ulink>,
1119 if you want <application>Privoxy</application> to manage that. You are now
1120 ready to start enjoying the benefits of using
1121 <application>Privoxy</application>!
1125 <application>Privoxy</application> itself is typically started by specifying the
1126 main configuration file to be used on the command line. If no configuration
1127 file is specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application>
1128 will look for a file named <filename>config</filename> in the current
1129 directory. Except on Win32 where it will try <filename>config.txt</filename>.
1132 <sect2 id="start-redhat">
1133 <title>Red Hat, Fedora and Conectiva</title>
1135 A default Red Hat installation may not start &my-app; upon boot. It will use
1136 the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
1141 # /etc/rc.d/init.d/privoxy start
1149 # service privoxy start
1154 <sect2 id="start-debian">
1155 <title>Debian</title>
1157 We use a script. Note that Debian typically starts &my-app; upon booting per
1158 default. It will use the file
1159 <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename> as its main configuration
1164 # /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1169 <sect2 id="start-suse">
1172 We use a script. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config</filename>
1173 as its main configuration file. Note that SuSE starts Privoxy upon booting
1183 <sect2 id="start-windows">
1184 <title>Windows</title>
1186 Click on the &my-app; Icon to start <application>Privoxy</application>. If no configuration file is
1187 specified on the command line, <application>Privoxy</application> will look
1188 for a file named <filename>config.txt</filename>. Note that Windows will
1189 automatically start &my-app; when the system starts if you chose that option
1193 <application>Privoxy</application> can run with full Windows service functionality.
1194 On Windows only, the &my-app; program has two new command line arguments
1195 to install and uninstall &my-app; as a service. See the
1196 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Windows Installation
1197 instructions</link> for details.
1201 <sect2 id="start-unices">
1202 <title>Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, HP-UX and others</title>
1204 Example Unix startup command:
1208 # /usr/sbin/privoxy /etc/privoxy/config
1213 <sect2 id="start-os2">
1216 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
1217 start automatically when the system restarts. You can start it manually by
1218 double-clicking on the <application>Privoxy</application> icon in the
1219 <application>Privoxy</application> folder.
1223 <sect2 id="start-macosx">
1224 <title>Mac OSX</title>
1226 During installation, <application>Privoxy</application> is configured to
1227 start automatically when the system restarts. To start &my-app; manually,
1228 double-click on the <literal>StartPrivoxy.command</literal> icon in the
1229 <literal>/Library/Privoxy</literal> folder. Or, type this command
1234 /Library/Privoxy/StartPrivoxy.command
1238 You will be prompted for the administrator password.
1243 <sect2 id="start-amigaos">
1244 <title>AmigaOS</title>
1246 Start <application>Privoxy</application> (with RUN <>NIL:) in your
1247 <filename>startnet</filename> script (AmiTCP), in
1248 <filename>s:user-startup</filename> (RoadShow), as startup program in your
1249 startup script (Genesis), or as startup action (Miami and MiamiDx).
1250 <application>Privoxy</application> will automatically quit when you quit your
1251 TCP/IP stack (just ignore the harmless warning your TCP/IP stack may display that
1252 <application>Privoxy</application> is still running).
1256 <sect2 id="start-gentoo">
1257 <title>Gentoo</title>
1259 A script is again used. It will use the file <filename>/etc/privoxy/config
1260 </filename> as its main configuration file.
1264 /etc/init.d/privoxy start
1268 Note that <application>Privoxy</application> is not automatically started at
1269 boot time by default. You can change this with the <literal>rc-update</literal>
1274 rc-update add privoxy default
1282 See the section <link linkend="cmdoptions">Command line options</link> for
1286 must find a better place for this paragraph
1289 The included default configuration files should give a reasonable starting
1290 point. Most of the per site configuration is done in the
1291 <ulink url="actions-file.html"><quote>actions</quote></ulink> files. These are
1292 where various cookie actions are defined, ad and banner blocking, and other
1293 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. There are several
1294 such files included, with varying levels of aggressiveness.
1298 You will probably want to keep an eye out for sites for which you may prefer
1299 persistent cookies, and add these to your actions configuration as needed. By
1300 default, most of these will be accepted only during the current browser
1301 session (aka <quote>session cookies</quote>), unless you add them to the
1302 configuration. If you want the browser to handle this instead, you will need
1303 to edit <filename>user.action</filename> (or through the web based interface)
1304 and disable this feature. If you use more than one browser, it would make
1305 more sense to let <application>Privoxy</application> handle this. In which
1306 case, the browser(s) should be set to accept all cookies.
1310 Another feature where you will probably want to define exceptions for trusted
1311 sites is the popup-killing (through the <ulink
1312 url="actions-file.html#KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></ulink> and
1314 url="actions-file.html#FILTER-POPUPS"><quote>+filter{popups}</quote></ulink>
1315 actions), because your favorite shopping, banking, or leisure site may need
1316 popups (explained below).
1320 <application>Privoxy</application> is HTTP/1.1 compliant, but not all of
1321 the optional 1.1 features are as yet supported. In the unlikely event that
1322 you experience inexplicable problems with browsers that use HTTP/1.1 per default
1323 (like <application>Mozilla</application> or recent versions of I.E.), you might
1324 try to force HTTP/1.0 compatibility. For Mozilla, look under <literal>Edit ->
1325 Preferences -> Debug -> Networking</literal>.
1326 Alternatively, set the <quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote> config option in
1327 <filename>default.action</filename> which will downgrade your browser's HTTP
1328 requests from HTTP/1.1 to HTTP/1.0 before processing them.
1332 After running <application>Privoxy</application> for a while, you can
1333 start to fine tune the configuration to suit your personal, or site,
1334 preferences and requirements. There are many, many aspects that can
1335 be customized. <quote>Actions</quote>
1336 can be adjusted by pointing your browser to
1337 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1338 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1339 and then follow the link to <quote>View & Change the Current Configuration</quote>.
1340 (This is an internal page and does not require Internet access.)
1344 In fact, various aspects of <application>Privoxy</application>
1345 configuration can be viewed from this page, including
1346 current configuration parameters, source code version numbers,
1347 the browser's request headers, and <quote>actions</quote> that apply
1348 to a given URL. In addition to the actions file
1349 editor mentioned above, <application>Privoxy</application> can also
1350 be turned <quote>on</quote> and <quote>off</quote> (toggled) from this page.
1354 If you encounter problems, try loading the page without
1355 <application>Privoxy</application>. If that helps, enter the URL where
1356 you have the problems into <ulink url="http://p.p/show-url-info">the browser
1357 based rule tracing utility</ulink>. See which rules apply and why, and
1358 then try turning them off for that site one after the other, until the problem
1359 is gone. When you have found the culprit, you might want to turn the rest on
1364 If the above paragraph sounds gibberish to you, you might want to <link
1365 linkend="actions-file">read more about the actions concept</link>
1366 or even dive deep into the <link linkend="actionsanat">Appendix
1371 If you can't get rid of the problem at all, think you've found a bug in
1372 Privoxy, want to propose a new feature or smarter rules, please see the
1373 section <link linkend="contact"><quote>Contacting the
1374 Developers</quote></link> below.
1379 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1380 <sect2 id="cmdoptions">
1381 <title>Command Line Options</title>
1383 <application>Privoxy</application> may be invoked with the following
1384 command-line options:
1392 <emphasis>--version</emphasis>
1395 Print version info and exit. Unix only.
1400 <emphasis>--help</emphasis>
1403 Print short usage info and exit. Unix only.
1408 <emphasis>--no-daemon</emphasis>
1411 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process group
1412 leader, and don't detach from controlling tty. Unix only.
1417 <emphasis>--pidfile FILE</emphasis>
1421 On startup, write the process ID to <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>. Delete the
1422 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> on exit. Failure to create or delete the
1423 <emphasis>FILE</emphasis> is non-fatal. If no <emphasis>FILE</emphasis>
1424 option is given, no PID file will be used. Unix only.
1429 <emphasis>--user USER[.GROUP]</emphasis>
1433 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
1434 <emphasis>USER</emphasis>, and if included the GID of GROUP. Exit if the
1435 privileges are not sufficient to do so. Unix only.
1440 <emphasis>--chroot</emphasis>
1444 Before changing to the user ID given in the <emphasis>--user</emphasis> option,
1445 chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend to the &my-app;
1446 process that the directory tree starts there. If set up carefully, this can limit
1447 the impact of possible vulnerabilities in &my-app; to the files contained in that hierarchy.
1453 <emphasis>configfile</emphasis>
1456 If no <emphasis>configfile</emphasis> is included on the command line,
1457 <application>Privoxy</application> will look for a file named
1458 <quote>config</quote> in the current directory (except on Win32
1459 where it will look for <quote>config.txt</quote> instead). Specify
1460 full path to avoid confusion. If no config file is found,
1461 <application>Privoxy</application> will fail to start.
1469 On <application>MS Windows</application> only there are two additional
1470 command-line options to allow <application>Privoxy</application> to install and
1471 run as a <emphasis>service</emphasis>. See the
1472 <link linkend="installation-pack-win">Window Installation section</link>
1480 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1483 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1484 <sect1 id="configuration"><title>Privoxy Configuration</title>
1486 All <application>Privoxy</application> configuration is stored
1487 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor.
1488 Many important aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> can
1489 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
1493 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1496 <title>Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser</title>
1498 <application>Privoxy</application>'s user interface can be reached through the special
1499 URL <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
1500 (shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>),
1501 which is a built-in page and works without Internet access.
1502 You will see the following section:
1506 <!-- Needs to be put in a table and colorized -->
1509 <bridgehead renderas="sect2"> Privoxy Menu</bridgehead>
1513 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">View & change the current configuration</ulink>
1516 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">View the source code version numbers</ulink>
1519 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">View the request headers.</ulink>
1522 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</ulink>
1525 ▪ <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">Toggle Privoxy on or off</ulink>
1528 ▪ <ulink url="http://www.privoxy.org/
1529 &p-version;/user-manual/">Documentation</ulink>
1537 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an editor for the
1538 <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, which is where the ad, banner,
1539 cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as well as other advanced features of
1540 <application>Privoxy</application>. This is an easy way to adjust various
1541 aspects of <application>Privoxy</application> configuration. The actions
1542 file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail below.
1546 <quote>Toggle Privoxy On or Off</quote> is handy for sites that might
1547 have problems with your current actions and filters. You can in fact use
1548 it as a test to see whether it is <application>Privoxy</application>
1549 causing the problem or not. <application>Privoxy</application> continues
1550 to run as a proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e.
1551 <application>Privoxy</application> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
1552 is even a toggle <link linkend="bookmarklets">Bookmarklet</link> offered, so
1553 that you can toggle <application>Privoxy</application> with one click from
1559 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1564 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1566 <sect2 id="confoverview">
1567 <title>Configuration Files Overview</title>
1569 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
1570 <filename>/etc/privoxy/</filename> by default. For MS Windows, OS/2, and
1571 AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
1572 <application>Privoxy</application> executable. <![%p-not-stable;[ The name
1573 and number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
1574 subject to change as development progresses.]]>
1578 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
1579 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being, the
1580 principle configuration files are:
1588 The <link linkend="config">main configuration file</link> is named <filename>config</filename>
1589 on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and AmigaOS and <filename>config.txt</filename>
1590 on Windows. This is a required file.
1596 <filename>default.action</filename> (the main <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>)
1597 is used to define which <quote>actions</quote> relating to banner-blocking, images, pop-ups,
1598 content modification, cookie handling etc should be applied by default. It also defines many
1599 exceptions (both positive and negative) from this default set of actions that enable
1600 <application>Privoxy</application> to selectively eliminate the junk, and only the junk, on
1601 as many websites as possible.
1604 Multiple actions files may be defined in <filename>config</filename>. These
1605 are processed in the order they are defined. Local customizations and locally
1606 preferred exceptions to the default policies as defined in
1607 <filename>default.action</filename> (which you will most probably want
1608 to define sooner or later) are probably best applied in
1609 <filename>user.action</filename>, where you can preserve them across
1610 upgrades. <filename>standard.action</filename> is for
1611 <application>Privoxy's</application> internal use.
1614 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
1616 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
1618 url="http://p.p/show-status">http://p.p/show-status</ulink>) for the
1619 various actions files.
1625 <quote>Filter files</quote> (the <link linkend="filter-file">filter
1626 file</link>) can be used to re-write the raw page content, including
1627 viewable text as well as embedded HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else
1628 lurks on any given web page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here;
1629 whether to apply them or not is up to the actions files.
1630 <filename>default.filter</filename> includes various filters made
1631 available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive than
1632 others, and all should be used with caution. You may define additional
1633 filter files in <filename>config</filename> as you can with
1634 actions files. We suggest <filename>user.filter</filename> for any
1635 locally defined filters or customizations.
1643 The syntax of all configuration files has remained the same throughout the
1644 3.x series. There have been enhancements, but no changes that would preclude
1645 the use of any configuration file from one version to the next. (There is
1646 one exception: <link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">+fast-redirects</link> which
1647 has enhanced syntax and will require updating any local configs from earlier
1652 All files use the <quote><literal>#</literal></quote> character to denote a
1653 comment (the rest of the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation
1654 through placing a backslash ("<literal>\</literal>") as the very last character
1655 in a line. If the <literal>#</literal> is preceded by a backslash, it looses
1656 its special function. Placing a <literal>#</literal> in front of an otherwise
1657 valid configuration line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
1658 out" that line. Blank lines are ignored.
1662 The actions files and filter files
1663 can use Perl style <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> for
1664 maximum flexibility.
1668 After making any changes, there is no need to restart
1669 <application>Privoxy</application> in order for the changes to take
1670 effect. <application>Privoxy</application> detects such changes
1671 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
1672 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening address
1673 of <application>Privoxy</application>, these <quote>wake up</quote> requests
1674 must obviously be sent to the <emphasis>old</emphasis> listening address.
1679 While under development, the configuration content is subject to change.
1680 The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you read this.
1681 Also, what constitutes a <quote>default</quote> setting, may change, so
1682 please check all your configuration files on important issues.
1688 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1691 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1693 <!-- **************************************************** -->
1694 <!-- Include config.sgml here -->
1695 <!-- This is where the entire config file is detailed. -->
1697 <!-- end include -->
1700 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
1704 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
1706 <sect1 id="actions-file"><title>Actions Files</title>
1709 The actions files are used to define what <emphasis>actions</emphasis>
1710 <application>Privoxy</application> takes for which URLs, and thus determines
1711 how ad images, cookies and various other aspects of HTTP content and
1712 transactions are handled, and on which sites (or even parts thereof).
1713 There are a number of such actions, with a wide range of functionality.
1714 Each action does something a little different.
1715 These actions give us a veritable arsenal of tools with which to exert
1716 our control, preferences and independence. Actions can be combined so that
1717 their effects are aggregated when applied against a given set of URLs.
1721 are three action files included with <application>Privoxy</application> with
1729 <filename>default.action</filename> - is the primary action file
1730 that sets the initial values for all actions. It is intended to
1731 provide a base level of functionality for
1732 <application>Privoxy's</application> array of features. So it is
1733 a set of broad rules that should work reasonably well as-is for most users.
1734 This is the file that the developers are keeping updated, and <link
1735 linkend="installation-keepupdated">making available to users</link>.
1736 The user's preferences as set in <filename>standard.action</filename>,
1737 e.g. either <literal>Cautious</literal> (the default),
1738 <literal>Medium</literal>, or <literal>Advanced</literal> (see
1744 <filename>user.action</filename> - is intended to be for local site
1745 preferences and exceptions. As an example, if your ISP or your bank
1746 has specific requirements, and need special handling, this kind of
1747 thing should go here. This file will not be upgraded.
1752 <filename>standard.action</filename> - is used by the web based editor
1753 at <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default">
1754 http://config.privoxy.org/edit-actions-list?f=default</ulink>,
1755 to set various pre-defined sets of rules for the default actions section
1756 in <filename>default.action</filename>.
1759 <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Cautious</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Medium</guibutton> <guibutton>Set to Advanced</guibutton>
1762 These have increasing levels of aggressiveness <emphasis>and have no
1763 influence on your browsing unless you select them explicitly in the
1764 editor</emphasis>. A default installation should be pre-set to
1765 <literal>Cautious</literal> (versions prior to 3.0.5 were set to
1766 <literal>Medium</literal>). New users should try this for a while before
1767 adjusting the settings to more aggressive levels.
1770 The <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button allows you to turn each
1771 action on/off individually for fine-tuning. The <guibutton>Cautious</guibutton>
1772 button changes the actions list to low/safe settings which will activate
1773 a minimal set of &my-app;'s features, and subsequently there will be
1774 less of a chance for accidental problems. The <guibutton>Medium</guibutton>
1775 button sets the list to a medium level of ad blocking and a low level set of
1776 privacy features. The <guibutton>Advanced</guibutton> button
1777 sets the list to a high level of ad blocking and medium level of
1778 privacy. See the chart below. The latter three buttons over-ride
1779 any changes via with the <guibutton>Edit</guibutton> button. More
1780 fine-tuning can be done in the lower sections of this internal page.
1783 It is not recommend to edit the <filename>standard.action</filename> file
1787 The default profiles, and their associated actions, as pre-defined in
1788 <filename>standard.action</filename> are:
1791 <table frame=all><title>Default Configurations</title>
1792 <tgroup cols=4 align=left colsep=1 rowsep=1>
1793 <colspec colname=c1>
1794 <colspec colname=c2>
1795 <colspec colname=c3>
1796 <colspec colname=c4>
1799 <entry>Feature</entry>
1800 <entry>Cautious</entry>
1801 <entry>Medium</entry>
1802 <entry>Advanced</entry>
1807 <!-- <entry>f1</entry> -->
1808 <!-- <entry>f2</entry> -->
1809 <!-- <entry>f3</entry> -->
1810 <!-- <entry>f4</entry> -->
1816 <entry>Ad-blocking Aggressiveness</entry>
1817 <entry>medium</entry>
1823 <entry>Ad-filtering by size</entry>
1830 <entry>Ad-filtering by link</entry>
1836 <entry>Pop-up killing</entry>
1837 <entry>blocks only</entry>
1838 <entry>blocks only</entry>
1843 <entry>Privacy Features</entry>
1845 <entry>medium</entry>
1846 <entry>medium/high</entry>
1850 <entry>Cookie handling</entry>
1852 <entry>session-only</entry>
1857 <entry>Referer forging</entry>
1865 <entry>GIF de-animation</entry>
1873 <entry>Fast redirects</entry>
1880 <entry>HTML taming</entry>
1887 <entry>JavaScript taming</entry>
1894 <entry>Web-bug killing</entry>
1901 <entry>Image tag reordering</entry>
1917 The list of actions files to be used are defined in the main configuration
1918 file, and are processed in the order they are defined (e.g.
1919 <filename>default.action</filename> is typically process before
1920 <filename>user.action</filename>). The content of these can all be viewed and
1922 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
1923 The over-riding principle when applying actions, is that the last action that
1924 matches a given URL, wins. The broadest, most general rules go first
1925 (defined in <filename>default.action</filename>),
1926 followed by any exceptions (typically also in
1927 <filename>default.action</filename>), which are then followed lastly by any
1928 local preferences (typically in <emphasis>user</emphasis><filename>.action</filename>).
1929 Generally, <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word.
1933 An actions file typically has multiple sections. If you want to use
1934 <quote>aliases</quote> in an actions file, you have to place the (optional)
1935 <link linkend="aliases">alias section</link> at the top of that file.
1936 Then comes the default set of rules which will apply universally to all
1937 sites and pages (be <emphasis>very careful</emphasis> with using such a
1938 universal set in <filename>user.action</filename> or any other actions file after
1939 <filename>default.action</filename>, because it will override the result
1940 from consulting any previous file). And then below that,
1941 exceptions to the defined universal policies. You can regard
1942 <filename>user.action</filename> as an appendix to <filename>default.action</filename>,
1943 with the advantage that is a separate file, which makes preserving your
1944 personal settings across <application>Privoxy</application> upgrades easier.
1948 Actions can be used to block anything you want, including ads, banners, or
1949 just some obnoxious URL that you would rather not see. Cookies can be accepted
1950 or rejected, or accepted only during the current browser session (i.e. not
1951 written to disk), content can be modified, JavaScripts tamed, user-tracking
1952 fooled, and much more. See below for a <link linkend="actions">complete list
1956 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1958 <title>Finding the Right Mix</title>
1960 Note that some <link linkend="actions">actions</link>, like cookie suppression
1961 or script disabling, may render some sites unusable that rely on these
1962 techniques to work properly. Finding the right mix of actions is not always easy and
1963 certainly a matter of personal taste. And, things can always change, requiring
1964 refinements in the configuration. In general, it can be said that the more
1965 <quote>aggressive</quote> your default settings (in the top section of the
1966 actions file) are, the more exceptions for <quote>trusted</quote> sites you
1967 will have to make later. If, for example, you want to crunch all cookies per
1968 default, you'll have to make exceptions from that rule for sites that you
1969 regularly use and that require cookies for actually useful purposes, like maybe
1970 your bank, favorite shop, or newspaper.
1974 We have tried to provide you with reasonable rules to start from in the
1975 distribution actions files. But there is no general rule of thumb on these
1976 things. There just are too many variables, and sites are constantly changing.
1977 Sooner or later you will want to change the rules (and read this chapter again :).
1981 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
1983 <title>How to Edit</title>
1985 The easiest way to edit the actions files is with a browser by
1986 using our browser-based editor, which can be reached from <ulink
1987 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>.
1988 The editor allows both fine-grained control over every single feature on a
1989 per-URL basis, and easy choosing from wholesale sets of defaults like
1990 <quote>Cautious</quote>, <quote>Medium</quote> or <quote>Advanced</quote>.
1991 Warning: the <quote>Advanced</quote> setting is more aggressive, and
1992 will be more likely to cause problems for some sites. Experienced users only!
1996 If you prefer plain text editing to GUIs, you can of course also directly edit the
1997 the actions files with your favorite text editor. Look at
1998 <filename>default.action</filename> which is richly commented with many
2004 <sect2 id="actions-apply">
2005 <title>How Actions are Applied to URLs</title>
2007 Actions files are divided into sections. There are special sections,
2008 like the <quote><link linkend="aliases">alias</link></quote> sections which will
2009 be discussed later. For now let's concentrate on regular sections: They have a
2010 heading line (often split up to multiple lines for readability) which consist
2011 of a list of actions, separated by whitespace and enclosed in curly braces.
2012 Below that, there is a list of URL patterns, each on a separate line.
2016 To determine which actions apply to a request, the URL of the request is
2017 compared to all patterns in each <quote>action file</quote> file. Every time it matches, the list of
2018 applicable actions for the URL is incrementally updated, using the heading
2019 of the section in which the pattern is located. If multiple matches for
2020 the same URL set the same action differently, the last match wins. If not,
2021 the effects are aggregated. E.g. a URL might match a regular section with
2022 a heading line of <literal>{
2023 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link> }</literal>,
2024 then later another one with just <literal>{
2025 +<link linkend="block">block</link> }</literal>, resulting
2026 in <emphasis>both</emphasis> actions to apply. And there may well be
2027 cases where you will want to combine actions together. Such a section then
2033 { +<literal>handle-as-image</literal> +<literal>block</literal> }
2034 # Block these as if they were images. Send no block page.
2036 media.example.com/.*banners
2037 .example.com/images/ads/</screen>
2041 You can trace this process for any given URL by visiting <ulink
2042 url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>.
