LimeWire 5 RC1

[Sam]

LimeWire 5 is almost here! We just uploaded the first release candidate of LimeWire 5, available at: http://www.limewire.com/download/rcversion.php .

If you've tried the earlier alphas and betas, you'll know it's a pretty big change from earlier versions of LimeWire. For those who haven't tried it... The first thing you'll notice is we rewrote the entire interface from scratch. You'll also notice that we've included support for Jabber (XMPP). This means that LimeWire can sign-on to your favorite Jabber service and it will detect other friends of yours that are also signed on. You can share files directly with your friends. When you search, you'll see results from friends listed above other search results.

Folks seem to be pretty happy with LimeWire 5, and we are too. We're confident it's stable and ready for the millions of LimeWire users.

For those that use LimeWire's open source code... As part of writing LimeWire 5, we took the opportunity to make the code even easier for aspiring developers to use. There's now an easy-to-use "core-api" component. You can use the "core-glue" component as LimeWire's implementation of core-api, or you can write your own if you'd like to test things out yourself. The tutorials at http://wiki.limewire.org/index.php?title=Using_the_Core will be updated soon to make use of the new API.

Thanks!
The LimeWire Team

[LucasG]

Amazing! When is the pro version coming out? Would love to buy it.

[ddwrt]

The new limewire 5 has great features, but it would be great if you could look at making the Limewire 5 look good on Linux/Ubuntu. The window sizes, textboxes, texts all look way too big and in wrong positions.

Thanks,

dd

[Sam]

A lot of the developers use Linux and a pretty happy with it. What specifically do you notice that's not showing right? Thanks!

[ddwrt]

If you look at the screenshot you will see that in the options window, I can't even see the OK, Cancel and another button. All the buttons look really big. You may also notice that the texts are kind of big too and out of place.

Now if you look at the main screen (behind the options window), the number of searches All(102) is displayed off the textbox. Same with the Refine Results. You'll understand what I'm talking about in the screenshot.

It looks like Java UI Manager is working on linux, but in Windows, the native UI draws the windows.

Thanks for your reply by the way,

dd

[Sam]

Wow, that is really strange. It looks like there's some extra insets on pretty much everything. What version of Java are you using (and what distribution, ie Sun, OpenJDK, etc..) ? We definitely would have noticed if that was happening, since the guy who we've dubbed our "master painter" and did lots of the fine-toothed-tweaks on the widgets is running Linux.

[qwertzuiop71]

I had the same issues. This is how it looks like in OpenJDK, which is the default in Ubuntu. You have to install java-sun to make it look beautifully.

[qwertzuiop71]

But since this is called an RC: Although I very much like the concept of sharing with friends only, it didn't look very stable to me. W As soon as I add more than a few files (around 20), it crashes on me with an error like the one below. I attached a few error report files (the lower pids are from the RC, the higher pids from the Beta!)

Best regards

#
# An unexpected error has been detected by Java Runtime Environment:
#
# Internal Error (nmethod.cpp:1720), pid=6655, tid=2927393680
# Error: guarantee(cont_offset != 0,"unhandled implicit exception in compiled code")
#
# Java VM: Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (11.0-b15 mixed mode, sharing linux-x86)
# An error report file with more information is saved as:
# /tmp/hs_err_pid6655.log
#
# If you would like to submit a bug report, please visit:
# http://java.sun.com/webapps/bugreport/crash.jsp
#
./runLime.sh: line 124: 6655 Aborted ${JAVA_PROGRAM_DIR}java -ea:com.limegroup... -ea:org.limewire... -Dorg.apache.commons.logging.Log=org.apache.commons .logging.impl.NoOpLog -Djava.library.path=. $EXECUTABLE -jar LimeWire.jar $ARGUMENTS

************************************************** ****************
Something went wrong with LimeWire.
Maybe you're using the wrong version of Java?
(LimeWire is tested against and works best with with Sun's JRE, Java 1.6+)
The version of Java in your PATH is:
java version "1.6.0_10"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_10-b33)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 11.0-b15, mixed mode, sharing)

[Sam]

These errors make it look like something is really wrong with the version of Java you're using. It's crashing in very strange places. Can you try upgrading the version of Java on the machine? Nothing LimeWire does should ever be able to crash the VM.

