Release Notes for Lynx Core — v16.3.11

v16.3.11 — January, 2021

https://getlynx.io

On Dec 23rd, 2013 the genesis block of the (what is now called) Lynx Cryptocurrency project was created. Seven years later, the Lynx Project developers release this latest version, 16.3.11 to the public. This newest release provides better support for the Hybrid Proof of Work design specified in the Lynx Whitepaper. To understand the HPoW Rules, please refer to the Lynx whitepaper, available on the Lynx website. This release includes an array of efficiency tuning enhancements to the Built-in Miner and updated implementation of the HPoW business rules. This release does not require a hard fork.

Fundamentally, this version is a security and performance upgrade release. Updates were made to the built-in miner to remove inefficiencies found in the prior release. This version increases mining results over 50%. With this new release, an individual miner is able to find more blocks, ultimately resulting in more blocks passing HPoW Rule 3. Much time and research was spent reducing wasted idle time (and electricity) between blocks. Also, the built-in miner commits helpful output to the debug log, informing the user of real time results.

Modifications were made so Lynx can start up faster, find a new address from its address pool faster, increase efficiency regarding wait time between blocks, shut down faster and the SHA256 algorithm executes faster per CPU core thread. A new method has been added to Lynx that allows the Miner to better assign the number of threads per core for the built-in miner. A more detailed list follows:

1. sse2 scrypt instructions enabled by default, previously — enable-sse2 compile flag required.
2. Inline asm added for sha256 for avx2, sse2, sse4, sse41 instruction sets
3. Multiple mining threads use different reward scripts, to help pass HPoW Rule 3, and prevent doing duplicate work.
4. Revisit nonce range space.
5. Fixed reward address selection for “from config” and “from wallet” methods.
6. Removed pauses added to portions of miner code to try to work around duplicate work issues.
7. Cut back on the amount of times the miner stops a thread to retrieve a new address.
8. Fixed broken — disable-wallet build flag, we can now compile without the db4 requirement.
9. OpenSSH upgraded to a non-problematic version.
10. Rich use of caching for better mining performance.
11. QT wallet progress meter.

With this latest update, Lynx runs best on a device with 2GB of RAM or more. Lynx is unlikely to run properly on devices that have less than 1GB of RAM.

This release also includes integration with an incentive program called ‘TipsyLynx Miner’. The ‘TipsyLynx Miner’ is natively supported by LynxCI and is very easy to use. To quickly engage with ‘TipsyLynx Miner’, using LynxCI on a Raspberry Pi 4 is best. Register with the Discord Tipsy bot running in the Lynx Community Discord.

Invitation to Join the Lynx Discord: https://discord.gg/2ndsdevAM3

Miners will instantly get double the block reward and each block won registers the miner to win in an instant lottery. The lottery award schedule allows the block winner to receive an extra bonus amount of Lynx. The lottery is based on the number of ordered matching characters at the end of the winning block hash and the users TipsyLynx Id. With the following probable outcomes:

1. Match 1 = A 1/16 chance to win 16 extra Lynx
2. Match 2 = A 1/256 chance to win 256 extra Lynx
3. Match 3 = A 1/4,096 chance to win 4,096 extra Lynx
4. Match 4 = A 1/65,536 chance to win 65,536 extra Lynx
5. Match 5 = A 1/1,048,576 chance to win 1,048,576 extra Lynx

The respective Lynx will be deposited to the Miners wallet in the Discord Tipsy bot. Aside from running the miner in a Lynx QT wallet, Raspberry Pi, or VPS node, there is no cost to participate. Lottery rewards are calculated on blocks after they have aged past 5 confirmations.

Participants that opt to use the TipsyLynx Miner incentive program do not need to have any coins in their wallet or use the “mineraddress” parameters in the lynx.conf file. No funded coin addresses are necessary. TipsyLynx Miner allows the miner to turn off the local wallet function, providing a more secure and faster running node — meaning no hot wallet is exposed to risk of loss. When the TipsyLynx Miner wins the block, the Tipsy Wallet on Discord is funded with the block reward and the lottery reward amount (if applicable). Below is a hierarchy to explain.

• If a Lynx built-in miner has 1000 Lynx in an address in a local wallet, the built-in miner will mine with that address.
• If a Lynx built-in miner has several addresses in a local wallet, with 1000 Lynx in each, the built-in miner will randomly select an address to mine.
• If the lynx.conf file contains one or more ‘mineraddress’ parameters with funded addresses, those addresses will be used to mine and addresses in the wallet will be ignored. This is why the ‘disablewallet’ parameter should be enabled when using the ‘mineraddress’ parameter on dedicated miners. You can still use your local wallet in this case for sending and receiving, but local wallet addresses are not used for mining.
• If the lynx.conf file contains a ‘tipsyid’ parameter, both local funded wallet addresses and funded ‘mineraddress’ parameters will be ignored and the ‘tipsyid’ will take precedence. This is why the ‘disablewallet’ parameter should be enabled when using the ‘tipsyid’ parameter. You can still use your local wallet in this case for sending and receiving, but local wallet addresses are not used for mining.

*The Lynx Core development team and the developers of the TipsyLynx Miner bot retain discretion to turn off or refuse match payments at any time if nefarious activity is suspected. The TipsyLynx Miner incentive program is not permanent and can be deactivated without notice at any time.

*Lynx Core nodes that support Logware are programmatically restricted from engaging with TipsyLynx Miner. Meaning the Logware mining infrastructure can not profit from the TipsyLynx Miner program.