README 39 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. Single pool:
  26. bfgminer -o http://pool:port -u username -p password
  27. Multiple pools:
  28. bfgminer -o http://pool1:port -u pool1username -p pool1password -o http://pool2:port -u pool2usernmae -p pool2password
  29. Single pool with a standard http proxy:
  30. bfgminer -o http://pool:port -x http://proxy:port -u username -p password
  31. Single pool with a socks5 proxy:
  32. bfgminer -o http://pool:port -x socks5://proxy:port -u username -p password
  33. The list of proxy types are:
  34. http: standard http 1.1 proxy
  35. socks4: socks4 proxy
  36. socks5: socks5 proxy
  37. socks4a: socks4a proxy
  38. socks5h: socks5 proxy using a hostname
  39. Proxy support requires cURL version 7.21.7 or newer.
  40. If you specify the --socks-proxy option to BFGMiner, it will only be applied to
  41. all pools that don't specify their own proxy setting like above
  42. After saving configuration from the menu ([S],[W]) you do not need to give
  43. BFGMiner any arguments, it will load your configuration instead.
  44. Any configuration file may also contain a single
  45. "include" : "filename"
  46. to recursively include another configuration file.
  47. Writing the configuration will save all settings from all files to the output
  48. configuration file.
  49. ---
  50. BUILDING BFGMINER
  51. Everything you probably want, condensed:
  52. build-essential autoconf automake libtool pkg-config libcurl4-gnutls-dev
  53. libjansson-dev uthash-dev libncursesw5-dev libudev-dev libusb-1.0-0-dev
  54. libevent-dev libmicrohttpd-dev hidapi
  55. Dependencies:
  56. autoconf http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/
  57. automake http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/
  58. libtool http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/
  59. pkg-config http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/pkg-config
  60. ...or pkgconf https://github.com/pkgconf/pkgconf
  61. libcurl4-gnutls-dev http://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/
  62. libjansson-dev 2.0+ http://www.digip.org/jansson/
  63. uthash-dev 1.9.4+ http://troydhanson.github.io/uthash/
  64. Optional Dependencies:
  65. Text-User-Interface (TUI): curses dev library; any one of:
  66. libncurses5-dev http://www.gnu.org/software/ncurses/ (Linux and Mac)
  67. libncursesw5-dev ^ same
  68. libpdcurses http://pdcurses.sourceforge.net/ (Linux/Mac/Windows)
  69. Multiple ASIC/FPGA autodetection: any one of:
  70. sysfs (built-in to most Linux kernels, just mount on /sys)
  71. libudev-dev http://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/libudev/
  72. HashBuster Nano & NanoFury USB devices:
  73. hidapi https://github.com/signal11/hidapi
  74. getwork server for Block Erupter Blades:
  75. libmicrohttpd-dev 0.9.5+ http://www.gnu.org/software/libmicrohttpd/
  76. Stratum proxy:
  77. libevent 2.0.3+ http://libevent.org/
  78. HashBuster Micro, Klondike, X6500 and ZTEX FPGA boards:
  79. libusb-1.0-0-dev http://www.libusb.org/
  80. Video card GPU mining (free):
  81. llvm 3.3+ http://llvm.org/
  82. clang 3.3+ http://clang.llvm.org/
  83. libclc http://libclc.llvm.org/
  84. Mesa 9.2.0+ http://www.mesa3d.org/
  85. ATi/AMD video card GPU mining (non-free):
  86. AMD APP SDK http://developer.amd.com/tools/heterogeneous-computing/amd-accelerated-parallel-processing-app-sdk/
  87. CPU mining optimized assembly algorithms:
  88. yasm 1.0.1+ http://yasm.tortall.net/
  89. BFGMiner specific configuration options:
  90. --disable-avalon Compile support for Avalon (default enabled)
  91. --enable-cpumining Build with cpu mining support(default disabled)
  92. --enable-opencl Compile support for OpenCL (default disabled)
  93. --disable-adl Build without ADL monitoring (default enabled)
  94. --disable-bitfury Compile support for Bitfury (default enabled)
  95. --enable-bfsb Compile support for BFSB (default disabled)
  96. --disable-bigpic Compile support for Big Picture Mining USB (default
  97. enabled)
  98. --disable-littlefury Compile support for LittleFury (default enabled)
  99. --disable-nanofury Compile support for NanoFury (default enabled)
  100. --disable-hashbuster Compile support for HashBuster Nano (default
  101. enabled)
  102. --disable-hashbuster2 Compile support for HashBuster Micro (default if
  103. libusb)
  104. --enable-metabank Compile support for Metabank (default disabled)
  105. --disable-bitforce Compile support for BitForce (default enabled)
  106. --disable-icarus Compile support for Icarus (default enabled)
  107. --disable-klondike Compile support for Klondike (default enabled)
  108. --enable-knc Compile support for KnC (default disabled)
  109. --disable-modminer Compile support for ModMiner (default enabled)
  110. --disable-x6500 Compile support for X6500 (default enabled)
  111. --disable-ztex Compile support for ZTEX (default if libusb)
  112. --enable-scrypt Compile support for scrypt mining (default disabled)
  113. --with-system-libblkmaker Use system libblkmaker rather than bundled one
  114. (default disabled)
  115. --with-udevrulesdir=DIR Install udev rules into this directory
  116. --without-uio Compile support for PCI devices via Linux UIO
  117. interface (default enabled)
  118. --without-vfio Compile support for PCI devices via Linux VFIO
  119. interface (default enabled)
  120. --without-sensors Build with libsensors monitoring (default enabled)
  121. --without-curses Compile support for curses TUI (default enabled)
  122. --without-libmicrohttpd Compile support for libmicrohttpd getwork server
  123. (default enabled)
  124. --without-libevent Compile support for libevent stratum server (default
  125. enabled)
  126. --without-libusb Compile using libusb (default enabled)
  127. --without-libudev Autodetect FPGAs using libudev (default enabled)
  128. Basic *nix build instructions:
  129. ./autogen.sh # only needed if building from git repo
  130. ./configure
  131. make
  132. No installation is necessary. You may run BFGMiner from the build directory
  133. directly.
