README 35 KB

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  1. BFGMiner:
  2. St. Barbara's Faithfully Glorified Mining Initiative Naturally Exceeding Rivals
  3. or Basically a Freaking Good Miner
  4. This is a multi-threaded multi-pool ASIC, FPGA, GPU and CPU miner with dynamic
  5. clocking, monitoring, and fanspeed support for bitcoin. Do not use on multiple
  6. block chains at the same time!
  7. This code is provided entirely free of charge by the programmer in his spare
  8. time so donations would be greatly appreciated. Please consider donating to the
  9. address below.
  10. Luke-Jr <luke-jr+bfgminer@utopios.org>
  11. 1QATWksNFGeUJCWBrN4g6hGM178Lovm7Wh
  12. DOWNLOADS:
  13. http://luke.dashjr.org/programs/bitcoin/files/bfgminer
  14. GIT TREE:
  15. https://github.com/luke-jr/bfgminer
  16. Bug reports:
  17. https://github.com/luke-jr/bfgminer/issues
  18. IRC Channel:
  19. irc://irc.freenode.net/eligius
  20. License: GPLv3. See COPYING for details.
  21. SEE ALSO README.ASIC, README.FPGA, README.GPU, README.RPC, AND README.scrypt FOR
  22. MORE INFORMATION ON EACH.
  23. ---
  24. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ON USAGE:
  25. After saving configuration from the menu, you do not need to give BFGMiner any
  26. arguments and it will load your configuration.
  27. Any configuration file may also contain a single
  28. "include" : "filename"
  29. to recursively include another configuration file.
  30. Writing the configuration will save all settings from all files in the output.
  31. Single pool:
  32. bfgminer -o http://pool:port -u username -p password
  33. Multiple pools:
  34. bfgminer -o http://pool1:port -u pool1username -p pool1password -o http://pool2:port -u pool2usernmae -p pool2password
  35. Single pool with a standard http proxy, regular desktop:
  36. bfgminer -o http://pool:port -x http://proxy:port -u username -p password
  37. Single pool with a socks5 proxy, regular desktop:
  38. bfgminer -o http://pool:port -x socks5://proxy:port -u username -p password
  39. The list of proxy types are:
  40. http: standard http 1.1 proxy
  41. socks4: socks4 proxy
  42. socks5: socks5 proxy
  43. socks4a: socks4a proxy
  44. socks5h: socks5 proxy using a hostname
  45. Proxy support requires cURL version 7.21.7 or newer.
  46. If you specify the --socks-proxy option to BFGMiner, it will only be applied to
  47. all pools that don't specify their own proxy setting like above
  48. ---
  49. BUILDING BFGMINER
  50. Everything you probably want, condensed:
  51. build-essential autoconf automake libtool pkg-config libcurl4-gnutls-dev
  52. libjansson-dev uthash-dev libncursesw5-dev libudev-dev libusb-1.0-0-dev
  53. libmicrohttpd-dev
  54. Dependencies:
  55. autoconf http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/
  56. automake http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/
  57. libtool http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/
  58. pkg-config http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/pkg-config
  59. ...or pkgconf https://github.com/pkgconf/pkgconf
  60. libcurl4-gnutls-dev http://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/
  61. libjansson-dev 2.0+ http://www.digip.org/jansson/
  62. uthash-dev 1.9.2+ http://troydhanson.github.io/uthash/
  63. Optional Dependencies:
  64. Text-User-Interface (TUI): curses dev library; any one of:
  65. libncurses5-dev http://www.gnu.org/software/ncurses/ (Linux and Mac)
  66. libncursesw5-dev ^ same
  67. libpdcurses http://pdcurses.sourceforge.net/ (Linux/Mac/Windows)
  68. Multiple ASIC/FPGA autodetection: any one of:
  69. sysfs (builtin to most Linux kernels, just mount on /sys)
  70. libudev-dev http://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/libudev/
  71. getwork server for Block Erupter Blades:
  72. libmicrohttpd-dev http://www.gnu.org/software/libmicrohttpd/
  73. X6500 and ZTEX FPGA boards:
  74. libusb-1.0-0-dev http://www.libusb.org/
  75. ATi/AMD video card GPU mining:
  76. AMD APP SDK http://developer.amd.com/tools/heterogeneous-computing/amd-accelerated-parallel-processing-app-sdk/
  77. CPU mining optimized assembly algorithms:
  78. yasm 1.0.1+ http://yasm.tortall.net/
  79. BFGMiner specific configuration options:
  80. --disable-avalon Compile support for Avalon (default enabled)
  81. --enable-cpumining Build with cpu mining support(default disabled)
  82. --disable-opencl Build without support for OpenCL (default enabled)
  83. --disable-adl Build without ADL monitoring (default enabled)
  84. --disable-bitforce Compile support for BitForce (default enabled)
  85. --disable-icarus Compile support for Icarus (default enabled)
  86. --disable-modminer Compile support for ModMiner (default enabled)
  87. --disable-x6500 Compile support for X6500 (default enabled)
  88. --disable-ztex Compile support for ZTEX (default if libusb)
  89. --enable-scrypt Compile support for scrypt mining (default disabled)
  90. --without-curses Compile support for curses TUI (default enabled)
  91. --without-libmicrohttpd Compile support for libmicrohttpd getwork server
  92. (default enabled)
  93. --without-libudev Autodetect FPGAs using libudev (default enabled)
  94. Basic *nix build instructions:
  95. ./autogen.sh # only needed if building from git repo
  96. ./configure
  97. make
  98. No installation is necessary. You may run BFGMiner from the build directory
  99. directly.
