• README

  • This is a multi-threaded multi-pool CPU and GPU miner with ATI GPU monitoring,
    (over)clocking and fanspeed support for bitcoin and derivative coins.
    
    GIT TREE:
    
    https://github.com/ckolivas/cgminer
    
    Support thread:
    
    http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=28402.0
    
    IRC Channel:
    
    irc://irc.freenode.net/cgminer
    
    License: GPLv2.  See COPYING for details.
    
    Dependencies:
    	curl dev library 	http://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/
    	(libcurl4-openssl-dev)
    	curses dev library
    	(libncurses5-dev or libpdcurses on WIN32)
    	pkg-config		http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/pkg-config
    	jansson			http://www.digip.org/jansson/
    	(jansson is included in-tree and not necessary)
    	yasm 1.0.1+ http://yasm.tortall.net/
    	(yasm is optional, gives assembly routines for CPU mining)
    	AMD APP SDK		http://developer.amd.com/sdks/AMDAPPSDK
    	(This sdk is optional and gives support for GPU mining)
    	AMD ADL SDK		http://developer.amd.com/sdks/ADLSDK
    	(This sdk is optional and gives support for ATI GPU monitoring & clocking)
    
    Basic *nix build instructions:
    	To build with GPU mining support:
    	Install AMD APP sdk, latest version - there is no official place to
    	install it so just keep track of where it is if you're not installing
    	the include files and library files into the system directory.
    	(Do NOT install the ati amd sdk if you are on nvidia.)
    	To build with GPU monitoring & clocking support:
    	Extract the AMD ADL SDK, latest version - there is also no official
    	place for these files. Copy all the *.h files in the "include"
    	directory into cgminer's ADL_SDK directory.
    
    The easiest way to install the ATI AMD SPP sdk on linux is to actually put it
    into a system location. Then building will be simpler. Download the correct
    version for either 32 bit or 64 bit from here:
    	http://developer.amd.com/sdks/AMDAPPSDK/downloads/Pages/default.aspx
    
    This will give you a file with a name like AMD-APP-SDK-v2.4-lnx64.tgz
    
    Then:
    
    sudo su
    cd /opt
    tar xf /path/to/AMD-APP-SDK-v2.4-lnx64.tgz
    cd /
    tar xf /opt/AMD-APP-SDK-v2.4-lnx64/icd-registration.tgz
    ln -s /opt/AMD-APP-SDK-v2.4-lnx64/include/CL /usr/include
    ln -s /opt/AMD-APP-SDK-v2.4-lnx64/lib/x86_64/* /usr/lib/
    ldconfig
    
    If you are on 32 bit, x86_64 in the 2nd last line should be x86
    
    	To actually build:
    
    	./autogen.sh	# only needed if building from git repo
    	CFLAGS="-O2 -Wall -march=native" ./configure
    	or if you haven't installed the ati files in system locations:
    	CFLAGS="-O2 -Wall -march=native -I<path to AMD APP include>" LDFLAGS="-L<path to AMD APP lib/x86_64> ./configure
    	make
    	
    	If it finds the opencl files it will inform you with
    	"OpenCL: FOUND. GPU mining support enabled."
    
    Basic WIN32 build instructions (LIKELY OUTDATED INFO. requires mingw32):
    	./autogen.sh	# only needed if building from git repo
    	rm -f mingw32-config.cache
    	MINGW32_CFLAGS="-O2 -Wall -msse2" mingw32-configure
    	make
    	./mknsis.sh
    	
    Native WIN32 build instructions (on mingw32, on windows):
    	Install the Microsoft platform SDK
    	Install AMD APP sdk, latest version (only if you want GPU mining)
    	Install AMD ADL sdk, latest version (only if you want GPU monitoring)
    	(Do NOT install the ati amd sdk if you are on nvidia)
    	Install mingw32
    	Install libcurl, copy libcurl.m4 into /mingw/share/aclocal
    	Install pkg-config, copy pkg.m4 into /mingw/share/aclocal
    	Run:
    	autoreconf -fvi
    	CFLAGS="-O2 -msse2" ./configure
    	make
    
