61152183ab wallet: Add a deprecation warning for newly created legacy wallets (Andrew Chow)
Pull request description:
As we slowly deprecate legacy wallets, we need to warn users that are making new legacy wallets that their wallet type is going to be unsupported in the future.
ACKs for top commit:
jonatack:
ACK 61152183ab
S3RK:
reACK 61152183ab
theStack:
ACK 61152183ab
Tree-SHA512: e89bfb8168869542498958f0c9a2ab302dfd43287f8a49e7d9e09f60438a567bb8b7219a4e569797ee819b30b624f532fcc0b70c6aa0edcb392a301b8ce8b541
5d7c69b887 rpc: rename getdeploymentinfo status-next to status_next (Jon Atack)
Pull request description:
Rename the `status-next` field to `status_next` in getdeploymentinfo before the RPC is released in v23.
Before
```
Result:
{ (json object)
"hash" : "str", (string) requested block hash (or tip)
"height" : n, (numeric) requested block height (or tip)
"deployments" : { (json object)
"xxxx" : { (json object) name of the deployment
"type" : "str", (string) one of "buried", "bip9"
"height" : n, (numeric, optional) height of the first block which the rules are or will be enforced (only for "buried" type, or "bip9" type with "active" status)
"active" : true|false, (boolean) true if the rules are enforced for the mempool and the next block
"bip9" : { (json object, optional) status of bip9 softforks (only for "bip9" type)
"bit" : n, (numeric, optional) the bit (0-28) in the block version field used to signal this softfork (only for "started" and "locked_in" status)
"start_time" : xxx, (numeric) the minimum median time past of a block at which the bit gains its meaning
"timeout" : xxx, (numeric) the median time past of a block at which the deployment is considered failed if not yet locked in
"min_activation_height" : n, (numeric) minimum height of blocks for which the rules may be enforced
"status" : "str", (string) status of deployment at specified block (one of "defined", "started", "locked_in", "active", "failed")
"since" : n, (numeric) height of the first block to which the status applies
"status-next" : "str", (string) status of deployment at the next block
"statistics" : { (json object, optional) numeric statistics about signalling for a softfork (only for "started" and "locked_in" status)
"period" : n, (numeric) the length in blocks of the signalling period
"threshold" : n, (numeric, optional) the number of blocks with the version bit set required to activate the feature (only for "started" status)
"elapsed" : n, (numeric) the number of blocks elapsed since the beginning of the current period
"count" : n, (numeric) the number of blocks with the version bit set in the current period
"possible" : true|false (boolean, optional) returns false if there are not enough blocks left in this period to pass activation threshold (only for "started" status)
},
"signalling" : "str" (string) indicates blocks that signalled with a # and blocks that did not with a -
}
}
}
}
```
After
```
Result:
{ (json object)
"hash" : "str", (string) requested block hash (or tip)
"height" : n, (numeric) requested block height (or tip)
"deployments" : { (json object)
"xxxx" : { (json object) name of the deployment
"type" : "str", (string) one of "buried", "bip9"
"height" : n, (numeric, optional) height of the first block which the rules are or will be enforced (only for "buried" type, or "bip9" type with "active" status)
"active" : true|false, (boolean) true if the rules are enforced for the mempool and the next block
"bip9" : { (json object, optional) status of bip9 softforks (only for "bip9" type)
"bit" : n, (numeric, optional) the bit (0-28) in the block version field used to signal this softfork (only for "started" and "locked_in" status)
"start_time" : xxx, (numeric) the minimum median time past of a block at which the bit gains its meaning
"timeout" : xxx, (numeric) the median time past of a block at which the deployment is considered failed if not yet locked in
"min_activation_height" : n, (numeric) minimum height of blocks for which the rules may be enforced
"status" : "str", (string) status of deployment at specified block (one of "defined", "started", "locked_in", "active", "failed")
"since" : n, (numeric) height of the first block to which the status applies
"status_next" : "str", (string) status of deployment at the next block
"statistics" : { (json object, optional) numeric statistics about signalling for a softfork (only for "started" and "locked_in" status)
"period" : n, (numeric) the length in blocks of the signalling period
"threshold" : n, (numeric, optional) the number of blocks with the version bit set required to activate the feature (only for "started" status)
"elapsed" : n, (numeric) the number of blocks elapsed since the beginning of the current period
"count" : n, (numeric) the number of blocks with the version bit set in the current period
"possible" : true|false (boolean, optional) returns false if there are not enough blocks left in this period to pass activation threshold (only for "started" status)
},
"signalling" : "str" (string) indicates blocks that signalled with a # and blocks that did not with a -
}
}
}
}
```
Top commit has no ACKs.
