File Sharing with Apollon and GiFT

Olympian Exchange

By Carsten Schnober

www.sxc.hu

Kazaa [1], the popular Internet-based file sharing network, has the biggest user-base and offers its users the widest range of services. So far, Kazaa has owed its popularity to Windows users - possibly due to the prominence of illegal copies of expensive software packages, which are useless to most Linux users. Additionally, Kazaa makes it difficult for the Linux community to join the network, as the peer-to-peer software Kazaa provides is restricted to Microsoft operating systems.

The GiFT project [2] now has a Linux-based plugin for users who want to share files worldwide via Kazaa. The plugin implements the Fasttrack protocol used by Kazaa and additionally supports the Gnutella [3] file sharing network. At the same time, OpenFasttrack provides an alternative to Kazaa. There is another plugin for the Ares network [4], and the GiFT homepage also refers to plugins for Napster [5], Soulseek [6] and E-Donkey [7], which are incomplete or no longer support the current version. Box 1 describes how to add plugins.

GiFT is not a client program but a background daemon. When launched, it opens a connection to the P2P networks, providing a gateway to local programs. The KDE program Apollon [8] uses the GiFT daemon and gives users a GUI for easy access to the file sharing platforms.

Installation

The Arkollon program installs the Apollon GUI and GiFT, including plugins for Fasttrack, Gnutella, and OpenFasttrack. As Arkollon contains and compiles the source code, you need the KDE developer environment. Table 1 gives you a list of required packages; the package names may vary with RPM-based distributions.

Arkollon first prompts you for the root password and then unpacks, builds, and installs the programs you selected (Figure 1). If you are running Ubuntu without a root password, you can avoid the prompt by type sudo before you launch the installer and supplying your password. After completing the install, you can simply call apollon; the GUI-client will automatically launch the GiFT daemon. When you first launch the program, you need to supply a nickname for the P2P networks, and to specify the folders you want to share with other users on those networks.

Figure 1: Arkollon installs Apollon automatically.

Should you decide to ditch Apollon and GiFT some day, Arkollon will take care of this. Typing arkollon --uninstall tells the tool to remove the files you installed.

When you launch Apollon, the program first takes you to the Info window shown in Figure 2, which displays your connection status for the individual P2P networks. After establishing a connection, you can switch to the Search window (Figure 3) to search the active networks for keywords. Doing so fills the areas below the search box with a hitlist. The list gives you the filename and other data, such as the size, the length, or the name of the artist associated with a music track. The Availability column tells you how many people are sharing this file, which is important, as the more slots you have, the better your download speed is.

Figure 2: Several million users share files all over the world.

Figure 3: More or less any search key will return a number of hits.

Double-clicking a file launches into the download, and the Transfer window gives you an overview of the current downloads.

You can play tracks from your collection directly in Apollon. To do so, change to the Shared Folders frame and open the directory with the track you want to play. Double click an entry to play the track; the Player gives you controls.

Finally File Sharing!

The GiFT project finally gives Linux users access to the Kazaa network, and Apollon adds an intuitive interface to Kazaa and other file sharing platforms. But before you become too enthusiastic about the number of hits a typical search returns, you might like to consider the legal consequences before you leap (Box 2). If you download and upload content without paying attention to the small print, you are likely to collide with the law some time.