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34 Privoxy 3.0.18 User Manual
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52 <a name="CONFIGURATION">6. Privoxy Configuration</a>
55 All <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> configuration is stored
56 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor. Many
57 important aspects of <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> can
58 also be controlled easily with a web browser.
62 <a name="AEN933">6.1. Controlling Privoxy with Your Web Browser</a>
65 <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>'s user interface can be
66 reached through the special URL <a href=
67 "http://config.privoxy.org/" target=
68 "_top">http://config.privoxy.org/</a> (shortcut: <a href=
69 "http://p.p/" target="_top">http://p.p/</a>), which is a built-in
70 page and works without Internet access. You will see the following
73 <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
79 <h2 class="BRIDGEHEAD">
80 <a name="AEN941"></a> Privoxy Menu
88 ▪ <a
89 href="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status" target=
90 "_top">View & change the current configuration</a>
95 ▪ <a
96 href="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version" target=
97 "_top">View the source code version numbers</a>
102 ▪ <a
103 href="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request" target=
104 "_top">View the request headers.</a>
109 ▪ <a
110 href="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info" target=
111 "_top">Look up which actions apply to a URL and why</a>
117 ▪ <a
118 href="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle" target=
119 "_top">Toggle Privoxy on or off</a>
124 ▪ <a
125 href="http://www.privoxy.org/3.0.18/user-manual/"
126 target="_top">Documentation</a>
137 This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an
138 editor for the <a href="actions-file.html">actions files</a>, which
139 is where the ad, banner, cookie, and URL blocking magic is
140 configured as well as other advanced features of <span class=
141 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>. This is an easy way to adjust various
142 aspects of <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> configuration.
143 The actions file, and other configuration files, are explained in
147 <span class="QUOTE">"Toggle Privoxy On or Off"</span> is handy for
148 sites that might have problems with your current actions and
149 filters. You can in fact use it as a test to see whether it is
150 <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> causing the problem or
151 not. <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> continues to run as a
152 proxy in this case, but all manipulation is disabled, i.e. <span
153 class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> acts like a normal forwarding
154 proxy. There is even a toggle <a href=
155 "appendix.html#BOOKMARKLETS">Bookmarklet</a> offered, so that you
156 can toggle <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> with one click
160 Note that several of the features described above are disabled by
161 default in <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> 3.0.7 beta and
162 later. Check the <a href="config.html" target="_top">configuration
163 file</a> to learn why and in which cases it's safe to enable them
169 <a name="CONFOVERVIEW">6.2. Configuration Files Overview</a>
172 For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
173 <tt class="FILENAME">/etc/privoxy/</tt> by default. For MS Windows,
174 OS/2, and AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the <span
175 class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> executable. The name and number
176 of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and is
177 subject to change as development progresses.
180 The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
181 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time
182 being, the principle configuration files are:
189 The <a href="config.html">main configuration file</a> is named
190 <tt class="FILENAME">config</tt> on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and
191 AmigaOS and <tt class="FILENAME">config.txt</tt> on Windows.
192 This is a required file.
197 <tt class="FILENAME">match-all.action</tt> is used to define
198 which <span class="QUOTE">"actions"</span> relating to
199 banner-blocking, images, pop-ups, content modification, cookie
200 handling etc should be applied by default. It should be the
201 first actions file loaded.
204 <tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> defines many
205 exceptions (both positive and negative) from the default set of
206 actions that's configured in <tt class=
207 "FILENAME">match-all.action</tt>. It should be the second
208 actions file loaded and shouldn't be edited by the user.
211 Multiple actions files may be defined in <tt class=
212 "FILENAME">config</tt>. These are processed in the order they
213 are defined. Local customizations and locally preferred
214 exceptions to the default policies as defined in <tt class=
215 "FILENAME">match-all.action</tt> (which you will most probably
216 want to define sooner or later) are best applied in <tt class=
217 "FILENAME">user.action</tt>, where you can preserve them across
218 upgrades. The file isn't installed by all installers, but you
219 can easily create it yourself with a text editor.
222 There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from <a
223 href="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status" target=
224 "_top">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</a> (Shortcut: <a
225 href="http://p.p/show-status" target=
226 "_top">http://p.p/show-status</a>) for the various actions
232 <span class="QUOTE">"Filter files"</span> (the <a href=
233 "filter-file.html">filter file</a>) can be used to re-write the
234 raw page content, including viewable text as well as embedded
235 HTML and JavaScript, and whatever else lurks on any given web
236 page. The filtering jobs are only pre-defined here; whether to
237 apply them or not is up to the actions files. <tt class=
238 "FILENAME">default.filter</tt> includes various filters made
239 available for use by the developers. Some are much more
240 intrusive than others, and all should be used with caution. You
241 may define additional filter files in <tt class=
242 "FILENAME">config</tt> as you can with actions files. We
243 suggest <tt class="FILENAME">user.filter</tt> for any locally
244 defined filters or customizations.
250 The syntax of the configuration and filter files may change between
251 different Privoxy versions, unfortunately some enhancements cost
252 backwards compatibility.
255 All files use the <span class="QUOTE">"<tt class=
256 "LITERAL">#</tt>"</span> character to denote a comment (the rest of
257 the line will be ignored) and understand line continuation through
258 placing a backslash ("<tt class="LITERAL">\</tt>") as the very last
259 character in a line. If the <tt class="LITERAL">#</tt> is preceded
260 by a backslash, it looses its special function. Placing a <tt
261 class="LITERAL">#</tt> in front of an otherwise valid configuration
262 line to prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting
263 out" that line. Blank lines are ignored.
266 The actions files and filter files can use Perl style <a href=
267 "appendix.html#REGEX">regular expressions</a> for maximum
271 After making any changes, there is no need to restart <span class=
272 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> in order for the changes to take
273 effect. <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> detects such
274 changes automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two
275 additional requests for the change to take effect. When changing
276 the listening address of <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>,
277 these <span class="QUOTE">"wake up"</span> requests must obviously
278 be sent to the <span class="emphasis"><i class=
279 "EMPHASIS">old</i></span> listening address.
282 While under development, the configuration content is subject to
283 change. The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you
284 read this. Also, what constitutes a <span class=
285 "QUOTE">"default"</span> setting, may change, so please check all
286 your configuration files on important issues.
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313 The Main Configuration File