[ddwrt]

Ok.. so i corrected the java settings to use Sun JRE 1.6 and it looks much better. Do you guys also get the ugly limewire system tray icon ?

By the way... why does limewire on Windows use Native UI manager where as on ubuntu it doesn't use the GTK engine, but uses Java UI manager. It looks all blue and all that... Just curious.


Thanks once again for the replies guys.
dd

[Sam]

There's some conflicts with the GTK theme on Java 6 and the browser that's embedded in the client. So unfortunately we have to turn the GTK theme off and fallback to Metal. :(

[ddwrt]

what about the system tray limewire icon ? It looks pretty bad. Can you guys do anything about that ? Its in my last screenshot.

Thanks once again for your replies
dd

[qwertzuiop71]

Ok, I take the instability back. It works stable on my other PC, although this has the same version of ubuntu and the same version of java. Whatever, it's not LimeWires fault.
Thanks to make me check it again,
best regards

[Sam]

We'll take a look at that system tray icon -- I remember hearing some folks grumbling about. Should be easy enough to fix. Thanks for pointing it out!

[Jake28]

I've noticed that if you drag and drop a song into the music library, it doesn't auto refresh the new song.

The skin is great, it looks great itself. The only skin i personally would think that would be needed would be a dark skin, such as the LimeWire black skin in 4. :)

[nightlygregor]

I get an installation error "could not open an input file for splittet file"
in vista x64 OS. Any help?
With the latest stable LW 4.18.8 didn't had any problems.

[Jake28]

I get an installation error "could not open an input file for splittet file"
in vista x64 OS. Any help?
With the latest stable LW 4.18.8 didn't had any problems.
I also got the same message. My solution was to use IE instead of Firefox. When i downloaded the .exe it would be downloaded in literally seconds, normally it takes like 15 - 20 secs to finish. IE did the trick! :)

[Sam]

That's a strange error indeed. You get this when running LimeWire, running the installer, or downloading LimeWire from the website? If you could post the exact error message, that'd be real helpful. Thanks!

[nightlygregor]

I also got the same message. My solution was to use IE instead of Firefox. When i downloaded the .exe it would be downloaded in literally seconds, normally it takes like 15 - 20 secs to finish. IE did the trick! :)

Tried to download from IE with no luck same error pop-ups again "could not open an input file for splittet file" but anyway thanks for the help. :]

That's a strange error indeed. You get this when running LimeWire, running the installer, or downloading LimeWire from the website? If you could post the exact error message, that'd be real helpful. Thanks!

Yeah this is strange because i don't get that error message with the LW 4.18.8 installer. I get this error "could not open an input file for splittet file"
when i run LW 5 RC1 installer. I google it and found out some people had that issue with LW installation. It has something to do with the java so i reinstalled java 6 update 11 (offline) several times but i get same error again and again. Tried the windows compatibility mode with no luck. Maybe it's the OS? (Vista Business x64)

[Jake28]

Yeah if i were to make an assumption that could be the problem. I use Windows 7 as my typical OS but of course I'm dual-booting Vista/Windows 7. It could be because it's x64, I'm not sure. Do you need to run x64 on your computer? If not, i would just install Windows 7 x32 onto another partition and see if that helps.

Maybe someone else has a better solution.:confused:

[ddwrt]

We'll take a look at that system tray icon -- I remember hearing some folks grumbling about. Should be easy enough to fix. Thanks for pointing it out!

Also... could you take a look at the limewire icon under the applications-> internet (ubuntu) tab. currently the icon is an actual green electrical wire. thanks.

Just another point... if you could make the system tray icon with transparent background, that would be perfect. That way it will work with any theme.

