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November 19, 2013 02:24
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| BFGMiner: | |
| St. Barbara's Faithfully Glorified Mining Initiative Naturally Exceeding Rivals | |
| or Basically a Freaking Good Miner | |
| This is a multi-threaded multi-pool ASIC, FPGA, GPU and CPU miner with dynamic | |
| clocking, monitoring, and fanspeed support for bitcoin. Do not use on multiple | |
| block chains at the same time! | |
| This code is provided entirely free of charge by the programmer in his spare | |
| time so donations would be greatly appreciated. Please consider donating to the | |
| address below. | |
| Luke-Jr <luke-jr+bfgminer@utopios.org> | |
| 1QATWksNFGeUJCWBrN4g6hGM178Lovm7Wh | |
| DOWNLOADS: | |
| http://luke.dashjr.org/programs/bitcoin/files/bfgminer | |
| GIT TREE: | |
| https://github.com/luke-jr/bfgminer | |
| Bug reports: | |
| https://github.com/luke-jr/bfgminer/issues | |
| IRC Channel: | |
| irc://irc.freenode.net/eligius | |
| License: GPLv3. See COPYING for details. | |
| SEE ALSO README.ASIC, README.FPGA, README.GPU, README.RPC, AND README.scrypt FOR | |
| MORE INFORMATION ON EACH. | |
| --- | |
| EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ON USAGE: | |
| Single pool: | |
| bfgminer -o http://pool:port -u username -p password | |
| Multiple pools: | |
| bfgminer -o http://pool1:port -u pool1username -p pool1password -o http://pool2:port -u pool2usernmae -p pool2password | |
| Single pool with a standard http proxy: | |
| bfgminer -o http://pool:port -x http://proxy:port -u username -p password | |
| Single pool with a socks5 proxy: | |
| bfgminer -o http://pool:port -x socks5://proxy:port -u username -p password | |
| The list of proxy types are: | |
| http: standard http 1.1 proxy | |
| socks4: socks4 proxy | |
| socks5: socks5 proxy | |
| socks4a: socks4a proxy | |
| socks5h: socks5 proxy using a hostname | |
| Proxy support requires cURL version 7.21.7 or newer. | |
| If you specify the --socks-proxy option to BFGMiner, it will only be applied to | |
| all pools that don't specify their own proxy setting like above | |
| After saving configuration from the menu, you do not need to give BFGMiner any | |
| arguments, it will load your configuration instead. | |
| Any configuration file may also contain a single | |
| "include" : "filename" | |
| to recursively include another configuration file. | |
| Writing the configuration will save all settings from all files to the output | |
| configuration file. | |
| --- | |
| BUILDING BFGMINER | |
| Everything you probably want, condensed: | |
| build-essential autoconf automake libtool pkg-config libcurl4-gnutls-dev | |
| libjansson-dev uthash-dev libncursesw5-dev libudev-dev libusb-1.0-0-dev | |
| libevent-dev libmicrohttpd-dev hidapi | |
| Dependencies: | |
| autoconf http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/ | |
| automake http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/ | |
| libtool http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/ | |
| pkg-config http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/pkg-config | |
| ...or pkgconf https://github.com/pkgconf/pkgconf | |
| libcurl4-gnutls-dev http://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/ | |
| libjansson-dev 2.0+ http://www.digip.org/jansson/ | |
| uthash-dev 1.9.2+ http://troydhanson.github.io/uthash/ | |
| Optional Dependencies: | |
| Text-User-Interface (TUI): curses dev library; any one of: | |
| libncurses5-dev http://www.gnu.org/software/ncurses/ (Linux and Mac) | |
| libncursesw5-dev ^ same | |
| libpdcurses http://pdcurses.sourceforge.net/ (Linux/Mac/Windows) | |
| Multiple ASIC/FPGA autodetection: any one of: | |
| sysfs (built-in to most Linux kernels, just mount on /sys) | |
| libudev-dev http://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/libudev/ | |
| HashBuster & NanoFury USB devices: | |
| hidapi https://github.com/signal11/hidapi | |
| getwork server for Block Erupter Blades: | |
| libmicrohttpd-dev 0.9.5+ http://www.gnu.org/software/libmicrohttpd/ | |
| Stratum proxy: | |
| libevent 2.0.3+ http://libevent.org/ | |
| Klondike, X6500 and ZTEX FPGA boards: | |
| libusb-1.0-0-dev http://www.libusb.org/ | |
| Video card GPU mining (free): | |
| llvm 3.3+ http://llvm.org/ | |
| clang 3.3+ http://clang.llvm.org/ | |
| libclc http://libclc.llvm.org/ | |
| Mesa 9.2.0+ http://www.mesa3d.org/ | |
| ATi/AMD video card GPU mining (non-free): | |
| AMD APP SDK http://developer.amd.com/tools/heterogeneous-computing/amd-accelerated-parallel-processing-app-sdk/ | |
| CPU mining optimized assembly algorithms: | |
| yasm 1.0.1+ http://yasm.tortall.net/ | |
| BFGMiner specific configuration options: | |
| --disable-avalon Compile support for Avalon (default enabled) | |
| --enable-cpumining Build with cpu mining support(default disabled) | |
| --disable-opencl Build without support for OpenCL (default enabled) | |
| --disable-adl Build without ADL monitoring (default enabled) | |
| --disable-bitfury Compile support for Bitfury (default enabled) | |
| --enable-bfsb Compile support for BFSB (default disabled) | |
| --disable-bigpic Compile support for Big Picture Mining USB (default | |
| enabled) | |
| --disable-littlefury Compile support for LittleFury (default enabled) | |
| --disable-nanofury Compile support for NanoFury (default enabled) | |
