[announce] Namecoin - a distributed naming system based on Bitcoin

[khal]

I tried to firstupdate and got this (names changed; I made the name new 20 blocks ago):

namecoind name_firstupdate d/bitcoin 519eXXXXX005 eb554af3deb4XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX8e32beba99066988f8c685b '{"map": {"": "10.0.0.1"}}'
error: {"code":-1,"message":"name_firstupdate <name> <rand> [<tx>] <value>\nPerf
orm a first update after a name_new reservation.\nNote that the first update wil
l go into a block 12 blocks after the name_new, at the soonest."}

Is it trying to tell me my name_new did not work out?

Did you wait for 12 blocks after the name_new ?

[phelix]

yes I waited long enough. I found out what the problem was:

I used the json checker and it gave me the properly escaped json sequence for windows. The wiki is a little misleading for windows users because copy and paste does not work.

instead of '{"map": {"": "10.0.0.1"}}' I used "{\"map\": {\"\": \"10.0.0.1\"}} "

is the code it spits out on a name_firstupdate useful for anything?

what would be the easiest way to redirect .bit domains to old style domains without having a static IP at hand? I would like to try your DNS, khal. =)

[JohnDoe]

Why is there a minimum name_firstupdate fee of 0.01 NC? Won't registrations become extremely expensive if namecoins rise too much in value?

Also why is this fee destroyed instead of given back to miners?

[khal]

Why is there a minimum name_firstupdate fee of 0.01 NC? Won't registrations become extremely expensive if namecoins rise too much in value?

This minimum can be changed if needed. Same applies to bitcoin : minimum fee will pass from 0.01BTC to 0.0005BTC.

Also why is this fee destroyed instead of given back to miners?

That's a good question i asked : http://dot-bit.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=31

[khal]

I used "{\"map\": {\"\": \"10.0.0.1\"}} "

is the code it spits out on a name_firstupdate useful for anything?

what would be the easiest way to redirect .bit domains to old style domains without having a static IP at hand? I would like to try your DNS, khal. =)

Say your .bit domain is example.bit
Say your existing website is example.com.
example.com has ip 192.0.32.10
www.example.com has ip 192.0.32.10
example.com has ns A.IANA-SERVERS.NET & B.IANA-SERVERS.NET

You have two options to configure your domain :
A. put the ip address of your webserver directly for "" (for eindomain.bit :p) and www (for www.eindomain.bit)
* set json-value: "{\"map\": {\"\": \"192.0.32.10\"}, {\"www\": \"192.0.32.10\"}}"
* add example.bit in the same interface where you added example.com
If your web hosting provider don't accept unknown TLDs (.bit for ex :p), you must use another provider

B. put the same nameservers used by your other domain
* set json-value: "{\"map\": {\"\": {\"ns\": [\"A.IANA-SERVERS.NET\", \"B.IANA-SERVERS.NET\"]}}}"
* add example.bit in the same interface where you added example.com
If you can only add a domain by registering it, you can't use this method.

Then :
* if you want a redirect, add an html or php file to redirect to example.com
* if you want to browse directly on example.bit, configure it to point to the same folder as example.com

If you need to add your .bit domain on another web hosting to do a redirect, i can do it for 1BTC on my webserver :p

[JohnDoe]

This minimum can be changed if needed. Same applies to bitcoin : minimum fee will pass from 0.01BTC to 0.0005BTC.

Yeah but the bitcoin fees are voluntary, the minimum fee is just a default of the official client. As far as I can tell the name_firstupdate fee is network-enforced, so it will become way harder to change if namecoin becomes widely used. Anyway, still would like to know the reason why vinced decided to put that 0.01 NC minimum since the only purpose of that fee is to reduce domain squatting early on. If the fee is left there then the money supply will begin to contract at some point when the block reward becomes less than the rate of destruction.

Btw, I read that there were plans to make a cross miner that can work on both block chains simultaneously at the same hashrate. Are people already working on this or is it still on brainstorm phase?

[khal]

Yeah but the bitcoin fees are voluntary, the minimum fee is just a default of the official client. As far as I can tell the name_firstupdate fee is network-enforced, so it will become way harder to change if namecoin becomes widely used.

