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51 <h1 class="SECT1"><a name="CONFIGURATION" id="CONFIGURATION">6. Privoxy
52 Configuration</a></h1>
54 <p>All <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> configuration is stored
55 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor. Many
56 important aspects of <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> can also be
57 controlled easily with a web browser.</p>
60 <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="AEN1107" id="AEN1107">6.1. Controlling
61 Privoxy with Your Web Browser</a></h2>
63 <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>'s user interface can be
64 reached through the special URL <a href="http://config.privoxy.org/"
65 target="_top">http://config.privoxy.org/</a> (shortcut: <a href=
66 "http://p.p/" target="_top">http://p.p/</a>), which is a built-in page
67 and works without Internet access. You will see the following
70 <table class="c2" border="0" width="100%">
77 <h2 class="BRIDGEHEAD"><a name="AEN1115" id=
78 "AEN1115"></a> Privoxy Menu</h2>
86 ▪ <a href="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status"
87 target="_top">View & change the current
88 configuration</a></td>
93 ▪ <a href="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version"
94 target="_top">View the source code version numbers</a></td>
99 ▪ <a href="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request"
100 target="_top">View the request headers.</a></td>
105 ▪ <a href="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info"
106 target="_top">Look up which actions apply to a URL and
112 ▪ <a href="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle"
113 target="_top">Toggle Privoxy on or off</a></td>
118 ▪ <a href="http://www.privoxy.org/3.0.20/user-manual/"
119 target="_top">Documentation</a></td>
127 <p>This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an
128 editor for the <a href="actions-file.html">actions files</a>, which is
129 where the ad, banner, cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as
130 well as other advanced features of <span class=
131 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>. This is an easy way to adjust various
132 aspects of <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> configuration. The
133 actions file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail
136 <p><span class="QUOTE">"Toggle Privoxy On or Off"</span> is handy for
137 sites that might have problems with your current actions and filters.
138 You can in fact use it as a test to see whether it is <span class=
139 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> causing the problem or not. <span class=
140 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> continues to run as a proxy in this case,
141 but all manipulation is disabled, i.e. <span class=
142 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> acts like a normal forwarding proxy. There
143 is even a toggle <a href="appendix.html#BOOKMARKLETS">Bookmarklet</a>
144 offered, so that you can toggle <span class=
145 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> with one click from your browser.</p>
147 <p>Note that several of the features described above are disabled by
148 default in <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> 3.0.7 beta and
149 later. Check the <a href="config.html" target="_top">configuration
150 file</a> to learn why and in which cases it's safe to enable them
155 <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="CONFOVERVIEW" id="CONFOVERVIEW">6.2.
156 Configuration Files Overview</a></h2>
158 <p>For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
159 <tt class="FILENAME">/etc/privoxy/</tt> by default. For MS Windows,
160 OS/2, and AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
161 <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> executable. The name and
162 number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and
163 is subject to change as development progresses.</p>
165 <p>The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
166 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being,
167 the principle configuration files are:</p>
171 <p>The <a href="config.html">main configuration file</a> is named
172 <tt class="FILENAME">config</tt> on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and
173 AmigaOS and <tt class="FILENAME">config.txt</tt> on Windows. This
174 is a required file.</p>
178 <p><tt class="FILENAME">match-all.action</tt> is used to define
179 which <span class="QUOTE">"actions"</span> relating to
180 banner-blocking, images, pop-ups, content modification, cookie
181 handling etc should be applied by default. It should be the first
182 actions file loaded.</p>
184 <p><tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> defines many exceptions
185 (both positive and negative) from the default set of actions that's
186 configured in <tt class="FILENAME">match-all.action</tt>. It should
187 be the second actions file loaded and shouldn't be edited by the
190 <p>Multiple actions files may be defined in <tt class=
191 "FILENAME">config</tt>. These are processed in the order they are
192 defined. Local customizations and locally preferred exceptions to
193 the default policies as defined in <tt class=
194 "FILENAME">match-all.action</tt> (which you will most probably want
195 to define sooner or later) are best applied in <tt class=
196 "FILENAME">user.action</tt>, where you can preserve them across
197 upgrades. The file isn't installed by all installers, but you can
198 easily create it yourself with a text editor.</p>
200 <p>There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
201 <a href="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status" target=
202 "_top">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</a> (Shortcut:
203 <a href="http://p.p/show-status" target=
204 "_top">http://p.p/show-status</a>) for the various actions
209 <p><span class="QUOTE">"Filter files"</span> (the <a href=
210 "filter-file.html">filter file</a>) can be used to re-write the raw
211 page content, including viewable text as well as embedded HTML and
212 JavaScript, and whatever else lurks on any given web page. The
213 filtering jobs are only pre-defined here; whether to apply them or
214 not is up to the actions files. <tt class=
215 "FILENAME">default.filter</tt> includes various filters made
216 available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive
217 than others, and all should be used with caution. You may define
218 additional filter files in <tt class="FILENAME">config</tt> as you
219 can with actions files. We suggest <tt class=
220 "FILENAME">user.filter</tt> for any locally defined filters or
225 <p>The syntax of the configuration and filter files may change between
226 different Privoxy versions, unfortunately some enhancements cost
227 backwards compatibility.</p>
229 <p>All files use the <span class="QUOTE">"<tt class=
230 "LITERAL">#</tt>"</span> character to denote a comment (the rest of the
231 line will be ignored) and understand line continuation through placing
232 a backslash ("<tt class="LITERAL">\</tt>") as the very last character
233 in a line. If the <tt class="LITERAL">#</tt> is preceded by a
234 backslash, it looses its special function. Placing a <tt class=
235 "LITERAL">#</tt> in front of an otherwise valid configuration line to
236 prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting out" that line.
237 Blank lines are ignored.</p>
239 <p>The actions files and filter files can use Perl style <a href=
240 "appendix.html#REGEX">regular expressions</a> for maximum
243 <p>After making any changes, there is no need to restart <span class=
244 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> in order for the changes to take effect.
245 <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> detects such changes
246 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
247 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening
248 address of <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>, these <span class=
249 "QUOTE">"wake up"</span> requests must obviously be sent to the
250 <span class="emphasis EMPHASIS c3">old</span> listening address.</p>
252 <p>While under development, the configuration content is subject to
253 change. The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you
254 read this. Also, what constitutes a <span class=
255 "QUOTE">"default"</span> setting, may change, so please check all your
256 configuration files on important issues.</p>
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277 <td width="33%" align="left" valign="top">Starting Privoxy</td>
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281 <td width="33%" align="right" valign="top">The Main Configuration