| --enable-metabank Compile support for Metabank (default disabled) | |
| --disable-bitforce Compile support for BitForce (default enabled) | |
| --disable-icarus Compile support for Icarus (default enabled) | |
| --enable-klondike Compile support for Klondike (default disabled) | |
| --enable-knc Compile support for KnC (default disabled) | |
| --disable-modminer Compile support for ModMiner (default enabled) | |
| --disable-x6500 Compile support for X6500 (default enabled) | |
| --disable-ztex Compile support for ZTEX (default if libusb) | |
| --enable-scrypt Compile support for scrypt mining (default disabled) | |
| --with-system-libblkmaker Use system libblkmaker rather than bundled one | |
| (default disabled) | |
| --without-sensors Build with libsensors monitoring (default enabled) | |
| --without-curses Compile support for curses TUI (default enabled) | |
| --without-libmicrohttpd Compile support for libmicrohttpd getwork server | |
| (default enabled) | |
| --without-libudev Autodetect FPGAs using libudev (default enabled) | |
| Basic *nix build instructions: | |
| ./autogen.sh # only needed if building from git repo | |
| ./configure | |
| make | |
| No installation is necessary. You may run BFGMiner from the build directory | |
| directly. | |
| On Mac OS X, you can use Homebrew to install the dependency libraries. When you | |
| are ready to build BFGMiner, you may need to point the configure script at one | |
| or more pkg-config paths. For example: | |
| ./configure PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/local/opt/curl/lib/pkgconfig:/usr/local/opt/jansson/lib/pkgconfig | |
| Native WIN32 build instructions: see windows-build.txt | |
| If you build BFGMiner from source, it is recommended that you run it from the | |
| build directory. On *nix, you will usually need to prepend your command with a | |
| path like this (if you are in the bfgminer directory already): ./bfgminer | |
| --- | |
| Usage instructions: Run "bfgminer --help" to see options: | |
| Usage: bfgminer [-DdElmpPQqUsTouOchnV] | |
| Options for both config file and command line: | |
| --api-allow Allow API access (if enabled) only to the given list of [W:]IP[/Prefix] address[/subnets] | |
| This overrides --api-network and you must specify 127.0.0.1 if it is required | |
| W: in front of the IP address gives that address privileged access to all api commands | |
| --api-description Description placed in the API status header (default: BFGMiner version) | |
| --api-groups API one letter groups G:cmd:cmd[,P:cmd:*...] | |
| See README.RPC for usage | |
| --api-listen Listen for API requests (default: disabled) | |
| By default any command that does not just display data returns access denied | |
| See --api-allow to overcome this | |
| --api-mcast Enable API Multicast listener, default: disabled | |
| --api-mcast-addr <arg> API Multicast listen address (default: "224.0.0.75") | |
| --api-mcast-code <arg> Code expected in the API Multicast message, don't use '-' (default: "FTW") | |
| --api-mcast-port <arg> API Multicast listen port (default: 4028) | |
| --api-network Allow API (if enabled) to listen on/for any address (default: only 127.0.0.1) | |
| --api-port Port number of miner API (default: 4028) | |
| --balance Change multipool strategy from failover to even share balance | |
| --benchmark Run BFGMiner in benchmark mode - produces no shares | |
| --chroot-dir <arg> Chroot to a directory right after startup | |
| --cmd-idle <arg> Execute a command when a device is allowed to be idle (rest or wait) | |
| --cmd-sick <arg> Execute a command when a device is declared sick | |
| --cmd-dead <arg> Execute a command when a device is declared dead | |
| --coinbase-addr <arg> Set coinbase payout address for solo mining | |
| --coinbase-sig <arg> Set coinbase signature when possible | |
| --compact Use compact display without per device statistics | |
| --debug|-D Enable debug output | |
| --debuglog Enable debug logging | |
| --device|-d <arg> Enable only devices matching pattern (default: all) | |
| --disable-rejecting Automatically disable pools that continually reject shares | |
| --http-port <arg> Port number to listen on for HTTP getwork miners (-1 means disabled) (default: -1) | |
| --expiry|-E <arg> Upper bound on how many seconds after getting work we consider a share from it stale (w/o longpoll active) (default: 120) | |
| --expiry-lp <arg> Upper bound on how many seconds after getting work we consider a share from it stale (with longpoll active) (default: 3600) | |
| --failover-only Don't leak work to backup pools when primary pool is lagging | |
| --force-dev-init Always initialize devices when possible (such as bitstream uploads to some FPGAs) | |
| --kernel-path|-K <arg> Specify a path to where bitstream and kernel files are (default: "/usr/local/bin") | |
| --load-balance Change multipool strategy from failover to quota based balance | |
| --log|-l <arg> Interval in seconds between log output (default: 5) | |
| --log-file|-L <arg> Append log file for output messages | |
| --log-microseconds Include microseconds in log output | |
| --monitor|-m <arg> Use custom pipe cmd for output messages | |
| --net-delay Impose small delays in networking to avoid overloading slow routers | |
| --no-gbt Disable getblocktemplate support | |
| --no-getwork Disable getwork support | |
| --no-longpoll Disable X-Long-Polling support | |
| --no-restart Do not attempt to restart devices that hang | |
