OFFICIAL CGMINER mining software thread for linux/win/osx/mips/arm/r-pi 4.11.1

[neptop]

Would it be possible to add a multipool strategy that's similar to load balance, but with the first one having priory? So the second one is just active when the first one for some reason doesn't have enough work, for example because of latency.

[-ck]

Would it be possible to add a multipool strategy that's similar to load balance, but with the first one having priory? So the second one is just active when the first one for some reason doesn't have enough work, for example because of latency.

That's basically failover that you're describing... That's the default policy. Or do you mean micro delays instead of macro ones?

[ancow]

Heads-up: NEWS currently contains this rather strange item:

- The longpoll blanking of the current_block data may not be happening before
the work is converted and appears to be a detected block change.     Blank the
current block be

[neptop]

Would it be possible to add a multipool strategy that's similar to load balance, but with the first one having priory? So the second one is just active when the first one for some reason doesn't have enough work, for example because of latency.

That's basically failover that you're describing... That's the default policy. Or do you mean micro delays instead of macro ones?

Yes, to even out (very) short performance drops.

[plantucha]

bug report - SSE4

ubuntu natty, 64bit, catalyst 11.6
CPU 6core AMD
Latest git version
CPU miner only. compiled without opencl.

michal@rig:~/cgminer4$ ./cgminer -a sse4_64 -t 6 -o http://useast.btcguild.com:8332/ -u  xxxxxxxxxxx -p xxxxxxxxxxx

[2011-07-22 22:15:02] ./cgminer: -a: Unknown algorithm


sse2_64 (17.5MH/s) and 4way (20.5MH/s) working good

[-ck]

Just tested it:

[2011-07-23 12:59:10] 4 cpu miner threads started, using SHA256 'sse4_64' algorithm.                   

seems to work for me??

Make sure you do make clean && ./autogen.sh before ./configure when building from git?

 

[error]

Just tested it:

[2011-07-23 12:59:10] 4 cpu miner threads started, using SHA256 'sse4_64' algorithm.                   

seems to work for me??

Make sure you do make clean && ./autogen.sh before ./configure when building from git?

Can reproduce. This is from the 1.3.1 tarball; there is no autogen.sh.

Code:

error@underground ~/cgminer-1.3.1 $ ./cgminer -a sse4_64 -g 1 -o http://127.0.0.1:8332/ -u error -p o9AwFzMc
[2011-07-23 00:54:32] ./cgminer: -a: Unknown algorithm

I have a CPU capable of it, I think:

Code:

flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm ida dts tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid

I see in miner.h that capabilities are being detected at compile time. No idea why it isn't picking this up. It may be better to just build everything in that can be built and detect the CPU capabilities at runtime.

The system is: Fedora 15 with

kernel-2.6.38.8-35.fc15.x86_64
gcc-4.6.0-9.fc15.x86_64
glibc-2.14-4.x86_64

[-ck]

New release 1.4.0

Source:
http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/cgminer-1.4.0.tar.bz2

Win32 build:
http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/cgminer-1.4.0-win32.zip

