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

[domob]

I'm trying to build contacts with Namecoin miners.  I may have some questions about mining-related features from their point of view in future development (as I'm not a miner myself), and also for planning of potential future forks.

If you are mining Namecoin and are willing to get in touch, please reply or send me a PM with contact information.

[wiked1]

The only reason I never bought namecoin is because there is no electrum.Not too many peeps want to spend all day downloading a whole blockchain and less want to leave coins sitting on an exchange either.

https://github.com/Multicoin-co/electrum-nmc nearly there bud 

after how many years will be done?

and who are the devs right now who work at namecoin?

Its already working for transactions.

[22naru]

I'm trying to build contacts with Namecoin miners.  I may have some questions about mining-related features from their point of view in future development (as I'm not a miner myself), and also for planning of potential future forks.

If you are mining Namecoin and are willing to get in touch, please reply or send me a PM with contact information.

if i rember good namecoin is mined simultaneous with bitcoin. merged-mining i think is calling.

[domob]

I'm trying to build contacts with Namecoin miners.  I may have some questions about mining-related features from their point of view in future development (as I'm not a miner myself), and also for planning of potential future forks.

If you are mining Namecoin and are willing to get in touch, please reply or send me a PM with contact information.

if i rember good namecoin is mined simultaneous with bitcoin. merged-mining i think is calling.

Yes, of course.  So I'm looking for those Bitcoin miners that merge-mine Namecoin.

[22naru]

I'm trying to build contacts with Namecoin miners.  I may have some questions about mining-related features from their point of view in future development (as I'm not a miner myself), and also for planning of potential future forks.

If you are mining Namecoin and are willing to get in touch, please reply or send me a PM with contact information.

if i rember good namecoin is mined simultaneous with bitcoin. merged-mining i think is calling.

Yes, of course.  So I'm looking for those Bitcoin miners that merge-mine Namecoin.

look for big miners or pools , for sure they still do it.

[trantute2]

WARNING! I DID NOT TEST FURTHER FUNCTIONALITIES OF THE SOFTWARE!
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

Hello everybody,

there is a Namecoin electrum wallet, which you can download here:

https://namecoin.org/download/betas/

This source is more suited, since the Namecoin-developers provide signed hashsums for the binaries and tar.gz-files. For verifiying the files, see:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=6017.msg36620285#msg36620285

For instance, download the Linux version via (Edit: the instructions are working with ubuntu 16.04 LTS)

Code:

wget https://www.namecoin.org/files/electrum-nmc/electrum-nmc-3.1.3-beta1/electrum-nmc-3.1.3-beta1.tar.gz

Unzip the file via

Code:

tar -xzvf electrum-nmc-3.1.3-beta1.tar.gz

And enter the resulting directory

Code:

cd electrum-nmc

Check the README.rst file firstly. I am not sure, what really is needed but the following seems necessary for a working installation

Code:

sudo apt-get install python3-pip
sudo apt-get install python3-pyqt5
sudo apt-get install python3-setuptools
sudo apt-get install pyqt5-dev-tools
sudo apt-get install protobuf-compiler
sudo apt-get install python-requests gettext
sudo apt-get install libudev-dev libusb-1.0-0-dev

Edit: I added the last line, which is necessary for building electrum.

I am also not sure whether the above covers all necessary libraries. If not please complete the missing by yourself and post it here (google is your friend). Then do

Code:

pip3 install .[full]
pyrcc5 icons.qrc -o gui/qt/icons_rc.py
protoc --proto_path=lib/ --python_out=lib/ lib/paymentrequest.proto
./contrib/make_locale

Now try to start electrum-nmc

Code:

./electrum-nmc

If the wallet works: Fine!

Edit: Repeating the instructions as given here, it worked. However, if you messed up your system somehow, see below.

