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Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:16:14 -0400
Message-ID: <BANLkTi=iOeVUJ7ktwWddH1heiNmyn5v52w@mail.gmail.com>
From: Jeff Garzik <jgarzik@exmulti.com>
To: Gavin <gavinandresen@gmail.com>
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Cc: "bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net"
	<bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net>
Subject: Re: [Bitcoin-development] Bootstrapping via BitTorrent trackers
Precedence: list

On Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 2:41 PM, Gavin <gavinandresen@gmail.com> wrote:
>> The most practical way I see how to improve DNS bootstrapping is
>> publishing build instructions for a simple DNS server build and a
>> script which feeds it with node data. Something simple like djbdns plus
>> a perl script, or similar zerigo API script, would do. Than anyone can
>> host it. All left to do than is to hardcode a bunch of such DNS seeds
>> into the client.
>
> Adding that code to bitcoin in a contrib/dns folder seems like a good idea.

Agreed.  I'll see if I can put together a couple different solutions,
and stick them in there.  ETA 3-4 weeks though, given current bugfix
workload + personal issues (moving to a new house).

I had a thought related to this, but readily admit I haven't thought
this through:  create an RPC in bitcoin that returns a random
selection of fresh P2P node addresses, from addr.dat.  One problem I
was running into was accessing this data from outside bitcoin.

Using ArtForz' half-a-node as a base was a possibility, but creating
"getnodes" RPC seemed far easier.

djbdns (tinydns) is great for this:  it is highly scalable and stable,
and its input is a -very- simple text format, easier to generate than
BIND zone files.

> I'd be happy to run a dns seed.

Great!  A big missing piece is simply trusted people running DNS seeds
on stable connectivity, once the DNS software is there.

-- 
Jeff Garzik
exMULTI, Inc.
jgarzik@exmulti.com