How to Install Tinyproxy on Arch Linux

Tinyproxy is a lightweight open-source HTTP/HTTPS proxy server that can be used to increase network security, block unwanted websites, and filter web content. Here's how you can install Tinyproxy on Arch Linux.

Prerequisites

  • A running instance of Arch Linux
  • An active user account with sudo privileges
  • Access to the terminal

Installation

  1. Update the package database by running the following command:

    sudo pacman -Sy

  2. Install the Tinyproxy package by running the following command:

    sudo pacman -S tinyproxy

  3. Once the installation is complete, open the Tinyproxy configuration file at /etc/tinyproxy/tinyproxy.conf using your text editor. For example:

    sudo nano /etc/tinyproxy/tinyproxy.conf

  4. Configure your Tinyproxy server by making changes to the following settings in the tinyproxy.conf file:

    • Port: Specify the port number for Tinyproxy. The default is 8888.

    • Listen Address: Specify the IP address or hostname for the server. If you leave it blank, it will listen on all available interfaces.

    • Allow: Specify which clients are allowed to connect to the proxy server. You can use subnet masks to specify IP ranges.

    • Connection Timeout: Specify the number of seconds after which an idle connection will be closed.

    • Default Error File: Specify the HTML file that will be returned when a client receives an error from Tinyproxy.

    • Via Proxy Name: This setting adds a "Via" header to every request that passes through Tinyproxy. You can customize the name that appears in the header.

    For more detailed configuration options, refer to the official Tinyproxy documentation.

  5. Save the changes and close the configuration file.

  6. Next, start the Tinyproxy daemon by running the following command:

    sudo systemctl start tinyproxy.service

  7. Verify that Tinyproxy is running by checking its status:

    sudo systemctl status tinyproxy.service

    The output should indicate that Tinyproxy is active (running).

    tinyproxy.service - Tinyproxy lightweight HTTP proxy daemon
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/tinyproxy.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: active (running) since Fri 2021-11-12 13:56:25 UTC; 10s ago

  8. If you want to enable Tinyproxy to start automatically at boot time, run the following command:

    sudo systemctl enable tinyproxy.service

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and configured Tinyproxy on Arch Linux.