With the release of 0.5.1 Freenet becomes a more reliable
network for file sharing. Freenet is different from other peer2peer networks in
that you don’t share a directory, but instead you share disk space. This disk
space is used by the network to store encrypted files. There is no way for
anyone to know what is on your computer. All data transfers on the Freenet
Network are 100% Anonymous. And now Freenet supports FEC (Forward Error
Correction) which makes the storing of large files on the network much more
reliable. Users are experiencing 90k/sec downloads of large files like Movies
when running as a static node.
For more on Freenet and Frost (a Freenet file sharing program) click
here
Download the Windows installer
here
For all other OS:
Freenet 0.5.1
Download Page
Before you can run Freenet you will first need to make sure that Java is
installed and properly configured. The latest version can be downloaded from
http://java.sun.com
Release Notes for Freenet 0.5.1
Forward Error Correction and Healing
To support the reliable downloading of large files from Freenet, we now
support Forward Error Correction or FEC. This allows large files to be split
into pieces where only a subset of those pieces are required to reassemble the
original file. If some pieces fail during the download, Freenet will then
reconstruct those pieces and reinsert them – so that they will be available to
the next person, this process has been dubbed “healing”. Anecdotal evidence
suggests that FEC allows the reliable downloading of files as large as 600MB
from Freenet at average download rates as high as 90k/sec on a broadband
internet connection (which compares quite favorably to more conventional P2P
applications).
Address Resolution Keys
Freenet nodes on dynamic IP addresses are now able to inform other nodes when
their IP address changes. This removes the reliance on services like DynDNS
which reduce decentralization, and slow down Freenet. This is augmented by
automatic IP address detection (previously users needed to manually specify
their IP address, or rely on wrapper software – such as the Windows installer –
to detect it for them). These features should ensure that a much higher
percentage of nodes in the Freenet network can contribute back to the network to
their fullest.
Distribution Node
One fundamental problem with distributing Freenet from a website is that it
creates a central point of failure. In the event that this website was shut-down
it would seriously inhibit the deployment of the Freenet software. To address
this issue, Freenet now includes the ability to self-propogate! Using Freenet’s
new “distribution node” functionality, you can send people a URL (through
out-of-band means such as in your email signature) which will allow them to
download and install Freenet directly from your node. Their version of Freenet
will inherit your node’s network knowledge eliminating any reliance on a
centralized “bootstrapping” service.
Significant Routing-Time Improvements
Through extensive profiling, we have identified a number of issues and bugs
which were slowing down Freenet’s handling of incoming messages. This should
result in a significant improvement in network speed and performance as more and
more of the network consists of 0.5.1 nodes.
Upgrading
Freenet nodes prior to 0.5.1-rc1 will not work with the new release; please
upgrade if you have a node. You can do this by running the update.sh script (on
*nix), and restarting the node, or through the Start Menu on Windows.
Getting Help / Reporting Bugs
Freenet is still in development, and while this release is by-far the
best-performing, easiest to use, and most stable version of Freenet yet
released, we do anticipate bugs. If you encounter problems, first read the
FAQ.
If your problem is not addressed there, we would appreciate it if problems could
be reported to
[email protected]. You can also seek help by joining the
#freenet channel on irc.freenode.net.