[Sam]

Re: the splittet files error... Does it happen immediately, or after the install progresses a little bit? Do you have a chance to hit "Details" during the install? If so, what is written out to it?

[lindersue]

I donwloaded Limewire 5 yesterday. I'm not real computer literate, but so far I'm not impressed. I can't find out how to play only the songs I want instead of all of them. I don't seem to have a status bar, or the stop, play, FF, RW or pause buttons. I'm running Limewire 5 and Java 6. Can anyone tell me what's happening? Or is it too early to really be using this, still has bugs to work out?

[nightlygregor]

Re: the splittet files error... Does it happen immediately, or after the install progresses a little bit? Do you have a chance to hit "Details" during the install? If so, what is written out to it?

It happens at the installation progress. I get at the top of the
setup window: Installation Aborted - Setup was not completed
successfully.

Details:
Output folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\LimeWire
Output folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\LimeWire
Extract: COPYING
Extract: LimeWire.exe
Extract: LimeWire.ico
Extract: SOURCE
Extract: data.ser
Extract: inspection.props
Extract: pmf.ico
Extract: spacer.gif
Output folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\LimeWire\lib
Extract: LimeWire.ico
Extract: PackedJars.7z... 100%
Extract: SystemUtilities.dll
Extract: SystemUtilitiesA.dll
Extract: hashes
Extract: jacob-1.14.1-x64.dll
Extract: jacob-1.14.1-x86.dll
Extract: jdic.dll
Extract: log4j.properties
Output folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\LimeWire\root
Output folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\LimeWire\root\magnet10
Extract: badge.img
Extract: canHandle.img
Extract: limewire.gif
Extract: options.js
Extract: silentdetect.js
Output folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\LimeWire

It's stops here and after that pop-ups the error "could not open an input file for splittet file"
After that i can only select cancel.

[con211292]

It happens at the installation progress. I get at the top of the
setup window: Installation Aborted - Setup was not completed
successfully.

Details:
Output folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\LimeWire
Output folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\LimeWire
Extract: COPYING
Extract: LimeWire.exe
Extract: LimeWire.ico
Extract: SOURCE
Extract: data.ser
Extract: inspection.props
Extract: pmf.ico
Extract: spacer.gif
Output folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\LimeWire\lib
Extract: LimeWire.ico
Extract: PackedJars.7z... 100%
Extract: SystemUtilities.dll
Extract: SystemUtilitiesA.dll
Extract: hashes
Extract: jacob-1.14.1-x64.dll
Extract: jacob-1.14.1-x86.dll
Extract: jdic.dll
Extract: log4j.properties
Output folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\LimeWire\root
Output folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\LimeWire\root\magnet10
Extract: badge.img
Extract: canHandle.img
Extract: limewire.gif
Extract: options.js
Extract: silentdetect.js
Output folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\LimeWire

It's stops here and after that pop-ups the error "could not open an input file for splittet file"
After that i can only select cancel.


I Sorted Mine Out All I Did Was Save The Setup File & Run As Administarator Then Insted Of The Default Install Location I Used My Own DEFAULT e.g. C:\Program Files\Limewire INSTEAD PICK A DIFFRENT LOCATION e.g. C:\Program Files\Limewire 5 Beta

The Is What Made This Work On My Vista PC.

I Dont Know If It Will Work On Any Other OS With The Same Problem.

[davidf01]

since apple has decided not to backport any current java to the installed base of leopard on PPC (both 64bit and 32bit), there are some apps that are stranded ...

like limewire!

what are the specific features of jdk 1.6 that convinced you that abandoning nearly half of the mac installed base was an acceptable idea?!

other than the speed-up of jdk1.6 (or conversely, the lower cpu load at the same same application throughput), what was the show-stopper for jdk1.5?

it is too bad that this issue is not covered in any design/architecture discussion in then forums on your blogs!? (at least any that google could find).

thanx for the feedback.

[Aaron.Walkhouse]

Four older versions are kept on hand specifically for older Macs if you need one.