  134. On Mac OS X, you can use Homebrew to install the dependency libraries. When you
  135. are ready to build BFGMiner, you may need to point the configure script at one
  136. or more pkg-config paths. For example:
  137. ./configure PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/local/opt/curl/lib/pkgconfig:/usr/local/opt/jansson/lib/pkgconfig
  138. Native WIN32 build instructions: see windows-build.txt
  139. If you build BFGMiner from source, it is recommended that you run it from the
  140. build directory. On *nix, you will usually need to prepend your command with a
  141. path like this (if you are in the bfgminer directory already): ./bfgminer
  142. To install system wide run 'sudo make install' or 'make install' as root. You
  143. can then run from any terminal.
  144. ---
  145. Usage instructions: Run "bfgminer --help" to see options:
  146. Usage: bfgminer [-DdElmpPQqUsTouOchnV]
  147. Options for both config file and command line:
  148. --api-allow Allow API access (if enabled) only to the given list of [W:]IP[/Prefix] address[/subnets]
  149. This overrides --api-network and you must specify 127.0.0.1 if it is required
  150. W: in front of the IP address gives that address privileged access to all api commands
  151. --api-description Description placed in the API status header (default: BFGMiner version)
  152. --api-groups API one letter groups G:cmd:cmd[,P:cmd:*...]
  153. See README.RPC for usage
  154. --api-listen Listen for API requests (default: disabled)
  155. By default any command that does not just display data returns access denied
  156. See --api-allow to overcome this
  157. --api-mcast Enable API Multicast listener, default: disabled
  158. --api-mcast-addr <arg> API Multicast listen address (default: "224.0.0.75")
  159. --api-mcast-code <arg> Code expected in the API Multicast message, don't use '-' (default: "FTW")
  160. --api-mcast-port <arg> API Multicast listen port (default: 4028)
  161. --api-network Allow API (if enabled) to listen on/for any address (default: only 127.0.0.1)
  162. --api-port Port number of miner API (default: 4028)
  163. --balance Change multipool strategy from failover to even share balance
  164. --benchmark Run BFGMiner in benchmark mode - produces no shares
  165. --chroot-dir <arg> Chroot to a directory right after startup
  166. --cmd-idle <arg> Execute a command when a device is allowed to be idle (rest or wait)
  167. --cmd-sick <arg> Execute a command when a device is declared sick
  168. --cmd-dead <arg> Execute a command when a device is declared dead
  169. --coinbase-addr <arg> Set coinbase payout address for solo mining
  170. --coinbase-sig <arg> Set coinbase signature when possible
  171. --compact Use compact display without per device statistics
  172. --debug|-D Enable debug output
  173. --debuglog Enable debug logging
  174. --device|-d <arg> Enable only devices matching pattern (default: all)
  175. --disable-rejecting Automatically disable pools that continually reject shares
  176. --http-port <arg> Port number to listen on for HTTP getwork miners (-1 means disabled) (default: -1)
  177. --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)
  178. --expiry-lp <arg> Upper bound on how many seconds after getting work we consider a share from it stale (with longpoll active) (default: 3600)
  179. --failover-only Don't leak work to backup pools when primary pool is lagging
  180. --force-dev-init Always initialize devices when possible (such as bitstream uploads to some FPGAs)
  181. --kernel-path|-K <arg> Specify a path to where bitstream and kernel files are (default: "/usr/local/bin")
  182. --load-balance Change multipool strategy from failover to quota based balance
  183. --log|-l <arg> Interval in seconds between log output (default: 5)
  184. --log-file|-L <arg> Append log file for output messages
  185. --log-microseconds Include microseconds in log output
  186. --monitor|-m <arg> Use custom pipe cmd for output messages
  187. --net-delay Impose small delays in networking to avoid overloading slow routers
  188. --no-gbt Disable getblocktemplate support
  189. --no-getwork Disable getwork support
  190. --no-longpoll Disable X-Long-Polling support
  191. --no-restart Do not attempt to restart devices that hang
  192. --no-stratum Disable Stratum detection
  193. --no-submit-stale Don't submit shares if they are detected as stale
  194. --no-opencl-binaries Don't attempt to use or save OpenCL kernel binaries
  195. --no-unicode Don't use Unicode characters in TUI
  196. --noncelog <arg> Create log of all nonces found
  197. --pass|-p <arg> Password for bitcoin JSON-RPC server
  198. --per-device-stats Force verbose mode and output per-device statistics
  199. --pool-proxy|-x Proxy URI to use for connecting to just the previous-defined pool
  200. --protocol-dump|-P Verbose dump of protocol-level activities
  201. --queue|-Q <arg> Minimum number of work items to have queued (0 - 10) (default: 1)