  100. On Mac OS X, you can use Homebrew to install the dependency libraries. When you
  101. are ready to build BFGMiner, you may need to point the configure script at one
  102. or more pkg-config paths. For example:
  103. ./configure PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/local/opt/curl/lib/pkgconfig:/usr/local/opt/jansson/lib/pkgconfig
  104. Native WIN32 build instructions: see windows-build.txt
  105. If you build BFGMiner from source, it is recommended that you run it from the
  106. build directory. On *nix, you will usually need to prepend your command with a
  107. path like this (if you are in the bfgminer directory already): ./bfgminer
  108. ---
  109. Usage instructions: Run "bfgminer --help" to see options:
  110. Usage: . [-atDdGCgIKklmpPQqrRsTouvwOchnV]
  111. Options for both config file and command line:
  112. --api-allow Allow API access (if enabled) only to the given list of [W:]IP[/Prefix] address[/subnets]
  113. This overrides --api-network and you must specify 127.0.0.1 if it is required
  114. W: in front of the IP address gives that address privileged access to all api commands
  115. --api-description Description placed in the API status header (default: BFGMiner version)
  116. --api-groups API one letter groups G:cmd:cmd[,P:cmd:*...]
  117. See README.RPC for usage
  118. --api-listen Listen for API requests (default: disabled)
  119. By default any command that does not just display data returns access denied
  120. See --api-allow to overcome this
  121. --api-network Allow API (if enabled) to listen on/for any address (default: only 127.0.0.1)
  122. --api-port Port number of miner API (default: 4028)
  123. --balance Change multipool strategy from failover to even share balance
  124. --benchmark Run BFGMiner in benchmark mode - produces no shares
  125. --cmd-sick <arg> Execute a command when a device is declared sick
  126. --cmd-dead <arg> Execute a command when a device is declared dead
  127. --coinbase-addr <arg> Set coinbase payout address for solo mining
  128. --coinbase-sig <arg> Set coinbase signature when possible
  129. --compact Use compact display without per device statistics
  130. --debug|-D Enable debug output
  131. --debuglog Enable debug logging
  132. --device|-d <arg> Select device to use, one value, range and/or comma separated (e.g. 0-2,4) default: all
  133. --disable-rejecting Automatically disable pools that continually reject shares
  134. --http-port <arg> Port number to listen on for HTTP getwork miners (-1 means disabled) (default: -1)
  135. --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)
  136. --expiry-lp <arg> Upper bound on how many seconds after getting work we consider a share from it stale (with longpoll active) (default: 3600)
  137. --failover-only Don't leak work to backup pools when primary pool is lagging
  138. --force-dev-init Always initialize devices when possible (such as bitstream uploads to some FPGAs)
  139. --kernel-path|-K <arg> Specify a path to where bitstream and kernel files are (default: "/usr/local/bin")
  140. --load-balance Change multipool strategy from failover to efficiency based balance
  141. --log|-l <arg> Interval in seconds between log output (default: 5)
  142. --log-file|-L <arg> Append log file for output messages
  143. --log-microseconds Include microseconds in log output
  144. --monitor|-m <arg> Use custom pipe cmd for output messages
  145. --net-delay Impose small delays in networking to not overload slow routers
  146. --no-gbt Disable getblocktemplate support
  147. --no-getwork Disable getwork support
  148. --no-longpoll Disable X-Long-Polling support
  149. --no-restart Do not attempt to restart devices that hang
  150. --no-stratum Disable Stratum detection
  151. --no-submit-stale Don't submit shares if they are detected as stale
  152. --no-opencl-binaries Don't attempt to use or save OpenCL kernel binaries
  153. --no-unicode Don't use Unicode characters in TUI
  154. --pass|-p <arg> Password for bitcoin JSON-RPC server
  155. --per-device-stats Force verbose mode and output per-device statistics
  156. --pool-proxy|-x Proxy URI to use for connecting to just the previous-defined pool
  157. --protocol-dump|-P Verbose dump of protocol-level activities
  158. --queue|-Q <arg> Minimum number of work items to have queued (0 - 10) (default: 1)
  159. --quiet|-q Disable logging output, display status and errors
