Difference between revisions of "FAQ aMule"

Revision as of 15:27, 28 July 2004

What is aMule?

aMule is a multiplatform client for the ED2K file sharing network based on the windows client eMule.
aMule started in August 2003 as a fork of xMule, which is a fork of lMule.

It currently supports Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Windows, MacOS X and X-Box on both 32 bits and 64 bits computers. It should be noted that the MacOS X and Windows ports ain't ready for general usage yet.

aMule is intended to be as user-friendly and feature-plenty as eMule and to remain faithful to the look of eMule, so users familiar with either aMule or eMule will be able switch between the two easily.

Since aMule is based upon the eMule codebase, new features in eMule tend to find their way to aMule soon after their inclusion in eMule, so users of aMule can expect to ride the cutting-edge of ED2k clients.

The best part is, that it's developed by a great team which is even more user-friendly than aMule itself (if possible), so please join #amule on irc.freenode.net or visit the forums, if you have any suggestions, questions, problems, bugs, patches or what else you might think of.

If you are interested in joining the development team, please contact us either through the forums or in the IRC channel.

How do I view a client's credits?

You can see any client's credits (the credits you owe him) by right clicking on it's name and selecting Show Details. There is no specific value shown so you can either view the total amount of data that client has sent you or the Credits Modifier (which is called DL/UL Modifier). On that same dialog window, if that client is on your upload queue, you'll be able to view it's rate and score on you.

What do those colors in the progress bar mean?

On the downloading transfers list:
Red: Chunks in red are chunks with no sources on current session found.
Blue: Chunks in blue are chunks with at least one available source. The more solid blue it is, the more sources available have been found.
Yellow: Chunks in yellow are chunks which are being downloaded at this very moment.
Black: Chunks in black are chunks which have been already downloaded and verified.
Green: When a file is in green it means that it's been completely downloaded and successfully verified (so, it'll be in the Incoming folder).
On the expanded transfers list (can be viewed by double-clicking a transfer):
Black: Chunks which that client has and you don't have.
White: Chunks which that client doesn't have.
Green: Chunks which that client has and you have too.
Yellow:Chunks which that client is currently uploading to you.
On the uploading transfers list:
Black: That client has completed and verified that chunk.
Grey: That client doesn't have that chunk.
Have in mind that not all clients support telling other clients which parts they have already completed when uploading, so some clients might have no bar at all.
On the shared files window:
Red: When there's no source found to have that same chunk (apart from you, of course).
Blue: The more solid the blue is, the more spread that chunk is.
On the search windows:
Black: Files in black are those which only a client has been found to have.
Blue: Files in blue are those which two or more clients have been found to have. The more solid the blue is, the more clients have been found to have it.
Red: Files in red are those which are already in the downloading queue.
Green: Files in green are those which you are already sharing (you completely downloaded it).

What are all these icons?

See section "Icons and what they signify" in the Getting Started guide.

What do those numbers in brackets in the search window mean?

Tose are the clients who are known to have the complete file. Even if the number in brackets is 0, it doesn't mean that no one has the complete file, it juts means that no clietn has marked the shared file as "completed" (lots of clients don't do so). So, it's a way to have an idea of how many people have the complete file, but not the definitive way.

What do all those numbers in the sources column in the transfers window mean?

The sources format is XX/YY + ZZ (WW) where
XX stands for the amount of available sources (the amount of sources found you can download from).
YY stands for the amount of found sources (the total amount of sources found)
ZZ stands for the number of "Asked for another file" sources
WW stands for the amount of sources from who you are currently downloading some chunk of that file.

What do all those numbers in the priority column in the extended transfers window mean?

That's the queue position you have on that client for that specific file. Not all clients provide such information, so in some cases, nothing is displayed.
The number in brackets is the amount of possitions you have "moved" through that client's upload queue. Negative numbers stand for possitions you have won in the queue since you were added while possitive numbers mean possitions you've lost since since you were added. Notice that when that number is negative, it is displayed blue, while when it's possitive, it's displayed red.

Why are there two transfer rates in the uploading transfer list?

When you are uploading some file to some client, the uploading transfer list will show the transfer rate (speed in KBps) in which you are uploading to that client. If, at the same time, that client is uploading to you some file (or files), then the transfer rate's format will change to XX/YY where XX stands for the speed in which you are uploading to that client and YY will stand for the speed in which that client is uploading to you. If you search in the downloading transfers list you'll find that client.
This is useful if you are trying to get a rare file, since you can which file that client is uploading to you and, if it's the rare file, you can set him a friend slot so that you upload to that client faster and gain more credits on that clients (and consequently, download faster from the client).

