I'm running Mandrake 9.1 and I've recently installed several packages related to the giFT project. I've run gift-setup, and I'm pretty sure everything is correct (I can post the exact configuration here if you want) yet giftd still won't run. I've set up a configuration for root and my regular user, and tried to start the gift daemon as both but it just won't work.

Does anyone know why? A final note: When I type giFT in the terminal, I get command not found. Isn't giFT supposed to be a command too?

Try Limeware it's good

limewire good? pah.... it's just eye candy junk.

giFT is the name of the package, but the daemon program is actually called "giftd" this is the program that does the searching, uploading, sharing etc....

try running "giftd -v" and if it doesn't work tell us what it says. "it just won't work" is not constructive information.

if it is working, then just load a client ilke apollon, giFTcurs (my choice), giFTui etc... and go nuts.

Sorry, I hope this is more constructive. When I type giftd -v (as my regular non-root user) I get:

*** ERROR: Your setup is incomplete ***

You will need to run gift-setup and be sure that you read absolutely
every configuration option (no, really). Some default configuration
values are considered illegal, and will raise this error message. If you
suspect that you have configured giFT properly, consult the conf files in
/home/<user>/.giFT/ for diagnostic purposes.

If you are still having problems you should consult the QUICKSTART guide
available from the standard giFT distribution.

I don't understand why it says it's -incomplete- because I followed the instructions right till the end and I'm at total loss at explaining why. Here's my config file:

# $Id: giftd.conf.template,v 1.2 2003/12/12 12:15:49 jasta Exp $
###############################################################################

###############################################################################
# MAIN

[main]

#
# Boolean determining whether or not this file has been reviewed and is
# complete. giFT will fail to start unless this is non-zero. This is done
# so that we can make sure you, at the very least, read through this file.
#
# Default: 0
#
setup = 0

#
# Space separated list of hosts to allow connection to giFT's interface
# protocol (running default on port 1213). This protocol is used for GUIs
# to communicate with giFT and could be considered a security risk to allow
# external connections.
#
# The following special keywords are supported:
#
# ALL - Synonym for 0.0.0.0/0
# LOCAL - Synonym for 127.0.0.0/8 192.168.0.0/16 172.0.0.0/11 10.0.0.0/8
#
# Bitwidth fields are optional.
#
# Default: LOCAL
#
hosts_allow = LOCAL

#
# Port on which to listen for user interface connections. Unless you have a
# special need to talk to the client on a non-standard port, just accept the
# default.
#
#
# NOTE:
# If you change this value, you will also need to modify the ui.conf
# configuration for the machine which will be making outgoing connections
# here.
#
client_port = 1213

#
# Determines whether or not to follow symbolic links. If this value is set
# non-zero, symlinks will be traversed and a directory inode tracking system
# will be used to ensure that giFT does not descend the same directory
# twice. If you do not have any symlinks or do not want them traversed, set
# this to 0 for a very minor efficiency gain.
#
# Windows users: this setting has no effect.
#
# Default: 1
#
follow_symlinks = 1

#
# Colon separated list of protocol plugins to load by default. If dynamic
# library support is enabled, the plugin specified will be stat'd to check if
# it is a loadable path. If that fails, the fallback method is to attempt to
# construct the fully qualified path based on the configured environment.
#
# NOTES:
# Without dynamic library support, this plugin must have been compiled into
# your giFT binary. With, this plugin must exist in the installed
# plugin directory. giFT -V will output this path to you, if you are not
# sure.
#
# Protocol names are case sensitive, so use OpenFT, not Openft.
#
# For example, to use the OpenFT and Gnutella protocols use:
#
# OpenFT:Gnutella
#
# Default: none
#
plugins = OpenFT

###############################################################################
# DOWNLOAD CONTROLS

[download]

