Arch Linux

bovis

Member

Registered: 2009-01-25

Posts: 22

[SOLVED] privoxy trouble

Arch linux kernel 2.6.30 i686

I have recently installed privoxy. When I try to run it I get this error:

$ /usr/local/sbin/privoxy
Aug 10 00:47:59.955 Privoxy(b7efa6c0) Info: Privoxy version 3.0.8
Aug 10 00:47:59.955 Privoxy(b7efa6c0) Info: Program name: /usr/local/sbin/privoxy
Aug 10 00:47:59.967 Privoxy(b7efa6c0) Info: No logfile configured. Please enable it before reporting any problems.

I do not know how to enable the logfile. By default, there is no logfile in the directory /var/log/privoxy, where the config file says the the logs will be stored. Creating a blank file, "logfile," does not work.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

Last edited by bovis (2009-08-14 02:59:08)

Nezmer

Member

Registered: 2008-10-24

Posts: 559

Website

Re: [SOLVED] privoxy trouble

Arch linux kernel 2.6.30 i686

I have recently installed privoxy. When I try to run it I get this error:

$ /usr/local/sbin/privoxy
Aug 10 00:47:59.955 Privoxy(b7efa6c0) Info: Privoxy version 3.0.8
Aug 10 00:47:59.955 Privoxy(b7efa6c0) Info: Program name: /usr/local/sbin/privoxy
Aug 10 00:47:59.967 Privoxy(b7efa6c0) Info: No logfile configured. Please enable it before reporting any problems.

I do not know how to enable the logfile. By default, there is no logfile in the directory /var/log/privoxy, where the config file says the the logs will be stored. Creating a blank file, "logfile," does not work.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

Did you build from source or something ? you know there is an offiical package with a daemon and all , right ?

1) the binary in the official package points to "/usr/sbin/privoxy" .
2) the official package version is 3.0.12-2 .

Install the official package . Check out "/etc/privoxy/config" (you should at least look at the "listen-address" line " . Finally , start the daemon .

---

English is not my native language .

bovis

Member

Registered: 2009-01-25

Posts: 22

Re: [SOLVED] privoxy trouble

Yes, I did build from source. This same error occured when I downloaded the package from the arch repos. I thought that the source may do the trick, but it did not.

The listen address line is as follows:

listen-address  127.0.0.1:8118

jwwolf

Member

Registered: 2009-06-29

Posts: 74

Re: [SOLVED] privoxy trouble

Make sure "logdir" and "logfile" are specified

Example in privoxy's "config".

logdir /var/log/privoxy
logfile privoxy.log

bovis

Member

Registered: 2009-01-25

Posts: 22

Re: [SOLVED] privoxy trouble

I changed the config file and specified the logfile, like you recommended. The program found the file, but would not continue running. The command line is as follows:

$ /usr/local/sbin/privoxy
Aug 11 23:52:14.017 Privoxy(b7f0e6c0) Info: Privoxy version 3.0.8
Aug 11 23:52:14.018 Privoxy(b7f0e6c0) Info: Program name: /usr/local/sbin/privoxy
Aug 11 23:52:14.018 Privoxy(b7f0e6c0) Info: (Re-)Opening logfile '/home/bovis/.privoxy/log/logfile'
$

It just stops, for some reason. No error.

Also, I noticed that in the install instructions they have written:

Privoxy keeps a log file of everything passed through it. In order to stop this you will need to comment out three lines by inserting a # before the line. The three lines are:
logfile logfile
and the line
jarfile jarfile
and (on some systems) the line
debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request

This is why I had not specified the logfile. If either the logfile or logdir are commented out, I get the original error.

jwwolf

Member

Registered: 2009-06-29

Posts: 74

Re: [SOLVED] privoxy trouble

Just noticed you are running 3.0.8.The latest stable is 3.0.12(it's in /extra).I'd suggest updating to the latest  stable version first.
Your orginal error was that the logfile could not be written to.Something else must be wrong since it is not starting after you specified the logfile.You will need to have the logfile to figure out what is wrong.
Is there any particular reason you need to have it in your /home instead of /var/log? Do you have privoxy running as a seperate user with seperate permissions or are you just running it as your "bovis" user? Make sure which ever account you have privoxy setup to run from has the proper permissions to read/write(example the logfile)
try

/etc/rc.d/privoxy start

This will start privoxy as a daemon.

bovis

Member

Registered: 2009-01-25

Posts: 22

Re: [SOLVED] privoxy trouble

When I run the /etc/rc.d command I receive this fun info:

$ /etc/rc.d/privoxy stop
:: Stopping Privoxy                                                      [DONE]
$ /etc/rc.d/privoxy start
:: Starting Privoxy                                                      [FAIL]

However,

sudo /etc/rc.d/privoxy

results in [DONE]. And the website assures me that I am using tor correctly. I don't think it is a good idea to start privoxy as a root user, though. Is it OK to change the init script permissions? Should I keep the owner as ROOT and just change the group to one that my user is in?

Last edited by bovis (2009-08-12 06:19:35)

Nezmer

Member

Registered: 2008-10-24

Posts: 559

Website

Re: [SOLVED] privoxy trouble

I don't think it is a good idea to start privoxy as a root user?

It's not running as root . You seem not familiar with how most daemons work and how they drop privileges after they start .

Try this :

ps aux | grep privoxy

or this

echo the user is `ps aux | grep privoxy | awk -F' ' '{print $1}'`

Last edited by Nezmer (2009-08-12 11:21:59)

---

English is not my native language .

Skripka

Member

From: 2X1280X1024

Registered: 2009-02-19

Posts: 555

Re: [SOLVED] privoxy trouble

I don't think it is a good idea to start privoxy as a root user?

It's not running as root . You seem not familiar with how most daemons work and how they drop privileges after they start .

Bingo.

Just add Privoxy to your daemons array in /etc/rc.conf and don't sweat it.

bovis

Member

Registered: 2009-01-25

Posts: 22

Re: [SOLVED] privoxy trouble

Thanks a bunch.

And for future reference, do all deamons drop root privileges by default?