I still got the following error message

Code:

cannot import name 'icons_rc'
Error: Could not find icons file.
Please run 'pyrcc5 icons.qrc -o gui/qt/icons_rc.py', and reinstall Electrum

And I was not able to get rid of it, even though the icons-file is generated where it should be. To "solve" this issue open gui/qt/__init__.py

Code:

nano gui/qt/__init__.py

Change

Code:

try:
    from . import icons_rc
except Exception as e:
    print(e)
    print("Error: Could not find icons file.")
    print("Please run 'pyrcc5 icons.qrc -o gui/qt/icons_rc.py', and reinstall Electrum")
    sys.exit(1)

to

Code:

#try:
#    from . import icons_rc
#except Exception as e:
#    print(e)
#    print("Error: Could not find icons file.")
#    print("Please run 'pyrcc5 icons.qrc -o gui/qt/icons_rc.py', and reinstall Electrum")
#    sys.exit(1)

Again run

Code:

pip3 install .[full]

And try again

Code:

./electrum-nmc

The wallet should start now. Might be, that the icons are missing now.

WARNING! I DID NOT TEST FURTHER FUNCTIONALITIES OF THE SOFTWARE!
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

[trantute2]

You can also use your Trezor hardware wallet with electrum-nmc (see my post above https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=6017.msg40238305#msg40238305)!

Clearly, your Trezor hardware wallet should work with Trezor's web interface. If not, you might need to do the following:

https://doc.satoshilabs.com/trezor-user/settingupchromeonlinux.html

Firstly, you must install python-trezor (https://github.com/trezor/python-trezor)

Code:

pip3 install --upgrade setuptools
pip3 install trezor

This installs the corresponding files to

Code:

/home/<user>/.local/lib/python3.5/site-packages/trezorlib

Unfortunately, this is not enough in the moment, since there are inconsistencies in this project (see https://github.com/namecoin/electrum-nmc/issues/6). The support directory is missing even though it exists in the master branch of the project. Thus, you must also clone the current state of this project (this will be corrected in future I guess, that is, all this hacking might not be necessary then):

Code:

cd /home/<user>/Downloads
git clone https://github.com/trezor/python-trezor.git

Then exchange folders:

Code:

mv /home/<user>/.local/lib/python3.5/site-packages/trezorlib /home/<user>/.local/lib/python3.5/site-packages/trezorlib.old
cp /home/<user>/Downloads/python-trezor/trezorlib /home/<user>/.local/lib/python3.5/site-packages/trezorlib
cp /home/<user>/.local/lib/python3.5/site-packages/trezorlib.old/coins.json /home/<user>/.local/lib/python3.5/site-packages/trezorlib

The device (Trezor T) can now be detected from electrum-nmc, but only, if it is unlocked!

Finally, so that electrum-nmc and the Trezor show the same addresses, two lines must be adapted (see https://github.com/namecoin/electrum-nmc/issues/3). In

Code:

electrum-nmc/plugins/trezor/trezor.py

change line 177 from

Code:

return "Testnet" if constants.net.TESTNET else "Bitcoin" 

to

Code:

return "Testnet" if constants.net.TESTNET else "Namecoin" 

and in

Code:

electrum-nmc/lib/keystore.py

change line 712 from

Code:

coin = 1 if constants.net.TESTNET else 0

to

Code:

coin = 1 if constants.net.TESTNET else 7

Last but not least, build it newly:

Code:

cd <path to electrum-nmc>/electrum-nmc
pip3 uninstall electrum-nmc
pip3 install .[full]

However again:

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

[d5000]

Thanks trantute2! I wasn't aware of this more modern branch, it seems to have been merged recently to the main Namecoin repo at Github. So those who want to keep in track of the development can also probably use the Github repository: https://github.com/namecoin/electrum-nmc

The most important change is, obviously, that the critical vulnerability of <3.0.3 should have been solved on Namecoin too.

I have installed electrum-nmc according to your guide on a Debian system and it installed without problems. As I already had the dependencies of a Bitcoin electrum, I only had to add libusb1.0-0-dev (?) and pyqt5-dev-tools.

