Thanks to all, that does indeed seem to be the problem.

(For the benefit of anyone seeing this problem first in this thread, you have make sure the directory LimeWire is installed in allows the userid you're running under to create a file called "fileurns.cache".

If you installed LimeWire as root (or even as any id other than the one you're using now, you may have to diddle the permissions on the install directory.

What's happening (very very slowly) is that the system is computing a hash for each file.

That means it has to read and number-crunch each and every file in your share library (-ies), and worse, it will not let you or anybody else see those files until they've been hashed. And if you haven't changed the permissions on that directory by the time you exit LimeWire, you'll lose it all and have to start over.

Hopefully, whoever implemented this functionality has heard about the flaws in it and is working on a better version.

My two cents worth:

Show the files, both as shares and as files in the library whether they have a hash or not. _THEN_ if you want to compute them (very slowly) in the background, OK.

In any case, if you can't store the computed hashes in the default directory, store them in the user's home directory. If you can't put it anywhere else, put it in /tmp.

Let the user know some of this is going on. If having the hash right this second is optional, you can write to your desired directory, and the system doesn't seem too loaded, then it might be ok to just do it without informing the user.

Doing it WITHOUT telling me, in such a fashion that it seriously cripples my usage (and then throws it all away!!!) is NOT the way to make friends and influence people (not in any direction you _want_ them to go, at least.)

Thanks much to all those who helped get me out. Here's hoping 2.5.5 is as much of an improvement over 2.3.2 as 2.3.2 was over the original. (Minor little glitches like not being able to play your own library for 5 hours notwithstanding... <g>)

CHL