Merge #15849: Thread names in logs and deadlock debug tools

8722e54e56 threads: add thread names to deadlock debugging message (James O'Beirne)
383b186c28 threads: prefix log messages with thread names (James O'Beirne)
ddd95ccb80 tests: add threadutil tests (James O'Beirne)
ae5f2b6a6c threads: introduce util/threadnames, refactor thread naming (James O'Beirne)
188ca75e5f disable HAVE_THREAD_LOCAL on unreliable platforms (James O'Beirne)

Pull request description:

  I'm resurrecting this one (from #13168) because I need it to make progress on #15735.

  It's now off by default and can be turned on with `-logthreadnames=1`.

  Ran some benchmarks (IBD from local peer from 500_000 -> 504_000) and it's within spitting distance either on or off:

  ### threadnames off (default)

  #### 2018-05-threadnames.3 vs. master (absolute)
  |                      name                      | iterations |   2018-05-threadnames.3    |           master           |
  |------------------------------------------------|-----------:|----------------------------|----------------------------|
  | ibd.local.500000.504000.dbcache=2048           |          3 | 376.1584 (± 9.2944)        | 392.3414 (± 13.4238)       |
  | ibd.local.500000.504000.dbcache=2048.mem-usage |          3 | 2236117.3333 (± 1845.9623) | 2238690.6667 (± 2669.3487) |

  #### 2018-05-threadnames.3 vs. master (relative)
  |                      name                      | iterations | 2018-05-threadnames.3 | master |
  |------------------------------------------------|-----------:|----------------------:|-------:|
  | ibd.local.500000.504000.dbcache=2048           |          3 |                     1 |  1.043 |
  | ibd.local.500000.504000.dbcache=2048.mem-usage |          3 |                     1 |  1.001 |

  ### threadnames on

  #### 2018-05-threadnames-take-2 vs. master (absolute)
  |                      name                      | iterations | 2018-05-threadnames-take-2 |           master           |
  |------------------------------------------------|-----------:|----------------------------|----------------------------|
  | ibd.local.500000.504000.dbcache=2048           |          3 | 367.6861 (± 0.3941)        | 364.1667 (± 0.9776)        |
  | ibd.local.500000.504000.dbcache=2048.mem-usage |          3 | 2238461.3333 (± 3697.8730) | 2237014.6667 (± 3307.6966) |

