Adblock support thread

As @AcidSlide notes, there doesn't appear to be a problem with your config. It's running, you have upwards of 388K blocked domains loaded . . . ? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

/etc/init.d/adblock report cli | head -n44

This will produce four stanzas -
Adblock DNS-Query Report - Report Period, Total Queries, and Total # & % Blocked
Top 10 Clients - Counters and local hostnames ranked by high to low
Top 10 Domains - Counters and domain names ranked by high to low
Top 10 Blocked Domains -Counters and domain names that have been blocked by Adblock

/etc/init.d/adblock report cli | tail -n+44 | grep NX

This will produce a list of any NX domains that have been blocked by Adblock from either your sources or blacklists.

For anyone who interested, I made a little adblock blocklist targeted specifically at Roku ads. This blocks only the annoying main menu ads, not video ads. The good news, is a little while after you start using it, the whole ad window goes transparent. The list URL can be used directly in the simple adblock UI, or the domains copied out and used in the custom section of the big UI.

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With this software, Is it possible to log DNS requests and block requests and accepted requests

Problem: Adblock does not seem to use blocklist backup. Details: I have configured it to have 31 black-listed domains and to use various blocklists, leading to 50000+ blocked sites. However, very often the LuCI user interface shows that only 31 sites are blocked. I suspect the cause is that the OpenWrt router and the cable modem are powered on by a timer every morning. Internet is probably not yet available when OpenWrt has finished booting. However, I have checked the "Blocklist Backup" function in adblock. I believe that should be used if the downloads fail?

If a backup is available it will be used during startup. Is your backup folder on a non volatile device (usb stick etc.)? If not (default is /tmp aka RAM), than there are no backups during boot.

You should define a Trigger interface and raise the Trigger Delay - e.g. to 30 seconds or more - so that the adblock service finds a working internet connection.

HI! Sorry for the long backstory, but it is not clear to me, what can cause what kind of behaviour, so here is all what i can think of related to this:

In the midle of the year i bought a router. The latest OWRT version was a 21.y.x. I installed the topic's adblock onto it, and (idk which one worked) both of the following, one packege what gives DNS-o-HTTPS, the other DNS-o-TLS. When i checked for DNS leaks, it was good. When used the internet, a good chunk of DNS requests (30-45% with 5-600k blocklist entry) were blocked by the adblocker. it was happines.
Before all above, i had 1-2 VPNs installed (split tunneling only). I used one regularly, but the other just sat on my PC.
One day, a month ago, i wanted to use the sitting one, what started, and upgraded itslef. It was the end of the day, so when i finished i just turned my PC off. Next day i was unable to reach the internet, so i tried to troubleshoot everything, and by that i reseted the router, and later found out the VPN caused it all so all was for nothing.
So since i reseted the router, i thought, before i set it up all again, i upgrade the OWRT on it. But i accidently copy-pasted a wrong version, a snapshot, so i upgraded to that, when i realised i upgraded to 22.0.3.
All seemed fine, but since this reset, i relised even if i have 1M entry in the blocklist, my ram usage is only 30-20% of the previous numbers, my counted DNS requests are in the one-hundreds, compared to 5-7k, daily, and some previously blocked URL-s are just sitting in the allowed section, what would defenetly be in the requested block-list-packs (e.g. facebook in social-themed ones).

During troubleshooting it i tried to go back to the original, non-owrt firmware, but i have issues even with that. I have tried the recommended hardest reset, without any D-o-x package, or other setting other than the vanillas and still experience the same. I have no forced DNS over TLS or HTTPS ony my PC now,
I do not know the previous version (it still had the top10s only, no top10-top50 selection), the actual is the latest.

I have no idea even where to find other things to try out. I am firtstly here to ask what problems can be related to the adblock only, secondly if all would be easy to overcome within adblock with given tips, what external causes could effect this, so i could step forward with this problem. I feel am stupid enough to this to even ask the right things. :sweat_smile:

You are actually doing ok. There where optimization changes between 21.02.x and 22.03.x with regards to AdBlock and with the help of the updated DNSMasq (version 2.86/2.87), a lot of routers can now handle large blocklist (this is mainly due to the changes with dnsmasq).

That is good to know! But what should i check to get the same troughput as before. Sadly i do not remember what were the base settings of mine.
Also forgot: when i added more and more blocklist sources the router looked like it is hanging on refresh, but i guess, it is now better optimalised for constant list, and not daily restarts, as in my enviroment i do >> i just have to wait it out then. with your info this makes sense.

@dibdot today I have this is issue: preparation of 'energized' failed, rc: 0 energized list issue on website?

Thanks and sorry if it is a stupid question...

yep, the download site seems to be temp. not available.

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Yesterday i tried to add more to my list, waited 3 hours after i clicked to the reload, but that was not finishing. The common variable are the VAR marked blocklist-sources, even if i choosed one with a small list selected from the extra dropdown (+ all non country specific), it just "rolled the circle". Without those, 10-minues, and my system was ready... (This is also a common thing since THE reset....)

Hi everyone,

I have read the documentation of adblock to figure out how to add further blocking lists to those which are available in the luci-app-adblock app.
It requires the editing of a file after having it decompressed.
I would like to know if there is a easier way of doing this.

For instance in luci-app-simpleadblock further blocking lists can easily be added in luci.

I would love to see such a feature in luci-app-adblock.

Furthermore the Energized blocking lists do not provide porn-blocking since quite a while (size = 0).

But in luci-app-adblock the category "porn" is still offered.

I would highly appreciate to have a feature in luci-app-adblock as in luci-app-simpleadblock to add blocking lists via the GUI.

E. g. the OISD NSFW Big List, which is currently not included:
https://abp.oisd.nl/nsfwbig/

Than please report it upstream - maybe this feed is just broken.

That means hardcoded regex to prepare ext. feeds - not planned for adblock. Just use the adblock solution that fit your needs ...

Thanks for your response!

The feed is not broken, because all other feeds from Energized are available.

Only the porn-blocking-list does not contain any hosts.

Is there a reason why adblock and luci-app-adblock do not get improved any further?

I doubt that, energized seems to be down, e.g. https://github.com/EnergizedProtection/block/issues/980. Anyway I don't use this feed and maybe this feed comes back in a couple of days/weeks.

Who said that? Hardcoded regex are not an improvement (IMHO) ... in adblock you can simply select round about 30+ sources ... and add your own sources whenever you need more. Editing a json file takes a couple of minutes.

You are right, that it does not take long.
But it is a hurdle with regards to UX.

The reason why I am asking is that I prefer adblock compared to AdguardHome or SimpleAdblock and I would like to get it further improved.

The main thing where it is lacking compared to the other adblock solutions is the feature of adding of blocking lists via the GUI.

I would really love to have this feature also available in adblock.

Create a local fork of openwrt/packages/net/adblock and feel free to add the features you want.

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Thanks for your kindness and sharing your brilliant ideas!

You are welcome!

All sarcasm aside, the reality is that if your wishlist of features for this package are not on the "to do" list of the author/maintainer, you either grin and bear it, or take the initiative and modify the package to perform to your expectations.