AMule Project FAQ - User contributions [en]

FAQ aMule

2004-10-31T20:42:01Z

83.67.2.246:

<center><h4>F.A.Q on [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]</h4> 
[[FAQ_aMule|Version in English]] | [[FAQ-es|Versión en Español]] | [[FAQ-it|Versione in Italiano]] | [[FAQ-fr|Version en Français]]

<h2>by [[User:Jacobo221|Jacobo221]]</h2></center>

== What is [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]? ==
'''''[[aMule]] is a multiplatform client for the [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] or [[eMule]] will be able switch between the two easily.

Since [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] can expect to ride the cutting-edge of [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|ED2k]] clients.

The best part is, that it's developed by a great team which is even more user-friendly than [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] itself (if possible), so please join #amule on irc.freenode.net or visit the [http://www.amule.org/amule 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 [http://www.amule.org/amule 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 positions you have "moved" through that client's upload queue. '''Negative''' numbers stand for positions you have '''won''' in the queue since you were added while '''positive''' numbers mean positions 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.

When the request swapping is done, the Queue Rank will be mantained.

'''NOTE:''' A source with a QR lower than 50 in the download wiht the higher priority will never be swapped. This is done this way to ensure it starts downloading from it.

== 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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] will start searching for clients who are sharing that file.

== What are all those files [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] creates the first time it is run? ==
Most them are the same as [[eMule|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]'s [[signature|OnLineSignature]] file, which is the same as [[eMule|eMule]]'s [[signature|signature]] (see onlinesig.dat below) but with extended information (extended information includes nickname, session and total downloaded and uploaded bytes, [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] version, [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] uptime and number of shared files). 
~/.aMule/aMule.tmpl: This is the template file which [[amuleweb|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]'s status. 
~/.aMule/casrc: This file will only exist if [[CAS|CAS]] has been run sometime with the -o switch. It contains the settings for the [[CAS|CAS]] image creation. 
~/.aMule/clients.met: Contains the public hashes of other known clients along with the credits it owes each of them. 
~/.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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] stores the completed downloads. 
~/.aMule/known.met: This file stores the hashes and some details of your shared files like size, path, statics, etc... 
~/.aMule/known2.met: This file stores the verified [[AICH]] hashes of your shared files. 
~/.aMule/lastversion: This is only for [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] to know if it's the first time you're starting [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]], if you had [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] installed before and which version you had installed previously. 
~/.aMule/logfile: This file contains the log of the last [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] execution. 
~/.aMule/muleconn: This file is a socket for [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] communications. 
~/.aMule/onlinesig: This is an [[eMule|eMule]] compatible [[signature|OnLineSignature]] file. It's used by other applications to know basic information on [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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 public key of your client, also known as user hash. 
~/.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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] execution. It contains exactly that, some sources to be able to connect later.

== Can I use [[eMule|eMule]]'s files and settings and viceversa? ==
Most of them yes. The only ones you can't share between [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] and [[eMule]] are the program configuration (that is, preferences.ini in [[eMule]] and ~/.eMule in [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]). All the [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] specific, such as amulesig.dat or aMule.tmpl, so it's better to only move those files that are in both the [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] and the [[eMule]] directory.

Moving the half downloaded fiels is easy: just place them from your [[eMule]] temp directory (by default ''C:\Program files\eMule\Temp'' into ''~/.aMule/Temp'' or whatever your temp directory is in your [[aMule]] configuration.

== What is all that stuff in amulesig.dat and onlinesig.dat? ==
I guess you already read what amulesig.dat and onlinesig.dat are for [[FAQ_aMule#What_are_all_those_files_aMule_creates_the_first_time_it_is_run?|above]]. So, this is the meaning of their contents (have in mind that if [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] is offline, will contain a 0 (zero) and nothing else, but when [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] is connected on high or low ID. If [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] is downloading and uploading respectively. Since aMule 2.0.0-rc4 both lines contain "0.0" when [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] and click on the Preferences button. Set a nickname and the language in which you wish to have [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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 [[aMule_problems#Is there any way to recursively select a whole directory and its contents?|Is there any way to recursively select a whole directory and its contents?]].

== Will [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] handle my [[xMule]] and [[lMule]] files? What should I do? ==
[[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] automatically handles both [[lMule]] and [[xMule]]'s configuration files, but in different ways: 
[[lMule]] has been discontinued for several years now, so [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] understands that you are replacing [[lMule]] with [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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 its main developer at, the now non-existent web page, [http://www.xmule.org http://www.xmule.org]), but for historical reasons, [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] will remain the ~/.xMule directory with its name and just copy from it its configuration files. This means that the files you were downloading will remain in the ~/.xMule directory if they were downloading there, but since [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] usage, join [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] #amule in irc.freenode.net or ask in forums at [http://www.amule.org/amule 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 [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|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 [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|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 [[ED2KLinks_file|this]] to know more about this file.

== Can I manage [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] remotely through telnet in the same way I do with [[eDonkey2000|eDonkey]]? ==
Yes you can, but not exactly in the same way as you do with [[eDonkey2000|eDonkey]]. Just start a normal telnet (or ssh) session with the host computer (the one running [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]) and, once in, use amulecmd to take control over [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]. To start new downloads just use the [[ed2k_command|ed2k command]]. Remember [[amulecmd]] must be configured. 
Another aMule utility that might be of your interest is [[CAS]] (which's command is <code>cas</code>) which will show basic [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] statics. 
Also, [[amuleweb|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] with no graphical interface? ==

Yes. Since aMule 2.0.0-rc6, you can use aMule Deamon, which can be executed on the command line by typing ''amuled''. To control it, use either aMuleWeb, aMuleCMD or any other such application for remotely controlling aMule.

Anyway, up to aMule 2.0.0-rc6, [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] was a monolithic application. This means that core and GUI were whole unsplittable block.

So, for those using an old aMule version or who refuse to use aMuled (aMule Daemon), there are still two walkarounds to run [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] on command line but they're not direct ways:
*Through ''[http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]''
*Through ''[http://www.realvnc.com VNC]''

'''Through ''[http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]:''' 
You should run <code>[http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]</code> and then run aMule in it. Afterwards you can take control over [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] using [[amulecmd]] and [[ed2k_command|ed2k]] in the same way as you would if you were accessing [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] remotely over telnet (see above).

Short example: 
Run [http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]: 
<code>Xvfb :1 -screen 0 640x480x16 &</code> 
Set display to use for amule: 
<code>export DISPLAY=:1</code> 
Then run [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]: 
<code>amule &</code> 
Note: After running <code>export DISPLAY=:1</code>, all graphical applications launched from that shell will be opened in [http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]'s display. To avoid this, you can run [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] with the following command, so that only [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] runs there: 
<code>DISPLAY=:1 amule &</code> 
'''INFO:''' See the [[Screen]] page to know more about the [[Screen]] command

'''Through ''[http://www.realvnc.com VNC]:''' 
It's also possible to use ''vncserver'' instead of [http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb] to achieve something similar. Just install ''vncserver'' and execute ''vncserver :0 -geometry 1024x768'' followed by ''export DISPLAY=:0''. This will create a hidden [http://xfree.org X] server, accessible only remotely using a [http://www.realvnc.com VNC] client. Once the [http://xfree.org 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 [http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net FluxBox] 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 [http://www.realvnc.com 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 [http://www.realvnc.com 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.

If you need help on this issue, search [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]'s [http://www.amule.org/amule forums] or join #amule [[IRC]] channel at irc.freenode.net and ask.

== Can I run two [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] instances at the same time? ==
Yes you can, although it is not recommended. [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] will only check if the concurrent user is running some [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] instance, so you can run as many [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] instances as user accounts you have access to. To do this, just run <code>xhost +</code> and then <code>su</code> as another user and run aMule from that shell. 
Be aware, since [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] can't check if a user is running [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] on another X display. So, if your account is already running some [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] instance in some other X display, do not run another [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] statics some people post on the IRC channels? ==
You can either copy and paste [[CAS]]'s (C [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] Statics) output (to execute [[CAS]], run <code>cas</code>) or, if you use xChat as your IRC client and have the Perl module installed, you could use [[XAS]] (xChat [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_problems|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_Project_FAQ:About|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=1232] 
[http://www.amule.org/amule/thread.php?threadid=542 http://www.amule.org/amule/thread.php?threadid=542] 
[http://deepthought.ena.si/mulerunner 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 [http://www.amule.org/amule/thread.php?threadid=2474 phoenix's aMule stdin patch].

== How can I switch to aMule from eMule without loosing my credits? ==
If you already read [[FAQ_aMule#What_are_all_those_files_aMule_creates_the_first_time_it_is_run?|about the meaning of aMule's files]], you might already know what you have to do: 
Get ''cryptkey.dat'', ''clients.met'' and ''preferences.dat'' files from eMule's config directory (usually, under Windows, something like ''C:\Program files\eMule\config'') and copy them into ''~/.aMule''. Now start aMule so it reads those files. You're done!

