Altcoins and Checkpoins?

[joehop67]

Okay so me and a friend have been developing an altcoin for personal use. Sort of like an in-house currency. We managed to create the genesis block but the checkpoints are stumping us. We are using the Smallchange source code and a quick look through the checkpoints.cpp file is confusing us to no end. Is this a necessary part to making a working altcoin or can we just leave it as is?

Also we are stummped on the irc.cpp file as well do we need to make our own irc channel or can we just leave it as is aswell? Can we make the channel using freenode?

[jj9guy]

You shouldnt need them if your coin is really in house unless you expect someone you know to rape your coin with their hashing power.

[arjay45]

The irc is how it gets IP addresses for nodes, and it does this by looking at join messages in the IRC channel it's in. If you don't create a new channel then you will get peers from whatever other coin is in that channel. That's bad. You should have your own channel for your coin. Otherwise it will take forever for any new users of your coin to find peers, because all of the IP addresses it will try from IRC are not using your coin but someone else's.

[shakezula]

does your coin mine in test net?

[joehop67]

does your coin mine in test net?

I don't think so... if it did mine in testnet I would put the -testnet command in terminal right?

The irc is how it gets IP addresses for nodes, and it does this by looking at join messages in the IRC channel it's in. If you don't create a new channel then you will get peers from whatever other coin is in that channel. That's bad. You should have your own channel for your coin. Otherwise it will take forever for any new users of your coin to find peers, because all of the IP addresses it will try from IRC are not using your coin but someone else's.

how would I go about setting up an irc channel? using freenode or would I have to set up my own server too?

[arjay45]

how would I go about setting up an irc channel? using freenode or would I have to set up my own server too?

Keep the server the same. Just change the name in the string. If the channel doesn't exist on the server in question it will be created. Done. When all the clients leave the channel the IRC server will destroy the channel.

Just keep the IRC server the same. FreeNode would probably not appreciate bitcoin traffic. But I presume someone at some point asked the default IRC server admins if they could use it for bitcoin traffic.

[joehop67]

Sorry I'm sure you got something better to do with your time then help a noob like me but I just have one more question (more like a few):

Should I change the ports? does it matter what I change them to?

[shakezula]

testnet doesn't neef checkpoints; that's why I wondered. do you have a valid genesis block?

[arjay45]

Sorry I'm sure you got something better to do with your time then help a noob like me but I just have one more question (more like a few):

Should I change the ports? does it matter what I change them to?

Yes change the ports for the same reason. Otherwise other coins can connect to your client and attempt to send blocks and transactions to it. That's bad. IIRC there's also some magic numbers you need to change so if somehow another coin does connect to one of your clients, any blocks or transactions sent from it are invalid and will be dropped. And vice versa of course.

I don't know where these magic numbers are in the code. I haven't studied the code very closely because right now I don't intend to make an altcoin.

[thisnewcoin]

you don't need checkpoints if you don't care people use a longer block chain to replace yours

[joehop67]

testnet doesn't neef checkpoints; that's why I wondered. do you have a valid genesis block?

yes I do... at least I think I do... I don't get any errors when I start up the client so I assume I have one.

[joehop67]

Sorry I'm sure you got something better to do with your time then help a noob like me but I just have one more question (more like a few):

Should I change the ports? does it matter what I change them to?

Yes change the ports for the same reason. Otherwise other coins can connect to your client and attempt to send blocks and transactions to it. That's bad. IIRC there's also some magic numbers you need to change so if somehow another coin does connect to one of your clients, any blocks or transactions sent from it are invalid and will be dropped. And vice versa of course.

I don't know where these magic numbers are in the code. I haven't studied the code very closely because right now I don't intend to make an altcoin.

Does it matter what port # I change it to? Does it have to be specific or can I just change like the last number in the sequence and it will work?

[shakezula]

testnet doesn't neef checkpoints; that's why I wondered. do you have a valid genesis block?

yes I do... at least I think I do... I don't get any errors when I start up the client so I assume I have one.

Ok, then if you have a valid genesis block, use the hash of it in your checkpoints.cpp as checkpoint 0 (it likely won't be in there, if you used SMC, block 1 is the root checkpoint, just change this to 0) rebuild your client and bob's your uncle.

[joehop67]

Okay so I did that and managed to execute without any errors so that fine. I just seem to have problems actually connecting to the network. The IRC (fond in the debug.log file) keeps telling me that the connection timed out. Is there anything wrong or is this normal?

Also when I try and start my program with the -daemon to start the server and get my client to connect to it it doesn't actually do anything. It writes in the terminal "Neucoin server starting" and then quickly changes back to the normal terminal. Is this normal? Do I need to change anything? My client says that there are no active connections to the Neucoin network so it can't be working right?

[shakezula]

To get the first 2 nodes to connect, you'll have to do it manually. Once two nodes connect you'll be able to mine. It takes a few more than 2 connections before peerdiscovery starts via IRC or at least that's my experience. Just add -connect=x.x.x.x using the ip of the other machine to the start up line on 2 or more machines. You can also do -addnode= or add addnode= to your .conf.

[joehop67]

Do I have to put the port # after the ip?

[shakezula]

I'd do this, assuming I have 2 computers on 2 IPs, lets say 1.1.1.1 (pc1) and 2.2.2.2 (pc2):

pc1: ~/coin/src$ coind -connect 2.2.2.2 &

pc2: ~/coin/src$ coind -connect 1.1.1.1 &

now you can do:

pc1: ~/coin/src$  coind getinfo

and you should see 1 connection, do it from the other pc and make sure they see each other. Once you have a listed connection do:

pc1: ~/coin/src$ coind setgenerate true 4

and then

pc1: ~/coin/src$ coind showmininginfo

and you should see it begin generating coins. At this point, you can now edit your .conf to have rpcallow=2.2.2.2 or whatever, and point cgminer/minerd at that ip.

[joehop67]

Do I have to have separate computers or will it work with different VM's?

[arjay45]

Does it matter what port # I change it to? Does it have to be specific or can I just change like the last number in the sequence and it will work?

Do enough research to be reasonably sure you're not using a port number from any other coin. If you're not sure pick a random one between 10000 and 20000 -- only two coins I'm aware of have used numbers in that range (worldcoin and one other coin I forget the name of), so if you pick it randomly you probably won't pick the same one. Testnet would be that port plus 10000. RPC port is that port plus one.

[joehop67]

The port #'s are specified in the init.cpp file correct?