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Old April 21st, 2004
stief stief is offline
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Join Date: January 11th, 2003
Location: Canada
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Hi MusicToad. I'm not with LW, but perhaps this info will help:

Sounds like you are describing a case where two files are similar, but not identical.

Here's the long-winded explanation. Each file shared on the gnutella network will have a unique identifier calculated ("hash"), so that if even 1 bit changes, the file will be treated as a different file. This is GOOD--since it allows pieces of the same file to be merged from multiple hosts ("swarming") and prevents the malicious corruption of good files. True, most of us wouldn't notice if just a few bits of a picture changed, but it could make a program file unusable.

So if a download of a file with one hash starts and the host goes offline, a search might find other files with the same/similar names, but a differrent hash. The client (LW in this case) knows it is not exactly the same file, and so starts a new download.

btw--you can check this by clicking on the file in the library's incomplete folder, and right-clicking to call up either the bitzi or magnet details to see the "sha-1 hash."
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