  202. --quiet|-q Disable logging output, display status and errors
  203. --real-quiet Disable all output
  204. --remove-disabled Remove disabled devices entirely, as if they didn't exist
  205. --request-diff <arg> Request a specific difficulty from pools (default: 1.0)
  206. --retries <arg> Number of times to retry failed submissions before giving up (-1 means never) (default: -1)
  207. --rotate <arg> Change multipool strategy from failover to regularly rotate at N minutes (default: 0)
  208. --round-robin Change multipool strategy from failover to round robin on failure
  209. --scan|-S <arg> Configure how to scan for mining devices
  210. --scan-time|-s <arg> Upper bound on time spent scanning current work, in seconds (default: 60)
  211. --sched-start <arg> Set a time of day in HH:MM to start mining (a once off without a stop time)
  212. --sched-stop <arg> Set a time of day in HH:MM to stop mining (will quit without a start time)
  213. --scrypt Use the scrypt algorithm for mining (non-bitcoin)
  214. --set-device <arg> Set default parameters on devices; eg, NFY:osc6_bits=50
  215. --setuid <arg> Username of an unprivileged user to run as
  216. --sharelog <arg> Append share log to file
  217. --shares <arg> Quit after mining N shares (default: unlimited)
  218. --show-processors Show per processor statistics in summary
  219. --skip-security-checks <arg> Skip security checks sometimes to save bandwidth; only check 1/<arg>th of the time (default: never skip)
  220. --socks-proxy <arg> Set socks proxy (host:port) for all pools without a proxy specified
  221. --stratum-port <arg> Port number to listen on for stratum miners (-1 means disabled) (default: -1)
  222. --submit-threads Minimum number of concurrent share submissions (default: 64)
  223. --syslog Use system log for output messages (default: standard error)
  224. --temp-cutoff <arg> Maximum temperature devices will be allowed to reach before being disabled, one value or comma separated list
  225. --temp-hysteresis <arg> Set how much the temperature can fluctuate outside limits when automanaging speeds (default: 3)
  226. --temp-target <arg> Target temperature when automatically managing fan and clock speeds
  227. --text-only|-T Disable ncurses formatted screen output
  228. --unicode Use Unicode characters in TUI
  229. --url|-o <arg> URL for bitcoin JSON-RPC server
  230. --user|-u <arg> Username for bitcoin JSON-RPC server
  231. --verbose Log verbose output to stderr as well as status output
  232. --weighed-stats Display statistics weighed to difficulty 1
  233. --userpass|-O <arg> Username:Password pair for bitcoin JSON-RPC server
  234. Options for command line only:
  235. --config|-c <arg> Load a JSON-format configuration file
  236. See example.conf for an example configuration.
  237. --help|-h Print this message
  238. --version|-V Display version and exit
  239. GPU only options:
  240. --auto-fan Automatically adjust all GPU fan speeds to maintain a target temperature
  241. --auto-gpu Automatically adjust all GPU engine clock speeds to maintain a target temperature
  242. --gpu-threads|-g <arg> Number of threads per GPU (1 - 10) (default: 2)
  243. --gpu-dyninterval <arg> Set the refresh interval in ms for GPUs using dynamic intensity (default: 7)
  244. --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)
  245. --gpu-fan <arg> GPU fan percentage range - one value, range and/or comma separated list (e.g. 25-85,85,65)
  246. --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)
  247. --gpu-memclock <arg> Set the GPU memory (over)clock in MHz - one value for all or separate by commas for per card.
  248. --gpu-memdiff <arg> Set a fixed difference in clock speed between the GPU and memory in auto-gpu mode
  249. --gpu-platform <arg> Select OpenCL platform ID to use for GPU mining
  250. --gpu-powertune <arg> Set the GPU powertune percentage - one value for all or separate by commas for per card.
  251. --gpu-reorder Attempt to reorder GPU devices according to PCI Bus ID
  252. --gpu-vddc <arg> Set the GPU voltage in Volts - one value for all or separate by commas for per card.
  253. --intensity|-I <arg> Intensity of GPU scanning (d or -10 -> 10, default: d to maintain desktop interactivity)
  254. --kernel|-k <arg> Override kernel to use (diablo, poclbm, phatk or diakgcn) - one value or comma separated
  255. --no-adl Disable the ATI display library used for monitoring and setting GPU parameters
  256. --temp-overheat <arg> Overheat temperature when automatically managing fan and GPU speeds (default: 85)
  257. --vectors|-v <arg> Override detected optimal vector (1, 2 or 4) - one value or comma separated list
  258. --worksize|-w <arg> Override detected optimal worksize - one value or comma separated list
  259. GPU mining is disabled by default for SHA256d if you have any dedicated mining
  260. devices, but can be enabled explicitly specifying the -S opencl:auto option.
