Flooding algorithm

A flooding algorithm is a method for distributing material to every part of a connected system. The name derives from the concept of inundation by a flood.

There are several variants of flooding algorithms: the one used on Usenet works as follows. Each node acts as both a transmitter and a receiver.

As a transmitter:

For each piece of information stored locally:

For each neighbor:

If the piece of information is not marked as being delivered to you via that neighbor:

Check with them if they have it, and deliver it if they have not.

As a receiver:

For each transfer attempt from a neighbor:

If already recieved, decline delivery.

Otherwise, receive, and mark as having been delivered from that neighbor.