2046 Examples and more detail on this is provided in the Appendix, <link linkend="ACTIONSANAT">
2047 Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</link> section.
2051 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2052 <sect2 id="af-patterns">
2053 <title>Patterns</title>
2055 As mentioned, <application>Privoxy</application> uses <quote>patterns</quote>
2056 to determine what <emphasis>actions</emphasis> might apply to which sites and
2057 pages your browser attempts to access. These <quote>patterns</quote> use wild
2058 card type <emphasis>pattern</emphasis> matching to achieve a high degree of
2059 flexibility. This allows one expression to be expanded and potentially match
2060 against many similar patterns.
2064 Generally, a <application>Privoxy</application> pattern has the form
2065 <literal><domain>/<path></literal>, where both the
2066 <literal><domain></literal> and <literal><path></literal> are
2067 optional. (This is why the special <literal>/</literal> pattern matches all
2068 URLs). Note that the protocol portion of the URL pattern (e.g.
2069 <literal>http://</literal>) should <emphasis>not</emphasis> be included in
2070 the pattern. This is assumed already!
2073 The pattern matching syntax is different for the domain and path parts of
2074 the URL. The domain part uses a simple globbing type matching technique,
2075 while the path part uses a more flexible
2076 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2077 Expressions (PCRE)</quote></ulink> based syntax.
2082 <term><literal>www.example.com/</literal></term>
2085 is a domain-only pattern and will match any request to <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2086 regardless of which document on that server is requested. So ALL pages in
2087 this domain would be covered by the scope of this action. Note that a
2088 simple <literal>example.com</literal> is different and would NOT match.
2093 <term><literal>www.example.com</literal></term>
2096 means exactly the same. For domain-only patterns, the trailing <literal>/</literal> may
2102 <term><literal>www.example.com/index.html</literal></term>
2105 matches only the single document <literal>/index.html</literal>
2106 on <literal>www.example.com</literal>.
2111 <term><literal>/index.html</literal></term>
2114 matches the document <literal>/index.html</literal>, regardless of the domain,
2115 i.e. on <emphasis>any</emphasis> web server anywhere.
2120 <term><literal>index.html</literal></term>
2123 matches nothing, since it would be interpreted as a domain name and
2124 there is no top-level domain called <literal>.html</literal>. So its
2132 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2133 <sect3><title>The Domain Pattern</title>
2136 The matching of the domain part offers some flexible options: if the
2137 domain starts or ends with a dot, it becomes unanchored at that end.
2143 <term><literal>.example.com</literal></term>
2146 matches any domain that <emphasis>ENDS</emphasis> in
2147 <literal>.example.com</literal>
2152 <term><literal>www.</literal></term>
2155 matches any domain that <emphasis>STARTS</emphasis> with
2156 <literal>www.</literal>
2161 <term><literal>.example.</literal></term>
2164 matches any domain that <emphasis>CONTAINS</emphasis> <literal>.example.</literal>.
2165 And, by the way, also included would be any files or documents that exist
2166 within that domain since no path limitations are specified. (Correctly
2167 speaking: It matches any FQDN that contains <literal>example</literal> as
2168 a domain.) This might be <literal>www.example.com</literal>,
2169 <literal>news.example.de</literal>, or
2170 <literal>www.example.net/cgi/testing.pl</literal> for instance. All these
2178 Additionally, there are wild-cards that you can use in the domain names
2179 themselves. These work similarly to shell globbing type wild-cards:
2180 <quote>*</quote> represents zero or more arbitrary characters (this is
2182 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2183 Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax of <quote>.*</quote>),
2184 <quote>?</quote> represents any single character (this is equivalent to the
2185 regular expression syntax of a simple <quote>.</quote>), and you can define
2186 <quote>character classes</quote> in square brackets which is similar to
2187 the same regular expression technique. All of this can be freely mixed:
2192 <term><literal>ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2195 matches <quote>adserver.example.com</quote>,
2196 <quote>ads.example.com</quote>, etc but not <quote>sfads.example.com</quote>
2201 <term><literal>*ad*.example.com</literal></term>
2204 matches all of the above, and then some.
2209 <term><literal>.?pix.com</literal></term>
2212 matches <literal>www.ipix.com</literal>,
2213 <literal>pictures.epix.com</literal>, <literal>a.b.c.d.e.upix.com</literal> etc.
2218 <term><literal>www[1-9a-ez].example.c*</literal></term>
2221 matches <literal>www1.example.com</literal>,
2222 <literal>www4.example.cc</literal>, <literal>wwwd.example.cy</literal>,
2223 <literal>wwwz.example.com</literal> etc., but <emphasis>not</emphasis>
2224 <literal>wwww.example.com</literal>.
2231 While flexibile, this is not the sophistication of full regular expression based syntax.
2236 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2239 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2240 <sect3><title>The Path Pattern</title>
2243 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl compatible (PCRE)
2244 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
2245 Expression</quote></ulink> based syntax
2246 (through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> library) for
2247 matching the path portion (after the slash), and is thus more flexible.
2251 There is an <link linkend="regex">Appendix</link> with a brief quick-start into regular
2252 expressions, and full (very technical) documentation on PCRE regex syntax is available on-line
2253 at <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/man.txt">http://www.pcre.org/man.txt</ulink>.
2254 You might also find the Perl man page on regular expressions (<literal>man perlre</literal>)
2255 useful, which is available on-line at <ulink
2256 url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>.
2260 Note that the path pattern is automatically left-anchored at the <quote>/</quote>,
2261 i.e. it matches as if it would start with a <quote>^</quote> (regular expression speak
2262 for the beginning of a line).
2266 Please also note that matching in the path is <emphasis>CASE INSENSITIVE</emphasis>
2267 by default, but you can switch to case sensitive at any point in the pattern by using the
2268 <quote>(?-i)</quote> switch: <literal>www.example.com/(?-i)PaTtErN.*</literal> will match
2269 only documents whose path starts with <literal>PaTtErN</literal> in
2270 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> this capitalization.
2275 <term><literal>.example.com/.*</literal></term>
2278 Is equivalent to just <quote>.example.com</quote>, since any documents
2279 within that domain are matched with or without the <quote>.*</quote>
2280 regular expression. This is redundant
2285 <term><literal>.example.com/.*/index.html</literal></term>
2288 Will match any page in the domain of <quote>example.com</quote> that is
2289 named <quote>index.html</quote>, and that is part of some path. For
2290 example, it matches <quote>www.example.com/testing/index.html</quote> but
2291 NOT <quote>www.example.com/index.html</quote> because the regular
2292 expression called for at least two <quote>/'s</quote>, thus the path
2293 requirement. It also would match
2294 <quote>www.example.com/testing/index_html</quote>, because of the
2295 special meta-character <quote>.</quote>.
2300 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)?index\.html</literal></term>
2303 This regular expression is conditional so it will match any page
2304 named <quote>index.html</quote> regardless of path which in this case can
2305 have one or more <quote>/'s</quote>. And this one must contain exactly
2306 <quote>.html</quote> (but does not have to end with that!).
2311 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)</literal></term>
2314 This regular expression will match any path of <quote>example.com</quote>
2315 that contains any of the words <quote>ads</quote>, <quote>banner</quote>,
2316 <quote>banners</quote> (because of the <quote>?</quote>) or <quote>junk</quote>.
2317 The path does not have to end in these words, just contain them.
2322 <term><literal>.example.com/(.*/)(ads|banners?|junk)/.*\.(jpe?g|gif|png)$</literal></term>
2325 This is very much the same as above, except now it must end in either
2326 <quote>.jpg</quote>, <quote>.jpeg</quote>, <quote>.gif</quote> or <quote>.png</quote>. So this
2327 one is limited to common image formats.
2334 There are many, many good examples to be found in <filename>default.action</filename>,
2335 and more tutorials below in <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>.
2342 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
2345 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2347 <sect2 id="actions">
2348 <title>Actions</title>
2350 All actions are disabled by default, until they are explicitly enabled
2351 somewhere in an actions file. Actions are turned on if preceded with a
2352 <quote>+</quote>, and turned off if preceded with a <quote>-</quote>. So a
2353 <literal>+action</literal> means <quote>do that action</quote>, e.g.
2354 <literal>+block</literal> means <quote>please block URLs that match the
2355 following patterns</quote>, and <literal>-block</literal> means <quote>don't
2356 block URLs that match the following patterns, even if <literal>+block</literal>
2357 previously applied.</quote>
2362 Again, actions are invoked by placing them on a line, enclosed in curly braces and
2363 separated by whitespace, like in
2364 <literal>{+some-action -some-other-action{some-parameter}}</literal>,
2365 followed by a list of URL patterns, one per line, to which they apply.
2366 Together, the actions line and the following pattern lines make up a section
2367 of the actions file.
2371 Actions fall into three categories:
2378 Boolean, i.e the action can only be <quote>enabled</quote> or
2379 <quote>disabled</quote>. Syntax:
2383 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # enable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable>
2384 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action <replaceable class="parameter">name</replaceable></screen>
2387 Example: <literal>+block</literal>
2394 Parameterized, where some value is required in order to enable this type of action.
2399 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and set parameter to <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>,
2400 # overwriting parameter from previous match if necessary
2401 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable> # disable action. The parameter can be omitted</screen>
2404 Note that if the URL matches multiple positive forms of a parameterized action,
2405 the last match wins, i.e. the params from earlier matches are simply ignored.
2408 Example: <literal>+hide-user-agent{ Mozilla 1.0 }</literal>
2414 Multi-value. These look exactly like parameterized actions,
2415 but they behave differently: If the action applies multiple times to the
2416 same URL, but with different parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> the parameters
2417 from <emphasis>all</emphasis> matches are remembered. This is used for actions
2418 that can be executed for the same request repeatedly, like adding multiple
2419 headers, or filtering through multiple filters. Syntax:
2423 +<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # enable action and add <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> to the list of parameters
2424 -<replaceable class="function">name</replaceable>{<replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable>} # remove the parameter <replaceable class="parameter">param</replaceable> from the list of parameters
2425 # If it was the last one left, disable the action.
2426 <replaceable class="parameter">-name</replaceable> # disable this action completely and remove all parameters from the list</screen>
2429 Examples: <literal>+add-header{X-Fun-Header: Some text}</literal> and
2430 <literal>+filter{html-annoyances}</literal>
2438 If nothing is specified in any actions file, no <quote>actions</quote> are
2439 taken. So in this case <application>Privoxy</application> would just be a
2440 normal, non-blocking, non-anonymizing proxy. You must specifically enable the
2441 privacy and blocking features you need (although the provided default actions
2442 files will give a good starting point).
2446 Later defined actions always over-ride earlier ones. So exceptions
2447 to any rules you make, should come in the latter part of the file (or
2448 in a file that is processed later when using multiple actions files such
2449 as <filename>user.action</filename>). For multi-valued actions, the actions
2450 are applied in the order they are specified. Actions files are processed in
2451 the order they are defined in <filename>config</filename> (the default
2452 installation has three actions files). It also quite possible for any given
2453 URL pattern to match more than one pattern and thus more than one set of
2454 actions! Last match wins.
2457 <!-- start actions listing -->
2459 The list of valid <application>Privoxy</application> actions are:
2463 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2464 <!-- Please note the below defined actions use id's that are -->
2465 <!-- probably linked from other places, so please don't change. -->
2467 <!-- ********************************************************** -->
2470 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2472 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="add-header">
2473 <title>add-header</title>
2477 <term>Typical use:</term>
2479 <para>Confuse log analysis, custom applications</para>
2484 <term>Effect:</term>
2487 Sends a user defined HTTP header to the web server.
2494 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2496 <para>Multi-value.</para>
2501 <term>Parameter:</term>
2504 Any string value is possible. Validity of the defined HTTP headers is not checked.
2505 It is recommended that you use the <quote><literal>X-</literal></quote> prefix
2515 This action may be specified multiple times, in order to define multiple
2516 headers. This is rarely needed for the typical user. If you don't know what
2517 <quote>HTTP headers</quote> are, you definitely don't need to worry about this
2524 <term>Example usage:</term>
2527 <screen>+add-header{X-User-Tracking: sucks}</screen>
2535 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2536 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="block">
2537 <title>block</title>
2541 <term>Typical use:</term>
2543 <para>Block ads or other unwanted content</para>
2548 <term>Effect:</term>
2551 Requests for URLs to which this action applies are blocked, i.e. the
2552 requests are trapped by &my-app; and the requested URL is never retrieved,
2553 but is answered locally with a substitute page or image, as determined by
2555 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2557 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>, and
2559 linkend="handle-as-empty-document">handle-as-empty-document</link></literal> actions.
2567 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
2569 <para>Boolean.</para>
2574 <term>Parameter:</term>
2584 <application>Privoxy</application> sends a special <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page
2585 for requests to blocked pages. This page contains links to find out why the request
2586 was blocked, and a click-through to the blocked content (the latter only if compiled with the
2587 force feature enabled). The <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page adapts to the available
2588 screen space -- it displays full-blown if space allows, or miniaturized and text-only
2589 if loaded into a small frame or window. If you are using <application>Privoxy</application>
2590 right now, you can take a look at the
2591 <ulink url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
2595 A very important exception occurs if <emphasis>both</emphasis>
2596 <literal>block</literal> and <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal>,
2597 apply to the same request: it will then be replaced by an image. If
2598 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
2599 (see below) also applies, the type of image will be determined by its parameter,
2600 if not, the standard checkerboard pattern is sent.
2603 It is important to understand this process, in order
2604 to understand how <application>Privoxy</application> deals with
2605 ads and other unwanted content. Blocking is a core feature, and one
2606 upon which various other features depend.
2609 The <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>
2610 action can perform a very similar task, by <quote>blocking</quote>
2611 banner images and other content through rewriting the relevant URLs in the
2612 document's HTML source, so they don't get requested in the first place.
2613 Note that this is a totally different technique, and it's easy to confuse the two.
2619 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2623 # Block and replace with "blocked" page
2624 .nasty-stuff.example.com
2626 {+block +handle-as-image}
2627 # Block and replace with image
2631 {+block +handle-as-empty-document}
2632 # Block and then ignore
2633 adserver.exampleclick.net/.*\.js$</screen>
2643 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2644 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="content-type-overwrite">
2648 <title>content-type-overwrite</title>
2652 <term>Typical use:</term>
2654 <para>Stop useless download menus from popping up, or change the browser's rendering mode</para>
2659 <term>Effect:</term>
2662 Replaces the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header.
2669 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2671 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2676 <term>Parameter:</term>
2688 The <quote>Content-Type:</quote> HTTP server header is used by the
2689 browser to decide what to do with the document. The value of this
2690 header can cause the browser to open a download menu instead of
2691 displaying the document by itself, even if the document's format is
2692 supported by the browser.
2695 The declared content type can also affect which rendering mode
2696 the browser chooses. If XHTML is delivered as <quote>text/html</quote>,
2697 many browsers treat it as yet another broken HTML document.
2698 If it is send as <quote>application/xml</quote>, browsers with
2699 XHTML support will only display it, if the syntax is correct.
2702 If you see a web site that proudly uses XHTML buttons, but sets
2703 <quote>Content-Type: text/html</quote>, you can use &my-app;
2704 to overwrite it with <quote>application/xml</quote> and validate
2705 the web master's claim inside your XHTML-supporting browser.
2706 If the syntax is incorrect, the browser will complain loudly.
2709 You can also go the opposite direction: if your browser prints
2710 error messages instead of rendering a document falsely declared
2711 as XHTML, you can overwrite the content type with
2712 <quote>text/html</quote> and have it rendered as broken HTML document.
2715 By default <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal> only replaces
2716 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> headers that look like some kind of text.
2717 If you want to overwrite it unconditionally, you have to combine it with
2718 <literal><link linkend="force-text-mode">force-text-mode</link></literal>.
2719 This limitation exists for a reason, think twice before circumventing it.
2722 Most of the time it's easier to enable
2723 <literal><link linkend="filter-server-headers">filter-server-headers</link></literal>
2724 and replace this action with a custom regular expression. It allows you
2725 to activate it for every document of a certain site and it will still
2726 only replace the content types you aimed at.
2729 Of course you can apply <literal>content-type-overwrite</literal>
2730 to a whole site and then make URL based exceptions, but it's a lot
2731 more work to get the same precision.
2737 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
2740 <screen># Check if www.example.net/ really uses valid XHTML
2741 {+content-type-overwrite {application/xml}}
2744 # but leave the content type unmodified if the URL looks like a style sheet
2745 {-content-type-overwrite}
2746 www.example.net/*.\.css$
2747 www.example.net/*.style
2756 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2757 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-client-header">
2761 <title>crunch-client-header</title>
2765 <term>Typical use:</term>
2767 <para>Remove a client header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
2772 <term>Effect:</term>
2775 Deletes every header sent by the client that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
2782 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2784 <para>Parameterized.</para>
2789 <term>Parameter:</term>
2801 This action allows you to block client headers for which no dedicated
2802 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists.
2803 <application>Privoxy</application> will remove every client header that
2804 contains the string you supplied as parameter.
2807 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
2808 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
2809 they contain the same string.
2812 <literal>crunch-client-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
2813 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
2814 parts of them, you should enable
2815 <literal><link linkend="filter-client-headers">filter-client-headers</link></literal>
2816 and create your own filter.
2820 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
2827 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2830 <screen># Block the non-existent "Privacy-Violation:" client header
2831 {+crunch-client-header {Privacy-Violation:}}
2841 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2842 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-if-none-match">
2843 <title>crunch-if-none-match</title>
2849 <term>Typical use:</term>
2851 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
2856 <term>Effect:</term>
2859 Deletes the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header.
2866 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2868 <para>Boolean.</para>
2873 <term>Parameter:</term>
2885 Removing the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> HTTP client header
2886 is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
2887 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote> which
2888 would cause the browser to use a cached copy of the page.
2891 It is also useful to make sure the header isn't used as a cookie
2895 Blocking the <quote>If-None-Match:</quote> header shouldn't cause any
2896 caching problems, as long as the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> header
2897 isn't blocked as well.
2900 It is recommended to use this action together with
2901 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hide-if-modified-since</link></literal>
2903 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>.
2909 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
2912 <screen># Let the browser revalidate cached documents without being tracked across sessions
2913 {+hide-if-modified-since {-60} \
2914 +overwrite-last-modified {randomize} \
2915 +crunch-if-none-match}
2924 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2925 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-incoming-cookies">
2926 <title>crunch-incoming-cookies</title>
2930 <term>Typical use:</term>
2933 Prevent the web server from setting any cookies on your system
2939 <term>Effect:</term>
2942 Deletes any <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from server replies.
2949 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
2951 <para>Boolean.</para>
2956 <term>Parameter:</term>
2968 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies. For
2969 <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies, use
2970 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>.
2971 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
2974 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
2975 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
2976 since it would prevent the session cookies from being set. See also
2977 <literal><link linkend="filter-content-cookies">filter-content-cookies</link></literal>.
2983 <term>Example usage:</term>
2986 <screen>+crunch-incoming-cookies</screen>
2994 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
2995 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-server-header">
2996 <title>crunch-server-header</title>
3002 <term>Typical use:</term>
3004 <para>Remove a server header <application>Privoxy</application> has no dedicated action for.</para>
3009 <term>Effect:</term>
3012 Deletes every header sent by the server that contains the string the user supplied as parameter.
3019 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3021 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3026 <term>Parameter:</term>
3038 This action allows you to block server headers for which no dedicated
3039 <application>Privoxy</application> action exists. <application>Privoxy</application>
3040 will remove every server header that contains the string you supplied as parameter.
3043 Regular expressions are <emphasis>not supported</emphasis> and you can't
3044 use this action to block different headers in the same request, unless
3045 they contain the same string.
3048 <literal>crunch-server-header</literal> is only meant for quick tests.
3049 If you have to block several different headers, or only want to modify
3050 parts of them, you should enable
3051 <literal><link linkend="filter-server-headers">filter-server-headers</link></literal>
3052 and create your own filter.
3056 Don't block any header without understanding the consequences.
3063 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3066 <screen># Crunch server headers that try to prevent caching
3067 {+crunch-server-header {no-cache}}
3076 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3077 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="crunch-outgoing-cookies">
3078 <title>crunch-outgoing-cookies</title>
3082 <term>Typical use:</term>
3085 Prevent the web server from reading any cookies from your system
3091 <term>Effect:</term>
3094 Deletes any <quote>Cookie:</quote> HTTP headers from client requests.
3101 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3103 <para>Boolean.</para>
3108 <term>Parameter:</term>
3120 This action is only concerned with <emphasis>outgoing</emphasis> cookies. For
3121 <emphasis>incoming</emphasis> cookies, use
3122 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>.
3123 Use <emphasis>both</emphasis> to disable cookies completely.
3126 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use this action in conjunction
3127 with the <literal><link linkend="session-cookies-only">session-cookies-only</link></literal> action,
3128 since it would prevent the session cookies from being read.
3134 <term>Example usage:</term>
3137 <screen>+crunch-outgoing-cookies</screen>
3146 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3147 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="deanimate-gifs">
3148 <title>deanimate-gifs</title>
3152 <term>Typical use:</term>
3154 <para>Stop those annoying, distracting animated GIF images.</para>
3159 <term>Effect:</term>
3162 De-animate GIF animations, i.e. reduce them to their first or last image.
3169 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3171 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3176 <term>Parameter:</term>
3179 <quote>last</quote> or <quote>first</quote>
3188 This will also shrink the images considerably (in bytes, not pixels!). If
3189 the option <quote>first</quote> is given, the first frame of the animation
3190 is used as the replacement. If <quote>last</quote> is given, the last
3191 frame of the animation is used instead, which probably makes more sense for
3192 most banner animations, but also has the risk of not showing the entire
3193 last frame (if it is only a delta to an earlier frame).
3196 You can safely use this action with patterns that will also match non-GIF
3197 objects, because no attempt will be made at anything that doesn't look like
3204 <term>Example usage:</term>
3207 <screen>+deanimate-gifs{last}</screen>
3214 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3215 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="downgrade-http-version">
3216 <title>downgrade-http-version</title>
3220 <term>Typical use:</term>
3222 <para>Work around (very rare) problems with HTTP/1.1</para>
3227 <term>Effect:</term>
3230 Downgrades HTTP/1.1 client requests and server replies to HTTP/1.0.
3237 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3239 <para>Boolean.</para>
3244 <term>Parameter:</term>
3256 This is a left-over from the time when <application>Privoxy</application>
3257 didn't support important HTTP/1.1 features well. It is left here for the
3258 unlikely case that you experience HTTP/1.1 related problems with some server
3259 out there. Not all (optional) HTTP/1.1 features are supported yet, so there
3260 is a chance you might need this action.
3266 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3269 <screen>{+downgrade-http-version}
3270 problem-host.example.com</screen>
3278 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3279 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="fast-redirects">
3280 <title>fast-redirects</title>
3284 <term>Typical use:</term>
3286 <para>Fool some click-tracking scripts and speed up indirect links.</para>
3291 <term>Effect:</term>
3294 Detects redirection URLs and redirects the browser without contacting
3295 the redirection server first.
3302 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3304 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3309 <term>Parameter:</term>
3314 <quote>simple-check</quote> to just search for the string <quote>http://</quote>
3315 to detect redirection URLs.
3320 <quote>check-decoded-url</quote> to decode URLs (if necessary) before searching
3321 for redirection URLs.
3332 Many sites, like yahoo.com, don't just link to other sites. Instead, they
3333 will link to some script on their own servers, giving the destination as a
3334 parameter, which will then redirect you to the final target. URLs
3335 resulting from this scheme typically look like:
3336 <quote>http://www.example.org/click-tracker.cgi?target=http%3a//www.example.net/</quote>.
