Introduction

This module helps you to configure the SquidGuard filter for the Squid Proxy/Cache Server. It supports all configuration sections and statements of SquidGuard (it does not care about else statements though). It has a nice setup wizard that helps you with the initial configuration of SquidGuard and it can "arm" your Squid so that it actually uses SquidGuard as its redirect program.

This software has been sponsored by Swell Tech. That's what George calls "commercial OpenSource Software" in issue 28 of the Brave GNU World column.

I bet some of you now say: A filter, that's the first instance of censorship. Why does this idiot write a module for that!
I understand that and partly you are right. That was also the first thing I thought about when I was asked to write this module. BUT: The SquidGuard filter is intended to (grabbed from the SquidGuard Intro page):

• limit the web access for some users to a list of accepted/well known web servers and/or URLs only
• block access to some listed or blacklisted web servers and/or URLs for some users.
• block access to URLs matching a list of regular expressions or words for some users.
• enforce the use of domainnames/prohibit the use of IP address in URLs.
• redirect blocked URLs to an "intelligent" CGI based info page.
• redirect unregistered user to a registration form.
• redirect popular downloads like Netscape, MSIE etc. to local copies.
• redirect banners to an empty GIF.
• have different access rules based on time of day, day of the week, date etc.
• have different rules for different user groups.

It is not intended to

• filter/censor/edit text inside documents
• filter/censor/edit embeded scripting languages like JavaScript or VBscript inside HTML

But now someone could prohibit access to www.political-competitor.tld. That's true. But: It is to the people not to allow their political leaders/their government censorship.
It's fairly not a problem to have a filter for URLs, domains etc. in the OpenSource community since a policical suppressor would not need us to write one...

There is still the question, what to we need a filter for, if not for censorship?
I think in the modern internet world many children will start early using the World Wide Web. Many pupils in really early grades learn to use the Internet to get information. And I guess you know what content the first site the pupils will surf to, when the teacher turns around, would have... And here it is perfectly right to limit the URLs the children can surf to (or give a list with explicitly allowed URLs. This is what my parents told me to do for my little brother Jan. He can now surf whenever I'm online to the URLs I "opened" for him.).

And that is what the intention for this module was: Schools have a need for a filter. And as many teachers are not high tech gurus as us ;-) they need a little bit of help in the configuration of the filter. That is where my module comes in.

Try it out and send me reports via email!

Note: As many users write: This software is often used in commercial environments, meaning that companies restrict internet access so that no porn/hacking etc. sites can be viewed. So if you use this software in your company maybe you can donate a buck or two. That would help me a lot to finance university! Your donations is understood as a gift and not as a payment for software or service!

Screenshots

Module Index List of sourcegroups Edit an ACL item

95733 Bytes 103068 Bytes 104006 Bytes

Important Changes

• 0.91.2
  Fix bug that caused SquidGuard processes to die: chown all files used by SquidGuard to the UID/GID that Squid runs as
• 0.91.1
  Lots of bugfixes. See CHANGES file for details
  French translation
• 0.88.1
  German translation
  Usual bugfixes
  Support for users and userlists in sourcegroups
  SQL support for users and userlists. Do NOT send me any questions about how to set it up. Read the DBI manpage. I will ignore messages regarding this topic, this feature is meant to be for experts. It is useful if you already manage your users in a database that is accessible via DBI (some schools requested this, so it is added)
• 0.85.1
  Initial Release

Documentation

There is some documentation available on the net that has been written by SquidGuard users and not by me. Some also cover my module.

• Module Setup (French only)

If there is more please let me know and I will put the links here.

Installation

The installation is quite simple: Login to your Webmin as admin (or whatever you called the adminstrative user) and go to the Webmin tab, then choose "Webmin Configuration". Now click on "Webmin Modules". Give the file in the first box (you can choose any installation method, all should work). Hit Install. Now the module is being installed.

Configuration

The first time the module starts the module will ask you a few questions.
First it will ask where you want your SquidGuard Configuration File to reside. Then it will check the existence of this file. It it does not exist, you can create a plain config file on the next screen. It will probably ask you to arm Squid with the correct redirect_program. That's it.

Support

If you have any bugs please send me an email and tell me about. If you have any problems with download or installation of the module, please first read the Download and Install FAQ

Download

It's a gzipped TAR file with an .wbm.gz-extension. (It's distributed under GPL)

Latest Version is 0.91.2
Download squidguard-0.91.2.wbm.gz (58458 Bytes)

If you have any problems first read the Download and Install FAQ and then email me.