| --no-stratum Disable Stratum detection | |
| --no-submit-stale Don't submit shares if they are detected as stale | |
| --no-opencl-binaries Don't attempt to use or save OpenCL kernel binaries | |
| --no-unicode Don't use Unicode characters in TUI | |
| --noncelog <arg> Create log of all nonces found | |
| --pass|-p <arg> Password for bitcoin JSON-RPC server | |
| --per-device-stats Force verbose mode and output per-device statistics | |
| --pool-proxy|-x Proxy URI to use for connecting to just the previous-defined pool | |
| --protocol-dump|-P Verbose dump of protocol-level activities | |
| --queue|-Q <arg> Minimum number of work items to have queued (0 - 10) (default: 1) | |
| --quiet|-q Disable logging output, display status and errors | |
| --real-quiet Disable all output | |
| --remove-disabled Remove disabled devices entirely, as if they didn't exist | |
| --request-diff <arg> Request a specific difficulty from pools (default: 1.0) | |
| --retries <arg> Number of times to retry failed submissions before giving up (-1 means never) (default: -1) | |
| --rotate <arg> Change multipool strategy from failover to regularly rotate at N minutes (default: 0) | |
| --round-robin Change multipool strategy from failover to round robin on failure | |
| --scan-time|-s <arg> Upper bound on time spent scanning current work, in seconds (default: 60) | |
| --sched-start <arg> Set a time of day in HH:MM to start mining (a once off without a stop time) | |
| --sched-stop <arg> Set a time of day in HH:MM to stop mining (will quit without a start time) | |
| --scrypt Use the scrypt algorithm for mining (non-bitcoin) | |
| --set-device <arg> Set default parameters on devices; eg, NFY:osc6_bits=50 | |
| --setuid <arg> Username of an unprivileged user to run as | |
| --sharelog <arg> Append share log to file | |
| --shares <arg> Quit after mining N shares (default: unlimited) | |
| --show-processors Show per processor statistics in summary | |
| --skip-security-checks <arg> Skip security checks sometimes to save bandwidth; only check 1/<arg>th of the time (default: never skip) | |
| --socks-proxy <arg> Set socks proxy (host:port) for all pools without a proxy specified | |
| --stratum-port <arg> Port number to listen on for stratum miners (-1 means disabled) (default: -1) | |
| --submit-threads Minimum number of concurrent share submissions (default: 64) | |
| --syslog Use system log for output messages (default: standard error) | |
| --temp-cutoff <arg> Maximum temperature devices will be allowed to reach before being disabled, one value or comma separated list | |
| --temp-hysteresis <arg> Set how much the temperature can fluctuate outside limits when automanaging speeds (default: 3) | |
| --temp-target <arg> Target temperature when automatically managing fan and clock speeds | |
| --text-only|-T Disable ncurses formatted screen output | |
| --unicode Use Unicode characters in TUI | |
| --url|-o <arg> URL for bitcoin JSON-RPC server | |
| --user|-u <arg> Username for bitcoin JSON-RPC server | |
| --verbose Log verbose output to stderr as well as status output | |
| --userpass|-O <arg> Username:Password pair for bitcoin JSON-RPC server | |
| Options for command line only: | |
| --config|-c <arg> Load a JSON-format configuration file | |
| See example.conf for an example configuration. | |
| --help|-h Print this message | |
| --version|-V Display version and exit | |
| GPU only options: | |
| --auto-fan Automatically adjust all GPU fan speeds to maintain a target temperature | |
| --auto-gpu Automatically adjust all GPU engine clock speeds to maintain a target temperature | |
| --gpu-threads|-g <arg> Number of threads per GPU (1 - 10) (default: 2) | |
| --gpu-dyninterval <arg> Set the refresh interval in ms for GPUs using dynamic intensity (default: 7) | |
| --gpu-engine <arg> GPU engine (over)clock range in MHz - one value, range and/or comma separated list (e.g. 850-900,900,750-850) | |
| --gpu-fan <arg> GPU fan percentage range - one value, range and/or comma separated list (e.g. 25-85,85,65) | |
| --gpu-map <arg> Map OpenCL to ADL device order manually, paired CSV (e.g. 1:0,2:1 maps OpenCL 1 to ADL 0, 2 to 1) | |
| --gpu-memclock <arg> Set the GPU memory (over)clock in MHz - one value for all or separate by commas for per card. | |
| --gpu-memdiff <arg> Set a fixed difference in clock speed between the GPU and memory in auto-gpu mode | |
| --gpu-platform <arg> Select OpenCL platform ID to use for GPU mining | |
| --gpu-powertune <arg> Set the GPU powertune percentage - one value for all or separate by commas for per card. | |
| --gpu-reorder Attempt to reorder GPU devices according to PCI Bus ID | |
| --gpu-vddc <arg> Set the GPU voltage in Volts - one value for all or separate by commas for per card. | |
| --intensity|-I <arg> Intensity of GPU scanning (d or -10 -> 10, default: d to maintain desktop interactivity) | |
| --kernel|-k <arg> Override kernel to use (diablo, poclbm, phatk or diakgcn) - one value or comma separated | |
| --ndevs|-n Enumerate number of detected GPUs and exit | |
| --no-adl Disable the ATI display library used for monitoring and setting GPU parameters | |
| --temp-overheat <arg> Overheat temperature when automatically managing fan and GPU speeds (default: 85) | |
| --vectors|-v <arg> Override detected optimal vector (1, 2 or 4) - one value or comma separated list | |