  160. --real-quiet Disable all output
  161. --remove-disabled Remove disabled devices entirely, as if they didn't exist
  162. --request-diff <arg> Request a specific difficulty from pools (default: 1.0)
  163. --retries <arg> Number of times to retry failed submissions before giving up (-1 means never) (default: -1)
  164. --rotate <arg> Change multipool strategy from failover to regularly rotate at N minutes (default: 0)
  165. --round-robin Change multipool strategy from failover to round robin on failure
  166. --scan-time|-s <arg> Upper bound on time spent scanning current work, in seconds (default: 60)
  167. --sched-start <arg> Set a time of day in HH:MM to start mining (a once off without a stop time)
  168. --sched-stop <arg> Set a time of day in HH:MM to stop mining (will quit without a start time)
  169. --scrypt Use the scrypt algorithm for mining (non-bitcoin)
  170. --sharelog <arg> Append share log to file
  171. --shares <arg> Quit after mining N shares (default: unlimited)
  172. --show-processors Show per processor statistics in summary
  173. --skip-security-checks <arg> Skip security checks sometimes to save bandwidth; only check 1/<arg>th of the time (default: never skip)
  174. --socks-proxy <arg> Set socks4 proxy (host:port) for all pools without a proxy specified
  175. --submit-threads Minimum number of concurrent share submissions (default: 64)
  176. --syslog Use system log for output messages (default: standard error)
  177. --temp-cutoff <arg> Maximum temperature devices will be allowed to reach before being disabled, one value or comma separated list
  178. --temp-hysteresis <arg> Set how much the temperature can fluctuate outside limits when automanaging speeds (default: 3)
  179. --temp-target <arg> Target temperature when automatically managing fan and clock speeds
  180. --text-only|-T Disable ncurses formatted screen output
  181. --unicode Use Unicode characters in TUI
  182. --url|-o <arg> URL for bitcoin JSON-RPC server
  183. --user|-u <arg> Username for bitcoin JSON-RPC server
  184. --verbose Log verbose output to stderr as well as status output
  185. --userpass|-O <arg> Username:Password pair for bitcoin JSON-RPC server
  186. Options for command line only:
  187. --config|-c <arg> Load a JSON-format configuration file
  188. See example.conf for an example configuration.
  189. --help|-h Print this message
  190. --version|-V Display version and exit
  191. GPU only options:
  192. --auto-fan Automatically adjust all GPU fan speeds to maintain a target temperature
  193. --auto-gpu Automatically adjust all GPU engine clock speeds to maintain a target temperature
  194. --gpu-threads|-g <arg> Number of threads per GPU (1 - 10) (default: 2)
  195. --gpu-dyninterval <arg> Set the refresh interval in ms for GPUs using dynamic intensity (default: 7)
  196. --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)
  197. --gpu-fan <arg> GPU fan percentage range - one value, range and/or comma separated list (e.g. 25-85,85,65)
  198. --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)
  199. --gpu-memclock <arg> Set the GPU memory (over)clock in MHz - one value for all or separate by commas for per card.
  200. --gpu-memdiff <arg> Set a fixed difference in clock speed between the GPU and memory in auto-gpu mode
  201. --gpu-platform <arg> Select OpenCL platform ID to use for GPU mining
  202. --gpu-powertune <arg> Set the GPU powertune percentage - one value for all or separate by commas for per card.
  203. --gpu-reorder Attempt to reorder GPU devices according to PCI Bus ID
  204. --gpu-vddc <arg> Set the GPU voltage in Volts - one value for all or separate by commas for per card.
  205. --intensity|-I <arg> Intensity of GPU scanning (d or -10 -> 10, default: d to maintain desktop interactivity)
  206. --kernel|-k <arg> Override kernel to use (diablo, poclbm, phatk or diakgcn) - one value or comma separated
  207. --ndevs|-n Enumerate number of detected GPUs and exit
  208. --no-adl Disable the ATI display library used for monitoring and setting GPU parameters
  209. --temp-overheat <arg> Overheat temperature when automatically managing fan and GPU speeds (default: 85)
  210. --vectors|-v <arg> Override detected optimal vector (1, 2 or 4) - one value or comma separated list
  211. --worksize|-w <arg> Override detected optimal worksize - one value or comma separated list
