eMule

eMule 0.49a
Design by	Merkur
Developed by	eMule-Team
Latest release	0.49b / 01 August 2008; 160 days ago
Written in	C++
OS	Microsoft Windows
Available in	Multilingual (52)
Development status	Current/Active
Type	Peer-to-peer file sharing
License	Free (GNU General Public License)
Website	www.emule-project.net

eMule is a free 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 s, 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.

History

The eMule project was started on May 13, 2002 by s (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, 2002. Since its inception, eMule has been ed over 420 million times as of August 5, 2008 making it by far the most ed 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 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-ed 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 ed 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 0.49b which was released in August 2008.

Basic concepts

Each file that is shared using eMule is hashed as a hash list comprising separate 9500 kilobyte chunks 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 s. 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 ed and verified this data is also shared by the er, helping others to 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.

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 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.

Credit system

Credits are not global, they are exchanged between two specific clients. The credit system is used to reward users contributing to the network, i.e. uploading to other clients. The strict queue system in eMule is based on the waiting time a user has spent in the queue. The credit system provides a major modifier to this waiting time by taking the upload and between the two clients into consideration. The more a user uploads to a client the faster he advances in this client's queue. The modifiers are calculated from the amount of transferred data between the two clients. The values used can be seen in the client's details dialog. To view this information, right click on any user and choose View Details.

All Clients uploading to you are rewarded by the credit system. It does not matter if the client supports the credit system or not. Not supporting clients will grant you no credits when you upload to them. Credits are stored in the clients.met file. The unique user hash is used to identify the client. Your own credits are saved by the client who owes you the credit. This prevents faking the credits. Your own credits cannot be displayed.

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

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 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 ing 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].

emule compared to other p2p networks

One of the advantages of eMule is a large user base, currently averaging 3 to 5 million^[7], which makes it excellent for finding rare content. It is said to be the most complete implementation of the eD2k protocol and its extensions. However the transfer speed is generally slower than torrent, although faster than anonymous networks. 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 s pre-acquired by server and/or Kad, eMule is able to sustain the peer sources on these files independent longer after disconnection from eD2k and Kad.

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.

Fake eMule sites and malware

Due to the great success and popularity of eMule cybercriminals have created bogus versions of it, containing spyware and other malware programs. Unsuspecting victims may install the program following advertising banners placed sometimes in serious sites. A couple of examples of fake sites which present malware as it were eMule are: Emule.org and Official-emule.com

See also

• eDonkey network
• Kad network
• Comparison of eDonkey software
• Comparison of file sharing applications

References

External links

• eMule project Official site
• eMule on SourceForge (SourceForge) Contains archives of current and past versions of eMule
• eMule Protocol Specification by Danny Bickson and Yoram Kulbak from Hebrew University of Jerusalem

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Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "EMule". Image Credit.

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