  #### 2018-05-threadnames-take-2 vs. master (relative)
  |                      name                      | iterations | 2018-05-threadnames-take-2 | master |
  |------------------------------------------------|-----------:|---------------------------:|-------:|
  | ibd.local.500000.504000.dbcache=2048           |          3 |                      1.010 |   1.00 |
  | ibd.local.500000.504000.dbcache=2048.mem-usage |          3 |                      1.001 |   1.00 |
  ```

ACKs for commit 8722e5:
  Empact:
    utACK 8722e54e56
  jnewbery:
    utACK 8722e54e56
  MarcoFalke:
    re-utACK 8722e54e56 (Only change since my previous review is DEFAULT_LOGTHREADNAMES=false and stylistic updates

Tree-SHA512: 50af992708295b8d680cf10025262dd964e599a356bdfc1dfc84fb18c00afabcb34d3d12d551b0677ff81f8fccad0e17c1d5b24dfecb953a913bc77fdd1a4577
This commit is contained in:
MarcoFalke 2019-04-30 15:24:45 -04:00
commit 2c35fe6238
No known key found for this signature in database
GPG key ID: D2EA4850E7528B25
19 changed files with 239 additions and 58 deletions

View file

@ -836,8 +836,23 @@ AC_LINK_IFELSE([AC_LANG_SOURCE([
}
])],
[
AC_DEFINE(HAVE_THREAD_LOCAL,1,[Define if thread_local is supported.])
AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
case $host in
*mingw*)
# mingw32's implementation of thread_local has also been shown to behave
# erroneously under concurrent usage; see:
# https://gist.github.com/jamesob/fe9a872051a88b2025b1aa37bfa98605
AC_MSG_RESULT(no)
;;
*darwin*)
# TODO enable thread_local on later versions of Darwin where it is
# supported (per https://stackoverflow.com/a/29929949)
AC_MSG_RESULT(no)
;;
*)
AC_DEFINE(HAVE_THREAD_LOCAL,1,[Define if thread_local is supported.])
AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
;;
esac
],
[
AC_MSG_RESULT(no)

View file

@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
Thread names in logs
--------------------
On platforms supporting `thread_local`, log lines can be prefixed with the name
of the thread that caused the log. To enable this behavior, use
`-logthreadnames=1`.

View file

@ -209,6 +209,7 @@ BITCOIN_CORE_H = \
util/memory.h \
util/moneystr.h \
util/rbf.h \
util/threadnames.h \
util/time.h \
util/url.h \
util/validation.h \
@ -489,6 +490,7 @@ libbitcoin_util_a_SOURCES = \
util/system.cpp \
util/moneystr.cpp \
util/rbf.cpp \
util/threadnames.cpp \
util/strencodings.cpp \
util/time.cpp \
util/url.cpp \

View file

@ -138,6 +138,7 @@ BITCOIN_TESTS =\
test/skiplist_tests.cpp \
test/streams_tests.cpp \
test/sync_tests.cpp \
test/util_threadnames_tests.cpp \
test/timedata_tests.cpp \
test/torcontrol_tests.cpp \
test/transaction_tests.cpp \

View file

@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
#include <util/system.h>
#include <httpserver.h>
#include <httprpc.h>
#include <util/threadnames.h>
#include <util/strencodings.h>
#include <walletinitinterface.h>
@ -64,6 +65,8 @@ static bool AppInit(int argc, char* argv[])
bool fRet = false;
util::ThreadRename("init");
//
// Parameters
//

View file

@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
#include <chainparamsbase.h>
#include <compat.h>
#include <util/threadnames.h>
#include <util/system.h>
#include <util/strencodings.h>
#include <netbase.h>
@ -17,7 +18,7 @@
#include <memory>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <string>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
@ -284,7 +285,7 @@ static void http_reject_request_cb(struct evhttp_request* req, void*)
/** Event dispatcher thread */
static bool ThreadHTTP(struct event_base* base)
{
RenameThread("bitcoin-http");
util::ThreadRename("http");
LogPrint(BCLog::HTTP, "Entering http event loop\n");
event_base_dispatch(base);
// Event loop will be interrupted by InterruptHTTPServer()
@ -335,9 +336,9 @@ static bool HTTPBindAddresses(struct evhttp* http)
}
/** Simple wrapper to set thread name and run work queue */
static void HTTPWorkQueueRun(WorkQueue<HTTPClosure>* queue)
