PRIVOXY(8) PRIVOXY(8)
NAME
privoxy - Privacy Enhancing Proxy
SYNOPSIS
privoxy [--chroot ] [--config-test ] [--help ] [--no-daemon ] [--pid-
file pidfile ] [--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname ] [--user user[.group] ]
[--version ] [configfile ]
OPTIONS
Privoxy may be invoked with the following command line options:
--chroot
Before changing to the user ID given in the --user option, ch-
root to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend
to the Privoxy process that the directory tree starts there. If
set up carefully, this can limit the impact of possible vulnera-
bilities in Privoxy to the files contained in that hierarchy.
--config-test
Exit after loading the configuration files before binding to the
listen address. The exit code signals whether or not the config-
uration files have been successfully loaded.
If the exit code is 1, at least one of the configuration files
is invalid, if it is 0, all the configuration files have been
successfully loaded (but may still contain errors that can cur-
rently only be detected at run time).
This option doesn't affect the log setting, combination with
"--no-daemon" is recommended if a configured log file shouldn't
be used.
--help Print brief usage info and exit.
--no-daemon
Don't become a daemon, i.e. don't fork and become process
group leader, don't detach from controlling tty, and do all log-
ging there.
--pidfile pidfile
On startup, write the process ID to pidfile. Delete the pidfile
on exit. Failure to create or delete the pidfile is non-fatal.
If no --pidfile option is given, no PID file will be used.
--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname
Initialize the resolver library using hostname before ch-
root'ing. On some systems this reduces the number of files that
must be copied into the chroot tree.
--user user[.group]
After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user ID of
user and the GID of group, or, if the optional group was not
given, the default group of user. Exit if the privileges are not
sufficient to do so.
--version
Print version info and exit.
If the configfile is not specified on the command line, Privoxy
will look for a file named config in the current directory. If no con-
figfile is found, Privoxy will fail to start.
DESCRIPTION
Privoxy is a non-caching web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities
for enhancing privacy, modifying web page data and HTTP headers, con-
trolling access, and removing ads and other obnoxious Internet junk.
Privoxy has a flexible configuration and can be customized to suit in-
dividual needs and tastes. It has application for both stand-alone
systems and multi-user networks.
Privoxy is Free Software and licensed under the GNU GPLv2 or later.
Privoxy is an associated project of Software in the Public Interest
(SPI).
Helping hands and donations are welcome:
• https://www.privoxy.org/participate
• https://www.privoxy.org/donate
INSTALLATION AND USAGE
Browsers can either be individually configured to use Privoxy as a HTTP
proxy (recommended), or Privoxy can be combined with a packet filter to
build an intercepting proxy (see config). The default setting is for
localhost, on port 8118 (configurable in the main config file). To
set the HTTP proxy in Firefox, go through: Tools; Options; General;
Connection Settings; Manual Proxy Configuration.
For Internet Explorer, go through: Tools; Internet Properties; Connec-
tions; LAN Settings.
The Secure (SSL) Proxy should also be set to the same values, otherwise
https: URLs will not be proxied. Note: Privoxy can only proxy HTTP and
HTTPS traffic. Do not try it with FTP or other protocols. HTTPS
presents some limitations, and not all features will work with HTTPS
connections.
For other browsers, check the documentation.
CONFIGURATION
Privoxy can be configured with the various configuration files. The de-
fault configuration files are: config, default.filter, default.action
and default.action. user.action should be used for locally defined ex-
ceptions to the default rules in match-all.action and default.action,
and user.filter for locally defined filters. These are well commented.
On Unix and Unix-like systems, these are located in /etc/privoxy/ by
default.
Privoxy uses the concept of actions in order to manipulate the data
stream between the browser and remote sites. There are various actions
available with specific functions for such things as blocking web
sites, managing cookies, etc. These actions can be invoked individually
or combined, and used against individual URLs, or groups of URLs that
can be defined using wildcards and regular expressions. The result is
that the user has greatly enhanced control and freedom.
The actions list (ad blocks, etc) can also be configured with your web
browser at http://config.privoxy.org/ (assuming the configuration al-
lows it). Privoxy's configuration parameters can also be viewed at
the same page. In addition, Privoxy can be toggled on/off. This is an
internal page, and does not require Internet access.
See the User Manual for a detailed explanation of installation, general
usage, all configuration options, new features and notes on upgrading.
FILES
/usr/sbin/privoxy
/etc/privoxy/config
/etc/privoxy/match-all.action
/etc/privoxy/default.action
/etc/privoxy/user.action
/etc/privoxy/default.filter
/etc/privoxy/user.filter
/etc/privoxy/trust
/etc/privoxy/templates/*
/var/log/privoxy/logfile
Various other files should be included, but may vary depending on plat-
form and build configuration. Additional documentation should be in-
cluded in the local documentation directory.
SIGNALS
Privoxy terminates on the SIGINT and SIGTERM signals. Log rotation
scripts may cause a re-opening of the logfile by sending a SIGHUP to
Privoxy. Note that unlike other daemons, Privoxy does not need to be
made aware of config file changes by SIGHUP -- it will detect them au-
tomatically. Signals other than the ones listed above aren't explicitly
handled and result in the default action defined by the operating sys-
tem.
NOTES
Please see the User Manual on how to contact the developers, for fea-
ture requests, reporting problems, and other questions.
SEE ALSO
Other references and sites of interest to Privoxy users:
https://www.privoxy.org/, the Privoxy Home page.
https://www.privoxy.org/faq/, the Privoxy FAQ.
https://www.privoxy.org/developer-manual/, the Privoxy developer man-
ual.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/, the Project Page for Privoxy
on SourceForge.
http://config.privoxy.org/, the web-based user interface. Privoxy must
be running for this to work. Shortcut: http://p.p/
https://sourceforge.net/p/ijbswa/actionsfile-feedback/, to submit
``misses'' and other configuration related suggestions to the develop-
ers.
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Fabian Keil, lead developer
David Schmidt
Lee Rian
Roland Rosenfeld
Ian Silvester
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2001-2021 by Privoxy Developers <privoxy-de-
vel@lists.privoxy.org>
Some source code is based on code Copyright (C) 1997 by Anonymous
Coders and Junkbusters, Inc.
LICENSE
Privoxy is free software; you can redistribute and/or modify its source
code under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 2 of the license, or (at
your option) any later version.
The same is true for Privoxy binaries unless they are linked with a
mbed TLS version that is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license in which
case you can redistribute and/or modify the Privoxy binaries under the
terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Soft-
ware Foundation, either version 3 of the license, or (at your option)
any later version.
Privoxy is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the license for details.
Privoxy 3.0.33 2012-11-08 PRIVOXY(8)
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