You can not select more than 25 topics
Topics must start with a letter or number, can include dashes ('-') and can be up to 35 characters long.
120 lines
5.1 KiB
120 lines
5.1 KiB
9 years ago
|
blockchain
|
||
|
|
==========
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
[]
|
||
|
|
(https://travis-ci.org/btcsuite/btcd) [![ISC License]
|
||
|
|
(http://img.shields.io/badge/license-ISC-blue.svg)](http://copyfree.org)
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Package blockchain implements bitcoin block handling and chain selection rules.
|
||
|
|
The test coverage is currently only around 60%, but will be increasing over
|
||
|
|
time. See `test_coverage.txt` for the gocov coverage report. Alternatively, if
|
||
|
|
you are running a POSIX OS, you can run the `cov_report.sh` script for a
|
||
|
|
real-time report. Package blockchain is licensed under the liberal ISC license.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
There is an associated blog post about the release of this package
|
||
|
|
[here](https://blog.conformal.com/btcchain-the-bitcoin-chain-package-from-bctd/).
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
This package has intentionally been designed so it can be used as a standalone
|
||
|
|
package for any projects needing to handle processing of blocks into the bitcoin
|
||
|
|
block chain.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
## Documentation
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
[]
|
||
|
|
(http://godoc.org/github.com/btcsuite/btcd/blockchain)
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Full `go doc` style documentation for the project can be viewed online without
|
||
|
|
installing this package by using the GoDoc site here:
|
||
|
|
http://godoc.org/github.com/btcsuite/btcd/blockchain
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
You can also view the documentation locally once the package is installed with
|
||
|
|
the `godoc` tool by running `godoc -http=":6060"` and pointing your browser to
|
||
|
|
http://localhost:6060/pkg/github.com/btcsuite/btcd/blockchain
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
## Installation
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
```bash
|
||
|
|
$ go get github.com/btcsuite/btcd/blockchain
|
||
|
|
```
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
## Bitcoin Chain Processing Overview
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Before a block is allowed into the block chain, it must go through an intensive
|
||
|
|
series of validation rules. The following list serves as a general outline of
|
||
|
|
those rules to provide some intuition into what is going on under the hood, but
|
||
|
|
is by no means exhaustive:
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
- Reject duplicate blocks
|
||
|
|
- Perform a series of sanity checks on the block and its transactions such as
|
||
|
|
verifying proof of work, timestamps, number and character of transactions,
|
||
|
|
transaction amounts, script complexity, and merkle root calculations
|
||
|
|
- Compare the block against predetermined checkpoints for expected timestamps
|
||
|
|
and difficulty based on elapsed time since the checkpoint
|
||
|
|
- Save the most recent orphan blocks for a limited time in case their parent
|
||
|
|
blocks become available
|
||
|
|
- Stop processing if the block is an orphan as the rest of the processing
|
||
|
|
depends on the block's position within the block chain
|
||
|
|
- Perform a series of more thorough checks that depend on the block's position
|
||
|
|
within the block chain such as verifying block difficulties adhere to
|
||
|
|
difficulty retarget rules, timestamps are after the median of the last
|
||
|
|
several blocks, all transactions are finalized, checkpoint blocks match, and
|
||
|
|
block versions are in line with the previous blocks
|
||
|
|
- Determine how the block fits into the chain and perform different actions
|
||
|
|
accordingly in order to ensure any side chains which have higher difficulty
|
||
|
|
than the main chain become the new main chain
|
||
|
|
- When a block is being connected to the main chain (either through
|
||
|
|
reorganization of a side chain to the main chain or just extending the
|
||
|
|
main chain), perform further checks on the block's transactions such as
|
||
|
|
verifying transaction duplicates, script complexity for the combination of
|
||
|
|
connected scripts, coinbase maturity, double spends, and connected
|
||
|
|
transaction values
|
||
|
|
- Run the transaction scripts to verify the spender is allowed to spend the
|
||
|
|
coins
|
||
|
|
- Insert the block into the block database
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
## Examples
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
* [ProcessBlock Example]
|
||
|
|
(http://godoc.org/github.com/btcsuite/btcd/blockchain#example-BlockChain-ProcessBlock)
|
||
|
|
Demonstrates how to create a new chain instance and use ProcessBlock to
|
||
|
|
attempt to attempt add a block to the chain. This example intentionally
|
||
|
|
attempts to insert a duplicate genesis block to illustrate how an invalid
|
||
|
|
block is handled.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
* [CompactToBig Example]
|
||
|
|
(http://godoc.org/github.com/btcsuite/btcd/blockchain#example-CompactToBig)
|
||
|
|
Demonstrates how to convert the compact "bits" in a block header which
|
||
|
|
represent the target difficulty to a big integer and display it using the
|
||
|
|
typical hex notation.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
* [BigToCompact Example]
|
||
|
|
(http://godoc.org/github.com/btcsuite/btcd/blockchain#example-BigToCompact)
|
||
|
|
Demonstrates how to convert how to convert a target difficulty into the
|
||
|
|
compact "bits" in a block header which represent that target difficulty.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
## GPG Verification Key
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
All official release tags are signed by Conformal so users can ensure the code
|
||
|
|
has not been tampered with and is coming from the btcsuite developers. To
|
||
|
|
verify the signature perform the following:
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
- Download the public key from the Conformal website at
|
||
|
|
https://opensource.conformal.com/GIT-GPG-KEY-conformal.txt
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
- Import the public key into your GPG keyring:
|
||
|
|
```bash
|
||
|
|
gpg --import GIT-GPG-KEY-conformal.txt
|
||
|
|
```
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
- Verify the release tag with the following command where `TAG_NAME` is a
|
||
|
|
placeholder for the specific tag:
|
||
|
|
```bash
|
||
|
|
git tag -v TAG_NAME
|
||
|
|
```
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
## License
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Package blockchain is licensed under the [copyfree](http://copyfree.org) ISC
|
||
|
|
License.
|