#
# Directory to store transfers while they are being operated on. Temporary
# state files are also kept here. It is recommended, but not required, that
# the incoming and completed directories are on the same partition (drive).
#
# Windows users: please use the following path specification:
# incoming=/[drive]/dir1/dir2
#
# For example, to refer to C:\Program Files\giFT\incoming, use:
#
# incoming=/C/Program Files/giFT/incoming
#
# Default (*nix): ~/.giFT/incoming
# Default (Windows): /C/Program Files/giFT/incoming
#
incoming = ~/.giFT/incoming

#
# Directory which will contain files after they have successfully finished
# downloading.
#
# Default (*nix): ~/.giFT/completed
# Default (Windows): /C/Program Files/giFT/completed
#
completed = ~/.giFT/completed

###############################################################################
# SHARE SUBMISSION AND UPLOAD CONTROL

[sharing]

#
# Maximum amount of uploads allowed from the same user at any given time. It
# is recommended that you keep this at 1 in order to prevent users from
# unfairly queueing your connection.
#
# Default: 1
#
max_peruser_uploads = 1

#
# Determines whether or not to hide directories which contain a leading dot.
# These directories are commonly meant to be "hidden" and thus should not be
# submitted to the network. Selecting 0 here will submit all directories.
#
# Default: 1
#
hide_dot_files = 1

#
# Colon separated list of fully qualified paths you wish to share. These
# directories will be recursed at giFT's startup and the files contained
# within will be subjected to an MD5 hashing. The results will be cached and
# will only be recalculated on a per share basis when the size or
# modification time in the cache and on disk disagree, or the file name is
# changed.
#
# Sanity notice:
# Do NOT share source directories! Remote nodes will refuse to index your
# shares if you are attempting to submit more than 64000 files.
#
# Security notice:
# Do not share directories which may contain sensitive information, such as
# ~ ($HOME). Also note that any directories shared here will be stripped of
# all but the last path element when submitted to other nodes for indexing,
# effectively "hiding" the directory prefix.
#
# Windows users: please use the following path specification:
#
# /[drive]/dir1/dir2:/[drive]/dir3/dir4 ...
#
# For example, to refer to C:\Program Files\giFT\shares and D:\shares, use:
#
# /C/Program Files/giFT/shares:/D/shares
#
# Default: none
#
root =

#
# Maximum amount of simultaneous uploads allowed. Setting this to -1 will
# cause giFT to not limit outgoing transfers. 0 effectively disables sharing.
# This may also be handled at run time via your GUI of choice.
#
# Default: -1
#
max_uploads = -1

#
# Controls when giFT periodically rescans your shared directories for any
# changes (new files, missing files, changed files, etc.) and communicates
# those changes to the underlying protocols. This parameter specifies how
# often (in seconds) you want that to happen.
#
# For your reference
# ==================
# 0 turns off periodic auto-resync
# 3600 one hour
# 86400 one day
# 604800 one week
#
# Default: 86400
#
auto_resync_interval = 86400

#
# Controls whether or not giFT should automatically share files that you have
# finished downloading. This feature significantly improves the network's
# abundance of files and helps ease the load on those sharing popular files.
# It's a Good Thing (TM), please leave it on.
#
# Avoid setting your completed directories through sharing/root, as that
# setting will duplicate recursion of the completed directory and cause
# generally undesirable results.
#
# Default: 1
#
share_completed = 1

###############################################################################
# USER SPACE BANDWIDTH CONTROL

[bandwidth]

#
# Bandwidth throttling allows giFT to have some basic control over your
# bandwidth usage. This code operates in user space, and as a result can not
# guarantee perfect accuracy. If you wish to use this feature, please
# consider using a more reliable kernel space option first. As always, google
# should be able to assist you there.
#
# The following configuration switches control the maximum number of bytes
# per second allowed for the given stream direction. A setting of 0 will
# disable throttling for that direction.
#
# Default: 0
#
downstream = 0
upstream = 0

You didn't read everything in the configuration file. The first question on there says "gift will fail to start unless this in non-zero". Change it to a one (1).

that config file is just totally default... you've not run gift-setup at all it seems...

if all else fails i would try gtk-gnutella, its very nice. I switched after trying but never succeding in getting gift to work.