  261. See README.GPU for more information regarding GPU mining.
  262. scrypt only options:
  263. --lookup-gap <arg> Set GPU lookup gap for scrypt mining, comma separated
  264. --shaders <arg> GPU shaders per card for tuning scrypt, comma separated
  265. --thread-concurrency <arg> Set GPU thread concurrency for scrypt mining, comma separated
  266. See README.scrypt for more information regarding (non-bitcoin) scrypt mining.
  267. To use ASICs or FPGAs, you will need to be sure the user BFGMiner is running as
  268. has appropriate permissions. This varies by operating system.
  269. On Linux, with BFGMiner's udev rules: sudo usermod <username> -a -G video
  270. Note that on GNU/Linux systems, you will usually need to login again before
  271. group changes take effect.
  272. By default, BFGMiner will scan for autodetected devices. If you want to prevent
  273. BFGMiner from doing this, you can use "-S noauto". If you want to probe all
  274. serial ports, you can use "-S all"; note that this may write data to non-mining
  275. devices which may then behave in unexpected ways!
  276. On Linux, <arg> is usually of the format /dev/ttyUSBn
  277. On Mac OS X, <arg> is usually of the format /dev/cu.usb*
  278. On Windows, <arg> is usually of the format \\.\COMn
  279. (where n = the correct device number for the device)
  280. The official supplied binaries are compiled with support for all ASICs/FPGAs.
  281. To force the code to only attempt detection with a specific driver,
  282. prepend the argument with the driver name followed by an "at" symbol.
  283. For example, "icarus@/dev/ttyUSB0" or "bitforce@\\.\COM5"
  284. or using the short name: "ica@/dev/ttyUSB0" or "bfl@\\.\COM5"
  285. Some FPGAs do not have non-volatile storage for their bitstreams and must be
  286. programmed every power cycle, including first use. To use these devices, you
  287. must download the proper bitstream from the vendor's website and copy it to the
  288. "bitstreams" directory into your BFGMiner application directory.
  289. See README.ASIC and README.FPGA for more information regarding these.
  290. See README.CPU for information regarding CPU mining.
  291. ---
  292. WHILE RUNNING:
  293. The following options are available while running with a single keypress:
  294. [M]anage devices [P]ool management [S]ettings [D]isplay options [H]elp [Q]uit
  295. M gives you something like:
  296. Select processor to manage using up/down arrow keys
  297. BFL 0a: 78.0C | 3.64/ 3.70/ 2.91Gh/s | A:46 R:0+0(none) HW: 2/none
  298. BitFORCE SHA256 SC from Butterfly Labs
  299. Serial: FTWN6T67
  300. [D]isable
  301. Or press Enter when done
  302. P gives you:
  303. Current pool management strategy: Failover
  304. [F]ailover only disabled
  305. [A]dd pool [R]emove pool [D]isable pool [E]nable pool
  306. [C]hange management strategy [S]witch pool [I]nformation
  307. S gives you:
  308. [L]ongpoll: On
  309. [Q]ueue: 1
  310. [S]cantime: 60
  311. [E]xpiry: 120
  312. [R]etries: -1
  313. [W]rite config file
  314. [B]FGMiner restart
  315. D gives you:
  316. [N]ormal [C]lear [S]ilent mode (disable all output)
  317. [D]ebug:off
  318. [P]er-device:off
  319. [Q]uiet:off
  320. [V]erbose:off
  321. [R]PC debug:off
  322. [W]orkTime details:off
  323. co[M]pact: off
  324. [L]og interval:5
  325. Q quits the application.
  326. The running log shows output similar to that below:
  327. [2013-02-13 00:26:30] Accepted 1758e8df BFL 0 pool 0 Diff 10/1
  328. [2013-02-13 00:26:32] Accepted 1d9a2199 MMQ 0a pool 0 Diff 8/1
  329. [2013-02-13 00:26:33] Accepted b1304924 ZTX 0 pool 0 Diff 1/1
  330. [2013-02-13 00:26:33] Accepted c3ad22f4 XBS 0b pool 0 Diff 1/1
  331. The 8 byte hex value are the 2nd set of 32 bits from the share submitted to the
  332. pool. The 2 diff values are the actual difficulty target that share reached
  333. followed by the difficulty target the pool is currently asking for.
  334. ---
  335. Also many issues and FAQs are covered in the forum threads
  336. dedicated to this program,
  337. https://bitcointalk.org/?topic=78192
  338. https://bitcointalk.org/?topic=168174
  339. The block display shows:
  340. Block: ...1b89f8d3 #217364 Diff:7.67M (54.93Th/s) Started: [17:17:22]
  341. This shows a short stretch of the current block, the next block's height and
  342. difficulty (including the network hashrate that difficulty represents), and when
  343. the search for the new block started.
