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39 >Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions</TH
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74 >1. General Information</A
82 >1.1. What is this new version of <SPAN
95 > (tm) is a copyrighted product of <A
96 HREF="http://www.junkbusters.com"
98 >Junkbusters Corporation</A
100 Development of this effort stopped some time ago as of version 2.0.2. Stefan
101 Waldherr started the ijbswa project on <A
102 HREF="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/"
106 rekindle development. Other developers subsequently joined with Stefan, and
107 have since added many new features, refinements and enhancements. The result
108 of this effort is <SPAN
117 > has evolved from the
120 >Junkbuster 2.0.2</SPAN
121 > code base, and has advanced
122 significantly at this point.
127 HREF="copyright.html"
130 information on the history of <SPAN
149 >? Why a name change at all?</A
160 >Privacy Enhancing Proxy</I
164 > There are potential legal complications from the continued use of the
168 > name, which is a registered trademark of
170 HREF="http://junkbusters.com"
172 >Junkbusters Corporation</A
177 > the rights to the name.
178 (There are, however, no objections from Junkbusters Corporation to the
182 > project itself, and they, in fact, still
183 share our ideals and goals.)</P
185 > The developers also believed that there are so many changes from the original
186 code, that it was time to make a clean break from the past and make
187 a name in their own right, especially now with the pending
188 release of version 3.0.</P
213 > left off. All the old features remain.
217 > still blocks ads and banners,
218 still manages cookies, and still helps protect your privacy. But, these are
219 all enhanced, and many new features have been added, all in the same vein.
222 > The configuration has changed significantly as well. This is something that
223 users will notice right off the bat if you are upgrading from
231 file does not exist any more. This is replaced by <SPAN
238 >. This is where most of
239 the per site configuration is now.
248 >1.4. What are some of the new features?</A
256 > Integrated browser based configuration and control utility at <A
257 HREF="http://config.privoxy.org/"
259 >http://config.privoxy.org/</A
266 tracing of rule and filter effects. Remote toggling.
271 > Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size,
275 >, JavaScript and HTML annoyances, pop-up windows, etc.)
280 > Modularized configuration that allows for standard settings and
281 user settings to reside in separate files, so that installing updated
282 actions files won't overwrite idividual user settings.
287 > HTTP/1.1 compliant (but not all optional 1.1 features are supported).
292 > Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the configuration files, and
293 generally a more sophisticated and flexible configuration syntax over
299 > Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).
309 > Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).
314 > Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).
319 > User-customizable HTML templates for all proxy-generated pages (e.g. "blocked" page).
324 > Auto-detection and re-reading of config file changes.
329 > Improved signal handling, and a true daemon mode (Unix).
334 > Every feature now controllable on a per-site or per-location basis, configuration
335 more powerful and versatile over-all.
340 > Many smaller new features added, limitations and bugs removed, and security holes fixed.
352 >1.5. What is a <SPAN
362 > When you connect to a web site with <SPAN
366 you are really connecting to your locally running version of
374 intercepts your requests for the web page, and relays that to the
378 > web site. The web site sends the HTTP data stream
386 > can work its magic before it
387 relays this data back to your web browser.
393 > sits between you and the
394 WWW, it is in a position to intercept and completely manage all web traffic and
395 HTTP content before it gets to your browser.
399 > uses various programming methods to do
400 this, all of which is under your control via the various configuration
404 > There are many kinds of proxies. <SPAN
410 >"filtering proxy"</SPAN
424 an ad, and what is not?</A
430 > processes all the raw content of every
431 web page. So it reads everything on each page. It then compares this to the
432 rules as set up in the configuration files, and looks for any matches to
439 >"regular expressions"</SPAN
440 >. (If you are not familiar with regular
441 expressions, it is explained briefly in <A
442 HREF="../user-manual/appendix.html"
446 expressions facilitate matching of one text string against another, using
447 wildcards to build complex patterns. So <SPAN
451 will typically look for URLs and other content that match certain key words
452 and expressions as defined in the configuration files. For instance a URL
456 >, has a high probability of containing
457 ad banners, and thus would be a prime candidate to have a matching rule.</P
462 > will look for these kinds of obvious
463 looking culprits. And also, will use lists of known organizations that
464 specialize in ads. Again, using complex patterns to match as many potential
465 combinations as possible since there tend to be many, many variations used by
466 advertisers, and new ones are being introduced all the time.</P
478 This does not sound very scientific.</A
481 > Actually, it's a black art ;-) And yes, it is always possible to have a broad rule
482 accidentally block something by mistake. There is a good chance you may run
483 into such a situation at some point. It is tricky writing rules to cover
484 every conceivable possibility, and not occasionally get false positives.</P
486 > But this should not be a big concern since the
490 > configuration is very flexible, and
491 includes tools to help identify these types of situations so they can be
492 addressed as needed, allowing you to customize your installation.
494 HREF="trouble.html#AEN578"
495 >See the Troubleshooting section below</A
504 >1.8. My browser does the same things as
515 > Modern browsers do indeed have <I
519 functionality as <SPAN
523 adequate for you. But <SPAN
527 versatile and powerful, and can do a number of things that browsers just can't.
530 > In addition, a proxy is good choice if you use multiple browsers, or
531 have a LAN with multiple computers. This way all the configuration
532 is in one place, and you don't have to maintain a similar configuration
533 for possibly many browsers.
543 >1.9. Is there is a license or fee? What about a
544 warranty? Registration?</A
550 > is licensed under the GNU General Public
551 License (GPL). It is free to use, copy, modify or distribute as you wish
552 under the terms of this license. Please see the <A
553 HREF="copyright.html"
555 > section for more information on the
556 license and copyright. Or the <TT
560 that should be included.
564 > There is no warranty of any kind, expressed, implied or otherwise. That is
565 something that would cost real money ;-) There is no registration either.
583 >1.10. I would like to help you, what do I do?</A
590 NAME="JOINTEAM-MONEY"
591 >1.10.1. Money Money Money</A
594 > We, of course, welcome donations and use the money for domain registering,
595 regular world-wide get-togethers (hahaha). Anyway, we'll soon describe the
596 process how to donate money to the team.</P
604 >1.10.2. You want to work with us?</A
607 > Well, helping the team is always a good idea. We welcome new developers,
608 RPM gurus or documentation makers. Simply get an account on sourceforge.net
609 and mail your id to the developer mailing list. Then read the
610 section Quickstart in the <A
611 HREF="../developer-manual/quickstart.html"
613 > Developer's Manual</A
616 > Once we have added you to the team, you'll have write access to the CVS
617 repository, and together we'll find a suitable task for you.</P
652 HREF="installation.html"
661 >Privoxy Frequently Asked Questions</TD