Summary: lots and lots of fixes and lots of new features via the menu

Version 1.4.0 - July 23, 2011

- Feature upgrade: Add keyboard input during runtime to allow modification of
and viewing of numerous settings such as adding/removing pools, changing
multipool management strategy, switching pools, changing intensiy, verbosity,
etc. with a simple keypress menu system.
- Free up resources/stale compilers.
- Kernels are safely flushed in a way that allows out of order execution to
work.
- Sometimes the cl compiler generates zero sized binaries and only a reboot
seems to fix it.
- Don't try to stop/cancel threads that don't exist.
- Only set option to show devices and exit if built with opencl support.
- Enable curses earlier and exit with message in main for messages to not be
lost in curses windows.
- Make it possible to enter server credentials with curses input if none are
specified on the command line.
- Abstract out a curses input function and separate input pool function to allow
for live adding of pools later.
- Remove the nil arguments check to allow starting without parameters.
- Disable/enable echo & cbreak modes.
- Add a thread that takes keyboard input and allow for quit, silent, debug,
verbose, normal, rpc protocol debugging and clear screen options.
- Add pool option to input and display current pool status, pending code to
allow live changes.
- Add a bool for explicit enabling/disabling of pools.
- Make input pool capable of bringing up pools while running.
- Do one last check of the work before submitting it.
- Implement the ability to live add, enable, disable, and switch to pools.
- Only internally test for block changes when the work matches the current pool
to prevent interleaved block change timing on multipools.
- Display current pool management strategy to enable changing it on the fly.
- The longpoll blanking of the current_block data may not be happening before
the work is converted and appears to be a detected block change.     Blank the
current block be
- Make --no-longpoll work again.
- Abstract out active pools count.
- Allow the pool strategy to be modified on the fly.
- Display pool information on the fly as well.
- Add a menu and separate out display options.
- Clean up the messy way the staging thread communicates with the longpoll
thread to determine who found the block first.
- Make the input windows update immediately instead of needing a refresh.
- Allow log interval to be set in the menu.
- Allow scan settings to be modified at runtime.
- Abstract out the longpoll start and explicitly restart it on pool change.
- Make it possible to enable/disable longpoll.
- Set priority correctly on multipools.     Display priority and alive/dead
information in display_pools.
- Implement pool removal.
- Limit rolltime work generation to 10 iterations only.
- Decrease testing log to info level.
- Extra refresh not required.
- With huge variation in GPU performance, allow intensity to go from -10 to +10.
- Tell getwork how much of a work item we're likely to complete for future
splitting up of work.
- Remove the mandatory work requirement at startup by testing for invalid work
being passed which allows for work to be queued immediately.     This also
removes the requirem
- Make sure intensity is carried over to thread count and is at least the
minimum necessary to work.
- Unlocking error on retry. Locking unnecessary anyway so remove it.
- Clear log window from consistent place. No need for locking since logging is
disabled during input.
- Cannot print the status of threads that don't exist so just queue enough work
for the number of mining threads to prevent crash with -Q N.
- Update phatk kernel to one with new parameters for slightly less overhead
again.     Make the queue kernel parameters call a function pointer to select
phatk or poclbm.
- Make it possible to select the choice of kernel on the command line.
- Simplify the output part of the kernel. There's no demonstrable advantage from
more complexity.
- Merge pull request #18 from ycros/cgminer
- No need to make leaveok changes win32 only.
- Build support in for all SSE if possible and only set the default according to
machine capabilities.
- Win32 threading and longpoll keepalive fixes.
- Win32: Fix for mangled output on the terminal on exit.

[dikidera]

You should have mentioned we need the Microsoft SDK for mstcpip.h as well as probably a few new stuff to the configure line.

[bmgjet]

1.4 doesnt work on windows 7

says
failed to int gpu thread 0
opengl genurated a 0 sized binnary may need to restart computer.

Restarted did same thing.
Going back to last version and it works fine again.



------

Running with no options set it works.

[bmgjet]

You should have mentioned we need the Microsoft SDK for mstcpip.h as well as probably a few new stuff to the configure line.

Which SDK,
IV got the 2008 and latest ones from visual studio installed.

[Diapolo]

Great work Con *THUMBS UP* ... I have one strange observation though. When I first start up 1.4 on Windows, it will send 1-3 shares to pool 1 even if pool 0 is up. Any idea?

Dia

[-ck]

Great work Con *THUMBS UP* ... I have one strange observation though. When I first start up 1.4 on Windows, it will send 1-3 shares to pool 1 even if pool 0 is up. Any idea?

Dia

Yes it tests any new pool added to the list to see if it's alive. Since it asks for work, it seems a shame to just throw that work out, so it adds it to its queue 

[plantucha]

Just tested it:

[2011-07-23 12:59:10] 4 cpu miner threads started, using SHA256 'sse4_64' algorithm.                   

seems to work for me??

Make sure you do make clean && ./autogen.sh before ./configure when building from git?

 

ubuntu natty, 64bit, catalyst 11.6
CPU 6core AMD
CPU miner only. compiled without opencl.now version 1.4.0 from git
make clean && ./autogen.sh before ./configure when building from git

Code:

michal@rig:~/cgminer4$ ./cgminer -a sse4_64 -t 6 -o http://useast.btcguild.com:8332/ -u  xxxxxxxxxxx -p xxxxxxxxxxx

[2011-07-23 05:53:29] Testing pool http://useast.btcguild.com:8332/
[2011-07-23 05:53:29] X-Roll-Ntime found
[2011-07-23 05:53:29] Long-polling activated for http://useast.btcguild.com:8332/LP
[2011-07-23 05:53:29] Successfully retrieved and deciphered work from pool 0 http://useast.btcguild.com:8332/
[2011-07-23 05:53:29] Pool 0 http://useast.btcguild.com:8332/ active
[2011-07-23 05:53:29] Binding cpu mining thread 2 to cpu 2
[2011-07-23 05:53:29] Binding cpu mining thread 3 to cpu 3
[2011-07-23 05:53:29] 6 cpu miner threads started, using SHA256 'sse4_64' algorithm.Illegal instruction

Code:

processor	: 0
vendor_id	: AuthenticAMD
cpu family	: 16
model		: 10
model name	: AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1100T Processor
stepping	: 0
cpu MHz		: 3300.855
cache size	: 512 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 6
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 6
apicid		: 0
initial apicid	: 0
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 6
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc extd_apicid aperfmperf pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt nodeid_msr cpb npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save pausefilter
bogomips	: 6601.71
TLB size	: 1024 4K pages
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps hwpstate [9]

[-ck]

Well, I made it so it would compile even if your CPU didn't support the instruction, as requested. Now ytf it apparently doesn't support the instruction generated, when you have sse4a listed in your flags, is beyond me. Clearly whatever the instructions are in it, are not supported (and that explains why it refused to compile with it previously). Specifically it searches for SSE4.1 and I don't know how that differs from sse4.2 and sse4a (google might help). It will still detect what is supported and choose sse4 if it is there. If not supported, I suspect it will automatically default to sse2.