3339 Sometimes, there are even multiple consecutive redirects encoded in the
3340 URL. These redirections via scripts make your web browsing more traceable,
3341 since the server from which you follow such a link can see where you go
3342 to. Apart from that, valuable bandwidth and time is wasted, while your
3343 browser asks the server for one redirect after the other. Plus, it feeds
3347 This feature is currently not very smart and is scheduled for improvement.
3348 If it is enabled by default, you will have to create some exceptions to
3349 this action. It can lead to failures in several ways:
3352 Not every URLs with other URLs as parameters is evil.
3353 Some sites offer a real service that requires this information to work.
3354 For example a validation service needs to know, which document to validate.
3355 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> assumes that every URL parameter that
3356 looks like another URL is a redirection target, and will always redirect to
3357 the last one. Most of the time the assumption is correct, but if it isn't,
3358 the user gets redirected anyway.
3361 Another failure occurs if the URL contains other parameters after the URL parameter.
3363 <quote>http://www.example.org/?redirect=http%3a//www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
3364 contains the redirection URL <quote>http://www.example.net/</quote>,
3365 followed by another parameter. <literal>fast-redirects</literal> doesn't know that
3366 and will cause a redirect to <quote>http://www.example.net/&foo=bar</quote>.
3367 Depending on the target server configuration, the parameter will be silently ignored
3368 or lead to a <quote>page not found</quote> error. It is possible to fix these redirected
3369 requests with <literal><link linkend="filter-client-headers">filter-client-headers</link></literal>
3370 but it requires a little effort.
3373 To detect a redirection URL, <literal>fast-redirects</literal> only
3374 looks for the string <quote>http://</quote>, either in plain text
3375 (invalid but often used) or encoded as <quote>http%3a//</quote>.
3376 Some sites use their own URL encoding scheme, encrypt the address
3377 of the target server or replace it with a database id. In theses cases
3378 <literal>fast-redirects</literal> is fooled and the request reaches the
3379 redirection server where it probably gets logged.
3385 <term>Example usage:</term>
3389 { +fast-redirects{simple-check} }
3392 { +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url} }
3393 another.example.com/testing</screen>
3402 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3403 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter">
3404 <title>filter</title>
3408 <term>Typical use:</term>
3410 <para>Get rid of HTML and JavaScript annoyances, banner advertisements (by size), do fun text replacements, etc.</para>
3415 <term>Effect:</term>
3418 All files of text-based type, most notably HTML and JavaScript, to which this
3419 action applies, are filtered on-the-fly through the specified regular expression
3420 based substitutions. (Note: as of version 3.0.3 plain text documents
3421 are exempted from filtering, because web servers often use the
3422 <literal>text/plain</literal> MIME type for all files whose type they
3423 don't know.) By default, filtering works only on the raw document content
3424 itself (that which can be seen with <literal>View Source</literal>),
3432 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3434 <para>Parameterized.</para>
3439 <term>Parameter:</term>
3442 The name of a filter, as defined in the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>.
3443 Filters can be defined in one or more files as defined by the
3444 <literal><link linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal>
3445 option in the <link linkend="config">config file</link>.
3446 <filename>default.filter</filename> is the collection of filters
3447 supplied by the developers. Locally defined filters should go
3448 in their own file, such as <filename>user.filter</filename>.
3451 When used in its negative form,
3452 and without parameters, <emphasis>all</emphasis> filtering is completely disabled.
3461 For your convenience, there are a number of pre-defined filters available
3462 in the distribution filter file that you can use. See the examples below for
3466 Filtering requires buffering the page content, which may appear to
3467 slow down page rendering since nothing is displayed until all content has
3468 passed the filters. (It does not really take longer, but seems that way
3469 since the page is not incrementally displayed.) This effect will be more
3470 noticeable on slower connections.
3473 <quote>Rolling your own</quote>
3474 filters requires a knowledge of
3475 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
3476 Expressions</quote></ulink> and
3477 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html"><quote>HTML</quote></ulink>.
3478 This is very powerful feature, and potentially very intrusive. Use
3482 The amount of data that can be filtered is limited to the
3483 <literal><link linkend="buffer-limit">buffer-limit</link></literal>
3484 option in the main <link linkend="config">config file</link>. The
3485 default is 4096 KB (4 Megs). Once this limit is exceeded, the buffered
3486 data, and all pending data, is passed through unfiltered.
3489 Inappropriate MIME types, such as zipped files, are not filtered at all.
3490 (Again, only text-based types except plain text). Encrypted SSL data
3491 (from HTTPS servers) cannot be filtered either, since this would violate
3492 the integrity of the secure transaction. In some situations it might
3493 be necessary to protect certain text, like source code, from filtering
3494 by defining appropriate <literal>-filter</literal> exceptions.
3497 At this time, <application>Privoxy</application> cannot uncompress compressed
3498 documents. If you want filtering to work on all documents, even those that
3499 would normally be sent compressed, use the
3500 <literal><link linkend="prevent-compression">prevent-compression</link></literal>
3501 action in conjunction with <literal>filter</literal>.
3504 Filtering can achieve some of the same effects as the
3505 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
3506 action, i.e. it can be used to block ads and banners. But the mechanism
3507 works quite differently. One effective use, is to block ad banners
3508 based on their size (see below), since many of these seem to be somewhat
3512 <link linkend="contact">Feedback</link> with suggestions for new or
3513 improved filters is particularly welcome!
3516 The below list has only the names and a one-line description of each
3517 predefined filter. There are <link linkend="predefined-filters">more
3518 verbose explanations</link> of what these filters do in the <link
3519 linkend="filter-file">filter file chapter</link>.
3525 <term>Example usage (with filters from the distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file).
3526 See <link linkend="PREDEFINED-FILTERS">the Predefined Filters section</link> for
3527 more explanation on each:</term>
3530 <anchor id="filter-js-annoyances">
3531 <screen>+filter{js-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse</screen>
3534 <anchor id="filter-js-events">
3535 <screen>+filter{js-events} # Kill all JS event bindings (Radically destructive! Only for extra nasty sites)</screen>
3538 <anchor id="filter-html-annoyances">
3539 <screen>+filter{html-annoyances} # Get rid of particularly annoying HTML abuse</screen>
3542 <anchor id="filter-content-cookies">
3543 <screen>+filter{content-cookies} # Kill cookies that come in the HTML or JS content</screen>
3546 <anchor id="filter-refresh-tags">
3547 <screen>+filter{refresh-tags} # Kill automatic refresh tags (for dial-on-demand setups)</screen>
3550 <anchor id="filter-unsolicited-popups">
3551 <screen>+filter{unsolicited-popups} # Disable only unsolicited pop-up windows</screen>
3554 <anchor id="filter-all-popups">
3555 <screen>+filter{all-popups} # Kill all popups in JavaScript and HTML</screen>
3558 <anchor id="filter-img-reorder">
3559 <screen>+filter{img-reorder} # Reorder attributes in <img> tags to make the banners-by-* filters more effective</screen>
3562 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-size">
3563 <screen>+filter{banners-by-size} # Kill banners by size</screen>
3566 <anchor id="filter-banners-by-link">
3567 <screen>+filter{banners-by-link} # Kill banners by their links to known clicktrackers</screen>
3570 <anchor id="filter-webbugs">
3571 <screen>+filter{webbugs} # Squish WebBugs (1x1 invisible GIFs used for user tracking)</screen>
3574 <anchor id="filter-tiny-textforms">
3575 <screen>+filter{tiny-textforms} # Extend those tiny textareas up to 40x80 and kill the hard wrap</screen>
3578 <anchor id="filter-jumping-windows">
3579 <screen>+filter{jumping-windows} # Prevent windows from resizing and moving themselves</screen>
3582 <anchor id="filter-frameset-borders">
3583 <screen>+filter{frameset-borders} # Give frames a border and make them resizeable</screen>
3586 <anchor id="filter-demoronizer">
3587 <screen>+filter{demoronizer} # Fix MS's non-standard use of standard charsets</screen>
3590 <anchor id="filter-shockwave-flash">
3591 <screen>+filter{shockwave-flash} # Kill embedded Shockwave Flash objects</screen>
3594 <anchor id="filter-quicktime-kioskmode">
3595 <screen>+filter{quicktime-kioskmode} # Make Quicktime movies savable</screen>
3598 <anchor id="filter-fun">
3599 <screen>+filter{fun} # Text replacements for subversive browsing fun!</screen>
3602 <anchor id="filter-crude-parental">
3603 <screen>+filter{crude-parental} # Crude parental filtering (demo only)</screen>
3606 <anchor id="filter-ie-exploits">
3607 <screen>+filter{ie-exploits} # Disable some known Internet Explorer bug exploits</screen>
3615 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3616 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter-client-headers">
3617 <title>filter-client-headers</title>
3621 <term>Typical use:</term>
3624 To apply filtering to the client's (browser's) headers
3630 <term>Effect:</term>
3633 By default, <application>Privoxy's</application> filters only apply
3634 to the document content itself. This will extend those filters to
3635 include the client's headers as well.
3642 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3644 <para>Boolean.</para>
3649 <term>Parameter:</term>
3661 Regular expressions can be used to filter headers as well. Check your
3662 filters closely before activating this action, as it can easily lead to broken
3666 These filters are applied to each header on its own, not to them
3667 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
3668 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is
3672 The filters are used after the other header actions have finished and can
3673 use their output as input.
3677 Whenever possible one should specify <literal>^</literal>,
3678 <literal>$</literal>, the whole header name and the colon, to make sure
3679 the filter doesn't cause havoc to other headers or the
3680 page itself. For example if you want to transform
3681 <application>Galeon</application> User-Agents to
3682 <application>Firefox</application> User-Agents you
3687 s@Galeon/\d\.\d\.\d @@
3693 s@^(User-Agent:.*) Galeon/\d\.\d\.\d (Firefox/\d\.\d\.\d\.\d)$@$1 $2@
3700 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3704 {+filter-client-headers +filter{test_filter}}
3705 problem-host.example.com
3715 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3716 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="filter-server-headers">
3717 <title>filter-server-headers</title>
3721 <term>Typical use:</term>
3724 To apply filtering to the server's headers
3730 <term>Effect:</term>
3733 By default, <application>Privoxy's</application> filters only apply
3734 to the document content itself. This will extend those filters to
3735 include the server's headers as well.
3742 <!-- boolean, parameterized, Multi-value -->
3744 <para>Boolean.</para>
3749 <term>Parameter:</term>
3761 Similar to <literal>filter-client-headers</literal>, but works on
3762 the server instead. To filter both server and client, use both.
3765 As with <literal>filter-client-headers</literal>, check your
3766 filters before activating this action, as it can easily lead to broken
3770 These filters are applied to each header on its own, not to them
3771 all at once. This makes it easier to diagnose problems, but on the downside
3772 you can't write filters that only change header x if header y's value is
3776 The filters are used after the other header actions have finished and can
3777 use their output as input.
3780 Remember too, whenever possible one should specify <literal>^</literal>,
3781 <literal>$</literal>, the whole header name and the colon, to make sure
3782 the filter doesn't cause havoc to other headers or the
3783 page itself. See above for example.
3790 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
3794 {+filter-server-headers +filter{test_filter}}
3795 problem-host.example.com
3805 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3806 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="force-text-mode">
3807 <title>force-text-mode</title>
3813 <term>Typical use:</term>
3815 <para>Force <application>Privoxy</application> to treat a document as if it was in some kind of <emphasis>text</emphasis> format. </para>
3820 <term>Effect:</term>
3823 Declares a document as text, even if the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> isn't detected as such.
3830 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3832 <para>Boolean.</para>
3837 <term>Parameter:</term>
3849 As explained <literal><link linkend="filter">above</link></literal>,
3850 <application>Privoxy</application> tries to only filter files that are
3851 in some kind of text format. The same restrictions apply to
3852 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite</link></literal>.
3853 <literal>force-text-mode</literal> declares a document as text,
3854 without looking at the <quote>Content-Type:</quote> first.
3858 Think twice before activating this action. Filtering binary data
3859 with regular expressions can cause file damage.
3866 <term>Example usage:</term>
3879 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3880 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-empty-document">
3881 <title>handle-as-empty-document</title>
3887 <term>Typical use:</term>
3889 <para>Mark URLs that should be replaced by empty documents <emphasis>if they get blocked</emphasis></para>
3894 <term>Effect:</term>
3897 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs.
3898 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
3899 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
3900 page, or an empty document will be sent to the client as a substitute for the blocked content.
3901 The <emphasis>empty</emphasis> document isn't literally empty, but actually contains a single space.
3908 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3910 <para>Boolean.</para>
3915 <term>Parameter:</term>
3927 Some browsers complain about syntax errors if JavaScript documents
3928 are blocked with <application>Privoxy's</application>
3929 default HTML page; this option can be used to silence them.
3932 The content type for the empty document can be specified with
3933 <literal><link linkend="content-type-overwrite">content-type-overwrite{}</link></literal>,
3934 but usually this isn't necessary.
3940 <term>Example usage:</term>
3943 <screen># Block all documents on example.org that end with ".js",
3944 # but send an empty document instead of the usual HTML message.
3945 {+block +handle-as-empty-document}
3955 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
3956 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="handle-as-image">
3957 <title>handle-as-image</title>
3961 <term>Typical use:</term>
3963 <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>
3968 <term>Effect:</term>
3971 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. It just marks URLs as images.
3972 If the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action <emphasis>also applies</emphasis>,
3973 the presence or absence of this mark decides whether an HTML <quote>blocked</quote>
3974 page, or a replacement image (as determined by the <literal><link
3975 linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal> action) will be sent to the
3976 client as a substitute for the blocked content.
3983 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
3985 <para>Boolean.</para>
3990 <term>Parameter:</term>
4002 The below generic example section is actually part of <filename>default.action</filename>.
4003 It marks all URLs with well-known image file name extensions as images and should
4007 Users will probably only want to use the handle-as-image action in conjunction with
4008 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>, to block sources of banners, whose URLs don't
4009 reflect the file type, like in the second example section.
4012 Note that you cannot treat HTML pages as images in most cases. For instance, (in-line) ad
4013 frames require an HTML page to be sent, or they won't display properly.
4014 Forcing <literal>handle-as-image</literal> in this situation will not replace the
4015 ad frame with an image, but lead to error messages.
4021 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
4024 <screen># Generic image extensions:
4027 /.*\.(gif|jpg|jpeg|png|bmp|ico)$
4029 # These don't look like images, but they're banners and should be
4030 # blocked as images:
4032 {+block +handle-as-image}
4033 some.nasty-banner-server.com/junk.cgi?output=trash
4035 # Banner source! Who cares if they also have non-image content?
4045 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4046 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-accept-language">
4047 <title>hide-accept-language</title>
4053 <term>Typical use:</term>
4055 <para>Pretend to use different language settings.</para>
4060 <term>Effect:</term>
4063 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> HTTP header in client requests.
4070 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4072 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4077 <term>Parameter:</term>
4080 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4089 Faking the browser's language settings can be useful to make a
4090 foreign User-Agent set with
4091 <literal><link linkend="hide-user-agent">hide-user-agent</link></literal>
4095 However some sites with content in different languages check the
4096 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> to decide which one to take by default.
4097 Sometimes it isn't possible to later switch to another language without
4098 changing the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header first.
4101 Therefore it's a good idea to either only change the
4102 <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header to languages you understand,
4103 or to languages that aren't wide spread.
4106 Before setting the <quote>Accept-Language:</quote> header
4107 to a rare language, you should consider that it helps to
4108 make your requests unique and thus easier to trace.
4109 If you don't plan to change this header frequently,
4110 you should stick to a common language.
4116 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4119 <screen># Pretend to use Canadian language settings.
4120 {+hide-accept-language{en-ca} \
4121 +hide-user-agent{Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; OpenBSD i386; en-CA; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060628 Firefox/1.5.0.4} \
4131 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4132 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-content-disposition">
4133 <title>hide-content-disposition</title>
4139 <term>Typical use:</term>
4141 <para>Prevent download menus for content you prefer to view inside the browser.</para>
4146 <term>Effect:</term>
4149 Deletes or replaces the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header set by some servers.
4156 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4158 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4163 <term>Parameter:</term>
4166 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4175 Some servers set the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> HTTP header for
4176 documents they assume you want to save locally before viewing them.
4177 The <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header contains the file name
4178 the browser is supposed to use by default.
4181 In most browsers that understand this header, it makes it impossible to
4182 <emphasis>just view</emphasis> the document, without downloading it first,
4183 even if it's just a simple text file or an image.
4186 Removing the <quote>Content-Disposition:</quote> header helps
4187 to prevent this annoyance, but some browsers additionally check the
4188 <quote>Content-Type:</quote> header, before they decide if they can
4189 display a document without saving it first. In these cases, you have
4190 to change this header as well, before the browser stops displaying
4194 It is also possible to change the server's file name suggestion
4195 to another one, but in most cases it isn't worth the time to set
4202 <term>Example usage:</term>
4205 <screen># Disarm the download link in Sourceforge's patch tracker
4207 +content-type-overwrite {text/plain}\
4208 +hide-content-disposition {block} }
4209 .sourceforge.net/tracker/download.php</screen>
4217 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4218 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-if-modified-since">
4219 <title>hide-if-modified-since</title>
4225 <term>Typical use:</term>
4227 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
4232 <term>Effect:</term>
4235 Deletes the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> HTTP client header or modifies its value.
4242 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4244 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4249 <term>Parameter:</term>
4252 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or a user defined value that specifies a range of hours.
4261 Removing this header is useful for filter testing, where you want to force a real
4262 reload instead of getting status code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the
4263 browser to use a cached copy of the page.
4266 Instead of removing the header, <literal>hide-if-modified-since</literal> can
4267 also add or subtract a random amount of time to/from the header's value.
4268 You specify a range of minutes where the random factor should be chosen from and
4269 <application>Privoxy</application> does the rest. A negative value means
4270 subtracting, a positive value adding.
4273 Randomizing the value of the <quote>If-Modified-Since:</quote> makes
4274 sure it isn't used as a cookie replacement, but you will run into
4275 caching problems if the random range is too high.
4278 It is a good idea to only use a small negative value and let
4279 <literal><link linkend="overwrite-last-modified">overwrite-last-modified</link></literal>
4280 handle the greater changes.
4283 It is also recommended to use this action together with
4284 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
4290 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
4293 <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
4294 {+hide-if-modified-since {-60}\
4295 +overwrite-last-modified {randomize}\
4296 +crunch-if-none-match}
4305 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4306 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-forwarded-for-headers">
4307 <title>hide-forwarded-for-headers</title>
4313 <term>Typical use:</term>
4315 <para>Improve privacy by hiding the true source of the request</para>
4320 <term>Effect:</term>
4323 Deletes any existing <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> HTTP header from client requests,
4324 and prevents adding a new one.
4331 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4333 <para>Boolean.</para>
4338 <term>Parameter:</term>
4350 It is fairly safe to leave this on.
4353 This action is scheduled for improvement: It should be able to generate forged
4354 <quote>X-Forwarded-for:</quote> headers using random IP addresses from a specified network,
4355 to make successive requests from the same client look like requests from a pool of different
4356 users sharing the same proxy.
4362 <term>Example usage:</term>
4365 <screen>+hide-forwarded-for-headers</screen>
4373 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4374 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-from-header">
4375 <title>hide-from-header</title>
4379 <term>Typical use:</term>
4381 <para>Keep your (old and ill) browser from telling web servers your email address</para>
4386 <term>Effect:</term>
4389 Deletes any existing <quote>From:</quote> HTTP header, or replaces it with the
4397 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4399 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4404 <term>Parameter:</term>
4407 Keyword: <quote>block</quote>, or any user defined value.
4416 The keyword <quote>block</quote> will completely remove the header
4417 (not to be confused with the <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>
4421 Alternately, you can specify any value you prefer to be sent to the web
4422 server. If you do, it is a matter of fairness not to use any address that
4423 is actually used by a real person.
4426 This action is rarely needed, as modern web browsers don't send
4427 <quote>From:</quote> headers anymore.
4433 <term>Example usage:</term>
4436 <screen>+hide-from-header{block}</screen> or
4437 <screen>+hide-from-header{spam-me-senseless@sittingduck.example.com}</screen>
4445 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4446 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-referrer">
4447 <title>hide-referrer</title>
4448 <anchor id="hide-referer">
4451 <term>Typical use:</term>
4453 <para>Conceal which link you followed to get to a particular site</para>
4458 <term>Effect:</term>
4461 Deletes the <quote>Referer:</quote> (sic) HTTP header from the client request,
4462 or replaces it with a forged one.
4469 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4471 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4476 <term>Parameter:</term>
4480 <para><quote>conditional-block</quote> to delete the header completely if the host has changed.</para>
4483 <para><quote>block</quote> to delete the header unconditionally.</para>
4486 <para><quote>forge</quote> to pretend to be coming from the homepage of the server we are talking to.</para>
4489 <para>Any other string to set a user defined referrer.</para>
4499 <literal>conditional-block</literal> is the only parameter,
4500 that isn't easily detected in the server's log file. If it blocks the
4501 referrer, the request will look like the visitor used a bookmark or
4502 typed in the address directly.
4505 Leaving the referrer unmodified for requests on the same host
4506 allows the server owner to see the visitor's <quote>click path</quote>,
4507 but in most cases she could also get that information by comparing
4508 other parts of the log file: for example the User-Agent if it isn't
4509 a very common one, or the user's IP address if it doesn't change between
4513 Always blocking the referrer, or using a custom one, can lead to
4514 failures on servers that check the referrer before they answer any
4515 requests, in an attempt to prevent their valuable content from being
4516 embedded or linked to elsewhere.
4519 Both <literal>conditional-block</literal> and <literal>forge</literal>
4520 will work with referrer checks, as long as content and valid referring page
4521 are on the same host. Most of the time that's the case.
4524 <literal>hide-referer</literal> is an alternate spelling of
4525 <literal>hide-referrer</literal> and the two can be can be freely
4526 substituted with each other. (<quote>referrer</quote> is the
4527 correct English spelling, however the HTTP specification has a bug - it
4528 requires it to be spelled as <quote>referer</quote>.)
4534 <term>Example usage:</term>
4537 <screen>+hide-referrer{forge}</screen> or
4538 <screen>+hide-referrer{http://www.yahoo.com/}</screen>
4546 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4547 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="hide-user-agent">
4548 <title>hide-user-agent</title>
4552 <term>Typical use:</term>
4554 <para>Conceal your type of browser and client operating system</para>
4559 <term>Effect:</term>
4562 Replaces the value of the <quote>User-Agent:</quote> HTTP header
4563 in client requests with the specified value.
4570 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4572 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4577 <term>Parameter:</term>
4580 Any user-defined string.
4590 This can lead to problems on web sites that depend on looking at this header in
4591 order to customize their content for different browsers (which, by the
4592 way, is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> the right thing to do: good web sites
4593 work browser-independently).
4595 <ulink url="http://www.javascriptkit.com/javaindex.shtml">smart way to do
4601 Using this action in multi-user setups or wherever different types of
4602 browsers will access the same <application>Privoxy</application> is
4603 <emphasis>not recommended</emphasis>. In single-user, single-browser
4604 setups, you might use it to delete your OS version information from
4605 the headers, because it is an invitation to exploit known bugs for your
4606 OS. It is also occasionally useful to forge this in order to access
4607 sites that won't let you in otherwise (though there may be a good
4608 reason in some cases). Example of this: some MSN sites will not
4609 let <application>Mozilla</application> enter, yet forging to a
4610 <application>Netscape 6.1</application> user-agent works just fine.