  212. GPU mining can be disabled by specifying the -S opencl:noauto option.
  213. See README.GPU for more information regarding GPU mining.
  214. scrypt only options:
  215. --lookup-gap <arg> Set GPU lookup gap for scrypt mining, comma separated
  216. --shaders <arg> GPU shaders per card for tuning scrypt, comma separated
  217. --thread-concurrency <arg> Set GPU thread concurrency for scrypt mining, comma separated
  218. See README.scrypt for more information regarding (non-bitcoin) scrypt mining.
  219. ASIC/FPGA mining boards (BitForce, Icarus, ModMiner, X6500, ZTEX) only options:
  220. --scan-serial|-S <arg> Serial port to probe for mining devices
  221. To use ASICs or FPGAs, you will need to be sure the user BFGMiner is running as
  222. has appropriate permissions. This varies by operating system.
  223. On Gentoo: sudo usermod <username> -a -G uucp
  224. On Ubuntu: sudo usermod <username> -a -G dialout
  225. Note that on GNU/Linux systems, you will usually need to login again before
  226. group changes take effect.
  227. By default, BFGMiner will scan for autodetected devices unless at least one -S
  228. is specified for that driver. If you specify -S and still want BFGMiner to scan,
  229. you must also use "-S auto". If you want to prevent BFGMiner from scanning
  230. without specifying a device, you can use "-S noauto". Note that presently,
  231. autodetection only works on Linux, and might only detect one device depending
  232. on the version of udev being used. If you want to scan all serial ports, you
  233. can use "-S all"; note that this may write data to non-mining devices which may
  234. then behave in unexpected ways!
  235. On Linux, <arg> is usually of the format /dev/ttyUSBn
  236. On Mac OS X, <arg> is usually of the format /dev/cu.usb*
  237. On Windows, <arg> is usually of the format \\.\COMn
  238. (where n = the correct device number for the device)
  239. The official supplied binaries are compiled with support for all ASICs/FPGAs.
  240. To force the code to only attempt detection with a specific driver,
  241. prepend the argument with the driver name followed by a colon.
  242. For example, "icarus:/dev/ttyUSB0" or "bitforce:\\.\COM5"
  243. or using the short name: "ica:/dev/ttyUSB0" or "bfl:\\.\COM5"
  244. Some FPGAs do not have non-volatile storage for their bitstreams and must be
  245. programmed every power cycle, including first use. To use these devices, you
  246. must download the BFGMiner source archive (bfgminer-x.y.z.zip) and copy the
  247. "bitstreams" directory into your BFGMiner application directory.
  248. See README.ASIC and README.FPGA for more information regarding these.
  249. CPU only options (not included in binaries):
  250. --algo|-a <arg> Specify sha256 implementation for CPU mining:
  251. fastauto* Quick benchmark at startup to pick a working algorithm
  252. auto Benchmark at startup and pick fastest algorithm
  253. c Linux kernel sha256, implemented in C
  254. 4way tcatm's 4-way SSE2 implementation
  255. via VIA padlock implementation
  256. cryptopp Crypto++ C/C++ implementation
  257. cryptopp_asm32 Crypto++ 32-bit assembler implementation
  258. sse2_32 SSE2 32 bit implementation for i386 machines
  259. sse2_64 SSE2 64 bit implementation for x86_64 machines
  260. sse4_64 SSE4.1 64 bit implementation for x86_64 machines
  261. altivec_4way Altivec implementation for PowerPC G4 and G5 machines
  262. --cpu-threads|-t <arg> Number of miner CPU threads (default: 4)
  263. ---
  264. WHILE RUNNING:
  265. The following options are available while running with a single keypress:
  266. [M]anage devices [P]ool management [S]ettings [D]isplay options [H]elp [Q]uit
  267. M gives you something like:
  268. Select processor to manage using up/down arrow keys
  269. BFL 0a: 78.0C | 3.64/ 3.70/ 2.91Gh/s | A:46 R:0+0(none) HW: 2/none
  270. BitFORCE SHA256 SC from Butterfly Labs
  271. Serial: FTWN6T67
  272. [D]isable
  273. Or press Enter when done
  274. P gives you:
  275. Current pool management strategy: Failover
  276. [F]ailover only disabled
  277. [A]dd pool [R]emove pool [D]isable pool [E]nable pool
  278. [C]hange management strategy [S]witch pool [I]nformation
  279. S gives you:
  280. [L]ongpoll: On
  281. [Q]ueue: 1
  282. [S]cantime: 60
  283. [E]xpiry: 120
  284. [R]etries: -1
  285. [W]rite config file
  286. [B]FGMiner restart
  287. D gives you:
  288. [N]ormal [C]lear [S]ilent mode (disable all output)
