'Nobody mining' problem

[r000n]

EDIT by @maaku: this ticket is accepted as “Feature request: if it is detected that the block chain is out of date, lock down all user interface controls and disable all RPC calls until the block chain is current. Advanced operators who know what they are doing can override the lockdown with a command-line switch (necessary to overcome an actual drop in mining power).”

Example 1: Freicoin very young, no professional miners with GPU, ASIC, etc. Client has no CPU mining option. Users don't knows nothing about mining :) Block chain not updated. Fail.

Example 2:

2014. *coins - world stable currency. 95% miners moved to country with cheap electricity and electronics. Earthquake. Blackout. Network generates blocks every 3 hours. Finance collapse.

Proposals:

1. Add slider "Give x% CPU to *coin" (in left bottom corner)
2. Auto-start mining if we connected and time after last block more than y%
3. Auto-adjust difficulty (more flexible than now)

[maaku]

Sorry for the brevity--I'm on the run:

Proposal 1: This is a good idea. I'm accepting the ticket to re-implement built-in mining in the client as Someday/Maybe (as I'm not sure yet how it ranks against the other things we're working on).

Proposal 2: While I understand the intent, this would actually open up attack vectors for network operators who could execute a double-spend by manipulating your connection so that you only connect to compromised nodes that don't forward blocks. Your auto-miner then engages, you confirm transactions where the attacker sends you money, then when he stops filtering your traffic your chain is replaced with the network's and you learn those coins were double-spent. Perhaps a better solution would be to lock down all user interface controls and disable all RPC calls until the block chain is current. Advanced operators who know what they are doing can override the lockdown with a command-line switch (necessary to overcome an actual drop in mining power). Having a human in the loop in getting the block chain back up and running is a good thing, IMHO.

Proposal 3: @mhredmond21 has a proposal for this and an outstanding ticket in the Someday/Maybe pile.

[maaku]

I'm creating a new ticket to track your first proposal, an integrated miner in the user interface, and GH #7 already tracks a specific implementation of your third proposal.

I'm going to use this ticket to address the issue of what to do when there is a legitimate drop in mining, and have edited the OP accordingly.

[maaku]

To my understanding, recent versions of the Satoshi client provide a safe-mode addressing the concerns of this ticket. I'm considering this issue closed.