Installation procedure seems a bit newbie-unfriendly though, but maybe that's not that bad: According to the beta release notes, Segwit is offered in the GUI but not supported by Namecoin yet so an uninformed downloader could expose his coins to theft (due to the "anyonecanspend" problem).

So I think it's pertinent to add the following warning here: If you use electrum-nmc and use it with real Namecoins, don't use the Segwit and P2SH features! It's even better not to use it at all as a real wallet if you don't know exactly what you do ...

[trantute2]

Thanks trantute2! I wasn't aware of this more modern branch, it seems to have been merged recently to the main Namecoin repo at Github. So those who want to keep in track of the development can also probably use the Github repository: https://github.com/namecoin/electrum-nmc

The most important change is, obviously, that the critical vulnerability of <3.0.3 should have been solved on Namecoin too.

The branch seems quite new. The commit "Renaming from ..." is only a month old.

I have installed electrum-nmc according to your guide on a Debian system and it installed without problems. As I already had the dependencies of a Bitcoin electrum, I only had to add libusb1.0-0-dev (?) and pyqt5-dev-tools.

Installation procedure seems a bit newbie-unfriendly though, but maybe that's not that bad: According to the beta release notes, Segwit is offered in the GUI but not supported by Namecoin yet so an uninformed downloader could expose his coins to theft (due to the "anyonecanspend" problem).

I do not know, whether the instructions I gave, is the best way to install the program. I started with a new and empty ubuntu installation. Therefore, I specified all dependencies. However, I still was able to mess my system up so that those icon error came up. I had to start from scratch again (new ubuntu installation).  

So I think it's pertinent to add the following warning here: If you use electrum-nmc and use it with real Namecoins, don't use the Segwit and P2SH features! It's even better not to use it at all as a real wallet if you don't know exactly what you do ...

Very important and true! If one uses a Trezor, a message pops up, asking for the wallet derivation to be used (see https://blog.trezor.io/using-trezor-with-electrum-v3-a0b9bcffe26e, the section with mentioning "m/49’/0’/0’"). You MUST use the original way, called Bitcoin/Namecoin legacy, via selecting "m/44'/0'/0'" for Bitcoin and "m/44'/7'/0'" for Namecoin (but correct me if I am wrong).

[d5000]

Your instructions are totally fine. The reason why I don't regard the installation procedure as "newbie-friendly" is that the user is forced to copy-and-paste several commands on the command line. But I'm pretty optimist now - I think an usable Electrum node for Namecoin is only a couple of minor coding steps away. A bigger challenge would be the addition of the DNS registration features ...

BTW: I just looked around a bit in the Namecoin forum and found a tool that may be interesting for all those interested in the DNS/naming part for Namecoin:

Bitname.ru.

It shows a list and some stats of all registered domains and gives the ability to show only "working" domains. In addition to Namecoin's .bit domains, it also covers Emercoin domains. But despite of the hype Emercoin had 2-3 years ago, Namecoin seems still the strongest decentralized DNS option: there are only a handful of working Emercoin domains, but more than 100 .bit domains. Another reason to take into account this coin

[trantute2]

Your instructions are totally fine. The reason why I don't regard the installation procedure as "newbie-friendly" is that the user is forced to copy-and-paste several commands on the command line.

Actually and honestly, I prefer it this way. Because if the instructions are good (which I do not claim for my posts), then it will work and one knows what and how it was installed. And it is reproducible. Provided, that all requirements are given in the beginning. It's about real money ...  . Moreover, debugging is easier.

But I'm pretty optimist now - I think an usable Electrum node for Namecoin is only a couple of minor coding steps away. A bigger challenge would be the addition of the DNS registration features ...

This would be really nice. Having this feature in an electrum variant would be fine for me. A simple mapping would be enough, e.g., domain -> IP and vice versa.

