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Review 2026-04-26 - eMuleAI and Mod Archive Broadband Scan

Scope

Compared the current broadband branch direction against:

  • EMULE_WORKSPACE_ROOT\analysis\emuleai
  • EMULE_WORKSPACE_ROOT\analysis\mods-archive
  • EMULE_WORKSPACE_ROOT\workspaces\v0.72a\app\eMule-main

The goal is to keep the broadband edition close to stock eMule while staying open to features that are practical for modern high-bandwidth, long-running sessions.

Current-Main Correction

FEAT-038 is now marked Done.

Current main already contains monitored shared-root support:

  • app-level shared-directory monitor startup and watcher loop
  • persisted shareddir.monitored.dat state
  • Shared Directories context-menu commands for monitored roots
  • UI handoff through UM_MONITORED_SHARED_DIR_UPDATE
  • catch-up/journal logic for monitored roots

This landed through the FEAT-033 / BUG-034 shared-directory line, including commits 138f577 and 60b3b44. It closes the watcher/live recursive sync feature surface, but it does not close FEAT-034: blocking filesystem I/O during shared hashing remains a separate manual reload / shutdown-hardening concern.

New Backlog Promotions

BUG-068 records an eMuleAI v1.4 UI correctness fix that current main does not appear to carry: progress-bar drawing in Downloads and Downloading Clients should isolate flat-bar GDI state and reject invalid narrow rectangles.

FEAT-043 records the useful slice of eMuleAI's Known Clients work: large history/list responsiveness through incremental refresh and sort-impact-aware updates. The broader CShield/client-history product layer remains separate.

FEAT-044 records the IP-filter input-policy improvements that sit naturally after FEAT-042: PeerGuardian *.p2p import, static overlays, whitelist precedence, and optional private-IP exemption.

Existing Backlog Reaffirmed

The scan did not create duplicate items for features that are already tracked:

  • FEAT-011 covers the CShield/protection-panel direction.
  • FEAT-018, FEAT-035, and FEAT-036 cover uTP, IPv6, and NAT traversal.
  • FEAT-019 covers dark mode.
  • FEAT-021 and FEAT-031 cover source persistence and remote shared-file inventory browsing.
  • FEAT-037 covers PowerShare, Share Only The Need, Hide Overshares, and default share-permission policy.
  • FEAT-039 covers Download Checker.
  • FEAT-040 covers headless/web/mobile control and multi-user permissions.
  • FEAT-041 covers Download Inspector automation.
  • FEAT-042 is already done for automatic IP-filter update scheduling.

Refreshed Bug Notes

BUG-004 remains open. eMuleAI is useful for richer IP-filter inputs, but it does not by itself close the different-level overlap semantics documented in the current item.

BUG-028 remains in progress. eMuleAI reinforces the preferred closure path: retire the id3lib fallback or move to a bundled/first-class MediaInfo path after licensing and packaging review. The current main mitigation only makes MediaInfo the preferred path when the DLL is available.

Deferred Or Non-Promoted Findings

Several mod/eMuleAI ideas remain reference-only for now:

  • built-in language resources and translator tooling: high churn, not a broadband core differentiator
  • broad toolbar/state-preview/client-note/own-credit UI expansion: useful, but not close-stock enough to promote without a user-visible product decision
  • connection-checker rework: current eMule already has Test Ports; importing a second external diagnostic policy should wait for a diagnostics milestone
  • AICH known2 split/write-buffer ideas from historical mods: useful evidence for metadata I/O batching, but currently covered by FEAT-034-style I/O hardening if it becomes necessary
  • full CShield/manual-punishment UI: already scoped under FEAT-011, not a prerequisite for the narrow Known Clients performance item

Outcome

Docs now distinguish:

  • landed current-main behavior: FEAT-038
  • new low-drift hardening/performance candidates: BUG-068, FEAT-043, FEAT-044
  • broad product expansion that remains intentionally opt-in and separately tracked