Its been a while since I have explained the reasons why the MINT team has chosen to not officially support the "Snapshot" method of getting clients synced up, so let me reiterate them again.
Bootstrapping"Bootstrapping" is a method by which you provide a single-file copy of all blocks up to a certain point, and let the client run that file through it's verification and processing algorithms to rebuild a full local copy of the blockchain, all without requiring any network connectivity during the process. This is a 100% trustless method as if any of the verifications fail at any point along the chain, the client will simply discard the subsequent data and use the P2P network to continue on. Erroneous data never gets written to the datadir.
There are two accepted methods of creating a bootstrap data file: Simple and Linear.
Simple:This is a file that contains each and every block (including orphans) in whatever order they were received by the creating client. Usual creation method is just renaming a file (or concating multiple files) from an existing datadir. Such files are often bloated and inefficient due to the unknown block ordering and orphan data they contain.
Linear:This is a file that contains each and every
valid block in linear sequential order. There is no orphan data or block re-organization included in this type of bootstrap file. Such files are an order of magnitude more efficient than simple bootstraps for large/fast chains.
Snapshotting"Snapshotting" is a method by which you take the data directory from one client and use it with another. The target client does no "importing" or processing of the migrated data (other than a user-configurable 'last
n blocks verification'). This method dictates that you put 100% trust in the data provider. Any erroneous data making it's way into the snapshot can (has) and will likely lead to a program crash or a network wide IP ban if that particular data set is required for any future verification.
The "Snapshotting" method carries the same orphan block data and chain re-organization data as the "simple" bootstrapping method above.
So, given the above explanations about what each alternative method of getting a client synced involves, lets look at the Pros/Cons.
Pros/Cons between methodsBootstrappingPros- 100% trustless
- Smaller initial file size download
- No network connection needed
- Fallback to P2P syncing if an error is encountered
- No-Bloat when using linear bootstraps
Cons- Slow, each block needs to be verified by the client
- May even be slower than P2P sync (depends on system/network specs)
SnapshottingPros- Fast initial startup time
Cons- Larger download size
- 100% trust placed on provider
- Erroneous data may lead to a crash at random times
- Unnecessary bloat introduced by chain reorgs/orphans
In the end, it is completely up to the user to decide which method they would like to use, and the MINT team certainly appreciates the efforts of kiklo and other providers for their time and the service they provide. What we as a team mean by "unsupported" is literally that no support for troubleshooting or correcting data errors will be given in the event of using a method (any method) that is not trustless by nature. Kiklo's method of getting a new client up to sync will almost certainly work right now.
So why do we not offer support for users that choose to use a non-trustless method of getting their client synced? The primary reason is because the data distributed in a non-trustless way simply cannot be verified to be good in any way, shape, or form by the client or the network. It is by all accounts completely out of our hands, and as what happened a few months ago, the data provided was incorrect so there wasn't anything to be done aside from having users resync their local clients.
All that being said, we have released a new official bootstrap (Linear method) that includes all blocks up to #2870000 (8/24/2016). It is available automatically for those that are currently using the btsync program and also directly from the websites (
www.mintcoinofficial.com and
www.mintymintcoin.com)
BTSync Link:
HereDirect Download Link:
Here