pixelserv pixelserv - A Better One-pixel Webserver for Adblock

[HairyA00]

So is your blocking IP still the pixelserv IP or 0.0.0.0? I reinstalled with Diversion Lite and my blocking IP is now 0.0.0.0. So far so good.

I have standard installed. If you go to the <ep> menu you can disable pixelserv-tls. Then it points to 0.0.0.0 (same as Lite)

 

[Treadler]

I use Diversion Standard with pixelserv-tls disabled, so essentially the same thing as Diversion Lite. No issues here other than gray boxes where ads used to be on Android. Noticed no changes with speed. Both HTTP and HTTPS domains are still blocked.

Hmm, I didn’t know that! I thought pixelserv-tls was required to block HTTPS badness.

 

[HairyA00]

Hmm, I didn’t know that! I thought pixelserv-tls was required to block HTTPS badness.

Works just fine without pixelserv-tls; it's not required. It is faster because it serves up a one pixel image instead of letting the https connection simply time out. But it has caused me lots of woes in the past, and I've been running very smoothly without it. I would prefer to use pixelserv-tls, but I have too many random issues (the latest one is that the Mixer app on iOS won't even open).

 

[jrmwvu04]

The big value of pixselerv-tls used to be to allow “failed” (read: blocked) connections to fail gracefully because some websites (browsers), apps, etc. were programmed in ways such that a failure added various unfriendly side effects to the user. I think what we are seeing now is a combination of things like inbuilt payloads in apps and generally that the ad serving industry expects and adapts to in browser blocking. And so the original problem of many years ago isn’t really the main issue anymore. This is partially why, during the original certificate change thing last year I told folks not to sweat it that much, because even if the tls handshake fails it’s not really a big deal. It’s not only not a big deal, it is faster in a lot of cases. If you want to test it, generate a new cert for your pixelserv-tls and don’t import it into anything.

 

[Treadler]

Just disabled pixelserv-tls from within Diversion.
Not really noticing any difference. Experiment for a few more days & see how it goes.

 

[eclp]

Is it known whether Pixelserv will be further developed by kvic or whether the current version will be the last one for the time being?

 

[L&LD]

kvic hasn't been actively working on this for many, many months now. But that doesn't predict the future development of pixelserv-tls.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Is it known whether Pixelserv will be further developed by kvic or whether the current version will be the last one for the time being?

Who knows? The last update was for the enhanced certificate requirements. I consider this project dead, for all I know and observe.

 

[Treadler]

Just disabled pixelserv-tls from within Diversion.
Not really noticing any difference. Experiment for a few more days & see how it goes.

FWIW, I still (11 days so far) haven’t re enabled pixelserv, no ill effects here......

 

[Ubimo]

Are we now all disabling pixelserv?
What are the pros?
Any cons?

 

[joe scian]

Are we now all disabling pixelserv?
What are the pros?
Any cons?

no pros no cons - just the same performance - enabled or disabled

 

[Butterfly Bones]

I'm running it as I always have for moths / years, no issues, no changes.

 

[elorimer]

Not keen to give up pixelserv after these several years. Outside of the certificate stuff, what further development is needed? More a rhetorical question.

 

[Centrifuge]

no pros no cons - just the same performance - enabled or disabled

So when you disable pixelserv do you end up with blank placeholder patches for the ad space? What's the overall comsmetic effect on browsing when disabled?

 

[QuikSilver]

So when you disable pixelserv do you end up with blank placeholder patches for the ad space? What's the overall comsmetic effect on browsing when disabled?

Curious about this as well.

 

[Treadler]

So when you disable pixelserv do you end up with blank placeholder patches for the ad space? What's the overall comsmetic effect on browsing when disabled?

There are some, but surprisingly little difference.
If you just turn off pixelserv from within Diversion, you can test for yourself without breaking anything.

 

[joe scian]

There are some, but surprisingly little difference.
If you just turn off pixelserv from within Diversion, you can test for yourself without breaking anything.

Agreed - except Ive seen NO difference whatsoever in general browsing !!

 

[Treadler]

Agreed - except Ive seen NO difference whatsoever in general browsing !!

Me neither, & everything working fine!

 

[Centrifuge]

If you just turn off pixelserv from within Diversion, you can test for yourself

Did it we'll see. Also, I noticed you can set the number of service threads in the switch menu under ep., for those concerned about thread proliferation. The default is 1200.

 

[jrmwvu04]

So when you disable pixelserv do you end up with blank placeholder patches for the ad space? What's the overall comsmetic effect on browsing when disabled?

Curious about this as well.

No change to that behavior one way or the other - pixelserv never modified html/whitespace or any other cosmetic changes.