This commit changes the RuleError type to a struct which consists of an
error code and human-readable description.
From a usage perspective, existing code should not break since type
asserting an error to a RuleError still works in the same manner. The
difference is the caller can now take that type asserted RuleError and
access the .ErrorCode field on it to programmatically identify the
specific rule that was violated.
ok @jrick
This commit refactors the code to make use of the btcnet package for
network-specific parameters instead of switching on the specific network.
For example, the percentage of the network that needs to run version 2
blocks is different between testnet and mainnet. Previously the code was
using a switch to choose these values. With this refactor, those
parameters are part of the network parameters provided when creating a new
chain instance.
Another example is checkpoints, which have been moved to btcnet so they
can be specified by the caller instead of hard coded into this package.
As a result, the checkpoints for the standard networks are now specified
in the btcnet package.
This makes it easier to add new networks such as a testnet4 should it
become needed. It also allows callers to define their own custom network
parameters without having to modify the code of the package to add new
switch cases for the custom network.
It is not necessary to do all of the transaction validation on
blocks if they have been confirmed to be in the block chain leading
up to the final checkpoint in a given blockschain.
This algorithm fetches block headers from the peer, then once it has
established the full blockchain connection, it requests blocks.
Any blocks before the final checkpoint pass true for fastAdd on
btcchain operation, which causes it to do less valiation on the block.
This commit updates the calls into btcutil, btcscript, and btcwire for the
latest API changes which remove the need for the protocol version for
serialization and deserialization of blocks and transactions.
