# Sample Configuration File for Privoxy # # Id: config,v # # Copyright (C) 2001-2011 Privoxy Developers http://www.privoxy.org/ # #################################################################### # # # Table of Contents # # # # I. INTRODUCTION # # II. FORMAT OF THE CONFIGURATION FILE # # # # 1. LOCAL SET-UP DOCUMENTATION # # 2. CONFIGURATION AND LOG FILE LOCATIONS # # 3. DEBUGGING # # 4. ACCESS CONTROL AND SECURITY # # 5. FORWARDING # # 6. WINDOWS GUI OPTIONS # # # #################################################################### # # # I. INTRODUCTION # =============== # # This file holds Privoxy's main configuration. Privoxy detects # configuration changes automatically, so you don't have to restart # it unless you want to load a different configuration file. # # The configuration will be reloaded with the first request after # the change was done, this request itself will still use the old # configuration, though. In other words: it takes two requests before # you see the result of your changes. Requests that are dropped due # to ACL don't trigger reloads. # # When starting Privoxy on Unix systems, give the location of this # file as last argument. On Windows systems, Privoxy will look for # this file with the name 'config.txt' in the current working directory # of the Privoxy process. # # # II. FORMAT OF THE CONFIGURATION FILE # ==================================== # # Configuration lines consist of an initial keyword followed by a # list of values, all separated by whitespace (any number of spaces # or tabs). For example, # # actionsfile default.action # # Indicates that the actionsfile is named 'default.action'. # # The '#' indicates a comment. Any part of a line following a '#' # is ignored, except if the '#' is preceded by a '\'. # # Thus, by placing a # at the start of an existing configuration # line, you can make it a comment and it will be treated as if it # weren't there. This is called "commenting out" an option and can # be useful. Removing the # again is called "uncommenting". # # Note that commenting out an option and leaving it at its default # are two completely different things! Most options behave very # differently when unset. See the "Effect if unset" explanation in # each option's description for details. # # Long lines can be continued on the next line by using a `\' as the # last character. # # # # 1. LOCAL SET-UP DOCUMENTATION # ============================== # # If you intend to operate Privoxy for more users than just yourself, # it might be a good idea to let them know how to reach you, what # you block and why you do that, your policies, etc. # # # # 1.1. user-manual # ================= # # Specifies: # # Location of the Privoxy User Manual. # # Type of value: # # A fully qualified URI # # Default value: # # Unset # # Effect if unset: # # http://www.privoxy.org/version/user-manual/ will be used, # where version is the Privoxy version. # # Notes: # # The User Manual URI is the single best source of information on # Privoxy, and is used for help links from some of the internal # CGI pages. The manual itself is normally packaged with the # binary distributions, so you probably want to set this to a # locally installed copy. # # Examples: # # The best all purpose solution is simply to put the full local # PATH to where the User Manual is located: # # user-manual /usr/share/doc/privoxy/user-manual # # The User Manual is then available to anyone with # access to Privoxy, by following the built-in URL: # http://config.privoxy.org/user-manual/ (or the shortcut: # http://p.p/user-manual/). # # If the documentation is not on the local system, it can be # accessed from a remote server, as: # # user-manual http://example.com/privoxy/user-manual/ # # WARNING!!! # # If set, this option should be the first option in the config # file, because it is used while the config file is being read. # user-manual /usr/share/doc/privoxy/user-manual # # # 1.2. trust-info-url # ==================== # # Specifies: # # A URL to be displayed in the error page that users will see if # access to an untrusted page is denied. # # Type of value: # # URL # # Default value: # # Unset # # Effect if unset: # # No links are displayed on the "untrusted" error page. # # Notes: # # The value of this option only matters if the experimental trust # mechanism has been activated. (See trustfile below.) # # If you use the trust mechanism, it is a good idea to write # up some on-line documentation about your trust policy and to # specify the URL(s) here. Use multiple times for multiple URLs. # # The URL(s) should be added to the trustfile as well, so users # don't end up locked out from the information on why they were # locked out in the first place! # #trust-info-url http://www.example.com/why_we_block.html #trust-info-url http://www.example.com/what_we_allow.html # # # 1.3. admin-address # =================== # # Specifies: # # An email address to reach the Privoxy administrator. # # Type of value: # # Email address # # Default value: # # Unset # # Effect if unset: # # No email address is displayed on error pages and the CGI user # interface. # # Notes: # # If both admin-address and proxy-info-url are unset, the whole # "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will not # be shown. # #admin-address privoxy-admin@example.com # # # 1.4. proxy-info-url # ==================== # # Specifies: # # A URL to documentation about the local Privoxy setup, # configuration or policies. # # Type of value: # # URL # # Default value: # # Unset # # Effect if unset: # # No link to local documentation is displayed on error pages and # the CGI user interface. # # Notes: # # If both admin-address and proxy-info-url are unset, the whole # "Local Privoxy Support" box on all generated pages will not # be shown. # # This URL shouldn't be blocked ;-) # #proxy-info-url http://www.example.com/proxy-service.html # # # 2. CONFIGURATION AND LOG FILE LOCATIONS # ======================================== # # Privoxy can (and normally does) use a number of other files for # additional configuration, help and logging. This section of the # configuration file tells Privoxy where to find those other files. # # The user running Privoxy, must have read permission for all # configuration files, and write permission to any files that would # be modified, such as log files and actions files. # # # # 2.1. confdir # ============= # # Specifies: # # The directory where the other configuration files are located. # # Type of value: # # Path name # # Default value: # # /etc/privoxy (Unix) or Privoxy installation dir (Windows) # # Effect if unset: # # Mandatory # # Notes: # # No trailing "/", please. # confdir /etc/privoxy # # # 2.2. templdir # ============== # # Specifies: # # An alternative directory where the templates are loaded from. # # Type of value: # # Path name # # Default value: # # unset # # Effect if unset: # # The templates are assumed to be located in confdir/template. # # Notes: # # Privoxy's original templates are usually overwritten with each # update. Use this option to relocate customized templates that # should be kept. As template variables might change between # updates, you shouldn't expect templates to work with Privoxy # releases other than the one they were part of, though. # #templdir . # # # 2.3. logdir # ============ # # Specifies: # # The directory where all logging takes place (i.e. where the # logfile is located). # # Type of value: # # Path name # # Default value: # # /var/log/privoxy (Unix) or Privoxy installation dir (Windows) # # Effect if unset: # # Mandatory # # Notes: # # No trailing "/", please. # logdir /var/log/privoxy # # # 2.4. actionsfile # ================= # # Specifies: # # The actions file(s) to use # # Type of value: # # Complete file name, relative to confdir # # Default values: # # match-all.action # Actions that are applied to all sites and maybe overruled later on. # # default.action # Main actions file # # user.action # User customizations # # Effect if unset: # # No actions are taken at all. More or less neutral proxying. # # Notes: # # Multiple actionsfile lines are permitted, and are in fact # recommended! # # The default values are default.action, which is the "main" # actions file maintained by the developers, and user.action, # where you can make your personal additions. # # Actions files contain all the per site and per URL configuration # for ad blocking, cookie management, privacy considerations, # etc. There is no point in using Privoxy without at least one # actions file. # # Note that since Privoxy 3.0.7, the complete filename, including # the ".action" extension has to be specified. The syntax change # was necessary to be consistent with the other file options and # to allow previously forbidden characters. # actionsfile match-all.action # Actions that are applied to all sites and maybe overruled later on. actionsfile default.action # Main actions file actionsfile user.action # User customizations # # # 2.5. filterfile # ================ # # Specifies: # # The filter file(s) to use # # Type of value: # # File name, relative to confdir # # Default value: # # default.filter (Unix) or default.filter.txt (Windows) # # Effect if unset: # # No textual content filtering takes place, i.e. all +filter{name} # actions in the actions files are turned neutral. # # Notes: # # Multiple filterfile lines are permitted. # # The filter files contain content modification rules that use # regular expressions. These rules permit powerful changes on the # content of Web pages, and optionally the headers as well, e.g., # you could try to disable your favorite JavaScript annoyances, # re-write the actual displayed text, or just have some fun # playing buzzword bingo with web pages. # # The +filter{name} actions rely on the relevant filter (name) # to be defined in a filter file! # # A pre-defined filter file called default.filter that contains a # number of useful filters for common problems is included in the # distribution. See the section on the filter action for a list. # # It is recommended to place any locally adapted filters into a # separate file, such as user.filter. # filterfile default.filter filterfile user.filter # User customizations # # # 2.6. logfile # ============= # # Specifies: # # The log file to use # # Type of value: # # File name, relative to logdir # # Default value: # # Unset (commented out). When activated: logfile (Unix) or # privoxy.log (Windows). # # Effect if unset: # # No logfile is written. # # Notes: # # The logfile is where all logging and error messages are # written. The level of detail and number of messages are set with # the debug option (see below). The logfile can be useful for # tracking down a problem with Privoxy (e.g., it's not blocking # an ad you think it should block) and it can help you to monitor # what your browser is doing. # # Depending on the debug options below, the logfile may be a # privacy risk if third parties can get access to it. As most # users will never look at it, Privoxy 3.0.7 and later only log # fatal errors by default. # # For most troubleshooting purposes, you will have to change that, # please refer to the debugging section for details. # # Your logfile will grow indefinitely, and you will probably # want to periodically remove it. On Unix systems, you can do # this with a cron job (see "man cron"). For Red Hat based Linux # distributions, a logrotate script has been included. # # Any log files must be writable by whatever user Privoxy is # being run as (on Unix, default user id is "privoxy"). # logfile logfile # # # 2.7. trustfile # =============== # # Specifies: # # The name of the trust file to use # # Type of value: # # File name, relative to confdir # # Default value: # # Unset (commented out). When activated: trust (Unix) or trust.txt # (Windows) # # Effect if unset: # # The entire trust mechanism is disabled. # # Notes: # # The trust mechanism is an experimental feature for building # white-lists and should be used with care. It is NOT recommended # for the casual user. # # If you specify a trust file, Privoxy will only allow access to # sites that are specified in the trustfile. Sites can be listed # in one of two ways: # # Prepending a ~ character limits access to this site only (and # any sub-paths within this site), e.g. ~www.example.com allows # access to ~www.example.com/ features/news.html, etc. # # Or, you can designate sites as trusted referrers, by prepending # the name with a + character. The effect is that access to # untrusted sites will be granted -- but only if a link from # this trusted referrer was used to get there. The link target # will then be added to the "trustfile" so that future, direct # accesses will be granted. Sites added via this mechanism do # not become trusted referrers themselves (i.e. they are added # with a ~ designation). There is a limit of 512 such entries, # after which new entries will not be made. # # If you use the + operator in the trust file, it may grow # considerably over time. # # It is recommended that Privoxy be compiled with the # --disable-force, --disable-toggle and --disable-editor options, # if this feature is to be used. # # Possible applications include limiting Internet access for # children. # #trustfile trust # # # 3. DEBUGGING # ============= # # These options are mainly useful when tracing a problem. Note that # you might also want to invoke Privoxy with the --no-daemon command # line option when debugging. # # # # 3.1. debug # =========== # # Specifies: # # Key values that determine what information gets logged. # # Type of value: # # Integer values # # Default value: # # 0 (i.e.: only fatal errors (that cause Privoxy to exit) are logged) # # Effect if unset: # # Default value is used (see above). # # Notes: # # The available debug levels are: # # debug 1 # Log the destination for each request Privoxy let through. See also debug 1024. # debug 2 # show each connection status # debug 4 # show I/O status # debug 8 # show header parsing # debug 16 # log all data written to the network # debug 32 # debug force feature # debug 64 # debug regular expression filters # debug 128 # debug redirects # debug 256 # debug GIF de-animation # debug 512 # Common Log Format # debug 1024 # Log the destination for requests Privoxy didn't let through, and the reason why. # debug 2048 # CGI user interface # debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings. # debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors # debug 32768 # log all data read from the network # # # To select multiple debug levels, you can either add them or # use multiple debug lines. # # A debug level of 1 is informative because it will show you each # request as it happens. 1, 1024, 4096 and 8192 are recommended # so that you will notice when things go wrong. The other levels # are probably only of interest if you are hunting down a specific # problem. They can produce a hell of an output (especially 16). # # Privoxy used to ship with the debug levels recommended above # enabled by default, but due to privacy concerns 3.0.7 and later # are configured to only log fatal errors. # # If you are used to the more verbose settings, simply enable # the debug lines below again. # # If you want to use pure CLF (Common Log Format), you should set # "debug 512" ONLY and not enable anything else. # # Privoxy has a hard-coded limit for the length of log messages. If # it's reached, messages are logged truncated and marked with # "... [too long, truncated]". # # Please don't file any support requests without trying to # reproduce the problem with increased debug level first. Once # you read the log messages, you may even be able to solve the # problem on your own. # #debug 1 # Log the destination for each request Privoxy let through. #debug 1024 # Log the destination for requests Privoxy didn't let through, and the reason why. #debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings debug 8192 # Non-fatal errors #debug 32768 # Non-fatal errors # # # 3.2. single-threaded # ===================== # # Specifies: # # Whether to run only one server thread. # # Type of value: # # None # # Default value: # # Unset # # Effect if unset: # # Multi-threaded (or, where unavailable: forked) operation, # i.e. the ability to serve multiple requests simultaneously. # # Notes: # # This option is only there for debugging purposes. It will # drastically reduce performance. # #single-threaded # # # 3.3. hostname # ============== # # Specifies: # # The hostname shown on the CGI pages. # # Type of value: # # Text # # Default value: # # Unset # # Effect if unset: # # The hostname provided by the operating system is used. # # Notes: # # On some misconfigured systems resolving the hostname fails or # takes too much time and slows Privoxy down. Setting a fixed # hostname works around the problem. # # In other circumstances it might be desirable to show a hostname # other than the one returned by the operating system. For example # if the system has several different hostnames and you don't # want to use the first one. # # Note that Privoxy does not validate the specified hostname value. # #hostname hostname.example.org # # # 4. ACCESS CONTROL AND SECURITY # =============================== # # This section of the config file controls the security-relevant # aspects of Privoxy's configuration. # # # # 4.1. listen-address # ==================== # # Specifies: # # The address and TCP port on which Privoxy will listen for # client requests. # # Type of value: # # [IP-Address]:Port # # [Hostname]:Port # # Default value: # # 127.0.0.1:8118 # # Effect if unset: # # Bind to 127.0.0.1 (IPv4 localhost), port 8118. This is suitable # and recommended for home users who run Privoxy on the same # machine as their browser. # # Notes: # # You will need to configure your browser(s) to this proxy address # and port. # # If you already have another service running on port 8118, or # if you want to serve requests from other machines (e.g. on your # local network) as well, you will need to override the default. # # You can use this statement multiple times to make Privoxy listen # on more ports or more IP addresses. Suitable if your operating # system does not support sharing IPv6 and IPv4 protocols on the # same socket. # # If a hostname is used instead of an IP address, Privoxy will # try to resolve it to an IP address and if there are multiple, # use the first one returned. # # If the address for the hostname isn't already known on the # system (for example because it's in /etc/hostname), this may # result in DNS traffic. # # If the specified address isn't available on the system, or if # the hostname can't be resolved, Privoxy will fail to start. # # IPv6 addresses containing colons have to be quoted by # brackets. They can only be used if Privoxy has been compiled # with IPv6 support. If you aren't sure if your version supports # it, have a look at http://config.privoxy.org/ show-status. # # Some operating systems will prefer IPv6 to IPv4 addresses even if # the system has no IPv6 connectivity which is usually not expected # by the user. Some even rely on DNS to resolve localhost which # mean the "localhost" address used may not actually be local. # # It is therefore recommended to explicitly configure the intended # IP address instead of relying on the operating system, unless # there's a strong reason not to. # # If you leave out the address, Privoxy will bind to all IPv4 # interfaces (addresses) on your machine and may become reachable # from the Internet and/ or the local network. Be aware that # some GNU/Linux distributions modify that behaviour