SoloMining with CGMiner against Bitcoind / Bitcoin Core v0.18.1

[yoshimitsu777]

Be aware that the patch mentioned above will not send the coins to your address but a random address under certain circumstances.
Most people don't like thoroughly testing patches, so yeah too bad about that hey.

do you mean this patch?

• download this patch: https://github.com/golden-guy/cgminer/commit/168a1bdfedb1408a690f5387e04e3c9af7842c5e.patch

Code:

From 168a1bdfedb1408a690f5387e04e3c9af7842c5e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Stefan Berger <s.berger81@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 28 Feb 2021 10:51:53 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Make coinbaseaux flags optional

Needed for solo mining on bitcoind, starting with v0.20.0
It's probably safe to delete the coinbase flags, but leave them in as optional for now.

See also: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/commit/9aedabe67eedfee9c94c6a50962f11348eb99bca
---
 cgminer.c | 12 +++++++-----
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/cgminer.c b/cgminer.c
index ece7ce100f..ab52e30a61 100644
--- a/cgminer.c
+++ b/cgminer.c
@@ -2960,7 +2960,7 @@ static bool gbt_solo_decode(struct pool *pool, json_t *res_val)
 	flags = json_string_value(json_object_get(coinbase_aux, "flags"));
 	default_witness_commitment = json_string_value(json_object_get(res_val, "default_witness_commitment"));
 
-	if (!previousblockhash || !target || !version || !curtime || !bits || !coinbase_aux || !flags) {
+	if (!previousblockhash || !target || !version || !curtime || !bits) {
 		applog(LOG_ERR, "Pool %d JSON failed to decode GBT", pool->pool_no);
 		return false;
 	}
@@ -3039,10 +3039,12 @@ static bool gbt_solo_decode(struct pool *pool, json_t *res_val)
 	ofs += ser_number(pool->scriptsig_base + ofs, height); // max 5
 
 	/* Followed by flags */
-	len = strlen(flags) / 2;
-	pool->scriptsig_base[ofs++] = len;
-	hex2bin(pool->scriptsig_base + ofs, flags, len);
-	ofs += len;
+	if (flags) {
+		len = strlen(flags) / 2;
+		pool->scriptsig_base[ofs++] = len;
+		hex2bin(pool->scriptsig_base + ofs, flags, len);
+		ofs += len;
+	}
 
 	/* Followed by timestamp */
 	cgtime(&now);

I cannot find a random number generator in that code or any references to bitcoin addresses so what exactly do you mean?

[kano]

You have enabled other code that wont always work.

Rather simple and obvious actually for a programmer.

[yoshimitsu777]

You have enabled other code that wont always work.

Rather simple and obvious actually for a programmer.

you said that after applying this patch cgminer will not send the coins to your address but a
random address under certain circumstances.What code does the patch enable?
can you please be more specific with your reply?

[kano]

No, coz in your case you are advertising code for free to people claiming it will work, without testing it properly,
with clearly no understanding of what you are doing, and people are silly enough to listen to you and some of them, if they find  a block, will not get the reward.

Yeah this place is full of hackers that think they know what they are doing but wont be found when the shit hits the fan.

If you were to actually test it properly you would 'likely' spot the obvious issue.

[yoshimitsu777]

No, coz in your case you are advertising code for free to people claiming it will work, without testing it properly,
with clearly no understanding of what you are doing, and people are silly enough to listen to you and some of them, if they find  a block, will not get the reward.

Yeah this place is full of hackers that think they know what they are doing but wont be found when the shit hits the fan.

If you were to actually test it properly you would 'likely' spot the obvious issue.

who do you mean?i did not advertise code for free.i had quoted the patch to ask if you had referred to it in your previous reply because it was not clear.

still unanswered is your statement that this patch sends coins to a foreign address. I'd love to understand, but you don't seem to want to answer.

does anyone else know what kano means and what it has to do with this patch?

