Diversion Diversion 5.1.2 - the Router Ad-Blocker, April 21, 2024

[ugandy]

To edit the deny list go into AMTM (via an SSH terminal) then 1 > el > 2, and note that “edits are not active until processed “.

Hi, thanks,

i was looking for a way to modify the list via crontab...

 

[thelonelycoder]

Hi, thanks,

i was looking for a way to modify the list via crontab...

The denylist or the blockinglist? What‘s your goal here?
The former is not easily possible the latter is.

 

[ugandy]

The denylist or the blockinglist? What‘s your goal here?
The former is not easily possible the latter is.

the deny list. i want to block some sites for my kids during certain hours of the day. i imagined i could use crontab to modify the denylist and trigger a re process...

 

[tnkrer]

I recently installed diversion. It is blocking ads. I am using the "Medium" blocking list
Now I am getting "You are using Adblocker, disable the ad blocker to see this content" for some sites.
So two questions
1. Is there a way somehow make those sites think that there is no ad bocker?
2. Failing that, I was going to white-list the appropriate site. So I wanted to check the blocked domain, so that I can white list it. To do that, I did "Follow dnsmasq.log" and then option 3 .. and there were no blocked sites. I installed uidivStats and it showed no blocked domains, and then I opened dnsmasq.log and did not find any log that talked about blocked domains/sites!! How do I see the blocked domains?
Thanks!

 

[dev_null]

I recently installed diversion. It is blocking ads. I am using the "Medium" blocking list
Now I am getting "You are using Adblocker, disable the ad blocker to see this content" for some sites.
So two questions
1. Is there a way somehow make those sites think that there is no ad bocker?
2. Failing that, I was going to white-list the appropriate site. So I wanted to check the blocked domain, so that I can white list it. To do that, I did "Follow dnsmasq.log" and then option 3 .. and there were no blocked sites. I installed uidivStats and it showed no blocked domains, and then I opened dnsmasq.log and did not find any log that talked about blocked domains/sites!! How do I see the blocked domains?
Thanks!

Did you install Skynet? Or a browser-based blocker? Or are you running through a DNS service (e.g., OpenDNS)? Any of these could be blocking whatever domain that website is serving from, and would not show in Diversion.

Disable Diversion - does the message go away? If not there's something else.

 

[Aziron5]

hi,
where is the deny list stored? can i modify the file directly?
h

The first thing I install on a fresh Asuswrt-Merlin FW with Entware is the openssh-sftp-server, then use Filezilla or WinSCP to edit lists manually via filesystem ... sometimes I forget to install the package, being so used to it thinking it's already installed as per default! The error Filezilla displays when it's not installed is usually "FATAL: Unexpected end-of-file from SFTP server." or something like that, and that kinda doesn't make it obvious what's wrong. For the 5th time in a couple of years I think I'm not going to forget it ever again.

Perhaps a SFTP server could one day be a default component within Asuswrt-Merlin's FW (perhaps as part of amtm function, perhaps disabled by default)

 

[tnkrer]

Did you install Skynet? Or a browser-based blocker? Or are you running through a DNS service (e.g., OpenDNS)? Any of these could be blocking whatever domain that website is serving from, and would not show in Diversion.

Disable Diversion - does the message go away? If not there's something else.

I don't think I have any other blocker. Good idea to test by disabling diversion
I disable diversion and after that the message goes away and bunch of ads show up

 

[Daveo]

I received the following email from Diversion...

Something failed during the blocking list update.
See the output of the Update-blocking-list.log below, look for the word(s) Error.

Diversion blocking list update log Tue, 02 Apr 2024 02:42:58 +0100
____________________________________________________

Error: hostslist file empty or not found, not updating Standard blocking list
____________________________________________________
End of blocking list update log.

Internet is working. Have tried to manually update the list and get the same error and another email (same error in email).

This error only started occurring tonight (Tues 02 Apr 2024 01:30 BST).

Using Standard block list.

Any ideas?

 

[thelonelycoder]

I received the following email from Diversion...



Internet is working. Have tried to manually update the list and get the same error and another email (same error in email).

This error only started occurring tonight (Tues 02 Apr 2024 01:30 BST).

Using Standard block list.

Any ideas?

Reselect the Standard blocking list in b, 1. See if it now works. If not select another type and then again the Standard list.

 

[RMerlin]

The first thing I install on a fresh Asuswrt-Merlin FW with Entware is the openssh-sftp-server, then use Filezilla or WinSCP to edit lists manually via filesystem ...

