[ANN] [PPC] PPCoin Released! - First Long-Term Energy-Efficient Crypto-Currency

[NothinG]

Just got back home, am looking at my pool now.
I wasn't expecting but one or two people to test it out, by the DB logs and the stats...I'm VERY happy with the amount of data.

Give me ~15-20min and I should have the pool back up with fixes.
Thanks everyone who helped.

[Edit]: Looks like there is quit a few memory leaks happening. It was the first time setting up a pool, so I was shooting in the dark. Along with that, it was the first time anyone has setup a pool for PPC...so, I think it went okay. I am using Poold.py modified to not only work with PPC, but to also work with MySQL so I can get a temporary website working.

[Edit2]: Does NewMint mean the same thing as balance? If not, then 23k shares for 24hrs means I didn't find a block at my pool? Could mean a few things...but, no block?

[Sunny King]

Hi NothingG
  If you encountered any problem with accepting blocks please let me know. Transaction format is changed in ppcoin with a new timestamp field and I am not sure if this will cause any problem with existing mining API.

Newmint = amount you mined but not yet matured

[NothinG]

Hi NothingG
  If you encountered any problem with accepting blocks please let me know. Transaction format is changed in ppcoin with a new timestamp field and I am not sure if this will cause any problem with existing mining API.

Newmint = amount you mined but not yet matured

This is the first time I've ever setup a pool, let alone one for an Alt. Coin.
If you want to jump on Skype (MSN, or hell...even a phone call), and help me get this pool up and running...that would be awesome.

This is my current errors I'm getting.

Code:

Wed Aug 22 02:47:30 2012 Server Starts - *:9934
CHECKWORK hash(False) 000000001a004ae93bc7ac566935af6a18e8fb0233479b2f5f0b938c5bec6dd1 ***
----------------------------------------
Exception happened during processing of request from ('***', ***)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 582, in process_request_thread
    self.finish_request(request, client_address)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 323, in finish_request
    self.RequestHandlerClass(request, client_address, self)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 641, in __init__
    self.finish()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 694, in finish
    self.wfile.flush()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/socket.py", line 303, in flush
    self._sock.sendall(view[write_offset:write_offset+buffer_size])
error: [Errno 32] Broken pipe
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Exception happened during processing of request from ('***', ***)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 582, in process_request_thread
    self.finish_request(request, client_address)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 323, in finish_request
    self.RequestHandlerClass(request, client_address, self)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 641, in __init__
    self.finish()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 694, in finish
    self.wfile.flush()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/socket.py", line 303, in flush
    self._sock.sendall(view[write_offset:write_offset+buffer_size])
error: [Errno 32] Broken pipe

...Just so people don't think I'm messing around.

[markm]

Hi NothingG
  If you encountered any problem with accepting blocks please let me know. Transaction format is changed in ppcoin with a new timestamp field and I am not sure if this will cause any problem with existing mining API.

Aha, you changed block format?

Maybe that is the only reasonable explanation for the massive amount of hardware errors DiabloMiner gets mining your chain using exact same settings that work fine mining umpteen merged mined chains at once?

-MarkM-

[doublec]

This is the first time I've ever setup a pool, let alone one for an Alt. Coin.
If you want to jump on Skype (MSN, or hell...even a phone call), and help me get this pool up and running...that would be awesome.

A couple of issues you might need to address (I don't know if these are different for ppcoin but for alt chains you often have to tinker with them):

* Longpoll notification when a block is found.
* Reward per block varies based on difficulty - it's not just bitcoins 50 coins.

[makomk]

• The number of "bruteforce attempts" for stake blocks is limited to once per second (up to 2 hours into the past), per transaction used as stake input, per block found on the network.
• Proof of stake blocks can include stake from multiple transactions, as long as it's on the same address (IIUC).

Hmmmm. It does look that way. Interesting.

Edit: Looks like it's more complicated than that. Take a look at CTransaction::CheckProofOfStake - when calculating whether there's enough stake for the current difficulty, only the stake in the single transaction output used for that attempt counts. This is necessary to prevent various kinds of cheating. However, when calculating the reward I think you can indeed include stake from multiple transactions. This should mean that your expected number of and income from stake blocks over any given period of time depends only on the number of coin-days worth of coins older than the 30-day limit you have, and not on how that's divided up.

[NothinG]

Okay...so I finally got pushpoold to work the way it was suppose to be (or so I think).
I'm going to reset the database (as far as shares..hashrate...etc go) but I will keep a backup of all shares per miner/user/worker so as I can split the verified earnings ( I don't want to seem like a bad guy here ).

This is data that will be used to pay out people who put in their shares.

Code:

root@mein:~# ./ppcoind getinfo
{
    "version" : "v0.1.0ppc-beta",
    "protocolversion" : 60001,
    "walletversion" : 60000,
    "balance" : 0.00000000,
    "newmint" : 16726.30000000,
    "stake" : 0.00000000,
    "blocks" : 1543,
    "connections" : 14,
    "proxy" : "",
    "ip" : "46.166.138.142",
    "difficulty" : 2929.41201025,
    "testnet" : false,
    "keypoololdest" : 1345415511,
    "keypoolsize" : 101,
    "paytxfee" : 0.01000000,
    "errors" : ""
}

You can now re-connect to the pool using your workers username, workers password, 46.166.138.142, and port 9944 (supports LP).