[100knot2dae]

who do you mean?i did not advertise code for free.i had quoted the patch to ask if you had referred to it in your previous reply because it was not clear.

still unanswered is your statement that this patch sends coins to a foreign address. I'd love to understand, but you don't seem to want to answer.

does anyone else know what kano means and what it has to do with this patch?

Just ignore it. Up to now he has never come up with his own approach - and he probably never will - but rather spends his time on telling other people's work off. That's the real tragedy here.

All I can say is that FOR ME, this golden-guy patch has proven to find blocks countless times on BTC testnet and other forks when solo mining on an own node. And I have tested this with lots of different addresses by now.

But this is no promo, no recommendation and you always do things at your own risk.

[kano]

who do you mean?i did not advertise code for free.i had quoted the patch to ask if you had referred to it in your previous reply because it was not clear.

still unanswered is your statement that this patch sends coins to a foreign address. I'd love to understand, but you don't seem to want to answer.

does anyone else know what kano means and what it has to do with this patch?

Just ignore it. Up to now he has never come up with his own approach - and he probably never will - but rather spends his time on telling other people's work off. That's the real tragedy here.

All I can say is that FOR ME, this golden-guy patch has proven to find blocks countless times on BTC testnet and other forks when solo mining on an own node. And I have tested this with lots of different addresses by now.

But this is no promo, no recommendation and you always do things at your own risk.

Quoted for posterity, coz that's a pretty specific statement you make there.

[Sledge0001]

who do you mean?i did not advertise code for free.i had quoted the patch to ask if you had referred to it in your previous reply because it was not clear.

still unanswered is your statement that this patch sends coins to a foreign address. I'd love to understand, but you don't seem to want to answer.

does anyone else know what kano means and what it has to do with this patch?

Just ignore it. Up to now he has never come up with his own approach - and he probably never will - but rather spends his time on telling other people's work off. That's the real tragedy here.

All I can say is that FOR ME, this golden-guy patch has proven to find blocks countless times on BTC testnet and other forks when solo mining on an own node. And I have tested this with lots of different addresses by now.

But this is no promo, no recommendation and you always do things at your own risk.

I would prefer that this not be the thread that anyone start throwing shade at any user or contributor on this forum regardless of your personal opinions.

The testnet and mainnet are two different beasts. Difficulty of 1 vs. 34T at the moment being one "big" difference

I will never forget that I would have never hit a block if it hadn't been for Kano's cgminer code, Ck's solo pool and Sidehacks hardware....

Each person should embrace and take their own BTC journey but let's not discount the experience, efforts and contributions made over several years of the people listed above.

[yoshimitsu777]

sledge which pool did you use when you hit the block? do you solo mine against bitcoind at all?

what patch do you guys recommend for solo mining on bitcoind?

[Sledge0001]

sledge which pool did you use when you hit the block? do you solo mine against bitcoind at all?

what patch do you guys recommend for solo mining on bitcoind?

When I hit I was mining on CK's Pool.

I am currently solo mining but through my own pool at the moment.

[yoshimitsu777]

I am currently solo mining but through my own pool at the moment.

i like to try that too
do you use cgminer and could you please give me instruction how to mine on own fullnode?

which version do you use and which patch or patches do you have in use,how to install them?

[Sledge0001]

I am currently solo mining but through my own pool at the moment.

i like to try that too
do you use cgminer and could you please give me instruction how to mine on own fullnode?

which version do you use and which patch or patches do you have in use, how to install them?

I'm using bitcoincore v23.0 and connecting it through a heavily modified version of a few open source pool projects.

This is not a task for a novice as there are millions of lines of code to go through but start looking at ckpools open source, p2pool code, Yiimp as well as Nomp.

Somewhere in between them all lies the right bits and pieces to put a functioning pool together but I must admit deciphering the the voluminous files figuring out which to use and what to discard is a time consuming venture.

IMHO there is no downloadable "plug and play" pool software for the novice miner which is a shame... I'm working on correcting that.