4611 (Must be just a silly MS goof, I'm sure :-).
4614 This action is scheduled for improvement.
4620 <term>Example usage:</term>
4623 <screen>+hide-user-agent{Netscape 6.1 (X11; I; Linux 2.4.18 i686)}</screen>
4631 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4632 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="inspect-jpegs">
4633 <title>inspect-jpegs</title>
4639 <term>Typical use:</term>
4641 <para>To protect against the MS buffer over-run in JPEG processing</para>
4646 <term>Effect:</term>
4649 Protect against a known exploit
4656 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4658 <para>Boolean.</para>
4663 <term>Parameter:</term>
4675 See Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-028. JPEG images are one of the most
4676 common image types found across the Internet. The exploit as described can
4677 allow execution of code on the target system, giving an attacker access
4678 to the system in question by merely planting an altered JPEG image, which
4679 would have no obvious indications of what lurks inside. This action
4680 prevents unwanted intrusion.
4687 <term>Example usage:</term>
4689 <para><screen>+inspect-jpegs</screen></para>
4698 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4699 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="kill-popups">
4700 <title>kill-popups<anchor id="kill-popup"></title>
4704 <term>Typical use:</term>
4706 <para>Eliminate those annoying pop-up windows (deprecated)</para>
4711 <term>Effect:</term>
4714 While loading the document, replace JavaScript code that opens
4715 pop-up windows with (syntactically neutral) dummy code on the fly.
4722 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4724 <para>Boolean.</para>
4729 <term>Parameter:</term>
4741 This action is basically a built-in, hardwired special-purpose filter
4742 action, but there are important differences: For <literal>kill-popups</literal>,
4743 the document need not be buffered, so it can be incrementally rendered while
4744 downloading. But <literal>kill-popups</literal> doesn't catch as many pop-ups as
4746 linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>all-popups</replaceable>}</link></literal>
4747 does and is not as smart as <literal><link
4748 linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>unsolicited-popups</replaceable>}</link>
4752 Think of it as a fast and efficient replacement for a filter that you
4753 can use if you don't want any filtering at all. Note that it doesn't make
4754 sense to combine it with any <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action,
4755 since as soon as one <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> applies,
4756 the whole document needs to be buffered anyway, which destroys the advantage of
4757 the <literal>kill-popups</literal> action over its filter equivalent.
4760 Killing all pop-ups unconditionally is problematic. Many shops and banks rely on
4761 pop-ups to display forms, shopping carts etc, and the <literal><link
4762 linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{<replaceable>unsolicited-popups</replaceable>}</link>
4763 </literal> does a fairly good job of catching only the unwanted ones.
4766 If the only kind of pop-ups that you want to kill are exit consoles (those
4767 <emphasis>really nasty</emphasis> windows that appear when you close an other
4768 one), you might want to use
4770 linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>js-annoyances</replaceable>}</literal>
4776 An alternate spelling is <literal>+kill-popup</literal>, which is
4784 <term>Example usage:</term>
4786 <para><screen>+kill-popups</screen></para>
4793 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4794 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="limit-connect">
4795 <title>limit-connect</title>
4799 <term>Typical use:</term>
4801 <para>Prevent abuse of <application>Privoxy</application> as a TCP proxy relay or disable SSL for untrusted sites</para>
4806 <term>Effect:</term>
4809 Specifies to which ports HTTP CONNECT requests are allowable.
4816 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4818 <para>Parameterized.</para>
4823 <term>Parameter:</term>
4826 A comma-separated list of ports or port ranges (the latter using dashes, with the minimum
4827 defaulting to 0 and the maximum to 65K).
4836 By default, i.e. if no <literal>limit-connect</literal> action applies,
4837 <application>Privoxy</application> only allows HTTP CONNECT
4838 requests to port 443 (the standard, secure HTTPS port). Use
4839 <literal>limit-connect</literal> if more fine-grained control is desired
4840 for some or all destinations.
4843 The CONNECT methods exists in HTTP to allow access to secure websites
4844 (<quote>https://</quote> URLs) through proxies. It works very simply:
4845 the proxy connects to the server on the specified port, and then
4846 short-circuits its connections to the client and to the remote server.
4847 This can be a big security hole, since CONNECT-enabled proxies can be
4848 abused as TCP relays very easily.
4851 <application>Privoxy</application> relays HTTPS traffic without seeing
4852 the decoded content. Websites can leverage this limitation to circumvent &my-app;'s
4853 filters. By specifying an invalid port range you can disable HTTPS entirely.
4854 If you plan to disable SSL by default, consider enabling
4855 <literal><link linkend="treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks ">treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</link></literal>
4856 as well, to be able to quickly create exceptions.
4862 <term>Example usages:</term>
4864 <!-- I had trouble getting the spacing to look right in my browser -->
4865 <!-- I probably have the wrong font setup, bollocks. -->
4866 <!-- Apparently the emphasis tag uses a proportional font no matter what -->
4868 <screen>+limit-connect{443} # This is the default and need not be specified.
4869 +limit-connect{80,443} # Ports 80 and 443 are OK.
4870 +limit-connect{-3, 7, 20-100, 500-} # Ports less than 3, 7, 20 to 100 and above 500 are OK.
4871 +limit-connect{-} # All ports are OK
4872 +limit-connect{,} # No HTTPS/SSL traffic is allowed</screen>
4879 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4880 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="prevent-compression">
4881 <title>prevent-compression</title>
4885 <term>Typical use:</term>
4888 Ensure that servers send the content uncompressed, so it can be
4889 passed through <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>s.
4895 <term>Effect:</term>
4898 Removes the Accept-Encoding header which can be used to ask for compressed transfer.
4905 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4907 <para>Boolean.</para>
4912 <term>Parameter:</term>
4924 More and more websites send their content compressed by default, which
4925 is generally a good idea and saves bandwidth. But for the <literal><link
4926 linkend="filter">filter</link></literal>, <literal><link linkend="deanimate-gifs">deanimate-gifs</link></literal>
4927 and <literal><link linkend="kill-popups">kill-popups</link></literal> actions to work,
4928 <application>Privoxy</application> needs access to the uncompressed data.
4929 Unfortunately, <application>Privoxy</application> can't yet(!) uncompress, filter, and
4930 re-compress the content on the fly. So if you want to ensure that all websites, including
4931 those that normally compress, can be filtered, you need to use this action.
4934 This will slow down transfers from those websites, though. If you use any of the above-mentioned
4935 actions, you will typically want to use <literal>prevent-compression</literal> in conjunction
4939 Note that some (rare) ill-configured sites don't handle requests for uncompressed
4940 documents correctly (they send an empty document body). If you use <literal>prevent-compression</literal>
4941 per default, you'll have to add exceptions for those sites. See the example for how to do that.
4947 <term>Example usage (sections):</term>
4950 <screen># Set default:
4952 {+prevent-compression}
4955 # Make exceptions for ill sites:
4957 {-prevent-compression}
4959 www.pclinuxonline.com</screen>
4968 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
4969 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="overwrite-last-modified">
4970 <title>overwrite-last-modified</title>
4976 <term>Typical use:</term>
4978 <para>Prevent yet another way to track the user's steps between sessions.</para>
4983 <term>Effect:</term>
4986 Deletes the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> HTTP server header or modifies its value.
4993 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
4995 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5000 <term>Parameter:</term>
5003 One of the keywords: <quote>block</quote>, <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote>
5004 and <quote>randomize</quote>
5013 Removing the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header is useful for filter
5014 testing, where you want to force a real reload instead of getting status
5015 code <quote>304</quote>, which would cause the browser to reuse the old
5016 version of the page.
5019 The <quote>randomize</quote> option overwrites the value of the
5020 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with a randomly chosen time
5021 between the original value and the current time. In theory the server
5022 could send each document with a different <quote>Last-Modified:</quote>
5023 header to track visits without using cookies. <quote>Randomize</quote>
5024 makes it impossible and the browser can still revalidate cached documents.
5027 <quote>reset-to-request-time</quote> overwrites the value of the
5028 <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header with the current time. You could use
5029 this option together with
5030 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>
5031 to further customize your random range.
5034 The preferred parameter here is <quote>randomize</quote>. It is safe
5035 to use, as long as the time settings are more or less correct.
5036 If the server sets the <quote>Last-Modified:</quote> header to the time
5037 of the request, the random range becomes zero and the value stays the same.
5038 Therefore you should later randomize it a second time with
5039 <literal><link linkend="hide-if-modified-since">hided-if-modified-since</link></literal>,
5043 It is also recommended to use this action together with
5044 <literal><link linkend="crunch-if-none-match">crunch-if-none-match</link></literal>.
5050 <term>Example usage:</term>
5053 <screen># Let the browser revalidate without being tracked across sessions
5054 {+hide-if-modified-since {-60}\
5055 +overwrite-last-modified {randomize}\
5056 +crunch-if-none-match}
5065 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5066 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="redirect">
5067 <title>redirect</title>
5073 <term>Typical use:</term>
5076 Redirect requests to other sites.
5082 <term>Effect:</term>
5085 Convinces the browser that the requested document has been moved
5086 to another location and the browser should get it from there.
5093 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5095 <para>Parameterized</para>
5100 <term>Parameter:</term>
5112 This action is useful to replace whole documents with ones of your
5113 choosing. This can be used to enforce safe surfing, or just as a simple
5117 You can do the same by combining the actions
5118 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>,
5119 <literal><link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> and
5120 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{URL}</link></literal>.
5121 It doesn't sound right for non-image documents, and that's why this action
5125 This action will be ignored if you use it together with
5126 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal>.
5132 <term>Example usages:</term>
5135 <screen># Replace example.com's style sheet with another one
5136 { +redirect{http://localhost/css-replacements/example.com.css} }
5137 example.com/stylesheet.css
5139 # Create a short, easy to remember nickname for a favorite site
5140 { +redirect{http://www.privoxy.org/user-manual/actions-file.html} }
5150 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5151 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-vanilla-wafer">
5152 <title>send-vanilla-wafer</title>
5156 <term>Typical use:</term>
5159 Feed log analysis scripts with useless data.
5165 <term>Effect:</term>
5168 Sends a cookie with each request stating that you do not accept any copyright
5169 on cookies sent to you, and asking the site operator not to track you.
5176 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5178 <para>Boolean.</para>
5183 <term>Parameter:</term>
5195 The vanilla wafer is a (relatively) unique header and could conceivably be used to track you.
5198 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
5204 <term>Example usage:</term>
5207 <screen>+send-vanilla-wafer</screen>
5216 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5217 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="send-wafer">
5218 <title>send-wafer</title>
5222 <term>Typical use:</term>
5225 Send custom cookies or feed log analysis scripts with even more useless data.
5231 <term>Effect:</term>
5234 Sends a custom, user-defined cookie with each request.
5241 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5243 <para>Multi-value.</para>
5248 <term>Parameter:</term>
5251 A string of the form <quote><replaceable class="option">name</replaceable>=<replaceable
5252 class="parameter">value</replaceable></quote>.
5261 Being multi-valued, multiple instances of this action can apply to the same request,
5262 resulting in multiple cookies being sent.
5265 This action is rarely used and not enabled in the default configuration.
5270 <term>Example usage (section):</term>
5273 <screen>{+send-wafer{UsingPrivoxy=true}}
5274 my-internal-testing-server.void</screen>
5282 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5283 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="session-cookies-only">
5284 <title>session-cookies-only</title>
5288 <term>Typical use:</term>
5291 Allow only temporary <quote>session</quote> cookies (for the current
5292 browser session <emphasis>only</emphasis>).
5298 <term>Effect:</term>
5301 Deletes the <quote>expires</quote> field from <quote>Set-Cookie:</quote>
5302 server headers. Most browsers will not store such cookies permanently and
5303 forget them in between sessions.
5310 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5312 <para>Boolean.</para>
5317 <term>Parameter:</term>
5329 This is less strict than <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> /
5330 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal> and allows you to browse
5331 websites that insist or rely on setting cookies, without compromising your privacy too badly.
5334 Most browsers will not permanently store cookies that have been processed by
5335 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal> and will forget about them between sessions.
5336 This makes profiling cookies useless, but won't break sites which require cookies so
5337 that you can log in for transactions. This is generally turned on for all
5338 sites, and is the recommended setting.
5341 It makes <emphasis>no sense at all</emphasis> to use <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>
5342 together with <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal> or
5343 <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>. If you do, cookies
5344 will be plainly killed.
5347 Note that it is up to the browser how it handles such cookies without an <quote>expires</quote>
5348 field. If you use an exotic browser, you might want to try it out to be sure.
5351 This setting also has no effect on cookies that may have been stored
5352 previously by the browser before starting <application>Privoxy</application>.
5353 These would have to be removed manually.
5356 <application>Privoxy</application> also uses
5357 the <link linkend="filter-content-cookies">content-cookies filter</link>
5358 to block some types of cookies. Content cookies are not effected by
5359 <literal>session-cookies-only</literal>.
5365 <term>Example usage:</term>
5368 <screen>+session-cookies-only</screen>
5376 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5377 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="set-image-blocker">
5378 <title>set-image-blocker</title>
5382 <term>Typical use:</term>
5384 <para>Choose the replacement for blocked images</para>
5389 <term>Effect:</term>
5392 This action alone doesn't do anything noticeable. If <emphasis>both</emphasis>
5393 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> <emphasis>and</emphasis> <literal><link
5394 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> <emphasis>also</emphasis>
5395 apply, i.e. if the request is to be blocked as an image,
5396 <emphasis>then</emphasis> the parameter of this action decides what will be
5397 sent as a replacement.
5404 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5406 <para>Parameterized.</para>
5411 <term>Parameter:</term>
5416 <quote>pattern</quote> to send a built-in checkerboard pattern image. The image is visually
5417 decent, scales very well, and makes it obvious where banners were busted.
5422 <quote>blank</quote> to send a built-in transparent image. This makes banners disappear
5423 completely, but makes it hard to detect where <application>Privoxy</application> has blocked
5424 images on a given page and complicates troubleshooting if <application>Privoxy</application>
5425 has blocked innocent images, like navigation icons.
5430 <quote><replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable></quote> to
5431 send a redirect to <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>. You can redirect
5432 to any image anywhere, even in your local filesystem via <quote>file:///</quote> URL.
5433 (But note that not all browsers support redirecting to a local file system).
5436 A good application of redirects is to use special <application>Privoxy</application>-built-in
5437 URLs, which send the built-in images, as <replaceable class="parameter">target-url</replaceable>.
5438 This has the same visual effect as specifying <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote> in
5439 the first place, but enables your browser to cache the replacement image, instead of requesting
5440 it over and over again.
5451 The URLs for the built-in images are <quote>http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=<replaceable
5452 class="parameter">type</replaceable></quote>, where <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable> is
5453 either <quote>blank</quote> or <quote>pattern</quote>.
5456 There is a third (advanced) type, called <quote>auto</quote>. It is <emphasis>NOT</emphasis> to be
5457 used in <literal>set-image-blocker</literal>, but meant for use from <link linkend="filter-file">filters</link>.
5458 Auto will select the type of image that would have applied to the referring page, had it been an image.
5464 <term>Example usage:</term>
5470 <screen>+set-image-blocker{pattern}</screen>
5473 Redirect to the BSD devil:
5476 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://www.freebsd.org/gifs/dae_up3.gif}</screen>
5479 Redirect to the built-in pattern for better caching:
5482 <screen>+set-image-blocker{http://config.privoxy.org/send-banner?type=pattern}</screen>
5490 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5491 <sect3 renderas="sect4" id="treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks">
5492 <title>treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</title>
5498 <term>Typical use:</term>
5500 <para>Block forbidden connects with an easy to find error message.</para>
5505 <term>Effect:</term>
5508 If this action is enabled, <application>Privoxy</application> no longer
5509 makes a difference between forbidden connects and ordinary blocks.
5516 <!-- Boolean, Parameterized, Multi-value -->
5518 <para>Boolean</para>
5523 <term>Parameter:</term>
5533 By default <application>Privoxy</application> answers
5534 <link linkend="limit-connect">forbidden <quote>Connect</quote> requests</link>
5535 with a short error message inside the headers. If the browser doesn't display
5536 headers (most don't), you just see an empty page.
5539 With this action enabled, <application>Privoxy</application> displays
5540 the message that is used for ordinary blocks instead. If you decide
5541 to make an exception for the page in question, you can do so by
5542 following the <quote>See why</quote> link.
5545 For <quote>Connect</quote> requests the clients tell
5546 <application>Privoxy</application> which host they are interested
5547 in, but not which document they plan to get later. As a result, the
5548 <quote>Go there anyway</quote> link becomes rather useless:
5549 it lets the client request the home page of the forbidden host
5550 through unencrypted HTTP, still using the port of the last request.
5553 If you previously configured <application>Privoxy</application> to do the
5554 request through a SSL tunnel, everything will work. Most likely you haven't
5555 and the server will respond with an error message because it is expecting
5562 <term>Example usage:</term>
5565 <screen>+treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</screen>
5573 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5575 <title>Summary</title>
5577 Note that many of these actions have the potential to cause a page to
5578 misbehave, possibly even not to display at all. There are many ways
5579 a site designer may choose to design his site, and what HTTP header
5580 content, and other criteria, he may depend on. There is no way to have hard
5581 and fast rules for all sites. See the <link
5582 linkend="ACTIONSANAT">Appendix</link> for a brief example on troubleshooting
5588 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5589 <sect2 id="aliases">
5590 <title>Aliases</title>
5592 Custom <quote>actions</quote>, known to <application>Privoxy</application>
5593 as <quote>aliases</quote>, can be defined by combining other actions.
5594 These can in turn be invoked just like the built-in actions.
5595 Currently, an alias name can contain any character except space, tab,
5597 <quote>{</quote> and <quote>}</quote>, but we <emphasis>strongly
5598 recommend</emphasis> that you only use <quote>a</quote> to <quote>z</quote>,
5599 <quote>0</quote> to <quote>9</quote>, <quote>+</quote>, and <quote>-</quote>.
5600 Alias names are not case sensitive, and are not required to start with a
5601 <quote>+</quote> or <quote>-</quote> sign, since they are merely textually
5605 Aliases can be used throughout the actions file, but they <emphasis>must be
5606 defined in a special section at the top of the file!</emphasis>
5607 And there can only be one such section per actions file. Each actions file may
5608 have its own alias section, and the aliases defined in it are only visible
5612 There are two main reasons to use aliases: One is to save typing for frequently
5613 used combinations of actions, the other one is a gain in flexibility: If you
5614 decide once how you want to handle shops by defining an alias called
5615 <quote>shop</quote>, you can later change your policy on shops in
5616 <emphasis>one</emphasis> place, and your changes will take effect everywhere
5617 in the actions file where the <quote>shop</quote> alias is used. Calling aliases
5618 by their purpose also makes your actions files more readable.
5621 Currently, there is one big drawback to using aliases, though:
5622 <application>Privoxy</application>'s built-in web-based action file
5623 editor honors aliases when reading the actions files, but it expands
5624 them before writing. So the effects of your aliases are of course preserved,
5625 but the aliases themselves are lost when you edit sections that use aliases
5627 This is likely to change in future versions of <application>Privoxy</application>.
5631 Now let's define some aliases...
5636 # Useful custom aliases we can use later.
5638 # Note the (required!) section header line and that this section
5639 # must be at the top of the actions file!
5643 # These aliases just save typing later:
5644 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
5646 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5647 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5648 +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
5649 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
5651 # These aliases define combinations of actions
5652 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
5654 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="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link>
5655 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link>
5657 # Short names for other aliases, for really lazy people ;-)
5659 c0 = +crunch-all-cookies
5660 c1 = -crunch-all-cookies</screen>
5664 ...and put them to use. These sections would appear in the lower part of an
5665 actions file and define exceptions to the default actions (as specified further
5666 up for the <quote>/</quote> pattern):
5671 # These sites are either very complex or very keen on
5672 # user data and require minimal interference to work:
5675 .office.microsoft.com
5676 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com
5680 # Allow cookies (for setting and retrieving your customer data)
5684 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
5687 # These shops require pop-ups:
5689 {shop -kill-popups -filter{all-popups}}
5691 .overclockers.co.uk</screen>
5695 Aliases like <quote>shop</quote> and <quote>fragile</quote> are often used for
5696 <quote>problem</quote> sites that require some actions to be disabled
5697 in order to function properly.
5703 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
5704 <sect2 id="act-examples">
5705 <title>Actions Files Tutorial</title>
5707 The above chapters have shown <link linkend="actions-file">which actions files
5708 there are and how they are organized</link>, how actions are <link
5709 linkend="actions">specified</link> and <link linkend="actions-apply">applied
5710 to URLs</link>, how <link linkend="af-patterns">patterns</link> work, and how to
5711 define and use <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link>. Now, let's look at an
5712 example <filename>default.action</filename> and <filename>user.action</filename>
5713 file and see how all these pieces come together:
5716 <sect3><title>default.action</title>
5719 Every config file should start with a short comment stating its purpose:
5723 <screen># Sample default.action file <ijbswa-developers@lists.sourceforge.net></screen>
5727 Then, since this is the <filename>default.action</filename> file, the
5728 first section is a special section for internal use that you needn't
5729 change or worry about:
5734 ##########################################################################
5735 # Settings -- Don't change! For internal Privoxy use ONLY.
5736 ##########################################################################
5739 for-privoxy-version=3.0</screen>
5743 After that comes the (optional) alias section. We'll use the example
5744 section from the above <link linkend="aliases">chapter on aliases</link>,
5745 that also explains why and how aliases are used:
5750 ##########################################################################
5752 ##########################################################################
5755 # These aliases just save typing later:
5756 # (Note that some already use other aliases!)
5758 +crunch-all-cookies = +<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> +<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5759 -crunch-all-cookies = -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link>
5760 +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
5761 mercy-for-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link>
5763 # These aliases define combinations of actions
5764 # that are useful for certain types of sites:
5766 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="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link>
5767 shop = -crunch-all-cookies -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link> -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></screen>
5771 Now come the regular sections, i.e. sets of actions, accompanied
5772 by URL patterns to which they apply. Remember <emphasis>all actions
5773 are disabled when matching starts</emphasis>, so we have to explicitly
5774 enable the ones we want.
5778 The first regular section is probably the most important. It has only
5779 one pattern, <quote><literal>/</literal></quote>, but this pattern
5780 <link linkend="af-patterns">matches all URLs</link>. Therefore, the
5781 set of actions used in this <quote>default</quote> section <emphasis>will
5782 be applied to all requests as a start</emphasis>. It can be partly or
5783 wholly overridden by later matches further down this file, or in user.action,
5784 but it will still be largely responsible for your overall browsing
5789 Again, at the start of matching, all actions are disabled, so there is
5790 no real need to disable any actions here, but we will do that nonetheless,
5791 to have a complete listing for your reference. (Remember: a <quote>+</quote>
5792 preceding the action name enables the action, a <quote>-</quote> disables!).
5793 Also note how this long line has been made more readable by splitting it into
5794 multiple lines with line continuation.