[Edit]: I'm moving the website off-site to off-set the load.

[doublec]

I see this in the ppcoin debug log a lot:

Code:

******* exception encountered *******
ProcessMessages(tx, 225 bytes) : Exception 'CDataStream::read() : end of data' caught, normally caused by a message being shorter than its stated length
ProcessMessage(tx, 225 bytes) FAILED

[Bitcoin Oz]

Am I the only one who sees ppcoin and thinks "Popcoin"

[NothinG]

Am I the only one who sees ppcoin and thinks "Popcoin"

At least you're not as childish as me when I first heard P P Coin.

[mtbitcoin]

I see this in the ppcoin debug log a lot:

Code:

******* exception encountered *******
ProcessMessages(tx, 225 bytes) : Exception 'CDataStream::read() : end of data' caught, normally caused by a message being shorter than its stated length
ProcessMessage(tx, 225 bytes) FAILED

I am seeing a lot of similiar messages like the above too

[Sunny King]

Some random notes from a quick look at the source code: (I might have missed something though)

• I can't find any code path that actually mines proof of stake blocks. The code seems to be implemented, but nothing seems to be calling it yet. Proof of stake blocks definitely aren't mined through getwork, but rather through (currently inactive, or maybe I'm just blind) CPU mining.
• The difficulty for work and stake blocks seems to be (mostly?) the same, but it's divided by the number of accumulated coin days for stake blocks.
• The block reward for a work block is sqrt(sqrt(9999^4 / difficulty)), rounded down to the next cent boundary.
• The block reward for a stake block is the number of coin years put into it divided by 100.
• The number of "bruteforce attempts" for stake blocks is limited to once per second (up to 2 hours into the past), per transaction used as stake input, per block found on the network.
• Proof of stake blocks can include stake from multiple transactions, as long as it's on the same address (IIUC).
• Minimum age for coins used in a stake block is 30 days.

Sunny might want to confirm if the above is correct...

1) It's shared codepath with BitcoinMiner() and it's created in a separate thread and is active
2) The two difficulties starts the same at 256 but will adjust fairly independently from each other
3) About right
4) 1 cent per coin-year consumed in coinstake only (other transactions coin age do not count)
5) It's just the built-in minter's behavior, not an enforcement
6) There is only one output allowed, but inputs can be from multiple addresses. The built-in default minter does not combine from different addresses though to avoid compromising anonymity.
7) Right

[stoppots]

Okay...so I finally got pushpoold to work the way it was suppose to be (or so I think).
I'm going to reset the database (as far as shares..hashrate...etc go) but I will keep a backup of all shares per miner/user/worker so as I can split the verified earnings ( I don't want to seem like a bad guy here ).

This is data that will be used to pay out people who put in their shares.

Code:

root@mein:~# ./ppcoind getinfo
{
    "version" : "v0.1.0ppc-beta",
    "protocolversion" : 60001,
    "walletversion" : 60000,
    "balance" : 0.00000000,
    "newmint" : 16726.30000000,
    "stake" : 0.00000000,
    "blocks" : 1543,
    "connections" : 14,
    "proxy" : "",
    "ip" : "46.166.138.142",
    "difficulty" : 2929.41201025,
    "testnet" : false,
    "keypoololdest" : 1345415511,
    "keypoolsize" : 101,
    "paytxfee" : 0.01000000,
    "errors" : ""
}

You can now re-connect to the pool using your workers username, workers password, 46.166.138.142, and port 9944 (supports LP).

[Edit]: I'm moving the website off-site to off-set the load.

NothinG I thinkin something has to be wrong to not have found a block yet.

[NothinG]

Okay...so I finally got pushpoold to work the way it was suppose to be (or so I think).
I'm going to reset the database (as far as shares..hashrate...etc go) but I will keep a backup of all shares per miner/user/worker so as I can split the verified earnings ( I don't want to seem like a bad guy here ).

This is data that will be used to pay out people who put in their shares.

Code:

root@mein:~# ./ppcoind getinfo
{
    "version" : "v0.1.0ppc-beta",
    "protocolversion" : 60001,
    "walletversion" : 60000,
    "balance" : 0.00000000,
    "newmint" : 16726.30000000,
    "stake" : 0.00000000,
    "blocks" : 1543,
    "connections" : 14,
    "proxy" : "",
    "ip" : "46.166.138.142",
    "difficulty" : 2929.41201025,
    "testnet" : false,
    "keypoololdest" : 1345415511,
    "keypoolsize" : 101,
    "paytxfee" : 0.01000000,
    "errors" : ""
}

You can now re-connect to the pool using your workers username, workers password, 46.166.138.142, and port 9944 (supports LP).

[Edit]: I'm moving the website off-site to off-set the load.

NothinG I thinkin something has to be wrong to not have found a block yet.

It found the block, as you can see under "newmint" : 16726.30000000. The problem, is that it is under "newmint"...
I've already sent a PM asking how we are suppose to detect this.