== What is all this [[rabbit]] story about? ==
Ah, yeah, this all began... ehm... well... I mean... follow the white [[rabbit]] ;-)

FAQ aMule

2004-10-26T22:00:01Z

83.67.2.246:

<center><h4>F.A.Q on [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]</h4> 
[[FAQ_aMule|Version in English]] | [[FAQ-es|Versión en Español]] | [[FAQ-it|Versione in Italiano]] | [[FAQ-fr|Version en Français]]

<h2>by [[User:Jacobo221|Jacobo221]]</h2></center>

== What is [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]? ==
'''''[[aMule]] is a multiplatform client for the [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] or [[eMule]] will be able switch between the two easily.

Since [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] can expect to ride the cutting-edge of [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|ED2k]] clients.

The best part is, that it's developed by a great team which is even more user-friendly than [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] itself (if possible), so please join #amule on irc.freenode.net or visit the [http://www.amule.org/amule 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 [http://www.amule.org/amule 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 positions you have "moved" through that client's upload queue. '''Negative''' numbers stand for positions you have '''won''' in the queue since you were added while '''positive''' numbers mean positions 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.

When the request swapping is done, the Queue Rank will be mantained.

'''NOTE:''' A source with a QR lower than 50 in the download wiht the higher priority will never be swapped. This is done this way to ensure it starts downloading from it.

== 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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] will start searching for clients who are sharing that file.

== What are all those files [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] creates the first time it is run? ==
Most them are the same as [[eMule|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): 
~/.aMule: 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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]'s [[signature|OnLineSignature]] file, which is the same as [[eMule|eMule]]'s [[signature|signature]] (see onlinesig.dat below) but with extended information (extended information includes nickname, session and total downloaded and uploaded bytes, [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] version, [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] uptime and number of shared files). 
~/.aMule/aMule.tmpl: This is the template file which [[amuleweb|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]'s status. 
~/.aMule/casrc: This file will only exist if [[CAS|CAS]] has been run sometime with the -o switch. It contains the settings for the [[CAS|CAS]] image creation. 
~/.aMule/clients.met: Contains the public hashes of other known clients along with the credits it owes each of them. 
~/.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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] stores the completed downloads. 
~/.aMule/known.met: This file stores the hashes and some details of your shared files like size, path, statics, etc... 
~/.aMule/known2.met: This file stores the verified [[AICH]] hashes of your shared files. 
~/.aMule/lastversion: This is only for [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] to know if it's the first time you're starting [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]], if you had [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] installed before and which version you had installed previously. 
~/.aMule/logfile: This file contains the log of the last [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] execution. 
~/.aMule/muleconn: This file is a socket for [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] communications. 
~/.aMule/onlinesig: This is an [[eMule|eMule]] compatible [[signature|OnLineSignature]] file. It's used by other applications to know basic information on [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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 public key of your client, also known as user hash. 
~/.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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] execution. It contains exactly that, some sources to be able to connect later.

== Can I use [[eMule|eMule]]'s files and settings and viceversa? ==
Most of them yes. The only ones you can't share between [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] and [[eMule]] are the program configuration (that is, preferences.ini in [[eMule]] and ~/.eMule in [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]). All the [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] specific, such as amulesig.dat or aMule.tmpl, so it's better to only move those files that are in both the [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] and the [[eMule]] directory.

Moving the half downloaded fiels is easy: just place them from your [[eMule]] temp directory (by default ''C:\Program files\eMule\Temp'' into ''~/.aMule/Temp'' or whatever your temp directory is in your [[aMule]] configuration.

== What is all that stuff in amulesig.dat and onlinesig.dat? ==
I guess you already read what amulesig.dat and onlinesig.dat are for [[FAQ_aMule#What_are_all_those_files_aMule_creates_the_first_time_it_is_run?|above]]. So, this is the meaning of their contents (have in mind that if [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] is offline, will contain a 0 (zero) and nothing else, but when [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] is connected on high or low ID. If [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] is downloading and uploading respectively. Since aMule 2.0.0-rc4 both lines contain "0.0" when [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] and click on the Preferences button. Set a nickname and the language in which you wish to have [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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 [[aMule_problems#Is there any way to recursively select a whole directory and its contents?|Is there any way to recursively select a whole directory and its contents?]].

== Will [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] handle my [[xMule]] and [[lMule]] files? What should I do? ==
[[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] automatically handles both [[lMule]] and [[xMule]]'s configuration files, but in different ways: 
[[lMule]] has been discontinued for several years now, so [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] understands that you are replacing [[lMule]] with [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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 its main developer at, the now non-existent web page, [http://www.xmule.org http://www.xmule.org]), but for historical reasons, [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] usage, join [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] #amule in irc.freenode.net or ask in forums at [http://www.amule.org/amule 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 [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|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 [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|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 [[ED2KLinks_file|this]] to know more about this file.

== Can I manage [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] remotely through telnet in the same way I do with [[eDonkey2000|eDonkey]]? ==
Yes you can, but not exactly in the same way as you do with [[eDonkey2000|eDonkey]]. Just start a normal telnet (or ssh) session with the host computer (the one running [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]) and, once in, use amulecmd to take control over [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]. To start new downloads just use the [[ed2k_command|ed2k command]]. Remember [[amulecmd]] must be configured. 
Another aMule utility that might be of your interest is [[CAS]] (which's command is <code>cas</code>) which will show basic [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] statics. 
Also, [[amuleweb|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] with no graphical interface? ==

Yes. Since aMule 2.0.0-rc6, you can use aMule Deamon, which can be executed on the command line by typing ''amuled''. To control it, use either aMuleWeb, aMuleCMD or any other such application for remotely controlling aMule.

Anyway, up to aMule 2.0.0-rc6, [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] was a monolithic application. This means that core and GUI were whole unsplittable block.

So, for those using an old aMule version or who refuse to use aMuled (aMule Daemon), there are still two walkarounds to run [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] on command line but they're not direct ways:
*Through ''[http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]''
*Through ''[http://www.realvnc.com VNC]''

'''Through ''[http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]:''' 
You should run <code>[http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]</code> and then run aMule in it. Afterwards you can take control over [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] using [[amulecmd]] and [[ed2k_command|ed2k]] in the same way as you would if you were accessing [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] remotely over telnet (see above).

Short example: 
Run [http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]: 
<code>Xvfb :1 -screen 0 640x480x16 &</code> 
Set display to use for amule: 
<code>export DISPLAY=:1</code> 
Then run [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]: 
<code>amule &</code> 
Note: After running <code>export DISPLAY=:1</code>, all graphical applications launched from that shell will be opened in [http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]'s display. To avoid this, you can run [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] with the following command, so that only [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] runs there: 
<code>DISPLAY=:1 amule &</code> 
'''INFO:''' See the [[Screen]] page to know more about the [[Screen]] command

'''Through ''[http://www.realvnc.com VNC]:''' 
It's also possible to use ''vncserver'' instead of [http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb] to achieve something similar. Just install ''vncserver'' and execute ''vncserver :0 -geometry 1024x768'' followed by ''export DISPLAY=:0''. This will create a hidden [http://xfree.org X] server, accessible only remotely using a [http://www.realvnc.com VNC] client. Once the [http://xfree.org 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 [http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net FluxBox] 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 [http://www.realvnc.com 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 [http://www.realvnc.com 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.

If you need help on this issue, search [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]'s [http://www.amule.org/amule forums] or join #amule [[IRC]] channel at irc.freenode.net and ask.

== Can I run two [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] instances at the same time? ==
Yes you can, although it is not recommended. [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] will only check if the concurrent user is running some [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] instance, so you can run as many [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] instances as user accounts you have access to. To do this, just run <code>xhost +</code> and then <code>su</code> as another user and run aMule from that shell. 
Be aware, since [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] can't check if a user is running [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] on another X display. So, if your account is already running some [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] instance in some other X display, do not run another [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] statics some people post on the IRC channels? ==
You can either copy and paste [[CAS]]'s (C [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] Statics) output (to execute [[CAS]], run <code>cas</code>) or, if you use xChat as your IRC client and have the Perl module installed, you could use [[XAS]] (xChat [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_problems|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_Project_FAQ:About|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=1232] 
[http://www.amule.org/amule/thread.php?threadid=542 http://www.amule.org/amule/thread.php?threadid=542] 
[http://deepthought.ena.si/mulerunner 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 [http://www.amule.org/amule/thread.php?threadid=2474 phoenix's aMule stdin patch].

