Ubuntu Manpage: privoxy - Privacy Enhancing Proxy

Provided by: privoxy_3.0.34-3ubuntu2_amd64

NAME

       privoxy - Privacy Enhancing Proxy

SYNOPSIS

       privoxy [--chroot ] [--config-test ] [--help ] [--no-daemon ] [--pidfile 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, chroot 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 vulnerabilities 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 configuration 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 currently
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 logging 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 chroot'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 configfile 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, controlling access, and removing ads and other obnoxious  Internet  junk.
       Privoxy  has  a flexible configuration and can be customized to suit individual 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; Connections; 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 default configuration files are:
config, default.filter, default.action and default.action. user.action should be used for locally defined
exceptions 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 allows 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 platform and build configuration.
       Additional documentation should be included 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 automatically. Signals other than the  ones
       listed above aren't explicitly handled and result in the default action defined by the operating system.

NOTES

       Please  see  the  User Manual on how to contact the developers, for feature requests, reporting problems,
       and other questions.

DEVELOPMENT TEAM

        Fabian Keil, lead developer
        David Schmidt
        Lee Rian
        Roland Rosenfeld
        Ian Silvester

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

   COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2001-2023 by Privoxy Developers <privoxy-devel@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 or OpenSSL 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 Software  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.