eMule

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eMule
eMule Mascot
eMule Screenshot
eMule 0.49a
Design by Merkur
Developed by eMule-Team
Latest release 0.49a (0.49.0.23) / May 11, 2008 (2008-05-11); 32 days ago
OS Microsoft Windows
Available in Multilingual (52)
Development status Current/Active
Genre Peer-to-peer file sharing
License GNU General Public License
Website www.emule-project.net

eMule is a peer-to-peer file sharing application for Microsoft Windows. Started in May 2002 as an alternative to eDonkey2000, eMule now connects to both the eDonkey network and the Kad network. The distinguishing features of eMule are the direct exchange of sources between client nodes, fast recovery of corrupted downloads, and the use of a credit system to reward frequent uploaders. Furthermore, eMule transmits data in zlib-compressed form to save bandwidth.

eMule is coded in Microsoft Visual C++ using the Microsoft Foundation Classes. Since July 2002 eMule has been free software, released under the GNU General Public License; its popularity has led to eMule's codebase being used as the basis of a Linux-specific client, xMule, and a multiplatform client, aMule, along with the release of many eMule mods (modifications of the original eMule) on the Internet.

Contents

[edit] History

The eMule project was started on May 13, 2002 by Hendrik Breitkreuz (also known as Merkur) who was dissatisfied with the original eDonkey2000 client. Over time more developers joined the effort. The source was first released at version 0.02 and published on SourceForge on July 6, 2002.

eMule was first released as a binary on August 4, 2002 at version 0.05a. The 'Credit System' was implemented for the first time on September 14, 2002 in version 0.19a. The eMule project website started up on December 8, 2003. Since its inception, eMule has been downloaded over 405 million times as of May 11, 2008 making it by far the most downloaded project on SourceForge.[1]

Current versions (v0.40+) of eMule have added support for the Kad network. This network has an implementation of the Kademlia protocol, which does not rely on central servers as the eDonkey network does, but is an implementation of a distributed hash table.

Also added in recent versions were the ability to search using unicode, allowing for searches for files in non-Latin alphabets, and the ability to search servers for files with complete sources of unfinished files on the eDonkey network.

In new versions, a "Bad source list" was added. The application adds an IP address to this list after one unsuccessful connection. After adding an IP to the "Bad source list", the application treats this IP as a "dead" IP. Unavailable IPs are banned for a time period from 15 to 45 minutes. Some users have complained that it leads to a loss of active sources and subsequently slows download speed.

Other recent additions include: the ability to run eMule from a user account with limited privileges (thus enhancing security), and intelligent corruption handling (so that a corrupted chunk does not need to be re-downloaded entirely).

The 0.46b version added the creation and management of "eMule collection" files, which contain a set of links to files intended to be downloaded as a set.

Recently, many ISPs are bandwidth throttling default P2P ports resulting in slow performances. The 0.47b version adds protocol obfuscation; eMule will automatically select two ports at random in the startup wizard.

eMule is now considered a stable product, and new versions are not released as often as they used to be; five to six months is now a typical time interval between releases. The latest version is 0.49a which was released in May 2008.

[edit] Basic concepts

Each file that is shared using eMule is hashed using the MD4 algorithm. The top-level MD4 hash, file size, filename, and several secondary search attributes such as bit rate and codec are stored on eD2k servers and the serverless Kad network.

Users can search for filenames in the servers/kad and are presented with the filenames and the unique identifier consisting of the top-level MD4 hash for the file and the file's size that can be added to their downloads. The client then asks the servers where the other clients are using that hash. The servers return a set of IP/ports that indicate the locations of the clients that share the file.

eMule then asks the peers for the file. eMule will then be queued until an upload slot becomes available.

When a complete chunk of 9500 kilobytes is downloaded and verified this data is also shared by the downloader, helping others to download the file as well.

It is also possible that a client knows other clients that are also sharing that same file. In that case a source exchange between the clients is made. This exchange of known peers is done directly between the peers.

Newer versions of eMule support AICH - Advanced Intelligent Corruption Handling. It is meant to make eMule's corruption handling competitive with BitTorrent. SHA-1 hashes are computed for each 180kb sub-chunk and a whole SHA-1 hash tree is formed. AICH is processed purely with peer-to-peer source exchanges. eMule requires 10 agreeing peers regarding the SHA-1 hash, so rare files generally do not benefit from AICH.

