[tor-talk] Is privoxy required with locally compiled Tor?

[whistler <Whistler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Although I occasionally run Tails when a live CD is required, and Tor
Browser Bundle when I run on a system with a proprietary OS, I
principally run on an open-source system, using a tor version locally
compiled from the source distribution.  This allows me use lynx,
instead of Firefox, which I consider to be more secure. 

I had been under the impression, from perhaps a long time ago, that it
was necessary to run privoxy as well in order to prevent DNS leaks (or
for some other reason).

My questions are:

1. Was that ever true?

2. Is that true now?

3. If privoxy is no longer needed to prevent DNS leaks, is this
because the exit node now handles the DNS lookup? 

4. What was the bug-fix in Firefox 6 that removed the need for privoxy
with Firefox, and what is the status of this issue with regard to
lynx? 


The documentation on the torproject website that I have been able to
find which mentions privoxy is:

	https://www.torproject.org/docs/faq.html.en

which follows:

******

I need an HTTP proxy. Where did Polipo go?

In the past, Tor bundles included an HTTP proxy like Privoxy or
Polipo, solely to work around a bug in Firefox that was finally fixed in
Firefox 6. Now you don't need a separate HTTP proxy to use Tor, and
in fact leaving it out makes you safer because Torbutton has better
control over Firefox's interaction with websites.

If you are trying to use some external application with Tor, step
zero should be to reread the set of warnings for ways you can screw up.
Step one should be to try to use a Socks proxy rather than an http
proxy -- Tor runs a Socks proxy on port 9050 on Windows, or see above for
OSX and Linux.

If that fails, feel free to install privoxy or polipo. You can use
our old polipo config file if you like. However, please realize that this
approach is not recommended for novice users.

*****

Thanks,

Whistler
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