Editing Gnutella2 (section)

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'''Gnutella2''', often referred to as '''G2''', is a [[peer-to-peer]] [[Communication protocol|protocol]] developed mainly by [[Michael Stokes (programmer)|Michael Stokes]] and released in 2002.

While inspired by the [[gnutella]] protocol, G2 shares little of its design with the exception of its [[Handshake (computing)|connection handshake]] and [[download]] mechanics.<ref name="Gnutella2 Handshakes">{{cite web| url=https://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_gdf/message/15113| title=Developer discussion of similarities between Gnutella and Gnutella2| publisher=The Gnutella Developer Forum| access-date=2006-05-10| archive-date=2023-01-17| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117212148/https://www.yahoo.com/| url-status=dead}}</ref>

G2 adopts an extensible binary [[network packet|packet]] format and an entirely new [[search algorithm]].

Furthermore, G2 has a related (but significantly different) [[network topology]] and an improved [[metadata]] system, which helps effectively to reduce fake files, such as [[Computer virus|viruses]], on the network.