Tree-SHA512: 4facfd7af3cfb7b6f5495758c4387602802f5e39d9270b162d17350a7f954eab0b74d895f17f0d8dfbc7814d36db7cff56d08c42728432885ea6f4e37aea4aa8
40e871d9b4 [miner] always assume we can create witness blocks (glozow)
Pull request description:
Given the low possibility of a reorg reverting the segwit soft fork, there is no longer a need to check whether segwit is active to see if it's okay to add to the block template (see also #23512, #21009, etc). `TestBlockValidity()` is also run on the block template at the end of `CreateNewBlock()`, so any invalid block would be caught there.
ACKs for top commit:
gruve-p:
ACK 40e871d9b4
jnewbery:
utACK 40e871d9b4, although I disagree about changing the test for segwit transaction in mempool before activagtion, instead of just removing it: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/24421#discussion_r822933721.
achow101:
ACK 40e871d9b4
theStack:
Code-review ACK 40e871d9b4
Tree-SHA512: bf4860bf2bed8339622d05228d11d60286edb0c32a9a3c434b8d154913c07ea56e50649f4af7009c2a1c6a58a81d2299ab43b41a6f16dee7d08cc89cc1603019
db27ac9354 tests: Ensure sorted/multi_a descriptors always generate different addrs (Andrew Chow)
Pull request description:
Sometimes the multi_a and sortedmulti_a descriptors will produce some of the same addresses in the tests. This causes the wallets to start generating addresses at a different index as they detect that one of the addresses is used. This subsequently causes a test failure.
To avoid this problem, use descriptors that will produce unique addresses by putting one of the multi_a in a different branch.
ACKs for top commit:
ajtowns:
ACK db27ac9354
theStack:
Tested ACK db27ac9354
Tree-SHA512: 0f57822bf4c7c79da304f092d7d43d6118e78a087cbeb0766fbbf634dc27911ae723d5d41350884d3b63a24d3b3817944f7e5fa534afb849161dd008a1e4a62f
7abd8b21ba doc: include wtxid in TransactionDescriptionString (brunoerg)
2d596bce6f doc: add wtxid info in release-notes (brunoerg)
a5b66738f1 test: add wtxid in expected_fields for wallet_basic (brunoerg)
e8c659a297 wallet: add wtxid in WalletTxToJSON (brunoerg)
7482b6f895 wallet: add GetWitnessHash() (brunoerg)
Pull request description:
This PR add `wtxid` in `WalletTxToJSON` which allows to return this field in `listsinceblock`, `listtransactions` and `gettransaction` (RPCs).
ACKs for top commit:
achow101:
re-ACK 7abd8b21ba
w0xlt:
crACK 7abd8b2
luke-jr:
re-utACK 7abd8b21ba
Tree-SHA512: f86f2dbb5e38e7b19932006121802f47b759d31bdbffe3263d1db464f6a3a30fddd68416f886a44f6d3a9fd570f7bd4f8d999737ad95c189e7ae5e8ec1ffbdaa
fa097d074b addrman: Log too low compat value (MarcoFalke)
Pull request description:
Before this patch, when writing a negative `lowest_compatible` value, it would be read as a positive value. For example `-32` will be read as `224`. There is generally nothing wrong with that. Though, similarly there shouldn't be anything wrong with refusing to read a negative value. I find the code after this patch more logical than before. Also, this allows dropping a file-wide sanitizer suppression.
In practice none of this should ever happen. Bitcoin Core would never write a negative `lowest_compatible` in normal operation, unless the file storage is later corrupted by external influence.
ACKs for top commit:
mzumsande:
re-ACK fa097d074b
Tree-SHA512: 9aae7b8fe666f52f667f149667025e0160cef1a793cc4d392e36608f65c2bee8096da429235118f40a3368f327aabe30f3732ae78c5874648ea6f423f2687b65
Sometimes the multi_a and sortedmulti_a descriptors will produce some of
the same addresses in the tests. This causes the wallets to start
generating addresses at a different index as they detect that one of
the addresses is used. This subsequently causes a test failure.