static void HTTPWorkQueueRun(WorkQueue<HTTPClosure>* queue, int worker_num)
{
RenameThread("bitcoin-httpworker");
util::ThreadRename(strprintf("httpworker.%i", worker_num));
queue->Run();
}
@ -430,7 +431,7 @@ void StartHTTPServer()
threadHTTP = std::thread(ThreadHTTP, eventBase);
for (int i = 0; i < rpcThreads; i++) {
g_thread_http_workers.emplace_back(HTTPWorkQueueRun, workQueue);
g_thread_http_workers.emplace_back(HTTPWorkQueueRun, workQueue, i);
}
}

View file

@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
#include <script/sigcache.h>
#include <scheduler.h>
#include <shutdown.h>
#include <util/threadnames.h>
#include <timedata.h>
#include <txdb.h>
#include <txmempool.h>
@ -206,7 +207,7 @@ void Shutdown(InitInterfaces& interfaces)
/// for example if the data directory was found to be locked.
/// Be sure that anything that writes files or flushes caches only does this if the respective
/// module was initialized.
RenameThread("bitcoin-shutoff");
util::ThreadRename("shutoff");
mempool.AddTransactionsUpdated(1);
StopHTTPRPC();
@ -506,6 +507,7 @@ void SetupServerArgs()
gArgs.AddArg("-debugexclude=<category>", strprintf("Exclude debugging information for a category. Can be used in conjunction with -debug=1 to output debug logs for all categories except one or more specified categories."), false, OptionsCategory::DEBUG_TEST);
gArgs.AddArg("-logips", strprintf("Include IP addresses in debug output (default: %u)", DEFAULT_LOGIPS), false, OptionsCategory::DEBUG_TEST);
gArgs.AddArg("-logtimestamps", strprintf("Prepend debug output with timestamp (default: %u)", DEFAULT_LOGTIMESTAMPS), false, OptionsCategory::DEBUG_TEST);
gArgs.AddArg("-logthreadnames", strprintf("Prepend debug output with name of the originating thread (only available on platforms supporting thread_local) (default: %u)", DEFAULT_LOGTHREADNAMES), false, OptionsCategory::DEBUG_TEST);
gArgs.AddArg("-logtimemicros", strprintf("Add microsecond precision to debug timestamps (default: %u)", DEFAULT_LOGTIMEMICROS), true, OptionsCategory::DEBUG_TEST);
gArgs.AddArg("-mocktime=<n>", "Replace actual time with <n> seconds since epoch (default: 0)", true, OptionsCategory::DEBUG_TEST);
gArgs.AddArg("-maxsigcachesize=<n>", strprintf("Limit sum of signature cache and script execution cache sizes to <n> MiB (default: %u)", DEFAULT_MAX_SIG_CACHE_SIZE), true, OptionsCategory::DEBUG_TEST);
@ -666,7 +668,7 @@ static void CleanupBlockRevFiles()
static void ThreadImport(std::vector<fs::path> vImportFiles)
{
const CChainParams& chainparams = Params();
RenameThread("bitcoin-loadblk");
util::ThreadRename("loadblk");
ScheduleBatchPriority();
{
@ -862,6 +864,7 @@ void InitLogging()
LogInstance().m_print_to_console = gArgs.GetBoolArg("-printtoconsole", !gArgs.GetBoolArg("-daemon", false));
LogInstance().m_log_timestamps = gArgs.GetBoolArg("-logtimestamps", DEFAULT_LOGTIMESTAMPS);
LogInstance().m_log_time_micros = gArgs.GetBoolArg("-logtimemicros", DEFAULT_LOGTIMEMICROS);
LogInstance().m_log_threadnames = gArgs.GetBoolArg("-logthreadnames", DEFAULT_LOGTHREADNAMES);
fLogIPs = gArgs.GetBoolArg("-logips", DEFAULT_LOGIPS);
@ -1286,7 +1289,7 @@ bool AppInitMain(InitInterfaces& interfaces)
LogPrintf("Using %u threads for script verification\n", nScriptCheckThreads);
if (nScriptCheckThreads) {
for (int i=0; i<nScriptCheckThreads-1; i++)
threadGroup.create_thread(&ThreadScriptCheck);
threadGroup.create_thread([i]() { return ThreadScriptCheck(i); });
}
// Start the lightweight task scheduler thread

View file

@ -4,8 +4,11 @@
// file COPYING or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
#include <logging.h>
#include <util/threadnames.h>
#include <util/time.h>
#include <mutex>
const char * const DEFAULT_DEBUGLOGFILE = "debug.log";
BCLog::Logger& LogInstance()
@ -174,7 +177,7 @@ std::vector<CLogCategoryActive> ListActiveLogCategories()
return ret;
}
std::string BCLog::Logger::LogTimestampStr(const std::string &str)
std::string BCLog::Logger::LogTimestampStr(const std::string& str)
{
std::string strStamped;