What is A4AF?

A4AF stands for Ask For Another File. It is a way to optimise the resources on a specific download.
When you try to download a file, aMule gets a list of clients who are sharing that file. Some of this clients might also share some other file which you are also trying to download and, so, you might have that client in two separate download queues.
A4AF tries to avoid this situations. Why? Because you can't download two chunks at the same time from the same client. So, by setting A4AF in a specific download, you are telling aMule to search for any client in that file's download queue who is also in some other file's download queue and remove it from that other download queue. This way, you'll get more sources on that file.
You can also set a specific download to apply A4AF in the opposite way, that is, to give sources to the other downloads. This should be done on downloads which are not to be downloaded with too much hurry or which should be downloaded after some other similar file has been downloaded (in a selies of files, for example).
This also can be seen as a way of stablishing preferences in downloads.

What is the difference between Transfered and Completed in the Tranfers window?

Transfered shows the amount of data you have received concerning that file. This data is downloaded in a compressed format. Once the data gets to your machine, aMule processes it and decompresses it. The total useful data that can be taken from that received data (that is, the parts of that data which are actually real parts of the file you are trying to download and not headers or such stuff) is the amount that can be viewed in the Completed column.

What is the difference between pausing and stopping a transfer?

When a transfer is paused, all connections realted to the paused transfer are broken with the other clients so that no data is transfered, but sources aren't dropped, so that when the transfer is resumed, aMule will try to connect to those sources it was transferring from. Instead, when a transfer is stopped, all sources are dropped so, when it's resumed, aMule will start searching for clients who are sharing that file.

What are all those files aMule creates the first time it is run?

Most them are the same as eMule's. Here is a list and the meaning of each of them (have in mind that you might not have all of them on your hard disk):
~/.eMule: aMule's personal configuration (that is, things such as you nickname, your Temp and Incoming directories, your upload and download limits, and such...).
~/.aMule/addresses.dat: Contains a list of serverlist URLs to check (if enabled in Preferences) for new servers on startup.
~/.aMule/amulesig.dat: This is aMule's OnLineSignature file, which is the same as eMule's signature (see onlinesig.dat below) but with extended information (extended information includes nickname, session and total downloaded and uploaded bytes, aMule version, aMule uptime and number of shared files).
~/.aMule/aMule.tmpl: This is the template file which aMule WebServer uses to create the web page.
~/.aMule/aMule-online-sign.png: This file will only exist if CAS has been run sometime with the -o switch and ~/.aMule/casrc was successfully configured. It is an image containing details on aMule's status.
~/.aMule/casrc: This file will only exist if CAS has been run sometime with the -o switch. It contains the settings for the CAS image creation.
~/.aMule/clients.met: Contains the credits for the clients who have uploaded to you and the user hash of those clients.
~/.aMule/cryptkey.dat: It contains the unique 384 bit private RSA key of your client.
~/.aMule/emfriends.met: Contains your friends list configuration
~/.aMule/ipfilter.dat: This file contains the IP ranges and access levels restrictions which will be passed to ipfilter.
~/.aMule/Incoming: By default, the directory where aMule stores the completed downloads.
~/.aMule/known.met: This file stores the hash and some details of your shared files like size, path, statics, etc...
~/.aMule/lastversion: This is only for aMule to know if it's the first time you're starting aMule, if you had aMule installed before and which version you had installed previously.
~/.aMule/logfile: This file contains the log of the last aMule execution.
~/.aMule/muleconn: This file is a socket for aMule communications.
~/.aMule/onlinesig: This is an eMule compatible OnLineSignature file. It's used by other applications to know basic information on aMule's stat (if it's online, which server it's connected to, upload and download rate, and clients in queue).
~/.aMule/preferences.dat: Contains the user hash, which is a hash value the uniquely identifies you in the ED2K network and which is used to avoid cheating with credits and with friends lists.
~/.aMule/server.met: This is a list of all known servers and you're preferences on them (priority, name, ip, port and such).
~/.aMule/shareddir.dat: Stores the paths to all shared directories.
~/.aMule/Temp: By default, the directory where aMule stores the not completed downloads (temporary files).
~/.aMule/webserver: This directory contains the necessary files for aMule WebServer to display a nice Web page.
Other files on ~/.aMule/ are most surely backups of some of the above files.
Also, on the Temp directory (which is ~/.aMule/Temp by default but can be set to any other on Preferences), aMule will create, for each download three or four files):
*.part: This file contains the downloaded parts (not chunks, since not completed chunks are also stored here) of the download. As aMule is able to download from more than one user at the same time, this file has the size of the complete file. The missing parts are filled with zeros.
*.part.met: This file contains information on the downloaded parts of the download, the verified chunks, the hash values of the remaining chunks, etc...
*.part.met.bak: This are backups of the *.part.met files. Every now and then aMule creates this backups since without the *.part.met file, a download has no meaning for aMule. If any *.part.met file "disappeared, you should rename the *.part.met.bak to *.part.met.
*.part.met.seeds: This files only exist if you have enabled, in preferences, to store the some sources's IPs on rare files so that it can try to connect to those sources on next aMule execution. It contains exactly that, some sources to be able to connect later.

