btcd: a bitcoind alternative written in Go

[Gyrsur]

it's the better Bitcoin implementation.

[allgoodthings1]

Q: Is there a way to monitor my btcd connections -- something like what you can do with the command "bitcoind getinfo" in that program?  I have btcd synced up and running on a Windows machine.  But I'd really like a way to see at a glance especially how many peers (outbound & inbound) that it has at any moment.

When I try to count how many there might be -- from looking at the long message list in the window -- it seems like there are woefully few connections.  Maybe that's normal?  But I'd like a way to quickly check that I'm maintaining active live connections (both in and out) at all times.

[arnuschky]

This looks like the bitcoin implementation I have always been looking for!
Hope I have the time to check this out over the next days...

Even more so if this issue https://github.com/conformal/btcd/issues/190
actually gets implemented! (The Counterparty team offers a 1500$ bounty
for the the creation of address index à la Insight API in btcd. Great move,
Counterparty!)

[QuantumQrack]

Q: Is there a way to monitor my btcd connections -- something like what you can do with the command "bitcoind getinfo" in that program?  I have btcd synced up and running on a Windows machine.  But I'd really like a way to see at a glance especially how many peers (outbound & inbound) that it has at any moment.

When I try to count how many there might be -- from looking at the long message list in the window -- it seems like there are woefully few connections.  Maybe that's normal?  But I'd like a way to quickly check that I'm maintaining active live connections (both in and out) at all times.

You use a program called btcctl.exe to query btcd.  It is in the same folder that btcd.exe is in.  There are many commands available.

e.g. C:\program files\btcd suite\btcd>btcctl getpeerinfo

[azeteki]

Q: Is there a way to monitor my btcd connections -- something like what you can do with the command "bitcoind getinfo" in that program?  I have btcd synced up and running on a Windows machine.  But I'd really like a way to see at a glance especially how many peers (outbound & inbound) that it has at any moment.

When I try to count how many there might be -- from looking at the long message list in the window -- it seems like there are woefully few connections.  Maybe that's normal?  But I'd like a way to quickly check that I'm maintaining active live connections (both in and out) at all times.

You may find the tool in my signature (bitcoind-ncurses) useful.

I have not performed any testing with btcd however other users have reported success with some tweaking (I believe all that is needed is to produce a config file that is formatted in the same way as Bitcoin Core).

It refreshes the number of peers at regular intervals. There is a peer display screen which shows all peers individually however this does not auto-refresh - may do so in the future.

Screenshot:

[arnuschky]

What is the status of the btcd wallet? We're quite happy with btcd as a node, but haven't gathered experience with btcd's wallet yet. Is it ready for production? Or, let's rephrase this: is someone using it for production purposes already?

[justusranvier]

What is the status of the btcd wallet? We're quite happy with btcd as a node, but haven't gathered experience with btcd's wallet yet. Is it ready for production? Or, let's rephrase this: is someone using it for production purposes already?

Monetas has two full-time programmers developing new features for btcwallet so that it can be used in production in our system, but that's just because we need features that don't exist in any wallet yet.

As far as I know, it work fine as traditional wallet.

[tacotime]

What is the status of the btcd wallet? We're quite happy with btcd as a node, but haven't gathered experience with btcd's wallet yet. Is it ready for production? Or, let's rephrase this: is someone using it for production purposes already?

There has been significant efforts to overhaul it for performance considerations recently. Within a month or two these optimizations should be merged to master, and wallet should be good to go for high throughput uses while consuming small amounts of system resources.

Previously smaller projects I have heard of using it in production.

[arnuschky]

Monetas has two full-time programmers developing new features for btcwallet so that it can be used in production in our system, but that's just because we need features that don't exist in any wallet yet.

So I heard, thank's for confirming that this is still the case. To clarify: are you contributing to the open source project, or are you privately patching the software? What are these features you are talking about, if I may ask?

Just trying to understand whether your two full-time programmers affect our use at all.

[arnuschky]

There has been significant efforts to overhaul it for performance considerations recently. Within a month or two these optimizations should be merged to master, and wallet should be good to go for high throughput uses while consuming small amounts of system resources.