without # updating the documentation. Check for non-standard patches if # your Privoxyversion behaves differently. # # If you configure Privoxyto be reachable from the network, # consider using access control lists (ACL's, see below), and/or # a firewall. # # If you open Privoxy to untrusted users, you will also # want to make sure that the following actions are disabled: # enable-edit-actions and enable-remote-toggle # # With the exception noted above, listening on multiple addresses # is currently not supported by Privoxy directly. It can be done # on most operating systems by letting a packet filter redirect # request for certain addresses to Privoxy, though. # # Example: # # Suppose you are running Privoxy on a machine which has the # address 192.168.0.1 on your local private network (192.168.0.0) # and has another outside connection with a different address. You # want it to serve requests from inside only: # # listen-address 192.168.0.1:8118 # # Suppose you are running Privoxy on an IPv6-capable machine and # you want it to listen on the IPv6 address of the loopback device: # # listen-address [::1]:8118 # listen-address 0.0.0.0:8118 # # # 4.2. toggle # ============ # # Specifies: # # Initial state of "toggle" status # # Type of value: # # 1 or 0 # # Default value: # # 1 # # Effect if unset: # # Act as if toggled on # # Notes: # # If set to 0, Privoxy will start in "toggled off" mode, # i.e. mostly behave like a normal, content-neutral proxy # with both ad blocking and content filtering disabled. See # enable-remote-toggle below. # # The windows version will only display the toggle icon in the # system tray if this option is present. # toggle 1 # # # 4.3. enable-remote-toggle # ========================== # # Specifies: # # Whether or not the web-based toggle feature may be used # # Type of value: # # 0 or 1 # # Default value: # # 0 # # Effect if unset: # # The web-based toggle feature is disabled. # # Notes: # # When toggled off, Privoxy mostly acts like a normal, # content-neutral proxy, i.e. doesn't block ads or filter content. # # Access to the toggle feature can not be controlled separately by # "ACLs" or HTTP authentication, so that everybody who can access # Privoxy (see "ACLs" and listen-address above) can toggle it # for all users. So this option is not recommended for multi-user # environments with untrusted users. # # Note that malicious client side code (e.g Java) is also capable # of using this option. # # As a lot of Privoxy users don't read documentation, this feature # is disabled by default. # # Note that you must have compiled Privoxy with support for this # feature, otherwise this option has no effect. # enable-remote-toggle 0 # # # 4.4. enable-remote-http-toggle # =============================== # # Specifies: # # Whether or not Privoxy recognizes special HTTP headers to change # its behaviour. # # Type of value: # # 0 or 1 # # Default value: # # 0 # # Effect if unset: # # Privoxy ignores special HTTP headers. # # Notes: # # When toggled on, the client can change Privoxy's behaviour by # setting special HTTP headers. Currently the only supported # special header is "X-Filter: No", to disable filtering for # the ongoing request, even if it is enabled in one of the # action files. # # This feature is disabled by default. If you are using Privoxy in # a environment with trusted clients, you may enable this feature # at your discretion. Note that malicious client side code (e.g # Java) is also capable of using this feature. # # This option will be removed in future releases as it has been # obsoleted by the more general header taggers. # enable-remote-http-toggle 0 # # # 4.5. enable-edit-actions # ========================= # # Specifies: # # Whether or not the web-based actions file editor may be used # # Type of value: # # 0 or 1 # # Default value: # # 0 # # Effect if unset: # # The web-based actions file editor is disabled. # # Notes: # # Access to the editor can not be controlled separately by # "ACLs" or HTTP authentication, so that everybody who can access # Privoxy (see "ACLs" and listen-address above) can modify its # configuration for all users. # # This option is not recommended for environments with untrusted # users and as a lot of Privoxy users don't read documentation, # this feature is disabled by default. # # Note that malicious client side code (e.g Java) is also capable # of using the actions editor and you shouldn't enable this # options unless you understand the consequences and are sure # your browser is configured correctly. # # Note that you must have compiled Privoxy with support for this # feature, otherwise this option has no effect. # enable-edit-actions 0 # # # 4.6. enforce-blocks # ==================== # # Specifies: # # Whether the user is allowed to ignore blocks and can "go there # anyway". # # Type of value: # # 0 or 1 # # Default value: # # 0 # # Effect if unset: # # Blocks are not enforced. # # Notes: # # Privoxy is mainly used to block and filter requests as a service # to the user, for example to block ads and other junk that clogs # the pipes. Privoxy's configuration isn't perfect and sometimes # innocent pages are blocked. In this situation it makes sense to # allow the user to enforce the request and have Privoxy ignore # the block. # # In the default configuration Privoxy's "Blocked" page contains # a "go there anyway" link to adds a special string (the force # prefix) to the request URL. If that link is used, Privoxy # will detect the force prefix, remove it again and let the # request pass. # # Of course Privoxy can also be used to enforce a network # policy. In that case the user obviously should not be able to # bypass any blocks, and that's what the "enforce-blocks" option # is for. If it's enabled, Privoxy hides the "go there anyway" # link. If the user adds the force prefix by hand, it will not # be accepted and the circumvention attempt is logged. # # Examples: # # enforce-blocks 1 # enforce-blocks 0 # # # 4.7. ACLs: permit-access and deny-access # ========================================= # # Specifies: # # Who can access what. # # Type of value: # # src_addr[:port][/src_masklen] [dst_addr[:port][/dst_masklen]] # # Where src_addr and dst_addr are IPv4 addresses in dotted # decimal notation or valid DNS names, port is a port number, and # src_masklen and dst_masklen are subnet masks in CIDR notation, # i.e. integer values from 2 to 30 representing the length # (in bits) of the network address. The masks and the whole # destination part are optional. # # If your