But electrum does not work on the full blockchain, right? So there might be similar problems as we discussed earlier: Some central server providing the name information is needed or the java stuff must be rewritten in python and included into the project.

[22naru]

yo
@trantute2

cheers for making this guide . you are a good man

keep helping the namecoin project and you will be rewarded

[22naru]

First 5 cryptocurrencies that came into origin after bitcoin
https://satoshiuncle.com/first-5-cryptocurrencies/ …

NAMECOIN is one of them

[trantute2]

BTW, the question, where to buy or sell namecoin is not so easy to answer in the moment.

There is a list at: https://namecoin.org/exchanges/

I checked several exchanges out, here what I found out:

• poloniex (https://poloniex.com/): high volume, easy to use, implemented KYC, I cannot remember fees
• vircurex (https://vircurex.com/): low volume and empty order book, easy to use, simple registration, high fees (1 NMC for withdrawal)
• tux exchange (https://www.tuxexchange.com/): low volume, problems placing order, simple registration, I cannot rembember fees
• cryptopia (https://www.cryptopia.co.nz/): high volume, easy to use, simple registration, low fees (far below 1 NMC for withdrawal)
• shapeshift (https://shapeshift.io/): namecoin temporarily unavailable

If you use any of those services (cryptopia is not in the namecoin.org list), remember:

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

[domob]

First 5 cryptocurrencies that came into origin after bitcoin
https://satoshiuncle.com/first-5-cryptocurrencies/ …

NAMECOIN is one of them

It is not just one of them, it is the first altcoin.

[hornetsnest]

First 5 cryptocurrencies that came into origin after bitcoin
https://satoshiuncle.com/first-5-cryptocurrencies/ …

NAMECOIN is one of them

It is not just one of them, it is the first altcoin.

And the best ..bar none

[segun102]

 Probably a little bit of a dumb question, .. But I was wondering why the domain names have to expire 12,000 blocks?
One of the biggest areas of future development and use case scenarios, seems to be that of the open transaction style issuance of stock, bond or for that matter any form of digital unique certificate and tracking of their ownership. At first glance this seems ideally suited to Namecoin, but obviously this breaks down if the certificate expires after a ~ 1year rather than being transferred indefinitely.

[domob]

Probably a little bit of a dumb question, .. But I was wondering why the domain names have to expire 12,000 blocks?
One of the biggest areas of future development and use case scenarios, seems to be that of the open transaction style issuance of stock, bond or for that matter any form of digital unique certificate and tracking of their ownership. At first glance this seems ideally suited to Namecoin, but obviously this breaks down if the certificate expires after a ~ 1year rather than being transferred indefinitely.

Names expire so that a) they can't become permanently unavailable if someone dies or loses their keys, and b) at least some fee is required to keep hold of names, so that people are incentivised to not squat and let go of names they do not intend to ever use (whether the fee is large enough is arguable, though).

Just updating a name every 36k blocks is enough to stop it from expiring, though, so I don't really see how that prevents stocks/bonds to be issued on Namecoin.

[TheCrimsonFucker]

Something tells me that soon good things will happen to NMC!
It's impossible for a coin of this magnitude to be below countless useless tokens.

[d5000]

But electrum does not work on the full blockchain, right? So there might be similar problems as we discussed earlier: Some central server providing the name information is needed or the java stuff must be rewritten in python and included into the project.

Yes, that's certainly a problem - major modifications would be needed probably. An electrum-based "name registration/resolving client" would have to look back the last 36000 blocks (the time a name is registered before having to be renewed) to know if a name is registered or not. I sincerily don't know how electrum works internally (besides from "SPV") and if it is a big challenge to store these 36000 blocks (it could be also a pretty big storage requirement, as blocks can have sizes up to 1 MB).

It is however possible that a simple name registration transaction would be possible without much hassle, because in the case the name is already registered in the last 36000 blocks miners would simply reject it.