== How can I switch to aMule from eMule without loosing my credits? ==
If you already read [[FAQ_aMule#What_are_all_those_files_aMule_creates_the_first_time_it_is_run?|about the meaning of aMule's files]], you might already know what you have to do: 
Get ''cryptkey.dat'', ''clients.met'' and ''preferences.dat'' files from eMule's config directory (usually, under Windows, something like ''C:\Program files\eMule\config'') and copy them into ''~/.aMule''. Now start aMule so it reads those files. You're done!

== What is all this [[rabbit]] story about? ==
Ah, yeah, this all began... ehm... well... I mean... follow the white [[rabbit]] ;-)

FAQ aMule

2004-10-26T21:58:24Z

83.67.2.246:

<center><h4>F.A.Q on [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]</h4> 
[[FAQ_aMule|Version in English]] | [[FAQ-es|Versión en Español]] | [[FAQ-it|Versione in Italiano]] | [[FAQ-fr|Version en Français]]

<h2>by [[User:Jacobo221|Jacobo221]]</h2></center>

== What is [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]? ==
'''''[[aMule]] is a multiplatform client for the [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] or [[eMule]] will be able switch between the two easily.

Since [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] can expect to ride the cutting-edge of [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|ED2k]] clients.

The best part is, that it's developed by a great team which is even more user-friendly than [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] itself (if possible), so please join #amule on irc.freenode.net or visit the [http://www.amule.org/amule 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 [http://www.amule.org/amule 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 positions you have "moved" through that client's upload queue. '''Negative''' numbers stand for positions you have '''won''' in the queue since you were added while '''positive''' numbers mean positions 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.

When the request swapping is done, the Queue Rank will be mantained.

'''NOTE:''' A source with a QR lower than 50 in the download wiht the higher priority will never be swapped. This is done this way to ensure it starts downloading from it.

== 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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] will start searching for clients who are sharing that file.

== What are all those files [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] creates the first time it is run? ==
Most them are the same as [[eMule|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): 
~/.aMule: 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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]'s [[signature|OnLineSignature]] file, which is the same as [[eMule|eMule]]'s [[signature|signature]] (see onlinesig.dat below) but with extended information (extended information includes nickname, session and total downloaded and uploaded bytes, [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] version, [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] uptime and number of shared files). 
~/.aMule/aMule.tmpl: This is the template file which [[amuleweb|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]'s status. 
~/.aMule/casrc: This file will only exist if [[CAS|CAS]] has been run sometime with the -o switch. It contains the settings for the [[CAS|CAS]] image creation. 
~/.aMule/clients.met: Contains the public hashes of other known clients along with the credits it owes each of them. 
~/.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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] stores the completed downloads. 
~/.aMule/known.met: This file stores the hashes and some details of your shared files like size, path, statics, etc... 
~/.aMule/known2.met: This file stores the verified [[AICH]] hashes of your shared files. 
~/.aMule/lastversion: This is only for [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] to know if it's the first time you're starting [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]], if you had [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] installed before and which version you had installed previously. 
~/.aMule/logfile: This file contains the log of the last [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] execution. 
~/.aMule/muleconn: This file is a socket for [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] communications. 
~/.aMule/onlinesig: This is an [[eMule|eMule]] compatible [[signature|OnLineSignature]] file. It's used by other applications to know basic information on [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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 public key of your client, also known as user hash. 
~/.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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] execution. It contains exactly that, some sources to be able to connect later.

== Can I use [[eMule|eMule]]'s files and settings and viceversa? ==
Most of them yes. The only ones you can't share between [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] and [[eMule]] are the program configuration (that is, preferences.ini in [[eMule]] and ~/.eMule in [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]). All the [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] specific, such as amulesig.dat or aMule.tmpl, so it's better to only move those files that are in both the [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] and the [[eMule]] directory.

Moving the half downloaded fiels is easy: just place them from your [[eMule]] temp directory (by default ''C:\Program files\eMule\Temp'' into ''~/.aMule/Temp'' or whatever your temp directory is in your [[aMule]] configuration.

== What is all that stuff in amulesig.dat and onlinesig.dat? ==
I guess you already read what amulesig.dat and onlinesig.dat are for [[FAQ_aMule#What_are_all_those_files_aMule_creates_the_first_time_it_is_run?|above]]. So, this is the meaning of their contents (have in mind that if [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] is offline, will contain a 0 (zero) and nothing else, but when [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] is connected on high or low ID. If [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] is downloading and uploading respectively. Since aMule 2.0.0-rc4 both lines contain "0.0" when [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] and click on the Preferences button. Set a nickname and the language in which you wish to have [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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 [[aMule_problems#Is there any way to recursively select a whole directory and it's contents?|Is there any way to recursively select a whole directory and it's contents?]].

== Will [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] handle my [[xMule]] and [[lMule]] files? What should I do? ==
[[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] automatically handles both [[lMule]] and [[xMule]]'s configuration files, but in different ways: 
[[lMule]] has been discontinued for several years now, so [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] understands that you are replacing [[lMule]] with [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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 its main developer at, the now non-existent web page, [http://www.xmule.org http://www.xmule.org]), but for historical reasons, [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] usage, join [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] #amule in irc.freenode.net or ask in forums at [http://www.amule.org/amule 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 [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|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 [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|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 [[ED2KLinks_file|this]] to know more about this file.

== Can I manage [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] remotely through telnet in the same way I do with [[eDonkey2000|eDonkey]]? ==
Yes you can, but not exactly in the same way as you do with [[eDonkey2000|eDonkey]]. Just start a normal telnet (or ssh) session with the host computer (the one running [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]) and, once in, use amulecmd to take control over [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]. To start new downloads just use the [[ed2k_command|ed2k command]]. Remember [[amulecmd]] must be configured. 
Another aMule utility that might be of your interest is [[CAS]] (which's command is <code>cas</code>) which will show basic [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] statics. 
Also, [[amuleweb|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] with no graphical interface? ==

Yes. Since aMule 2.0.0-rc6, you can use aMule Deamon, which can be executed on the command line by typing ''amuled''. To control it, use either aMuleWeb, aMuleCMD or any other such application for remotely controlling aMule.

Anyway, up to aMule 2.0.0-rc6, [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] was a monolithic application. This means that core and GUI were whole unsplittable block.

So, for those using an old aMule version or who refuse to use aMuled (aMule Daemon), there are still two walkarounds to run [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] on command line but they're not direct ways:
*Through ''[http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]''
*Through ''[http://www.realvnc.com VNC]''

'''Through ''[http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]:''' 
You should run <code>[http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]</code> and then run aMule in it. Afterwards you can take control over [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] using [[amulecmd]] and [[ed2k_command|ed2k]] in the same way as you would if you were accessing [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] remotely over telnet (see above).

Short example: 
Run [http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]: 
<code>Xvfb :1 -screen 0 640x480x16 &</code> 
Set display to use for amule: 
<code>export DISPLAY=:1</code> 
Then run [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]: 
<code>amule &</code> 
Note: After running <code>export DISPLAY=:1</code>, all graphical applications launched from that shell will be opened in [http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]'s display. To avoid this, you can run [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] with the following command, so that only [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] runs there: 
<code>DISPLAY=:1 amule &</code> 
'''INFO:''' See the [[Screen]] page to know more about the [[Screen]] command

'''Through ''[http://www.realvnc.com VNC]:''' 
It's also possible to use ''vncserver'' instead of [http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb] to achieve something similar. Just install ''vncserver'' and execute ''vncserver :0 -geometry 1024x768'' followed by ''export DISPLAY=:0''. This will create a hidden [http://xfree.org X] server, accessible only remotely using a [http://www.realvnc.com VNC] client. Once the [http://xfree.org 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 [http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net FluxBox] 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 [http://www.realvnc.com 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 [http://www.realvnc.com 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.

If you need help on this issue, search [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]'s [http://www.amule.org/amule forums] or join #amule [[IRC]] channel at irc.freenode.net and ask.

== Can I run two [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] instances at the same time? ==
Yes you can, although it is not recommended. [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] will only check if the concurrent user is running some [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] instance, so you can run as many [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] instances as user accounts you have access to. To do this, just run <code>xhost +</code> and then <code>su</code> as another user and run aMule from that shell. 
Be aware, since [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] can't check if a user is running [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] on another X display. So, if your account is already running some [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] instance in some other X display, do not run another [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] statics some people post on the IRC channels? ==
You can either copy and paste [[CAS]]'s (C [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] Statics) output (to execute [[CAS]], run <code>cas</code>) or, if you use xChat as your IRC client and have the Perl module installed, you could use [[XAS]] (xChat [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_problems|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_Project_FAQ:About|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=1232] 
[http://www.amule.org/amule/thread.php?threadid=542 http://www.amule.org/amule/thread.php?threadid=542] 
[http://deepthought.ena.si/mulerunner 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 [http://www.amule.org/amule/thread.php?threadid=2474 phoenix's aMule stdin patch].