To avoid this problem, use descriptors that will produce unique
addresses by putting one of the multi_a in a different branch.
4828d53ecc Add (sorted)multi_a descriptors to doc/descriptors.md (Pieter Wuille)
b5f33ac1f8 Simplify wallet_taproot.py functional test (Pieter Wuille)
eb0667ea96 Add tests for (sorted)multi_a derivation/signing (Pieter Wuille)
c17c6aa08d Add signing support for (sorted)multi_a scripts (Pieter Wuille)
3eed6fca57 Add multi_a descriptor inference (Pieter Wuille)
79728c4a3d Add (sorted)multi_a descriptor and script derivation (Pieter Wuille)
25e95f9ff8 Merge/generalize IsValidMultisigKeyCount/GetMultisigKeyCount (Pieter Wuille)
Pull request description:
This adds a new `multi_a(k,key_1,key_2,...,key_n)` (and corresponding `sortedmulti_a`) descriptor for k-of-n policies inside `tr()`. Semantically it is very similar to the existing `multi()` descriptor, but with the following changes:
* The corresponding script is `<key1> OP_CHECKSIG <key2> OP_CHECKSIGADD <key3> OP_CHECKSIGADD ... <key_n> OP_CHECKSIGADD <k> OP_NUMEQUAL`, rather than the traditional `OP_CHECKMULTISIG`-based script, making it usable inside the `tr()` descriptor.
* The keys can optionally be specified in x-only notation.
* Both the number of keys and the threshold can be as high as 999; this is the limit due to the consensus stacksize=1000 limit
I expect that this functionality will later be replaced with a miniscript-based implementation, but I don't think it's necessary to wait for that.
Limitations:
* The wallet code will for not estimate witness size incorrectly for script path spends, which may result in a (dramatic) fee underpayment with large multi_a scripts.
* The multi_a script construction is (slightly) suboptimal for n-of-n (where a `<key1> OP_CHECKSIGVERIFY ... <key_n-1> OP_CHECKSIGVERIFY <key_n> OP_CHECKSIG` would be better). Such a construction is not included here.
ACKs for top commit:
achow101:
ACK 4828d53ecc
gruve-p:
ACK 4828d53ecc
sanket1729:
code review ACK 4828d53ecc
darosior:
Code review ACK 4828d53ecc
Tree-SHA512: 5dcd434b79585f0ff830f7d501d27df5e346f5749f47a3109ec309ebf2cbbad0e1da541eec654026d911ab67fd7cf7793fab0f765628d68d81b96ef2a4d234ce
If `-bind=` is provided then we would bind only to a particular address
and should not add all the other addresses of the machine to the list of
local addresses.
Fixes https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/20184 (case 4.)
`GetListenPort()` uses a simple logic: "if `-port=P` is given, then we
must be listening on `P`, otherwise we must be listening on `8333`".
This is however not true if `-bind=` has been provided with `:port` part
or if `-whitebind=` has been provided. Thus, extend `GetListenPort()` to
return the port from `-bind=` or `-whitebind=`, if any.
Fixes https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/20184 (cases 1. 2. 3. 5.)
Rename `CaptureMessage()` to `CaptureMessageToFile()` and introduce a
`std::function` variable called `CaptureMessage` whose value can be
changed by unit tests, should they need to inspect message contents.
c4d76c6faa tests: Tests for inactive HD chains (Andrew Chow)
8077862c5e wallet: Refactor TopUp to be able to top up inactive chains too (Andrew Chow)
70134eb34f wallet: Properly set hd chain counters when loading (Andrew Chow)
961b9e4e40 wallet: Parse hdKeypath if key_origin is not available (Andrew Chow)
0652ee73ec Add size check on meta.key_origin.path (Rob Fielding)
Pull request description:
Currently inactive HD chains are only derived from at the time a key in that chain is found to have been used. However, at that time, the wallet may not be able to derive keys (e.g. it is locked). Currently we would just move on and not derive any new keys, however this could result in missing funds.
This PR resolves this problem by adding memory only variables to `CHDChain` which track the highest known index. `TopUp` is modified to always try to top up the inactive HD chains, and this process will use the new variables to determine how much to top up. In this way, after an encrypted wallet is unlocked, the inactive HD chains will be topped up and hopefully funds will not be missed.
