README.md

btcsim

btcsim implements a simulation test driver using the simnet network provided by btcd. It launches the required nodes, manages them, runs the simulation and cleans up when done, all by itself, so there's no manual setup/teardown involved. btcsim uses btcrpcclient to interface with the RPC servers.

The input is read from a CSV file with the following headers:

| block height | minimum utxos required | transactions required |

Example:

20000,40000,20000
20001,60000,30000

Based on the input, the minimum required number of utxos are generated by creating transactions using the existing utxos and dividing them until the required number is reached.

The required number of transactions are generated by simulating transactions between multiple actors and using the utxos generated previously.

Mining is controlled using the RPC clients to ensure that the blocks are generated only when required i.e. when the minimum required number of utxos and transactions are created.

Components

Node

This is the first btcd node that is launched. It acts as the server for all Actors and as a peer for the miner.

Actor

An Actor simulates a wallet "Agent" by launching a btcwallet instance which connects to the node server. It is responsible for generating transactions among itself as well as other actors. Multiple actors can be launched simultaneously to simulate a large load due to a heavy multi-user system.

Miner

The Miner launches a btcd instance and simulates a mining node. It is connected to the node server using the addnode RPC call. It is responsible for collecting transactions and mining them when required.

Installation

btcsim depends on btcd and btcwallet, so install those first

$ go get github.com/btcsuite/btcd

$ go get github.com/btcsuite/btcwallet

Now install btcsim

$ go get github.com/btcsuite/btcsim

Usage

Invoking the command btcsim without any flags initializes a single actor simulation, using a default linear curve of 0-10,000 transactions per block:

$ btcsim

For more options, see:

$ btcsim --help

Debugging

To debug btcsim itself, you can turn on profiling using the --profile flag. To debug the processes spawned by btcsim i.e. btcd and btcwallet, you can check the logs written to ~/.btcsim/.

License

Package btcsim is licensed under the copyfree ISC License.