Technical Difficulties https://technicaldifficulties.io/ Sun, 07 Apr 2024 02:23:56 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://i0.wp.com/technicaldifficulties.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Screen-Shot-2022-07-25-at-12.18.58-PM.png?fit=32%2C30&ssl=1 Technical Difficulties https://technicaldifficulties.io/ 32 32 151519052 Reflecting on a year in open-source Bitcoin development [2022-2023] https://technicaldifficulties.io/2023/06/09/reflecting-on-a-year-in-open-source-bitcoin-development-2022-2023/ Fri, 09 Jun 2023 18:06:48 +0000 https://technicaldifficulties.io/?p=529 Over the last year I’ve gotten many questions to the tune of “so what do you do exactly?” I’m finally here to answer them! “No lessons were learned and I did not grow as a person”  a very good friend, Chris Welch, after traveling the length of the Connecticut River by canoe Hello world 👋 […]

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]]> 529 Gulp: Using Browsersync to Reload Browserify https://technicaldifficulties.io/2022/08/30/gulp-using-browsersync-to-reload-browserify/ Wed, 31 Aug 2022 02:14:03 +0000 https://technicaldifficulties.io/?p=517 If you are trying to code something and can’t find a great solution on the internet, you are either: doing something wonderfully exotic and novel, blazing a new trail for future developers to follow, or doing something you shouldn’t be doing Unfortunately I’m always in the latter camp. This time I am trying to get […]

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]]> 517 Adventure through some Bitcoin Core code with me https://technicaldifficulties.io/2022/08/11/adventure-through-some-bitcoin-core-code-with-me/ Thu, 11 Aug 2022 20:35:41 +0000 https://technicaldifficulties.io/?p=497 Diving into a new code base can be a challenge. When you start a job, there is usually someone to hold your hand and walk you through file structures, data models, and overall architecture. Things aren’t as straight forward in open source. The resources are there but they can be decentralized. It’s on you to […]

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]]> 497 The difference between stale and orphan blocks https://technicaldifficulties.io/2022/07/29/the-difference-between-stale-and-orphan-blocks/ Fri, 29 Jul 2022 19:56:56 +0000 https://technicaldifficulties.io/?p=490 The deeper I go into Bitcoin, the more confusion I see around certain words and definitions. One example I’d like to talk about today involves the terms “stale block” and “orphan block”. These are often used interchangeably, but don’t quite mean the same thing. Orphan blocks An orphan block is a block with no parent, […]

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]]> 490 SegWit Fixed This: Understanding how the Quadratic Sighash Problem was O(n²) https://technicaldifficulties.io/2022/07/22/life-before-segwit-understanding-the-quadratic-sighash-problem/ Fri, 22 Jul 2022 19:05:52 +0000 https://technicaldifficulties.io/?p=438 I’m participating in Chaincode Labs’ Bitcoin Protocol Development seminar and this week we are taking a deep dive into SegWit. One of the things SegWit fixed was something called the quadratic sighash problem. In a nutshell, this was an issue where signature validation was taking O(n²) time to complete. Not good if you care about […]

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]]> 438 Bitcoin: How to Find & Decode the Genesis Block’s Hidden Message https://technicaldifficulties.io/2020/10/24/bitcoin-how-to-find-decode-the-genesis-blocks-hidden-message/ Sat, 24 Oct 2020 01:58:00 +0000 https://technicaldifficulties.io/?p=407 “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.“ Anyone that has spent enough time in Bitcoin knows about this now famous headline. Most know it’s part of the genesis block, the very first block in the Bitcoin blockchain. But how do you find it? And once you’ve done that, how do you decode it? Here’s […]

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]]> 407 Sequelize migrations with NOT NULL constraints https://technicaldifficulties.io/2020/10/05/adding-not-null-columns-with-sequelize-migrations/ Mon, 05 Oct 2020 01:50:53 +0000 https://technicaldifficulties.io/?p=386 Perform complex database migration logic by chaining commands and using Sequelize's `query` method to execute raw SQL.

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]]> 386 BIP-66: A Deep Dive into DER Signatures https://technicaldifficulties.io/2020/07/22/bip-66-unpacking-der-signatures/ Wed, 22 Jul 2020 02:13:09 +0000 https://technicaldifficulties.io/?p=377 I recently found myself taking a closer look at transaction validation for Bitcoin signatures. This led me to BIP-66 which declares that all signatures follow the DAS, I mean DER format. Here’s what I learned: If that feels a little complicated and over engineered, that’s because it probably is. Some of the downfalls include excessive […]

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]]> 377 Raspberry Pi – Upgrading to an SSD https://technicaldifficulties.io/2019/06/28/raspberry-pi-upgrade-hdd-to-ssd/ Fri, 28 Jun 2019 21:24:04 +0000 https://technicaldifficulties.io/?p=296 It’s been nearly a year since I ordered the parts to build my first Raspberry Pi project, the Raspibolt Bitcoin and Lightning node. Unfortunately, the availability has been decent at best. I often have trouble ssh-ing into it and the entire terminal freezes up and needs to be forced closed. Because things steadily got worse […]

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]]> 296 RaspberryPi Consistently Running out of Memory (LND/Raspibolt) https://technicaldifficulties.io/2018/12/29/raspberrypi-consistently-running-out-of-memory-lnd-raspibolt/ Sat, 29 Dec 2018 20:40:13 +0000 https://technicaldifficulties.io/?p=254 Short answer: Check if you have a monitor plugged into the pi. If so, unplug that sucker. If not, read on for a few troubleshooting techniques. I have a LND node running on a Raspberry Pi and I love that little thing, I really do — but it can be quite temperamental. It all started when […]

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