Can I use eMule's files and settings and viceversa?

Most of them yes. The only ones you can't share between aMule and eMule are the program configuration (that is, preferences.ini in eMule and ~/.eMule in aMule). All the ED2K network related files can be successfully shared between the two applications with no more effort than copying the files in ~/.aMule to the eMule's directory and viceversa. But have in mind that some files in ~/.aMule are aMule specific, such as amulesig.dat or aMule.tmpl, so it's better to only move those files that are in both the aMule and the eMule directory.

What is all that stuff in amulesig.dat and onlinesig.dat?

I guess you already read what amulesig.dat and onlinesig.dat are for above. So, this is the meaning of their contents (have in mind that if aMule crashes, the contents of both files will be the last written status):
onlinesig.dat
It is composed of two lines separated by a line feed character (with no carriage return character). The first one, when aMule is offline, will contain a 0 (zero) and nothing else, but when aMule is online, it'll contain a 1 (number one) followed by | (the pipe character) then the name of there server it's currently connected to followed by the pipe character, then the IP of the server it's currently connected to followed by the pipe character and finally the port it is connected to on that server.
The second line contains, in this order, the downloading rate, the uploading rate and the number of users on queue, with a pipe character ('|') between each of them.
The second line does not end in a newline character ('\n').
When aMule is cleanly closed the second line contains the same structure but filled with zeros, while the first line will only contain a single zero.
amulesig.dat
aMule's signature file is much more powerful than eMule's and has as much lines as fields. It's structure is:
The first line will contain a 0 (zero) if aMule is disconnected or has been cleanly closed, a 2 if it's connecting (only since aMule 2.0.0-rc4), or a 1 (number 1) if it's online.
The second third and forth line contain the name, IP and port of the server aMule is connected to (in this order) or a zero if it's offline. Since aMule 2.0.0-rc4 it will also contain a 0 when aMule's status is connecting or cleanly closed.
The fifth line will contain an capital H or a capital L depending if aMule is connected on high or low ID. If aMule is disconnected. Again, since aMule 2.0.0-rc4 it will also contain a 0 when aMule's status is connecting or cleanly closed, this line will contain a zero.
The sixth and seventh lines contain the speed in which aMule is downloading and uploading respectively. Since aMule 2.0.0-rc4 both lines contain "0.0" when aMule is cleanly closed.
The eighth and ninth lines contain the number of clients on the upload queue and the amount of shared files respectively. Since aMule 2.0.0-rc4 both lines are set to zero too when aMule is cleanly closed.
The tenth line contains the nickname of the user.
The eleventh and twelve lines contain the total amount of bytes downloaded and uploaded respectively.
The thirteenth line contains the aMule version.
The fourteenth and fifteenth line contains the amount of bytes downloaded and uploaded in the current session respectively. Since aMule 2.0.0-rc4, both will be 0 if aMule is connecting or was cleanly closed
The sixteenth (and last) line contains the amount of time aMule has been running. It will be followed by a space and "secs" "mins" or "hours" depending on the value (or the same time abreviations in your configure language). Since aMule 2.0.0-rc4, if aMule is connecting or was cleanly closed this field will contain 00 followed by the abreviation "secs" (or that same abreviation in your configured language).
The last line must be followed by a new line character ('\n').