== How can I switch to aMule from eMule without loosing my credits? ==
If you already read [[FAQ_aMule#What_are_all_those_files_aMule_creates_the_first_time_it_is_run?|about the meaning of aMule's files]], you might already know what you have to do: 
Get ''cryptkey.dat'', ''clients.met'' and ''preferences.dat'' files from eMule's config directory (usually, under Windows, something like ''C:\Program files\eMule\config'') and copy them into ''~/.aMule''. Now start aMule so it reads those files. You're done!

== What is all this [[rabbit]] story about? ==
Ah, yeah, this all began... ehm... well... I mean... follow the white [[rabbit]] ;-)

FAQ aMule

2004-10-26T21:56:14Z

83.67.2.246:

<center><h4>F.A.Q on [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]</h4> 
[[FAQ_aMule|Version in English]] | [[FAQ-es|Versión en Español]] | [[FAQ-it|Versione in Italiano]] | [[FAQ-fr|Version en Français]]

<h2>by [[User:Jacobo221|Jacobo221]]</h2></center>

== What is [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]? ==
'''''[[aMule]] is a multiplatform client for the [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] or [[eMule]] will be able switch between the two easily.

Since [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] can expect to ride the cutting-edge of [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|ED2k]] clients.

The best part is, that it's developed by a great team which is even more user-friendly than [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] itself (if possible), so please join #amule on irc.freenode.net or visit the [http://www.amule.org/amule 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 [http://www.amule.org/amule 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 positions you have "moved" through that client's upload queue. '''Negative''' numbers stand for positions you have '''won''' in the queue since you were added while '''positive''' numbers mean positions 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.

When the request swapping is done, the Queue Rank will be mantained.

'''NOTE:''' A source with a QR lower than 50 in the download wiht the higher priority will never be swapped. This is done this way to ensure it starts downloading from it.

== 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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] will start searching for clients who are sharing that file.

== What are all those files [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] creates the first time it is run? ==
Most them are the same as [[eMule|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]'s [[signature|OnLineSignature]] file, which is the same as [[eMule|eMule]]'s [[signature|signature]] (see onlinesig.dat below) but with extended information (extended information includes nickname, session and total downloaded and uploaded bytes, [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] version, [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] uptime and number of shared files). 
~/.aMule/aMule.tmpl: This is the template file which [[amuleweb|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]'s status. 
~/.aMule/casrc: This file will only exist if [[CAS|CAS]] has been run sometime with the -o switch. It contains the settings for the [[CAS|CAS]] image creation. 
~/.aMule/clients.met: Contains the public hashes of other known clients along with the credits it owes each of them. 
~/.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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] stores the completed downloads. 
~/.aMule/known.met: This file stores the hashes and some details of your shared files like size, path, statics, etc... 
~/.aMule/known2.met: This file stores the verified [[AICH]] hashes of your shared files. 
~/.aMule/lastversion: This is only for [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] to know if it's the first time you're starting [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]], if you had [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] installed before and which version you had installed previously. 
~/.aMule/logfile: This file contains the log of the last [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] execution. 
~/.aMule/muleconn: This file is a socket for [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] communications. 
~/.aMule/onlinesig: This is an [[eMule|eMule]] compatible [[signature|OnLineSignature]] file. It's used by other applications to know basic information on [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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 public key of your client, also known as user hash. 
~/.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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] execution. It contains exactly that, some sources to be able to connect later.

== Can I use [[eMule|eMule]]'s files and settings and viceversa? ==
Most of them yes. The only ones you can't share between [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] and [[eMule]] are the program configuration (that is, preferences.ini in [[eMule]] and ~/.eMule in [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]). All the [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] specific, such as amulesig.dat or aMule.tmpl, so it's better to only move those files that are in both the [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] and the [[eMule]] directory.

Moving the half downloaded fiels is easy: just place them from your [[eMule]] temp directory (by default ''C:\Program files\eMule\Temp'' into ''~/.aMule/Temp'' or whatever your temp directory is in your [[aMule]] configuration.

== What is all that stuff in amulesig.dat and onlinesig.dat? ==
I guess you already read what amulesig.dat and onlinesig.dat are for [[FAQ_aMule#What_are_all_those_files_aMule_creates_the_first_time_it_is_run?|above]]. So, this is the meaning of their contents (have in mind that if [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] is offline, will contain a 0 (zero) and nothing else, but when [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] is connected on high or low ID. If [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] is downloading and uploading respectively. Since aMule 2.0.0-rc4 both lines contain "0.0" when [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] and click on the Preferences button. Set a nickname and the language in which you wish to have [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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 [[aMule_problems#Is there any way to recursively select a whole directory and it's contents?|Is there any way to recursively select a whole directory and it's contents?]].

== Will [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] handle my [[xMule]] and [[lMule]] files? What should I do? ==
[[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] automatically handles both [[lMule]] and [[xMule]]'s configuration files, but in different ways: 
[[lMule]] has been discontinued for several years now, so [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] understands that you are replacing [[lMule]] with [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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 its main developer at, the now non-existent web page, [http://www.xmule.org http://www.xmule.org]), but for historical reasons, [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] usage, join [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] #amule in irc.freenode.net or ask in forums at [http://www.amule.org/amule 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 [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|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 [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia|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 [[ED2KLinks_file|this]] to know more about this file.

== Can I manage [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] remotely through telnet in the same way I do with [[eDonkey2000|eDonkey]]? ==
Yes you can, but not exactly in the same way as you do with [[eDonkey2000|eDonkey]]. Just start a normal telnet (or ssh) session with the host computer (the one running [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]) and, once in, use amulecmd to take control over [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]. To start new downloads just use the [[ed2k_command|ed2k command]]. Remember [[amulecmd]] must be configured. 
Another aMule utility that might be of your interest is [[CAS]] (which's command is <code>cas</code>) which will show basic [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] statics. 
Also, [[amuleweb|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] with no graphical interface? ==

Yes. Since aMule 2.0.0-rc6, you can use aMule Deamon, which can be executed on the command line by typing ''amuled''. To control it, use either aMuleWeb, aMuleCMD or any other such application for remotely controlling aMule.

Anyway, up to aMule 2.0.0-rc6, [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] was a monolithic application. This means that core and GUI were whole unsplittable block.

So, for those using an old aMule version or who refuse to use aMuled (aMule Daemon), there are still two walkarounds to run [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] on command line but they're not direct ways:
*Through ''[http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]''
*Through ''[http://www.realvnc.com VNC]''

'''Through ''[http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]:''' 
You should run <code>[http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]</code> and then run aMule in it. Afterwards you can take control over [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] using [[amulecmd]] and [[ed2k_command|ed2k]] in the same way as you would if you were accessing [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] remotely over telnet (see above).

Short example: 
Run [http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]: 
<code>Xvfb :1 -screen 0 640x480x16 &</code> 
Set display to use for amule: 
<code>export DISPLAY=:1</code> 
Then run [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]: 
<code>amule &</code> 
Note: After running <code>export DISPLAY=:1</code>, all graphical applications launched from that shell will be opened in [http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb]'s display. To avoid this, you can run [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] with the following command, so that only [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] runs there: 
<code>DISPLAY=:1 amule &</code> 
'''INFO:''' See the [[Screen]] page to know more about the [[Screen]] command

'''Through ''[http://www.realvnc.com VNC]:''' 
It's also possible to use ''vncserver'' instead of [http://xfree.org/4.4.0/Xvfb.1.html Xvfb] to achieve something similar. Just install ''vncserver'' and execute ''vncserver :0 -geometry 1024x768'' followed by ''export DISPLAY=:0''. This will create a hidden [http://xfree.org X] server, accessible only remotely using a [http://www.realvnc.com VNC] client. Once the [http://xfree.org 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 [http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net FluxBox] 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 [http://www.realvnc.com 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 [http://www.realvnc.com 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.

If you need help on this issue, search [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]]'s [http://www.amule.org/amule forums] or join #amule [[IRC]] channel at irc.freenode.net and ask.

== Can I run two [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] instances at the same time? ==
Yes you can, although it is not recommended. [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] will only check if the concurrent user is running some [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] instance, so you can run as many [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] instances as user accounts you have access to. To do this, just run <code>xhost +</code> and then <code>su</code> as another user and run aMule from that shell. 
Be aware, since [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] can't check if a user is running [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] on another X display. So, if your account is already running some [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] instance in some other X display, do not run another [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] statics some people post on the IRC channels? ==
You can either copy and paste [[CAS]]'s (C [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] Statics) output (to execute [[CAS]], run <code>cas</code>) or, if you use xChat as your IRC client and have the Perl module installed, you could use [[XAS]] (xChat [[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|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_problems|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_Project_FAQ:About|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=1232] 
[http://www.amule.org/amule/thread.php?threadid=542 http://www.amule.org/amule/thread.php?threadid=542] 
[http://deepthought.ena.si/mulerunner 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 [http://www.amule.org/amule/thread.php?threadid=2474 phoenix's aMule stdin patch].