system implements RFC 3493, then src_addr and dst_addr # can be IPv6 addresses delimeted by brackets, port can be a # number or a service name, and src_masklen and dst_masklen can # be a number from 0 to 128. # # Default value: # # Unset # # If no port is specified, any port will match. If no src_masklen # or src_masklen is given, the complete IP address has to match # (i.e. 32 bits for IPv4 and 128 bits for IPv6). # # Effect if unset: # # Don't restrict access further than implied by listen-address # # Notes: # # Access controls are included at the request of ISPs and systems # administrators, and are not usually needed by individual # users. For a typical home user, it will normally suffice to # ensure that Privoxy only listens on the localhost (127.0.0.1) # or internal (home) network address by means of the listen-address # option. # # Please see the warnings in the FAQ that Privoxy is not intended # to be a substitute for a firewall or to encourage anyone to # defer addressing basic security weaknesses. # # Multiple ACL lines are OK. If any ACLs are specified, Privoxy # only talks to IP addresses that match at least one permit-access # line and don't match any subsequent deny-access line. In other # words, the last match wins, with the default being deny-access. # # If Privoxy is using a forwarder (see forward below) for a # particular destination URL, the dst_addr that is examined is # the address of the forwarder and NOT the address of the ultimate # target. This is necessary because it may be impossible for the # local Privoxy to determine the IP address of the ultimate target # (that's often what gateways are used for). # # You should prefer using IP addresses over DNS names, because # the address lookups take time. All DNS names must resolve! You # can not use domain patterns like "*.org" or partial domain # names. If a DNS name resolves to multiple IP addresses, only # the first one is used. # # Some systems allow IPv4 clients to connect to IPv6 server # sockets. Then the client's IPv4 address will be translated by the # system into IPv6 address space with special prefix ::ffff:0:0/96 # (so called IPv4 mapped IPv6 address). Privoxy can handle it # and maps such ACL addresses automatically. # # Denying access to particular sites by ACL may have undesired # side effects if the site in question is hosted on a machine # which also hosts other sites (most sites are). # # Examples: # # Explicitly define the default behavior if no ACL and # listen-address are set: "localhost" is OK. The absence of a # dst_addr implies that all destination addresses are OK: # # permit-access localhost # # # Allow any host on the same class C subnet as www.privoxy.org # access to nothing but www.example.com (or other domains hosted # on the same system): # # permit-access www.privoxy.org/24 www.example.com/32 # # # Allow access from any host on the 26-bit subnet 192.168.45.64 to # anywhere, with the exception that 192.168.45.73 may not access # the IP address behind www.dirty-stuff.example.com: # # permit-access 192.168.45.64/26 # deny-access 192.168.45.73 www.dirty-stuff.example.com # # Allow access from the IPv4 network 192.0.2.0/24 even if listening # on an IPv6 wild card address (not supported on all platforms): # # permit-access 192.0.2.0/24 # # # This is equivalent to the following line even if listening on # an IPv4 address (not supported on all platforms): # # permit-access [::ffff:192.0.2.0]/120 # # # 4.8. buffer-limit # ================== # # Specifies: # # Maximum size of the buffer for content filtering. # # Type of value: # # Size in Kbytes # # Default value: # # 4096 # # Effect if unset: # # Use a 4MB (4096 KB) limit. # # Notes: # # For content filtering, i.e. the +filter and +deanimate-gif # actions, it is necessary that Privoxy buffers the entire document # body. This can be potentially dangerous, since a server could # just keep sending data indefinitely and wait for your RAM to # exhaust -- with nasty consequences. Hence this option. # # When a document buffer size reaches the buffer-limit, it is # flushed to the client unfiltered and no further attempt to filter # the rest of the document is made. Remember that there may be # multiple threads running, which might require up to buffer-limit # Kbytes each, unless you have enabled "single-threaded" above. # buffer-limit 4096 # # # 5. FORWARDING # ============== # # This feature allows routing of HTTP requests through a chain of # multiple proxies. # # Forwarding can be used to chain Privoxy with a caching proxy to # speed up browsing. Using a parent proxy may also be necessary if # the machine that Privoxy runs on has no direct Internet access. # # Note that parent proxies can severely decrease your privacy # level. For example a parent proxy could add your IP address to the # request headers and if it's a caching proxy it may add the "Etag" # header to revalidation requests again, even though you configured # Privoxy to remove it. It may also ignore Privoxy's header time # randomization and use the original values which could be used by # the server as cookie replacement to track your steps between visits. # # Also specified here are SOCKS proxies. Privoxy supports the SOCKS # 4 and SOCKS 4A protocols. # # # # 5.1. forward # ============= # # Specifies: # # To which parent HTTP proxy specific requests should be routed. # # Type of value: # # target_pattern http_parent[:port] # # where target_pattern is a URL pattern that specifies to which # requests (i.e. URLs) this forward rule shall apply. Use / # to denote "all URLs". http_parent[:port] is the DNS name or # IP address of the parent HTTP proxy through which the requests # should be forwarded, optionally followed by its listening port # (default: 8000). Use a single dot (.) to denote "no forwarding". # # Default value: # # Unset # # Effect if unset: # # Don't use parent HTTP proxies. # # Notes: # # If http_parent is ".", then requests are not forwarded to # another HTTP proxy but are made directly to the web servers. # # http_parent can be a numerical IPv6 address (if RFC 3493 is # implemented). To prevent clashes with the port delimiter, # the whole IP address has to be put into brackets. On the other # hand a target_pattern containing an IPv6 address has to be put # into angle brackets (normal brackets are reserved for regular # expressions already). # # Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the # last match wins. # # Examples: # # Everything goes to an example parent proxy, except SSL on port # 443 (which it doesn't