5799 ##########################################################################
5800 # "Defaults" section:
5801 ##########################################################################
5803 -<link linkend="ADD-HEADER">add-header</link> \
5804 -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> \
5805 -<link linkend="CONTENT-TYPE-OVERWRITE">content-type-overwrite</link> \
5806 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-CLIENT-HEADER">crunch-client-header</link> \
5807 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-IF-NONE-MATCH">crunch-if-none-match</link> \
5808 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES">crunch-incoming-cookies</link> \
5809 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-SERVER-HEADER">crunch-server-header</link> \
5810 -<link linkend="CRUNCH-OUTGOING-COOKIES">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link> \
5811 +<link linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS">deanimate-gifs</link> \
5812 -<link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION">downgrade-http-version</link> \
5813 +<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}</link> \
5814 +<link linkend="FILTER-JS-ANNOYANCES">filter{js-annoyances}</link> \
5815 -<link linkend="FILTER-JS-EVENTS">filter{js-events}</link> \
5816 +<link linkend="FILTER-HTML-ANNOYANCES">filter{html-annoyances}</link> \
5817 -<link linkend="FILTER-CONTENT-COOKIES">filter{content-cookies}</link> \
5818 +<link linkend="FILTER-REFRESH-TAGS">filter{refresh-tags}</link> \
5819 +<link linkend="FILTER-UNSOLICITED-POPUPS">filter{unsolicited-popups}</link> \
5820 -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{all-popups}</link> \
5821 +<link linkend="FILTER-IMG-REORDER">filter{img-reorder}</link> \
5822 +<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE">filter{banners-by-size}</link> \
5823 -<link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-LINK">filter{banners-by-link}</link> \
5824 +<link linkend="FILTER-WEBBUGS">filter{webbugs}</link> \
5825 -<link linkend="FILTER-TINY-TEXTFORMS">filter{tiny-textforms}</link> \
5826 +<link linkend="FILTER-JUMPING-WINDOWS">filter{jumping-windows}</link> \
5827 -<link linkend="FILTER-FRAMESET-BORDERS">filter{frameset-borders}</link> \
5828 -<link linkend="FILTER-DEMORONIZER">filter{demoronizer}</link> \
5829 -<link linkend="FILTER-SHOCKWAVE-FLASH">filter{shockwave-flash}</link> \
5830 -<link linkend="FILTER-QUICKTIME-KIOSKMODE">filter{quicktime-kioskmode}</link> \
5831 -<link linkend="FILTER-FUN">filter{fun}</link> \
5832 -<link linkend="FILTER-CRUDE-PARENTAL">filter{crude-parental}</link> \
5833 +<link linkend="FILTER-IE-EXPLOITS">filter{ie-exploits}</link> \
5834 -<link linkend="FILTER-CLIENT-HEADERS">filter-client-headers</link> \
5835 -<link linkend="FILTER-SERVER-HEADERS">filter-server-headers</link> \
5836 -<link linkend="FORCE-TEXT-MODE">force-text-mode</link> \
5837 -<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-EMPTY-DOCUMENT">handle-as-empty-document</link> \
5838 -<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> \
5839 -<link linkend="HIDE-ACCEPT-LANGUAGE">hide-accept-language</link> \
5840 -<link linkend="HIDE-CONTENT-DISPOSITION">hide-content-disposition</link> \
5841 -<link linkend="HIDE-IF-MODIFIED-SINCE">hide-if-modified-since</link> \
5842 +<link linkend="HIDE-FORWARDED-FOR-HEADERS">hide-forwarded-for-headers</link> \
5843 +<link linkend="HIDE-FROM-HEADER">hide-from-header{block}</link> \
5844 +<link linkend="HIDE-REFERER">hide-referrer{forge}</link> \
5845 -<link linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT">hide-user-agent</link> \
5846 -<link linkend="INSPECT-JPEGS">inspect-jpegs</link> \
5847 -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> \
5848 -<link linkend="LIMIT-CONNECT">limit-connect</link> \
5849 +<link linkend="PREVENT-COMPRESSION">prevent-compression</link> \
5850 -<link linkend="OVERWRITE-LAST-MODIFIED">overwrite-last-modified</link> \
5851 -<link linkend="REDIRECT">redirect</link> \
5852 -<link linkend="SEND-VANILLA-WAFER">send-vanilla-wafer</link> \
5853 -<link linkend="SEND-WAFER">send-wafer</link> \
5854 +<link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY">session-cookies-only</link> \
5855 +<link linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER">set-image-blocker{pattern}</link> \
5856 -<link linkend="TREAT-FORBIDDEN-CONNECTS-LIKE-BLOCKS">treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks</link> \
5858 / # forward slash will match *all* potential URL patterns.</screen>
5862 The default behavior is now set. Note that some actions, like not hiding
5863 the user agent, are part of a <quote>general policy</quote> that applies
5864 universally and won't get any exceptions defined later. Other choices,
5865 like not blocking (which is <emphasis>understandably</emphasis> the
5866 default!) need exceptions, i.e. we need to specify explicitly what we
5867 want to block in later sections.
5871 The first of our specialized sections is concerned with <quote>fragile</quote>
5872 sites, i.e. sites that require minimum interference, because they are either
5873 very complex or very keen on tracking you (and have mechanisms in place that
5874 make them unusable for people who avoid being tracked). We will simply use
5875 our pre-defined <literal>fragile</literal> alias instead of stating the list
5876 of actions explicitly:
5881 ##########################################################################
5882 # Exceptions for sites that'll break under the default action set:
5883 ##########################################################################
5885 # "Fragile" Use a minimum set of actions for these sites (see alias above):
5888 .office.microsoft.com # surprise, surprise!
5889 .windowsupdate.microsoft.com</screen>
5893 Shopping sites are not as fragile, but they typically
5894 require cookies to log in, and pop-up windows for shopping
5895 carts or item details. Again, we'll use a pre-defined alias:
5904 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
5906 .scan.co.uk</screen>
5909 <!-- No longer needed BEGIN OF COMMENTED OUT BLOCK
5912 Then, there are sites which rely on pop-up windows (yuck!) to work.
5913 Since we made pop-up-killing our default above, we need to make exceptions
5914 now. <ulink url="http://www.mozilla.org/">Mozilla</ulink> users, who
5915 can turn on smart handling of unwanted pop-ups in their browsers, can
5917 -<literal><link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link></literal> (and
5918 -<literal><link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link></literal>) above
5919 and hence don't need this section. Anyway, disabling an already disabled
5920 action doesn't hurt, so we'll define our exceptions regardless of what was
5921 chosen in the defaults section:
5926 # These sites require pop-ups too :(
5928 { -<link linkend="KILL-POPUPS">kill-popups</link> -<link linkend="FILTER-ALL-POPUPS">filter{popups}</link> }
5931 .deutsche-bank-24.de</screen>
5934 END OF COMMENTED OUT BLOCK -->
5937 The <literal><link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link></literal>
5938 action, which we enabled per default above, breaks some sites. So disable
5939 it for popular sites where we know it misbehaves:
5944 { -<link linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS">fast-redirects</link> }
5948 .altavista.com/.*(like|url|link):http
5949 .altavista.com/trans.*urltext=http
5950 .nytimes.com</screen>
5954 It is important that <application>Privoxy</application> knows which
5955 URLs belong to images, so that <emphasis>if</emphasis> they are to
5956 be blocked, a substitute image can be sent, rather than an HTML page.
5957 Contacting the remote site to find out is not an option, since it
5958 would destroy the loading time advantage of banner blocking, and it
5959 would feed the advertisers (in terms of money <emphasis>and</emphasis>
5960 information). We can mark any URL as an image with the <literal><link
5961 linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> action,
5962 and marking all URLs that end in a known image file extension is a
5968 ##########################################################################
5970 ##########################################################################
5972 # Define which file types will be treated as images, in case they get
5973 # blocked further down this file:
5975 { +<link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE">handle-as-image</link> }
5976 /.*\.(gif|jpe?g|png|bmp|ico)$</screen>
5980 And then there are known banner sources. They often use scripts to
5981 generate the banners, so it won't be visible from the URL that the
5982 request is for an image. Hence we block them <emphasis>and</emphasis>
5983 mark them as images in one go, with the help of our
5984 <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above. (We could of
5985 course just as well use <literal>+<link linkend="block">block</link>
5986 +<link linkend="handle-as-image">handle-as-image</link></literal> here.)
5987 Remember that the type of the replacement image is chosen by the
5988 <literal><link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link></literal>
5989 action. Since all URLs have matched the default section with its
5990 <literal>+<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker</link>{pattern}</literal>
5991 action before, it still applies and needn't be repeated:
5996 # Known ad generators:
6001 .ad.*.doubleclick.net
6002 .a.yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
6003 .a[0-9].yimg.com/(?:(?!/i/).)*$
6010 One of the most important jobs of <application>Privoxy</application>
6011 is to block banners. A huge bunch of them can be <quote>blocked</quote>
6012 by the <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{banners-by-size}</literal>
6013 action, which we enabled above, and which deletes the references to banner
6014 images from the pages while they are loaded, so the browser doesn't request
6015 them anymore, and hence they don't need to be blocked here. But this naturally
6016 doesn't catch all banners, and some people choose not to use filters, so we
6017 need a comprehensive list of patterns for banner URLs here, and apply the
6018 <literal><link linkend="block">block</link></literal> action to them.
6021 First comes a bunch of generic patterns, which do most of the work, by
6022 matching typical domain and path name components of banners. Then comes
6023 a list of individual patterns for specific sites, which is omitted here
6024 to keep the example short:
6029 ##########################################################################
6030 # Block these fine banners:
6031 ##########################################################################
6032 { <link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link> }
6040 /.*count(er)?\.(pl|cgi|exe|dll|asp|php[34]?)
6041 /(?:.*/)?(publicite|werbung|rekla(ma|me|am)|annonse|maino(kset|nta|s)?)/
6043 # Site-specific patterns (abbreviated):
6045 .hitbox.com</screen>
6049 You wouldn't believe how many advertisers actually call their banner
6050 servers ads.<replaceable>company</replaceable>.com, or call the directory
6051 in which the banners are stored simply <quote>banners</quote>. So the above
6052 generic patterns are surprisingly effective.
6055 But being very generic, they necessarily also catch URLs that we don't want
6056 to block. The pattern <literal>.*ads.</literal> e.g. catches
6057 <quote>nasty-<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.nasty-corp.com</quote> as intended,
6058 but also <quote>downlo<emphasis>ads</emphasis>.sourcefroge.net</quote> or
6059 <quote><emphasis>ads</emphasis>l.some-provider.net.</quote> So here come some
6060 well-known exceptions to the <literal>+<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
6064 Note that these are exceptions to exceptions from the default! Consider the URL
6065 <quote>downloads.sourcefroge.net</quote>: Initially, all actions are deactivated,
6066 so it wouldn't get blocked. Then comes the defaults section, which matches the
6067 URL, but just deactivates the <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal>
6068 action once again. Then it matches <literal>.*ads.</literal>, an exception to the
6069 general non-blocking policy, and suddenly
6070 <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">+block</link></literal> applies. And now, it'll match
6071 <literal>.*loads.</literal>, where <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">-block</link></literal>
6072 applies, so (unless it matches <emphasis>again</emphasis> further down) it ends up
6073 with no <literal><link linkend="BLOCK">block</link></literal> action applying.
6078 ##########################################################################
6079 # Save some innocent victims of the above generic block patterns:
6080 ##########################################################################
6084 { -<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
6085 adv[io]*. # (for advogato.org and advice.*)
6086 adsl. # (has nothing to do with ads)
6087 ad[ud]*. # (adult.* and add.*)
6088 .edu # (universities don't host banners (yet!))
6089 .*loads. # (downloads, uploads etc)
6097 www.globalintersec.com/adv # (adv = advanced)
6098 www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/adv</screen>
6102 Filtering source code can have nasty side effects,
6103 so make an exception for our friends at sourceforge.net,
6104 and all paths with <quote>cvs</quote> in them. Note that
6105 <literal>-<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link></literal>
6106 disables <emphasis>all</emphasis> filters in one fell swoop!
6111 # Don't filter code!
6113 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
6115 .sourceforge.net</screen>
6119 The actual <filename>default.action</filename> is of course much more
6120 comprehensive, but we hope this example made clear how it works.
6125 <sect3><title>user.action</title>
6128 So far we are painting with a broad brush by setting general policies,
6129 which would be a reasonable starting point for many people. Now,
6130 you might want to be more specific and have customized rules that
6131 are more suitable to your personal habits and preferences. These would
6132 be for narrowly defined situations like your ISP or your bank, and should
6133 be placed in <filename>user.action</filename>, which is parsed after all other
6134 actions files and hence has the last word, over-riding any previously
6135 defined actions. <filename>user.action</filename> is also a
6136 <emphasis>safe</emphasis> place for your personal settings, since
6137 <filename>default.action</filename> is actively maintained by the
6138 <application>Privoxy</application> developers and you'll probably want
6139 to install updated versions from time to time.
6143 So let's look at a few examples of things that one might typically do in
6144 <filename>user.action</filename>:
6148 <!-- brief sample user.action here -->
6152 # My user.action file. <fred@foobar.com></screen>
6156 As <link linkend="aliases">aliases</link> are local to the actions
6157 file that they are defined in, you can't use the ones from
6158 <filename>default.action</filename>, unless you repeat them here:
6163 # Aliases are local to the file they are defined in.
6164 # (Re-)define aliases for this file:
6168 # These aliases just save typing later, and the alias names should
6169 # be self explanatory.
6171 +crunch-all-cookies = +crunch-incoming-cookies +crunch-outgoing-cookies
6172 -crunch-all-cookies = -crunch-incoming-cookies -crunch-outgoing-cookies
6173 allow-all-cookies = -crunch-all-cookies -session-cookies-only
6174 allow-popups = -filter{all-popups} -kill-popups
6175 +block-as-image = +block +handle-as-image
6176 -block-as-image = -block
6178 # These aliases define combinations of actions that are useful for
6179 # certain types of sites:
6181 fragile = -block -crunch-all-cookies -filter -fast-redirects -hide-referrer -kill-popups
6182 shop = -crunch-all-cookies allow-popups
6184 # Allow ads for selected useful free sites:
6186 allow-ads = -block -filter{banners-by-size} -filter{banners-by-link}
6188 # Alias for specific file types that are text, but might have conflicting
6189 # MIME types. We want the browser to force these to be text documents.
6190 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>
6195 Say you have accounts on some sites that you visit regularly, and
6196 you don't want to have to log in manually each time. So you'd like
6197 to allow persistent cookies for these sites. The
6198 <literal>allow-all-cookies</literal> alias defined above does exactly
6199 that, i.e. it disables crunching of cookies in any direction, and the
6200 processing of cookies to make them only temporary.
6205 { allow-all-cookies }
6209 .redhat.com</screen>
6213 Your bank is allergic to some filter, but you don't know which, so you disable them all:
6218 { -<link linkend="FILTER">filter</link> }
6219 .your-home-banking-site.com</screen>
6223 Some file types you may not want to filter for various reasons:
6228 # Technical documentation is likely to contain strings that might
6229 # erroneously get altered by the JavaScript-oriented filters:
6234 # And this stupid host sends streaming video with a wrong MIME type,
6235 # so that Privoxy thinks it is getting HTML and starts filtering:
6237 stupid-server.example.com/</screen>
6241 Example of a simple <link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> action. Say you've
6242 seen an ad on your favourite page on example.com that you want to get rid of.
6243 You have right-clicked the image, selected <quote>copy image location</quote>
6244 and pasted the URL below while removing the leading http://, into a
6245 <literal>{ +block }</literal> section. Note that <literal>{ +handle-as-image
6246 }</literal> need not be specified, since all URLs ending in
6247 <literal>.gif</literal> will be tagged as images by the general rules as set
6248 in default.action anyway:
6253 { +<link linkend="BLOCK">block</link> }
6254 www.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.gif
6255 another.popular.site.net/more/junk/here/</screen>
6259 The URLs of dynamically generated banners, especially from large banner
6260 farms, often don't use the well-known image file name extensions, which
6261 makes it impossible for <application>Privoxy</application> to guess
6262 the file type just by looking at the URL.
6263 You can use the <literal>+block-as-image</literal> alias defined above for
6265 Note that objects which match this rule but then turn out NOT to be an
6266 image are typically rendered as a <quote>broken image</quote> icon by the
6267 browser. Use cautiously.
6276 ar.atwola.com/</screen>
6280 Now you noticed that the default configuration breaks Forbes Magazine,
6281 but you were too lazy to find out which action is the culprit, and you
6282 were again too lazy to give <link linkend="contact">feedback</link>, so
6283 you just used the <literal>fragile</literal> alias on the site, and
6284 -- <emphasis>whoa!</emphasis> -- it worked. The <literal>fragile</literal>
6285 aliases disables those actions that are most likely to break a site. Also,
6286 good for testing purposes to see if it is <application>Privoxy</application>
6287 that is causing the problem or not. We later find other regular sites
6288 that misbehave, and add those to our personalized list of troublemakers:
6296 .mybank.com</screen>
6300 You like the <quote>fun</quote> text replacements in <filename>default.filter</filename>,
6301 but it is disabled in the distributed actions file. (My colleagues on the team just
6302 don't have a sense of humour, that's why! ;-). So you'd like to turn it on in your private,
6303 update-safe config, once and for all:
6308 { +<link linkend="filter-fun">filter{fun}</link> }
6309 / # For ALL sites!</screen>
6313 Note that the above is not really a good idea: There are exceptions
6314 to the filters in <filename>default.action</filename> for things that
6315 really shouldn't be filtered, like code on CVS->Web interfaces. Since
6316 <filename>user.action</filename> has the last word, these exceptions
6317 won't be valid for the <quote>fun</quote> filtering specified here.
6321 You might also worry about how your favourite free websites are
6322 funded, and find that they rely on displaying banner advertisements
6323 to survive. So you might want to specifically allow banners for those
6324 sites that you feel provide value to you:
6336 Note that <literal>allow-ads</literal> has been aliased to
6337 <literal>-<link linkend="block">block</link></literal>,
6338 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-size">filter{banners-by-size}</link></literal>, and
6339 <literal>-<link linkend="filter-banners-by-link">filter{banners-by-link}</link></literal> above.
6343 Invoke another alias here to force an over-ride of the MIME type <literal>
6344 application/x-sh</literal> which typically would open a download type
6345 dialog. In my case, I want to look at the shell script, and then I can save
6346 it should I choose to.
6356 <filename>user.action</filename> is generally the best place to define
6357 exceptions and additions to the default policies of
6358 <filename>default.action</filename>. Some actions are safe to have their
6359 default policies set here though. So let's set a default policy to have a
6360 <quote>blank</quote> image as opposed to the checkerboard pattern for
6361 <emphasis>ALL</emphasis> sites. <quote>/</quote> of course matches all URL
6367 { +<link linkend="set-image-blocker">set-image-blocker{blank}</link> }
6368 / # ALL sites</screen>
6374 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6378 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
6380 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6382 <sect1 id="filter-file">
6383 <title>Filter Files</title>
6386 On-the-fly text substitutions that can be invoked through the
6387 <literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link></literal> action need
6388 to be defined in a <quote>filter file</quote>. Once defined, they
6389 can then be invoked as an <quote>action</quote>. Multiple filter files can be
6390 defined through the <literal> <link
6391 linkend="filterfile">filterfile</link></literal> config directive. The filters
6392 as supplied by the developers will be found in
6393 <filename>default.filter</filename>. It is recommended that any locally
6394 defined or modified filters go in a separately defined file such as
6395 <filename>user.filter</filename>.
6400 Typical reasons for doing these kinds of substitutions are to eliminate
6401 common annoyances in HTML and JavaScript, such as pop-up windows,
6402 exit consoles, crippled windows without navigation tools, the
6403 infamous <BLINK> tag etc, to suppress images with certain
6404 width and height attributes (standard banner sizes or web-bugs),
6405 or just to have fun. The possibilities are endless.
6409 Filtering works on any text-based document type, including
6410 HTML, JavaScript, CSS etc. (all <literal>text/*</literal>
6411 MIME types, <emphasis>except</emphasis> <literal>text/plain</literal>).
6412 Substitutions are made at the source level, so if you want to <quote>roll
6413 your own</quote> filters, you should first be familiar with HTML syntax,
6414 and, of course, regular expressions. By default, filters are only applied
6415 to the raw document content, but can be extended to the HTTP headers with
6416 the supplemental actions:
6417 <link linkend="filter-client-headers">filter-client-headers</link> and
6418 <link linkend="filter-server-headers">filter-server-headers</link>.
6422 Just like the <link linkend="actions-file">actions files</link>, the
6423 filter file is organized in sections, which are called <emphasis>filters</emphasis>
6424 here. Each filter consists of a heading line, that starts with the
6425 <emphasis>keyword</emphasis> <literal>FILTER:</literal>, followed by
6426 the filter's <emphasis>name</emphasis>, and a short (one line)
6427 <emphasis>description</emphasis> of what it does. Below that line
6428 come the <emphasis>jobs</emphasis>, i.e. lines that define the actual
6429 text substitutions. By convention, the name of a filter
6430 should describe what the filter <emphasis>eliminates</emphasis>. The
6431 comment is used in the <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
6432 user interface</ulink>.
6436 Once a filter called <replaceable>name</replaceable> has been defined
6437 in the filter file, it can be invoked by using an action of the form
6438 +<literal><link linkend="filter">filter</link>{<replaceable>name</replaceable>}</literal>
6439 in any <link linkend="actions-file">actions file</link>.
6443 A filter header line for a filter called <quote>foo</quote> could look
6448 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"</screen>
6452 Below that line, and up to the next header line, come the jobs that
6453 define what text replacements the filter executes. They are specified
6454 in a syntax that imitates <ulink url="http://www.perl.org/">Perl</ulink>'s
6455 <literal>s///</literal> operator. If you are familiar with Perl, you
6456 will find this to be quite intuitive, and may want to look at the
6457 PCRS documentation for the subtle differences to Perl behaviour. Most
6458 notably, the non-standard option letter <literal>U</literal> is supported,
6459 which turns the default to ungreedy matching.
6464 <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expressions"><quote>Regular
6465 Expressions</quote></ulink>, you might want to take a look at
6466 the <link linkend="regex">Appendix on regular expressions</link>, and
6467 see the <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl
6469 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlop.html">the
6470 <literal>s///</literal> operator's syntax</ulink> and <ulink
6471 url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">Perl-style regular
6472 expressions</ulink> in general.
6473 The below examples might also help to get you started.
6477 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6479 <sect2><title>Filter File Tutorial</title>
6481 Now, let's complete our <quote>foo</quote> filter. We have already defined
6482 the heading, but the jobs are still missing. Since all it does is to replace
6483 <quote>foo</quote> with <quote>bar</quote>, there is only one (trivial) job
6488 <screen>s/foo/bar/</screen>
6492 But wait! Didn't the comment say that <emphasis>all</emphasis> occurrences
6493 of <quote>foo</quote> should be replaced? Our current job will only take
6494 care of the first <quote>foo</quote> on each page. For global substitution,
6495 we'll need to add the <literal>g</literal> option:
6499 <screen>s/foo/bar/g</screen>
6503 Our complete filter now looks like this:
6506 <screen>FILTER: foo Replace all "foo" with "bar"
6507 s/foo/bar/g</screen>
6511 Let's look at some real filters for more interesting examples. Here you see
6512 a filter that protects against some common annoyances that arise from JavaScript
6513 abuse. Let's look at its jobs one after the other:
6519 FILTER: js-annoyances Get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse
6521 # Get rid of JavaScript referrer tracking. Test page: http://www.randomoddness.com/untitled.htm
6523 s|(<script.*)document\.referrer(.*</script>)|$1"Not Your Business!"$2|Usg</screen>
6527 Following the header line and a comment, you see the job. Note that it uses
6528 <literal>|</literal> as the delimiter instead of <literal>/</literal>, because
6529 the pattern contains a forward slash, which would otherwise have to be escaped
6530 by a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).