@ -196,21 +199,24 @@ std::string BCLog::Logger::LogTimestampStr(const std::string &str)
} else
strStamped = str;
if (!str.empty() && str[str.size()-1] == '\n')
m_started_new_line = true;
else
m_started_new_line = false;
return strStamped;
}
void BCLog::Logger::LogPrintStr(const std::string &str)
{
std::string strTimestamped = LogTimestampStr(str);
std::string str_prefixed = str;
if (m_log_threadnames && m_started_new_line) {
str_prefixed.insert(0, "[" + util::ThreadGetInternalName() + "] ");
}
str_prefixed = LogTimestampStr(str_prefixed);
m_started_new_line = !str.empty() && str[str.size()-1] == '\n';
if (m_print_to_console) {
// print to console
fwrite(strTimestamped.data(), 1, strTimestamped.size(), stdout);
fwrite(str_prefixed.data(), 1, str_prefixed.size(), stdout);
fflush(stdout);
}
if (m_print_to_file) {
@ -218,7 +224,7 @@ void BCLog::Logger::LogPrintStr(const std::string &str)
// buffer if we haven't opened the log yet
if (m_fileout == nullptr) {
m_msgs_before_open.push_back(strTimestamped);
m_msgs_before_open.push_back(str_prefixed);
}
else
{
@ -232,7 +238,7 @@ void BCLog::Logger::LogPrintStr(const std::string &str)
m_fileout = new_fileout;
}
}
FileWriteStr(strTimestamped, m_fileout);
FileWriteStr(str_prefixed, m_fileout);
}
}
}

View file

@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
static const bool DEFAULT_LOGTIMEMICROS = false;
static const bool DEFAULT_LOGIPS = false;
static const bool DEFAULT_LOGTIMESTAMPS = true;
static const bool DEFAULT_LOGTHREADNAMES = false;
extern const char * const DEFAULT_DEBUGLOGFILE;
extern bool fLogIPs;
@ -81,6 +82,7 @@ namespace BCLog {
bool m_log_timestamps = DEFAULT_LOGTIMESTAMPS;
bool m_log_time_micros = DEFAULT_LOGTIMEMICROS;
bool m_log_threadnames = DEFAULT_LOGTHREADNAMES;
fs::path m_file_path;
std::atomic<bool> m_reopen_file{false};

View file

@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
#include <interfaces/handler.h>
#include <interfaces/node.h>
#include <noui.h>
#include <util/threadnames.h>
#include <rpc/server.h>
#include <ui_interface.h>
#include <uint256.h>
@ -149,6 +150,7 @@ void BitcoinCore::initialize()
try
{
qDebug() << __func__ << ": Running initialization in thread";
util::ThreadRename("qt-init");
bool rv = m_node.appInitMain();
Q_EMIT initializeResult(rv);
} catch (const std::exception& e) {
@ -423,6 +425,7 @@ int GuiMain(int argc, char* argv[])
std::tie(argc, argv) = winArgs.get();
#endif
SetupEnvironment();
util::ThreadRename("main");
std::unique_ptr<interfaces::Node> node = interfaces::MakeNode();

View file

@ -3,9 +3,11 @@
// file COPYING or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
#include <sync.h>
#include <tinyformat.h>
#include <logging.h>
#include <util/strencodings.h>
#include <util/threadnames.h>
#include <stdio.h>
@ -37,23 +39,30 @@ void PrintLockContention(const char* pszName, const char* pszFile, int nLine)
//
struct CLockLocation {
CLockLocation(const char* pszName, const char* pszFile, int nLine, bool fTryIn)
{
mutexName = pszName;
sourceFile = pszFile;
sourceLine = nLine;
fTry = fTryIn;
}
CLockLocation(
const char* pszName,
const char* pszFile,
int nLine,
bool fTryIn,
const std::string& thread_name)
: fTry(fTryIn),
mutexName(pszName),
sourceFile(pszFile),
m_thread_name(thread_name),
sourceLine(nLine) {}
std::string ToString() const
{
return mutexName + " " + sourceFile + ":" + itostr(sourceLine) + (fTry ? " (TRY)" : "");
return tfm::format(
"%s %s:%s%s (in thread %s)",
mutexName, sourceFile, itostr(sourceLine), (fTry ? " (TRY)" : ""), m_thread_name);
}
private:
bool fTry;
std::string mutexName;
std::string sourceFile;
const std::string& m_thread_name;
int sourceLine;
};
@ -125,7 +134,7 @@ static void push_lock(void* c, const CLockLocation& locklocation)
std::pair<void*, void*> p1 = std::make_pair(i.first, c);
if (lockdata.lockorders.count(p1))
continue;
lockdata.lockorders[p1] = g_lockstack;
lockdata.lockorders.emplace(p1, g_lockstack);
std::pair<void*, void*> p2 = std::make_pair(c, i.first);
