Review and Document Filter Precedence

[mneunomne]

How does Adnauseam precedence of filters work, and how should it work?

Discussion started in https://github.com/dhowe/AdNauseam/issues/2110

• [ ] Document current state of precedence in Adnauseam
• [ ] Compare with how uBlock Origin works
• [ ] Clearly define precedence that Adnauseam should have
• [ ] Implement precedence (if differing from current state)
• [ ] Documentation in Wiki

[mneunomne]

from https://github.com/dhowe/AdNauseam/issues/2110#issuecomment-1158886224

Precedence:

adnauseam.txt should override any other filter list (potentially by auto-adding $important) any user-added rule should override any other rule

[mneunomne]

from https://github.com/dhowe/AdNauseam/issues/2110#issuecomment-1158720546

How uBlock works:

• Any Allow exception @@|| will overwrite any scope of block that is not $important: e.g.: @@||nytimes.com Allows over the more specfic scope ||nytimes.com/svc/nyt/data-layer$script
• Any $important will have precedence over any allow exception@@||

How AdNauseam is currently working:

• Like the normal uBlock Allow exception @@||, Adn-Allow can only be overwritten by $important tag, OR with an exact matching filter.

Given the URL:

https://a.nytimes.com/svc/nyt/data-layer?assetUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F&caller_id=nyt-vi&jkcb=1655455947978&referrer=&sourceApp=nyt-vi

	Allow-Block-List (e.g. Adnauseam Filters)	Adn-Allow-Lists (e.g. EasyList)	Result
A	\|\|nytimes.comˆ		block
B		\|\|nytimes.comˆ	adn-allow
C		\|\|nytimes.comˆ$important	adn-allow
D	\|\|nytimes.comˆ	\|\|nytimes.comˆ	block
F	\|\|nytimes.comˆ	\|\|nytimes.comˆ$important	adn-allow
E	\|\|nytimes.com/svc/nyt/data-layer$script	\|\|nytimes.comˆ	adn-allow
G	\|\|nytimes.comˆ$important	\|\|nytimes.com/svc/nyt/data-layer$script	block

Comments

• Should C be blocked or allowed? Right now we adn-allow
• E is the most sensitive case, if our More specific rules should overwrite any adn-allow or not.

[dhowe]

Seems there are more cases to consider...

for uBlock:

• block-rules vs hide-rules
• dynamic vs static rules
• blocks vs allow exceptions
• specificity (generic vs specific)
• list vs user-created rules

plus, for AdNauseam:

• adn-allows
• strict-blocks
• whitelist
• dnt rules