  289. [D]ebug:off
  290. [P]er-device:off
  291. [Q]uiet:off
  292. [V]erbose:off
  293. [R]PC debug:off
  294. [W]orkTime details:off
  295. co[M]pact: off
  296. [L]og interval:5
  297. Q quits the application.
  298. The running log shows output like this:
  299. [2013-02-13 00:26:30] Accepted 1758e8df BFL 0 pool 0 Diff 10/1
  300. [2013-02-13 00:26:32] Accepted 1d9a2199 MMQ 0a pool 0 Diff 8/1
  301. [2013-02-13 00:26:33] Accepted b1304924 ZTX 0 pool 0 Diff 1/1
  302. [2013-02-13 00:26:33] Accepted c3ad22f4 XBS 0b pool 0 Diff 1/1
  303. The 8 byte hex value are the 2nd set of 32 bits from the share submitted to the
  304. pool. The 2 diff values are the actual difficulty target that share reached
  305. followed by the difficulty target the pool is currently asking for.
  306. ---
  307. Also many issues and FAQs are covered in the forum threads
  308. dedicated to this program,
  309. https://bitcointalk.org/?topic=78192
  310. https://bitcointalk.org/?topic=168174
  311. The block display shows:
  312. Block: ...1b89f8d3 #217364 Diff:7.67M (54.93Th/s) Started: [17:17:22]
  313. This shows a short stretch of the current block, the next block's height and
  314. difficulty (including the network hashrate that difficulty represents), and when
  315. the search for the new block started.
  316. The BFGMiner status line shows:
  317. ST:1 F:0 NB:1 AS:0 BW:[ 75/241 B/s] E:2.42 U:22.53/m BS:2.71k
  318. ST is STaged work items (ready to use).
  319. F is network Failure occasions (server down or slow to provide work)
  320. NB is New Blocks detected on the network
  321. AS is Active Submissions (shares in the process of submitting)
  322. BW is BandWidth usage on the network
  323. E is Efficiency defined as number of shares accepted (multiplied by their
  324. difficulty) per 2 KB of bandwidth
  325. U is Utility defined as the number of shares / minute
  326. BS is the all time Best Share difficulty you've found
  327. The totals line shows the following:
  328. 6/32 75.0C | 171.3/170.8/171.2Gh/s | A:729 R:8+0(.01%) HW:0/.81%
  329. Each column is as follows:
  330. The number of devices and processors currently mining
  331. Hottest temperature reported by any processor
  332. 5 second exponentially decaying average hash rate
  333. An all time average hash rate
  334. An all time average hash rate based on actual accepted shares
  335. The number of Accepted shares
  336. The number of Rejected shares and stale shares discarded (never submitted),
  337. and the percentage these are of total found.
  338. The number of HardWare errors, and percentage invalid of nonces returned
  339. Each device shows:
  340. BFL 2: 74.0C | 51.97/58.90/57.17Gh/s | A:847 R:15+0(.54%) HW:496/.91%
  341. Columns are the same as in the totals line.
  342. ---
  343. MULTIPOOL
  344. FAILOVER STRATEGIES WITH MULTIPOOL:
  345. A number of different strategies for dealing with multipool setups are
  346. available. Each has their advantages and disadvantages so multiple strategies
  347. are available by user choice, as per the following list:
  348. FAILOVER:
  349. The default strategy is failover. This means that if you input a number of
  350. pools, it will try to use them as a priority list, moving away from the 1st
  351. to the 2nd, 2nd to 3rd and so on. If any of the earlier pools recover, it will
  352. move back to the higher priority ones.
  353. ROUND ROBIN:
  354. This strategy only moves from one pool to the next when the current one falls
  355. idle and makes no attempt to move otherwise.
  356. ROTATE:
  357. This strategy moves at user-defined intervals from one active pool to the next,
  358. skipping pools that are idle.
  359. LOAD BALANCE:
  360. This strategy sends work to all the pools to maintain optimum load. The most
  361. efficient pools will tend to get a lot more shares. If any pool falls idle, the
  362. rest will tend to take up the slack keeping the miner busy.
  363. BALANCE:
  364. This strategy monitors the amount of difficulty 1 shares solved for each pool
  365. and uses it to try to end up doing the same amount of work for all pools.
  366. ---
  367. SOLO MINING
  368. BFGMiner supports solo mining with any GBT-compatible bitcoin node (such as
  369. bitcoind). To use this mode, you need to specify the URL of your bitcoind node
  370. using the usual pool options (--url, --userpass, etc), and the --coinbase-addr
  371. option to specify the Bitcoin address you wish to receive the block rewards
  372. mined. If you are solo mining with more than one instance of BFGMiner (or any
  373. other software) per payout address, you must also specify data using the
  374. --coinbase-sig option to ensure each miner is working on unique work. Note
  375. that this data will be publicly seen if your miner finds a block using any
  376. GBT-enabled pool, even when not solo mining (such as failover). If your
  377. bitcoin node does not support longpolling (for example, bitcoind 0.7.x), you
  378. should consider setting up a failover pool to provide you with block
  379. notifications.