| --worksize|-w <arg> Override detected optimal worksize - one value or comma separated list | |
| GPU mining is disabled by default for SHA256d if you have any dedicated mining | |
| devices, but can be enabled explicitly specifying the -S opencl:auto option. | |
| See README.GPU for more information regarding GPU mining. | |
| scrypt only options: | |
| --lookup-gap <arg> Set GPU lookup gap for scrypt mining, comma separated | |
| --shaders <arg> GPU shaders per card for tuning scrypt, comma separated | |
| --thread-concurrency <arg> Set GPU thread concurrency for scrypt mining, comma separated | |
| See README.scrypt for more information regarding (non-bitcoin) scrypt mining. | |
| ASIC/FPGA mining device options: | |
| --scan-serial|-S <arg> Serial port to probe for mining devices | |
| To use ASICs or FPGAs, you will need to be sure the user BFGMiner is running as | |
| has appropriate permissions. This varies by operating system. | |
| On Gentoo: sudo usermod <username> -a -G uucp | |
| On Ubuntu: sudo usermod <username> -a -G dialout | |
| Note that on GNU/Linux systems, you will usually need to login again before | |
| group changes take effect. | |
| By default, BFGMiner will scan for autodetected devices. If you want to prevent | |
| BFGMiner from doing this, you can use "-S noauto". If you want to probe all | |
| serial ports, you can use "-S all"; note that this may write data to non-mining | |
| devices which may then behave in unexpected ways! | |
| On Linux, <arg> is usually of the format /dev/ttyUSBn | |
| On Mac OS X, <arg> is usually of the format /dev/cu.usb* | |
| On Windows, <arg> is usually of the format \\.\COMn | |
| (where n = the correct device number for the device) | |
| The official supplied binaries are compiled with support for all ASICs/FPGAs. | |
| To force the code to only attempt detection with a specific driver, | |
| prepend the argument with the driver name followed by a colon. | |
| For example, "icarus:/dev/ttyUSB0" or "bitforce:\\.\COM5" | |
| or using the short name: "ica:/dev/ttyUSB0" or "bfl:\\.\COM5" | |
| Some FPGAs do not have non-volatile storage for their bitstreams and must be | |
| programmed every power cycle, including first use. To use these devices, you | |
| must download the proper bitstream from the vendor's website and copy it to the | |
| "bitstreams" directory into your BFGMiner application directory. | |
| See README.ASIC and README.FPGA for more information regarding these. | |
| CPU only options (not included in binaries): | |
| --algo|-a <arg> Specify sha256 implementation for CPU mining: | |
| fastauto* Quick benchmark at startup to pick a working algorithm | |
| auto Benchmark at startup and pick fastest algorithm | |
| c Linux kernel sha256, implemented in C | |
| 4way tcatm's 4-way SSE2 implementation | |
| via VIA padlock implementation | |
| cryptopp Crypto++ C/C++ implementation | |
| cryptopp_asm32 Crypto++ 32-bit assembler implementation | |
| sse2_32 SSE2 32 bit implementation for i386 machines | |
| sse2_64 SSE2 64 bit implementation for x86_64 machines | |
| sse4_64 SSE4.1 64 bit implementation for x86_64 machines | |
| altivec_4way Altivec implementation for PowerPC G4 and G5 machines | |
| --cpu-threads|-t <arg> Number of miner CPU threads (default: 4) | |
| --- | |
| WHILE RUNNING: | |
| The following options are available while running with a single keypress: | |
| [M]anage devices [P]ool management [S]ettings [D]isplay options [H]elp [Q]uit | |
| M gives you something like: | |
| Select processor to manage using up/down arrow keys | |
| BFL 0a: 78.0C | 3.64/ 3.70/ 2.91Gh/s | A:46 R:0+0(none) HW: 2/none | |
| BitFORCE SHA256 SC from Butterfly Labs | |
| Serial: FTWN6T67 | |
| [D]isable | |
| Or press Enter when done | |
| P gives you: | |
| Current pool management strategy: Failover | |
| [F]ailover only disabled | |
| [A]dd pool [R]emove pool [D]isable pool [E]nable pool | |
| [C]hange management strategy [S]witch pool [I]nformation | |
| S gives you: | |
| [L]ongpoll: On | |
| [Q]ueue: 1 | |
| [S]cantime: 60 | |
| [E]xpiry: 120 | |
| [R]etries: -1 | |
| [W]rite config file | |
| [B]FGMiner restart | |
| D gives you: | |
| [N]ormal [C]lear [S]ilent mode (disable all output) | |
| [D]ebug:off | |
| [P]er-device:off | |
| [Q]uiet:off | |
| [V]erbose:off | |
| [R]PC debug:off | |
| [W]orkTime details:off | |
| co[M]pact: off | |
| [L]og interval:5 | |
| Q quits the application. | |
| The running log shows output similar to that below: | |
| [2013-02-13 00:26:30] Accepted 1758e8df BFL 0 pool 0 Diff 10/1 | |
| [2013-02-13 00:26:32] Accepted 1d9a2199 MMQ 0a pool 0 Diff 8/1 | |
| [2013-02-13 00:26:33] Accepted b1304924 ZTX 0 pool 0 Diff 1/1 | |
| [2013-02-13 00:26:33] Accepted c3ad22f4 XBS 0b pool 0 Diff 1/1 | |
| The 8 byte hex value are the 2nd set of 32 bits from the share submitted to the | |
| pool. The 2 diff values are the actual difficulty target that share reached | |
| followed by the difficulty target the pool is currently asking for. | |
| --- | |
| Also many issues and FAQs are covered in the forum threads | |
| dedicated to this program, | |
| https://bitcointalk.org/?topic=78192 | |
| https://bitcointalk.org/?topic=168174 | |
| The block display shows: | |
| Block: ...1b89f8d3 #217364 Diff:7.67M (54.93Th/s) Started: [17:17:22] | |
| This shows a short stretch of the current block, the next block's height and | |
| difficulty (including the network hashrate that difficulty represents), and when | |
