The aim of this project is to create a tool which serializes bitcoin peer-to-peer network flow and generates constant-bitrate stream for broadcasting. The serialization tool must be connected to a trusted peer (a bitcoin node run by yourself) because transactions and blocks are not verified to keep this tool as simple as possible without compromizing security.
The resulting stream may be transmitted over any unidirectional channel like DVB-T and FM subcarrier.
Current version connects to given bitcoin node, is capable of requesting transaction and block contents, serializing traffic, and logging all network messages to a log directory.
See our project page for a longer description.
Email us for more information: [email protected]
The project uses SCons for building and requires OpenSSL and GLib.
Before compiling, install the following packages (moreutils is just
needed for ts):
sudo apt-get gcc
sudo apt-get libssl-dev
sudo apt-get libglib2.0-dev
sudo apt-get scons
sudo apt-get moreutils
Then compile:
scons
Currently there is no fancy command-line parser. Just give IP of a bitcoin network node you trust and serial port device. Any slow enough device will do to demonstrate the multitasking. For example:
mkdir log
./serializer 10.0.0.2 /dev/ttyUSB0 2>&1 | ts '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z' | tee -a log/received.txt
The default baud rate is 9600 bps, which is sufficient for current volume of bitcoin traffic. This application has no limitations on bitrates (has been tested with 1Mbps) and the only limit is the serial hardware you are using.
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
See LICENSE file for details. The license text is also available at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
The intentional cause of licensing under the terms of GNU Affero General Public License is that if you create a derivate work based on the source code of this project and start your own broadcasting service, you must share its source code. The same restrictions apply to the receiver. If this is not desired, you are welcome to purchase a commercial license from Koodilehto Co-op.
The protocol itself is not covered by any restrictions. You are allowed to implement your own transmitter and receiver from scratch for no licensing costs.
If you want to donate to the project or co-operate in other ways, don't hesitate to contact us. Also, if you are planning to integrate bitcoin-broadcast with your project and you need alternative licensing, please contact us.
Bitcoin address of this project is 1FvEggFtNSYS9pcBoYB9wDxH9fa1mrNPW5.