  380. Example solo mining usage:
  381. bfgminer -o http://localhost:8332 -u username -p password \
  382. --coinbase-addr 1QATWksNFGeUJCWBrN4g6hGM178Lovm7Wh \
  383. --coinbase-sig "rig1: This is Joe's block!"
  384. ---
  385. LOGGING
  386. BFGMiner will log to stderr if it detects stderr is being redirected to a file.
  387. To enable logging simply add 2>logfile.txt to your command line and logfile.txt
  388. will contain the logged output at the log level you specify (normal, verbose,
  389. debug etc.)
  390. In other words if you would normally use:
  391. ./bfgminer -o xxx -u yyy -p zzz
  392. if you use
  393. ./bfgminer -o xxx -u yyy -p zzz 2>logfile.txt
  394. it will log to a file called logfile.txt and otherwise work the same.
  395. There is also the -m option on linux which will spawn a command of your choice
  396. and pipe the output directly to that command.
  397. The WorkTime details 'debug' option adds details on the end of each line
  398. displayed for Accepted or Rejected work done. An example would be:
  399. <-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
  400. The first 2 hex codes are the previous block hash, the rest are reported in
  401. seconds unless stated otherwise:
  402. The previous hash is followed by the getwork mode used M:X where X is one of
  403. P:Pool, T:Test Pool, L:LP or B:Benchmark,
  404. then D:d.ddd is the difficulty required to get a share from the work,
  405. then G:hh:mm:ss:n.nnn, which is when the getwork or LP was sent to the pool and
  406. the n.nnn is how long it took to reply,
  407. followed by 'O' on its own if it is an original getwork, or 'C:n.nnn' if it was
  408. a clone with n.nnn stating how long after the work was recieved that it was
  409. cloned, (m.mmm) is how long from when the original work was received until work
  410. started,
  411. W:n.nnn is how long the work took to process until it was ready to submit,
  412. (m.mmm) is how long from ready to submit to actually doing the submit, this is
  413. usually 0.000 unless there was a problem with submitting the work,
  414. S:n.nnn is how long it took to submit the completed work and await the reply,
  415. R:hh:mm:ss is the actual time the work submit reply was received
  416. If you start BFGMiner with the --sharelog option, you can get detailed
  417. information for each share found. The argument to the option may be "-" for
  418. standard output (not advisable with the ncurses UI), any valid positive number
  419. for that file descriptor, or a filename.
  420. To log share data to a file named "share.log", you can use either:
  421. ./bfgminer --sharelog 50 -o xxx -u yyy -p zzz 50>share.log
  422. ./bfgminer --sharelog share.log -o xxx -u yyy -p zzz
  423. For every share found, data will be logged in a CSV (Comma Separated Value)
  424. format:
  425. timestamp,disposition,target,pool,dev,thr,sharehash,sharedata
  426. For example (this is wrapped, but it's all on one line for real):
  427. 1335313090,reject,
  428. ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff00000000,
  429. http://localhost:8337,GPU0,0,
  430. 6f983c918f3299b58febf95ec4d0c7094ed634bc13754553ec34fc3800000000,
  431. 00000001a0980aff4ce4a96d53f4b89a2d5f0e765c978640fe24372a000001c5
  432. 000000004a4366808f81d44f26df3d69d7dc4b3473385930462d9ab707b50498
  433. f681634a4f1f63d01a0cd43fb338000000000080000000000000000000000000
  434. 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000080020000
  435. ---
  436. RPC API
  437. For RPC API details see the README.RPC file
  438. ---
  439. FAQ
  440. Q: Why can't BFGMiner find lib<something> even after I installed it from source
  441. code?
  442. A: On UNIX-like operating systems, you often need to run some command to reload
  443. its library caches such as "ldconfig" or similar. A couple of systems (such as
  444. Fedora) ship with /usr/local/lib missing from their library search path. In
  445. this case, you can usually add it like this:
  446. echo /usr/local/lib >/etc/ld.so.conf.d/local.conf
  447. Please note that if your libraries installed into lib64 instead of lib, you
  448. should use that in the ld.so config file above instead.
  449. Q: BFGMiner segfaults when I change my shell window size.
  450. A: Older versions of libncurses have a bug to do with refreshing a window
  451. after a size change. Upgrading to a new version of curses will fix it.