  344. The BFGMiner status line shows:
  345. ST:1 F:0 NB:1 AS:0 BW:[ 75/241 B/s] E:2.42 I:12.99mBTC/hr BS:2.71k
  346. ST is STaged work items (ready to use).
  347. F is network Failure occasions (server down or slow to provide work)
  348. NB is New Blocks detected on the network
  349. AS is Active Submissions (shares in the process of submitting)
  350. BW is BandWidth usage on the network (received/sent)
  351. E is Efficiency defined as number of shares accepted (multiplied by their
  352. difficulty) per 2 KB of bandwidth
  353. I is expected Income, calculated by actual shares submitted in 100% PPS value
  354. (assumes Bitcoin, does not account for altcoin conversions!)
  355. BS is the all time Best Share difficulty you've found
  356. The totals line shows the following:
  357. 6/32 75.0C | 171.3/170.8/171.2Gh/s | A:729 R:8+0(.01%) HW:0/.81%
  358. Each column is as follows:
  359. The number of devices and processors currently mining
  360. Hottest temperature reported by any processor
  361. 5 second exponentially decaying average hash rate
  362. An all time average hash rate
  363. An all time average hash rate based on actual nonces found, adjusted for pool
  364. reject and stale rate
  365. The number of Accepted shares
  366. The number of Rejected shares and stale shares discarded (never submitted),
  367. and the percentage these are of total found.
  368. The number of HardWare errors, and percentage invalid of nonces returned
  369. Each device shows:
  370. BFL 2: 74.0C | 51.97/58.90/57.17Gh/s | A:847 R:15+0(.54%) HW:496/.91%
  371. Columns are the same as in the totals line.
  372. ---
  373. MULTIPOOL
  374. FAILOVER STRATEGIES WITH MULTIPOOL:
  375. A number of different strategies for dealing with multipool setups are
  376. available. Each has their advantages and disadvantages so multiple strategies
  377. are available by user choice, as per the following list:
  378. FAILOVER:
  379. The default strategy is failover. This means that if you input a number of
  380. pools, it will try to use them as a priority list, moving away from the 1st
  381. to the 2nd, 2nd to 3rd and so on. If any of the earlier pools recover, it will
  382. move back to the higher priority ones.
  383. ROUND ROBIN:
  384. This strategy only moves from one pool to the next when the current one falls
  385. idle and makes no attempt to move otherwise.
  386. ROTATE:
  387. This strategy moves at user-defined intervals from one active pool to the next,
  388. skipping pools that are idle.
  389. LOAD BALANCE:
  390. This strategy sends work to all the pools on a quota basis. By default, all
  391. pools are allocated equal quotas unless specified with --quota. This
  392. apportioning of work is based on work handed out, not shares returned so is
  393. independent of difficulty targets or rejected shares. While a pool is disabled
  394. or dead, its quota is dropped until it is re-enabled. Quotas are forward
  395. looking, so if the quota is changed on the fly, it only affects future work.
  396. If all pools are set to zero quota or all pools with quota are dead, it will
  397. fall back to a failover mode. See quota below for more information.
  398. The failover-only flag has special meaning in combination with load-balance
  399. mode and it will distribute quota back to priority pool 0 from any pools that
  400. are unable to provide work for any reason so as to maintain quota ratios
  401. between the rest of the pools.
  402. BALANCE:
  403. This strategy monitors the amount of difficulty 1 shares solved for each pool
  404. and uses it as a basis for trying to doing the same amount of work for each
  405. pool.
  406. ---
  407. SOLO MINING
  408. BFGMiner supports solo mining with any GBT-compatible bitcoin node (such as
  409. bitcoind). To use this mode, you need to specify the URL of your bitcoind node
  410. using the usual pool options (--url, --userpass, etc), and the --coinbase-addr
  411. option to specify the Bitcoin address you wish to receive the block rewards
  412. mined. If you are solo mining with more than one instance of BFGMiner (or any
  413. other software) per payout address, you must also specify data using the
  414. --coinbase-sig option to ensure each miner is working on unique work. Note
  415. that this data will be publicly seen if your miner finds a block using any
  416. GBT-enabled pool, even when not solo mining (such as failover). If your
  417. bitcoin node does not support longpolling (for example, bitcoind 0.8.x), you
  418. should consider setting up a failover pool to provide you with block
  419. notifications. Note that solo mining does not use shares, so BFGMiner's adjusted
  420. hashrate (third column) may suddenly drop to zero if a block you submit is
  421. rejected; this does not indicate that it has stopped mining.
  422. Example solo mining usage:
  423. bfgminer -o http://localhost:8332 -u username -p password \
  424. --coinbase-addr 1QATWksNFGeUJCWBrN4g6hGM178Lovm7Wh \
  425. --coinbase-sig "rig1: This is Joe's block!"