Note that because these variables are not persisted to disk (because `CHDChain`s for inactive HD chains are not written to disk), if an encrypted wallet is not unlocked in the same session as a key from an inactive chain is found to be used, then it will not be topped up later unless more keys are found.
Additionally, wallets which do not have upgraded key metadata will not derive any keys from inactive HD chains. This is resolved by using the derivation path string in `CKeyMetadata.hdKeypath` to determine what indexes to derive.
ACKs for top commit:
laanwj:
Code review ACK c4d76c6faa
Tree-SHA512: b2b572ad7f1b1b2847edece09f7583543d63997e18ae32764e5a27ad608dd64b9bdb2d84ea27137894e986a8e82f047a3dba9c8015b74f5f179961911f0c4095
0eea83a85e scripted-diff: rename `proxyType` to `Proxy` (Vasil Dimov)
e53a8505db net: respect -onlynet= when making outbound connections (Vasil Dimov)
Pull request description:
Do not make outbound connections to hosts which belong to a network
which is restricted by `-onlynet`.
This applies to hosts that are automatically chosen to connect to and to
anchors.
This does not apply to hosts given to `-connect`, `-addnode`,
`addnode` RPC, dns seeds, `-seednode`.
Fixes https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/13378
Fixes https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/22647
Supersedes https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/22651
ACKs for top commit:
naumenkogs:
utACK 0eea83a85e
prayank23:
reACK 0eea83a85e
jonatack:
ACK 0eea83a85e code review, rebased to master, debug built, and did some manual testing with various config options on signet
Tree-SHA512: 37d68b449dd6d2715843fc84d85f48fa2508be40ea105a7f4a28443b318d0b6bd39e3b2ca2a6186f2913836adf08d91038a8b142928e1282130f39ac81aa741b
c7376cc8d7 tests: Test upgrading wallet with privkeys disabled (Andrew Chow)
3d985d4f43 wallet: Don't generate keys when privkeys disabled when upgrading (Andrew Chow)
Pull request description:
When we're upgrading a wallet, we shouldn't be trying to generate new keys for wallets where private keys are disabled.
Fixes#23610
ACKs for top commit:
laanwj:
Code review ACK c7376cc8d7
benthecarman:
tACK c7376cc8d7 this fixed the issue for me
Tree-SHA512: fa07cf37df9196ff98671bb1ce5c9aa0bab46495066b4dab796d7e8e5d5c7adb414ff56adae4fd3e15658a610995bd19a9e1edb00c46144b0df635c5b343f3a6
fa7991601c Fixup style of VerifyDB (MarcoFalke)
fa462ea787 Avoid implicit-integer-sign-change in VerifyLoadedChainstate (MarcoFalke)
Pull request description:
This happens when checking all blocks (`-1`).
To test:
```
./configure CC=clang CXX=clang++ --with-sanitizers=undefined,integer
make
UBSAN_OPTIONS="suppressions=$(pwd)/test/sanitizer_suppressions/ubsan:print_stacktrace=1:halt_on_error=1:report_error_type=1" ./test/functional/rpc_blockchain.py
ACKs for top commit:
theStack:
Code-review ACK fa7991601c
brunoerg:
crACK fa7991601c
Tree-SHA512: bcbe6becf2fbedd21bbde83a544122e79465937346802039532143b2e4165784905a8852c0ccb088b964874df5e5550931fdde3629cbcee3ae237f2f63c43a8e
d41ed32153 p2p: Avoid InitError when downgrading peers.dat (junderw)
Pull request description:
fixes#24188 (also see https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/22762#issuecomment-951063826)
When downgrading, a peers.dat with a future version that has a minimum
required version larger than the downgraded Bitcoin Core version would cause an InitError.
This commit changes this behavior to overwrite the existing peers.dat with
a new empty one.
ACKs for top commit:
prayank23:
reACK d41ed32153
kallewoof:
reACK d41ed32153
Tree-SHA512: c8e625fe36ce0b1aab6c8ef7241c8954038bb856f2de27bdc4814dc9a60e51be28815c7d77d0f96eace49687a0cea02deb713978bbd3a5add742f50a675f2a40
fixes#24188
When downgrading, a peers.dat with a future version that has a minimum
required version larger than the downgraded version would cause an InitError.
