iolaus

Fetch ad blocking hosts files from various origins and merge them.

Introduction

This utility is fetching hosts files from various sources, removes duplicate entries, and redirects each of them to "this" network (0.0.0.0).

Entries in the predefined host files are mostly analytics networks, ad networks, tracking networks, and shock sites.

This utility doesn't modify system files, neither requires root permissions. The output hosts file can be placed, depending on your operating system:

#Linux, MacOS
/etc/hosts

Before modifying the default hosts file, please observe the permission and ownership settings (e.g. ls -la /etc/hosts on UNIX systems), and default entries present in the default system's hosts file. Preserving these might be important for your setup.

Alternatively (or simultaneously) one can apply the output hosts file local network wide, e.g. in Asuswrt-Merlin:

/jffs/configs/dnsmasq.conf.add

Name of this utility

This utility is named after Iolaus, a mythological figure who helped Heracles with his second labour - combating the Hydra.