  426. ---
  427. QUOTAS
  428. The load-balance multipool strategy works off a quota based scheduler. The
  429. quotas handed out by default are equal, but the user is allowed to specify any
  430. arbitrary ratio of quotas. For example, if all the quota values add up to 100,
  431. each quota value will be a percentage, but if 2 pools are specified and pool0
  432. is given a quota of 1 and pool1 is given a quota of 9, pool0 will get 10% of
  433. the work and pool1 will get 90%. Quotas can be changed on the fly with RPC,
  434. and do not act retrospectively. Setting a quota to zero will effectively
  435. disable that pool unless all other pools are disabled or dead. In that
  436. scenario, load-balance falls back to regular failover priority-based strategy.
  437. While a pool is dead, it loses its quota and no attempt is made to catch up
  438. when it comes back to life.
  439. To specify quotas on the command line, pools should be specified with a
  440. semicolon separated --quota(or -U) entry instead of --url. Pools specified with
  441. --url are given a nominal quota value of 1 and entries can be mixed.
  442. For example:
  443. --url poolA:portA -u usernameA -p passA --quota "2;poolB:portB" -u usernameB -p passB
  444. Will give poolA 1/3 of the work and poolB 2/3 of the work.
  445. Writing configuration files with quotas is likewise supported. To use the above
  446. quotas in a configuration file they would be specified thus:
  447. "pools" : [
  448. {
  449. "url" : "poolA:portA",
  450. "user" : "usernameA",
  451. "pass" : "passA"
  452. },
  453. {
  454. "quota" : "2;poolB:portB",
  455. "user" : "usernameB",
  456. "pass" : "passB"
  457. }
  458. ]
  459. ---
  460. LOGGING
  461. BFGMiner will log to stderr if it detects stderr is being redirected to a file.
  462. To enable logging simply add 2>logfile.txt to your command line and logfile.txt
  463. will contain the logged output at the log level you specify (normal, verbose,
  464. debug etc.)
  465. In other words if you would normally use:
  466. ./bfgminer -o xxx -u yyy -p zzz
  467. if you use
  468. ./bfgminer -o xxx -u yyy -p zzz 2>logfile.txt
  469. it will log to a file called logfile.txt and otherwise work the same.
  470. There is also the -m option on linux which will spawn a command of your choice
  471. and pipe the output directly to that command.
  472. The WorkTime details 'debug' option adds details on the end of each line
  473. displayed for Accepted or Rejected work done. An example would be:
  474. <-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
  475. The first 2 hex codes are the previous block hash, the rest are reported in
  476. seconds unless stated otherwise:
  477. The previous hash is followed by the getwork mode used M:X where X is one of
  478. P:Pool, T:Test Pool, L:LP or B:Benchmark,
  479. then D:d.ddd is the difficulty required to get a share from the work,
  480. then G:hh:mm:ss:n.nnn, which is when the getwork or LP was sent to the pool and
  481. the n.nnn is how long it took to reply,
  482. followed by 'O' on its own if it is an original getwork, or 'C:n.nnn' if it was
  483. a clone with n.nnn stating how long after the work was recieved that it was
  484. cloned, (m.mmm) is how long from when the original work was received until work
  485. started,
  486. W:n.nnn is how long the work took to process until it was ready to submit,
  487. (m.mmm) is how long from ready to submit to actually doing the submit, this is
  488. usually 0.000 unless there was a problem with submitting the work,
  489. S:n.nnn is how long it took to submit the completed work and await the reply,
  490. R:hh:mm:ss is the actual time the work submit reply was received
  491. If you start BFGMiner with the --sharelog option, you can get detailed
  492. information for each share found. The argument to the option may be "-" for
  493. standard output (not advisable with the ncurses UI), any valid positive number
  494. for that file descriptor, or a filename.
  495. To log share data to a file named "share.log", you can use either:
  496. ./bfgminer --sharelog 50 -o xxx -u yyy -p zzz 50>share.log
  497. ./bfgminer --sharelog share.log -o xxx -u yyy -p zzz
  498. For every share found, data will be logged in a CSV (Comma Separated Value)
  499. format:
  500. timestamp,disposition,target,pool,dev,thr,sharehash,sharedata
  501. For example (this is wrapped, but it's all on one line for real):
  502. 1335313090,reject,
  503. ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff00000000,
  504. http://localhost:8337,GPU0,0,
  505. 6f983c918f3299b58febf95ec4d0c7094ed634bc13754553ec34fc3800000000,
  506. 00000001a0980aff4ce4a96d53f4b89a2d5f0e765c978640fe24372a000001c5
  507. 000000004a4366808f81d44f26df3d69d7dc4b3473385930462d9ab707b50498
  508. f681634a4f1f63d01a0cd43fb338000000000080000000000000000000000000
  509. 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000080020000
  510. ---
  511. RPC API
  512. For RPC API details see the README.RPC file
  513. ---
  514. FAQ
  515. Q: Why can't BFGMiner find lib<something> even after I installed it from source
  516. code?
  517. A: On UNIX-like operating systems, you often need to run one or more commands to
  518. reload library caches, such as "ldconfig" or similar. A couple of systems (such
  519. as Fedora) ship with /usr/local/lib missing from their library search path. In
  520. this case, you can usually add it like this:
  521. echo /usr/local/lib >/etc/ld.so.conf.d/local.conf
  522. Please note that if your libraries installed into lib64 instead of lib, you
  523. should use that in the ld.so config file above instead.