This commit changes this behavior to overwrite the existing peers.dat with
a new empty one, while creating a backup in peers.dat.bak.
fad7ddf9e3 test: Run symlink regression tests on Windows (MarcoFalke)
Pull request description:
Seems odd to add tests, but not run them on the platform that needs them most.
ACKs for top commit:
laanwj:
Code review ACK fad7ddf9e3
ryanofsky:
Code review ACK fad7ddf9e3, just removing new test. Would be nice if the test could be added later, of course.
Tree-SHA512: 64b235967a38c2eb90657e8d7a0447bcc8ce81d1b75a275b6c48bd42efd9ea7e7939257e484f297ee84598def3738eaeb289561aeba1dd6a99b258d389995139
Given the low possibility of a reorg reverting the segwit soft fork,
there is no need to check whether segwit is active here. Also,
TestBlockValidity is run on the block template after it has been
created.
48742693ac Replace "can not" with "cannot" in docs, user messages, and tests (Jon Atack)
e670edd434 User-facing content fixups from transifex translator feedback (Jon Atack)
Pull request description:
Closes#24366.
ACKs for top commit:
laanwj:
Code review re-ACK 48742693ac
hebasto:
re-ACK 48742693ac, only suggested change since my previous [review](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/24367#pullrequestreview-885938219).
Tree-SHA512: 4dcdcb417251a413e65fab6070515e13a1267c8e0dbcf521386b842511391f24c84a0c2168fe13458c977682034466509bf2a3453719d4d94d3c568fd9f4adb4
bfcd60f5d5 test: activate all index types in feature_init.py (Martin Zumsande)
0243907fae index: Don't commit without valid m_best_block_index (Martin Zumsande)
Pull request description:
When an index thread receives an interrupt during init before it got to index anything (so `m_best_block_index == nullptr` still), it will still try to commit previous "work" before stopping the thread. That means that `BaseIndex::CommitInternal()` calls `GetLocator(nullptr)`, which returns an locator to the tip ([code](06b6369766/src/chain.cpp (L31-L32))), and saves it to the index DB.
On the next startup, this locator will be read and it will be assumed that we have successfully synced the index to the tip, when in reality we have indexed nothing.
In the case of coinstatsindex, this would lead to a shutdown of bitcoind without any indication what went wrong. For the other indexes, there would be no immediate shutdown, but the index would be corrupt.
This PR fixes this by not committing when `m_best_block_index==nullptr`, and it also adds an error log message to the silent coinstatsindex shutdown path.
This is another small bug found by `feature_init.py` - the second commit enables blockfilterindex and coinstatsindex for this test, enabling coinstatsindex without the first commit would have led to frequent failures.
ACKs for top commit:
fjahr:
reACK bfcd60f5d5
shaavan:
reACK bfcd60f5d5
Tree-SHA512: 8e2bac0fc40cde209518a9e59b597ae0a5a875a2a90898673987c91733718d40e528dada942bf552b58bc021bf46e59da2d0cc5a61045f48f9bae2b1baf6033b
f11dad22a5 test: refactor: remove unneeded bytes<->hex conversions in `byte_to_base58` (Sebastian Falbesoner)
Pull request description:
It seems like the only reason for using hex strings in this method was to have a convenient way to convert to an integer from the input data interpreted as big-endian. In Python3 we have `int.from_bytes(..., 'big')` for that purpose, hence there is no need for that anymore and we can simply operate on bytes only.
ACKs for top commit:
laanwj:
Code review ACK f11dad22a5
Tree-SHA512: 9b1563010066ca74d85139c3b9259e9a5bb49e1f141c30b6506a0445afddb2bde7fd421fdd917dc516956e66f93610e2c21d720817640daee8f57f803be76ee4
It seems like the only reason for using hex strings in this
method was to have a convenient way to convert to an integer
from the input data interpreted as big-endian.
