Planned phase-out of specific blocklist formats (Subdomains/Hosts)

[hagezi]

Due to high maintenance requirements, increased repository size, and the limited blocking efficiency of formats that must explicitly list all possible subdomains, support for the following formats is planned to be discontinued:

• Domains/Subdomains: Blocky (versions <0.23), Diversion (versions <5), OpenSnitch, PersonalBlocklist, pfBlockerNG
• Hosts (including compressed): AdAway, uMatrix, DNS66, NetGuard, Hostfile, Linux

To gauge ongoing usage and compare these with more efficient compressed formats (which do not list subdomains), a community survey has been launched.

Your feedback is appreciated and will help inform next steps.

Please take part in the survey even if you are not affected by the planned change. Thank you!

Which services use which formats?

AdGuard DNS, DNS Bunker: Adblock
ControlD: Domains (without subdomains)
NextDNS: Domains Wildcard (without subdomains)

UPDATE:
Support for the AdBlock format is planned for pfBlockerNG by the end of the year.
https://www.reddit.com/r/pfBlockerNG/comments/112gdpr/comment/kfvnyno/

[yokoffing]

What format do services like NextDNS and Control D use on their backend? Wildcard domains?

[hagezi]

Yes, compressed formats without subdomains.

AdGuard DNS, DNS Bunker: Adblock
ControlD: Domains (without subdomains)
NextDNS: Domains Wildcard (without subdomains)

[hagezi]

In addition to the vote, I received several emails asking me not to discontinue these formats. Even though usage is low according to the survey, I have decided to continue offering these formats in the future.