handle): # # forward / parent-proxy.example.org:8080 # forward :443 . # # # Everything goes to our example ISP's caching proxy, except for # requests to that ISP's sites: # # forward / caching-proxy.isp.example.net:8000 # forward .isp.example.net . # # # Parent proxy specified by an IPv6 address: # # forward / [2001:DB8::1]:8000 # # # Suppose your parent proxy doesn't support IPv6: # # forward / parent-proxy.example.org:8000 # forward ipv6-server.example.org . # forward <[2-3][0-9a-f][0-9a-f][0-9a-f]:*> . # # # 5.2. forward-socks4, forward-socks4a and forward-socks5 # ======================================================== # # Specifies: # # Through which SOCKS proxy (and optionally to which parent HTTP # proxy) specific requests should be routed. # # Type of value: # # target_pattern socks_proxy[:port] http_parent[:port] # # where target_pattern is a URL pattern that specifies to which # requests (i.e. URLs) this forward rule shall apply. Use / to # denote "all URLs". http_parent and socks_proxy are IP addresses # in dotted decimal notation or valid DNS names (http_parent may # be "." to denote "no HTTP forwarding"), and the optional port # parameters are TCP ports, i.e. integer values from 1 to 65535 # # Default value: # # Unset # # Effect if unset: # # Don't use SOCKS proxies. # # Notes: # # Multiple lines are OK, they are checked in sequence, and the # last match wins. # # The difference between forward-socks4 and forward-socks4a # is that in the SOCKS 4A protocol, the DNS resolution of the # target hostname happens on the SOCKS server, while in SOCKS 4 # it happens locally. # # With forward-socks5 the DNS resolution will happen on the remote # server as well. # # socks_proxy and http_parent can be a numerical IPv6 address # (if RFC 3493 is implemented). To prevent clashes with the port # delimiter, the whole IP address has to be put into brackets. On # the other hand a target_pattern containing an IPv6 address has # to be put into angle brackets (normal brackets are reserved # for regular expressions already). # # If http_parent is ".", then requests are not forwarded to another # HTTP proxy but are made (HTTP-wise) directly to the web servers, # albeit through a SOCKS proxy. # # Examples: # # From the company example.com, direct connections are made to all # "internal" domains, but everything outbound goes through their # ISP's proxy by way of example.com's corporate SOCKS 4A gateway # to the Internet. # # forward-socks4a / socks-gw.example.com:1080 www-cache.isp.example.net:8080 # forward .example.com . # # # A rule that uses a SOCKS 4 gateway for all destinations but no # HTTP parent looks like this: # # forward-socks4 / socks-gw.example.com:1080 . # # # To chain Privoxy and Tor, both running on the same system, # you would use something like: # # forward-socks5 / 127.0.0.1:9050 . # # # The public Tor network can't be used to reach your local network, # if you need to access local servers you therefore might want # to make some exceptions: # # forward 192.168.*.*/ . # forward 10.*.*.*/ . # forward 127.*.*.*/ . # # # Unencrypted connections to systems in these address ranges will # be as (un) secure as the local network is, but the alternative # is that you can't reach the local network through Privoxy at # all. Of course this may actually be desired and there is no # reason to make these exceptions if you aren't sure you need them. # # If you also want to be able to reach servers in your local # network by using their names, you will need additional exceptions # that look like this: # # forward localhost/ . # # forward-socks5 / torproxy:9050 . # # 5.3. forwarded-connect-retries # =============================== # # Specifies: # # How often Privoxy retries if a forwarded connection request # fails. # # Type of value: # # Number of retries. # # Default value: # # 0 # # Effect if unset: # # Connections forwarded through other proxies are treated like # direct connections and no retry attempts are made. # # Notes: # # forwarded-connect-retries is mainly interesting for socks4a # connections, where Privoxy can't detect why the connections # failed. The connection might have failed because of a DNS timeout # in which case a retry makes sense, but it might also have failed # because the server doesn't exist or isn't reachable. In this # case the retry will just delay the appearance of Privoxy's # error message. # # Note that in the context of this option, "forwarded connections" # includes all connections that Privoxy forwards through other # proxies. This option is not limited to the HTTP CONNECT method. # # Only use this option, if you are getting lots of # forwarding-related error messages that go away when you try again # manually. Start with a small value and check Privoxy's logfile # from time to time, to see how many retries are usually needed. # # Due to a bug, this option currently also causes Privoxy to # retry in case of certain problems with direct connections. # # Examples: # # forwarded-connect-retries 1 # forwarded-connect-retries 0 # # # 6. MISCELLANEOUS # ================= # # 6.1. accept-intercepted-requests # ================================= # # Specifies: # # Whether intercepted requests should be treated as valid. # # Type of value: # # 0 or 1 # # Default value: # # 0 # # Effect if unset: # # Only proxy requests are accepted, intercepted requests are # treated as invalid. # # Notes: # # If you don't trust your clients and want to force them to use # Privoxy, enable this option and configure your packet filter # to redirect outgoing HTTP connections into Privoxy. # # Make sure that Privoxy's own requests aren't redirected as well. # Additionally take care that Privoxy can't intentionally connect # to itself, otherwise you could run into redirection loops if # Privoxy's listening port is reachable by the outside or an # attacker has access to the pages you visit. # # Examples: # # accept-intercepted-requests 1 # accept-intercepted-requests 0 # # # 6.2. allow-cgi-request-crunching # ================================= # # Specifies: # # Whether requests to Privoxy's CGI pages can be blocked or # redirected. # # Type of value: # # 0 or 1 # # Default value: # # 0 # # Effect if unset: # # Privoxy ignores block and redirect actions for its CGI pages. # # Notes: # # By default Privoxy ignores block or redirect actions for # its CGI pages. Intercepting these requests can be useful in # multi-user setups to implement fine-grained access control, # but it can also render the complete web interface useless and # make debugging