  452. Q: Can I mine on servers from different networks (eg smartcoin and bitcoin) at
  453. the same time?
  454. A: No, BFGMiner keeps a database of the block it's working on to ensure it does
  455. not work on stale blocks, and having different blocks from two networks would
  456. make it invalidate the work from each other.
  457. Q: Can I configure BFGMiner to mine with different login credentials or pools
  458. for each separate device?
  459. A: No.
  460. Q: Can I put multiple pools in the config file?
  461. A: Yes, check the example.conf file. Alternatively, set up everything either on
  462. the command line or via the menu after startup and choose settings->write
  463. config file and the file will be loaded one each startup.
  464. Q: The build fails with gcc is unable to build a binary.
  465. A: Remove the "-march=native" component of your CFLAGS as your version of GCC
  466. does not support it.
  467. Q: Can you implement feature X?
  468. A: I can, but time is limited, and people who donate are more likely to get
  469. their feature requests implemented.
  470. Q: Work keeps going to my backup pool even though my primary pool hasn't
  471. failed?
  472. A: BFGMiner checks for conditions where the primary pool is lagging and will
  473. pass some work to the backup servers under those conditions. The reason for
  474. doing this is to try its absolute best to keep the GPUs working on something
  475. useful and not risk idle periods. You can disable this behaviour with the
  476. option --failover-only.
  477. Q: Is this a virus?
  478. A: BFGMiner is being packaged with other trojan scripts and some antivirus
  479. software is falsely accusing bfgminer.exe as being the actual virus, rather
  480. than whatever it is being packaged with. If you installed BFGMiner yourself,
  481. then you do not have a virus on your computer. Complain to your antivirus
  482. software company. They seem to be flagging even source code now from BFGMiner
  483. as viruses, even though text source files can't do anything by themself.
  484. Q: Can you modify the display to include more of one thing in the output and
  485. less of another, or can you change the quiet mode or can you add yet another
  486. output mode?
  487. A: Everyone will always have their own view of what's important to monitor.
  488. The defaults are very sane and I have very little interest in changing this
  489. any further.
  490. Q: Why is my efficiency above/below 1.00?
  491. A: Efficiency simply means how many shares you return for the amount of
  492. bandwidth used. It does not correlate with efficient use of your hardware, and
  493. is a measure of a combination of hardware speed, block luck, pool design and
  494. other factors.
  495. Q: What are the best parameters to pass for X pool/hardware/device.
  496. A: Virtually always, the DEFAULT parameters give the best results. Most user
  497. defined settings lead to worse performance. The ONLY thing most users should
  498. need to set is the Intensity for GPUs.
  499. Q: What happened to CPU mining?
  500. A: Being increasingly irrelevant for most users, and a maintenance issue, it is
  501. no longer under active development and will not be supported unless someone
  502. steps up to help maintain it. No binary builds supporting CPU mining will be
  503. released for Windows but CPU mining can be built into BFGMiner when it is
  504. compiled. For builds which do support CPU mining, it is still disabled by
  505. default, and must be enabled using the -S cpu:auto option.
  506. Q: GUI version?
  507. A: No. The RPC interface makes it possible for someone else to write one
  508. though.
  509. Q: I'm having an issue. What debugging information should I provide?
  510. A: Start BFGMiner with your regular commands and add -D -T --verbose and provide
  511. the full startup output and a summary of your hardware, operating system, ATI
  512. driver version and ATI stream version.
  513. Q: Can I mine with BFGMiner on a Mac?
  514. A: BFGMiner will compile on OS X, but the performance of GPU mining is
  515. compromised due to the OpenCL implementation on OS X, there is no temperature or
  516. fanspeed monitoring, and the cooling design of most Macs, despite having
  517. powerful GPUs, will usually not cope with constant usage leading to a high risk
  518. of thermal damage. It is highly recommended not to mine on a Mac unless it is to
  519. a USB device.
  520. Q: My network gets slower and slower and then dies for a minute?
  521. A; Try the --net-delay option.
  522. Q: How do I tune for P2Pool?
  523. A: P2Pool has very rapid expiration of work and new blocks, it is suggested you
  524. decrease intensity by 1 from your optimal value, and decrease GPU threads to 1
  525. with -g 1. It is also recommended to use --failover-only since the work is
  526. effectively like a different block chain. If mining with a Mini Rig, it is worth
  527. adding the --bfl-range option.
  528. Q: Are OpenCL kernels from other mining software useable in BFGMiner?
  529. A: No, the APIs are slightly different between the different software and they
  530. will not work.
  531. Q: I run PHP on windows to access the API with the example miner.php. Why does
  532. it fail when php is installed properly but I only get errors about Sockets not
  533. working in the logs?