If you just have few smaller miners and are using cgminer then use Golden-Guys cgminer which does seem to be mostly based off of Kano's version of cgminer.  Although I haven't had time to fully examine every bit of that code.

[100knot2dae]

IMHO there is no downloadable "plug and play" pool software for the novice miner which is a shame... I'm working on correcting that.

Indeed. But seems like you can build your own ckpool solo instance as docker image now, using this repo: https://github.com/golden-guy/docker-ckpool
It's looks really simple, just install Docker and use the Dockerfile to build the image.

EDIT: Always use at your own risk.

[yoshimitsu777]

i'd like to mine with r909 gekkoscience compac f asic miner chip without any pool in between just cgminer and bitcoind in its latest versions

https://github.com/golden-guy/cgminer is 12 commits ahead of vthoang:master

golden-guy cgminer version is not up-to-date cgminer and I think it does not support gekkoscience compac f chip.Can I just install latest version https://github.com/kanoi/cgminer and then manually apply those 12 commits of golden-guy?
what is the best way to do this?

[100knot2dae]

i'd like to mine with r909 gekkoscience compac f asic miner chip without any pool in between just cgminer and bitcoind in its latest versions

https://github.com/golden-guy/cgminer is 12 commits ahead of vthoang:master

golden-guy cgminer version is not up-to-date cgminer and I think it does not support gekkoscience compac f chip.Can I just install latest version https://github.com/kanoi/cgminer and then manually apply those 12 commits of golden-guy?
what is the best way to do this?

For solo mining you basically only need that single patch, so just clone the git and apply the patch. And be sure to use a 1xxxx address (p2pkh).

[citb0in]

Hello yoshitmitsu,

you can solo mine on your own full node (bitcoind) without hesitation. Don't be put off by Kano's statements. He is constantly bashing other pool operators because he sees everyone as a rival. As you note, he also doesn't even address your questions that you understandably asked, instead he also attacks you for supposedly promoting the patch that unlocks solo functionality. He doesn't like that thousands of solo-mining enthusiasts out there could mine on their own full-node because that would mean even fewer participants on his pool. As you may know cgminer was developed by Con Kolivas (-Ck) and Kano had participated there as a developer. Kano especially developed the driver parts. CK kicked Kano out many years ago and banned him from development because of personal disputes between the two. Since then, Kano has been constantly ranting on CK and everything that has to do with him. However, this bashing does not exist the other way around. CK stopped the development of cgminer a long time ago and made it public. Kano has been managing cgminer on his own since then and has his own fork at github.com/kanoi/cgminer. There he maintains e.g. the latest drivers, especially those from Gekkoscience. He sees himself as a god, everyone else is a loser in his opinion.

About your questions and your intention. You are of course welcome to apply the golden-guy patch. As it was already suggested to you, you could clone the current cgminer version from Kanos' github repository and then apply the golden-guy patch. As mentioned here in the thread, there are also numerous other github repositories that include this patch, which unlocks solo mining functionality. What you should pay attention to when you manually apply the golden-guy patch --> you must NOT specify a bech32 address (begins with bc1q...) as payout address but you should exclusively use a legacy P2PKH address (begins with 1...). If you would use a bech32 as payout address (eg. bc1qxyz123abc...) then cgminer would seem to run without any problems at first sight, but if you should really hit a block, then the coinbase transaction would be erroneous and the reward would not be transferred to your specified bc1q.... (Bech32) address but to a random bitcoin address. Your reward would be lost, that would be fatal and nobody wants that. This is what Kano means with his incomplete statement and although he knows the risk, he resists to post this information here publicly, so that he can claim himself as a prophet afterwards full of glee (by actions like that). Such behavior is anything but exemplary.