6534 Now, let's examine the pattern: it starts with the text <literal><script.*</literal>
6535 enclosed in parentheses. Since the dot matches any character, and <literal>*</literal>
6536 means: <quote>Match an arbitrary number of the element left of myself</quote>, this
6537 matches <quote><script</quote>, followed by <emphasis>any</emphasis> text, i.e.
6538 it matches the whole page, from the start of the first <script> tag.
6542 That's more than we want, but the pattern continues: <literal>document\.referrer</literal>
6543 matches only the exact string <quote>document.referrer</quote>. The dot needed to
6544 be <emphasis>escaped</emphasis>, i.e. preceded by a backslash, to take away its
6545 special meaning as a joker, and make it just a regular dot. So far, the meaning is:
6546 Match from the start of the first <script> tag in a the page, up to, and including,
6547 the text <quote>document.referrer</quote>, if <emphasis>both</emphasis> are present
6548 in the page (and appear in that order).
6552 But there's still more pattern to go. The next element, again enclosed in parentheses,
6553 is <literal>.*</script></literal>. You already know what <literal>.*</literal>
6554 means, so the whole pattern translates to: Match from the start of the first <script>
6555 tag in a page to the end of the last <script> tag, provided that the text
6556 <quote>document.referrer</quote> appears somewhere in between.
6560 This is still not the whole story, since we have ignored the options and the parentheses:
6561 The portions of the page matched by sub-patterns that are enclosed in parentheses, will be
6562 remembered and be available through the variables <literal>$1, $2, ...</literal> in
6563 the substitute. The <literal>U</literal> option switches to ungreedy matching, which means
6564 that the first <literal>.*</literal> in the pattern will only <quote>eat up</quote> all
6565 text in between <quote><script</quote> and the <emphasis>first</emphasis> occurrence
6566 of <quote>document.referrer</quote>, and that the second <literal>.*</literal> will
6567 only span the text up to the <emphasis>first</emphasis> <quote></script></quote>
6568 tag. Furthermore, the <literal>s</literal> option says that the match may span
6569 multiple lines in the page, and the <literal>g</literal> option again means that the
6570 substitution is global.
6574 So, to summarize, the pattern means: Match all scripts that contain the text
6575 <quote>document.referrer</quote>. Remember the parts of the script from
6576 (and including) the start tag up to (and excluding) the string
6577 <quote>document.referrer</quote> as <literal>$1</literal>, and the part following
6578 that string, up to and including the closing tag, as <literal>$2</literal>.
6582 Now the pattern is deciphered, but wasn't this about substituting things? So
6583 lets look at the substitute: <literal>$1"Not Your Business!"$2</literal> is
6584 easy to read: The text remembered as <literal>$1</literal>, followed by
6585 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> (<emphasis>including</emphasis>
6586 the quotation marks!), followed by the text remembered as <literal>$2</literal>.
6587 This produces an exact copy of the original string, with the middle part
6588 (the <quote>document.referrer</quote>) replaced by <literal>"Not Your
6589 Business!"</literal>.
6593 The whole job now reads: Replace <quote>document.referrer</quote> by
6594 <literal>"Not Your Business!"</literal> wherever it appears inside a
6595 <script> tag. Note that this job won't break JavaScript syntax,
6596 since both the original and the replacement are syntactically valid
6597 string objects. The script just won't have access to the referrer
6598 information anymore.
6602 We'll show you two other jobs from the JavaScript taming department, but
6603 this time only point out the constructs of special interest:
6608 # The status bar is for displaying link targets, not pointless blahblah
6610 s/window\.status\s*=\s*(['"]).*?\1/dUmMy=1/ig</screen>
6614 <literal>\s</literal> stands for whitespace characters (space, tab, newline,
6615 carriage return, form feed), so that <literal>\s*</literal> means: <quote>zero
6616 or more whitespace</quote>. The <literal>?</literal> in <literal>.*?</literal>
6617 makes this matching of arbitrary text ungreedy. (Note that the <literal>U</literal>
6618 option is not set). The <literal>['"]</literal> construct means: <quote>a single
6619 <emphasis>or</emphasis> a double quote</quote>. Finally, <literal>\1</literal> is
6620 a back-reference to the first parenthesis just like <literal>$1</literal> above,
6621 with the difference that in the <emphasis>pattern</emphasis>, a backslash indicates
6622 a back-reference, whereas in the <emphasis>substitute</emphasis>, it's the dollar.
6626 So what does this job do? It replaces assignments of single- or double-quoted
6627 strings to the <quote>window.status</quote> object with a dummy assignment
6628 (using a variable name that is hopefully odd enough not to conflict with
6629 real variables in scripts). Thus, it catches many cases where e.g. pointless
6630 descriptions are displayed in the status bar instead of the link target when
6631 you move your mouse over links.
6636 # Kill OnUnload popups. Yummy. Test: http://www.zdnet.com/zdsubs/yahoo/tree/yfs.html
6638 s/(<body [^>]*)onunload(.*>)/$1never$2/iU</screen>
6643 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">OnUnload
6644 event binding</ulink> in the HTML DOM was a <emphasis>CRIME</emphasis>.
6645 When I close a browser window, I want it to close and die. Basta.
6646 This job replaces the <quote>onunload</quote> attribute in
6647 <quote><body></quote> tags with the dummy word <literal>never</literal>.
6648 Note that the <literal>i</literal> option makes the pattern matching
6649 case-insensitive. Also note that ungreedy matching alone doesn't always guarantee
6650 a minimal match: In the first parenthesis, we had to use <literal>[^>]*</literal>
6651 instead of <literal>.*</literal> to prevent the match from exceeding the
6652 <body> tag if it doesn't contain <quote>OnUnload</quote>, but the page's
6657 The last example is from the fun department:
6662 FILTER: fun Fun text replacements
6664 # Spice the daily news:
6666 s/microsoft(?!\.com)/MicroSuck/ig</screen>
6670 Note the <literal>(?!\.com)</literal> part (a so-called negative lookahead)
6671 in the job's pattern, which means: Don't match, if the string
6672 <quote>.com</quote> appears directly following <quote>microsoft</quote>
6673 in the page. This prevents links to microsoft.com from being trashed, while
6674 still replacing the word everywhere else.
6679 # Buzzword Bingo (example for extended regex syntax)
6681 s* industry[ -]leading \
6683 | customer[ -]focused \
6684 | market[ -]driven \
6685 | award[ -]winning # Comments are OK, too! \
6686 | high[ -]performance \
6687 | solutions[ -]based \
6691 *<font color="red"><b>BINGO!</b></font> \
6696 The <literal>x</literal> option in this job turns on extended syntax, and allows for
6697 e.g. the liberal use of (non-interpreted!) whitespace for nicer formatting.
6705 <!-- ~~~~~~~~ New section Header ~~~~~~~~~ -->
6707 <sect2 id="predefined-filters"><title>The Pre-defined Filters</title>
6711 Note each filter is also listed in the +filter action section above. Please
6712 keep these listings in sync.
6717 The distribution <filename>default.filter</filename> file contains a selection of
6718 pre-defined filters for your convenience:
6723 <term><emphasis>js-annoyances</emphasis></term>
6726 The purpose of this filter is to get rid of particularly annoying JavaScript abuse.
6731 replaces JavaScript references to the browser's referrer information
6732 with the string "Not Your Business!". This compliments the <literal><link
6733 linkend="hide-referrer">hide-referrer</link></literal> action on the content level.
6738 removes the bindings to the DOM's
6739 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-DOM-Level-2-Events-20001113/events.html#Events-eventgroupings-htmlevents">unload
6740 event</ulink> which we feel has no right to exist and is responsible for most <quote>exit consoles</quote>, i.e.
6741 nasty windows that pop up when you close another one.
6746 removes code that causes new windows to be opened with undesired properties, such as being
6747 full-screen, non-resizeable, without location, status or menu bar etc.
6756 <term><emphasis>js-events</emphasis></term>
6759 This is a very radical measure. It removes virtually all JavaScript event bindings, which
6760 means that scripts can not react to user actions such as mouse movements or clicks, window
6761 resizing etc, anymore.
6764 We <emphasis>strongly discourage</emphasis> using this filter as a default since it breaks
6765 many legitimate scripts. It is meant for use only on extra-nasty sites (should you really
6772 <term><emphasis>html-annoyances</emphasis></term>
6775 This filter will undo many common instances of HTML based abuse.
6778 The <literal>BLINK</literal> and <literal>MARQUEE</literal> tags
6779 are neutralized (yeah baby!), and browser windows will be created as
6780 resizeable (as of course they should be!), and will have location,
6781 scroll and menu bars -- even if specified otherwise.
6787 <term><emphasis>content-cookies</emphasis></term>
6790 Most cookies are set in the HTTP dialog, where they can be intercepted
6792 <literal><link linkend="crunch-incoming-cookies">crunch-incoming-cookies</link></literal>
6793 and <literal><link linkend="crunch-outgoing-cookies">crunch-outgoing-cookies</link></literal>
6794 actions. But web sites increasingly make use of HTML meta tags and JavaScript
6795 to sneak cookies to the browser on the content level.
6798 This filter disables HTML and JavaScript code that reads or sets cookies. Use
6799 it wherever you would also use the cookie crunch actions.
6805 <term><emphasis>refresh tags</emphasis></term>
6808 Disable any refresh tags if the interval is greater than nine seconds (so
6809 that redirections done via refresh tags are not destroyed). This is useful
6810 for dial-on-demand setups, or for those who find this HTML feature
6817 <term><emphasis>unsolicited-popups</emphasis></term>
6820 This filter attempts to prevent only <quote>unsolicited</quote> pop-up
6821 windows from opening, yet still allow pop-up windows that the user
6822 has explicitly chosen to open. It was added in version 3.0.1,
6823 as an improvement over earlier such filters.
6826 Technical note: The filter works by redefining the window.open JavaScript
6827 function to a dummy function during the loading and rendering phase of each
6828 HTML page access, and restoring the function afterward.
6834 <term><emphasis>all-popups</emphasis></term>
6837 Attempt to prevent <emphasis>all</emphasis> pop-up windows from opening.
6838 Note this should be used with more discretion than the above, since it is
6839 more likely to break some sites that require pop-ups for normal usage. Use
6846 <term><emphasis>img-reorder</emphasis></term>
6849 This is a helper filter that has no value if used alone. It makes the
6850 <literal>banners-by-size</literal> and <literal>banners-by-link</literal>
6851 (see below) filters more effective and should be enabled together with them.
6857 <term><emphasis>banners-by-size</emphasis></term>
6860 This filter removes image tags purely based on what size they are. Fortunately
6861 for us, many ads and banner images tend to conform to certain standardized
6862 sizes, which makes this filter quite effective for ad stripping purposes.
6865 Occasionally this filter will cause false positives on images that are not ads,
6866 but just happen to be of one of the standard banner sizes.
6872 <term><emphasis>banners-by-link</emphasis></term>
6875 This is an experimental filter that attempts to kill any banners if
6876 their URLs seem to point to known or suspected click trackers. It is currently
6877 not of much value and is not recommended for use by default.
6883 <term><emphasis>webbugs</emphasis></term>
6886 Webbugs are small, invisible images (technically 1X1 GIF images), that
6887 are used to track users across websites, and collect information on them.
6888 As an HTML page is loaded by the browser, an embedded image tag causes the
6889 browser to contact a third-party site, disclosing the tracking information
6890 through the requested URL and/or cookies for that third-party domain, without
6891 the use ever becoming aware of the interaction with the third-party site.
6892 HTML-ized spam also uses a similar technique to verify email addresses.
6895 This filter removes the HTML code that loads such <quote>webbugs</quote>.
6901 <term><emphasis>tiny-textforms</emphasis></term>
6904 A rather special-purpose filter that can be used to enlarge textareas (those
6905 multi-line text boxes in web forms) and turn off hard word wrap in them.
6906 It was written for the sourceforge.net tracker system where such boxes are
6907 a nuisance, but it can be handy on other sites, too.
6910 It is not recommended to use this filter as a default.
6916 <term><emphasis>jumping-windows</emphasis></term>
6919 Many consider windows that move, or resize themselves to be abusive. This filter
6920 neutralizes the related JavaScript code. Note that some sites might not display
6921 or behave as intended when using this filter.
6927 <term><emphasis>frameset-borders</emphasis></term>
6930 Some web designers seem to assume that everyone in the world will view their
6931 web sites using the same browser brand and version, screen resolution etc,
6932 because only that assumption could explain why they'd use static frame sizes,
6933 yet prevent their frames from being resized by the user, should they be too
6934 small to show their whole content.
6937 This filter removes the related HTML code. It should only be applied to sites
6944 <term><emphasis>demoronizer</emphasis></term>
6947 Many Microsoft products that generate HTML use non-standard extensions (read:
6948 violations) of the ISO 8859-1 aka Latin-1 character set. This can cause those
6949 HTML documents to display with errors on standard-compliant platforms.
6952 This filter translates the MS-only characters into Latin-1 equivalents.
6953 It is not necessary when using MS products, and will cause corruption of
6954 all documents that use 8-bit character sets other than Latin-1. It's mostly
6955 worthwhile for Europeans on non-MS platforms, if weird garbage characters
6956 sometimes appear on some pages, or user agents that don't correct for this on
6959 My version of Mozilla (ancient) shows litte square boxes for quote
6960 characters, and apostrophes on moronized pages. So many pages have this, I
6961 can read them fine now. HB 08/27/06
6968 <term><emphasis>shockwave-flash</emphasis></term>
6971 A filter for shockwave haters. As the name suggests, this filter strips code
6972 out of web pages that is used to embed shockwave flash objects.
6980 <term><emphasis>quicktime-kioskmode</emphasis></term>
6983 Change HTML code that embeds Quicktime objects so that kioskmode, which
6984 prevents saving, is disabled.
6990 <term><emphasis>fun</emphasis></term>
6993 Text replacements for subversive browsing fun. Make fun of your favorite
6994 Monopolist or play buzzword bingo.
7000 <term><emphasis>crude-parental</emphasis></term>
7003 A demonstration-only filter that shows how <application>Privoxy</application>
7004 can be used to delete web content on a keyword basis.
7010 <term><emphasis>ie-exploits</emphasis></term>
7013 A collection of text replacements to disable malicious HTML and JavaScript
7014 code that exploits known security holes in Internet Explorer.
7017 Presently, it only protects against Nimda and a cross-site scripting bug, and
7018 would need active maintenance to provide more substantial protection.
7024 <term><emphasis>site-specifics</emphasis></term>
7027 Some web sites have very specific problems, the cure for which doesn't apply
7028 anywhere else, or could even cause damage on other sites.
7031 This is a collection of such site-specific cures which should only be applied
7032 to the sites they were intended for, which is what the supplied
7033 <filename>default.action</filename> file does. Users shouldn't need to change
7034 anything regarding this filter.
7041 <term><emphasis> </emphasis></term>
7055 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7059 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7061 <sect1 id="templates">
7062 <title>Privoxy's Template Files</title>
7064 All <application>Privoxy</application> built-in pages, i.e. error pages such as the
7065 <ulink url="http://show-the-404-error.page"><quote>404 - No Such Domain</quote>
7066 error page</ulink>, the <ulink
7067 url="http://ads.bannerserver.example.com/nasty-ads/sponsor.html"><quote>BLOCKED</quote>
7069 and all pages of its <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">web-based
7070 user interface</ulink>, are generated from <emphasis>templates</emphasis>.
7071 (<application>Privoxy</application> must be running for the above links to work as
7076 These templates are stored in a subdirectory of the <link linkend="confdir">configuration
7077 directory</link> called <filename>templates</filename>. On Unixish platforms,
7079 <ulink url="file:///etc/privoxy/templates/"><filename>/etc/privoxy/templates/</filename></ulink>.
7083 The templates are basically normal HTML files, but with place-holders (called symbols
7084 or exports), which <application>Privoxy</application> fills at run time. You can
7085 edit the templates with a normal text editor, should you want to customize them.
7086 (<emphasis>Not recommended for the casual user</emphasis>). Note that
7087 just like in configuration files, lines starting with <literal>#</literal> are
7088 ignored when the templates are filled in.
7092 The place-holders are of the form <literal>@name@</literal>, and you will
7093 find a list of available symbols, which vary from template to template,
7094 in the comments at the start of each file. Note that these comments are not
7095 always accurate, and that it's probably best to look at the existing HTML
7096 code to find out which symbols are supported and what they are filled in with.
7100 A special application of this substitution mechanism is to make whole
7101 blocks of HTML code disappear when a specific symbol is set. We use this
7102 for many purposes, one of them being to include the beta warning in all
7103 our user interface (CGI) pages when <application>Privoxy</application>
7104 is in an alpha or beta development stage:
7109 <!-- @if-unstable-start -->
7111 ... beta warning HTML code goes here ...
7113 <!-- if-unstable-end@ --></screen>
7117 If the "unstable" symbol is set, everything in between and including
7118 <literal>@if-unstable-start</literal> and <literal>if-unstable-end@</literal>
7119 will disappear, leaving nothing but an empty comment:
7123 <screen><!-- --></screen>
7127 There's also an if-then-else construct and an <literal>#include</literal>
7128 mechanism, but you'll sure find out if you are inclined to edit the
7133 All templates refer to a style located at
7134 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet"><literal>http://config.privoxy.org/send-stylesheet</literal></ulink>.
7135 This is, of course, locally served by <application>Privoxy</application>
7136 and the source for it can be found and edited in the
7137 <filename>cgi-style.css</filename> template.
7142 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7146 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7148 <sect1 id="contact"><title>Contacting the Developers, Bug Reporting and Feature
7151 <!-- Include contacting.sgml boilerplate: -->
7153 <!-- end boilerplate -->
7157 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7160 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7161 <sect1 id="copyright"><title>Privoxy Copyright, License and History</title>
7163 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
7165 <!-- end copyright -->
7167 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7168 <sect2><title>License</title>
7169 <!-- Include copyright.sgml: -->
7171 <!-- end copyright -->
7173 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7176 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7178 <sect2 id="history"><title>History</title>
7179 <!-- Include history.sgml: -->
7181 <!-- end history -->
7184 <sect2 id="authors"><title>Authors</title>
7185 <!-- Include p-authors.sgml: -->
7187 <!-- end authors -->
7192 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7195 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7196 <sect1 id="seealso"><title>See Also</title>
7197 <!-- Include seealso.sgml: -->
7199 <!-- end seealso -->
7204 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7205 <sect1 id="appendix"><title>Appendix</title>
7208 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7210 <title>Regular Expressions</title>
7212 <application>Privoxy</application> uses Perl-style <quote>regular
7213 expressions</quote> in its <link linkend="actions-file">actions
7214 files</link> and <link linkend="filter-file">filter file</link>,
7215 through the <ulink url="http://www.pcre.org/">PCRE</ulink> and
7218 <ulink url="http://www.oesterhelt.org/pcrs/">PCRS</ulink> libraries.
7220 <application>PCRS</application> libraries.
7224 If you are reading this, you probably don't understand what <quote>regular
7225 expressions</quote> are, or what they can do. So this will be a very brief
7226 introduction only. A full explanation would require a <ulink
7227 url="http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/">book</ulink> ;-)
7231 Regular expressions provide a language to describe patterns that can be
7232 run against strings of characters (letter, numbers, etc), to see if they
7233 match the string or not. The patterns are themselves (sometimes complex)
7234 strings of literal characters, combined with wild-cards, and other special
7235 characters, called meta-characters. The <quote>meta-characters</quote> have
7236 special meanings and are used to build complex patterns to be matched against.
7237 Perl Compatible Regular Expressions are an especially convenient
7238 <quote>dialect</quote> of the regular expression language.
7242 To make a simple analogy, we do something similar when we use wild-card
7243 characters when listing files with the <command>dir</command> command in DOS.
7244 <literal>*.*</literal> matches all filenames. The <quote>special</quote>
7245 character here is the asterisk which matches any and all characters. We can be
7246 more specific and use <literal>?</literal> to match just individual
7247 characters. So <quote>dir file?.text</quote> would match
7248 <quote>file1.txt</quote>, <quote>file2.txt</quote>, etc. We are pattern
7249 matching, using a similar technique to <quote>regular expressions</quote>!
7253 Regular expressions do essentially the same thing, but are much, much more
7254 powerful. There are many more <quote>special characters</quote> and ways of
7255 building complex patterns however. Let's look at a few of the common ones,
7256 and then some examples:
7261 <emphasis>.</emphasis> - Matches any single character, e.g. <quote>a</quote>,
7262 <quote>A</quote>, <quote>4</quote>, <quote>:</quote>, or <quote>@</quote>.
7264 </simplelist></para>
7268 <emphasis>?</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or ONE
7271 </simplelist></para>
7275 <emphasis>+</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ONE or MORE
7278 </simplelist></para>
7282 <emphasis>*</emphasis> - The preceding character or expression is matched ZERO or MORE
7285 </simplelist></para>
7289 <emphasis>\</emphasis> - The <quote>escape</quote> character denotes that
7290 the following character should be taken literally. This is used where one of the
7291 special characters (e.g. <quote>.</quote>) needs to be taken literally and
7292 not as a special meta-character. Example: <quote>example\.com</quote>, makes
7293 sure the period is recognized only as a period (and not expanded to its
7294 meta-character meaning of any single character).
7296 </simplelist></para>
7300 <emphasis>[ ]</emphasis> - Characters enclosed in brackets will be matched if
7301 any of the enclosed characters are encountered. For instance, <quote>[0-9]</quote>
7302 matches any numeric digit (zero through nine). As an example, we can combine
7303 this with <quote>+</quote> to match any digit one of more times: <quote>[0-9]+</quote>.
7305 </simplelist></para>
7309 <emphasis>( )</emphasis> - parentheses are used to group a sub-expression,
7310 or multiple sub-expressions.
7312 </simplelist></para>
7316 <emphasis>|</emphasis> - The <quote>bar</quote> character works like an
7317 <quote>or</quote> conditional statement. A match is successful if the
7318 sub-expression on either side of <quote>|</quote> matches. As an example:
7319 <quote>/(this|that) example/</quote> uses grouping and the bar character
7320 and would match either <quote>this example</quote> or <quote>that
7321 example</quote>, and nothing else.
7323 </simplelist></para>
7326 These are just some of the ones you are likely to use when matching URLs with
7327 <application>Privoxy</application>, and is a long way from a definitive
7328 list. This is enough to get us started with a few simple examples which may
7329 be more illuminating:
7333 <emphasis><literal>/.*/banners/.*</literal></emphasis> - A simple example
7334 that uses the common combination of <quote>.</quote> and <quote>*</quote> to
7335 denote any character, zero or more times. In other words, any string at all.
