Gocoin bitcoin software - Revision history

Tonikt: Redirect the article to its previous location, after some good people gave it back to me

2014-04-12T11:07:49Z

Redirect the article to its previous location, after some good people gave it back to me

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:07, 12 April 2014
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	~~An open-source Bitcoin solution written in Go language (golang).~~		#REDIRECT [[Gocoin]]
	~~It can be built for every platform that has a working Go compiler.~~
	~~It uses a proprietary license, though is free to use for non-commercial purposes.~~

	~~==Architecture==~~

	~~Gocoin's architecture is quite different from the reference implementation (of the Satoshi client).~~

	~~===Libraries===~~

	~~====btc====~~
	The core of the software is a library that essentially provides the block chain protocol parser. That includes script parsing, ECDSA signature verification, but also things like address encoding, parsing of canonical signatures or extracting hashes that need to be signed for specific inputs of a given transaction.

	~~It is a relatively big library, that contains many useful bitcoin function.~~

	Inside the package, there is also a blocks persistent storage database (blockdb.go) - it is just a simple plain storage (that can only grow), with an index. It uses snappy compression, allowing to save about 30% of the disk space.

	~~====qdb====~~
	~~The core library interfaces directly with a UTXO database backed.~~
	~~For this purpose Gocoin uses its own database engine, that has been designed to deal with the specific characteristics of bitcoin's UTXO database.~~

	~~====newec====~~
	~~To speed up the ECDSA operations~~ [~~https://github.com/bitcoin/secp256k1 the secp256k1 library by sipa] has been ported to Go.~~
	~~It is used as a default ECDSA library by the online node (client).~~

	~~===Online client===~~
	~~The online client is a kind of a server software that is meant to be running all the time.~~

	It handles the network related communication, feeds the core lib with new incoming block chain data, monitors balances on the wallets' addresses, manages transaction memory pool and the peers database. It also provides an interactive user interface.

	~~===Offline wallet===~~
	~~The wallet application is responsible for creating private keys (from a seed password) and for signing transactions with them.~~
	~~It can also sign text messages with private keys and decode raw transactions.~~

	~~Unlike the client, the wallet is not an app that is meant te be running continuously.~~
	~~A user runs it with the requested task - the wallet does the job and exits (back to the command prompt).~~

	~~===Block chain downloader===~~
	~~For optimized initial block chain download, Gocoin has a dedicated application called '''downloader'''.~~

	Among other optimizations, the downloader allows a user to skip verification of all the blocks up to a certain one that he defines as trusted. This can speed up the bootstrap process significantly (e.g. from days to hours).

	~~After it finishes downloading of all the blocks, it will exit automatically. In that moment the client should be started and it will keep up with all the new blocks, that will appear in the network.~~

	~~===Other tools===~~
	~~There is also a set of more and less useful tools (''github.com/piotrnar/gocoin/tools'') that are an integral part of the Gocoin bitcoin software.~~

	~~For instance '''btcversig''' can verify a validity of a bitcoin signature - it is the substitute of the reference client's '''verifymessage''' RPC-API.~~

	~~The tool '''type2determ''' can, at the other hand, calculate Type-2 deterministic addresses, without a need to access the wallet (the private keys).~~


	~~==Features==~~

	~~Gocoin has a several unique features, that distinguish it from the original bitcoin client.~~
	~~===Node / Client===~~
	* All the unspent outputs are kept in memory, which makes switching between different wallets, as well as checking a balance of any address, relatively fast (few seconds max).
	* Allows a user to limit the upload and download network bandwidth used by the client.
	* Can be monitored and controlled through a web interface (from a web browser).
	* Works with its own implementation of a cold storage wallet.

	~~===Wallet===~~
	* For security reasons, it is supposed to be used with a PC that has never been (and will never be) connected to a network.
	* The wallet is deterministic and a seed-password based. As long as you can remember the password, there is no need for any backups.
	* Additionally it can import private keys from an existing bitcoin wallet (that comes in the base58 format).
	* Has very low hardware requirements. Can be run on i.e. Raspberry Pi
	* Can generate [~~https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=19137.0 Type-2] deterministic keys/addresses~~
	* Supports signing of P2SH multisig transactions.

