With the introduction of the max CLTV limit parameter, nodes are able to
reject HTLCs that exceed it. This should also be applied to path
finding, otherwise HTLCs crafted by the same node that exceed it never
left the switch. This wasn't a big deal since the previous max CLTV
limit was ~5000 blocks. Once it was lowered to 1008, the issue became
more apparent. Therefore, all of our path finding attempts now have a
restriction of said limit in in order to properly carry out HTLCs to the
network.
In this commit, we extend the path finding to be able to recognize when
a node needs the new TLV format, or the legacy format based on the
feature bits they expose. We also extend the `LightningPayment` struct
to allow the caller to specify an arbitrary set of TLV records which can
be used for a number of use-cases including various variants of
spontaneous payments.
Previously mission control tracked failures on a per node, per channel basis.
This commit changes this to tracking on the level of directed node pairs. The goal
of moving to this coarser-grained level is to reduce the number of required
payment attempts without compromising payment reliability.
This commit adds the BlockPadding value (currently 3) to sendpayment
calls so that if some blocks are mined while the htlc is in-flight, the
exit hop won't reject it.
If nodes return a channel policy related failure, they may get a second
chance. Our graph may not be up to date. Previously this logic was
contained in the payment session.
This commit moves that into global mission control and thereby removes
the last mission control state that was kept on the payment level.
Because mission control is not aware of the relation between payment
attempts and payments, the second chance logic is no longer based
tracking second chances given per payment.
Instead a time based approach is used. If a node reports a policy
failure that prevents forwarding to its peer, it will get a second
chance. But it will get it only if the previous second chance was
long enough ago.
Also those second chances are no longer dependent on whether an
associated channel update is valid. It will get the second chance
regardless, to prevent creating a dependency between mission control and
the graph. This would interfer with (future) replay of history, because
the graph may not be the same anymore at that point.
This commit exposes the three main parameters that influence mission
control and path finding to the user as command line or config file
flags. It allows for fine-tuning for optimal results.
Previously every payment had its own local mission control state which
was in effect only for that payment. In this commit most of the local
state is removed and payments all tap into the global mission control
probability estimator.
Furthermore the decay time of pruned edges and nodes is extended, so
that observations about the network can better benefit future payment
processes.
Last, the probability function is transformed from a binary output to a
gradual curve, allowing for a better trade off between candidate routes.
This PR replaces the previously used edge and node ignore lists in path
finding by a probability based system. It modifies path finding so that
it not only compares routes on fee and time lock, but also takes route
success probability into account.
Allowing routes to be compared based on success probability is achieved
by introducing a 'virtual' cost of a payment attempt and using that to
translate probability into another cost factor.
Currently public keys are represented either as a 33-byte array (Vertex) or as a
btcec.PublicKey struct. The latter isn't useable as index into maps and
cannot be used easily in compares. Therefore the 33-byte array
representation is used predominantly throughout the code base.
This commit converts the argument types of source and target nodes for
path finding to Vertex. Path finding executes no crypto operations and
using Vertex simplifies the code.
Additionally, it prepares for the path finding source parameter to be
exposed over rpc in a follow up commit without requiring conversion back
and forth between Vertex and btcec.PublicKey.