7336 So we start with a literal forward slash, then our regular expression pattern
7337 (<quote>.*</quote>) another literal forward slash, the string
7338 <quote>banners</quote>, another forward slash, and lastly another
7339 <quote>.*</quote>. We are building
7340 a directory path here. This will match any file with the path that has a
7341 directory named <quote>banners</quote> in it. The <quote>.*</quote> matches
7342 any characters, and this could conceivably be more forward slashes, so it
7343 might expand into a much longer looking path. For example, this could match:
7344 <quote>/eye/hate/spammers/banners/annoy_me_please.gif</quote>, or just
7345 <quote>/banners/annoying.html</quote>, or almost an infinite number of other
7346 possible combinations, just so it has <quote>banners</quote> in the path
7351 And now something a little more complex:
7355 <emphasis><literal>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))?/</literal></emphasis> -
7356 We have several literal forward slashes again (<quote>/</quote>), so we are
7357 building another expression that is a file path statement. We have another
7358 <quote>.*</quote>, so we are matching against any conceivable sub-path, just so
7359 it matches our expression. The only true literal that <emphasis>must
7360 match</emphasis> our pattern is <application>adv</application>, together with
7361 the forward slashes. What comes after the <quote>adv</quote> string is the
7366 Remember the <quote>?</quote> means the preceding expression (either a
7367 literal character or anything grouped with <quote>(...)</quote> in this case)
7368 can exist or not, since this means either zero or one match. So
7369 <quote>((er)?ts?|ertis(ing|ements?))</quote> is optional, as are the
7370 individual sub-expressions: <quote>(er)</quote>,
7371 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, and the <quote>s</quote>. The <quote>|</quote>
7372 means <quote>or</quote>. We have two of those. For instance,
7373 <quote>(ing|ements?)</quote>, can expand to match either <quote>ing</quote>
7374 <emphasis>OR</emphasis> <quote>ements?</quote>. What is being done here, is an
7375 attempt at matching as many variations of <quote>advertisement</quote>, and
7376 similar, as possible. So this would expand to match just <quote>adv</quote>,
7377 or <quote>advert</quote>, or <quote>adverts</quote>, or
7378 <quote>advertising</quote>, or <quote>advertisement</quote>, or
7379 <quote>advertisements</quote>. You get the idea. But it would not match
7380 <quote>advertizements</quote> (with a <quote>z</quote>). We could fix that by
7381 changing our regular expression to:
7382 <quote>/.*/adv((er)?ts?|erti(s|z)(ing|ements?))?/</quote>, which would then match
7387 <emphasis><literal>/.*/advert[0-9]+\.(gif|jpe?g)</literal></emphasis> - Again
7388 another path statement with forward slashes. Anything in the square brackets
7389 <quote>[ ]</quote> can be matched. This is using <quote>0-9</quote> as a
7390 shorthand expression to mean any digit one through nine. It is the same as
7391 saying <quote>0123456789</quote>. So any digit matches. The <quote>+</quote>
7392 means one or more of the preceding expression must be included. The preceding
7393 expression here is what is in the square brackets -- in this case, any digit
7394 one through nine. Then, at the end, we have a grouping: <quote>(gif|jpe?g)</quote>.
7395 This includes a <quote>|</quote>, so this needs to match the expression on
7396 either side of that bar character also. A simple <quote>gif</quote> on one side, and the other
7397 side will in turn match either <quote>jpeg</quote> or <quote>jpg</quote>,
7398 since the <quote>?</quote> means the letter <quote>e</quote> is optional and
7399 can be matched once or not at all. So we are building an expression here to
7400 match image GIF or JPEG type image file. It must include the literal
7401 string <quote>advert</quote>, then one or more digits, and a <quote>.</quote>
7402 (which is now a literal, and not a special character, since it is escaped
7403 with <quote>\</quote>), and lastly either <quote>gif</quote>, or
7404 <quote>jpeg</quote>, or <quote>jpg</quote>. Some possible matches would
7405 include: <quote>//advert1.jpg</quote>,
7406 <quote>/nasty/ads/advert1234.gif</quote>,
7407 <quote>/banners/from/hell/advert99.jpg</quote>. It would not match
7408 <quote>advert1.gif</quote> (no leading slash), or
7409 <quote>/adverts232.jpg</quote> (the expression does not include an
7410 <quote>s</quote>), or <quote>/advert1.jsp</quote> (<quote>jsp</quote> is not
7411 in the expression anywhere).
7415 We are barely scratching the surface of regular expressions here so that you
7416 can understand the default <application>Privoxy</application>
7417 configuration files, and maybe use this knowledge to customize your own
7418 installation. There is much, much more that can be done with regular
7419 expressions. Now that you know enough to get started, you can learn more on
7424 More reading on Perl Compatible Regular expressions:
7425 <ulink url="http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html">http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html</ulink>
7429 For information on regular expression based substitutions and their applications
7430 in filters, please see the <link linkend="filter-file">filter file tutorial</link>
7435 <!-- ~ End section ~ -->
7438 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7440 <title>Privoxy's Internal Pages</title>
7443 Since <application>Privoxy</application> proxies each requested
7444 web page, it is easy for <application>Privoxy</application> to
7445 trap certain special URLs. In this way, we can talk directly to
7446 <application>Privoxy</application>, and see how it is
7447 configured, see how our rules are being applied, change these
7448 rules and other configuration options, and even turn
7449 <application>Privoxy's</application> filtering off, all with
7455 The URLs listed below are the special ones that allow direct access
7456 to <application>Privoxy</application>. Of course,
7457 <application>Privoxy</application> must be running to access these. If
7458 not, you will get a friendly error message. Internet access is not
7471 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/">http://config.privoxy.org/</ulink>
7475 There is a shortcut: <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink> (But it
7476 doesn't provide a fall-back to a real page, in case the request is not
7477 sent through <application>Privoxy</application>)
7483 Show information about the current configuration, including viewing and
7484 editing of actions files:
7488 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</ulink>
7495 Show the source code version numbers:
7499 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version">http://config.privoxy.org/show-version</ulink>
7506 Show the browser's request headers:
7510 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request">http://config.privoxy.org/show-request</ulink>
7517 Show which actions apply to a URL and why:
7521 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
7528 Toggle Privoxy on or off. In this case, <quote>Privoxy</quote> continues
7529 to run, but only as a pass-through proxy, with no actions taking place:
7533 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle</ulink>
7537 Short cuts. Turn off, then on:
7541 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=disable</ulink>
7546 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable">http://config.privoxy.org/toggle?set=enable</ulink>
7555 These may be bookmarked for quick reference. See next.
7559 <sect3 id="bookmarklets">
7560 <title>Bookmarklets</title>
7562 Below are some <quote>bookmarklets</quote> to allow you to easily access a
7563 <quote>mini</quote> version of some of <application>Privoxy's</application>
7564 special pages. They are designed for MS Internet Explorer, but should work
7565 equally well in Netscape, Mozilla, and other browsers which support
7566 JavaScript. They are designed to run directly from your bookmarks - not by
7567 clicking the links below (although that should work for testing).
7570 To save them, right-click the link and choose <quote>Add to Favorites</quote>
7571 (IE) or <quote>Add Bookmark</quote> (Netscape). You will get a warning that
7572 the bookmark <quote>may not be safe</quote> - just click OK. Then you can run the
7573 Bookmarklet directly from your favorites/bookmarks. For even faster access,
7574 you can put them on the <quote>Links</quote> bar (IE) or the <quote>Personal
7575 Toolbar</quote> (Netscape), and run them with a single click.
7584 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>
7591 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>
7598 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)
7605 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>
7611 <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>
7617 <ulink url="javascript:void(window.open('http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info?url='+escape(location.href),'Why').focus());">Privoxy - Why?</ulink>
7624 Credit: The site which gave us the general idea for these bookmarklets is
7625 <ulink url="http://www.bookmarklets.com/">www.bookmarklets.com</ulink>. They
7626 have more information about bookmarklets.
7635 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7637 <title>Chain of Events</title>
7639 Let's take a quick look at the basic sequence of events when a web page is
7640 requested by your browser and <application>Privoxy</application> is on duty:
7647 First, your web browser requests a web page. The browser knows to send
7648 the request to <application>Privoxy</application>, which will in turn,
7649 relay the request to the remote web server after passing the following
7655 <application>Privoxy</application> traps any request for its own internal CGI
7656 pages (e.g <ulink url="http://p.p/">http://p.p/</ulink>) and sends the CGI page back to the browser.
7661 Next, <application>Privoxy</application> checks to see if the URL
7663 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link> patterns. If
7664 so, the URL is then blocked, and the remote web server will not be contacted.
7665 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>
7666 is then checked and if it does not match, an
7667 HTML <quote>BLOCKED</quote> page is sent back. Otherwise, if it does match,
7668 an image is returned. The type of image depends on the setting of <link
7669 linkend="SET-IMAGE-BLOCKER"><quote>+set-image-blocker</quote></link>
7670 (blank, checkerboard pattern, or an HTTP redirect to an image elsewhere).
7675 Untrusted URLs are blocked. If URLs are being added to the
7676 <filename>trust</filename> file, then that is done.
7681 If the URL pattern matches the <link
7682 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link> action,
7683 it is then processed. Unwanted parts of the requested URL are stripped.
7688 Now the rest of the client browser's request headers are processed. If any
7689 of these match any of the relevant actions (e.g. <link
7690 linkend="HIDE-USER-AGENT"><quote>+hide-user-agent</quote></link>,
7691 etc.), headers are suppressed or forged as determined by these actions and
7697 Now the web server starts sending its response back (i.e. typically a web page and related
7703 First, the server headers are read and processed to determine, among other
7704 things, the MIME type (document type) and encoding. The headers are then
7705 filtered as determined by the
7706 <link linkend="CRUNCH-INCOMING-COOKIES"><quote>+crunch-incoming-cookies</quote></link>,
7707 <link linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>,
7708 and <link linkend="DOWNGRADE-HTTP-VERSION"><quote>+downgrade-http-version</quote></link>
7714 If the <link linkend="KILL-POPUPS"><quote>+kill-popups</quote></link>
7715 action applies, and it is an HTML or JavaScript document, the popup-code in the
7716 response is filtered on-the-fly as it is received.
7721 If a <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
7723 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
7724 action applies (and the document type fits the action), the rest of the page is
7725 read into memory (up to a configurable limit). Then the filter rules (from
7726 <filename>default.filter</filename> and any other filter files) are
7727 processed against the buffered content. Filters are applied in the order
7728 they are specified in one of the filter files. Animated GIFs, if present,
7729 are reduced to either the first or last frame, depending on the action
7730 setting.The entire page, which is now filtered, is then sent by
7731 <application>Privoxy</application> back to your browser.
7734 If neither <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>
7736 linkend="DEANIMATE-GIFS"><quote>+deanimate-gifs</quote></link>
7737 matches, then <application>Privoxy</application> passes the raw data through
7738 to the client browser as it becomes available.
7743 As the browser receives the now (possibly filtered) page content, it
7744 reads and then requests any URLs that may be embedded within the page
7745 source, e.g. ad images, stylesheets, JavaScript, other HTML documents (e.g.
7746 frames), sounds, etc. For each of these objects, the browser issues a new
7747 request. And each such request is in turn processed as above. Note that a
7748 complex web page may have many such embedded URLs.
7758 <!-- ~~~~~ New section ~~~~~ -->
7759 <sect2 id="actionsanat">
7760 <title>Troubleshooting: Anatomy of an Action</title>
7763 The way <application>Privoxy</application> applies
7764 <link linkend="ACTIONS">actions</link> and <link linkend="FILTER">filters</link>
7765 to any given URL can be complex, and not always so
7766 easy to understand what is happening. And sometimes we need to be able to
7767 <emphasis>see</emphasis> just what <application>Privoxy</application> is
7768 doing. Especially, if something <application>Privoxy</application> is doing
7769 is causing us a problem inadvertently. It can be a little daunting to look at
7770 the actions and filters files themselves, since they tend to be filled with
7771 <link linkend="regex">regular expressions</link> whose consequences are not
7776 One quick test to see if <application>Privoxy</application> is causing a problem
7777 or not, is to disable it temporarily. This should be the first troubleshooting
7778 step. See <link linkend="bookmarklets">the Bookmarklets</link> section on a quick
7779 and easy way to do this (be sure to flush caches afterward!). Looking at the
7780 logs is a good idea too.
7783 Another easy troubleshooting step to try is if you have done any
7784 customization of your installation, revert back to the installed
7785 defaults and see if that helps. There are times the developers get complaints
7786 about one thing or another, and the problem is more related to a customized
7787 configuration issue.
7791 <application>Privoxy</application> also provides the
7792 <ulink url="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info">http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info</ulink>
7793 page that can show us very specifically how <application>actions</application>
7794 are being applied to any given URL. This is a big help for troubleshooting.
7798 First, enter one URL (or partial URL) at the prompt, and then
7799 <application>Privoxy</application> will tell us
7800 how the current configuration will handle it. This will not
7801 help with filtering effects (i.e. the <link
7802 linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> action) from
7803 one of the filter files since this is handled very
7804 differently and not so easy to trap! It also will not tell you about any other
7805 URLs that may be embedded within the URL you are testing. For instance, images
7806 such as ads are expressed as URLs within the raw page source of HTML pages. So
7807 you will only get info for the actual URL that is pasted into the prompt area
7808 -- not any sub-URLs. If you want to know about embedded URLs like ads, you
7809 will have to dig those out of the HTML source. Use your browser's <quote>View
7810 Page Source</quote> option for this. Or right click on the ad, and grab the
7815 Let's try an example, <ulink url="http://google.com">google.com</ulink>,
7816 and look at it one section at a time in a sample configuration (your real
7817 configuration may vary):
7822 Matches for http://google.com:
7824 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
7828 -content-type-overwrite
7829 -crunch-client-header
7830 -crunch-if-none-match
7831 -crunch-incoming-cookies
7832 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
7833 -crunch-server-header
7834 +deanimate-gifs {last}
7835 -downgrade-http-version
7836 +fast-redirects {check-decoded-url}
7838 -filter {content-cookies}
7839 -filter {all-popups}
7840 -filter {banners-by-link}
7841 -filter {tiny-textforms}
7842 -filter {frameset-borders}
7843 -filter {demoronizer}
7844 -filter {shockwave-flash}
7845 -filter {quicktime-kioskmode}
7847 -filter {crude-parental}
7848 -filter {site-specifics}
7849 +filter {js-annoyances}
7850 +filter {html-annoyances}
7851 +filter {refresh-tags}
7852 +filter {unsolicited-popups}
7853 +filter {img-reorder}
7854 +filter {banners-by-size}
7856 +filter {jumping-windows}
7857 +filter {ie-exploits}
7858 -filter-client-headers
7859 -filter-server-headers
7861 -handle-as-empty-document
7863 -hide-accept-language
7864 -hide-content-disposition
7865 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
7866 +hide-from-header {block}
7867 -hide-if-modified-since
7868 +hide-referrer {forge}
7873 -overwrite-last-modified
7874 +prevent-compression
7878 +session-cookies-only
7879 +set-image-blocker {pattern}
7880 -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks }
7883 { -session-cookies-only }
7889 In file: user.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
7890 (no matches in this file)
7895 This is telling us how we have defined our
7896 <link linkend="ACTIONS"><quote>actions</quote></link>, and
7897 which ones match for our test case, <quote>google.com</quote>.
7898 Displayed is all the actions that are available to us. Remember,
7899 the <literal>+</literal> sign denotes <quote>on</quote>. <literal>-</literal>
7900 denotes <quote>off</quote>. So some are <quote>on</quote> here, but many
7901 are <quote>off</quote>. Each example we try may provide a slightly different
7902 end result, depending on our configuration directives.
7906 is for our <filename>default.action</filename> file. The large, multi-line
7907 listing, is how the actions are set to match for all URLs, i.e. our default
7908 settings. If you look at your <quote>actions</quote> file, this would be the
7909 section just below the <quote>aliases</quote> section near the top. This
7910 will apply to all URLs as signified by the single forward slash at the end
7911 of the listing -- <quote> / </quote>.
7915 But we have defined additional actions that would be exceptions to these general
7916 rules, and then we list specific URLs (or patterns) that these exceptions
7917 would apply to. Last match wins. Just below this then are two explicit
7918 matches for <quote>.google.com</quote>. The first is negating our previous
7919 cookie setting, which was for <link
7920 linkend="SESSION-COOKIES-ONLY"><quote>+session-cookies-only</quote></link>
7921 (i.e. not persistent). So we will allow persistent cookies for google, at
7922 least that is how it is in this example. The second turns
7923 <emphasis>off</emphasis> any <link
7924 linkend="FAST-REDIRECTS"><quote>+fast-redirects</quote></link>
7925 action, allowing this to take place unmolested. Note that there is a leading
7926 dot here -- <quote>.google.com</quote>. This will match any hosts and
7927 sub-domains, in the google.com domain also, such as
7928 <quote>www.google.com</quote> or <quote>mail.google.com</quote>. But it would not
7929 match <quote>www.google.de</quote>! So, apparently, we have these two actions
7930 defined as exceptions to the general rules at the top somewhere in the lower
7931 part of our <filename>default.action</filename> file, and
7932 <quote>google.com</quote> is referenced somewhere in these latter sections.
7936 Then, for our <filename>user.action</filename> file, we again have no hits.
7937 So there is nothing google-specific that we might have added to our own, local
7938 configuration. If there was, those actions would over-rule any actions from
7939 previously processed files, such as <filename>default.action</filename>.
7940 <filename>user.action</filename> typically has the last word. This is the
7941 best place to put hard and fast exceptions,
7945 And finally we pull it all together in the bottom section and summarize how
7946 <application>Privoxy</application> is applying all its <quote>actions</quote>
7947 to <quote>google.com</quote>:
7958 -content-type-overwrite
7959 -crunch-client-header
7960 -crunch-if-none-match
7961 -crunch-incoming-cookies
7962 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
7963 -crunch-server-header
7964 +deanimate-gifs {last}
7965 -downgrade-http-version
7967 +filter {js-annoyances}
7968 +filter {html-annoyances}
7969 +filter {refresh-tags}
7970 +filter {unsolicited-popups}
7971 +filter {img-reorder}
7972 +filter {banners-by-size}
7974 +filter {jumping-windows}
7975 +filter {ie-exploits}
7976 -filter-client-headers
7977 -filter-server-headers
7979 -handle-as-empty-document
7981 -hide-accept-language
7982 -hide-content-disposition
7983 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
7984 +hide-from-header {block}
7985 -hide-if-modified-since
7986 +hide-referrer {forge}
7991 -overwrite-last-modified
7992 +prevent-compression
7996 -session-cookies-only
7997 +set-image-blocker {pattern}
7998 -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks </screen>
8002 Notice the only difference here to the previous listing, is to
8003 <quote>fast-redirects</quote> and <quote>session-cookies-only</quote>,
8004 which are activated specifically for this site in our configuration,
8005 and thus show in the <quote>Final Results</quote>.
8009 Now another example, <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>:
8021 { +block +handle-as-image }
8022 .[a-vx-z]*.doubleclick.net
8027 We'll just show the interesting part here - the explicit matches. It is
8028 matched three different times. Two <quote>+block</quote> sections,
8029 and a <quote>+block +handle-as-image</quote>,
8030 which is the expanded form of one of our aliases that had been defined as:
8031 <quote>+block-as-image</quote>. (<link
8032 linkend="ALIASES"><quote>Aliases</quote></link> are defined in
8033 the first section of the actions file and typically used to combine more
8038 Any one of these would have done the trick and blocked this as an unwanted
8039 image. This is unnecessarily redundant since the last case effectively
8040 would also cover the first. No point in taking chances with these guys
8041 though ;-) Note that if you want an ad or obnoxious
8042 URL to be invisible, it should be defined as <quote>ad.doubleclick.net</quote>
8043 is done here -- as both a <link
8044 linkend="BLOCK"><quote>+block</quote></link>
8045 <emphasis>and</emphasis> an
8046 <link linkend="HANDLE-AS-IMAGE"><quote>+handle-as-image</quote></link>.
8047 The custom alias <quote><literal>+block-as-image</literal></quote> just
8048 simplifies the process and make it more readable.
8052 One last example. Let's try <quote>http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/</quote>.
8053 This one is giving us problems. We are getting a blank page. Hmmm ...
8059 Matches for http://www.example.net/adsl/HOWTO/:
8061 In file: default.action <guibutton>[ View ]</guibutton> <guibutton>[ Edit ]</guibutton>
8065 -content-type-overwrite
8066 -crunch-client-header
8067 -crunch-if-none-match
8068 -crunch-incoming-cookies
8069 -crunch-outgoing-cookies
8070 -crunch-server-header
8072 -downgrade-http-version
8073 +fast-redirects{check-decoded-url}
8074 +filter{html-annoyances}
8075 +filter{js-annoyances}
8076 +filter{kill-popups}
8079 +filter{banners-by-size}
8082 -filter-client-headers
8083 -filter-server-headers
8085 -handle-as-empty-document
8087 -hide-accept-language
8088 -hide-content-disposition
8089 +hide-forwarded-for-headers
8090 +hide-from-header{block}
8091 +hide-referer{forge}
8095 -overwrite-last-modified
8096 +prevent-compression
8100 +session-cookies-only
8101 +set-image-blocker{blank}
8102 -treat-forbidden-connects-like-blocks }
8105 { +block +handle-as-image }
8111 Ooops, the <quote>/adsl/</quote> is matching <quote>/ads</quote> in our
8112 configuration! But we did not want this at all! Now we see why we get the
8113 blank page. It is actually triggering two different actions here, and
8114 the effects are aggregated so that the URL is blocked, and &my-app; is told
8115 to treat the block as if it were an image. But this is, of course, all wrong.
8116 We could now add a new action below this (or better in our own
8117 <filename>user.action</filename> file) that explicitly
8118 <emphasis>un</emphasis> blocks (
8119 <link linkend="BLOCK"><quote>{-block}</quote></link>) paths with
8120 <quote>adsl</quote> in them (remember, last match in the configuration
8121 wins). There are various ways to handle such exceptions. Example:
8133 Now the page displays ;-)
8134 Remember to flush your browser's caches when making these kinds of changes to
8135 your configuration to insure that you get a freshly delivered page! Or, try
8136 using <literal>Shift+Reload</literal>.
8140 But now what about a situation where we get no explicit matches like
8147 { +block +handle-as-image }
8153 That actually was very helpful and pointed us quickly to where the problem
8154 was. If you don't get this kind of match, then it means one of the default
8155 rules in the first section of <filename>default.action</filename> is causing
8156 the problem. This would require some guesswork, and maybe a little trial and
8157 error to isolate the offending rule. One likely cause would be one of the
8158 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link> actions.
8159 These tend to be harder to troubleshoot.
8160 Try adding the URL for the site to one of aliases that turn off
8161 <link linkend="FILTER"><quote>+filter</quote></link>:
8169 .worldpay.com # for quietpc.com
8177 <quote><literal>{ shop }</literal></quote> is an <quote>alias</quote> that expands to
8178 <quote><literal>{ -filter -session-cookies-only }</literal></quote>.
8179 Or you could do your own exception to negate filtering:
8187 # Disable ALL filter actions for sites in this section
8195 This would turn off all filtering for these sites. This is best
8196 put in <filename>user.action</filename>, for local site
8197 exceptions. Note that when a simple domain pattern is used by itself (without
8198 the subsequent path portion), all sub-pages within that domain are included
8199 automatcially in the scope of the action.
8203 Images that are inexplicably being blocked, may well be hitting the
8204 <link linkend="FILTER-BANNERS-BY-SIZE"><quote>+filter{banners-by-size}</quote></link>
8206 that images of certain sizes are ad banners (works well
8207 <emphasis>most of the time</emphasis> since these tend to be standardized).
8211 <quote><literal>{ fragile }</literal></quote> is an alias that disables most
8212 actions that are the most likely to cause trouble. This can be used as a
8213 last resort for problem sites.