problems painful if done without care. # # Don't enable this option unless you're sure that you really # need it. # # Examples: # # allow-cgi-request-crunching 1 # allow-cgi-request-crunching 0 # # # 6.3. split-large-forms # ======================= # # Specifies: # # Whether the CGI interface should stay compatible with broken # HTTP clients. # # Type of value: # # 0 or 1 # # Default value: # # 0 # # Effect if unset: # # The CGI form generate long GET URLs. # # Notes: # # Privoxy's CGI forms can lead to rather long URLs. This isn't # a problem as far as the HTTP standard is concerned, but it can # confuse clients with arbitrary URL length limitations. # # Enabling split-large-forms causes Privoxy to divide big forms # into smaller ones to keep the URL length down. It makes editing # a lot less convenient and you can no longer submit all changes # at once, but at least it works around this browser bug. # # If you don't notice any editing problems, there is no reason # to enable this option, but if one of the submit buttons appears # to be broken, you should give it a try. # # Examples: # # split-large-forms 1 # split-large-forms 0 # # # 6.4. keep-alive-timeout # ======================== # # Specifies: # # Number of seconds after which an open connection will no longer # be reused. # # Type of value: # # Time in seconds. # # Default value: # # None # # Effect if unset: # # Connections are not kept alive. # # Notes: # # This option allows clients to keep the connection to Privoxy # alive. If the server supports it, Privoxy will keep the # connection to the server alive as well. Under certain # circumstances this may result in speed-ups. # # By default, Privoxy will close the connection to the server if # the client connection gets closed, or if the specified timeout # has been reached without a new request coming in. This behaviour # can be changed with the connection-sharing option. # # This option has no effect if Privoxy has been compiled without # keep-alive support. # # Note that a timeout of five seconds as used in the default # configuration file significantly decreases the number of # connections that will be reused. The value is used because some # browsers limit the number of connections they open to a single # host and apply the same limit to proxies. This can result in a # single website "grabbing" all the connections the browser allows, # which means connections to other websites can't be opened until # the connections currently in use time out. # # Several users have reported this as a Privoxy bug, so the default # value has been reduced. Consider increasing it to 300 seconds # or even more if you think your browser can handle it. If your # browser appears to be hanging it can't. # # Examples: # # keep-alive-timeout 300 # keep-alive-timeout 5 # # # 6.5. default-server-timeout # ============================ # # Specifies: # # Assumed server-side keep-alive timeout if not specified by # the server. # # Type of value: # # Time in seconds. # # Default value: # # None # # Effect if unset: # # Connections for which the server didn't specify the keep-alive # timeout are not reused. # # Notes: # # Enabling this option significantly increases the number of # connections that are reused, provided the keep-alive-timeout # option is also enabled. # # While it also increases the number of connections problems when # Privoxy tries to reuse a connection that already has been closed # on the server side, or is closed while Privoxy is trying to # reuse it, this should only be a problem if it happens for the # first request sent by the client. If it happens for requests # on reused client connections, Privoxy will simply close the # connection and the client is supposed to retry the request # without bothering the user. # # Enabling this option is therefore only recommended if the # connection-sharing option is disabled. # # It is an error to specify a value larger than the # keep-alive-timeout value. # # This option has no effect if Privoxy has been compiled without # keep-alive support. # # Examples: # # default-server-timeout 60 # #default-server-timeout 60 # # # 6.6. connection-sharing # ======================== # # Specifies: # # Whether or not outgoing connections that have been kept alive # should be shared between different incoming connections. # # Type of value: # # 0 or 1 # # Default value: # # None # # Effect if unset: # # Connections are not shared. # # Notes: # # This option has no effect if Privoxy has been compiled without # keep-alive support, or if it's disabled. # # Notes: # # Note that reusing connections doesn't necessary cause # speedups. There are also a few privacy implications you should # be aware of. # # If this option is effective, outgoing connections are shared # between clients (if there are more than one) and closing the # browser that initiated the outgoing connection does no longer # affect the connection between Privoxy and the server unless # the client's request hasn't been completed yet. # # If the outgoing connection is idle, it will not be closed until # either Privoxy's or the server's timeout is reached. While # it's open, the server knows that the system running Privoxy is # still there. # # If there are more than one client (maybe even belonging to # multiple users), they will be able to reuse each others # connections. This is potentially dangerous in case of # authentication schemes like NTLM where only the connection # is authenticated, instead of requiring authentication for # each request. # # If there is only a single client, and if said client can keep # connections alive on its own, enabling this option has next to # no effect. If the client doesn't support connection keep-alive, # enabling this option may make sense as it allows Privoxy to keep # outgoing connections alive even if the client itself doesn't # support it. # # You should also be aware that enabling this option increases # the likelihood of getting the "No server or forwarder data" # error message, especially if you are using a slow connection # to the Internet. # # This option should only be used by experienced users who # understand the risks and can weight them against the benefits. # # Examples: # # connection-sharing 1 # #connection-sharing 1 # # # 6.7. socket-timeout # ==================== # # Specifies: # # Number of seconds after which a socket times out if no data # is received. # # Type of value: # # Time in seconds. # # Default value: # # None # # Effect if unset: # # A default value of 300 seconds is used. # # Notes: # # For SOCKS requests the timeout currently doesn't start until # the SOCKS server accepted the request. This will be fixed in # the next release. # # Examples: # # socket-timeout 300 # socket-timeout 300 # # # 6.8. max-client-connections # ============================ # # Specifies: # # Maximum number of client connections that will be served. # # Type of value: # # Positive number. # # Default value: # # None # # Effect if unset: # # Connections are served until a resource limit is reached. # # Notes: # # Privoxy creates one thread (or process) for every incoming # client connection that isn't rejected based on the access # control settings. # # If the system is powerful enough, Privoxy can theoretically deal # with several hundred (or thousand) connections at the same time, # but some operating systems enforce resource limits by shutting # down offending processes and their default limits may be below # the ones Privoxy would require under heavy load. # # Configuring Privoxy to enforce a connection limit below the # thread or process limit used by the operating system makes # sure this doesn't happen. Simply increasing the operating # system's limit would work too, but if Privoxy isn't the only # application running on the system, you may actually want to # limit the resources used by Privoxy. # # If Privoxy is only used by a single trusted user, limiting the # number of client connections is probably unnecessary. If there # are multiple possibly untrusted users you probably still want # to additionally use a packet filter to limit the maximal number # of incoming connections per client. Otherwise a malicious user # could intentionally create a high number of connections to # prevent other users from using Privoxy. # # Obviously using this option only makes sense if you choose a # limit below the one enforced by the operating system. # # Examples: # # max-client-connections 256 # #max-client-connections 256 # # 6.9. handle-as-empty-doc-returns-ok # ==================================== # # Specifies: # # The status code Privoxy returns for pages blocked with # +handle-as-empty-document. # # Type of value: # # 0 or 1 # # Default value: # # 0 # # Effect if unset: # # Privoxy returns a status 403(forbidden) for all blocked pages. # # Effect if set: # # Privoxy returns a status 200(OK) for pages blocked with # +handle-as-empty-document and a status 403(Forbidden) for all # other blocked pages. # # Notes: # # This is a work-around for Firefox bug 492459: " Websites are no # longer rendered if SSL requests for JavaScripts are blocked by a # proxy. " (https:/ /bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=492459) # As the bug has been fixed for quite some time this option # should no longer be needed and will be removed in a future # release. Please speak up if you have a reason why the option # should be kept around. # #handle-as-empty-doc-returns-ok 1 # # # 1.6.10. enable-compression # # Specifies: # # Whether or not buffered content is compressed before delivery. # # Type of value: # # 0 or 1 # # Default value: # # 0 # # Effect if unset: # # Privoxy does not compress buffered content. # # Effect if set: # # Privoxy compresses buffered content before delivering it to # the client, provided the client supports it. # # Notes: # # This directive is only supported if Privoxy has been compiled # with FEATURE_COMPRESSION, which should not to be confused # with FEATURE_ZLIB. # # Compressing buffered content is mainly useful if Privoxy and the # client are running on different systems. If they are running on # the same system, enabling compression is likely to slow things # down. If you didn't measure otherwise, you should assume that # it does and keep this option disabled. # # Privoxy will not compress buffered content below a certain # length. # #enable-compression 1 # # # 1.6.11. compression-level # # Specifies: # # The compression level that is passed to the zlib library when # compressing buffered content. # # Type of value: # # Positive number ranging from 0 to 9. # # Default value: # # 1 # # Notes: # # Compressing the data more takes usually longer than compressing # it less or not compressing it at all. Which level is best # depends on the connection between Privoxy and the client. If # you can't be bothered to benchmark it for yourself, you should # stick with the default and keep compression disabled. # # If compression is disabled, the compression level is irrelevant. # # Examples: # # # Best speed (compared to the other levels) # compression-level 1 # # # Best compression # compression-level 9 # # # No compression. Only useful for testing as the added header # # slightly increases the amount of data that has to be sent. # # If your benchmark shows that using this compression level # # is superior to using no compression at all, the benchmark # # is likely to be flawed. # compression-level 0 # # #compression-level 1 # # # 7. WINDOWS GUI OPTIONS # ======================= # # Privoxy has a number of options specific to the Windows GUI # interface: # # # If "activity-animation" is set to 1, the Privoxy icon will animate # when "Privoxy" is active. To turn off, set to 0. # #activity-animation 1 # # If "log-messages" is set to 1, Privoxy will log messages to the # console window: # #log-messages 1 # # If "log-buffer-size" is set to 1, the size of the log buffer, # i.e. the amount of memory used for the log messages displayed in # the console window, will be limited to "log-max-lines" (see below). # # Warning: Setting this to 0 will result in the buffer to grow # infinitely and eat up all your memory! # #log-buffer-size 1 # # log-max-lines is the maximum number of lines held in the log # buffer. See above. # #log-max-lines 200 # # If "log-highlight-messages" is set to 1, Privoxy will highlight # portions of the log messages with a bold-faced font: # #log-highlight-messages 1 # # The font used in the console window: # #log-font-name Comic Sans MS # # Font size used in the console window: # #log-font-size 8 # # "show-on-task-bar" controls whether or not Privoxy will appear as # a button on the Task bar when minimized: # #show-on-task-bar 0 # # If "close-button-minimizes" is set to 1, the Windows close button # will minimize Privoxy instead of closing the program (close with # the exit option on the File menu). # #close-button-minimizes 1 # # The "hide-console" option is specific to the MS-Win console version # of Privoxy. If this option is used, Privoxy will disconnect from # and hide the command console. # #hide-console # #