== How can I switch to aMule from eMule without loosing my credits? ==
If you already read [[FAQ_aMule#What_are_all_those_files_aMule_creates_the_first_time_it_is_run?|about the meaning of aMule's files]], you might already know what you have to do: 
Get ''cryptkey.dat'', ''clients.met'' and ''preferences.dat'' files from eMule's config directory (usually, under Windows, something like ''C:\Program files\eMule\config'') and copy them into ''~/.aMule''. Now start aMule so it reads those files. You're done!

== What is all this [[rabbit]] story about? ==
Ah, yeah, this all began... ehm... well... I mean... follow the white [[rabbit]] ;-)

AMule problems

2004-10-26T21:34:15Z

83.67.2.246:

<center>[[AMule_problems|Version in English]] | [[AMule_problems-es|Versión en Español]] | Versione in Italiano</center>
<center><h4>[[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] common problems</h4>

<h2>by [[User:Jacobo221|Jacobo221]]</h2></center>

== I get an "aMule already running: exiting" message on the terminal when starting aMule. Will I be able to start it in any way? ==
This message is very clear: aMule is already running. But this doesn't refer to the entire system, but that '''you''' (your user account) is running aMule already. 
You might, anyway, think there's no aMule running, since it crashed. But it sometimes happens that some processes aren't completly closed, instead they keep in a status known as ''zombie'' or ''defunct''. To know if this is your problem, run ''ps u | grep amule'' and if it shows any output, then there's some other aMule process running with your account. To kill it, either close it normally (if you can) or kill it with ''kill -9 <aMule-PID>'' or ''killall -9 amule'' or logoff and log in again (which, in most cases should also kill aMule processes, except if you executed aMule with ''nohup'' or something alike). 
If non of the above suits you, then you can run another aMule as another user (if you can log in with another account, of course). Read [[FAQ_aMule#Can_I_run_two_aMule_instances_at_the_same_time?|Can I run two aMule instances at the same time?]].

== aMule starts but is never shown, allthough it's working fine. What's going on? ==
This may happen if you set the incorrect type of SysTray in Preferences -> General -> "Systray Integration" and you set aMule to minimize to tray and you set aMule to start minimized. So you really took some time to brake it, didn't you? 
To be able to recover aMule's GUI, edit ''~/.eMule'' and search for ''StartupMinimized=1'' and once you find it, change that line to ''StartupMinimized=0''. The following script will do that for you: 
''sed s/StartupMinimized=1/StartupMinimized=0/ ~/.eMule > ~/.eMule.temp && mv -f ~/.eMule.temp ~/.eMule'' 
When you next start aMule set the correct SysTray integration in Preferences so that you can enable "Start minimized" without having aMule being hidden. 
If for some reason the above didn't work, try changing manually the Systray integration in your to the default "No systray integration" option. To do so, set the ''DesktopMode='' value in ''~/.eMule'' to ''4''. The following script will do that for you: 
''sed s/DesktopMode=[0-9]/DesktopMode=4/ ~/.eMule > ~/.eMule.temp && mv -f ~/.eMule.temp ~/.eMule'' 
'''NOTE:''' On [[aMule]] versions previous to 2.0.0rc4, you should set it to ''1'' instead of ''4'' since the Preferences storage changed a little.

== aMule starts but is never connecting/behaving very weird/crashing almost every few seconds/etc...? ==
aMule versions up to 2.0.0-rc3 shouldn't be linked against wxWidgets 2.5.x neither GTK2 although some Linux distributions tend to do so. Please make sure your aMule isn't the case. If unsure, paste you backtrace at [http://www.amule.org/amule/board.php?boardid=33 aMule's Backtraces forum] or join aMule's IRC channel #amule at irc.freenode.net

== Where are my downloaded files? ==
By default, aMule stores completed files in ''~/.aMule/Incoming'' but, since ''~/.aMule'' directory is a hidden directory, your file manager might not show it. Make sure you have enabled your file manager to show hidden files. 
By default, files being downloaded are placed in ''~/.aMule/Temp'', so again, this is a hidden directory and the file managed must be configured to show hidden files.

== Why is aMule taking so much CPU resources at start-up? ==
This happens because aMule is hashing new files found on the Shared Directories. If aMule is always taking a lot of CPU at startup and no new files have been added or modified in any way in the Shared Directories, then something is wrong. 
In aMule versions earlier than 2.0.0-rc3 this used to happen when having the Temp, Incoming or any Shared Directory in a FAT32 partition. Since aMule 2.0.0-rc3 this is not happening any more. 
Also, in aMule versions earlier than 2.0.0-rc4 filesystems with UTF-8 encoding (known to happen with SuSE 9.1) could present problems when some file or directory in the Shared Directories path contanied a special character. If this is your problem, there's a walkaround (thanks '''nachbarnebenan'''): after aMule has hashed all shared files (that is, when it stops taking a lot of your CPU's resources), close aMule and enconde ~/.aMule/known.met into UTF-8 encoding (you can do this with the application ''[http://www.gnu.org/directory/recode.html recode]'' by running the following command: ''recode u8 ~/.aMule/known.met''). This should be done whenever a files is added or modified in any Shared Directory. So, best option is to upgrade to latest aMule version. 
If non of the above helps you, then something went really wrong on ''known.met'' file, probably some external program or user broke it. Best option is to delete it, start aMule and let aMule rehash all files again.

== So now aMule starts, but why is it displaying this message: "No valid servers to connect in serverlist found"? ==
That's because you enabled the option "Auto connect to servers the static list only". So, disable it or add some server to the static list. 
To disable that option, go to Preferences -> Servers -> "Auto connect to servers the static list only" 
To add a server to the static list, go to the Servers window and right-click on the server you want to add to the static list. Then select "Add to static" and do this exact process wit all the servers you want to add to the static list.

== aMule connects to server, but it is always given LowID. Why? and, can I do something about it? ==
This can bue due to three reasons:
<ul><li>Some necessary port is not opened in your firewall. Read [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia#What_is_LowID_and_HighID?|this]] to get to know what to do.</li>
<li>The server is very busy or maybe badly configured, so it's giving you a LowID. There's nothing that can be done in this case other than reconnect or connect to some other server.</li>
<li>Some ISP forbid the use of p2p applications, such as aMule, by not allowing traffic through popular p2p ports. In these cases, configure aMule to use some other port. It would be even better if it was some popular port used for some other issue. It's been known that on some ISPs it worked with port TCP 25600.</li></ul>

== [[aMule]] was interrupted while completing a file and it is now never completing it (allthough it's 100% downloaded). How can I complete it? ==
This one is easy: Close [[aMule]]. Now go into the Temp directory (by default, ''~/.aMule/Temp'') and run the following command:

''touch ./*''

Finally, run [[aMule]] and let it complete the files.

== I just lost a download. Is there anyway I can recover it? ==
This is strage to happen, but it might, allthough in most cases it is the result of some non-aMule-related stuff going weird (or user's fault). 
Two things may have happened. Either *.part.met files were deleted, or *.part files were deleted. 
If *.part files have dissapeared, the only solution is to reastart the downloads from the beggining (if *.part.met files are still there, aMule will restart the downloads on next start). However this should '''never''' happen unless the user directly deleted them. 
If *.part.met files have dissapeared but *.part files are still in the Temp directory, then search if *.part.met.bak are also in the Temp directory. If they are, then just rename ''*.part.met.bak'' files to ''*.part.met'' just by running: 
''for file in *.part.met.bak; do mv -f "$file" "${file%.bak}; done'' 
Still, it could happen that, although you have the *.part files, neither *.part.met nor *.part.met.bak files exist any longer. In this case, you would have two ways ways to work out of this: 
Either, use [http://www.bigwillystyle42.com/document.php?dest=mfr MetFileRegenerator] (Java needed) to reconstruct the *.part.met files. 
Or, search again on aMule for the files you were downloading and rename their part number in the *.part.met files to the ones it used to have. For example, if you ware down loading ''aMule_1.2.6.tar.gz'' and that was being downloaded in Temp directory as ''008.part'', then that file used to have it's corresponding ''008.part.met'' file and, probably, it's ''008.part.met.bak'' file. But this two latter files have misteriously dissapeared. Then search again on aMule for ''aMule_1.2.6.tar.gz'' and start downloading it. Close aMule and you'll have this new download as, for example, ''011.part'' file in the Temp directory. Of course, this download will have it's ''011.part.met'' file. Well, rename ''011.part.met'' to ''008.part.met'' and then delete ''011.part'' (and ''011.part.met.bak'' if it existed). Now start aMule and you will have recovered the download from the point it was before the *.part.met files disapeared.