lockdata.invlockorders.insert(p2);
@ -141,7 +150,7 @@ static void pop_lock()
void EnterCritical(const char* pszName, const char* pszFile, int nLine, void* cs, bool fTry)
{
push_lock(cs, CLockLocation(pszName, pszFile, nLine, fTry));
push_lock(cs, CLockLocation(pszName, pszFile, nLine, fTry, util::ThreadGetInternalName()));
}
void LeaveCritical()

View file

@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ TestingSetup::TestingSetup(const std::string& chainName) : BasicTestingSetup(cha
nScriptCheckThreads = 3;
for (int i = 0; i < nScriptCheckThreads - 1; i++)
threadGroup.create_thread(&ThreadScriptCheck);
threadGroup.create_thread([i]() { return ThreadScriptCheck(i); });
g_banman = MakeUnique<BanMan>(GetDataDir() / "banlist.dat", nullptr, DEFAULT_MISBEHAVING_BANTIME);
g_connman = MakeUnique<CConnman>(0x1337, 0x1337); // Deterministic randomness for tests.

View file

@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
// Copyright (c) 2018 The Bitcoin Core developers
// Distributed under the MIT software license, see the accompanying
// file COPYING or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
#include <util/threadnames.h>
#include <test/setup_common.h>
#include <thread>
#include <vector>
#include <set>
#include <mutex>
#if defined(HAVE_CONFIG_H)
#include <config/bitcoin-config.h>
#endif
#include <boost/test/unit_test.hpp>
BOOST_FIXTURE_TEST_SUITE(util_threadnames_tests, BasicTestingSetup)
const std::string TEST_THREAD_NAME_BASE = "test_thread.";
/**
* Run a bunch of threads to all call util::ThreadRename.
*
* @return the set of name each thread has after attempted renaming.
*/
std::set<std::string> RenameEnMasse(int num_threads)
{
std::vector<std::thread> threads;
std::set<std::string> names;
std::mutex lock;
auto RenameThisThread = [&](int i) {
util::ThreadRename(TEST_THREAD_NAME_BASE + std::to_string(i));
std::lock_guard<std::mutex> guard(lock);
names.insert(util::ThreadGetInternalName());
};
for (int i = 0; i < num_threads; ++i) {
threads.push_back(std::thread(RenameThisThread, i));
}
for (std::thread& thread : threads) thread.join();
return names;
}
/**
* Rename a bunch of threads with the same basename (expect_multiple=true), ensuring suffixes are
* applied properly.
*/
BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(util_threadnames_test_rename_threaded)
{
BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(util::ThreadGetInternalName(), "");
#if !defined(HAVE_THREAD_LOCAL)
// This test doesn't apply to platforms where we don't have thread_local.
return;
#endif
std::set<std::string> names = RenameEnMasse(100);
BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(names.size(), 100);
// Names "test_thread.[n]" should exist for n = [0, 99]
for (int i = 0; i < 100; ++i) {
BOOST_CHECK(names.find(TEST_THREAD_NAME_BASE + std::to_string(i)) != names.end());
}
}
BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE_END()

View file

@ -60,10 +60,6 @@
#include <shlobj.h>
#endif
#ifdef HAVE_SYS_PRCTL_H
#include <sys/prctl.h>
#endif
#ifdef HAVE_MALLOPT_ARENA_MAX
#include <malloc.h>
#endif
@ -1137,22 +1133,6 @@ void runCommand(const std::string& strCommand)
LogPrintf("runCommand error: system(%s) returned %d\n", strCommand, nErr);
}
void RenameThread(const char* name)
{
#if defined(PR_SET_NAME)
// Only the first 15 characters are used (16 - NUL terminator)
::prctl(PR_SET_NAME, name, 0, 0, 0);
#elif (defined(__FreeBSD__) || defined(__OpenBSD__) || defined(__DragonFly__))
pthread_set_name_np(pthread_self(), name);
#elif defined(MAC_OSX)
pthread_setname_np(name);
#else
// Prevent warnings for unused parameters...
(void)name;
#endif
}
void SetupEnvironment()
{
#ifdef HAVE_MALLOPT_ARENA_MAX

View file

@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
#include <fs.h>
#include <logging.h>
#include <sync.h>
#include <util/threadnames.h>
#include <tinyformat.h>
#include <util/memory.h>
#include <util/time.h>
@ -325,15 +326,12 @@ std::string HelpMessageOpt(const std::string& option, const std::string& message
