1PRIVOXY(8)                                                          PRIVOXY(8)
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3
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NAME

6       privoxy - Privacy Enhancing Proxy
7

SYNOPSIS

9       privoxy  [--chroot  ] [--config-test ] [--help ] [--no-daemon ] [--pid‐
10       file pidfile ] [--pre-chroot-nslookup hostname ] [--user user[.group] ]
11       [--version ] [configfile ]
12
13

OPTIONS

15       Privoxy may be invoked with the following command line options:
16
17       --chroot
18              Before  changing  to the user ID given in the --user option, ch‐
19              root to that user's home directory, i.e. make the kernel pretend
20              to  the Privoxy process that the directory tree starts there. If
21              set up carefully, this can limit the impact of possible vulnera‐
22              bilities in Privoxy to the files contained in that hierarchy.
23
24       --config-test
25              Exit after loading the configuration files before binding to the
26              listen address. The exit code signals whether or not the config‐
27              uration files have been successfully loaded.
28
29              If  the  exit code is 1, at least one of the configuration files
30              is invalid, if it is 0, all the configuration  files  have  been
31              successfully  loaded (but may still contain errors that can cur‐
32              rently only be detected at run time).
33
34              This option doesn't affect the  log  setting,  combination  with
35              "--no-daemon"  is recommended if a configured log file shouldn't
36              be used.
37
38       --help Print brief usage info and exit.
39
40       --no-daemon
41              Don't  become  a daemon, i.e.  don't  fork  and  become  process
42              group leader, don't detach from controlling tty, and do all log‐
43              ging there.
44
45       --pidfile pidfile
46              On startup, write the process ID to pidfile.  Delete the pidfile
47              on  exit.  Failure to create or delete the pidfile is non-fatal.
48              If no --pidfile option is given, no PID file will be used.
49
50       --pre-chroot-nslookup hostname
51              Initialize  the  resolver  library  using  hostname  before  ch‐
52              root'ing.  On some systems this reduces the number of files that
53              must be copied into the chroot tree.
54
55       --user user[.group]
56              After (optionally) writing the PID file, assume the user  ID  of
57              user  and  the  GID  of group, or, if the optional group was not
58              given, the default group of user. Exit if the privileges are not
59              sufficient to do so.
60
61       --version
62              Print version info and exit.
63
64       If  the  configfile  is  not  specified on  the  command  line, Privoxy
65       will  look for a file named config in the current directory. If no con‐
66       figfile is found, Privoxy will fail to start.
67

DESCRIPTION

69       Privoxy is a non-caching web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities
70       for enhancing privacy, modifying web page data and HTTP  headers,  con‐
71       trolling  access,  and  removing ads and other obnoxious Internet junk.
72       Privoxy has a flexible configuration and can be customized to suit  in‐
73       dividual  needs  and  tastes.   It has application for both stand-alone
74       systems and multi-user networks.
75
76       Privoxy is Free Software and licensed under the GNU GPLv2 or later.
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78       Privoxy is an associated project of Software  in  the  Public  Interest
79       (SPI).
80
81       Helping hands and donations are welcome:
82
83https://www.privoxy.org/participate
84
85https://www.privoxy.org/donate
86

INSTALLATION AND USAGE

88       Browsers can either be individually configured to use Privoxy as a HTTP
89       proxy (recommended), or Privoxy can be combined with a packet filter to
90       build  an intercepting proxy (see config).  The default setting is  for
91       localhost,  on port  8118 (configurable in the main config  file).   To
92       set  the  HTTP  proxy  in Firefox, go through: Tools; Options; General;
93       Connection Settings; Manual Proxy Configuration.
94
95       For Internet Explorer, go through: Tools; Internet Properties;  Connec‐
96       tions; LAN Settings.
97
98       The Secure (SSL) Proxy should also be set to the same values, otherwise
99       https: URLs will not be proxied. Note: Privoxy can only proxy HTTP  and
100       HTTPS  traffic.  Do  not  try  it  with  FTP or other protocols.  HTTPS
101       presents some limitations, and not all features will  work  with  HTTPS
102       connections.
103
104       For other browsers, check the documentation.
105