    ---
    
    Usage instructions:  Run "cgminer --help" to see options:
    
    Usage: . [-atDdGCgIKklmpPQqrRsTouvwOchnV] 
    Options for both config file and command line:
    --algo|-a <arg>     Specify sha256 implementation for CPU mining:
            auto            Benchmark at startup and pick fastest algorithm
            c               Linux kernel sha256, implemented in C
            4way            tcatm's 4-way SSE2 implementation
            via             VIA padlock implementation
            cryptopp        Crypto++ C/C++ implementation
            sse2_64         SSE2 64 bit implementation for x86_64 machines
            sse4_64         SSE4.1 64 bit implementation for x86_64 machines (default: sse2_64)
    --auto-fan          Automatically adjust all GPU fan speeds to maintain a target temperature
    --auto-gpu          Automatically adjust all GPU engine clock speeds to maintain a target temperature
    --cpu-threads|-t <arg> Number of miner CPU threads (default: 4)
    --debug|-D          Enable debug output
    --device|-d <arg>   Select device to use, (Use repeat -d for multiple devices, default: all)
    --disable-gpu|-G    Disable GPU mining even if suitable devices exist
    --enable-cpu|-C     Enable CPU mining with GPU mining (default: no CPU mining if suitable GPUs exist)
    --failover-only     Don't leak work to backup pools when primary pool is lagging
    --gpu-threads|-g <arg> Number of threads per GPU (1 - 10) (default: 2)
    --gpu-engine <arg>  GPU engine (over)clock range in Mhz - one value, range and/or comma separated list (e.g. 850-900,900,750-850)
    --gpu-fan <arg>     GPU fan percentage range - one value, range and/or comma separated list (e.g. 25-85,85,65)
    --gpu-memclock <arg> Set the GPU memory (over)clock in Mhz - one value for all or separate by commas for per card.
    --gpu-powertune <arg> Set the GPU powertune percentage - one value for all or separate by commas for per card.
    --gpu-vddc <arg>    Set the GPU voltage in Volts - one value for all or separate by commas for per card.
    --intensity|-I <arg> Intensity of GPU scanning (-10 -> 10, default: dynamic to maintain desktop interactivity)
    --kernel-path|-K <arg> Specify a path to where the kernel .cl files are (default: "/usr/local/bin")
    --kernel|-k <arg>   Select kernel to use (poclbm or phatk - default: auto)
    --load-balance      Change multipool strategy from failover to even load balance
    --log|-l <arg>      Interval in seconds between log output (default: 5)
    --monitor|-m <arg>  Use custom pipe cmd for output messages
    --no-longpoll       Disable X-Long-Polling support
    --no-restart        Do not attempt to restart GPUs that hang
    --pass|-p <arg>     Password for bitcoin JSON-RPC server
    --per-device-stats  Force verbose mode and output per-device statistics
    --protocol-dump|-P  Verbose dump of protocol-level activities
    --queue|-Q <arg>    Minimum number of work items to have queued (0 - 10) (default: 1)
    --quiet|-q          Disable logging output, display status and errors
    --real-quiet        Disable all output
    --retries|-r <arg>  Number of times to retry before giving up, if JSON-RPC call fails (-1 means never) (default: -1)
    --retry-pause|-R <arg> Number of seconds to pause, between retries (default: 5)
    --rotate <arg>      Change multipool strategy from failover to regularly rotate at N minutes (default: 0)
    --round-robin       Change multipool strategy from failover to round robin on failure
    --scan-time|-s <arg> Upper bound on time spent scanning current work, in seconds (default: 60)
    --sched-start <arg> Set a time of day in HH:MM to start mining (a once off without a stop time)
    --sched-stop <arg>  Set a time of day in HH:MM to stop mining (will quit without a start time)
    --shares <arg>      Quit after mining N shares (default: unlimited)
    --submit-stale      Submit shares even if they would normally be considered stale
    --syslog            Use system log for output messages (default: standard error)
    --temp-cutoff <arg> Temperature where a GPU device will be automatically disabled, one value or comma separated list (default: 95)
    --temp-hysteresis <arg> Set how much the temperature can fluctuate outside limits when automanaging speeds (default: 3)
    --temp-overheat <arg> Overheat temperature when automatically managing fan and GPU speeds (default: 85)
    --temp-target <arg> Target temperature when automatically managing fan and GPU speeds (default: 75)
    --text-only|-T      Disable ncurses formatted screen output
    --url|-o <arg>      URL for bitcoin JSON-RPC server
    --user|-u <arg>     Username for bitcoin JSON-RPC server
    --vectors|-v <arg>  Override detected optimal vector width (1, 2 or 4)
    --verbose           Log verbose output to stderr as well as status output
    --worksize|-w <arg> Override detected optimal worksize (default: 0)
    --userpass|-O <arg> Username:Password pair for bitcoin JSON-RPC server
    Options for command line only:
    --config|-c <arg>   Load a JSON-format configuration file
    See example-cfg.json for an example configuration.
    --help|-h           Print this message
    --ndevs|-n          Enumerate number of detected GPUs and exit
    --version|-V        Display version and exit
    