== Why does aMule suddendly become unresponsive to the mouse allthough it's not hanged? ==
It sometimes happens that you left a dialog window somewhere hidden in the desktop. aMule is waiting for that window to be closed, so it becomes unresponsive untill you click OK, Cancel, or whatever you have to click. 
So, make sure there's no aMule dialog left around in '''any workspace'''.

== Why are some files in my shared folders not shown in the Shared Folders window? ==
This could happen if you added this files after aMule has been started. Press the "Reload" button on Shared Folders window and it should find the new files and hash them (this may take some CPU time). 
However, on some releases it has happened that after restarting aMule, some files dissapear from the Shared Folders window alllthough they are in the shared folders. In such cases, the only way to have them back is to delete ''~/.aMule/known.met'' but, of course, on next aMule start, all shared files will have to be rehashed, and that'll take some time most probably.

== I always get a message about addresses.met when I start aMule. What's wrong? ==
This happens when you enable the option Preferences -> Servers -> "Auto-update serverlist at startup" and you have no serverlists' urls in ''addresses.dat''. You can either add some to ''addresses.dat'' by adding them at Preferences -> Servers -> List or just disable Preferences -> Servers -> "Auto-update serverlist at startup" if you don't really need it. 

== I sometimes get a message on the log about credits being lost. Should I be worried? ==
No, you don't need to be worried. Credits for a client are deleted after 150 days (more or less 5 months) without "seeing" that client. Also, bad clients might loose their credits too. So those messages are just for debug information, you souldn't worry about them.

== What should I do if I loose my ''cryptkey.dat'' file? ==
Loosing that file will automatically make you loose all your credits with it, sorry. IF you will to start collecting credits again from this very moment, delete ''~/.aMule/preferences.dat'' too. If you don't, you'll be unable to collect credits on those [[client]]s which had sometime (before loosing the ''cryptkey.dat file) identified you.

== Why is Upload/Download limit always back to 0 after every restart? ==
This happened on aMule versions previous to 2.0.0-rc4 when you trying to set a Upload or Download limit value higher than the Upload or Download Capacity value. However, since version 2.0.0-rc4 this is fixed (read [[FAQ_aMule#What_is_the_real_point_on_setting_up_Line_Capacities_in_Preferences?_Shouldn't_aMule_only_care_for_the_Bandwidth_Limits?|What is the real point on setting up Line Capacities
in Preferences? Shouldn't aMule only care for the Bandwidth Limits?]] to understand why) and shouldn't happen anymore.

== Why is aMule ignoring the bandwith I set per slot? ==
The bandwidth set to each slot can be set in Preferences, but it will be ignored if the bandwidth set per slot doesn't allow at least three connections at the same time. 
So, the maximum speed allowed per slot is '''BandwidthLimit/3'''. 
Please do '''NOT''' confuse '''Bandwidth limit''' with '''Bandwith Capacity'''. Read [[FAQ_aMule#What is the real point on setting up Line Capacities in Preferences? Shouldn't aMule only care for the Bandwidth Limits?|What is the real point on setting up Line Capacities in Preferences? Shouldn't aMule only care for the Bandwidth Limits?]] since the meaning of the Bandwidth Capacity setting is not intuitive. since the meaning of the Bandwidth Capacity setting is not intuitive. 
Also, if [[aMule]] detects that, after having set all the slots for uploading, still some bandwidth is left before getting to the Bandwidth Limit, it will allow another slot and divide all the slot bandwidths to so use the same amount of bandwidth. 

Example: 
Bandwidth Limit: 7 KBps
Slot allocation: 2 KBps
When [[aMule]] sets the slots to some clients to upload to them, after giving out three slots, it will notice that tehre are no more 2KBps left, since the limit is 7 KBps, but there is still 1 KBps left in the bandwicth before reaching the Bandwidth Limit. So, It will allow another slot to upload to a client and, isntead of giving that last slot a 1 KBps bandwidth connection (and leave the rest with a 2 KBps bandwidth connetcion), it will give all four slots a 1.8 KBps bandwidth connection.

== Why can't I set aMule's download limit to more than X? ==
To keep the ED2K network alive, all ED2K clients have an upload/download limits ratio hardcoded which, depending on the upload limit set, is:

From 0KBps to 3KBps: 
DownloadLimit can't be more than UploadLimit*3 
From 4KBps to 9KBps: 
DownloadLimit can't be more than UploadLimit*4 
UploadLimit values over 9KBps: 
There's no DownloadLimit limitation.

Be carefull when setting 0KBps as Upload Limit . It might not mean what you think it is. Read [[AMule_problems#I_set_Upload_Limit_to_0KBps,_but_aMule_is_still_transfering._What_did_I_do_wrong?|I set Upload Limit to 0KBps, but aMule is still transfering. What did I do wrong?]] to make sure you understand it's meaning.

== I set Upload Limit to 0KBps, but aMule is still transfering. What did I do wrong? ==
Setting Upload limit to 0KBps will not stop transfers, instead, ''0'' value means '''unlimited''', so, it's right the opossite of you're trying to do. There's no way to stop aMule from uploading files, and that's the same on all ED2K clients (eMule, eDonkey, etc). Allowing people not to upload would bring the ED2K network to it's end. 
Even if you don't share any directory, the Temp directory will '''always''' be shared, so that files that you are downloading are shared with other clients.

== Why am I getting "Too many connections" messages on the terminal? ==
This happens when you set a very high value at Preferences -> Connections -> "Connection limits" -> "Max connections". If this value is as almost as big as the the amount of connections your system allows you to have, then aMule will fail to establish connections and display those messages (have in mind that other applications may also have some connections established). 
On Windows 9x/ME platforms there is a limit of 100 TCP connections so, although you might set aMule to establish more than 100 connections, it will be unable to do so. You can change Windows's TCP connections limit by editting the Windows Register ('''Start -> Run -> regedit.exe''') and setting (you'll most surely have to add the value since in most cases it doesn't exist): 
''HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\MSTCP\MaxConnections'' (which is a String type and it's value must be a 32-bit number).

== My progress bars have lost most of their 3D effect and look more ugly now. Can I turn its look back? ==
On old aMule versions (previous to 2.0.0-rc4) setting the progress bar style to the most right on Preferences -> "GUI tweaks" was the way to have the progress bar have the best 3D effect. As of 2.0.0-rc4 the best 3D effect is given when the style bar is set to the middle. Setting it to the most right will give the progress bar a flat look while setting it to the most left will give it a dark look.

== All my downloads suddenly paused and I can't resume them. What's going on? ==
Check if there's any free space in the filesystem where the Temp directory is placed. If there is any at all, check if there's more free space than the minimum free space set at Preferences -> Files -> "Min disk space".

== Why isn't Preview working at all? ==
Since aMule 2.0.0-rc4 Preview command isn't being run in the same terminal as aMule. As a result, your Preview program may fail to start. This is the case of MPlayer. If you need a terminal to run your Preview player, use some command like ''xterm -e <preview-app>'' i.e.: 
''xterm -T "aMule's preview" -iconic -e mplayer -idx''

== After exitting MPlayer on Preview, my aMule keeps locked? ==
Preview used to lock aMule on purpose until aMule reached version 2.0.0-rc4. As a result of this, people using MPlayer suffered from a bug on MPlayer which remains the main process in background when closing the main MPlayer window. The way to walk around this MPlayer bug on aMule versions previous to 2.0.0-rc4 is to exit MPlayer by pressing the '''Q''' key. Any way, it'd be better if you could possibly upgrade aMule to the latest versions.

== Why is ''Transfered'' a smaller number than ''Completed''? ==
It's a common mistake to think it should be bigger or, at least, equal. 
Please read [[FAQ_aMule#What_is_the_difference_between_Transfered_and_Completed_in_the_Tranfers_window?|What is the difference between Transfered and Completed in the Tranfers window?]] to know more about this.

== aMule always slows down my computer when it completes a download. Is this a normal behaviour? ==
Yes it is. When aMule completes a download it checks it has not been corrupted. Allthough this is already checked while downloading (by checking the chunk's hash values), once the file is completly downloaded aMule hashes all the chunks to check that the chunks which were previously downloaded weren't somehow corrupted by the user or an external application while the rest of the file was being downloaded.

== Is there any way to recursively select a whole directory and its contents? ==
Yes, there is. And it's simple:
*On [[aMule]] 2.0.0-rc4 or later, right-click the directory you want to recusively select.
*On [[aMule]] 1.x and up to 2.0.0-rc3 (included), while clicking on the directory, hold the CTRL key. 
And that's it.