I just installed aMule for the first time. How do I set it up?

Setting up aMule properly is just a matter of tastes and depends on many factors. If you just wish a quick startup configuration, then continue reading.
Open aMule and click on the Preferences button. Set a nickname and the language in which you wish to have aMule. Then switch to the Connection tab and input your Line Capacities. Then input the Bandwidth Limits according to the maximum amount of bandwidth you want aMule to use. Then switch to the Directories tab and set a directory for both the temporary files (where files will be stored until they are completely downloaded) and the completed files. Finally, select the directories which you want to share. It is not recommended to share too much files. Read bellow "What are the best settings I can set to have a nice download rate". To select recursively all directories inside a certain directory read Is there any way to recursively select a whole directory and it's contents?.

Will aMule handle my xMule and lMule files? What should I do?

aMule automatically handles both lMule and xMule's configuration files, but in different ways:
lMule has been discontinued for several yeats now, so aMule understands that you are replacing lMule with aMule, so it renames ~/.lMule folder to ~/.aMule. If you used ~/.lMule/Temp and ~/.lMule/Incoming as your temporal and downloding directories respectivly, you shoud change the paths in Preferences to ~/.aMule/Temp and ~/.aMule/Incoming respectivly.
xMule is officialy dead since May 2004 (official xMule's death announcment on xMule forums by it's main developer at, the now non-existent web page, http://www.xmule.org), but for historical reasons, aMule will remain the ~/.xMule directory with it's name and just copy from it it's configuration files. This means that the files you were downloading will remain in the ~/.xMule directory if they were downloading there, but since aMule has handled xMule's configuration files, it will use still use it. You can either live with that, or move directories ~/.xMule/Temp and ~/.xMule/Incoming into ~/.aMule and change directories in Preferences.

How do I start my aMule experience?

Just click on the Connect button. You should have some servers listed on the Servers window, though. If you have no servers listed, then click on the little button below the Connect button in the Servers window before clicking the Connect button. After some time, aMule will be connected to some server (you'll know because in the lower right corner the "Not connected" message will disappear). When connected, switch to the Search window and search for the file you want and once you find the file you want, double-click on it.
For general aMule usage, join aMule #amule in irc.freenode.net or ask in forums at http://www.amule.org/amule

What are the best settings I can set to have a nice download rate?

If you understood "Is there any limit on the ED2K network?" then you might have seen that, if your provider allows you, the best is to have the upload limit set to a minimum of 10 KBps. Also, if you understood "What is all that credits, rate and score stuff about?", you might also understand that the more you upload, the more you download, so take the upload limit up as much as you can, share well known and popular files (don't share too much (not more than approximately 200 files) or you'll get banned from some servers for giving too much traffic) and try to share small-sized popular files since some ED2K clients give extra credits for providing them a whole small-sized files. A good tip (thanks to kaouete) when you are trying to download some rare or "never completing" file, is, whenever you see someone uploading to you some chunk of that file, give that client a friend slot so that, if it tries to download something from you, it gets preference and you gain credits on that client.

Is there a way to open a text file and load all the ed2k links from the file?

Yes, there is. Just place all the ed2k links you want to download in a text file, each ed2k link in a separate line. Name that file ED2KLinks then place it in ~/.aMule and aMule will autimatically detect it, add all those ed2k links to download and remove the file.
You might want to read this to know more about this file.

Can I manage aMule remotely through telnet in the same way I do with eDonkey?

Yes you can, but not exactly in the same way as you do with eDonkey. Just start a normal telnet (or ssh) session with the host computer (the one running aMule) and, once in, use amulecmd to take control over aMule. To start new downloads just use the ed2k command. Remember amulecmd must be configured.
Another aMule utility that might be of your interest is CAS (which's command is cas) which will show basic aMule statics.
Also, aMule WebServer might be what you are looking for if you can and don't mind using a web browser on the client computer. Have in mind that aMule WebBrowser must also be configured.

Is there any way to start aMule with no graphical interface?

aMule is a monolithic application. This means that core and GUI are a whole unsplittable block (although some efforts are already focused in splitting core from GUI). Even though, there's still a walkaround to run aMule on command line but it's not a direct way. You should run Xvfb and then run aMule in it. Afterwards you can take control over aMule using amulecmd and ed2k in the same way as you would if you were accessing aMule remotely over telnet (see above).