[-ck]

About speed in this new release:

Note there are a number of changes that will appear to affect reported speed in this release compared to previous ones.

First of all, there is a new kernel, which means that a new binary will be force built so the startup the first time you start it will be slower.

Second, the counters are no longer reset after all the threads have started - that was artificially raising the reported speed initially to ridiculous fake values.

Thus the reported speed will appear to be lower for a good 5 minutes or so. Give it some time.

However, the actual kernel code should be slightly faster now for 2 reasons.

First there is an updated kernel based on diapolo's modifications from here:
http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=25860

Second, the code was audited to ensure I could allow the GPUs to run the code out-of-order.

Both of these should actually speed the kernel up.

Don't expect to see massive changes in speed, but any improvement is always welcome

Finally, dynamic mode will now throttle things much more dramatically under heavy user load to minimise the impact on the user experience. The intensity range used to go from 0-14, but now goes from -10 to +10. Levels above 10 were counter-productive, and in the opposite direction, some cards performed poorly even at intensity 0 (notably nvidia GPUs and lower spec 4x ATI cards).

[plantucha]

Well, I made it so it would compile even if your CPU didn't support the instruction, as requested. Now ytf it apparently doesn't support the instruction generated, when you have sse4a listed in your flags, is beyond me. Clearly whatever the instructions are in it, are not supported (and that explains why it refused to compile with it previously). Specifically it searches for SSE4.1 and I don't know how that differs from sse4.2 and sse4a (google might help). It will still detect what is supported and choose sse4 if it is there. If not supported, I suspect it will automatically default to sse2.

how much % faster than sse2 is sse4?

can i help in any other way reporting? ssh access to my PC?

sse4 subsets seems to be bit messy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSE4

[zaytsev]

Version 1.4.0 no longer builds on RHEL5:

checking for curl-config... /usr/bin/curl-config
checking for the version of libcurl... 7.15.5
checking for libcurl >= version 7.10.1... yes
checking whether libcurl is usable... yes
checking for curl_free... yes
...
gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -I./compat/jansson -I./lib -I./lib  -DHAS_YASM -O2 -g -pipe -Wall -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fexceptions -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -m64 -mtune=generic -O3 -Wall -MT cgminer-util.o -MD -MP -MF .deps/cgminer-util.Tpo -c -o cgminer-util.o `test -f 'util.c' || echo './'`util.c
util.c:254: error: expected declaration specifiers or '...' before 'curlsocktype'
util.c: In function 'json_rpc_call':
util.c:348: error: 'CURLOPT_SOCKOPTFUNCTION' undeclared (first use in this function)
util.c:348: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once
util.c:348: error: for each function it appears in.)
make[2]: Leaving directory `/builddir/build/BUILD/cgminer-1.4.0'
make[2]: *** [cgminer-util.o] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/builddir/build/BUILD/cgminer-1.4.0'
RPM build errors:
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make: *** [all] Error 2
error: Bad exit status from /var/tmp/rpm-tmp.75423 (%build)
    Bad exit status from /var/tmp/rpm-tmp.75423 (%build)
Child returncode was: 1

Could be old gcc or curl... is it possible to put a conditional to fix this? Previous versions did build just fine... The full log is here: http://rpm.zaytsev.net/test/cgminer/build.log

P.S. The fix by ycros doesn't help, I tried to replace util.c.

P.P.S. Yes, that's the curl version that is too old. Is it possible to make longpoll optional via configure??? It doesn't have all this CURLOPT_SOCKOPTFUNCTION stuff. It would suck if the support for RHEL5 would have to be dropped completely.

[-ck]

checking for the version of libcurl... 7.15.5

CURLOPT_SOCKOPTFUNCTION (Option added in 7.15.6.)

Darn.

[-ck]

Well, I made it so it would compile even if your CPU didn't support the instruction, as requested. Now ytf it apparently doesn't support the instruction generated, when you have sse4a listed in your flags, is beyond me. Clearly whatever the instructions are in it, are not supported (and that explains why it refused to compile with it previously). Specifically it searches for SSE4.1 and I don't know how that differs from sse4.2 and sse4a (google might help). It will still detect what is supported and choose sse4 if it is there. If not supported, I suspect it will automatically default to sse2.

how much % faster than sse2 is sse4?

can i help in any other way reporting? ssh access to my PC?

sse4 subsets seems to be bit messy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSE4

Your hardware simply does not support the full sse4 set so nothing I can do will make that sse4 code work on your machine.