You don't need an SFTP server to use WinSCP.

 

[Daveo]

Reselect the Standard blocking list in b, 1. See if it now works. If not select another type and then again the Standard list.

Thanks., that fixed it.

Any idea what caused it to go wrong ?

 

[tnkrer]

I recently installed diversion. It is blocking ads. I am using the "Medium" blocking list
Now I am getting "You are using Adblocker, disable the ad blocker to see this content" for some sites.
So two questions
1. Is there a way somehow make those sites think that there is no ad bocker?
2. Failing that, I was going to white-list the appropriate site. So I wanted to check the blocked domain, so that I can white list it. To do that, I did "Follow dnsmasq.log" and then option 3 .. and there were no blocked sites. I installed uidivStats and it showed no blocked domains, and then I opened dnsmasq.log and did not find any log that talked about blocked domains/sites!! How do I see the blocked domains?
Thanks!

Any other ideas on why there are no logs of blocked domains? If I disable diversion ad-blocking, ads show up, the content blocker message (Powerd by admiral) goes away and then when I enable diversion ad-blocking, the ads go away, so diversion is blocking ads, but not telling me which domains it blocked. The total ads blocked counter is also going up, so it knows when it blocks an ad.

 

[Aziron5]

You don't need an SFTP server to use WinSCP.

I guess I haven't used it in a while, but that shouldn't matter, it was a long time ago when I made that conclusion and stuck with it, never double-checked later.

Coincidentially I always used Filezilla initially whenever I would reinstall the whole setup (like when there's downtime for various other things such as new modem, new wiring, gigabit fiber, new routers, I would also "update" (reinstall) the firmware and scripts freshly)

However, I just did a test right now and got an interesting initial result, an error.
I want to employing good troubleshooting practices and thus avoid jumping to conclusions.
Perhaps something in the FW or WinSCP has to be set to make it work without the extra Entware package?

Attached Picture:

 

[Viktor Jaep]

I guess I haven't used it in a while, but that shouldn't matter, it was a long time ago when I made that conclusion and stuck with it, never double-checked later.

Coincidentially I always used Filezilla initially whenever I would reinstall the whole setup (like when there's downtime for various other things such as new modem, new wiring, gigabit fiber, new routers, I would also "update" (reinstall) the firmware and scripts freshly)

However, I just did a test right now and got an interesting initial result, an error.
I want to employing good troubleshooting practices and thus avoid jumping to conclusions.
Perhaps something in the FW or WinSCP has to be set to make it work without the extra Entware package?

Attached Picture:
View attachment 57640

This is all you need for WinSCP to work:

 

[Aziron5]

This is all you need for WinSCP to work:

View attachment 57642

Right, I quickly suspected the next obvious step, the SCP protocol indeed works, I guess I forgot about that and just kept using SFTP, because Filezilla has no SCP.
I think there were some reasons I initially read up on which was perhaps why I kept avoiding SCP.

 

[HorseCalledHorse]

You don't need an SFTP server to use WinSCP.

What if you're not running a Windows system? I kept getting errors with the macOS terminal and other apps, but everything worked once I installed the server as above.

 

[Viktor Jaep]

Right, I quickly suspected the next obvious step, the SCP protocol indeed works, I guess I forgot about that and just kept using SFTP, because Filezilla has no SCP.
I think there were some reasons I initially read up on which was perhaps why I kept avoiding SCP.

You're welcome!

 

[Viktor Jaep]

What if you're not running a Windows system? I kept getting errors with the macOS terminal and other apps, but everything worked once I installed the server as above.

I'm not a Mac guy... no idea. There doesn't seem to be a good SCP equivalent. How about install a Windows VM on the Mac?

 

[HorseCalledHorse]

I'm not a Mac guy... no idea. There doesn't seem to be a good SCP equivalent. How about install a Windows VM on the Mac?

Well, as far as I know, using scp commands should work through the macOS terminal. But I couldn't make it so The Entware install worked immediately for me.

 

[Viktor Jaep]

Well, as far as I know, using scp commands should work through the macOS terminal. But I couldn't make it so The Entware install worked immediately for me.

Seems like it, if you want to use commands... would sure be nicer if there was an interface. Did you check articles like this?

How to use SCP to transfer files in the macOS Terminal | AppleInsider

Secure Copy is a UNIX standard used to transfer files from one computer to another. He's how to use the function in macOS, all via the Terminal window.

appleinsider.com