MMGen's regtest mode, also known as Bob and Alice mode, uses the Bitcoin daemon's regression test feature to create a virtual network of two users who transact on a private blockchain.
All of MMGen's functionality is available in regtest mode, making it an ideal way to learn to use the MMGen wallet without risking real coins.
To send a transaction or perform any other operation as Bob or Alice, just add the '--bob' or '--alice' option to the relevant MMGen command. MMGen will start and stop the Bitcoin daemon automatically as needed.
This tutorial provides a quick, hands-on introduction.
Initialize MMGen regtest mode and start the regtest daemon:
$ mmgen-regtest setup
$ mmgen-regtest bob
Generate Bob's MMGen wallet:
$ mmgen-walletgen --bob
...
Make this wallet your default and move it to the data directory? (Y/n): y
Generate three type 'C' (compressed) addresses with Bob's MMGen wallet:
$ mmgen-addrgen --bob --type=compressed 1-3
...
Addresses written to file '1163DDF1-C[1-3].addrs'
# 1163DDF1 is Bob's Seed ID; since it's generated randomly, yours will be different
Import the addresses into Bob's tracking wallet:
$ mmgen-addrimport --bob 1163DDF1-C[1-3].addrs
...
Type uppercase 'YES' to confirm: YES
Since your Bob has a different Seed ID, your address filename will of course be different than this one.
List the addresses in Bob's tracking wallet. You'll see the addresses you just imported:
$ mmgen-tool --bob listaddresses showempty=1
MMGenID ADDRESS COMMENT BALANCE
1163DDF1:C:1 mw42oJ94yRA6ZUNSzmMpjZDR74JNyvqzzZ - 0
1163DDF1:C:2 n1oszhfAyRrHi7qJupyzaWXTcpMQGsGJEf - 0
1163DDF1:C:3 mhYYHM7renPpNi8SUj5yeEZ54eAUJ5HyQ1 - 0
Note that regtest mode uses testnet-format addresses, which differ from the familiar mainnet addresses beginning with '1'.
Fund one of the addresses (let's choose the first one) with some BTC:
$ mmgen-regtest send mw42oJ94yRA6ZUNSzmMpjZDR74JNyvqzzZ 500
Don't forget to substitute your C:1 address for the one above!
Make sure the funds reached their destination:
$ mmgen-tool --bob listaddresses showempty=1
MMGenID ADDRESS COMMENT BALANCE
1163DDF1:C:1 mw42oJ94yRA6ZUNSzmMpjZDR74JNyvqzzZ - 500
1163DDF1:C:2 n1oszhfAyRrHi7qJupyzaWXTcpMQGsGJEf - 0
1163DDF1:C:3 mhYYHM7renPpNi8SUj5yeEZ54eAUJ5HyQ1 - 0
TOTAL: 500 BTC
You can view Bob's total balance this way too:
$ mmgen-tool --bob getbalance
Generate Alice's MMGen wallet:
$ mmgen-walletgen --alice
...
Make this wallet your default and move it to the data directory? (Y/n): y
Generate three type 'S' (segwit) addresses with Alice's MMGen wallet:
$ mmgen-addrgen --alice --type=segwit 1-3
...
Addresses written to file '9304C211-S[1-3].addrs'
Repeat steps 4-7 for Alice by substituting '--bob' for '--alice'. Don't forget to change the address filename and send address to suit. The result of step 7 will look something like this:
MMGenID ADDRESS COMMENT BALANCE
9304C211:S:1 2N3HhxasbRvrJyHg72JNVCCPi9EUGrEbFnu - 500
9304C211:S:2 2N8w8qTupvd9L9wLFbrn6UhdfF1gadDAmFD - 0
9304C211:S:3 2NF4y3y4CEjQCcssjX2BDLHT88XHn8z53JS - 0
TOTAL: 500 BTC
Split Alice's funds, sending 200 BTC to address S:2 and the change to S:3. Specify a fee of 20 satoshis/byte and make output quieter:
$ mmgen-txdo --alice --tx-fee=20s --quiet 9304C211:S:2,300 9304C211:S:3
...
Type uppercase 'YES' to confirm: YES
Transaction sent: 78ca853816b55527b42ca8784c887a5f482c752522f914d2f17d6afcd8a3b076
Don't forget to use your Alice's Seed ID here, instead of '9304C211'.
Note that for simplicity's sake this tutorial uses the mmgen-txdo
command
to create, sign and send transactions in one operation. In normal, cold
wallet mode, your seed will be held on a separate offline computer which
you'll use to sign transactions using the mmgen-txsign
command. This is
explained in detail in the Getting Started guide.
View the transaction in the mempool:
$ mmgen-regtest show_mempool
['78ca853816b55527b42ca8784c887a5f482c752522f914d2f17d6afcd8a3b076']
Mine a block:
$ mmgen-regtest generate
Check the mempool again:
$ mmgen-regtest show_mempool
[]
List Alice's addresses. Note that Alice has lost a bit to transaction fees:
$ mmgen-tool --alice listaddresses showempty=1
MMGenID ADDRESS COMMENT BALANCE
9304C211:S:1 2N3HhxasbRvrJyHg72JNVCCPi9EUGrEbFnu - 0
9304C211:S:2 2N8w8qTupvd9L9wLFbrn6UhdfF1gadDAmFD - 300
9304C211:S:3 2NF4y3y4CEjQCcssjX2BDLHT88XHn8z53JS - 199.999967
TOTAL: 499.999967 BTC
Have Alice send 10 BTC to Bob's C:2 address and the change back to her S:1 address. This time Alice specifies an absolute fee in BTC.
$ mmgen-txdo --alice --tx-fee=0.0001 --quiet 9304C211:S:1 n1oszhfAyRrHi7qJupyzaWXTcpMQGsGJEf,10
...
Enter a range or space-separated list of outputs to spend: 1
...
Note that Alice is reusing address S:1 here, and address reuse is generally a bad idea. You'd be better off generating and importing some new addresses for Alice by repeating steps 3 and 4 with a different address range. I'll leave that to you as an exercise.
Mine a block:
$ mmgen-regtest generate
List Alice's addresses, omitting the empty ones:
$ mmgen-tool --alice listaddresses
MMGenID ADDRESS COMMENT BALANCE
9304C211:S:1 2N3HhxasbRvrJyHg72JNVCCPi9EUGrEbFnu - 189.999867
9304C211:S:2 2N8w8qTupvd9L9wLFbrn6UhdfF1gadDAmFD - 300
TOTAL: 489.999867 BTC
List Bob's addresses:
$ mmgen-tool --bob listaddresses
MMGenID ADDRESS COMMENT BALANCE
1163DDF1:C:1 mw42oJ94yRA6ZUNSzmMpjZDR74JNyvqzzZ - 500
1163DDF1:C:2 n1oszhfAyRrHi7qJupyzaWXTcpMQGsGJEf - 10
TOTAL: 510 BTC
Add a label to Bob's tracking wallet:
$ mmgen-tool --bob add_label 1163DDF1:C:2 'From Alice'
List Bob's addresses:
$ mmgen-tool --bob listaddresses
MMGenID ADDRESS COMMENT BALANCE
1163DDF1:C:1 mw42oJ94yRA6ZUNSzmMpjZDR74JNyvqzzZ - 500
1163DDF1:C:2 n1oszhfAyRrHi7qJupyzaWXTcpMQGsGJEf From Alice 10
TOTAL: 510 BTC