[Edit]: Site is going to be okwardly strange (still reporting errorous data, aside from the # of shares since the last reset [I still have those shares]).
Once we get the above issue worked out, and get my second server setup with Memcached (for simplepool php)...then we can have a working pool/website.

So keep on mining, you're shares will not go un-paid. In-fact, as soon as the balance becomes positive. I'm going to pause the website and pay off all shares and then hopefully by then the new website will be online along with the block-payout fix.

[Sunny King]

I see this in the ppcoin debug log a lot:

Code:

******* exception encountered *******
ProcessMessages(tx, 225 bytes) : Exception 'CDataStream::read() : end of data' caught, normally caused by a message being shorter than its stated length
ProcessMessage(tx, 225 bytes) FAILED

I am seeing a lot of similiar messages like the above too

This probably indicates that a transaction message of incompatible format was received. Remember ppcoin's transaction has an extra timestamp field than bitcoin's.

I don't know if this is some sort of bug or attack or someone testing stuff. There has been 3 user transactions so far on the block chain. If anyone has more info about this let me know.

[galambo]

This probably indicates that a transaction message of incompatible format was received. Remember ppcoin's transaction has an extra timestamp field than bitcoin's.

I don't know if this is some sort of bug or attack or someone testing stuff. There has been 3 user transactions so far on the block chain. If anyone has more info about this let me know.

Did you test this coin before release?

Why did you change the difficulty calculation?

I think you played with too much, without considering the consequences and drawbacks.

[doublec]

I don't know if this is some sort of bug or attack or someone testing stuff. There has been 3 user transactions so far on the block chain. If anyone has more info about this let me know.

Did you change 'pchMessageStart'? If not someone who accidentally connects to the bitcoin network with ppcoin will bridge them and IP addresses will be shared. Could this result in bitcoin transactions being sent (and rejected) to ppcoin?

[NothinG]

I don't know if this is some sort of bug or attack or someone testing stuff. There has been 3 user transactions so far on the block chain. If anyone has more info about this let me know.

Did you change 'pchMessageStart'? If not someone who accidentally connects to the bitcoin network with ppcoin will bridge them and IP addresses will be shared. Could this result in bitcoin transactions being sent (and rejected) to ppcoin?

That might be me.
I had setup mpoold.py (modified poold.py version to work with MySQL), and PushPoold (current running) that is most likely doing the same thing.
I was lead to believe the transaction types mimicked Bitcoin.

[stoppots]

Okay...so I finally got pushpoold to work the way it was suppose to be (or so I think).
I'm going to reset the database (as far as shares..hashrate...etc go) but I will keep a backup of all shares per miner/user/worker so as I can split the verified earnings ( I don't want to seem like a bad guy here ).

This is data that will be used to pay out people who put in their shares.

Code:

root@mein:~# ./ppcoind getinfo
{
    "version" : "v0.1.0ppc-beta",
    "protocolversion" : 60001,
    "walletversion" : 60000,
    "balance" : 0.00000000,
    "newmint" : 16726.30000000,
    "stake" : 0.00000000,
    "blocks" : 1543,
    "connections" : 14,
    "proxy" : "",
    "ip" : "46.166.138.142",
    "difficulty" : 2929.41201025,
    "testnet" : false,
    "keypoololdest" : 1345415511,
    "keypoolsize" : 101,
    "paytxfee" : 0.01000000,
    "errors" : ""
}

You can now re-connect to the pool using your workers username, workers password, 46.166.138.142, and port 9944 (supports LP).

[Edit]: I'm moving the website off-site to off-set the load.

NothinG I thinkin something has to be wrong to not have found a block yet.

It found the block, as you can see under "newmint" : 16726.30000000. The problem, is that it is under "newmint"...
I've already sent a PM asking how we are suppose to detect this.

[Edit]: Site is going to be okwardly strange (still reporting errorous data, aside from the # of shares since the last reset [I still have those shares]).
Once we get the above issue worked out, and get my second server setup with Memcached (for simplepool php)...then we can have a working pool/website.

So keep on mining, you're shares will not go un-paid. In-fact, as soon as the balance becomes positive. I'm going to pause the website and pay off all shares and then hopefully by then the new website will be online along with the block-payout fix.

Ok great I was mistaken then, I was simply going by the graph and not thinking that being the first ppcoin pool that there would obviously be quirks and issues needing to be worked out. Guess I am just use to everything being business as usual with pools. Sorry man hope things are smooth sailing for you as a pool operator charting new waters.

[Sunny King]

I don't know if this is some sort of bug or attack or someone testing stuff. There has been 3 user transactions so far on the block chain. If anyone has more info about this let me know.

Did you change 'pchMessageStart'? If not someone who accidentally connects to the bitcoin network with ppcoin will bridge them and IP addresses will be shared. Could this result in bitcoin transactions being sent (and rejected) to ppcoin?

Hmm you are right I didn't change that. That's why I guess I saw some 17k new addresses in the log.

If it's needed I guess we can change this in a future release with a network protocol upgrade. Hopefully it doesn't cause too many problems at the moment.

Thanks for solving this mystery for me