Previously smaller projects I have heard of using it in production.

Ok, thanks for the update. Are you involved in the development (if I may ask)?

Where can I follow this development - is this happening inside conformal? Just curious where to track the progress of this new wallet implementation, and learn about its features.

[davec]

Where can I follow this development - is this happening inside conformal? Just curious where to track the progress of this new wallet implementation, and learn about its features.

It's a mix of internal and external contributors.  Features show up as pull requests before they go in.

The main things coming up are outlined in the following PRs:

https://github.com/btcsuite/btcwallet/pull/125 - This has already been merged to master, but it's just a package that the wallet is not yet using.  
https://github.com/btcsuite/btcwallet/pull/152 - Like 125, this has already been merged to master, but the wallet is not yet using it.
https://github.com/btcsuite/btcwallet/pull/147 - This will integrate the packages mentioned in 125 and 152 making everything they discussed available.

Also, there are the following two PRs which aren't well documented yet, but are being worked on:

https://github.com/btcsuite/btcwallet/pull/155 - This brings accounts support to btcwallet, but will need documentation because they are real accounts as opposed to the bitcoin core notion of accounts (completely independent, no commingling of funds, require on-chain transactions to transfer funds between them, etc).  If you read between the lines on how pr 125 works, you can probably figure out how the accounts will work based on BIP0032.
https://github.com/btcsuite/btcwallet/pull/154 - This will update the transaction store to use the new walletdb bits covered in 152.  The current plan is to update 147 to include integration of this package once it's complete.

Finally, Monetas has been working on bringing voting pool support and that is covered in the following PRs:

https://github.com/btcsuite/btcwallet/pull/151 - This has already been merged, but it's just the package which is currently not being used.
https://github.com/btcsuite/btcwallet/pull/178 - This will provide the withdrawal side of voting pools, but like 151, won't actually be used until the rest of the code needed to use it is complete

[arnuschky]

Where can I follow this development - is this happening inside conformal? Just curious where to track the progress of this new wallet implementation, and learn about its features.

It's a mix of internal and external contributors.  Features show up as pull requests before they go in.

The main things coming up are outlined in the following PRs:

https://github.com/btcsuite/btcwallet/pull/125 - This has already been merged to master, but it's just a package that the wallet is not yet using.  
https://github.com/btcsuite/btcwallet/pull/152 - Like 125, this has already been merged to master, but the wallet is not yet using it.
https://github.com/btcsuite/btcwallet/pull/147 - This will integrate the packages mentioned in 125 and 152 making everything they discussed available.

Also, there are the following two PRs which aren't well documented yet, but are being worked on:

https://github.com/btcsuite/btcwallet/pull/155 - This brings accounts support to btcwallet, but will need documentation because they are real accounts as opposed to the bitcoin core notion of accounts (completely independent, no commingling of funds, require on-chain transactions to transfer funds between them, etc).  If you read between the lines on how pr 125 works, you can probably figure out how the accounts will work based on BIP0032.
https://github.com/btcsuite/btcwallet/pull/154 - This will update the transaction store to use the new walletdb bits covered in 152.  The current plan is to update 147 to include integration of this package once it's complete.

Finally, Monetas has been working on bringing voting pool support and that is covered in the following PRs:

https://github.com/btcsuite/btcwallet/pull/151 - This has already been merged, but it's just the package which is currently not being used.
https://github.com/btcsuite/btcwallet/pull/178 - This will provide the withdrawal side of voting pools, but like 151, won't actually be used until the rest of the code needed to use it is complete

Awesome, thank you for taking the time for listing these PRs. I'll wade through them

[arnuschky]

Is there a place to discuss the btcd suite and ask questions? The current strategy of creating issues on github for every question seems to be rather cumbersome, especially for the devs...

[davec]

We do the vast majority of our communication through IRC.

[arnuschky]

We do the vast majority of our communication through IRC.

Ok, thanks. I assume you posting this here means that the channel is not dev-only but also open for user questions?

[davec]

Ok, thanks. I assume you posting this here means that the channel is not dev-only but also open for user questions?

Correct.  There is some development discussion in there, but typically we use other channels for that purpose.  Feel free to stop by!