  524. Q: BFGMiner segfaults when I change my shell window size.
  525. A: Older versions of libncurses have a bug to do with refreshing a window
  526. after a size change. Upgrading to a new version of curses will fix it.
  527. Q: Can I mine on servers from different networks (eg smartcoin and bitcoin) at
  528. the same time?
  529. A: No, BFGMiner keeps a database of the block it's working on to ensure it does
  530. not work on stale blocks, and having different blocks from two networks would
  531. make it invalidate the work from each other.
  532. Q: Can I configure BFGMiner to mine with different login credentials or pools
  533. for each separate device?
  534. A: No such feature has been implemented to support this.
  535. Q: Can I put multiple pools in the config file?
  536. A: Yes, check the example.conf file. Alternatively, set up everything either on
  537. the command line or via the menu after startup and choose [S]ettings->[W]rite
  538. config file and the file will be loaded one each startup.
  539. Q: The build fails with gcc is unable to build a binary.
  540. A: Remove the "-march=native" component of your CFLAGS as your version of GCC
  541. does not support it.
  542. Q: Can you implement feature X?
  543. A: I can, but time is limited, and people who donate are more likely to get
  544. their feature requests implemented.
  545. Q: Work keeps going to my backup pool even though my primary pool hasn't
  546. failed?
  547. A: BFGMiner checks for conditions where the primary pool is lagging and will
  548. pass some work to the backup servers under those conditions. The reason for
  549. doing this is to try its absolute best to keep the devices working on something
  550. useful and not risk idle periods. You can disable this behaviour with the
  551. option --failover-only.
  552. Q: Is this a virus?
  553. A: As BFGMiner is being packaged with other trojan scripts, some antivirus
  554. software is falsely accusing bfgminer.exe as being the actual virus, rather than
  555. whatever it is being packaged with. If you installed BFGMiner yourself from a
  556. reputable source then you do not have a virus on your computer. Complain to your
  557. antivirus software company. They seem to be flagging even source code from
  558. BFGMiner as malicious now, even though text source files can't do anything by
  559. themselves.
  560. Q: Can you modify the display to include more of one thing in the output and
  561. less of another, or can you change the quiet mode or can you add yet another
  562. output mode?
  563. A: Everyone will always have their own view of what is important to monitor.
  564. The defaults are very sane and I have very little interest in changing this
  565. any further.
  566. Q: Why is my efficiency above/below 1.00?
  567. A: Efficiency simply means how many shares you return for the amount of
  568. bandwidth used. It does not correlate with efficient use of your hardware, and
  569. is a measure of a combination of hardware speed, block luck, pool design and
  570. many other factors.
  571. Q: What are the best parameters to pass for X pool/hardware/device.
  572. A: Virtually always, the DEFAULT parameters give the best results. Most user
  573. defined settings lead to worse performance.
  574. Q: What happened to CPU mining?
  575. A: See README.CPU for more information.
  576. Q: Is there a GUI version?
  577. A: Yes, Nate Woolls maintains a GUI interface for BFGMiner called MultiMiner,
  578. available at http://multiminerapp.com
  579. Q: I'm having an issue. What debugging information should I provide?
  580. A: Start BFGMiner with your regular commands and add -D -T --verbose and provide
  581. the full startup output and a summary of your hardware, operating system, and if
  582. applicable, ATI driver version and ATI stream version.
  583. Q: Can I mine with BFGMiner on a Mac?
  584. A: BFGMiner will compile on OS X, but the performance of GPU mining is
  585. compromised due to the OpenCL implementation on OS X, there is no temperature or
  586. fanspeed monitoring and the cooling design of most Macs, despite having
  587. powerful GPUs, will usually not cope with constant usage leading to a high risk
  588. of thermal damage. It is highly recommended not to mine on a Mac unless it is
  589. with an external USB device.
  590. Q: My network gets slower and slower and then dies for a minute?
  591. A; Try the --net-delay option if you are on a getwork or GBT server.
  592. Q: How do I tune for P2Pool?
  593. A: P2Pool has very rapid expiration of work and new blocks, it is suggested you
  594. decrease intensity by 1 from your optimal value, and decrease GPU threads to 1
  595. with -g 1. It is also recommended to use --failover-only since the work is
  596. effectively like a different block chain. If mining with a Mini Rig, it is worth
  597. adding the --bfl-range option.
  598. Q: Are OpenCL kernels from other mining software useable in BFGMiner?
  599. A: No, the APIs are slightly different between the different software and they
  600. will not work.
  601. Q: I run PHP on windows to access the API with the example miner.php. Why does
  602. it fail when php is installed properly but I only get errors about Sockets not
  603. working in the logs?
  604. A: Please check http://us.php.net/manual/en/sockets.installation.php
  605. Q: What is a PGA?
  606. A: At the moment, BFGMiner supports 5 FPGAs: BitForce, Icarus, ModMiner, X6500,
  607. and ZTEX.
