EasyList for Privoxy?

Discussion related to extensions like Extension Auto-Installer or Google Search link fix.
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ABP2P

EasyList for Privoxy?

Post by ABP2P »

I was wondering about the odds of ever seeing an official release of EasyList for Privoxy.

Various scripts and tools exist for end users to convert AdBlock Plus filter lists to privoxy config files. However, most of these have not been updated in a long time, are difficult to compile or simply do not work.

Since Privoxy is probably the best known approach to removing ads network wide on the server side (which is great for all mobile devices which have problems with running AdBlock Plus), offical Privoxy support and the provision of Privoxy config files by the EasyList maintainers would be much appreciated.

I can only assume that it would be much easier for the EasyList maintainers to provide Privoxy config files than it is for the multidude of Privoxy users to convert EasyList AdBlock filter lists individually on a variey of systems. Since Privoxy config files are simple text files, official EasyList filters for Privoxy could be used across system boundaries with no issues. The EasyList maintainers would have the advantage of being able to chose the most suitable system for an AdBlock Plus to Privoxy file conversion and could provide an outcome that perfectly suits all systems running Privoxy. This would be a great service to all fans of the EasyList filter lists who long for using them with Privoxy.

I do not know, however, how closely the EasyList (and other AdBlock filter list) maintainers are affiliated with AdBlock Plus and whether there is a commercial interest in exclusively supporting AdBlock Plus. It would be interesting to know, if this is the case, or whether there are other things that stand in the way of official EasyList filter lists for Privoxy.

Have the EasyList maintainers ever considered this and maybe been in contact with some of the people who offer conversion tools, such as the creator of adblock2privoxy?

Looking forward to your comments on this subject,
an avid user of ABP and EasyList
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mapx
Posts: 21940
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 2:01 pm

Re: EasyList for Privoxy?

Post by mapx »

It would be better to ask directly to easylist support forum: http://forums.lanik.us/
lewisje
Posts: 2743
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:07 pm

Re: EasyList for Privoxy?

Post by lewisje »

FTR the maintainers of EasyList do auto-generate Tracking Protection Lists (TPLs) for IE9 and above, supporting the limited capabilities of TPLs as well as they can; it's not a matter of "commercial interest" but of the added resources involved in auto-generating yet another filter format. I'm thinking that someone else should step up to provide the script.action and script.filter files on the Web, and if it proves viable, maybe the EasyList maintainers will do it too; this sort of thing is what happened with TPLs shortly after they were introduced in IE9 Beta.
There's a buzzin' in my brain I really can't explain; I think about it before they make me go to bed.
ABP2P

Re: EasyList for Privoxy?

Post by ABP2P »

mapx wrote:It would be better to ask directly to easylist support forum: http://forums.lanik.us/
Thanks for the link, I will do that.
lewisje wrote:I'm thinking that someone else should step up to provide the script.action and script.filter files on the Web, and if it proves viable, maybe the EasyList maintainers will do it too;
The problem I see here, is that various people who developed scripts and tools to convert EasyList filters to Privoxy files also started out releasing the resulting Privoxy files on a regular basis, but then lost interest and stopped doing that. I get why this happens. These people write a conversion tool or script, but whatever makes them do that is not necessarily an incentive to provide a regular copy of the converted files, particularly if you are otherwise not involved with maintaining EasyList. Maintaing the filter files and releasing them on a regular basis is a somewhat different task and requires a distinct motivation.

I believe that converting the files at the source makes more sence than having end users convert them on a variety of systems (which is way more complicated, while the resulting files are actually cross-system compatible), but I also see the issue of added effort for the EasyList maintainers.

This is why I thought that establishing a contact between one or some of the people who have been working on conversion tools or scripts and the EasyList maintainers might result in an outcome that allows the EasyList maintainers to create a Privoxy copy of their list with the least possible effort, while the developers of the respective conversion tool get the most out of their work as well.

If the EasyList maintainers were provided with a working conversion tool that allowed for an easy creation of EasyList for Privoxy, they would probably be people most likely to not give up on providing an updated filter file.
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