Short example:
Run Xvfb:
Xvfb :1 -screen 0 640x480x16 &
Set display to use for amule:
export DISPLAY=:1
Then run aMule:
amule &
Note: After running export DISPLAY=:1, all graphical applications launched from that shell will be opened in Xvfb's display. To avoid this, you can run aMule with the following command, so that only aMule runs there:
DISPLAY=:1 amule &
INFO: See the Screen page to know more about the Screen command

If you need help on this issue, search aMule's forums or join #amule IRC channel at irc.freenode.net and ask.

It's also possible to use vncserver instead of Xvfb to achieve something similar. Just install vncserver and execute vncserver :0 -geometry 1024x768 followed by export DISPLAY=:0. This will create a hidden X server, accessible only remotely using a VNC client. Once the X server is running, you will need a window manager to manage aMule window (well, it's not really needed, but it's useful if you want to be able to close aMule without simply killing it), I recommend [[1]] due to its low CPU and memory requirements. Just start it with fluxbox &, and then run aMule with amule &. Now you can connect to the VNC server and see the aMule window.

Keep in mind that if aMule shows any dialog that requires user input (like the one showed the first time aMule is executed), it will get stuck there until someone connects to the VNC server and clicks ok in the dialog. Usually, this should only need to be done once (and this connection may be used to update the serverlist and set the preferences), from then on aMule will start without user interaction, showing only some informational messages at startup.

Can I run two aMule instances at the same time?

Yes you can, although it is not recommended. aMule will only check if the concurrent user is running some aMule instance, so you can run as many aMule instances as user accounts you have access to. To do this, just run xhost + and then su as another user and run aMule from that shell.
Be aware, since aMule can't check if a user is running aMule on another X display. So, if your account is already running some aMule instance in some other X display, do not run another aMule instance on another X display or you might end up with lost configuration settings and corrupt chunks.

How can I get those nice aMule statics some people post on the IRC channels?

You can either copy and paste CAS's (C aMule Statics) output (to execute CAS, run cas) or, if you use xChat as your IRC client and have the Perl module installed, you could use XAS (xChat aMule Statics).

What is slot allocation?

Each upload is a slot, so, if you are uploading to five clients at the same time, you have five upload slots stablished. So, the amount of slot allocation is the bandwidth which each slot will be given.
As an example, if your upload limit is 20KBps, you can set slot allocation to 2KBps which means 10 clients will be able to download from you at the same time, each of them at a maximum transfer rate of 2KBps.
See section "Why is aMule ignoring the bandwith I set per slot?" in aMule common problem's FAQ.

What is a friend slot?

A friend slot is just a slot which is assigned to a client in the friends list. Only one friend can have a slot at the same time. Whenever that friend (who has the friend slot enabled) tries to download a file from you, it will be given highest priority in the uploads queue, since it has that slot always assigned. While that friend isn't downloading, that assigned slot will be given to the client with the highest priority in the upload queue, as expected.

What is the real point on setting up Line Capacities in Preferences? Shouldn't aMule only care for the Bandwidth Limits?

aMule really only cares for the Bandwidth Limits. Line Capacities are only set for the Statics display. Let's see: Imagine you have a 100KBps connection, imagine you want to set the Limit at 40KBps because you have a web server which needs a minimum of 60KBps to serve all the petitions. Now imagine you download rare indonesian free songs. You most surely never download at more than 3KBps ever. So, you could set Line Capacities at 5KBps so that the graph at Statics has some meaning, since if you set it up as a 100KBps connection, the graph will show an horizontal line with no meaning at all.

aMule is crashing quite often here. Can I set it to restart everytime it crashes?

No, you can't. But you can have scripts to do so. Some of these scripts even work if aMule hangs but doesn't crash.
The following scripts might suit your needs:
http://www.amule.org/amule/thread.php?threadid=1232
http://www.amule.org/amule/thread.php?threadid=542
http://deepthought.ena.si/mulerunner

Can I have aMule get data from the standard input to pass it to GDB or Valgrind?

Yes, you can. Up to aMule 2.0.0-rc3 this wasn't allowed, but as of version 2.0.0-rc4 you can with the parameter -i or --enable-stdin.
Anyway, people with aMule versions previous to 2.0.0-rc4 can use phoenix's aMule stdin patch.

What is all this rabbit story about?

Ah, yeah, this all began... ehm... well... I mean... follow the white rabbit ;-)