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40 <h1 class="SECT1"><a name="CONFIGURATION" id="CONFIGURATION">6. Privoxy
41 Configuration</a></h1>
43 <p>All <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> configuration is stored
44 in text files. These files can be edited with a text editor. Many
45 important aspects of <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> can also be
46 controlled easily with a web browser.</p>
49 <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="CONTROL-WITH-WEBBROWSER" id=
50 "CONTROL-WITH-WEBBROWSER">6.1. Controlling Privoxy with Your Web
53 <p><span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>'s user interface can be
54 reached through the special URL <a href="http://config.privoxy.org/"
55 target="_top">http://config.privoxy.org/</a> (shortcut: <a href=
56 "http://p.p/" target="_top">http://p.p/</a>), which is a built-in page
57 and works without Internet access. You will see the following
60 <table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%">
67 <h2 class="BRIDGEHEAD"><a name="AEN821" id=
68 "AEN821"></a> Privoxy Menu</h2>
76 ▪ <a href="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status"
77 target="_top">View & change the current
78 configuration</a></td>
83 ▪ <a href="http://config.privoxy.org/show-version"
84 target="_top">View the source code version numbers</a></td>
89 ▪ <a href="http://config.privoxy.org/show-request"
90 target="_top">View the request headers.</a></td>
95 ▪ <a href="http://config.privoxy.org/show-url-info"
96 target="_top">Look up which actions apply to a URL and
102 ▪ <a href="http://config.privoxy.org/toggle"
103 target="_top">Toggle Privoxy on or off</a></td>
108 ▪ <a href="http://www.privoxy.org/3.0.25/user-manual/"
109 target="_top">Documentation</a></td>
117 <p>This should be self-explanatory. Note the first item leads to an
118 editor for the <a href="actions-file.html">actions files</a>, which is
119 where the ad, banner, cookie, and URL blocking magic is configured as
120 well as other advanced features of <span class=
121 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>. This is an easy way to adjust various
122 aspects of <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> configuration. The
123 actions file, and other configuration files, are explained in detail
126 <p><span class="QUOTE">"Toggle Privoxy On or Off"</span> is handy for
127 sites that might have problems with your current actions and filters.
128 You can in fact use it as a test to see whether it is <span class=
129 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> causing the problem or not. <span class=
130 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> continues to run as a proxy in this case,
131 but all manipulation is disabled, i.e. <span class=
132 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> acts like a normal forwarding proxy.</p>
134 <p>Note that several of the features described above are disabled by
135 default in <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> 3.0.7 beta and
136 later. Check the <a href="config.html" target="_top">configuration
137 file</a> to learn why and in which cases it's safe to enable them
142 <h2 class="SECT2"><a name="CONFOVERVIEW" id="CONFOVERVIEW">6.2.
143 Configuration Files Overview</a></h2>
145 <p>For Unix, *BSD and Linux, all configuration files are located in
146 <tt class="FILENAME">/etc/privoxy/</tt> by default. For MS Windows,
147 OS/2, and AmigaOS these are all in the same directory as the
148 <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> executable. The name and
149 number of configuration files has changed from previous versions, and
150 is subject to change as development progresses.</p>
152 <p>The installed defaults provide a reasonable starting point, though
153 some settings may be aggressive by some standards. For the time being,
154 the principle configuration files are:</p>
158 <p>The <a href="config.html">main configuration file</a> is named
159 <tt class="FILENAME">config</tt> on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS/2, and
160 AmigaOS and <tt class="FILENAME">config.txt</tt> on Windows. This
161 is a required file.</p>
165 <p><tt class="FILENAME">match-all.action</tt> is used to define
166 which <span class="QUOTE">"actions"</span> relating to
167 banner-blocking, images, pop-ups, content modification, cookie
168 handling etc should be applied by default. It should be the first
169 actions file loaded.</p>
171 <p><tt class="FILENAME">default.action</tt> defines many exceptions
172 (both positive and negative) from the default set of actions that's
173 configured in <tt class="FILENAME">match-all.action</tt>. It should
174 be the second actions file loaded and shouldn't be edited by the
177 <p>Multiple actions files may be defined in <tt class=
178 "FILENAME">config</tt>. These are processed in the order they are
179 defined. Local customizations and locally preferred exceptions to
180 the default policies as defined in <tt class=
181 "FILENAME">match-all.action</tt> (which you will most probably want
182 to define sooner or later) are best applied in <tt class=
183 "FILENAME">user.action</tt>, where you can preserve them across
184 upgrades. The file isn't installed by all installers, but you can
185 easily create it yourself with a text editor.</p>
187 <p>There is also a web based editor that can be accessed from
188 <a href="http://config.privoxy.org/show-status" target=
189 "_top">http://config.privoxy.org/show-status</a> (Shortcut:
190 <a href="http://p.p/show-status" target=
191 "_top">http://p.p/show-status</a>) for the various actions
196 <p><span class="QUOTE">"Filter files"</span> (the <a href=
197 "filter-file.html">filter file</a>) can be used to re-write the raw
198 page content, including viewable text as well as embedded HTML and
199 JavaScript, and whatever else lurks on any given web page. The
200 filtering jobs are only pre-defined here; whether to apply them or
201 not is up to the actions files. <tt class=
202 "FILENAME">default.filter</tt> includes various filters made
203 available for use by the developers. Some are much more intrusive
204 than others, and all should be used with caution. You may define
205 additional filter files in <tt class="FILENAME">config</tt> as you
206 can with actions files. We suggest <tt class=
207 "FILENAME">user.filter</tt> for any locally defined filters or
212 <p>The syntax of the configuration and filter files may change between
213 different Privoxy versions, unfortunately some enhancements cost
214 backwards compatibility.</p>
216 <p>All files use the <span class="QUOTE">"<tt class=
217 "LITERAL">#</tt>"</span> character to denote a comment (the rest of the
218 line will be ignored) and understand line continuation through placing
219 a backslash ("<tt class="LITERAL">\</tt>") as the very last character
220 in a line. If the <tt class="LITERAL">#</tt> is preceded by a
221 backslash, it looses its special function. Placing a <tt class=
222 "LITERAL">#</tt> in front of an otherwise valid configuration line to
223 prevent it from being interpreted is called "commenting out" that line.
224 Blank lines are ignored.</p>
226 <p>The actions files and filter files can use Perl style <a href=
227 "appendix.html#REGEX">regular expressions</a> for maximum
230 <p>After making any changes, there is no need to restart <span class=
231 "APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> in order for the changes to take effect.
232 <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span> detects such changes
233 automatically. Note, however, that it may take one or two additional
234 requests for the change to take effect. When changing the listening
235 address of <span class="APPLICATION">Privoxy</span>, these <span class=
236 "QUOTE">"wake up"</span> requests must obviously be sent to the
237 <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">old</i></span> listening
240 <p>While under development, the configuration content is subject to
241 change. The below documentation may not be accurate by the time you
242 read this. Also, what constitutes a <span class=
243 "QUOTE">"default"</span> setting, may change, so please check all your
244 configuration files on important issues.</p>
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269 <td width="33%" align="right" valign="top">The Main Configuration