The current state of anonymous file-sharing - Marc's Blog

Query :
The primary mechanism for searching the distributed network.
A servent receiving a Query descriptor will respond with a QueryHit if a match is
found against its local data set.
QueryHit :
Push :
The response to a Query.
This descriptor provides the recipient with enough information to acquire the data
matching the corresponding Query.
A mechanism that allows a firewalled servent to contribute file-based data to the
network.
4.4.1 Joining the network
Now that the meaning of the packets in the gnutella protocol are understood, we can
address the topic of how to gain access to the network.
To gain access to the network, you need to know the IP address of a node already
participating in the network. Once you have the IP of a node that is integrated in the
network, you have basically two possibilities to get to know other nodes:
Pong-Caching :
"Pong Caching" means to simply ask the node you already know to introduce you
to its "friends". This might lead to a segmentation of the net as certain "cliques"
tend to form which are highly interconnected but lack links to the "outside" of
this group of nodes.
Searching :
Another way of ”getting to know” more nodes is to simply search for a specific
item. The search will be relayed by the node you know and the incoming results
are containing the information about other nodes on the network, e.g. "JohnDoe"
at the IP+Port 192.168.1.9:6347 has a files called "Linux.iso" in his share. Using
this information, a network of known nodes that share the same interests (at least
the search results reflect these interests by the filenames) is established. As most
people tend to share different kinds of media those cliques that were built based
upon interests will interconnect or at least "stay close" (hop-wise) to the other
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