Bitcoin clients getting k-lined from the IRC bootstrapping channel
At 21:11 dutch time (CEST), around 10 minutes ago from when I made this post, the Bitcoin clients are getting k-lined.
(note, times are CEST.) Code:
It’s a relief to hear this. And what were you exactly testing?
Like, how can it affect the whole network? If this is a bug that can bring down the whole network, it’s pretty serious, heh.
We need more details about what happened MadHatter.
Both 0.2 and 0.3 have a backup way of getting connected without IRC, it’s just slower to get connected.
0.2 can find other nodes without IRC if it’s ever been connected before, but a new install can’t discover the network for the first time without IRC.
0.3 can also seed without IRC. It can operate entirely without IRC if it needs to, but it’s better having IRC for redundancy.
Quote from: Xunie on June 25, 2010, 08:20:16 PM
This does make Bitcoin seem a bit… malicious to say the least…
Bootstrapping to the network is malicious?
Whether it’s right or wrong, when people who know what IRC is hear that IRC is involved in something, they immediately think malice.. This is not without foundation as a lot of antisocial behavior takes places on IRC channels. The other thought is botnets which use IRC to bootstrap, control or communicate. A program which connects to IRC is by definition called a ‘bot’ and to IRC people that means something bad, especially if it’s not an IRC bot program specifically.
What Satoshi did here is use IRC simply as a matchmaking service but I could see how someone could draw the wrong conclusion when they see a channel with hundreds of randomly named bots idling in it. Perhaps you could put these people’s minds at ease if there was some pop up asking them if it’s ok to bootstrap from IRC.. because if they just write it off as a trojan or botnet they may never bother to find out how it really works.
Oh so with all that being said, you guys are all welcome to IRC on irc.lfnet.org. It is a small network that me and a couple of guys run.. we don’t have services or k-lines or anything like that.
Freenode is too visible, right in the middle of where all those users and moderators are hanging out. Laszlo’s option is a much better fit for us.
I made 0.3.0.RC2 available that uses irc.lfnet.org instead of freenode if you want to start switching over: topic 199