    ---
    
    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ON USAGE:
    
    Single pool, regular desktop:
    
    cgminer -o http://pool:port -u username -p password
    
    Single pool, dedicated miner:
    
    cgminer -o http://pool:port -u username -p password -I 9
    
    Multiple pool, dedicated miner:
    
    cgminer -o http://pool1:port -u pool1username -p pool1password -o http://pool2:port -u pool2usernmae -p pool2password -I 9
    
    Add overclocking settings, GPU and fan control for all cards:
    
    cgminer -o http://pool:port -u username -p password -I 9 --auto-fan --auto-gpu --gpu-engine 750-950 --gpu-memclock 300
    
    Add overclocking settings, GPU and fan control with different engine settings for 4 cards:
    
    cgminer -o http://pool:port -u username -p password -I 9 --auto-fan --auto-gpu --gpu-engine 750-950,945,700-930,960 --gpu-memclock 300
    
    READ WARNINGS AND DOCUMENTATION BELOW ABOUT OVERCLOCKING
    
    ---
    
    WHILE RUNNING:
    
    The following options are available while running with a single keypress:
    
    [P]ool management [G]PU management [S]ettings [D]isplay options [Q]uit
    
    P gives you:
    
    Current pool management strategy: Failover
    [A]dd pool [R]emove pool [D]isable pool [E]nable pool
    [C]hange management strategy [S]witch pool [I]nformation
    
    
    S gives you:
    
    [D]ynamic mode: On
    [L]ongpoll: On
    [I]ntensity: Dynamic
    [Q]ueue: 0
    [S]cantime: 60
    [R]etries: -1
    [P]ause: 5
    
    
    D gives you:
    
    Toggle: [D]ebug [N]ormal [S]ilent [V]erbose [R]PC debug
    [L]og interval [C]lear
    
    
    Q quits the application.
    