| the search for the new block started. | |
| The BFGMiner status line shows: | |
| ST:1 F:0 NB:1 AS:0 BW:[ 75/241 B/s] E:2.42 I:12.99mBTC/hr BS:2.71k | |
| ST is STaged work items (ready to use). | |
| F is network Failure occasions (server down or slow to provide work) | |
| NB is New Blocks detected on the network | |
| AS is Active Submissions (shares in the process of submitting) | |
| BW is BandWidth usage on the network (received/sent) | |
| E is Efficiency defined as number of shares accepted (multiplied by their | |
| difficulty) per 2 KB of bandwidth | |
| I is expected Income, calculated by actual shares submitted in 100% PPS value | |
| (assumes Bitcoin, does not account for altcoin conversions!) | |
| BS is the all time Best Share difficulty you've found | |
| The totals line shows the following: | |
| 6/32 75.0C | 171.3/170.8/171.2Gh/s | A:729 R:8+0(.01%) HW:0/.81% | |
| Each column is as follows: | |
| The number of devices and processors currently mining | |
| Hottest temperature reported by any processor | |
| 5 second exponentially decaying average hash rate | |
| An all time average hash rate | |
| An all time average hash rate based on actual nonces found, adjusted for pool | |
| reject and stale rate | |
| The number of Accepted shares | |
| The number of Rejected shares and stale shares discarded (never submitted), | |
| and the percentage these are of total found. | |
| The number of HardWare errors, and percentage invalid of nonces returned | |
| Each device shows: | |
| BFL 2: 74.0C | 51.97/58.90/57.17Gh/s | A:847 R:15+0(.54%) HW:496/.91% | |
| Columns are the same as in the totals line. | |
| --- | |
| MULTIPOOL | |
| FAILOVER STRATEGIES WITH MULTIPOOL: | |
| A number of different strategies for dealing with multipool setups are | |
| available. Each has their advantages and disadvantages so multiple strategies | |
| are available by user choice, as per the following list: | |
| FAILOVER: | |
| The default strategy is failover. This means that if you input a number of | |
| pools, it will try to use them as a priority list, moving away from the 1st | |
| to the 2nd, 2nd to 3rd and so on. If any of the earlier pools recover, it will | |
| move back to the higher priority ones. | |
| ROUND ROBIN: | |
| This strategy only moves from one pool to the next when the current one falls | |
| idle and makes no attempt to move otherwise. | |
| ROTATE: | |
| This strategy moves at user-defined intervals from one active pool to the next, | |
| skipping pools that are idle. | |
| LOAD BALANCE: | |
| This strategy sends work to all the pools on a quota basis. By default, all | |
| pools are allocated equal quotas unless specified with --quota. This | |
| apportioning of work is based on work handed out, not shares returned so is | |
| independent of difficulty targets or rejected shares. While a pool is disabled | |
| or dead, its quota is dropped until it is re-enabled. Quotas are forward | |
| looking, so if the quota is changed on the fly, it only affects future work. | |
| If all pools are set to zero quota or all pools with quota are dead, it will | |
| fall back to a failover mode. See quota below for more information. | |
| The failover-only flag has special meaning in combination with load-balance | |
| mode and it will distribute quota back to priority pool 0 from any pools that | |
| are unable to provide work for any reason so as to maintain quota ratios | |
| between the rest of the pools. | |
| BALANCE: | |
| This strategy monitors the amount of difficulty 1 shares solved for each pool | |
| and uses it as a basis for trying to doing the same amount of work for each | |
| pool. | |
| --- | |
| SOLO MINING | |
| BFGMiner supports solo mining with any GBT-compatible bitcoin node (such as | |
| bitcoind). To use this mode, you need to specify the URL of your bitcoind node | |
| using the usual pool options (--url, --userpass, etc), and the --coinbase-addr | |
| option to specify the Bitcoin address you wish to receive the block rewards | |
| mined. If you are solo mining with more than one instance of BFGMiner (or any | |
| other software) per payout address, you must also specify data using the | |
| --coinbase-sig option to ensure each miner is working on unique work. Note | |
| that this data will be publicly seen if your miner finds a block using any | |
| GBT-enabled pool, even when not solo mining (such as failover). If your | |
| bitcoin node does not support longpolling (for example, bitcoind 0.8.x), you | |
| should consider setting up a failover pool to provide you with block | |
| notifications. Note that solo mining does not use shares, so BFGMiner's adjusted | |
| hashrate (third column) may suddenly drop to zero if a block you submit is | |
| rejected; this does not indicate that it has stopped mining. | |
| Example solo mining usage: | |
| bfgminer -o http://localhost:8332 -u username -p password \ | |
| --coinbase-addr 1QATWksNFGeUJCWBrN4g6hGM178Lovm7Wh \ | |
| --coinbase-sig "rig1: This is Joe's block!" | |
| --- | |
| QUOTAS | |
| The load-balance multipool strategy works off a quota based scheduler. The | |
| quotas handed out by default are equal, but the user is allowed to specify any | |
| arbitrary ratio of quotas. For example, if all the quota values add up to 100, | |
| each quota value will be a percentage, but if 2 pools are specified and pool0 | |