  534. A: http://us.php.net/manual/en/sockets.installation.php
  535. Q: What is a PGA?
  536. A: At the moment, BFGMiner supports 5 FPGAs: BitForce, Icarus, ModMiner, X6500,
  537. and ZTEX.
  538. They are Field-Programmable Gate Arrays that have been programmed to do Bitcoin
  539. mining. Since the acronym needs to be only 3 characters, the "Field-" part has
  540. been skipped. "PGA" is also used for devices built with Application-Specific
  541. Integrated Circuits (ASICs).
  542. Q: What is an ASIC?
  543. A: BFGMiner currently supports 2 ASICs: Avalon and BitForce SC devices. They are
  544. Application Specify Integrated Circuit devices and provide the highest
  545. performance per unit power due to being dedicated to only one purpose.
  546. Q: How do I get my BFL/Icarus/Lancelot/Cairnsmore device to auto-recognise?
  547. A: On Linux, if the /dev/ttyUSB* devices don't automatically appear, the only
  548. thing that needs to be done is to load the driver for them:
  549. BitForce: sudo modprobe ftdi_sio vendor=0x0403 product=0x6014
  550. Erupter: sudo modprobe cp210x vendor=0x10c4 product=0xea60
  551. Icarus: sudo modprobe pl2303 vendor=0x067b product=0x0230
  552. Lancelot: sudo modprobe ftdi_sio vendor=0x0403 product=0x6001
  553. Cairnsmore: sudo modprobe ftdi_sio vendor=0x0403 product=0x8350
  554. On Windows, you must install the driver required for the device:
  555. FTDI: http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm
  556. Erupter: http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/pages/usbtouartbridgevcpdrivers.aspx
  557. Icarus: http://prolificusa.com/pl-2303hx-drivers/
  558. Q: On Linux I can see the /dev/ttyUSB* devices for my ICA/BFL/MMQ FPGA, but
  559. BFGMiner can't mine on them
  560. A: Make sure you have the required priviledges to access the /dev/ttyUSB*
  561. devices:
  562. sudo ls -las /dev/ttyUSB*
  563. will give output like:
  564. 0 crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 188, 0 2012-09-11 13:49 /dev/ttyUSB0
  565. This means your account must have the group 'dialout' or root priviledges
  566. To permanently give your account the 'dialout' group:
  567. sudo usermod -G dialout -a `whoami`
  568. Then logout and back in again
  569. Q: Can I mine scrypt with FPGAs or ASICs?
  570. A: No.
  571. Q: Why does BFGMiner show difficulty 0 when mining scrypt?
  572. A: BFGMiner consistently uses pdiff measurement for difficulty everywhere,
  573. rather than other measurements that may exist. For scrypt, pdiff 1 is very
  574. difficult, and higher get exponentially harder. It is unlikely you will want to
  575. use pdiff 1+ with scrypt until you have FPGAs and/or ASICs for it.
  576. Q: What is stratum and how do I use it?
  577. A: Stratum is a protocol designed to reduce resources for mining pools at the
  578. cost of keeping the miner in the dark and blindly transferring his mining
  579. authority to the pool. It is a return to the problems of the old centralized
  580. "getwork" protocol, but capable of scaling to hardware of any speed like the
  581. standard GBT protocol. If a pool uses stratum instead of GBT, BFGMiner will
  582. automatically detect it and switch to the support as advertised if it can.
  583. Stratum uses direct TCP connections to the pool and thus it will NOT currently
  584. work through a http proxy but will work via a socks proxy if you need to use
  585. one. If you input the stratum port directly into your configuration, or use the
  586. special prefix "stratum+tcp://" instead of "http://", BFGMiner will ONLY try to
  587. use stratum protocol mining.
  588. Q: Why don't the statistics add up: Accepted, Rejected, Stale, Hardware Errors,
  589. Diff1 Work, etc. when mining greater than 1 difficulty shares?
  590. A: As an example, if you look at 'Difficulty Accepted' in the RPC API, the number
  591. of difficulty shares accepted does not usually exactly equal the amount of work
  592. done to find them. If you are mining at 8 difficulty, then you would expect on
  593. average to find one 8 difficulty share, per 8 single difficulty shares found.
  594. However, the number is actually random and converges over time, it is an average,
  595. not an exact value, thus you may find more or less than the expected average.
  596. ---
  597. This code is provided entirely free of charge by the programmer in his spare
  598. time so donations would be greatly appreciated. Please consider donating to the
  599. address below.
  600. Luke-Jr <luke-jr+bfgminer@utopios.org>
  601. 1QATWksNFGeUJCWBrN4g6hGM178Lovm7Wh