*/
int GetNumCores();
void RenameThread(const char* name);
/**
* .. and a wrapper that just calls func once
*/
template <typename Callable> void TraceThread(const char* name, Callable func)
{
std::string s = strprintf("bitcoin-%s", name);
RenameThread(s.c_str());
util::ThreadRename(name);
try
{
LogPrintf("%s thread start\n", name);

57
src/util/threadnames.cpp Normal file
View file

@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
// Copyright (c) 2018 The Bitcoin Core developers
// Distributed under the MIT software license, see the accompanying
// file COPYING or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
#if defined(HAVE_CONFIG_H)
#include <config/bitcoin-config.h>
#endif
#include <atomic>
#include <thread>
#include <util/threadnames.h>
#ifdef HAVE_SYS_PRCTL_H
#include <sys/prctl.h> // For prctl, PR_SET_NAME, PR_GET_NAME
#endif
//! Set the thread's name at the process level. Does not affect the
//! internal name.
static void SetThreadName(const char* name)
{
#if defined(PR_SET_NAME)
// Only the first 15 characters are used (16 - NUL terminator)
::prctl(PR_SET_NAME, name, 0, 0, 0);
#elif (defined(__FreeBSD__) || defined(__OpenBSD__) || defined(__DragonFly__))
pthread_set_name_np(pthread_self(), name);
#elif defined(MAC_OSX)
pthread_setname_np(name);
#else
// Prevent warnings for unused parameters...
(void)name;
#endif
}
// If we have thread_local, just keep thread ID and name in a thread_local
// global.
#if defined(HAVE_THREAD_LOCAL)
static thread_local std::string g_thread_name;
const std::string& util::ThreadGetInternalName() { return g_thread_name; }
//! Set the in-memory internal name for this thread. Does not affect the process
//! name.
static void SetInternalName(std::string name) { g_thread_name = std::move(name); }
// Without thread_local available, don't handle internal name at all.
#else
static const std::string empty_string;
const std::string& util::ThreadGetInternalName() { return empty_string; }
static void SetInternalName(std::string name) { }
#endif
void util::ThreadRename(std::string&& name)
{
SetThreadName(("bitcoin-" + name).c_str());
SetInternalName(std::move(name));
}

21
src/util/threadnames.h Normal file
View file

@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
// Copyright (c) 2018 The Bitcoin Core developers
// Distributed under the MIT software license, see the accompanying
// file COPYING or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
#ifndef BITCOIN_UTIL_THREADNAMES_H
#define BITCOIN_UTIL_THREADNAMES_H
#include <string>
namespace util {
//! Rename a thread both in terms of an internal (in-memory) name as well
//! as its system thread name.
void ThreadRename(std::string&&);
//! Get the thread's internal (in-memory) name; used e.g. for identification in
//! logging.
const std::string& ThreadGetInternalName();
} // namespace util
#endif // BITCOIN_UTIL_THREADNAMES_H

View file

@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
#include <future>
#include <sstream>
#include <string>
#include <boost/algorithm/string/replace.hpp>
#include <boost/thread.hpp>
@ -1669,8 +1670,8 @@ static bool WriteUndoDataForBlock(const CBlockUndo& blockundo, CValidationState&
static CCheckQueue<CScriptCheck> scriptcheckqueue(128);
void ThreadScriptCheck() {
RenameThread("bitcoin-scriptch");
void ThreadScriptCheck(int worker_num) {
util::ThreadRename(strprintf("scriptch.%i", worker_num));
scriptcheckqueue.Thread();
}

View file

@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ bool LoadChainTip(const CChainParams& chainparams) EXCLUSIVE_LOCKS_REQUIRED(cs_m
/** Unload database information */
void UnloadBlockIndex();
/** Run an instance of the script checking thread */
void ThreadScriptCheck();
void ThreadScriptCheck(int worker_num);
/** Check whether we are doing an initial block download (synchronizing from disk or network) */
bool IsInitialBlockDownload();
/** Retrieve a transaction (from memory pool, or from disk, if possible) */