Zcash (forks) genesis block mining script. Runs an external miner for finding valid Equihash solutions. Inspired by GenesisH0, but written from scratch.
- Modify every parameter that influences the block header hash (see Usage)
- Support for silent army and tromp equihash solvers.
- Sensible defaults
- Placeholders of the form
{BTC},{ETH}or{ZEC}in theTIMESTAMPinput string get translated to the currency's latest block number and hash. - Uses the
python-zcashlib, which is a (still very much unfinished) extension of the well-knownpython-bitcoinlib.
Clone this repo, create a python 3 virtualenv and install dependencies with pip:
git clone --recursive https://github.com/sebastianst/GenesisZ
python3 -m venv GenesisZ
cd GenesisZ
source bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txtMake sure you have a working and supported equihash solver. Currently, the
silent army GPU solver (only for
mainnet and testnet parameters N,k=200,9) and tromp equihash CPU solver are supported.
Note that the zcashlib is used as a submodule, since I haven't uploaded it to PyPI yet (and because it's easier for the current interdependent development). That's why you must use the --recursive flag during cloning. When you update this repo, don't forget to update the submodule as well, i.e., run git pull && git submodule update to update.
Mine the zcash mainnet gensis block with the silentarmy solver by calling
./genesis.py -s "/path/to/sa-solver" -r 5000 -t 1477641360or cheat, because you already know the right nonce:
./genesis.py -s "/path/to/sa-solver" -n 1257 -t 1477641360This time using Tromp's solver with 4 threads, checking up to 10 nonces.
./genesis.py -c testnet -t 1477648033 -b 0x2007ffff -E 0x1f07ffff -s '/path/to/equihash/equi' -T 4 -r 10It will find the right solution for nonce 6.
Using Tromp's 48,5 solver with
./genesis.py -c regtest -t 1296688602 -b 0x200f0f0f -E 0x1f07ffff -s '/path/to/equihash/eq485' -T 4 -r 10will find the correct regtest solution for nonce 9.
Zclassic decided to use a custom extra nonce of 0x1d00ffff. Let's mine their
mainnet solution (already setting the right nonce to 0x00...021d) with
./genesis.py -c mainnet -t 1478403829 -E 0x1d00ffff -C Zclassic -z "No taxation without representation. BTC #437541 - 00000000000000000397f175a94dd3f530b957182eb2a9f7b79a44a94a5e0450" -s '/path/to/equihash/equi' -T 4 -n 21dusage: genesis.py [-h] [-c {mainnet,testnet,regtest}] [-t TIME] [-C COINNAME]
[-z TIMESTAMP] [-Z PSZTIMESTAMP] [-p PUBKEY] [-b BITS]
[-E EXTRANONCE] [-V VALUE] [-n NONCE] [-r ROUNDS]
[-s SOLVER] [-S {tromp,silentarmy}] [-T THREADS] [-v]
This script uses any Equihash solver to find a solution for the specified
genesis block
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-c {mainnet,testnet,regtest}, --chainparams {mainnet,testnet,regtest}
Select the core chain parameters for PoW limit and
parameters N and K.
-t TIME, --time TIME unix time to set in block header (defaults to current
time)
-C COINNAME, --coinname COINNAME
the coin name prepends the blake2s hash of timestamp
in pszTimestamp
-z TIMESTAMP, --timestamp TIMESTAMP
the pszTimestamp found in the input coinbase
transaction script. Will be blake2s'd and then
prefixed by coin name. Default is Zcash's mainnet
pszTimestamp. You may use tokens of the form {XYZ},
which will be replaced by the current block index and
hash of coin XZY (BTC, ETH or ZEC). Always the latest
block is retrieved, regardless of time argument.
-Z PSZTIMESTAMP, --pszTimestamp PSZTIMESTAMP
Specify the pszTimestamp directly. Will ignore options
-C and -z
-p PUBKEY, --pubkey PUBKEY
the pubkey found in the output transaction script
-b BITS, --bits BITS the target in compact representation, defining a
difficulty of 1
-E EXTRANONCE, --extra-nonce EXTRANONCE
Usually, the coinbase script contains the nBits as
fixed first data, which in bitcoin is also referred to
as extra nonce. This conventional behaviour can be
changed by specifying this parameter (not recommended
for mainnet, useful for testnet).
-V VALUE, --value VALUE
output transaction value in zatoshi (1 ZEC = 100000000
zatoshi)
-n NONCE, --nonce NONCE
nonce to start with when searching for a valid
equihash solution; parsed as hex, leading zeros may be
omitted.
-r ROUNDS, --rounds ROUNDS
how many nonces to check at most
-s SOLVER, --solver SOLVER
path to solver binary. Currently supported are
silentarmy (sa-solver) and Tromp (equi/equi485).
Command line arguments may be passed, although that
should be unnecessary.
-S {tromp,silentarmy}, --solver-type {tromp,silentarmy}
Set the type of solver explicitly. Otherwise GenesisZ
tries to infer the type from the binary name (equi* ->
tromp, sa-solver -> silentarmy)
-T THREADS, --threads THREADS
How many CPU threads to use when solving with Tromp.
-v, --verbose verbose output
Make sure to select the right binary with -s when using Tromp's equihash solver:
| #threads | main/testnet (N,K=200,9) |
regtest (N,K=48,5) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | equi1 |
eq4851 |
| >1 | equi |
eq485 |
Note that make only builds equi{,1}, so you have to run make eq485{,1} in Tromp's source directory if you need the solver for regtest.
- More structured and complete output of intermediate information and results. Currently, you need to specify verbose output to see all necessary information.
- Use solvers' native APIs instead of reading
stdout. None of the supported solvers expose such an API now. Maybe write little C wrapper... - Make block number selectable for the
TIMESTAMPplaceholders. Like{BTC:1234}for block #1234.
Released under the GPLv3, see LICENSE file.