p2pool explanation and sharechain details

[kanzure]

Bounty: 25,000 bits / ~$250 USD

Perhaps explaining the sharechain concept and p2pool would be useful for the mining section in the developer guide?

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/P2Pool

https://github.com/p2pool/p2pool

recent conversation: http://gnusha.org/bitcoin-wizards/2015-12-10.log

from @midnightmagic:

16:00 < midnightmagic> kanzure: sharechain window size; lack of sharechain-linked tx implies, IMO, that the sharechain is a much more natural fit for e.g. braided chains or a treechain structure to reduce the perception of an orphan rate; p2pool has address privacy enhancements over.. as far as I can tell all the other pools..; chronobit works with p2pool; p2pool does transparent merged-mining but not sharechain-enhanced merged-mining; and due to its built-in relay netwrk has lower orphan rates than any other pool did, in the past.

[harding]

Good idea. I actually have some content from an aborted page about mining at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/harding/bitcoin.org/mining/en/mining.md with some images like

It may be pretty easy to adapt that to the dev guide. I'll take a look when I get a chance. Thanks!

[ChainQuery]

This may be helpful as well:

Edit: source p2pool.org

[wbnns]

@harding Heya! I can help add this if you want to connect and let me know what you had in mind.

[harding]

@wbnns I was thinking about the section that starts with #### P2Pool in the document https://raw.githubusercontent.com/harding/bitcoin.org/mining/en/mining.md along with the related images from that branch.

This could be added to the file _includes/devdoc/guide_mining.md

[wbnns]

@harding Ok, thank you sir.

[KingParmenides]

Submitted a developer docs PR for this bounty: bitcoin-dot-org/developer.bitcoin.org#322

Scope covered:

• P2Pool as a decentralized mining pool design
• share chain structure and cumulative proof of work
• lower-difficulty shares vs Bitcoin-valid blocks
• direct coinbase payout commitments for recent share owners
• decentralization benefits and operational/variance tradeoffs

BTC payout address: 39Q34P8A7g375yqEr8buvNJkUbRgKfbKQZ

[ryzhkevichpavel-del]

Submitted an alternative developer docs PR for this bounty: bitcoin-dot-org/developer.bitcoin.org#342

This version follows the maintainer suggestion more closely by expanding the P2Pool/share-chain explanation and including the related diagrams from the older mining guide material referenced in the issue.

If accepted for the bounty, BTC payout can be sent to:

bc1qewlnv3xw3rtll8c5rxjse0fl6v36kkxvwfvccr