In Python3 we have `int.from_bytes(..., 'big')` for that
purpose, hence there is no need for that anymore and we can
simply operate on bytes only.
d1fab9d5d2 test: Call ceildiv helper with integer (Martin Zumsande)
Pull request description:
On master,
`assert_fee_amount(Decimal("0.00000993"), 217, Decimal("0.00004531"))` passes
`assert_fee_amount(Decimal("0.00000993"), Decimal("217"), Decimal("0.00004531"))` fails.
the reason is that the // operator in `ceildiv(a,b) = -(-a//b)` has a different behavior for Decimals, see [doc](https://docs.python.org/3/library/decimal.html#decimal-objects).
`wallet_send.py` calls this function with Decimals, and I think this is the reason for the failure reported in the OP of #24151 (`wallet_send.py --legacy-wallet` line 332, the numbers used in the example above are from there). However, the other failures reported there cannot be explained by this, so this is just a partial fix.
ACKs for top commit:
ryanofsky:
Code review ACK d1fab9d5d2. Tracking down this problem was a good find, and code seems safer and easier to understand now
Tree-SHA512: 5bf0568cd1a0824f6b1a15a03580b6e9391b4f51112a97c1d00469d255bf6dda45c49a36fa567a5ba9b9973efe1d9cdd480db91965c9f4c2aa963629a8a32cba
a036358994 test: Repair failfast option for test runner (Martin Zumsande)
Pull request description:
Fixes#23990
After #23799, the `--failfast` option in the test runner for the functional tests stopped working, because a second outer loop was introduced, which would have needed a `break` too for the test runner to fail immediately. This also led to the errors reported in #23990.
This provides a straightforward fix for that.
There is also #23995 which is a larger refactor, but that hasn't been updated in a while to fix the failfast issue.
ACKs for top commit:
pg156:
Tested ACK a036358994. I agree adding the `all_passed` flag to break out of the outer loop when needed makes sense. The "failfast" option works after this change.
Tree-SHA512: 3e2f775e36c13d180d32a05cd1cfe0883274e8615cdbbd4e069a9899e9b9ea1091066cf085e93f1c5326bd8ecc6ff524e0dad7c638f60dfdb169fefcdb26ee52
Warning: Replacing fs::system_complete calls with fs::absolute calls
in this commit may cause minor changes in behaviour because fs::absolute
no longer strips trailing slashes; however these changes are believed to
be safe.
Co-authored-by: Russell Yanofsky <russ@yanofsky.org>
Co-authored-by: Hennadii Stepanov <32963518+hebasto@users.noreply.github.com>
438e6f4c33 test: speedup interface_rest.py by whitelisting peers (immediate tx relay) (Sebastian Falbesoner)
11b9684dfd test: use MiniWallet for rest_interface.py (Sebastian Falbesoner)
Pull request description:
This PR enables one more of the non-wallet functional tests (interface_rest.py) to be run even with the Bitcoin Core wallet disabled by using the MiniWallet instead, as proposed in #20078.
Note that the original test sent funds from one node to another and checked node's balances, but the state of a node's wallet is not relevant to any of the REST endpoints, i.e. the replacement is quite stright-forward. In an additional commit, the test is further sped up by using the good ol' immediate tx relay trick (parameter `-whitelist=noban@127.0.0.1`).
ACKs for top commit:
brunoerg:
ACK 438e6f4c33
Tree-SHA512: eac351c5fb7e043c36c193d51545f20f563be9aaa04f3429a2bfb452ae4aa72294d2552800d6cac55c9a3ec2b4f30bcda2abcd74736dec3ed75e7d83c5af437f
3ee6d0788e test: add more wallet conflicts assertions (S3RK)
3b98bf9c43 Revert "Add to spends only transcations from me" (S3RK)
Pull request description:
This reverts commit d04566415e from #22929.
This commit was based on invalid assumption that `mapTxSpends` should contain only outgoing txs and broke wallet conflicts feature.
ACKs for top commit:
achow101:
ACK 3ee6d0788e
Tree-SHA512: bf5a77ced6bac57d5eb85771d9189c53e1edc295d179ed5a1bdce18e365794a9101b4cecf35387b27f67260db3b47f7214e7876e490494529b748cceeb95632d
By whitelisting the peers via -whitelist, the inventory is transmissioned
immediately rather than on average every 5 seconds, speeding up the test by at
least a factor of two:
before:
$ time ./interface_rest.py
...
0m14.82s real 0m01.44s user 0m01.19s system
with this commit:
$ time ./interface_rest.py
...
0m05.67s real 0m01.07s user 0m01.35s system