| is given a quota of 1 and pool1 is given a quota of 9, pool0 will get 10% of | |
| the work and pool1 will get 90%. Quotas can be changed on the fly with RPC, | |
| and do not act retrospectively. Setting a quota to zero will effectively | |
| disable that pool unless all other pools are disabled or dead. In that | |
| scenario, load-balance falls back to regular failover priority-based strategy. | |
| While a pool is dead, it loses its quota and no attempt is made to catch up | |
| when it comes back to life. | |
| To specify quotas on the command line, pools should be specified with a | |
| semicolon separated --quota(or -U) entry instead of --url. Pools specified with | |
| --url are given a nominal quota value of 1 and entries can be mixed. | |
| For example: | |
| --url poola:porta -u usernamea -p passa --quota "2;poolb:portb" -u usernameb -p passb | |
| Will give poola 1/3 of the work and poolb 2/3 of the work. | |
| Writing configuration files with quotas is likewise supported. To use the above | |
| quotas in a configuration file they would be specified thus: | |
| "pools" : [ | |
| { | |
| "url" : "poola:porta", | |
| "user" : "usernamea", | |
| "pass" : "passa" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "quota" : "2;poolb:portb", | |
| "user" : "usernameb", | |
| "pass" : "passb" | |
| } | |
| ] | |
| --- | |
| LOGGING | |
| BFGMiner will log to stderr if it detects stderr is being redirected to a file. | |
| To enable logging simply add 2>logfile.txt to your command line and logfile.txt | |
| will contain the logged output at the log level you specify (normal, verbose, | |
| debug etc.) | |
| In other words if you would normally use: | |
| ./bfgminer -o xxx -u yyy -p zzz | |
| if you use | |
| ./bfgminer -o xxx -u yyy -p zzz 2>logfile.txt | |
| it will log to a file called logfile.txt and otherwise work the same. | |
| There is also the -m option on linux which will spawn a command of your choice | |
| and pipe the output directly to that command. | |
| The WorkTime details 'debug' option adds details on the end of each line | |
| displayed for Accepted or Rejected work done. An example would be: | |
| <-00000059.ed4834a3 M:X D:1.0 G:17:02:38:0.405 C:1.855 (2.995) W:3.440 (0.000) S:0.461 R:17:02:47 | |
| The first 2 hex codes are the previous block hash, the rest are reported in | |
| seconds unless stated otherwise: | |
| The previous hash is followed by the getwork mode used M:X where X is one of | |
| P:Pool, T:Test Pool, L:LP or B:Benchmark, | |
| then D:d.ddd is the difficulty required to get a share from the work, | |
| then G:hh:mm:ss:n.nnn, which is when the getwork or LP was sent to the pool and | |
| the n.nnn is how long it took to reply, | |
| followed by 'O' on its own if it is an original getwork, or 'C:n.nnn' if it was | |
| a clone with n.nnn stating how long after the work was recieved that it was | |
| cloned, (m.mmm) is how long from when the original work was received until work | |
| started, | |
| W:n.nnn is how long the work took to process until it was ready to submit, | |
| (m.mmm) is how long from ready to submit to actually doing the submit, this is | |
| usually 0.000 unless there was a problem with submitting the work, | |
| S:n.nnn is how long it took to submit the completed work and await the reply, | |
| R:hh:mm:ss is the actual time the work submit reply was received | |
| If you start BFGMiner with the --sharelog option, you can get detailed | |
| information for each share found. The argument to the option may be "-" for | |
| standard output (not advisable with the ncurses UI), any valid positive number | |
| for that file descriptor, or a filename. | |
| To log share data to a file named "share.log", you can use either: | |
| ./bfgminer --sharelog 50 -o xxx -u yyy -p zzz 50>share.log | |
| ./bfgminer --sharelog share.log -o xxx -u yyy -p zzz | |
| For every share found, data will be logged in a CSV (Comma Separated Value) | |
| format: | |
| timestamp,disposition,target,pool,dev,thr,sharehash,sharedata | |
| For example (this is wrapped, but it's all on one line for real): | |
| 1335313090,reject, | |
| ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff00000000, | |
| http://localhost:8337,GPU0,0, | |
| 6f983c918f3299b58febf95ec4d0c7094ed634bc13754553ec34fc3800000000, | |
| 00000001a0980aff4ce4a96d53f4b89a2d5f0e765c978640fe24372a000001c5 | |
| 000000004a4366808f81d44f26df3d69d7dc4b3473385930462d9ab707b50498 | |
| f681634a4f1f63d01a0cd43fb338000000000080000000000000000000000000 | |
| 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000080020000 | |
| --- | |
| RPC API | |
| For RPC API details see the README.RPC file | |
| --- | |
| FAQ | |
| Q: Why can't BFGMiner find lib<something> even after I installed it from source | |
| code? | |
| A: On UNIX-like operating systems, you often need to run one or more commands to | |
| reload library caches, such as "ldconfig" or similar. A couple of systems (such | |
| as Fedora) ship with /usr/local/lib missing from their library search path. In | |
| this case, you can usually add it like this: | |
| echo /usr/local/lib >/etc/ld.so.conf.d/local.conf | |
| Please note that if your libraries installed into lib64 instead of lib, you | |
| should use that in the ld.so config file above instead. | |
| Q: BFGMiner segfaults when I change my shell window size. | |
| A: Older versions of libncurses have a bug to do with refreshing a window | |
