lbcutil/coinset
Dave Collins e8bab6bc19 docs: Make various README.md files consistent.
First, it removes the documentation section from all the README.md files
and instead puts a web-based godoc badge and link at the top with the
other badges. This is being done since the local godoc tool no longer
ships with Go by default, so the instructions no longer work without
first installing godoc. Due to this, pretty much everyone uses the
web-based godoc these days anyways. Anyone who has manually installed
godoc won't need instructions.

Second, it makes sure the ISC license badge is at the top with the other
badges and removes the textual reference in the overview section.

Third, it's modifies the Installation section to Installation and
Updating and adds a -u to the go get command since it works for both and
thus is simpler.

Finally, it replaces the badges with SVG versions from shields.io so
they are consistent.
2015-10-23 17:17:38 -05:00
..
coins.go Update btcwire path import paths to new location. 2015-02-05 14:48:38 -06:00
coins_test.go Update btcwire path import paths to new location. 2015-02-05 14:48:38 -06:00
cov_report.sh Added CoinSelector interface and a few simple algos as a sub-package 2014-03-22 23:25:33 -04:00
README.md docs: Make various README.md files consistent. 2015-10-23 17:17:38 -05:00
test_coverage.txt Added CoinSelector interface and a few simple algos as a sub-package 2014-03-22 23:25:33 -04:00

coinset

[Build Status] (https://travis-ci.org/btcsuite/btcutil) ![ISC License] (http://img.shields.io/badge/license-ISC-blue.svg) [GoDoc] (http://godoc.org/github.com/btcsuite/btcutil/coinset)

Package coinset provides bitcoin-specific convenience functions for selecting from and managing sets of unspent transaction outpoints (UTXOs).

A comprehensive suite of tests is provided to ensure proper functionality. See test_coverage.txt for the gocov coverage report. Alternatively, if you are running a POSIX OS, you can run the cov_report.sh script for a real-time report.

Installation and Updating

$ go get -u github.com/btcsuite/btcutil/coinset

Usage

Each unspent transaction outpoint is represented by the Coin interface. An example of a concrete type that implements Coin is coinset.SimpleCoin.

The typical use case for this library is for creating raw bitcoin transactions given a set of Coins that may be spent by the user, for example as below:

var unspentCoins = []coinset.Coin{ ... }

When the user needs to spend a certain amount, they will need to select a subset of these coins which contain at least that value. CoinSelector is an interface that represents types that implement coin selection algos, subject to various criteria. There are a few examples of CoinSelector's:

  • MinIndexCoinSelector

  • MinNumberCoinSelector

  • MaxValueAgeCoinSelector

  • MinPriorityCoinSelector

For example, if the user wishes to maximize the probability that their transaction is mined quickly, they could use the MaxValueAgeCoinSelector to select high priority coins, then also attach a relatively high fee.

selector := &coinset.MaxValueAgeCoinSelector{
    MaxInputs: 10,
    MinAmountChange: 10000,
}
selectedCoins, err := selector.CoinSelect(targetAmount + bigFee, unspentCoins)
if err != nil {
	return err
}
msgTx := coinset.NewMsgTxWithInputCoins(selectedCoins)
...

The user can then create the msgTx.TxOut's as required, then sign the transaction and transmit it to the network.

License

Package coinset is licensed under the copyfree ISC License.