Topic: [announce] Namecoin - a distributed naming system based on Bitcoin - page 81. (Read 597064 times)

Okay, so I can't get a working binary on my Mac right now, but I can delve through the source code, and that has been very enlightening, namely, that Namecoins really are just colored coins! I had thought that the Namecoin alt had modified the transaction structure in some way to handle setting the value of the registered name, but that doesn't look to be the case. Instead, Namecoin uses the Script of the transaction to set a value, and enforces that subsequent "name_update" transactions absorb the most recent unspent transaction of the same 0.01 NMC that was used to initialize the name in the first place. Namecoin usurps a few of the Script constants (namely OP_1, OP_2, and OP_3) and gives them special meaning. It constructs the Scripts to properly validate with the standard Bitcoin parser (it uses OP_DROP to drop off its special values before continuing with a standard transaction Script).

Namecoin's blockchain is at the same speed as Bitcoin's (10 minutes), and uses the same hashing methodology, just the genesis block is based on a different string. That aside, it looks to me that Namecoin's transactions would qualify as valid, non-standard Bitcoin transactions (non-standard because they use different opcodes in their Scripts). As far as I can tell, most all the other changes to the Namecoin source compared to Bitcoin's are to implement the merged mining idea.

So... given that "non-standard transactions" might be entering the community's awareness more, due to 0.8.2 marking microtransactions as non-standard, the question that comes to my mind is why is this an alt-chain at all? The same mining pools that have been convinced to run namecoin pools, could probably be convinced to run pools that accept non-standard Bitcoin transactions (or specific non-standard transactions that conform to a "namecoin standard script") instead, and "namecoins" could become colored Bitcoins with a particular script giving them a data value as well. Is there a strong benefit to having this be a completely separate blockchain?

No luck; still getting that error. Is anyone else's darwin/osx gcc-fu better than mine and can get a Mac binary compiled? I can muddle my way through C code (I'm a PHP/Python dev, mostly), but all the compiling nuances I haven't gotten my head around entirely.

Colored coins could be integrated with the namecoin system and it would be fine if they animate the consumption of namecoins.

A browser api that connects with a blockchain.info style page , will raise awareness and will be easy for the user, since he don't have to download all the nmc blockchain, or it could also connects to the local nmc-qt or nmc-id.

however for that to happen, as i understand the namecoin-id or the server side equivalent needs to be updated to support all the improvements,
if not is a work half-done and we could encounter bugs or security issues in the future.

I don't know the reasons of the abandon of the nmc project, but i know for sure that their value will skyrocket if there's a system in place. Even tor it's easyer to use than this at the moment. This project was supposed to super-seed tor making it more user friendly with proper name-addresses.

I would suggest offering the bounty in btc or fiat and maybe posting in a developers job for bitcoins page.
Or even contact the colored-coins people, they sure will want a data storage solution like NMC.

What would be the advantage over a normal GUI?

Hmm, boost 1.53 is installed with the "+universal" variant from MacPorts, and there's no separate boost-filesystem port, so that looks to be it. I do have a /opt/local/lib/libboost_filesystem-mt.a file in that location. I did try running the command with 'sudo' in front, wondering if it might be local filesystem permissions, but that doesn't help either. I'll try re-installing the boost port and see if that helps. Thanks!

The issue there is the blockchain; in order to do anything, or show the user anything, the web application needs a trusted copy of the blockchain. If it's a locally-running app, most users don't have a database program running on their local machine for a web app to hook into. As a public website that users can visit (like instawallet, or blockchain.info's wallet) that's very doable (the server also connects to the P2P network and trusts its own database records for users to query), and I mentioned that as something I'm looking into, using node, like the bitcoinjs project.

I was thinking of something that would run entirely self containe on the users computer. Apache, MySQL, everything. By default it would only allow a local (perhaps even requiring authentication) user to connect.

Security is important and it is best if we base on the Satoshi client.
Before we implement new domains the .bit registration should be made more flexible.
Namecoin should be available for everybody but who is ready to pay for it should have additional features.
What is if somebody register a trademarked name(Google, Microsoft, ...) ? By the usual DNS lawyers are connected and they earn millions or billions. By .bit domains they would engage detectives to find out the real owner and pursue him and the detectives and lawyers earn again.
We could redirect this money flow to the namecoin system.

2 new registration features:
- Registered .bit domains could be contested for the 1.000x (tausendfold) of the regular registration fee and taken away.
- For the 10x of the registration fee .bit domains could be hardened so with no contestation they can be taken away.

This would bring more movement in the registration process and domain problems could be solved with namecoin.
That would bring more namecoin trade, domain hoarders cannot ask any price or they must pay more for hardened domains and would bring also more domain justice.

Yes it has been considered, even with added functionality of enabling dot-bit browsing and future namespace extensions (ID, etc) ... but the security is difficult.

http://dot-bit.org/Namecoin_WUI

http://dot-bit.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1300#p1300

I just don't see how that helps getting the namecoin server easier to maintain and use. So you need users to either trust a central hub for all their transactions or build and run their own namecoind...

Really does no one consider the possibility of making the GUI a web application that runs in browser on the users own machine? It would be like running an instawallet on your own computer with the possibility of entering in console commands.

We need an updated client GUI which is password protected and intuitive for the masses to make namecoin more popular.
That would raise the need for namecoins and raise the prices what would bring more financial funds for development.

Something to with the boost-filesystem package it seems ... maybe that it wasn't compiled for 64bit?

Right, though it seems no one has a description of how the Namecoin client modified the Bitcoin P2P protocol, not just the RPC protocol, so rebuilding it from scratch would be more difficult. I presume a working namecoin client does allow the "rawtransaction" cli command to show some of the detail in a given transaction structure? (the blockexplorer site for Namecoin doesn't show that level of detail). I'm still struggling to get a working client compiled for my OSX box, so can't check myself.

Can anyone help me figure out why I'm getting this compile error trying to build the client? I'm using Macports for the library installations.

I could certainly live with a version that initially didn't support merged mining. I mean, miners can use (and are using) the old version anyway, we need a client to be able to use the coins and create services to support the chain. My pledge will be paid even if without merged mining.

The GUI should be easy to achieve once the namecoin support is patched on top of the latest bitcoind, but that does mean some hacking still.

I really think it is best to have this work split in two:

1) patching latest bitcoind to support namecoin
2) tweaking the GUI to support namecoin specific functions

I have pledged 1000 NMC to 1)

lunarboy (100) and marcus_of_augustus (1000) pledged 1100 NMC to 2)

the GUI can be achieved without 1), but I am certainly not interested in that as what I need is the server support.

Is there anyone willing to take this task? Any more pledges? Someone (trusted) to take the funds pledged and deliver to bounty taker after completion?

Someone else was talking about just getting a namecoin-qt GUI client and renaming the debug window "Namespace Manager" to do name_XXXX cmndline rpc calls .. I thought you were talking about that?

Although updating the namecoind client for leveldb and pruning would be nice too .... not sure how easy the nmc merged-mining code would be to rebase onto 0.8.1 though ...

DoubleC is alive and well, had few messages from him some days ago about my account, super busy with a hack and repatriating Bitparking funds i'd imagine.

a GUI would be nice osx

+100 NMC pledge

Why not make a gui client operational via web browser? Run a small Apache server with PHP and just do everything through the browser. Appropriate no for a DNS system. It could be a plugin for chrome or something.