	~~===Node-less mode===~~
	~~It is possible to use~~ Gocoin~~'s wallet, without a need to have a running client node.~~

	~~In such a case the required balance files are fetched with a tool called '''FetchBal''', from two popular block explorer services; [[BlockChain.info]] and [[BlockExplorer.com]].~~

	~~==Requirements==~~
	~~The client node requires 64-bit platform and at least 4GB of system memory. It also requires a file system that can handle files larger than 4GB.~~

	~~==Limitations==~~
	* No GUI, though the online node has web interface
	* No RPC API
	* No IPv6
	* No UPnP

	~~==History==~~

	~~Gocoin was written by a single person for a private purposes.~~

	~~The software's first public release was announced in May 2013 on Bitcointalk forum.<ref>https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=199306.0</ref>~~
	~~Ever since then, the software has been actively maintained and further developed, being armed with new features, further optimized and cleaned up from issues.~~

	It happened twice that the client wasn't able to catch up with the block chain, because of the implementation difference of the chain parsing protocol that was causing it to reject a block (transaction) that the reference implementation would accept. In both cases the issue was fixed within single days. The fist case happened in July 2013 and the fix was introduced in version 0.5.7. The second time was in March 2014 - the fix came with release 0.9.3.

	~~==External Links==~~

	* [http://www.assets-otc.com/gocoin Homepage]
	* [https://github.com/piotrnar/gocoin Github repo]
	* [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=199306.0 Bitcointalk forum topic]

	~~==References==~~
	~~<references />~~

	~~[[Category:Software]]~~
	~~[[Category:Clients]]~~
	~~[[Category:Open Source]]~~
	~~[[Category:Wallets~~]]

Burrito: minor corrections to spelling

2014-04-11T17:37:34Z

minor corrections to spelling

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:37, 11 April 2014
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	==Architecture==		==Architecture==

	Gocoin's architecture is quite different from the reference implementation (of the ~~satioshi~~ client).		Gocoin's architecture is quite different from the reference implementation (of the Satoshi client).

	===Libraries===		===Libraries===

	====btc====		====btc====
	The core of the software is a library that essentially provides the ~~blockchain~~ protocol parser. That includes script parsing, ECDSA signature verification, but also things like address encoding, parsing of canonical signatures or extracting hashes that need to be signed for specific inputs of a given transaction.		The core of the software is a library that essentially provides the block chain protocol parser. That includes script parsing, ECDSA signature verification, but also things like address encoding, parsing of canonical signatures or extracting hashes that need to be signed for specific inputs of a given transaction.

	It is a relatively big library, that contains many useful bitcoin function.		It is a relatively big library, that contains many useful bitcoin function.
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	The online client is a kind of a server software that is meant to be running all the time.		The online client is a kind of a server software that is meant to be running all the time.

	It handles the network related communication, feeds the core lib with new incoming ~~blockchain~~ data, monitors balances on the wallets' addresses, manages transaction memory pool and the peers database. It also provides an interactive user interface.		It handles the network related communication, feeds the core lib with new incoming block chain data, monitors balances on the wallets' addresses, manages transaction memory pool and the peers database. It also provides an interactive user interface.

	===Offline wallet===		===Offline wallet===

Tonikt at 13:18, 10 April 2014

2014-04-10T13:18:10Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:18, 10 April 2014
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	[[Category:Clients]]		[[Category:Clients]]
	[[Category:Open Source]]		[[Category:Open Source]]
			[[Category:Wallets]]

Tonikt: /* Block chain downloader */

2014-03-23T16:44:50Z

Block chain downloader

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:44, 23 March 2014
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	===Block chain downloader===		===Block chain downloader===
	For optimized initial block chain download, Gocoin has a ~~special~~ application called '''downloader'''.		For optimized initial block chain download, Gocoin has a dedicated application called '''downloader'''.

	Among other optimizations, the downloader allows a user to skip verification of all the blocks up to a certain one that he defines as trusted. This can speed up the bootstrap process significantly (e.g. from days to hours).		Among other optimizations, the downloader allows a user to skip verification of all the blocks up to a certain one that he defines as trusted. This can speed up the bootstrap process significantly (e.g. from days to hours).

Tonikt: /* Block chain downloader */

2014-03-23T16:44:36Z

Block chain downloader

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:44, 23 March 2014
Line 37:		Line 37:

	===Block chain downloader===		===Block chain downloader===
	For optimized initial block chain download, Gocoin has a special ~~tool~~ called '''downloader'''.		For optimized initial block chain download, Gocoin has a special application called '''downloader'''.