    
    G gives you something like:
    
    GPU 0: [124.2 / 191.3 Mh/s] [Q:212  A:77  R:33  HW:0  E:36%  U:1.73/m]
    Temp: 67.0 C
    Fan Speed: 35% (2500 RPM)
    Engine Clock: 960 MHz
    Memory Clock: 480 Mhz
    Vddc: 1.200 V
    Activity: 93%
    Powertune: 0%
    Last initialised: [2011-09-06 12:03:56]
    Thread 0: 62.4 Mh/s Enabled ALIVE
    Thread 1: 60.2 Mh/s Enabled ALIVE
    
    [E]nable [D]isable [R]estart GPU [C]hange settings
    Or press any other key to continue
    
    
    ---
    Also many issues and FAQs are covered in the forum thread
    dedicated to this program,
    	http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=28402.0
    
    The output line shows the following:
     GPU 1: 73.5C 2551RPM | 427.3/443.0Mh/s | A:8 R:0 HW:0 U:4.39/m
    
    Each column is as follows:
    Temperature (if supported)
    Fanspeed (if supported)
    A 5 second exponentially decaying average hash rate
    An all time average hash rate
    The number of accepted shares
    The number of rejected shares
    The number of hardware erorrs
    The utility defines as the number of shares / minute
    
    The cgminer status line shows:
     TQ: 1  ST: 1  SS: 0  DW: 0  NB: 1  LW: 8  GF: 1  RF: 1  I: 2
    
    TQ is Total Queued work items.
    ST is STaged work items (ready to use).
    SS is Stale Shares discarded (detected and not submitted so don't count as rejects)
    DW is Discarded Work items (work from block no longer valid to work on)
    NB is New Blocks detected on the network
    LW is Locally generated Work items
    GF is Getwork Fail Occasions (server slow to provide work)
    RF is Remote Fail occasions (server slow to accept work)
    I is current Intensity (changes in dynamic mode).
    
    NOTE: Running intensities above 9 with current hardware is likely to only
    diminish return performance even if the hash rate might appear better. A good
    starting baseline intensity to try on dedicated miners is 9. Higher values are
    there to cope with future improvements in hardware.
    
    ---
    MULTIPOOL
    
    FAILOVER STRATEGIES WITH MULTIPOOL:
    A number of different strategies for dealing with multipool setups are
    available. Each has their advantages and disadvantages so multiple strategies
    are available by user choice, as per the following list:
    
    FAILOVER:
    The default strategy is failover. This means that if you input a number of
    pools, it will try to use them as a priority list, moving away from the 1st
    to the 2nd, 2nd to 3rd and so on. If any of the earlier pools recover, it will
    move back to the higher priority ones.
    
    ROUND ROBIN:
    This strategy only moves from one pool to the next when the current one falls
    idle and makes no attempt to move otherwise.
    
    ROTATE:
    This strategy moves at user-defined intervals from one active pool to the next,
    skipping pools that are idle.
    
    LOAD BALANCE:
    This strategy sends work in equal amounts to all the pools specified. If any
    pool falls idle, the rest will take up the slack keeping the miner busy.
    
    ---
    LOGGING
    
    cgminer will log to stderr if it detects stderr is being redirected to a file.
    To enable logging simply add 2>logfile.txt to your command line and logfile.txt
    will contain the logged output at the log level you specify (normal, verbose,
    debug etc.)
    
    In other words if you would normally use:
    ./cgminer -o xxx -u yyy -p zzz
    if you use
    ./cgminer -o xxx -u yyy -p zzz 2>logfile.txt
    it will log to a file called logfile.txt and otherwise work the same.
    
    
    There is also the -m option on linux which will spawn a command of your choice
    and pipe the output directly to that command.
    
    ---
    OVERCLOCKING WARNING AND INFORMATION
    
    AS WITH ALL OVERCLOCKING TOOLS YOU ARE ENTIRELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY HARM YOU
    MAY CAUSE TO YOUR HARDWARE. OVERCLOCKING CAN INVALIDATE WARRANTIES, DAMAGE
    HARDWARE AND EVEN CAUSE FIRES. THE AUTHOR ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY
    DAMAGE YOU MAY CAUSE OR UNPLANNED CHILDREN THAT MAY OCCUR AS A RESULT.
    
    The GPU monitoring, clocking and fanspeed control incorporated into cgminer
    comes through use of the ATI Display Library. As such, it only supports ATI
    GPUs. Even if ADL support is successfully built into cgminer, unless the card
    and driver supports it, no GPU monitoring/settings will be available.
    