CONFIGURATION

107       Privoxy can be configured with the various configuration files. The de‐
108       fault configuration files are: config,  default.filter,  default.action
109       and  default.action. user.action should be used for locally defined ex‐
110       ceptions to the default rules in match-all.action  and  default.action,
111       and  user.filter for locally defined filters. These are well commented.
112       On Unix and Unix-like systems, these are located  in  /etc/privoxy/  by
113       default.
114
115       Privoxy  uses  the  concept  of actions in order to manipulate the data
116       stream between the browser and remote sites.  There are various actions
117       available  with  specific  functions  for  such  things as blocking web
118       sites, managing cookies, etc. These actions can be invoked individually
119       or  combined,  and used against individual URLs, or groups of URLs that
120       can be defined using wildcards and regular expressions. The  result  is
121       that the user has greatly enhanced control and freedom.
122
123       The  actions list (ad blocks, etc) can also be configured with your web
124       browser at http://config.privoxy.org/ (assuming the  configuration  al‐
125       lows  it).   Privoxy's configuration parameters  can also  be viewed at
126       the same page. In addition, Privoxy can be toggled on/off.  This is  an
127       internal page, and does not require Internet access.
128
129       See the User Manual for a detailed explanation of installation, general
130       usage, all configuration options, new features and notes on upgrading.
131

FILES

133        /usr/sbin/privoxy
134        /etc/privoxy/config
135        /etc/privoxy/match-all.action
136        /etc/privoxy/default.action
137        /etc/privoxy/user.action
138        /etc/privoxy/default.filter
139        /etc/privoxy/user.filter
140        /etc/privoxy/trust
141        /etc/privoxy/templates/*
142        /var/log/privoxy/logfile
143
144       Various other files should be included, but may vary depending on plat‐
145       form  and  build  configuration. Additional documentation should be in‐
146       cluded in the local documentation directory.
147

SIGNALS

149       Privoxy terminates on the SIGINT  and  SIGTERM  signals.  Log  rotation
150       scripts  may  cause  a re-opening of the logfile by sending a SIGHUP to
151       Privoxy. Note that unlike other daemons,  Privoxy does not need  to  be
152       made  aware of config file changes by SIGHUP -- it will detect them au‐
153       tomatically. Signals other than the ones listed above aren't explicitly
154       handled  and result in the default action defined by the operating sys‐
155       tem.
156

NOTES

158       Please see the User Manual on how to contact the developers,  for  fea‐
159       ture requests, reporting problems, and other questions.
160

SEE ALSO

162       Other references and sites of interest to Privoxy users:
163
164       https://www.privoxy.org/, the Privoxy Home page.
165
166       https://www.privoxy.org/faq/, the Privoxy FAQ.
167
168       https://www.privoxy.org/developer-manual/,  the  Privoxy developer man‐
169       ual.
170
171       https://sourceforge.net/projects/ijbswa/, the Project Page for  Privoxy
172       on SourceForge.
173
174       http://config.privoxy.org/,  the web-based user interface. Privoxy must
175       be running for this to work. Shortcut: http://p.p/
176
177       https://sourceforge.net/p/ijbswa/actionsfile-feedback/,    to    submit
178       ``misses''  and other configuration related suggestions to the develop‐
179       ers.
180

DEVELOPMENT TEAM

182        Fabian Keil, lead developer
183        David Schmidt
184        Lee Rian
185        Roland Rosenfeld
186        Ian Silvester
187
189   COPYRIGHT
190       Copyright   (C)   2001-2023   by   Privoxy   Developers    <privoxy-de‐
191       vel@lists.privoxy.org>
192
193       Some  source  code  is  based  on  code Copyright (C) 1997 by Anonymous
194       Coders and Junkbusters, Inc.
195
196   LICENSE
197       Privoxy is free software; you can redistribute and/or modify its source
198       code  under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
199       the Free Software Foundation, either version 2 of the license,  or  (at
200       your option) any later version.
201
202       The  same  is  true  for Privoxy binaries unless they are linked with a
203       mbed TLS or OpenSSL version that is licensed under the Apache  2.0  li‐
204       cense  in which case you can redistribute and/or modify the Privoxy bi‐
205       naries under the terms of the GNU General Public License  as  published
206       by  the  Free  Software Foundation, either version 3 of the license, or
207       (at your option) any later version.
208
209       Privoxy is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but  WITHOUT
210       ANY  WARRANTY;  without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
211       FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the  license for details.
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215Privoxy 3.0.34                 05 February 2023                     PRIVOXY(8)
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