Anyway, still would like to know the reason why vinced decided to put that 0.01 NC minimum since the only purpose of that fee is to reduce domain squatting early on.

All name_* commands have a minimum fee to limit spam. name_firstupdate has a big one to limit the rush.
The 0.01 minimum fee will not become a problem suddenly, so updating the namecoin client will be done when necessary and in advance.

If the fee is left there then the money supply will begin to contract at some point when the block reward becomes less than the rate of destruction.

I think too that the namecoins should not be lost. If they are lost, we will use smaller and smaller namecoins amounts, will need to decrease the fee limit more often, etc. Give them to miners, they will be happy and offer more NC for same amount of BTC.

Btw, I read that there were plans to make a cross miner that can work on both block chains simultaneously at the same hashrate. Are people already working on this or is it still on brainstorm phase?

It's not an easy update :p. I've seen discussions about that on the bitcoin forum, i don't know at what stage is all this.

[phelix]

maybe the old dragons already sitting on significant shares of the future money should register the worst domains for things like child pornography and racism to limit abuse. no doubt there will be plenty real bad domains with namecoin but at least they won't be as catchy.

[JohnDoe]

khal what do you think about theymos' bitDNS proposal? Wouldn't that be a Namecoin killer if it were implemented or is it technically limited enough to justify the existence of this block chain?

[vuce]

Registered my first domain, have to say I'm impressed how easy it is. Awesome work! (spreading the word around...)

[marcus_of_augustus]

Registered my first domain, have to say I'm impressed how easy it is. Awesome work! (spreading the word around...)

Yes. It would be even easier if there was a slightly modified bitcoin client GUI, i.e. a basic namecoin client GUI with an extension to include the capability to handle the new name commands (minimal set);

Code:

name_firstupdate <name> <rand> [<tx>] <value>
name_list [<name>]
name_new <name>
name_scan [<start-name>] [<max-returned>]
name_update <name> <value> [<toaddress>]

and we could trade namecoins like bitcoins to boot.

I can begin a pool bounty in namecoin for this work if someone wants to name their price.

[khal]

khal what do you think about theymos' bitDNS proposal? Wouldn't that be a Namecoin killer if it were implemented or is it technically limited enough to justify the existence of this block chain?

I like the idea to use the same currency but not to store data in the same blockchain.
Namecoins is still young and i hope some things will change (default expire time, forced lost coins, etc).

[corecode]

I set up a miner and successfully mined 13 blocks, but they take a long time to show up in my wallet. After about 5 of the blocks appeared, I registered 5 .bit names, and I can use and update them just fine.

However, since registering those names, the other 8 blocks I mined have not shown up in my wallet, and I have not mined another block successfully for nearly a two day period (when I was mining about one every two hours before.)

Any idea what has gone wrong, and how I can get this up and running again?  Thanks.

[grue]

However, since registering those names, the other 8 blocks I mined have not shown up in my wallet, and I have not mined another block successfully for nearly a two day period (when I was mining about one every two hours before.)

Any idea what has gone wrong, and how I can get this up and running again?  Thanks.

orphan blocks. if you're using the latest binaries, listtransactions should be able to reveal which blocks are orphaned.

[corecode]

orphan blocks. if you're using the latest binaries, listtransactions should be able to reveal which blocks are orphaned.

You're right, listtransactions shows me three orphans. I've done some searching here, but I can't find anything on how to either get them in the main block chain or get rid of them. Is there something I can do, or do I just have to wait?

Thanks grue!

[marcus_of_augustus]

Are we getting more than usual orphan blocks on the namecoin network?

What is a usual rate that is expected?

What is best way to reduce these? More connections between peers? More difficulty?

[marcus_of_augustus]

i did try this a bit but there is no UI 

In the beginning, there was the command line interface ....

[khal]

I've launched the first website to register .bit domains with BTC :
http://register.dot-bit.org

More detail on :
http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=10826.msg154783#msg154783

[phathash]

I have some names registered but are no longer showing in a name_list query ... however, the names are visible in a name_scan... any ideas? old wallet?

Thanks.

[corecode]

I started mining with a new wallet, and got five orphans in a row. Are these transactions simply worthless?