| after a size change. Upgrading to a new version of curses will fix it. | |
| Q: Can I mine on servers from different networks (eg smartcoin and bitcoin) at | |
| the same time? | |
| A: No, BFGMiner keeps a database of the block it's working on to ensure it does | |
| not work on stale blocks, and having different blocks from two networks would | |
| make it invalidate the work from each other. | |
| Q: Can I configure BFGMiner to mine with different login credentials or pools | |
| for each separate device? | |
| A: No such feature has been implemented to support this. | |
| Q: Can I put multiple pools in the config file? | |
| A: Yes, check the example.conf file. Alternatively, set up everything either on | |
| the command line or via the menu after startup and choose settings->write | |
| config file and the file will be loaded one each startup. | |
| Q: The build fails with gcc is unable to build a binary. | |
| A: Remove the "-march=native" component of your CFLAGS as your version of GCC | |
| does not support it. | |
| Q: Can you implement feature X? | |
| A: I can, but time is limited, and people who donate are more likely to get | |
| their feature requests implemented. | |
| Q: Work keeps going to my backup pool even though my primary pool hasn't | |
| failed? | |
| A: BFGMiner checks for conditions where the primary pool is lagging and will | |
| pass some work to the backup servers under those conditions. The reason for | |
| doing this is to try its absolute best to keep the devices working on something | |
| useful and not risk idle periods. You can disable this behaviour with the | |
| option --failover-only. | |
| Q: Is this a virus? | |
| A: As BFGMiner is being packaged with other trojan scripts, some antivirus | |
| software is falsely accusing bfgminer.exe as being the actual virus, rather than | |
| whatever it is being packaged with. If you installed BFGMiner yourself from a | |
| reputable source then you do not have a virus on your computer. Complain to your | |
| antivirus software company. They seem to be flagging even source code from | |
| BFGMiner as malicious now, even though text source files can't do anything by | |
| themselves. | |
| Q: Can you modify the display to include more of one thing in the output and | |
| less of another, or can you change the quiet mode or can you add yet another | |
| output mode? | |
| A: Everyone will always have their own view of what is important to monitor. | |
| The defaults are very sane and I have very little interest in changing this | |
| any further. | |
| Q: Why is my efficiency above/below 1.00? | |
| A: Efficiency simply means how many shares you return for the amount of | |
| bandwidth used. It does not correlate with efficient use of your hardware, and | |
| is a measure of a combination of hardware speed, block luck, pool design and | |
| many other factors. | |
| Q: What are the best parameters to pass for X pool/hardware/device. | |
| A: Virtually always, the DEFAULT parameters give the best results. Most user | |
| defined settings lead to worse performance. | |
| Q: What happened to CPU mining? | |
| A: Being increasingly irrelevant for most users, and a maintenance issue, it is | |
| no longer under active development and will not be supported unless someone | |
| steps up to help maintain it. No binary builds supporting CPU mining will be | |
| released for Windows but CPU mining can be built into BFGMiner when it is | |
| compiled. For builds which do support CPU mining, it is still disabled by | |
| default, and must be enabled using the -S cpu:auto option. | |
| Q: Will there ever be a GUI version? | |
| A: No, however the RPC interface makes it possible for someone else to write one | |
| if they choose. | |
| Q: I'm having an issue. What debugging information should I provide? | |
| A: Start BFGMiner with your regular commands and add -D -T --verbose and provide | |
| the full startup output and a summary of your hardware, operating system, and if | |
| applicable, ATI driver version and ATI stream version. | |
| Q: Can I mine with BFGMiner on a Mac? | |
| A: BFGMiner will compile on OS X, but the performance of GPU mining is | |
| compromised due to the OpenCL implementation on OS X, there is no temperature or | |
| fanspeed monitoring and the cooling design of most Macs, despite having | |
| powerful GPUs, will usually not cope with constant usage leading to a high risk | |
| of thermal damage. It is highly recommended not to mine on a Mac unless it is | |
| with an external USB device. | |
| Q: My network gets slower and slower and then dies for a minute? | |
| A; Try the --net-delay option if you are on a getwork or GBT server. | |
| Q: How do I tune for P2Pool? | |
| A: P2Pool has very rapid expiration of work and new blocks, it is suggested you | |
| decrease intensity by 1 from your optimal value, and decrease GPU threads to 1 | |
| with -g 1. It is also recommended to use --failover-only since the work is | |
| effectively like a different block chain. If mining with a Mini Rig, it is worth | |
| adding the --bfl-range option. | |
| Q: Are OpenCL kernels from other mining software useable in BFGMiner? | |
| A: No, the APIs are slightly different between the different software and they | |
| will not work. | |
| Q: I run PHP on windows to access the API with the example miner.php. Why does | |