== I downloaded a file and it got corrupted somehow by my hard disk or some external application once completed. Can I avoid redownloading the whole of it? ==
If you still have the [[ed2k_links|ed2k:// link]], start the download again and when a whole chunk (9.28MB) has been downloaded (any chunk), close [[aMule]], rename the corrupted file to the filename the current download has (something like ''002.part''), touch the corrupted file (i.e.: ''touch ~/.aMule/Temp/002.part*'') and restart [[aMule]]. 
[[aMule]] will detect the completed chunks and the corrupted ones, and will only download the chunks which got corrupted.

AMule problems

2004-10-26T21:32:59Z

83.67.2.246:

<center>[[AMule_problems|Version in English]] | [[AMule_problems-es|Versión en Español]] | Versione in Italiano</center>
<center><h4>[[aMule_Project_FAQ:About|aMule]] common problems</h4>

<h2>by [[User:Jacobo221|Jacobo221]]</h2></center>

== I get an "aMule already running: exiting" message on the terminal when starting aMule. Will I be able to start it in any way? ==
This message is very clear: aMule is already running. But this doesn't refer to the entire system, but that '''you''' (your user account) is running aMule already. 
You might, anyway, think there's no aMule running, since it crashed. But it sometimes happens that some processes aren't completly closed, instead they keep in a status known as ''zombie'' or ''defunct''. To know if this is your problem, run ''ps u | grep amule'' and if it shows any output, then there's some other aMule process running with your account. To kill it, either close it normally (if you can) or kill it with ''kill -9 <aMule-PID>'' or ''killall -9 amule'' or logoff and log in again (which, in most cases should also kill aMule processes, except if you executed aMule with ''nohup'' or something alike). 
If non of the above suits you, then you can run another aMule as another user (if you can log in with another account, of course). Read [[FAQ_aMule#Can_I_run_two_aMule_instances_at_the_same_time?|Can I run two aMule instances at the same time?]].

== aMule starts but is never shown, allthough it's working fine. What's going on? ==
This may happen if you set the incorrect type of SysTray in Preferences -> General -> "Systray Integration" and you set aMule to minimize to tray and you set aMule to start minimized. So you really took some time to brake it, didn't you? 
To be able to recover aMule's GUI, edit ''~/.eMule'' and search for ''StartupMinimized=1'' and once you find it, change that line to ''StartupMinimized=0''. The following script will do that for you: 
''sed s/StartupMinimized=1/StartupMinimized=0/ ~/.eMule > ~/.eMule.temp && mv -f ~/.eMule.temp ~/.eMule'' 
When you next start aMule set the correct SysTray integration in Preferences so that you can enable "Start minimized" without having aMule being hidden. 
If for some reason the above didn't work, try changing manually the Systray integration in your to the default "No systray integration" option. To do so, set the ''DesktopMode='' value in ''~/.eMule'' to ''4''. The following script will do that for you: 
''sed s/DesktopMode=[0-9]/DesktopMode=4/ ~/.eMule > ~/.eMule.temp && mv -f ~/.eMule.temp ~/.eMule'' 
'''NOTE:''' On [[aMule]] versions previous to 2.0.0rc4, you should set it to ''1'' instead of ''4'' since the Preferences storage changed a little.

== aMule starts but is never connecting/behaving very weird/crashing almost every few seconds/etc...? ==
aMule versions up to 2.0.0-rc3 shouldn't be linked against wxWidgets 2.5.x neither GTK2 although some Linux distributions tend to do so. Please make sure your aMule isn't the case. If unsure, paste you backtrace at [http://www.amule.org/amule/board.php?boardid=33 aMule's Backtraces forum] or join aMule's IRC channel #amule at irc.freenode.net

== Where are my downloaded files? ==
By default, aMule stores completed files in ''~/.aMule/Incoming'' but, since ''~/.aMule'' directory is a hidden directory, your file manager might not show it. Make sure you have enabled your file manager to show hidden files. 
By default, files being downloaded are placed in ''~/.aMule/Temp'', so again, this is a hidden directory and the file managed must be configured to show hidden files.

== Why is aMule taking so much CPU resources at start-up? ==
This happens because aMule is hashing new files found on the Shared Directories. If aMule is always taking a lot of CPU at startup and no new files have been added or modified in any way in the Shared Directories, then something is wrong. 
In aMule versions earlier than 2.0.0-rc3 this used to happen when having the Temp, Incoming or any Shared Directory in a FAT32 partition. Since aMule 2.0.0-rc3 this is not happening any more. 
Also, in aMule versions earlier than 2.0.0-rc4 filesystems with UTF-8 encoding (known to happen with SuSE 9.1) could present problems when some file or directory in the Shared Directories path contanied a special character. If this is your problem, there's a walkaround (thanks '''nachbarnebenan'''): after aMule has hashed all shared files (that is, when it stops taking a lot of your CPU's resources), close aMule and enconde ~/.aMule/known.met into UTF-8 encoding (you can do this with the application ''[http://www.gnu.org/directory/recode.html recode]'' by running the following command: ''recode u8 ~/.aMule/known.met''). This should be done whenever a files is added or modified in any Shared Directory. So, best option is to upgrade to latest aMule version. 
If non of the above helps you, then something went really wrong on ''known.met'' file, probably some external program or user broke it. Best option is to delete it, start aMule and let aMule rehash all files again.

== So now aMule starts, but why is it displaying this message: "No valid servers to connect in serverlist found"? ==
That's because you enabled the option "Auto connect to servers the static list only". So, disable it or add some server to the static list. 
To disable that option, go to Preferences -> Servers -> "Auto connect to servers the static list only" 
To add a server to the static list, go to the Servers window and right-click on the server you want to add to the static list. Then select "Add to static" and do this exact process wit all the servers you want to add to the static list.

== aMule connects to server, but it is always given LowID. Why? and, can I do something about it? ==
This can bue due to three reasons:
<ul><li>Some necessary port is not opened in your firewall. Read [[FAQ_eD2k-Kademlia#What_is_LowID_and_HighID?|this]] to get to know what to do.</li>
<li>The server is very busy or maybe badly configured, so it's giving you a LowID. There's nothing that can be done in this case other than reconnect or connect to some other server.</li>
<li>Some ISP forbid the use of p2p applications, such as aMule, by not allowing traffic through popular p2p ports. In these cases, configure aMule to use some other port. It would be even better if it was some popular port used for some other issue. It's been known that on some ISPs it worked with port TCP 25600.</li></ul>

== [[aMule]] was interrupted while completing a file and it is now never completing it (allthough it's 100% downloaded). How can I complete it? ==
This one is easy: Close [[aMule]]. Now go into the Temp directory (by default, ''~/.aMule/Temp'') and run the following command:

''touch ./*''

Finally, run [[aMule]] and let it complete the files.

== I just lost a download. Is there anyway I can recover it? ==
This is strage to happen, but it might, allthough in most cases it is the result of some non-aMule-related stuff going weird (or user's fault). 
Two things may have happened. Either *.part.met files were deleted, or *.part files were deleted. 
If *.part files have dissapeared, the only solution is to reastart the downloads from the beggining (if *.part.met files are still there, aMule will restart the downloads on next start). However this should '''never''' happen unless the user directly deleted them. 
If *.part.met files have dissapeared but *.part files are still in the Temp directory, then search if *.part.met.bak are also in the Temp directory. If they are, then just rename ''*.part.met.bak'' files to ''*.part.met'' just by running: 
''for file in *.part.met.bak; do mv -f "$file" "${file%.bak}; done'' 
Still, it could happen that, although you have the *.part files, neither *.part.met nor *.part.met.bak files exist any longer. In this case, you would have two ways ways to work out of this: 
Either, use [http://www.bigwillystyle42.com/document.php?dest=mfr MetFileRegenerator] (Java needed) to reconstruct the *.part.met files. 
Or, search again on aMule for the files you were downloading and rename their part number in the *.part.met files to the ones it used to have. For example, if you ware down loading ''aMule_1.2.6.tar.gz'' and that was being downloaded in Temp directory as ''008.part'', then that file used to have it's corresponding ''008.part.met'' file and, probably, it's ''008.part.met.bak'' file. But this two latter files have misteriously dissapeared. Then search again on aMule for ''aMule_1.2.6.tar.gz'' and start downloading it. Close aMule and you'll have this new download as, for example, ''011.part'' file in the Temp directory. Of course, this download will have it's ''011.part.met'' file. Well, rename ''011.part.met'' to ''008.part.met'' and then delete ''011.part'' (and ''011.part.met.bak'' if it existed). Now start aMule and you will have recovered the download from the point it was before the *.part.met files disapeared.

== Why does aMule suddendly become unresponsive to the mouse allthough it's not hanged? ==
It sometimes happens that you left a dialog window somewhere hidden in the desktop. aMule is waiting for that window to be closed, so it becomes unresponsive untill you click OK, Cancel, or whatever you have to click. 
So, make sure there's no aMule dialog left around in '''any workspace'''.

