Hostsblock

An ad-blocking and malware-blocking script for Linux

Description

Hostsblock is a bash script designed to take advantage of /etc/hosts file to provide system-wide blocking of internet advertisements, malicious domains, trackers, and other undesirable content.

To do so, it downloads a configurable set of blocklists and processes their entries into a single /etc/hosts file.

Hostsblock also includes hostsblock-urlcheck, a command-line utility that allows you to block and unblock certain websites and any other domains contained in that website.

Features

• System-wide blocking - All non-proxied connections use the HOSTS file (Proxied connections can adopt the HOSTS file)

• Compressed-friendly - Can download and process compressed files automatically. (Currently only zip and 7zip are supported)

• Non-interactive - Can be run as a periodic cronjob or systemd timer without needing user interaction.

• Extensive configurability - Allows for custom black & white listing, redirection, post-processing scripting, etc.

• Bandwith-efficient - Only downloads blocklists that have been changed, uses compression when available.

• Resource-efficient - Only processes blocklists when changes are registered, uses minimal pipes.

• High performance blocking - Only when using dns caching and pseudo-server daemons.

• Redirection capability - Enchance security and combats DNS cache poisoning.

• Extensive choice of blocklists included - It is up to the user to choose how much or how little is blocked/redirected.

Dependencies

• curl
• GNU bash
• GNU sed
• GNU grep
• GNU coreutils.

Optional dependencies for additional features

Unarchivers to use archive blocklists instead of plain text:

• unzip (for zip archives)
• p7zip (for 7z archives) must include either 7z or 7za executables!

A DNS caching daemon to help speed up DNS resolutions:

• dnsmasq (recommended)
• pdnsd (untested)

A pseudo-server that serves blank pages to remove boilerplate page and speed up page resolution on blocked domains:

• kwakd (recommended)
• pixelserv

Compressors to compress backup files and the annotation database:

• gzip
• pigz

Installation

Arch Linux

cd pkg; makepkg -Acsir

Or use one of the AUR packages: hostsblock, hostsblock-git

For others

install -Dm755 hostsblock.sh /usr/sbin/hostsblock
install -Dm755 hostsblock-urlcheck.sh /usr/sbin/hostsblock-urlcheck
install -Dm644 hostsblock.conf /etc/hostsblock/hostsblock.conf
install -Dm644 black.list /etc/hostsblock/black.list
install -Dm644 white.list /etc/hostsblock/white.list
install -Dm644 hosts.head /etc/hostsblock/hosts.head

Don't forget to enable and start the systemd timer with: systemctl enable --now hostsblock.timer

Refer to the man pages for more info about hostsblock's usage. (Currently useless! see #19)

Configuration

All the Hostsblock configuration is done in the hostsblock.conf. This file is commented realy god, please read through it before first use.

Dnsmasq

To use Hostsblock together with Dnsmasq configure Dnsmasq as DNS cashing daemon. Pleas refer to your Distributions manual. For Archlinux read the following Wiki section.

hostsblock.conf

In the FINAL HOSTSFILE section enable hostsfile="/etc/hosts.block.

In the POSTPROCESSING SUBROUTINE section enable:

postprocess(){
    systemctl restart dnsmasq.service # For dnsmasq under systemd
}

dnsmasq.conf

Set addn-hosts= to addn-hosts=/etc/hosts.block

News & Bugs

• Issue Tracker
• Arch Linux AUR
• Arch Linux Forum

FAQ

• Why isn't it working witch Chrome/Chromium?

  • Because they bypass the systems DNS settings and use they're own. To force them to use the systems DNS settings refer to this superuser.com question.

License

Hostsblock is licensed under GNU GPL