LimeWire Goes Open-Source

The famous Anonymous Coward writes: "I saw over on Gnutella News that LimeWire LLC announced that they're releasing the LimeWire codebase under the GPL license and that they've setup limewire.org as a site dedicated to Gnutella and LimeWire development. LimeWire's codebase is currently being used by two of the most popular Gnutella clients: LimeWire and SwapNut. As far as I know, this is the first time a formerly closed-source file-sharing codebase this popular has been open-sourced." gtk-gnutella is coming along nicely for Linux, but more competition is always better.

Comments

Java vs. Gtk+ clients

[mj6798]

Well, several points:

• If it wasn't written in Java, you wouldn't be getting it at all, since it would be Windows-only (or, at best, FLTK or wxWindows).
• The download isn't 3.4M, it's about 1M.
• The Java runtime download isn't 14M, it's about 9M.
• You seem to be assuming that Gnome/Gtk is somehow free while Java needs to be downloaded. Why? The Gnome/Gtk libraries, as well as the C support libraries, are huge downloads. I remember last time I installed a basic Gnome desktop, I needed to download about 20-30M.
• Sun's Java runtime isn't slow, although the Java GUI libraries are clearly less efficient than Gtk+. But, then, Gtk+ is also hugely less efficient than Xaw. As machines get faster, we create and use toolkits that are more convenient and less efficient. The Java toolkits have a lot more functionality and are generally easier to program and more robust than Gtk+.

Even better than gtk-gnutella

[Moritz Moeller - Her]

OK, I have used Limewire in the past and I like it a lot, but the CPU load makes me cry. If you share a lot of files, the CPU load becomes unbearable and slows down your system. I have looked at gtk-gnutella, I have toyed with Phex (another Java client), I have compiled gnut and so on. But only recently I found the right app for my KDE desktop:
QTELLA.

size below 200 k nice interface (like limewire but prettier -> KDE2 conforming)
Screenshots here!

Has all the features one would need. Of course it is a lot faster than Limewire.

Finally one thin I would like to see: A pure and true gnutella server daemon. No GUI. No nothing. Even gnut requires logging in. So how can I start a gnutella client by ssh? How do I control it ? Not possible, the program clkoses as soon as I drop the ssh connection. Now that would be a nice feature in a gnutella client.

Re:Beta != low quality

[stikves]

"Beta" == not ready for production use. Despite what you want it to mean in your little fantasy world.

Beta == Complete, but not heavily tested software. It may contain bugs, it its supposed not to do so.

What's your point? Didn't have the guts to compare to an NT-kernel based Windows?

Comparing NT to linux...

• NT is crashes more often. (CNet had a test for web servers. Over one year two Linux servers did not require "reboot", where NT based servers had to be rebooted every two weeks)
  
• NT is less scalable (try to run Win2K on 486!)
  But Linux can run on handleds to IBM supercomputers
  
• Linux is POSIX compilant where NT is "trying to be" POSIX compiant. (UNIX is the one true way TM)
  
• Linux is open, one can change it to his special needs and exploits can be fixed much quickly. (You do not have to wait for one year for service pack 7)
  

"Microsoft sponsering Windows helps improving it"

I think you did not get it. Sun distributes some set of standard tools (c compiler, shells, etc). Where most of the Sun admins do not use their Sun versions but install GNU versions instead. because they are more robust, they have more features. This is like everyone installing WinAmp instead of WM7 crap, because it loads faster and it has more features.

Re:Why open source has no future

[tzanger]

Linux requires a *lot* of maintenance, work doable only by the relatively few high-paid Linux administrators that put themselves - of course willingly - at a great place in the market.

Bullshit, plain and simple. Get the services installed, leave everything else off and the systems just run. Witness our RADIUS server, numerous fileservers and firewalls (all with hundreds of days of uptime and the only maintenance is a script which rotates logfiles and emails unusual activity) -- all with hundreds of days of uptime.

Like any other OS, the admin is responsible for monitoring the security mailing lists and installing patches. And like any other OS, you get what you pay for in an admin.

Linux' native file system, EXT2FS, is known to lose data like a firehose spouts water when the file system isn't unmounted properly.

That's a bold-faced flat-out lie. I run Linux on this laptop and have NUMEROUSLY had the volume level down too low to hear the battery alarm crying out. I've lost power at least three or four dozen times this year with no data loss.

Where EXT2 does lose data badly is when the metadata store gets corrupted (power dies when it's being updated or the drive gets bad sectors in those areas) -- However I also know that Reiser, NTFS and VFAT will die horribly under those cirumcstances too.

Factor in also the fact that crashes happen much more often on Linux than on other unices.

Let's see some hard numbers. I've been running 2.2.x kernels for literally YEARS without crashes. Quit running alpha drivers and unstable kernels and your stability will increase. This is just common sense.

The steep learning curve compared to about any other operating system out there is a major factor in Linux' cost.

So you consider a Win32 admin someone who can go to windowsupdate.microsoft.com? Or a SCO admin someone who can call the support hotline they pay for? I don't understand (nor have you given proof) for increased TCO for Linux.

(an aside: The Code Red fix wasn't included in any patches available from there. So whose fault is that, Microsoft for not making security a priority, or the click-happy "admin" for not knowing better?)

I could go on and on and on, but the conclusion is clear. Linux is not an option for any one who seeks a professional OS with high performance, scalability, stability, adherence to standards, etc.

I dunno, I've had no problems setting up and casually[1] admining firewalls, SMTP/IMAP/POP servers, LDAP servers, web servers and plain old fileservers. Like I said, once it is up and running, there is next to zero maintenance. This can be done with any unix; For me, Linux makes the most sense and none of my clients have had complaints about "increased costs of their Linux servers." I don't know whether you're a Win2k, SCO, Sun, QNX or *BSD troll, and frankly I don't care. Your post is so full of shit that I just had to feed you. FUD is FUD.

[1] - I use the term "casually admin" to describe what I do: monitor the security lists, provide updates as necessary and receive the emailled logs. The only time I ssh in is to change the configuration based on a customer's request or perform security updates. To me, this is exactly what server administration should be.

Re:Works great on Windows.

[Enahs]

Hello,

Like many other closed-source Java apps, LimeWire is prepackaged for different platforms to make it easier for one to install the client on various platforms. For Linux, one gets a nice Bash script that allegedly makes running LimeWire easier. ;-) Similarly, the MacOS version has a nice installer and a nice script that makes starting the client much easier to start up.

Hope that clears things up a bit.