    Cgminer supports initial setting of GPU engine clock speed, memory clock
    speed, voltage, fanspeed, and the undocumented powertune feature of 69x0+ GPUs.
    The setting passed to cgminer is used by all GPUs unless separate values are
    specified. All settings can all be changed within the menu on the fly on a
    per-GPU basis.
    
    For example:
    --gpu-engine 950 --gpu-memclock 825
    
    will try to set all GPU engine clocks to 950 and all memory clocks to 825,
    while:
    --gpu-engine 950,945,930,960 --gpu-memclock 300
    
    will try to set the engine clock of card 0 to 950, 1 to 945, 2 to 930, 3 to
    960 and all memory clocks to 825.
    
    AUTO MODES:
    There are two "auto" modes in cgminer, --auto-fan and --auto-gpu. These can
    be used independently of each other and are complementary. Both auto modes
    are designed to safely change settings while trying to maintain a target
    temperature. By default this is set to 75 degrees C but can be changed with:
    
    --temp-target
    e.g.
    --temp-target 80
    Sets all cards' target temperature to 80 degrees.
    
    --temp-target 75,85
    Sets card 0 target temperature to 75, and card 1 to 85 degrees.
    
    AUTO FAN:
    e.g.
    --auto-fan (implies 85% upper limit)
    --gpu-fan 25-85,65 --auto-fan
    
    Fan control in auto fan works off the theory that the minimum possible fan
    required to maintain an optimal temperature will use less power, make less
    noise, and prolong the life of the fan. In auto-fan mode, the fan speed is
    limited to 85% if the temperature is below "overheat" intentionally, as
    higher fanspeeds on GPUs do not produce signficantly more cooling, yet
    significanly shorten the lifespan of the fans. If temperature reaches the
    overheat value, fanspeed will still be increased to 100%. The overheat value
    is set to 85 degrees by default and can be changed with:
    
    --temp-overheat
    e.g.
    --temp-overheat 75,85
    Sets card 0 overheat threshold to 75 degrees and card 1 to 85.
    
    AUTO GPU:
    e.g.
    --auto-gpu --gpu-engine 750-950
    --auto-gpu --gpu-engine 750-950,945,700-930,960
    
    GPU control in auto gpu tries to maintain as high a clock speed as possible
    while not reaching overheat temperatures. As a lower clock speed limit,
    the auto-gpu mode checks the GPU card's "normal" clock speed and will not go
    below this unless you have manually set a lower speed in the range. Also,
    unless a higher clock speed was specified at startup, it will not raise the
    clockspeed. If the temperature climbs, fanspeed is adjusted and optimised
    before GPU engine clockspeed is adjusted. If fan speed control is not available
    or already optimal, then GPU clock speed is only decreased if it goes over
    the target temperature by the hysteresis amount, which is set to 3 by default
    and can be changed with:
    --temp-hysteresis
    If the temperature drops below the target temperature, and engine clock speed
    is not at the highest level set at startup, cgminer will raise the clock speed.
    If at any time you manually set an even higher clock speed successfully in
    cgminer, it will record this value and use it as its new upper limit (and the
    same for low clock speeds and lower limits). If the temperature goes over the
    cutoff limit (95 degrees by default), cgminer will completely disable the GPU
    from mining and it will not be re-enabled unless manually done so. The cutoff
    temperature can be changed with:
    
    --temp-cutoff
    e.g.
    --temp-cutoff 95,105
    Sets card 0 cutoff temperature to 95 and card 1 to 105.
    