	Among other optimizations, the downloader allows a user to skip verification of all the blocks up to a certain one that he defines as trusted. This can speed up the bootstrap process significantly (e.g. from days to hours).		Among other optimizations, the downloader allows a user to skip verification of all the blocks up to a certain one that he defines as trusted. This can speed up the bootstrap process significantly (e.g. from days to hours).

Tonikt: /* Block chain downloader */

2014-03-23T16:44:20Z

Block chain downloader

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:44, 23 March 2014
Line 37:		Line 37:

	===Block chain downloader===		===Block chain downloader===
	For optimized initial block chain download, Gocoin has a special tool called downloader.		For optimized initial block chain download, Gocoin has a special tool called '''downloader'''.

	Among other optimizations, the downloader allows a user to skip verification of all the blocks up to a certain one that he defines as trusted. This can speed up the bootstrap process significantly (e.g. from days to hours).		Among other optimizations, the downloader allows a user to skip verification of all the blocks up to a certain one that he defines as trusted. This can speed up the bootstrap process significantly (e.g. from days to hours).

Tonikt: /* The downloader */

2014-03-23T16:43:59Z

The downloader

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:43, 23 March 2014
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	A user runs it with the requested task - the wallet does the job and exits (back to the command prompt).		A user runs it with the requested task - the wallet does the job and exits (back to the command prompt).

	===~~The~~ downloader===		===Block chain downloader===
	For optimized initial block chain download, Gocoin has a special tool called downloader.		For optimized initial block chain download, Gocoin has a special tool called downloader.

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	After it finishes downloading of all the blocks, it will exit automatically. In that moment the client should be started and it will keep up with all the new blocks, that will appear in the network.		After it finishes downloading of all the blocks, it will exit automatically. In that moment the client should be started and it will keep up with all the new blocks, that will appear in the network.


	===Other tools===		===Other tools===

Tonikt: /* Offline wallet client */

2014-03-23T16:43:43Z

Offline wallet client

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:43, 23 March 2014
Line 29:		Line 29:
	It handles the network related communication, feeds the core lib with new incoming blockchain data, monitors balances on the wallets' addresses, manages transaction memory pool and the peers database. It also provides an interactive user interface.		It handles the network related communication, feeds the core lib with new incoming blockchain data, monitors balances on the wallets' addresses, manages transaction memory pool and the peers database. It also provides an interactive user interface.

	===Offline wallet ~~client~~===		===Offline wallet===
	The wallet application is responsible for creating private keys (from a seed password) and for signing transactions with them.		The wallet application is responsible for creating private keys (from a seed password) and for signing transactions with them.
	It can also sign text messages with private keys and decode raw transactions.		It can also sign text messages with private keys and decode raw transactions.

Tonikt: /* Features */

2014-03-23T10:02:02Z

Features

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 It can be built for every platform that has a working Go compiler.
 It uses a proprietary license, though is free to use for non-commercial purposes.
 ==Features==
 Gocoin has a several unique features, that distinguish it from the original bitcoin client.
 ===Node / Client===
 * All the unspent outputs are kept in memory, which makes switching between different wallets, as well as checking a balance of any address, relatively fast (few seconds max).

Tonikt: /* History */

2014-03-23T09:15:40Z

History

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:15, 23 March 2014
Line 38:		Line 38:

	Gocoin was written by a single person for a private purposes.		Gocoin was written by a single person for a private purposes.

	The software's first public release was announced in May 2013 on Bitcointalk forum.<ref>https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=199306.0</ref>		The software's first public release was announced in May 2013 on Bitcointalk forum.<ref>https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=199306.0</ref>
	Ever since then, the software has been actively maintained and further developed, being armed with new features, further optimized and cleaned up from issues.		Ever since then, the software has been actively maintained and further developed, being armed with new features, further optimized and cleaned up from issues.

	It happened twice that the client wasn't able to catch up with the block chain, because of the implementation difference of the chain protocol that was causing it to reject a ~~valid~~ block. In both cases the issue ~~has been~~ fixed within single days. The fist fix ~~for such a critical issue~~ was introduced in version 0.5.7 - the ~~second one in~~ 0.9.3.		It happened twice that the client wasn't able to catch up with the block chain, because of the implementation difference of the chain parsing protocol that was causing it to reject a block (transaction) that the reference implementation would accept. In both cases the issue was fixed within single days. The fist case happened in July 2013 and the fix was introduced in version 0.5.7. The second time was in March 2014 - the fix came with release 0.9.3.

	==External Links==		==External Links==