What is this?

downstream-farmer talks to downstream-node. In order to use it, you’ll need a node up and running. downstream-node requires MySQL and a working config, but this app, downstream-farmer, will require python-dev and libcrypto++-dev to install from source.

You can install and use downstream-farmer on all major operating systems:

Ubuntu

$ sudo apt-get install python-dev libcrypto++-dev libgmp-dev git python-pip
$ pip install --process-dependency-links downstream-farmer

It is recommended to run your pip install inside a Python virtual environment to prevent potential conflicts with your system Python and packages.

OSX

$ brew tap storj/storj
$ brew install downstream-farmer

After adding the storj/storj tap, you can use brew info downstream-farmer at any time to see usage information.

Windows

Use the binaries available here.

To connect to our test node, you must have a whitelisted address and provide signed verification of ownership of that address.

There are a couple of ways to do this. If you have your private keys in a local bitcoin wallet such as the mainline Bitcoin Client, Multibit, Armory, or Electrum, sign a message of your choice with your SJCX address that has a crowdsale balance of at least 10,000 SJCX. Then make sure the message and signature are included in your identities.json file.

For example, on Counterwallet, click on Address Actions, and then Sign Message. Type a message of your choice, and click Sign. Then copy and paste the message and signature into the identities.json file in the data/ directory, replacing the example identity. For example:

{
  "19qVgG8C6eXwKMMyvVegsi3xCsKyk3Z3jV": {
     "message": "test message",
     "signature": "HyzVUenXXo4pa+kgm1vS8PNJM83eIXFC5r0q86FGbqFcdla6rcw72/ciXiEPfjli3ENfwWuESHhv6K9esI0dl5I="
  }
}

Ensure that any whitespace in the message is included in the JSON string and that it is enclosed with double quotes. Then, you should be able to connect to our test node by running (assuming your SJCX address is in the crowdsale whitelist):

$ downstream

The usage of the program is:

usage: downstream [-h] [-V] [-n NUMBER] [-p HISTORY] [-s SIZE] [-a ADDRESS]
                                  [-t TOKEN] [-f] [-i IDENTITY] [-d DATA_DIRECTORY]
                                  [--ssl-no-verify] [--log-path LOG_PATH] [--quiet]
                                  [--print-log]
                                  [node_url]

positional arguments:
  node_url              URL of the downstream node to connect to. The default
                                                node is https://live.driveshare.org:8443

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -V, --version         show program's version number and exit
  -n NUMBER, --number NUMBER
                                                Number of challenges to perform. If unspecified,
                                                perform challenges until killed.
  -p HISTORY, --history HISTORY
                                                Path to save/load history from. The history file saves
                                                your farming tokens for each node you connect to. The
                                                default path is data\history.json.
  -s SIZE, --size SIZE  Total size of contracts to obtain in bytes. Default is
                                                33554432 bytes
  -a ADDRESS, --address ADDRESS
                                                SJCX address for farming. You can specify this if you
                                                have multiple identities and would like to farm under
                                                one of them. Otherwise by default, an address from
                                                your identity file (data\identities.json) will be
                                                used.
  -t TOKEN, --token TOKEN
                                                Farming token to use. If you already have a farming
                                                token, you can reconnect to the node with it by
                                                specifying it here. By default a new token will be
                                                obtained. Any tokens obtained will be saved in the
                                                history JSON file.
  -f, --forcenew        Force obtaining a new token. If the node has been
                                                reset and your token has been deleted, it may be
                                                necessary to force your farmer to obtain a new token.
  -i IDENTITY, --identity IDENTITY
                                                Specify an identity file to  provide a signature to
                                                prove ownership of your SJCX address. The default path
                                                is data\identities.json.  The file format should be a
                                                JSON dictionary like the following:
                                                {
                                                   "your sjcx address": {
                                                          "message": "your message here",
                                                          "signature": "base64 signature from bitcoin\
                                                                                         wallet or counterwallet",
                                                   }
                                                }
                                                If an identity is specified in this file, it will be
                                                used for connecting to any new nodes.
  -d DATA_DIRECTORY, --data-directory DATA_DIRECTORY
                                                Data directory to place file chunks. By default
                                                data\chunks
  --ssl-no-verify       Do not verify ssl certificates.
  --log-path LOG_PATH   Path to the log file. Default is: farmer.log
  --quiet               Do not show the status console.
  --print-log           Print log to screen instead of status console.

This prototype performs three simple functions. It connects to the specified node, it requests a chunk (which also gives it the first chunk challenge and information to recreate the test file), and then it answers the chunk challenge.

If this is at all confusing, we’re doing it as a functional test in the travis.yml file, so watch it in action on Travis-CI.