  608. They are Field-Programmable Gate Arrays that have been programmed to do Bitcoin
  609. mining. Since the acronym needs to be only 3 characters, the "Field-" part has
  610. been skipped. "PGA" is also used for devices built with Application-Specific
  611. Integrated Circuits (ASICs).
  612. Q: What is an ASIC?
  613. A: They are Application Specific Integrated Circuit devices and provide the
  614. highest performance per unit power due to being dedicated to only one purpose.
  615. Q: How do I get my BFL/Icarus/Lancelot/Cairnsmore device to auto-recognise?
  616. A: On Linux, if the /dev/ttyUSB* devices don't automatically appear, the only
  617. thing that needs to be done is to load the driver for them:
  618. BitForce: sudo modprobe ftdi_sio vendor=0x0403 product=0x6014
  619. Erupter: sudo modprobe cp210x vendor=0x10c4 product=0xea60
  620. Icarus: sudo modprobe pl2303 vendor=0x067b product=0x0230
  621. Lancelot: sudo modprobe ftdi_sio vendor=0x0403 product=0x6001
  622. Cairnsmore: sudo modprobe ftdi_sio vendor=0x0403 product=0x8350
  623. On some systems you must manally install the driver required for the device.
  624. OpenWrt drivers (install with opkg):
  625. FTDI: kmod-usb-serial-ftdi
  626. Erupter: kmod-usb-serial-cp210x
  627. Icarus: kmod-usb-serial-pl2303
  628. Windows drivers:
  629. FTDI: http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm
  630. Erupter: http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/pages/usbtouartbridgevcpdrivers.aspx
  631. Icarus: http://prolificusa.com/pl-2303hx-drivers/
  632. Q: I ran cgminer, and now BFGMiner doesn't work!
  633. A: cgminer has its own non-standard implementations of the drivers for most USB
  634. devices, and requires you to replace the official drivers with WinUSB on Windows
  635. (usually using Zadig). Before you can use BFGMiner, you will need to restore the
  636. original driver. Uninstalling the device (and WinUSB driver) from Device Manager
  637. and re-plugging it will usually trigger driver re-installation to the default
  638. drivers.
  639. Q: On Linux I can see the /dev/ttyUSB* devices, but BFGMiner can't mine on them?
  640. A: Make sure you have the required privileges to access the /dev/ttyUSB*
  641. devices:
  642. sudo ls -las /dev/ttyUSB*
  643. will give output like:
  644. 0 crw-rw---- 1 root video 188, 0 2012-09-11 13:49 /dev/ttyUSB0
  645. This means your account must have the group 'video' or root privileges.
  646. To permanently give your account the 'video' group:
  647. sudo usermod -G video -a `whoami`
  648. Then logout and back in again.
  649. Q: Can I mine scrypt with FPGAs or ASICs?
  650. A: Currently no. Bitcoin ASICs are only useful for SHA256d systems and FPGAs
  651. generally aren't designed to handle scrypt efficiently.
  652. Q: Why does BFGMiner show difficulty 0 when mining scrypt?
  653. A: BFGMiner consistently uses pdiff measurement for difficulty everywhere,
  654. rather than other measurements that may exist. For scrypt, pdiff 1 is very
  655. difficult, and higher get exponentially harder. It is unlikely you will want to
  656. use pdiff 1+ with scrypt until you have FPGAs and/or ASICs for it.
  657. Q: What is stratum and how do I use it?
  658. A: Stratum is a protocol designed to reduce resources for mining pools at the
  659. cost of keeping the miner in the dark and blindly transferring his mining
  660. authority to the pool. It is a return to the problems of the old centralized
  661. "getwork" protocol, but capable of scaling to hardware of any speed like the
  662. standard GBT protocol. If a pool uses stratum instead of GBT, BFGMiner will
  663. automatically detect it and switch to the support as advertised if it can.
  664. Stratum uses direct TCP connections to the pool and thus it will NOT currently
  665. work through a http proxy but will work via a socks proxy if you need to use
  666. one. If you input the stratum port directly into your configuration, or use the
  667. special prefix "stratum+tcp://" instead of "http://", BFGMiner will ONLY try to
  668. use stratum protocol mining.
  669. Q: Why don't the statistics add up: Accepted, Rejected, Stale, Hardware Errors,
  670. Diff1 Work, etc. when mining greater than 1 difficulty shares?
  671. A: As an example, if you look at 'Difficulty Accepted' in the RPC API, the number
  672. of difficulty shares accepted does not usually exactly equal the amount of work
  673. done to find them. If you are mining at 8 difficulty, then you would expect on
  674. average to find one 8 difficulty share, per 8 single difficulty shares found.
  675. However, the number is actually random and converges over time as it is an
  676. average, not an exact value, thus you may find more or less than the expected
  677. average.
  678. ---
  679. This code is provided entirely free of charge by the programmer in his spare
  680. time so donations would be greatly appreciated. Please consider donating to the
  681. address below.
  682. Luke-Jr <luke-jr+bfgminer@utopios.org>
  683. 1QATWksNFGeUJCWBrN4g6hGM178Lovm7Wh