hBlock is a POSIX-compliant shell script that downloads multiple ad, tracking, and malware domain blocklists from curated sources, processes them into a unified hosts file (or alternative formats like dnsmasq, unbound, adblock, Windows PowerShell), and installs it to block those domains at the system level. The core architecture is a single self-contained script (hblock) with a custom option parser, robust error handling, and support for parallel downloads, allow/deny lists, template-based output formatting, and subdomain filtering. It is not a reusable library but a complete CLI tool; however, its companion scripts (resource/alt-formats/*.sh) demonstrate a clean plugin pattern for generating multiple output formats, and the stats script (resources/stats/stats.sh) provides a reusable utility for analyzing domain lists against the Public Suffix List. The project is well-maintained, tested across multiple shells and platforms, and follows strict POSIX shell practices.
This repository is a data pipeline that aggregates and consolidates hosts files from 20+ upstream sources (adaway.org, mvps.org, someonewhocares.org, yoyo.org, URLHaus, KADhosts, hostsVN, and others) into unified blocklists for adware, malware, tracking, and optional categories (porn, gambling, fake news, social media). The core pipeline (`updateHostsFile.py`) fetches remote hosts files via HTTP, parses them, deduplicates entries, applies whitelist/blacklist filters, and generates a primary `hosts` file plus 30+ alternate permutations in `alternates/`. Each source has metadata in `update.json` (URL, license, frequency). The `makeHosts.py` script orchestrates full matrix generation of all extension combinations. Output includes stats tracking (`stats.out`, `stats.png`) and auto-generated READMEs via `updateReadme.py`. The repo includes Docker support, GitHub Actions CI (lint, test, multi-Python), CodeQL scanning, and automated dependency updates via Dependabot. Data sources are external URLs; the pipeline is idempotent and designed for scheduled runs.