8219 # Handle with care: easy to break
8221 mybank.example.com</screen>
8226 <emphasis>Remember to flush caches!</emphasis> Note that the
8227 <literal>mail.google</literal> reference lacks the TLD portion (e.g.
8228 <quote>.com</quote>. This will effectively match any TLD with
8229 <literal>google</literal> in it, such as <literal>mail.google.de</literal>,
8233 If this still does not work, you will have to go through the remaining
8234 actions one by one to find which one(s) is causing the problem.
8243 This program is free software; you can redistribute it
8244 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
8245 Public License as published by the Free Software
8246 Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
8247 your option) any later version.
8249 This program is distributed in the hope that it will
8250 be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the
8251 implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
8252 PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
8253 License for more details.
8255 The GNU General Public License should be included with
8256 this file. If not, you can view it at
8257 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
8258 or write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
8259 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301,
8262 $Log: user-manual.sgml,v $
8263 Revision 2.21 2006/09/20 03:21:36 david__schmidt
8264 Just the tiniest tweak. Wafer thin!
8266 Revision 2.20 2006/09/10 14:53:54 hal9
8267 Results of spell check. User manual has some updates to standard.actions file
8270 Revision 2.19 2006/09/08 12:19:02 fabiankeil
8271 Adjust hide-if-modified-since example values
8272 to reflect the recent changes.
8274 Revision 2.18 2006/09/08 02:38:57 hal9
8276 -Fix a number of broken links.
8277 -Migrate the new Windows service command line options, and reference as
8279 -Rebuild so that can be used with the new "user-manual" config capabilities.
8282 Revision 2.17 2006/09/05 13:25:12 david__schmidt
8283 Add Windows service invocation stuff (duplicated) in FAQ and in user manual under Windows startup. One probably ought to reference the other.
8285 Revision 2.16 2006/09/02 12:49:37 hal9
8286 Various small updates for new actions, filterfiles, etc.
8288 Revision 2.15 2006/08/30 11:15:22 hal9
8289 More work on the new actions, especially filter-*-headers, and What's New
8290 section. User Manual is close to final form for 3.0.4 release. Some tinkering
8291 and proof reading left to do.
8293 Revision 2.14 2006/08/29 10:59:36 hal9
8294 Add a "Whats New in this release" Section. Further work on multiple filter
8295 files, and assorted other minor changes.
8297 Revision 2.13 2006/08/22 11:04:59 hal9
8298 Silence warnings and errors. This should build now. New filters were only
8299 stubbed in. More to be done.
8301 Revision 2.12 2006/08/14 08:40:39 fabiankeil
8302 Documented new actions that were part of
8303 the "minor Privoxy improvements".
8305 Revision 2.11 2006/07/18 14:48:51 david__schmidt
8306 Reorganizing the repository: swapping out what was HEAD (the old 3.1 branch)
8307 with what was really the latest development (the v_3_0_branch branch)
8309 Revision 1.123.2.43 2005/05/23 09:59:10 hal9
8312 Revision 1.123.2.42 2004/12/04 14:39:57 hal9
8313 Fix two minor typos per bug SF report.
8315 Revision 1.123.2.41 2004/03/23 12:58:42 oes
8318 Revision 1.123.2.40 2004/02/27 12:48:49 hal9
8319 Add comment re: redirecting to local file system for set-image-blocker may
8320 is dependent on browser.
8322 Revision 1.123.2.39 2004/01/30 22:31:40 oes
8323 Added a hint re bookmarklets to Quickstart section
8325 Revision 1.123.2.38 2004/01/30 16:47:51 oes
8326 Some minor clarifications
8328 Revision 1.123.2.37 2004/01/29 22:36:11 hal9
8329 Updates for no longer filtering text/plain, and demoronizer default settings,
8330 and copyright notice dates.
8332 Revision 1.123.2.36 2003/12/10 02:26:26 hal9
8333 Changed the demoronizer filter description.
8335 Revision 1.123.2.35 2003/11/06 13:36:37 oes
8336 Updated link to nightly CVS tarball
8338 Revision 1.123.2.34 2003/06/26 23:50:16 hal9
8339 Add a small bit on filtering and problems re: source code being corrupted.
8341 Revision 1.123.2.33 2003/05/08 18:17:33 roro
8342 Use apt-get instead of dpkg to install Debian package, which is more
8343 solid, uses the correct and most recent Debian version automatically.
8345 Revision 1.123.2.32 2003/04/11 03:13:57 hal9
8346 Add small note about only one filterfile (as opposed to multiple actions
8349 Revision 1.123.2.31 2003/03/26 02:03:43 oes
8350 Updated hard-coded copyright dates
8352 Revision 1.123.2.30 2003/03/24 12:58:56 hal9
8353 Add new section on Predefined Filters.
8355 Revision 1.123.2.29 2003/03/20 02:45:29 hal9
8356 More problems with \-\-chroot causing markup problems :(
8358 Revision 1.123.2.28 2003/03/19 00:35:24 hal9
8359 Manual edit of revision log because 'chroot' (even inside a comment) was
8360 causing Docbook to hang here (due to double hyphen and the processor thinking
8363 Revision 1.123.2.27 2003/03/18 19:37:14 oes
8364 s/Advanced|Radical/Adventuresome/g to avoid complaints re fun filter
8366 Revision 1.123.2.26 2003/03/17 16:50:53 oes
8367 Added documentation for new chroot option
8369 Revision 1.123.2.25 2003/03/15 18:36:55 oes
8370 Adapted to the new filters
8372 Revision 1.123.2.24 2002/11/17 06:41:06 hal9
8373 Move default profiles table from FAQ to U-M, and other minor related changes.
8376 Revision 1.123.2.23 2002/10/21 02:32:01 hal9
8377 Updates to the user.action examples section. A few new ones.
8379 Revision 1.123.2.22 2002/10/12 00:51:53 hal9
8380 Add demoronizer to filter section.
8382 Revision 1.123.2.21 2002/10/10 04:09:35 hal9
8383 s/Advanced/Radical/ and added very brief note.
8385 Revision 1.123.2.20 2002/10/10 03:49:21 hal9
8386 Add notes to session-cookies-only and Quickstart about pre-existing
8387 cookies. Also, note content-cookies work differently.
8389 Revision 1.123.2.19 2002/09/26 01:25:36 hal9
8390 More explanation on Privoxy patterns, more on content-cookies and SSL.
8392 Revision 1.123.2.18 2002/08/22 23:47:58 hal9
8393 Add 'Documentation' to Privoxy Menu shot in Configuration section to match
8396 Revision 1.123.2.17 2002/08/18 01:13:05 hal9
8397 Spell checked (only one typo this time!).
8399 Revision 1.123.2.16 2002/08/09 19:20:54 david__schmidt
8400 Update to Mac OSX startup script name
8402 Revision 1.123.2.15 2002/08/07 17:32:11 oes
8403 Converted some internal links from ulink to link for PDF creation; no content changed
8405 Revision 1.123.2.14 2002/08/06 09:16:13 oes
8406 Nits re: actions file download
8408 Revision 1.123.2.13 2002/08/02 18:23:19 g_sauthoff
8409 Just 2 small corrections to the Gentoo sections
8411 Revision 1.123.2.12 2002/08/02 18:17:21 g_sauthoff
8412 Added 2 Gentoo sections
8414 Revision 1.123.2.11 2002/07/26 15:20:31 oes
8415 - Added version info to title
8416 - Added info on new filters
8417 - Revised parts of the filter file tutorial
8418 - Added info on where to get updated actions files
8420 Revision 1.123.2.10 2002/07/25 21:42:29 hal9
8421 Add brief notes on not proxying non-HTTP protocols.
8423 Revision 1.123.2.9 2002/07/11 03:40:28 david__schmidt
8425 Updated Mac OSX sections due to installation location change
8427 Revision 1.123.2.8 2002/06/09 16:36:32 hal9
8428 Clarifications on filtering and MIME. Hardcode 'latest release' in index.html.
8430 Revision 1.123.2.7 2002/06/09 00:29:34 hal9
8431 Touch ups on filtering, in actions section and Anatomy.
8433 Revision 1.123.2.6 2002/06/06 23:11:03 hal9
8434 Fix broken link. Linkchecked all docs.
8436 Revision 1.123.2.5 2002/05/29 02:01:02 hal9
8437 This is break out of the entire config section from u-m, so it can
8438 eventually be used to generate the comments, etc in the main config file
8439 so that these are in sync with each other.
8441 Revision 1.123.2.4 2002/05/27 03:28:45 hal9
8442 Ooops missed something from David.
8444 Revision 1.123.2.3 2002/05/27 03:23:17 hal9
8445 Fix FIXMEs for OS2 and OSX startup. Fix Redhat typos (should be Red Hat).
8446 That's a wrap, I think.
8448 Revision 1.123.2.2 2002/05/26 19:02:09 hal9
8449 Move Amiga stuff around to take of FIXME in start up section.
8451 Revision 1.123.2.1 2002/05/26 17:04:25 hal9
8452 -Spellcheck, very minor edits, and sync across branches
8454 Revision 1.123 2002/05/24 23:19:23 hal9
8455 Include new image (Proxy setup). More fun with guibutton.
8456 Minor corrections/clarifications here and there.
8458 Revision 1.122 2002/05/24 13:24:08 oes
8459 Added Bookmarklet for one-click pre-filled access to show-url-info
8461 Revision 1.121 2002/05/23 23:20:17 oes
8462 - Changed more (all?) references to actions to the
8463 <literal><link> style.
8464 - Small fixes in the actions chapter
8465 - Small clarifications in the quickstart to ad blocking
8466 - Removed <emphasis> from <title>s since the new doc CSS
8467 renders them red (bad in TOC).
8469 Revision 1.120 2002/05/23 19:16:43 roro
8470 Correct Debian specials (installation and startup).
8472 Revision 1.119 2002/05/22 17:17:05 oes
8475 Revision 1.118 2002/05/21 04:54:55 hal9
8476 -New Section: Quickstart to Ad Blocking
8477 -Reformat Actions Anatomy to match new CGI layout
8479 Revision 1.117 2002/05/17 13:56:16 oes
8480 - Reworked & extended Templates chapter
8481 - Small changes to Regex appendix
8482 - #included authors.sgml into (C) and hist chapter
8484 Revision 1.116 2002/05/17 03:23:46 hal9
8485 Fixing merge conflict in Quickstart section.
8487 Revision 1.115 2002/05/16 16:25:00 oes
8488 Extended the Filter File chapter & minor fixes
8490 Revision 1.114 2002/05/16 09:42:50 oes
8491 More ulink->link, added some hints to Quickstart section
8493 Revision 1.113 2002/05/15 21:07:25 oes
8494 Extended and further commented the example actions files
8496 Revision 1.112 2002/05/15 03:57:14 hal9
8497 Spell check. A few minor edits here and there for better syntax and
8500 Revision 1.111 2002/05/14 23:01:36 oes
8503 Revision 1.110 2002/05/14 19:10:45 oes
8504 Restored alphabetical order of actions
8506 Revision 1.109 2002/05/14 17:23:11 oes
8507 Renamed the prevent-*-cookies actions, extended aliases section and moved it before the example AFs
8509 Revision 1.108 2002/05/14 15:29:12 oes
8510 Completed proofreading the actions chapter
8512 Revision 1.107 2002/05/12 03:20:41 hal9
8513 Small clarifications for 127.0.0.1 vs localhost for listen-address since this
8514 apparently an important distinction for some OS's.
8516 Revision 1.106 2002/05/10 01:48:20 hal9
8517 This is mostly proposed copyright/licensing additions and changes. Docs
8518 are still GPL, but licensing and copyright are more visible. Also, copyright
8519 changed in doc header comments (eliminate references to JB except FAQ).
8521 Revision 1.105 2002/05/05 20:26:02 hal9
8522 Sorting out license vs copyright in these docs.
8524 Revision 1.104 2002/05/04 08:44:45 swa
8527 Revision 1.103 2002/05/04 00:40:53 hal9
8528 -Remove the TOC first page kludge. It's fixed proper now in ldp.dsl.in.
8529 -Some minor additions to Quickstart.
8531 Revision 1.102 2002/05/03 17:46:00 oes
8532 Further proofread & reactivated short build instructions
8534 Revision 1.101 2002/05/03 03:58:30 hal9
8535 Move the user-manual config directive to top of section. Add note about
8536 Privoxy needing read permissions for configs, and write for logs.
8538 Revision 1.100 2002/04/29 03:05:55 hal9
8539 Add clarification on differences of new actions files.
8541 Revision 1.99 2002/04/28 16:59:05 swa
8542 more structure in starting section
8544 Revision 1.98 2002/04/28 05:43:59 hal9
8545 This is the break up of configuration.html into multiple files. This
8546 will probably break links elsewhere :(
8548 Revision 1.97 2002/04/27 21:04:42 hal9
8549 -Rewrite of Actions File example.
8550 -Add section for user-manual directive in config.
8552 Revision 1.96 2002/04/27 05:32:00 hal9
8553 -Add short section to Filter Files to tie in with +filter action.
8554 -Start rewrite of examples in Actions Examples (not finished).
8556 Revision 1.95 2002/04/26 17:23:29 swa
8557 bookmarks cleaned, changed structure of user manual, screen and programlisting cleanups, and numerous other changes that I forgot
8559 Revision 1.94 2002/04/26 05:24:36 hal9
8560 -Add most of Andreas suggestions to Chain of Events section.
8561 -A few other minor corrections and touch up.
8563 Revision 1.92 2002/04/25 18:55:13 hal9
8564 More catchups on new actions files, and new actions names.
8565 Other assorted cleanups, and minor modifications.
8567 Revision 1.91 2002/04/24 02:39:31 hal9
8568 Add 'Chain of Events' section.
8570 Revision 1.90 2002/04/23 21:41:25 hal9
8571 Linuxconf is deprecated on RH, substitute chkconfig.
8573 Revision 1.89 2002/04/23 21:05:28 oes
8574 Added hint for startup on Red Hat
8576 Revision 1.88 2002/04/23 05:37:54 hal9
8577 Add AmigaOS install stuff.
8579 Revision 1.87 2002/04/23 02:53:15 david__schmidt
8580 Updated OSX installation section
8581 Added a few English tweaks here an there
8583 Revision 1.86 2002/04/21 01:46:32 hal9
8584 Re-write actions section.
8586 Revision 1.85 2002/04/18 21:23:23 hal9
8587 Fix ugly typo (mine).
8589 Revision 1.84 2002/04/18 21:17:13 hal9
8590 Spell Redhat correctly (ie Red Hat). A few minor grammar corrections.
8592 Revision 1.83 2002/04/18 18:21:12 oes
8593 Added RPM install detail
8595 Revision 1.82 2002/04/18 12:04:50 oes
8598 Revision 1.81 2002/04/18 11:50:24 oes
8599 Extended Install section - needs fixing by packagers
8601 Revision 1.80 2002/04/18 10:45:19 oes
8602 Moved text to buildsource.sgml, renamed some filters, details
8604 Revision 1.79 2002/04/18 03:18:06 hal9
8605 Spellcheck, and minor touchups.
8607 Revision 1.78 2002/04/17 18:04:16 oes
8610 Revision 1.77 2002/04/17 13:51:23 oes
8611 Proofreading, part one
8613 Revision 1.76 2002/04/16 04:25:51 hal9
8614 -Added 'Note to Upgraders' and re-ordered the 'Quickstart' section.
8615 -Note about proxy may need requests to re-read config files.
8617 Revision 1.75 2002/04/12 02:08:48 david__schmidt
8618 Remove OS/2 building info... it is already in the developer-manual
8620 Revision 1.74 2002/04/11 00:54:38 hal9
8621 Add small section on submitting actions.
8623 Revision 1.73 2002/04/10 18:45:15 swa
8626 Revision 1.72 2002/04/10 04:06:19 hal9
8627 Added actions feedback to Bookmarklets section
8629 Revision 1.71 2002/04/08 22:59:26 hal9
8630 Version update. Spell chkconfig correctly :)
8632 Revision 1.70 2002/04/08 20:53:56 swa
8635 Revision 1.69 2002/04/06 05:07:29 hal9
8636 -Add privoxy-man-page.sgml, for man page.
8637 -Add authors.sgml for AUTHORS (and p-authors.sgml)
8638 -Reworked various aspects of various docs.
8639 -Added additional comments to sub-docs.
8641 Revision 1.68 2002/04/04 18:46:47 swa
8642 consistent look. reuse of copyright, history et. al.
8644 Revision 1.67 2002/04/04 17:27:57 swa
8645 more single file to be included at multiple points. make maintaining easier
8647 Revision 1.66 2002/04/04 06:48:37 hal9
8648 Structural changes to allow for conditional inclusion/exclusion of content
8649 based on entity toggles, e.g. 'entity % p-not-stable "INCLUDE"'. And
8650 definition of internal entities, e.g. 'entity p-version "2.9.13"' that will
8651 eventually be set by Makefile.
8652 More boilerplate text for use across multiple docs.
8654 Revision 1.65 2002/04/03 19:52:07 swa
8655 enhance squid section due to user suggestion
8657 Revision 1.64 2002/04/03 03:53:43 hal9
8658 A few minor bug fixes, and touch ups. Ready for review.
8660 Revision 1.63 2002/04/01 16:24:49 hal9
8661 Define entities to include boilerplate text. See doc/source/*.
8663 Revision 1.62 2002/03/30 04:15:53 hal9
8664 - Fix privoxy.org/config links.
8665 - Paste in Bookmarklets from Toggle page.
8666 - Move Quickstart nearer top, and minor rework.
8668 Revision 1.61 2002/03/29 01:31:08 hal9
8671 Revision 1.60 2002/03/27 01:57:34 hal9
8672 Added more to Anatomy section.
8674 Revision 1.59 2002/03/27 00:54:33 hal9
8675 Touch up intro for new name.
8677 Revision 1.58 2002/03/26 22:29:55 swa
8678 we have a new homepage!
8680 Revision 1.57 2002/03/24 20:33:30 hal9
8681 A few minor catch ups with name change.
8683 Revision 1.56 2002/03/24 16:17:06 swa
8684 configure needs to be generated.
8686 Revision 1.55 2002/03/24 16:08:08 swa
8687 we are too lazy to make a block-built
8688 privoxy logo. hence removed the option.
8690 Revision 1.54 2002/03/24 15:46:20 swa
8691 name change related issue.
8693 Revision 1.53 2002/03/24 11:51:00 swa
8694 name change. changed filenames.
8696 Revision 1.52 2002/03/24 11:01:06 swa
8699 Revision 1.51 2002/03/23 15:13:11 swa
8700 renamed every reference to the old name with foobar.
8701 fixed "application foobar application" tag, fixed
8702 "the foobar" with "foobar". left junkbustser in cvs
8703 comments and remarks to history untouched.
8705 Revision 1.50 2002/03/23 05:06:21 hal9
8708 Revision 1.49 2002/03/21 17:01:05 hal9
8709 New section in Appendix.
8711 Revision 1.48 2002/03/12 06:33:01 hal9
8712 Catching up to Andreas and re_filterfile changes.
8714 Revision 1.47 2002/03/11 13:13:27 swa
8715 correct feedback channels
8717 Revision 1.46 2002/03/10 00:51:08 hal9
8718 Added section on JB internal pages in Appendix.
8720 Revision 1.45 2002/03/09 17:43:53 swa
8723 Revision 1.44 2002/03/09 17:08:48 hal9
8724 New section on Jon's actions file editor, and move some stuff around.
8726 Revision 1.43 2002/03/08 00:47:32 hal9
8727 Added imageblock{pattern}.
8729 Revision 1.42 2002/03/07 18:16:55 swa
8732 Revision 1.41 2002/03/07 16:46:43 hal9
8733 Fix a few markup problems for jade.
8735 Revision 1.40 2002/03/07 16:28:39 swa
8736 provide correct feedback channels
8738 Revision 1.39 2002/03/06 16:19:28 hal9
8739 Note on perceived filtering slowdown per FR.
8741 Revision 1.38 2002/03/05 23:55:14 hal9
8742 Stupid I did it again. Double hyphen in comment breaks jade.
8744 Revision 1.37 2002/03/05 23:53:49 hal9
8745 jade barfs on '- -' embedded in comments. - -user option broke it.
8747 Revision 1.36 2002/03/05 22:53:28 hal9
8748 Add new - - user option.
8750 Revision 1.35 2002/03/05 00:17:27 hal9
8751 Added section on command line options.
8753 Revision 1.34 2002/03/04 19:32:07 oes
8754 Changed default port to 8118
8756 Revision 1.33 2002/03/03 19:46:13 hal9
8757 Emphasis on where/how to report bugs, etc
8759 Revision 1.32 2002/03/03 09:26:06 joergs
8760 AmigaOS changes, config is now loaded from PROGDIR: instead of
8761 AmiTCP:db/junkbuster/ if no configuration file is specified on the
8764 Revision 1.31 2002/03/02 22:45:52 david__schmidt
8767 Revision 1.30 2002/03/02 22:00:14 hal9
8768 Updated 'New Features' list. Ran through spell-checker.
8770 Revision 1.29 2002/03/02 20:34:07 david__schmidt
8771 Update OS/2 build section
8773 Revision 1.28 2002/02/24 14:34:24 jongfoster
8774 Formatting changes. Now changing the doctype to DocBook XML 4.1
8775 will work - no other changes are needed.
8777 Revision 1.27 2002/01/11 14:14:32 hal9
8778 Added a very short section on Templates
8780 Revision 1.26 2002/01/09 20:02:50 hal9
8781 Fix bug re: auto-detect config file changes.
8783 Revision 1.25 2002/01/09 18:20:30 hal9
8784 Touch ups for *.action files.
8786 Revision 1.24 2001/12/02 01:13:42 hal9
8789 Revision 1.23 2001/12/02 00:20:41 hal9
8790 Updates for recent changes.
8792 Revision 1.22 2001/11/05 23:57:51 hal9
8793 Minor update for startup now daemon mode.
8795 Revision 1.21 2001/10/31 21:11:03 hal9
8796 Correct 2 minor errors
8798 Revision 1.18 2001/10/24 18:45:26 hal9
8799 *** empty log message ***
8801 Revision 1.17 2001/10/24 17:10:55 hal9
8802 Catching up with Jon's recent work, and a few other things.
8804 Revision 1.16 2001/10/21 17:19:21 swa
8805 wrong url in documentation
8807 Revision 1.15 2001/10/14 23:46:24 hal9
8808 Various minor changes. Fleshed out SEE ALSO section.
8810 Revision 1.13 2001/10/10 17:28:33 hal9
8813 Revision 1.12 2001/09/28 02:57:04 hal9
8816 Revision 1.11 2001/09/28 02:25:20 hal9
8819 Revision 1.9 2001/09/27 23:50:29 hal9
8820 A few changes. A short section on regular expression in appendix.
8822 Revision 1.8 2001/09/25 00:34:59 hal9
8823 Some additions, and re-arranging.
8825 Revision 1.7 2001/09/24 14:31:36 hal9
8828 Revision 1.6 2001/09/24 14:10:32 hal9
8829 Including David's OS/2 installation instructions.
8831 Revision 1.2 2001/09/13 15:27:40 swa
8834 Revision 1.1 2001/09/12 15:36:41 swa
8835 source files for junkbuster documentation
8837 Revision 1.3 2001/09/10 17:43:59 swa
8838 first proposal of a structure.
8840 Revision 1.2 2001/06/13 14:28:31 swa
8841 docs should have an author.
8843 Revision 1.1 2001/06/13 14:20:37 swa
8844 first import of project's documentation for the webserver.