    
    CHANGING SETTINGS:
    When setting values, it is important to realise that even though the driver
    may report the value was changed successfully, and the new card power profile
    information contains the values you set it to, that the card itself may
    refuse to use those settings. As the performance profile changes dynamically,
    querying the "current" value on the card can be wrong as well. So when changing
    values in cgminer, after a pause of 1 second, it will report to you the current
    values where you should check that your change has taken. An example is that
    6970 reference cards will accept low memory values but refuse to actually run
    those lower memory values unless they're within 125 of the engine clock speed.
    In that scenario, they usually set their real speed back to their default.
    
    Cgminer reports the so-called "safe" range of whatever it is you are modifying
    when you ask to modify it on the fly. However, you can change settings to values
    outside this range. Despite this, the card can easily refuse to accept your
    changes, or worse, to accept your changes and then silently ignore them. So
    there is absolutely to know how far to/from where/to it can set things safely or
    otherwise, and there is nothing stopping you from at least trying to set them
    outside this range. Being very conscious of these possible failures is why
    cgminer will report back the current values for you to examine how exactly the
    card has responded. Even within the reported range of accepted values by the
    card, it is very easy to crash just about any card, so it cannot use those
    values to determine what range to set. You have to provide something meaningful
    manually for cgminer to work with through experimentation.
    
    STARTUP / SHUTDOWN:
    When cgminer starts up, it tries to read off the current profile information
    for clock and fan speeds and stores these values. When quitting cgminer, it
    will then try to restore the original values. Changing settings outside of
    cgminer while it's running may be reset to the startup cgminer values when
    cgminer shuts down because of this.
    
    ---
    
    FAQ
    
    Q: cgminer segfaults when I change my shell window size.
    A: Older versions of libncurses have a bug to do with refreshing a window
    after a size change. Upgrading to a new version of curses will fix it.
    
    Q: Can I mine on servers from different networks (eg smartcoin and bitcoin) at
    the same time?
    A: No, cgminer keeps a database of the block it's working on to ensure it does
    not work on stale blocks, and having different blocks from two networks would
    make it invalidate the work from each other.
    
    Q: Can I change the intensity settings individually for each GPU?
    A: Not currently.
    
    Q: Can I put multiple pools in the json config file?
    A: Not currently, but you can use multiple config files and specify each with
    successive -c. e.g.: cgminer -c cfg1.json -c cfg2.json
    
    Q: The build fails with gcc is unable to build a binary.
    A: Remove the "-march=native" component of your CFLAGS as your version of gcc
    does not support it.
    
    Q: The CPU usage is high.
    A: If you're on linux, the ATI drivers after 11.6 have a bug that makes them
    consume 100% of one CPU core unnecessarily so downgrade to 11.6. If you're on
    windows, you may be out of luck because the pthread library used consumes a
    lot of CPU. Binding everything to one CPU core on windows can help.
    
    Q: Can you implement feature X?
    A: I can, but time is limited, and people who donate are more likely to get
    their feature requests implemented.
    
    Q: My GPU hangs and I have to reboot it to get it going again?
    A: The more aggressively the mining software uses your GPU, the less overclock
    you will be able to run. You are more likely to hit your limits with cgminer
    and you will find you may need to overclock your GPU less aggressively. The
    software cannot be responsible and make your GPU hang directly. If you simply
    cannot get it to ever stop hanging, try decreasing the intensity, and if even
    that fails, try changing to the poclbm kernel with -k poclbm, though you will
    sacrifice performance.
    
    Q: Work keeps going to my backup pool even though my primary pool hasn't
    failed?
    A: Cgminer checks for conditions where the primary pool is lagging and will
    pass some work to the backup servers under those conditions. The reason for
    doing this is to try its absolute best to keep the GPUs working on something
    useful and not risk idle periods. You can disable this behaviour with the
    option --failover-only.
    
    Q: GUI version?
    A: No.
    
    ---
    
    This code is provided entirely free of charge by the programmer in his spare
    time so donations would be greatly appreciated.
    
    Con Kolivas <kernel@kolivas.org>
    15qSxP1SQcUX3o4nhkfdbgyoWEFMomJ4rZ