== Why are some files in my shared folders not shown in the Shared Folders window? ==
This could happen if you added this files after aMule has been started. Press the "Reload" button on Shared Folders window and it should find the new files and hash them (this may take some CPU time). 
However, on some releases it has happened that after restarting aMule, some files dissapear from the Shared Folders window alllthough they are in the shared folders. In such cases, the only way to have them back is to delete ''~/.aMule/known.met'' but, of course, on next aMule start, all shared files will have to be rehashed, and that'll take some time most probably.

== I always get a message about addresses.met when I start aMule. What's wrong? ==
This happens when you enable the option Preferences -> Servers -> "Auto-update serverlist at startup" and you have no serverlists' urls in ''addresses.dat''. You can either add some to ''addresses.dat'' by adding them at Preferences -> Servers -> List or just disable Preferences -> Servers -> "Auto-update serverlist at startup" if you don't really need it. 

== I sometimes get a message on the log about credits being lost. Should I be worried? ==
No, you don't need to be worried. Credits for a client are deleted after 150 days (more or less 5 months) without "seeing" that client. Also, bad clients might loose their credits too. So those messages are just for debug information, you souldn't worry about them.

== What should I do if I loose my ''cryptkey.dat'' file? ==
Loosing that file will automatically make you loose all your credits with it, sorry. IF you will to start collecting credits again from this very moment, delete ''~/.aMule/preferences.dat'' too. If you don't, you'll be unable to collect credits on those [[client]]s which had sometime (before loosing the ''cryptkey.dat file) identified you.

== Why is Upload/Download limit always back to 0 after every restart? ==
This happened on aMule versions previous to 2.0.0-rc4 when you trying to set a Upload or Download limit value higher than the Upload or Download Capacity value. However, since version 2.0.0-rc4 this is fixed (read [[FAQ_aMule#What_is_the_real_point_on_setting_up_Line_Capacities_in_Preferences?_Shouldn't_aMule_only_care_for_the_Bandwidth_Limits?|What is the real point on setting up Line Capacities
in Preferences? Shouldn't aMule only care for the Bandwidth Limits?]] to understand why) and shouldn't happen anymore.

== Why is aMule ignoring the bandwith I set per slot? ==
The bandwidth set to each slot can be set in Preferences, but it will be ignored if the bandwidth set per slot doesn't allow at least three connections at the same time. 
So, the maximum speed allowed per slot is '''BandwidthLimit/3'''. 
Please do '''NOT''' confuse '''Bandwidth limit''' with '''Bandwith Capacity'''. Read [[FAQ_aMule#What is the real point on setting up Line Capacities in Preferences? Shouldn't aMule only care for the Bandwidth Limits?|What is the real point on setting up Line Capacities in Preferences? Shouldn't aMule only care for the Bandwidth Limits?]] since the meaning of the Bandwidth Capacity setting is not intuitive. since the meaning of the Bandwidth Capacity setting is not intuitive. 
Also, if [[aMule]] detects that, after having set all the slots for uploading, still some bandwidth is left before getting to the Bandwidth Limit, it will allow another slot and divide all the slot bandwidths to so use the same amount of bandwidth. 

Example: 
Bandwidth Limit: 7 KBps
Slot allocation: 2 KBps
When [[aMule]] sets the slots to some clients to upload to them, after giving out three slots, it will notice that tehre are no more 2KBps left, since the limit is 7 KBps, but there is still 1 KBps left in the bandwicth before reaching the Bandwidth Limit. So, It will allow another slot to upload to a client and, isntead of giving that last slot a 1 KBps bandwidth connection (and leave the rest with a 2 KBps bandwidth connetcion), it will give all four slots a 1.8 KBps bandwidth connection.

== Why can't I set aMule's download limit to more than X? ==
To keep the ED2K network alive, all ED2K clients have an upload/download limits ratio hardcoded which, depending on the upload limit set, is:

From 0KBps to 3KBps: 
DownloadLimit can't be more than UploadLimit*3 
From 4KBps to 9KBps: 
DownloadLimit can't be more than UploadLimit*4 
UploadLimit values over 9KBps: 
There's no DownloadLimit limitation.

Be carefull when setting 0KBps as Upload Limit . It might not mean what you think it is. Read [[AMule_problems#I_set_Upload_Limit_to_0KBps,_but_aMule_is_still_transfering._What_did_I_do_wrong?|I set Upload Limit to 0KBps, but aMule is still transfering. What did I do wrong?]] to make sure you understand it's meaning.

== I set Upload Limit to 0KBps, but aMule is still transfering. What did I do wrong? ==
Setting Upload limit to 0KBps will not stop transfers, instead, ''0'' value means '''unlimited''', so, it's right the opossite of you're trying to do. There's no way to stop aMule from uploading files, and that's the same on all ED2K clients (eMule, eDonkey, etc). Allowing people not to upload would bring the ED2K network to it's end. 
Even if you don't share any directory, the Temp directory will '''always''' be shared, so that files that you are downloading are shared with other clients.

== Why am I getting "Too many connections" messages on the terminal? ==
This happens when you set a very high value at Preferences -> Connections -> "Connection limits" -> "Max connections". If this value is as almost as big as the the amount of connections your system allows you to have, then aMule will fail to establish connections and display those messages (have in mind that other applications may also have some connections established). 
On Windows 9x/ME platforms there is a limit of 100 TCP connections so, although you might set aMule to establish more than 100 connections, it will be unable to do so. You can change Windows's TCP connections limit by editting the Windows Register ('''Start -> Run -> regedit.exe''') and setting (you'll most surely have to add the value since in most cases it doesn't exist): 
''HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\MSTCP\MaxConnections'' (which is a String type and it's value must be a 32-bit number).

== My progress bars have lost most of their 3D effect and look more ugly now. Can I turn its look back? ==
On old aMule versions (previous to 2.0.0-rc4) setting the progress bar style to the most right on Preferences -> "GUI tweaks" was the way to have the progress bar have the best 3D effect. As of 2.0.0-rc4 the best 3D effect is given when the style bar is set to the middle. Setting it to the most right will give the progress bar a flat look while setting it to the most left will give it a dark look.

== All my downloads suddenly paused and I can't resume them. What's going on? ==
Check if there's any free space in the filesystem where the Temp directory is placed. If there is any at all, check if there's more free space than the minimum free space set at Preferences -> Files -> "Min disk space".

== Why isn't Preview working at all? ==
Since aMule 2.0.0-rc4 Preview command isn't being run in the same terminal as aMule. As a result, your Preview program may fail to start. This is the case of MPlayer. If you need a terminal to run your Preview player, use some command like ''xterm -e <preview-app>'' i.e.: 
''xterm -T "aMule's preview" -iconic -e mplayer -idx''

== After exitting MPlayer on Preview, my aMule keeps locked? ==
Preview used to lock aMule on purpose until aMule reached version 2.0.0-rc4. As a result of this, people using MPlayer suffered from a bug on MPlayer which remains the main process in background when closing the main MPlayer window. The way to walk around this MPlayer bug on aMule versions previous to 2.0.0-rc4 is to exit MPlayer by pressing the '''Q''' key. Any way, it'd be better if you could possibly upgrade aMule to the latest versions.

== Why is ''Transfered'' a smaller number than ''Completed''? ==
It's a common mistake to think it should be bigger or, at least, equal. 
Please read [[FAQ_aMule#What_is_the_difference_between_Transfered_and_Completed_in_the_Tranfers_window?|What is the difference between Transfered and Completed in the Tranfers window?]] to know more about this.

== aMule always slows down my computer when it completes a download. Is this a normal behaviour? ==
Yes it is. When aMule completes a download it checks it has not been corrupted. Allthough this is already checked while downloading (by checking the chunk's hash values), once the file is completly downloaded aMule hashes all the chunks to check that the chunks which were previously downloaded weren't somehow corrupted by the user or an external application while the rest of the file was being downloaded.

== Is there any way to recursively select a whole directory and it's contents? ==
Yes, there is. And it's simple:
*On [[aMule]] 2.0.0-rc4 or later, right-click the directory you want to recusively select.
*On [[aMule]] 1.x and up to 2.0.0-rc3 (included), while clicking on the directory, hold the CTRL key. 
And that's it.

== I downloaded a file and it got corrupted somehow by my hard disk or some external application once completed. Can I avoid redownloading the whole of it? ==
If you still have the [[ed2k_links|ed2k:// link]], start the download again and when a whole chunk (9.28MB) has been downloaded (any chunk), close [[aMule]], rename the corrupted file to the filename the current download has (something like ''002.part''), touch the corrupted file (i.e.: ''touch ~/.aMule/Temp/002.part*'') and restart [[aMule]]. 
[[aMule]] will detect the completed chunks and the corrupted ones, and will only download the chunks which got corrupted.