[edit] Low ID

Users who cannot be reached from the outside because they are firewalled, behind a NAT device that has not been correctly port forwarded or their IP address ends with a zero (e.g. 123.45.67.0)[2] get a "Low ID" from the servers. They are still able to upload and download but need the help of servers or other kad clients to be reached by other clients. Since they cannot be notified that they are in front of an upload queue, they have to poll peers if an upload slot is available. Since they cannot connect to any other Low ID clients, they see only 40%-60% [3] of the clients that a High ID can see. Their IP/ports are not exchanged between other peers, limiting their possibilities for finding sources via eMule's pure-P2P source exchange.

A Low ID client also consumes a lot more data [4] more bandwidth on an eserver than a High ID client due to the lowidcallbacks. Also, a releaser or heavy uploader that uses a releaser mod such as MorphXT or Xtreme that is forced to operate on a Low ID (hotel room, job) also will find that he will have little control over his upload priorities (especially powershares) as the servers appear to limit their connection-forwarding for each client, thus turning his upload queue to a contention situation where the first to be able to get forwarding and finds an open slot gets it.

[edit] Credit system

Clients usually do not download from a source immediately after contact is made but must wait in the source's upload queue until an upload slot becomes available. A credit system is used to promote uploading by moving those who upload to a client through that client's queue more quickly. Each client maintains a record of how much data they received and sent from every client to which they've connected. Clients are identified using a secure hash handshake. Clients can pass up to 10 times faster through a client's queue by the credit system. Each client's credits are stored on the computers of the servers he or she has connected to, rather than his or her own computer. This prevents tampering with one's own credits.

The computation formula for the Official Credit System is composed of two ratios as follows[5]:

Ratio1 = \frac{2(Uploaded Total)}{Downloaded Total}
Ratio2 = \sqrt{Uploaded Total + 2}

Both ratios are then compared and the lower one is used as the modifier. A few conditions exist:

  • If the Uploaded Total is less than 1 MB, then the modifier will remain at 1.
  • If the client uploads data but doesn't download any, the modifier will be fixed at 10.
  • The modifier can only be between 1 and 10.

An exception to this rule applies only when a peer is assigned a "Friend Slot" after being added to the client's Friends list. This automatically assigns a reserved upload slot for that peer so that he/she can begin downloading regardless of the Credit rating. Only one Friend Slot can be reserved so as to prevent any form of abuse such as upload discrimination[6].

[edit] Advantages of eMule

One of the advantages of eMule is a large user base, currently averaging 3 to 5 million, which makes it excellent for finding rare content. It is said to be the most complete implementation of the eD2k protocol and its extensions. eMule supports AICH, making its corruption handling competitive with BitTorrent. eMule also supports source exchanges, allowing it to substantially reduce the loads on the servers and Kad. With a High ID and well-sourced downloads pre-acquired by server and/or Kad, eMule is able to sustain the sources on these files completely independently longer after disconnection from eD2k and Kad.

[edit] eMule mods

As a popular open source program, eMule has many variants, usually called mods. Some mods started as forks from official eMule versions, and then continued to develop independently rather than modifying newer official versions. An example of this type of mod is eMule Plus. Since eMule Plus forked off before the release of v0.30, the first official version to include Kad, eMule Plus does not support this feature. Other mods follow official eMule releases and make their own releases based on each new release of the official version. Since mods are required to be shared publicly by the GNU General Public License, useful features created by mod developers can be incorporated into an official version.

[edit] Scam sites

A scam site exists at eMule.com which asks the user to call a 900 number during installation in order to pay for an installation code. The installation wizard is almost identical to the real program. There is another scam site eMule.org which asks for the user's email address to become a member.

Another site exists at official-emule.com which serves a patched version of eMule with adware and sends user data to external servers, something that the official version does not. More scam sites exist, some are even advertising their existence via Google ads on the official site [7]

[edit] See also

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[edit] References

  1. ^ sourceforge.net
  2. ^ forum.emule-project.net How a Low ID is calculated.
  3. ^ Low Id clients increasing - Official eMule-Board
  4. ^ forum.emule-project.net lugdunummaster's technical post on direct and collateral upstream bandwidth consumption of a Low ID and a High ID client on RazorBack, in this example 20 times more overhead
  5. ^ [http://emule-project.net/home/perl/help.cgi?l=1&rm=show_topic&topic_id=134 Credit System
  6. ^ eMule-Project.net - Official eMule Homepage. Downloads, Help, Docu, News
  7. ^ =http://forum.emule-project.net/index.php?showtopic=135765google ads on the Official site

[edit] External links