Transaction rebroadcast button... 2BTC bounty!

[mb300sd]

I'm experiencing this very annoying issue right now. I sent a transaction while bitcoin was offline, I had to restart it to get it to connect and now have to wait forever for it to actually send. How difficult would it be for someone to write a patch that adds a rebroadcast button to transactions that are unconfirmed when bitcoin is opened? Even an rpc command would be great...

[Stephen Gornick]

I'm experiencing this very annoying issue right now. I sent a transaction while bitcoin was offline, I had to restart it to get it to connect and now have to wait forever for it to actually send. How difficult would it be for someone to write a patch that adds a rebroadcast button to transactions that are unconfirmed when bitcoin is opened? Even an rpc command would be great...

According to this -forceresend is going to be a command line option perhaps?  Or was it closed and is not being implemented (since the rebroadcast will occrur within 30 minutes anyway?)
 - https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/421

[grue]

1. start bitcoin
2. set system clock ahead 30 minutes
3.
4. profit!

gimme my 2 BTC!

[throwaway]

Some shopping addresses expire after 15 minutes, so the "rebroadcast now" button is definitely a good idea.

[wabber]

Some shopping addresses expire after 15 minutes, so the "rebroadcast now" button is definitely a good idea.

which merchants do that? Because for me that's obviously scamming. Can't they even save a few bytes for more than 15min :O

[Stephen Gornick]

Some shopping addresses expire after 15 minutes, so the "rebroadcast now" button is definitely a good idea.

which merchants do that? Because for me that's obviously scamming. Can't they even save a few bytes for more than 15min :O

Some do that to protect against exchange rate volatility.  The coins aren't lost, and in most instances the transaction can still be completed, just that the rate isn't guaranteed.  Generally you will only see this when there is a very low margin and that is the only way the service can offer the good at that price.  SpendBitcoins, for instance, is one which limits the amount of time for a transaction to arrive.  But they are giving credit at market price at the time the order is places, so even a 1% move in a few minutes (something that happens all to often with bitcoin) can cause them to lose money on the transaction.

But the "on-demand" re-broadcast feature is something that makes sense.  There is no technical reason not to have this, and it doesn't go against the protocol.

[grue]

Some do that to protect against exchange rate volatility.  The coins aren't lost, and in most instances the transaction can still be completed, just that the rate isn't guaranteed.  Generally you will only see this when there is a very low margin and that is the only way the service can offer the good at that price.  SpendBitcoins, for instance, is one which limits the amount of time for a transaction to arrive.  But they are giving credit at market price at the time the order is places, so even a 1% move in a few minutes (something that happens all to often with bitcoin) can cause them to lose money on the transaction.

But the "on-demand" re-broadcast feature is something that makes sense.  There is no technical reason not to have this, and it doesn't go against the protocol.

The only problem I can see is new users spamming "rebroadcast" in hopes of getting confirms faster. While this is not going to cause a flood, it is going to make it easier to trace the originator of a transaction, which reduces anonymity.

[Stephen Gornick]

The only problem I can see is new users spamming "rebroadcast" in hopes of getting confirms faster. While this is not going to cause a flood, it is going to make it easier to trace the originator of a transaction, which reduces anonymity.

But that is their choice to do.  And when anonymity is less important than resolving an outstanding issue, the technical ability to allow that seems a function the client should offer.    Even if it is only at the command line level if necessary.