The eDonkey Network (also known as the eDonkey2000 network or eD2k) is a
decentralized
Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those related to planning and decision-making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group and gi ...
Sam Yagan
Sam Yagan (born April 10, 1977) is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as the co-founder of OkCupid. Time (magazine), ''Time'' named Yagan Time 100, one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2013. He is the co-founder and ...
that is best suited to share big files among users, and to provide long term availability of files. Like most sharing networks, it is decentralized, as there is no central hub for the network; also, files are not stored on a central server but are exchanged directly between users based on the peer-to-peer principle.
The server part of the network is
aMule
aMule is a free peer-to-peer file sharing utility that works with the eDonkey network and the Kad network, offering similar features to eMule and adding others such as GeoIP (country flags). On August 18, 2003 it was forked from the xMule s ...
: a successful
fork
In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tines with which one can spear foods either to h ...
from lMule, it fully copied the interface and feel of eMule, and now it shares code with eMule project.
*
eDonkey2000
eDonkey2000 (nicknamed "ed2k") was a peer-to-peer file sharing application developed by US company MetaMachine ( Jed McCaleb and Sam Yagan), using the Multisource File Transfer Protocol. It supported both the eDonkey2000 network and the Over ...
: an original MetaMachine client, since discontinued
*
eMule
eMule is a Free software, free peer-to-peer file sharing application for Microsoft Windows. Started in May 2002 as an alternative to eDonkey2000, eMule connects to both the eDonkey network and the Kad network. The distinguishing features of eM ...
Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
client, can also be run on Linux (under
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...
eMule Plus
eMule is a free peer-to-peer file sharing application for Microsoft Windows. Started in May 2002 as an alternative to eDonkey2000, eMule connects to both the eDonkey network and the Kad network. The distinguishing features of eMule are the di ...
Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
client loosely based on
eMule
eMule is a Free software, free peer-to-peer file sharing application for Microsoft Windows. Started in May 2002 as an alternative to eDonkey2000, eMule connects to both the eDonkey network and the Kad network. The distinguishing features of eM ...
, but doesn't have KAD or obfuscation support while adding other features such as automated fake checks and enhanced GUI. eMule Plus has no direct association with the original eMule.
* Hydranode: a free, multi-network, cross-platform, core-GUI-separated client
* iMule: an anonymous eMule using the I2P network
*
JMule
JMule is an open source file sharing client written in Java for eDonkey2000 networks. JMule is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License, it is based on Java platform and requires at least Java SE 6.0 for operation. At a more gen ...
: a free open source multi platform java client.
* Jubster: a multi-network client for Windows
*
lMule
xMule (short for "X Window System, X11 Mule") is a discontinued Free software, free client for the EDonkey network, eDonkey peer-to-peer file sharing network intended to bring it to virtually all the major Unix platforms, with a particular emphas ...
(Linux Mule): A very raw eDonkey client based in eMule, targeted to Linux platforms.
*
Lphant
Lphant was a peer-to-peer file sharing client for the Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac OS operating systems, which supports the eDonkey Network and the BitTorrent protocol. It was available in 19 languages. The name and logo of the original Lphan ...
: an eDonkey and
BitTorrent
BitTorrent is a Protocol (computing), communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P), which enables users to distribute data and electronic files over the Internet in a Decentralised system, decentralized manner. The protocol is d ...
, cross-platform, core-GUI-separated client that runs on the
Microsoft .NET
The Microsoft .NET strategy is a marketing plan that Microsoft followed in the early 2000s. Steve Ballmer described it as the company's "most ambitious undertaking since Internet Strategy Day in 1995". In support of this strategy, between 2000 an ...
fork
In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tines with which one can spear foods either to h ...
from Lphant with significant improvements made to keep the source code open. Currently inactive.
*
MLDonkey
MLDonkey is an open-source, multi-protocol, peer-to-peer file sharing application that runs as a back-end server application on many platforms. It can be controlled through a user interface provided by one of many separate front-ends, including ...
: a free, multi-network, cross-platform client
* Morpheus: a file sharing client for Windows
* Pruna (formerly, MediaVAMP): a Korean-language client based on eMule
*
Shareaza
Shareaza is a peer-to-peer file sharing client running under Microsoft Windows which supports the Gnutella, Gnutella2 (G2), eDonkey, BitTorrent, FTP, HTTP and HTTPS network protocols and handles magnet links, ed2k links, and the now deprecated ...
open source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...
multi-network file-sharing client that supports the
Gnutella2
Gnutella2, often referred to as G2, is a peer-to-peer protocol developed mainly by Michael Stokes and released in 2002.
While inspired by the gnutella protocol, G2 shares little of its design with the exception of its connection handshake and ...
and
Gnutella
Gnutella is a peer-to-peer network protocol. Founded in 2000, it was the first decentralized peer-to-peer network of its kind, leading to other, later networks adopting the model.
In June 2005, Gnutella's population was 1.81 million computer ...
P2P network
Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network, forming a peer-to-peer network of Node ...
s, as well the
BitTorrent protocol
BitTorrent is a communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P), which enables users to distribute data and electronic files over the Internet in a decentralized manner. The protocol is developed and maintained by Rainberry, Inc., ...
, additionally to eD2k. It allows network-spanning search of content and has web browser integration to operate as a
download manager
A download manager is a type of software that manages the downloading of files from the Internet, which may be built into a web browser, or as a standalone program.
Functions
A download manager manages files being downloaded from the internet. ...
. Supports user profiles, remote file browsing, chat and advanced search filtering.
*
xMule
xMule (short for " X11 Mule") is a discontinued free client for the eDonkey peer-to-peer file sharing network intended to bring it to virtually all the major Unix platforms, with a particular emphasis on Linux.
xMule was coded in C++ using wx ...
(X11 Mule): a fork from lMule. Deviating from copying eMule, it has more controls than lMule but is less user-friendly. Discontinued in January 2009.
* qMule: a multi-protocol, cross-platform client for eDonkey and
BitTorrent
BitTorrent is a Protocol (computing), communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P), which enables users to distribute data and electronic files over the Internet in a Decentralised system, decentralized manner. The protocol is d ...
networks. Based on libed2k, libtorrent-rasterbar and Qt.
Tools and libraries
* libed2k: Cross platform C++ eDonkey protocol library. Inspired by libtorrent_rasterbar.
Kad network
The Kad network is a peer-to-peer (P2P) network which implements the Kademlia P2P overlay protocol. The majority of users on the Kad Network are also connected to servers on the eDonkey network, and Kad Network clients typically query known node ...