1 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN">
5 <meta name="generator" content=
6 "HTML Tidy for Linux/x86 (vers 7 December 2008), see www.w3.org">
8 <title>Privoxy Man page</title>
9 <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../p_web.css">
15 <!-- Manpage converted by man2html 3.0.1 -->
21 <b>privoxy</b> [<b>--help</b> ] [<b>--version</b> ] [<b>--no-daemon</b> ] [<b>--pidfile</b> <i>pidfile</i> ]
22 [<b>--user</b> <i>user[.group]</i> ] [<b>--chroot</b> ] [<b>--pre-chroot-nslookup</b> <i>hostname</i> ]
31 <b>Privoxy</b> may be invoked with the following command line options:
33 <b>--help</b> Print brief usage info and exit.
36 Print version info and exit.
39 Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process
40 group leader, don't detach from controlling tty, and do all log-
43 <b>--pidfile</b> <i>pidfile</i>
44 On startup, write the process ID to <i>pidfile</i>. Delete the <i>pidfile</i>
45 on exit. Failure to create or delete the <i>pidfile</i> is non-fatal.
46 If no <b>--pidfile</b> option is given, no PID file will be used.
48 <b>--user</b> <i>user[.group]</i>
49 After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
50 <i>user</i> and the GID of <i>group</i>, or, if the optional <i>group</i> was not
51 given, the default group of <i>user</i>. Exit if the privileges are not
55 Before changing to the user ID given in the --user option,
56 chroot to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pre-
57 tend to the <b>Privoxy</b> process that the directory tree starts
58 there. If set up carefully, this can limit the impact of possi-
59 ble vulnerabilities in <b>Privoxy</b> to the files contained in that
62 <b>--pre-chroot-nslookup</b> <i>hostname</i>
63 Initialize the resolver library using <i>hostname</i> before
64 chroot'ing. On some systems this reduces the number of files
65 that must be copied into the chroot tree.
67 If the <i>configfile</i> is not specified on the command line, <b>Privoxy</b>
68 will look for a file named <i>config</i> in the current directory. If no <i>con-</i>
69 <i>figfile</i> is found, <b>Privoxy</b> will fail to start.
76 Privoxy is a non-caching web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities
77 for enhancing privacy, modifying web page data and HTTP headers, con-
78 trolling access, and removing ads and other obnoxious Internet junk.
79 Privoxy has a flexible configuration and can be customized to suit
84 <h2>INSTALLATION AND USAGE</h2>
86 Browsers can either be individually configured to use <b>Privoxy</b> as a HTTP
87 proxy (recommended), or <b>Privoxy</b> can be combined with a packet filter to
88 build an intercepting proxy (see <i>config</i>). The default setting is for
89 localhost, on port 8118 (configurable in the main config file). To
90 set the HTTP proxy in Firefox, go through: <b>Tools</b>; <b>Options</b>; <b>General</b>;
91 <b>Connection</b> <b>Settings</b>; <b>Manual</b> <b>Proxy</b> <b>Configuration</b>.
93 For Internet Explorer, go through: <b>Tools</b>; <b>Internet</b> <b>Properties</b>; <b>Connec-</b>
94 <b>tions</b>; <b>LAN</b> <b>Settings</b>.
96 The Secure (SSL) Proxy should also be set to the same values, otherwise
97 https: URLs will not be proxied. Note: <b>Privoxy</b> can only proxy HTTP and
98 HTTPS traffic. Do not try it with FTP or other protocols. HTTPS
99 presents some limitations, and not all features will work with HTTPS
102 For other browsers, check the documentation.
107 <h2>CONFIGURATION</h2>
109 <b>Privoxy</b> can be configured with the various configuration files. The
110 default configuration files are: <i>config</i>, <i>default.filter</i>, <i>default.action</i>
111 and <i>default.action</i>. <i>user.action</i> should be used for locally defined
112 exceptions to the default rules in <i>match-all.action</i> and <i>default.action</i>,
113 and <i>user.filter</i> for locally defined filters. These are well commented.
114 On Unix and Unix-like systems, these are located in <i>/etc/privoxy/</i> by
117 <b>Privoxy</b> uses the concept of <b>actions</b> in order to manipulate the data
118 stream between the browser and remote sites. There are various actions
119 available with specific functions for such things as blocking web
120 sites, managing cookies, etc. These actions can be invoked individually
121 or combined, and used against individual URLs, or groups of URLs that
122 can be defined using wildcards and regular expressions. The result is
123 that the user has greatly enhanced control and freedom.
125 The actions list (ad blocks, etc) can also be configured with your web
126 browser at http://config.privoxy.org/ (assuming the configuration
127 allows it). <b>Privoxy's</b> configuration parameters can also be viewed at
128 the same page. In addition, <b>Privoxy</b> can be toggled on/off. This is an
129 internal page, and does not require Internet access.
131 See the <i>User</i> <i>Manual</i> for a detailed explanation of installation, general
132 usage, all configuration options, new features and notes on upgrading.
139 <i>/usr/sbin/privoxy</i>
140 <i>/etc/privoxy/config</i>
141 <i>/etc/privoxy/match-all.action</i>
142 <i>/etc/privoxy/default.action</i>
143 <i>/etc/privoxy/user.action</i>
144 <i>/etc/privoxy/default.filter</i>
145 detect them automatically.
152 This is a UNRELEASED version of <b>Privoxy</b>. Not all features are well
155 Please see the <i>User</i> <i>Manual</i> on how to contact the developers, for fea-
156 ture requests, reporting problems, and other questions.
163 Other references and sites of interest to <b>Privoxy</b> users:
166 http://www.privoxy.org/, the <b>Privoxy</b> Home page.
168 http://www.privoxy.org/faq/, the <b>Privoxy</b> FAQ.
170 http://www.privoxy.org/developer-manual/, the <b>Privoxy</b> developer manual.
172 https://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/, the Project Page for <b>Privoxy</b>
175 http://config.privoxy.org/, the web-based user interface. <b>Privoxy</b> must
176 be running for this to work. Shortcut: http://p.p/
178 https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=11118&atid=460288, to submit
179 ``misses'' and other configuration related suggestions to the develop-
185 <h2>DEVELOPMENT TEAM</h2>
187 Fabian Keil, lead developer
188 David Schmidt, developer
199 <h2>COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE</h2>
202 Copyright (C) 2001-2011 by Privoxy Developers <ijbswa-develop-
203 ers@lists.sourceforge.net>
205 Some source code is based on code Copyright (C) 1997 by Anonymous
206 Coders and Junkbusters, Inc. and licensed under the <i>GNU</i> <i>General</i> <i>Public</i>
210 <b>Privoxy</b> is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
211 under the terms of the <i>GNU</i> <i>General</i> <i>Public</i> <i>License</i>, version 2, as pub-
212 lished by the Free Software Foundation.