[Privoxy-users] How to start Privoxy service with custom made configuration file

[Lee]

On Sun, Apr 26, 2026 at 7:22 AM Jeremy via Privoxy-users wrote:

> I copied the default "config.new" file to a new file named "myconf". I
> made custom changes to the settings inside this "myconf" file. File
> ownership was changed to privoxy:privoxy which is aligned to all other
> files inside "/etc/privoxy/" directory. Then I try starting Privoxy by
> running:
>
> /usr/sbin/privoxy --user privoxy /etc/privoxy/myconf
>
> No error message is shown after running the above command but the Privoxy
> didn't start.
>

I get an error message:

$ /usr/sbin/privoxy --user privoxy /etc/privoxy/my-config
2026-04-26 13:18:19.158 7f90b3a6a300 Fatal error: Cannot setgid():
Insufficient permissions.


> Is Privoxy designed to be able to use the default "/etc/privoxy/config"
> file only?
>
works for me if I start privoxy using sudo:

 $ sudo /usr/sbin/privoxy --user privoxy /etc/privoxy/my-config

$ ps -elf | grep privoxy
5 S privoxy    16199       1  1  80   0 - 26460 -      13:18 ?
00:00:00 /usr/sbin/privoxy --user privoxy /etc/privoxy/my-config
0 S lee        16204   16113  0  80   0 -  1633 pipe_r 13:19 pts/0
00:00:00 grep --color=auto privoxy

Something you might need to check is apparmor settings - I use a
non-default log file so I had to adjust /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.privoxy
I also have several custom .action files -- I don't remember if the
apparmor profile comes with
    /etc/privoxy/** r,
or if I had to add it..

Regards,
Lee