Bech32 didn't exist when CK implemented solo mining in cgminer those times and as explained before cgminer was put in archive mode by CK. Kano still deliberately avoids unlocking solo functionality in his current versions, and he tries to justify this in the sense that it would be foolish to mine on a dedicated full-node. Of course, it should be clear to everyone that a full node and mining on such a full node requires certain minimum requirements and how important performance is in the context of the mining process. A possibly found valid block must finally find its way into the blockchain in the shortest and fastest way and reach many nodes at ultra-fast speed, otherwise one runs the risk of stale shares and orphan blocks. Not only a high-performance full node is important, but also the speed to the Internet plays a role, as well as the routers and hops in between. At best, everything runs in a data center with high-quality devices and top performance with an extremely fast Internet connection. Keep in mind the sheer amount of data (some TBs per month) just for the GBT traffic so running this at a data center makes only sense if your miner is located on-site, too. This information could all be mentioned, explained and ultimately left to the user's free decision to solo-mine on a full-node.

So that you don't do anything wrong when enabling the solo mining functionality and risk misconfiguration, I would highly recommend you to use ready-made cgminer versions that already contain this patch. There are several Github repositories. My own favorite is github.com/phaenomenon/cgminer, which is quite up-to-date (version 4.12.1) and includes many other useful things besides the actual Golden Guy patch. For example, it automatically checks the given payout address for correctness, only then the mining process starts at all. If you accidentally entered a Bech32 for solo mining, cgminer warns you at startup and aborts with an error message so you can correct it. Also, you can mine not only in mainnet but also in testnet. In testnet you need to provide a legacy address that starts with "m" or "n" and this is also handled by the input validation. The README contains useful information under "SOLO mining" and there are also very cool start scripts included, so you can get started right away.

I also highly recommend reading those two How-To's from nullama which explains how to mine on testnet using a GekkoScience Compac-F USB miner or even with a GPU/CPU:
[Guide] Solo mine testnet bitcoins with cgminer, Bitcoin Core, and a Compac F
[Guide] Solo mine testnet bitcoins with bfgminer, Bitcoin Core, and a CPU/GPU

In case you use a GekkoScience Compac F, the installation process is as follows.

Code:

# clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/phaenomenon/cgminer

# rename it to a meaningful name so you can distinguish it in case you want to try other cgminer versions, too.
mv cgminer cgminer_phaenomenon

# enter directory
cd cgminer_phaenomenon

# compile it
CFLAGS="-O2 -march=native -fcommon" ./autogen.sh --enable-gekko
make

# look at the provided three start scripts *.sh and *.conf files and adjust to suit your needs, here I choose testnet for the initial test
vi start_solomining_ownFullNode_testnet.sh

# ensure your bitcoind is running testnet and then launch cgminer
./start_solomining_ownFullNode_testnet.sh

Logs are written to the subfolder "logs\" which I find very convenient. After you have successfully mined your first block on testnet and received succesful your block reward, you could switch to mainnet.

Hope this guide is helpful for everyone. Good luck and happy solo-mining

citb0in

[100knot2dae]

A very good wrap-up, it's good to see people here keeping up the solo mining spirit. Note that the aspect on running a performant node in a data center cannot be emphasized enough, if you want to stand a realistic chance to get your block pushed out to the network fast enough.

[o_solo_miner]

Segwit didn't exist when CK implemented solo mining in cgminer those times and as explained before cgminer was put in archive mode by CK.

Well, wrong, look here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=28402.msg17594456#msg17594456

23 January 2017, 13:34:48
   
New release: Version 4.10.0 - 23rd January 2017
http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/
Lots of driver updates and numerous accumulated fixes and improvements.

Human readable changelog:
The very short version:
Avalon 4/5/6/7 support
Compac gekko support
Solo mining segwit support
Updated build to use system libusb
Updated build to latest jansson library
Lots of low level fixes and reliability improvements
Pool failover handling improvements
Diff handling improvements
Extra block change information
Other configuration options
See full changelog for unlisted items.

[kano]

@citb0in yes we all know how much you love me.
but please stop stalking my discord channel,
when you openly say you wont mine on my pool

[citb0in]

Well, wrong, look here:

I think it should be native segwit (bech32), I corrected it