| it fail when php is installed properly but I only get errors about Sockets not | |
| working in the logs? | |
| A: Please check http://us.php.net/manual/en/sockets.installation.php | |
| Q: What is a PGA? | |
| A: At the moment, BFGMiner supports 5 FPGAs: BitForce, Icarus, ModMiner, X6500, | |
| and ZTEX. | |
| They are Field-Programmable Gate Arrays that have been programmed to do Bitcoin | |
| mining. Since the acronym needs to be only 3 characters, the "Field-" part has | |
| been skipped. "PGA" is also used for devices built with Application-Specific | |
| Integrated Circuits (ASICs). | |
| Q: What is an ASIC? | |
| A: They are Application Specify Integrated Circuit devices and provide the | |
| highest performance per unit power due to being dedicated to only one purpose. | |
| Q: How do I get my BFL/Icarus/Lancelot/Cairnsmore device to auto-recognise? | |
| A: On Linux, if the /dev/ttyUSB* devices don't automatically appear, the only | |
| thing that needs to be done is to load the driver for them: | |
| BitForce: sudo modprobe ftdi_sio vendor=0x0403 product=0x6014 | |
| Erupter: sudo modprobe cp210x vendor=0x10c4 product=0xea60 | |
| Icarus: sudo modprobe pl2303 vendor=0x067b product=0x0230 | |
| Lancelot: sudo modprobe ftdi_sio vendor=0x0403 product=0x6001 | |
| Cairnsmore: sudo modprobe ftdi_sio vendor=0x0403 product=0x8350 | |
| On some systems you must manally install the driver required for the device. | |
| OpenWrt drivers (install with opkg): | |
| FTDI: kmod-usb-serial-ftdi | |
| Erupter: kmod-usb-serial-cp210x | |
| Icarus: kmod-usb-serial-pl2303 | |
| Windows drivers: | |
| FTDI: http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm | |
| Erupter: http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/pages/usbtouartbridgevcpdrivers.aspx | |
| Icarus: http://prolificusa.com/pl-2303hx-drivers/ | |
| Q: I ran cgminer, and now BFGMiner doesn't work! | |
| A: cgminer has its own non-standard implementations of the drivers for most USB | |
| devices, and requires you to replace the official drivers with WinUSB on Windows | |
| (usually using Zadig). Before you can use BFGMiner, you will need to restore the | |
| original driver. Removing the device from Device Manager and re-plugging it will | |
| usually trigger driver re-installation to the default drivers. | |
| Q: On Linux I can see the /dev/ttyUSB* devices for my ICA/BFL/MMQ FPGA, but | |
| BFGMiner can't mine on them? | |
| A: Make sure you have the required privileges to access the /dev/ttyUSB* | |
| devices: | |
| sudo ls -las /dev/ttyUSB* | |
| will give output like: | |
| 0 crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 188, 0 2012-09-11 13:49 /dev/ttyUSB0 | |
| This means your account must have the group 'dialout' or root privileges | |
| To permanently give your account the 'dialout' group: | |
| sudo usermod -G dialout -a `whoami` | |
| Then logout and back in again | |
| Q: Can I mine scrypt with FPGAs or ASICs? | |
| A: Currently no. Bitcoin ASICs are only useful for SHA256d systems and FPGAs | |
| generally aren't designed to handle scrypt efficiently. | |
| Q: Why does BFGMiner show difficulty 0 when mining scrypt? | |
| A: BFGMiner consistently uses pdiff measurement for difficulty everywhere, | |
| rather than other measurements that may exist. For scrypt, pdiff 1 is very | |
| difficult, and higher get exponentially harder. It is unlikely you will want to | |
| use pdiff 1+ with scrypt until you have FPGAs and/or ASICs for it. | |
| Q: What is stratum and how do I use it? | |
| A: Stratum is a protocol designed to reduce resources for mining pools at the | |
| cost of keeping the miner in the dark and blindly transferring his mining | |
| authority to the pool. It is a return to the problems of the old centralized | |
| "getwork" protocol, but capable of scaling to hardware of any speed like the | |
| standard GBT protocol. If a pool uses stratum instead of GBT, BFGMiner will | |
| automatically detect it and switch to the support as advertised if it can. | |
| Stratum uses direct TCP connections to the pool and thus it will NOT currently | |
| work through a http proxy but will work via a socks proxy if you need to use | |
| one. If you input the stratum port directly into your configuration, or use the | |
| special prefix "stratum+tcp://" instead of "http://", BFGMiner will ONLY try to | |
| use stratum protocol mining. | |
| Q: Why don't the statistics add up: Accepted, Rejected, Stale, Hardware Errors, | |
| Diff1 Work, etc. when mining greater than 1 difficulty shares? | |
| A: As an example, if you look at 'Difficulty Accepted' in the RPC API, the number | |
| of difficulty shares accepted does not usually exactly equal the amount of work | |
| done to find them. If you are mining at 8 difficulty, then you would expect on | |
| average to find one 8 difficulty share, per 8 single difficulty shares found. | |
| However, the number is actually random and converges over time as it is an | |
| average, not an exact value, thus you may find more or less than the expected | |
| average. | |
| --- | |
| This code is provided entirely free of charge by the programmer in his spare | |
| time so donations would be greatly appreciated. Please consider donating to the | |
| address below. | |
| Luke-Jr <luke-jr+bfgminer@utopios.org> | |
| 1QATWksNFGeUJCWBrN4g6hGM178Lovm7Wh |
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