[Sam]

FWIW, it's not nearly half the installed mac userbase. I posted the numbers in an earlier post somewhere which I'll look for... but most seem to be on a platform that will work fine in LimeWire 5. (Still, it is unfortunate.. I can't run LimeWire on my laptop anymore. But it was a necessary change.) A blog post is a good idea, we'll do that.

[davidf01]

FWIW, it's not nearly half the installed mac userbase. I posted the numbers in an earlier post somewhere which I'll look for... but most seem to be on a platform that will work fine in LimeWire 5. (Still, it is unfortunate.. I can't run LimeWire on my laptop anymore. But it was a necessary change.) A blog post is a good idea, we'll do that.

@Sam:

whether the installed base of ppc macs is 44% or 32% or whatever - it is definitely NOT trivial part of the TAM, eg 5 or 10%! ... 40M ppc (new world rom / G3++) machines are still running osx!

more important than the specific number of orphans, there still is unanswered the general question of why it was /essential/ to migrate to java ver 1.6?!

the simplest - but least convincing - answer would be consistency: perhaps you made the decision as regards another platfirm (eg msft windows) & this decided to drag the mac along in lock-step in order not to fork the code.

of course, that still begs the question!

looking forward to a concrete explanation :-)

cheers: David

[Sam]

It actually is a trivial percentage. Mac users make up only 4% of LimeWire users (it's not that it's not installed on a lot of macs, it's that it's installed on a LOT of PCs). Of OS X users, the percentage using something below 10.5 is very low.

Sorry I haven't had a chance to write up why we moved to 1.6 as a base requirement -- but there are a lot of reasons. We've been very busy working on fixing up LW5 to include missing features and other things people have been mentioning. When that settles down a bit, I'll write a blog post about 1.6 as a base.

[davidf01]

[QUOTE=Sam: Of OS X users, the percentage using something below 10.5 is very low.[/QUOTE]

@Sam:

I think you are confused about the osx situation viz java.

the vast majority of macs are NOT 64bit intel machines.

a GINORMOUS portion of leopard users are 64bit & 32bit PPC!

... and java 1.6 is only available on 64bit intel (not even 64bit ppc) - courtesy of apple's open hostility to java (eg pathetic support for J3D or JOGL).

ergo, TONS of leopard users are orphaned by your decision for LM5 to require java 1.6

- which makes one wonder about the situation on windows: do also demand that only 64bit vista (but not 64bit XP) users can use LM 1.6? ... though perhaps SUN deigns to support 32bit on windows, so LM is somehow a casuality in the jdk fandango.

if /leopard/ qua osx is the only issue, then there is no problem for LM cuz there are 20-30m ppc users who are running leopard (albeit orphaned by apple to java 1.5) ...

but if the issue is java 1.6 qua /jvm/ then a very large plurality (nearly a majority) of leopard users are excluded by your choice of very 1.6

in any case, pls post a notice in this MSG thread when you do blog on the rationale (so subscribers can check back).

until then pls reacquaint yourself with the composition of the leopard installed base (ppc vs intel).

thanx: David

[Sam]

I'll be sure to post a notice, David.

I agree with you -- it sucks horribly that Apple has chosen to screw over Java. I hate it, and I've voiced my opinion quite loudly on the apple-java dev email list. Still, there's nothing we can do about it. You can download SoyLatte, which is a port of OpenJDK's BSD variant, made to work on OS X. When we starting writing LW 5, a contractor that was helping us used SoyLatte to get Java 1.6 running on his machine. It doesn't look all that pretty, but it works.

You're also right that we're at the mercy of Sun choosing to drop 1.6 support on various platforms. But, lo and behold, they didn't drop support. And we only require 1.6 now. If Sun for some reason decides to drop 1.7 support on a huge portion of our userbase, we'll take that into account when deciding to use 1.7 as a baseline.

FWIW, LimeWire 4.18.8 still works just fine. You're not really orphaned -- just unable to use the latest version. The older version still works and connects as an equal to the network.