**Gupax** (*guh-picks*) is a cross-platform GUI for mining [**Monero**](https://github.com/monero-project/monero) on [**P2Pool**](https://github.com/SChernykh/p2pool), using [**XMRig**](https://github.com/xmrig/xmrig).
## Contents
* [What is Monero, P2Pool, XMRig, and Gupax?](##what-is-monero-p2pool-xmrig-and-gupax)
**Monero** is a secure, private, and untraceable cryptocurrency.
The **[Monero GUI](https://github.com/monero-project/monero-gui)** software lets you run a **Monero node** (among other things). A Monero node connects you to other peers and lets you download Monero's [blockchain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain). But you already knew all of this, right?
***[More info here.](https://github.com/monero-project/monero)***
---
**P2Pool** is software that lets you create/join **decentralized peer-to-peer Monero mining pools.**
P2Pool as a concept was [first developed for Bitcoin](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/P2Pool) but was [never fully realized](https://github.com/p2pool/p2pool) due to many limitations. These limitations were fixed when SChernykh rewrote P2Pool from scratch for Monero. P2Pool combines the best of solo mining and traditional pool mining:
* ***It's decentralized:*** There's no central server that can be shutdown or pool admin that controls your hashrate
* ***It's permissionless:*** It's peer-to-peer so there's no one to decide who can and cannot mine on the pool
* ***It's trustless:*** Funds are never in custody, all pool blocks pay out to miners directly and immediately
***[More info here.](https://github.com/SChernykh/p2pool)***
---
**XMRig** is an optimized miner which lets you **mine Monero at higher speeds.**
Both Monero and P2Pool have built in miners but XMRig is quite faster than both of them. Due to issues like [anti-virus flagging](https://github.com/monero-project/monero-gui/pull/3829#issuecomment-1018191461), it is not feasible to integrate XMRig directly into Monero or P2Pool, however, XMRig is still freely available for anyone to download. The issue is: you have to manually set it up yourself.
***[More info here.](https://github.com/xmrig/xmrig)***
---
**Gupax** is a GUI that helps with configuring, updating, and managing P2Pool & XMRig (both originally CLI-only).
***Recap:***
1.**XMRig** mines to **P2Pool** which fetchs blocks from a **Monero node**
With Monero GUI managing the Monero node on one side and Gupax managing P2Pool/XMRig on the other, it is (hopefully) very easy for anyone to start mining Monero at **max hashrate in a decentralized, permissionless, and trustless manner**.
- **OS:** Gupax will be tested for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Maybe the BSDs
- **Docs:** All Gupax usage will have documentation on GitHub; General P2Pool/XMRig info will also be included
- **Packaging:** Gupax will be packaged in a bundled zip/tar that includes P2Pool/XMRig, and as a standalone binary that expects you to bring your own P2Pool/XMRig. Both will be the same binary, only difference being the first will include all necessary components. Maybe an installer as well
- **Efficiency:** The context for Gupax is a ***mining*** machine, it would be too ironic if it impacted the hashrate performance, and so, Gupax uses the very lightweight [Rust egui library](https://github.com/emilk/egui). By default egui is an "immediate mode" GUI, meaning frames are rendered 60x/sec. This is turned off in Gupax so frames are only rendered upon user interaction. This allows for a fast and lightweight GUI. For context, it uses around 5x less CPU when switching around tabs compared to Monero GUI
## Planned
- **Community Node:** An option to use a trusted community Monero node instead of your own. At a small privacy cost, this allows users to immediately start mining on P2Pool without downloading the entire chain
- **Update:** Built-in update/upgrader for Gupax/P2Pool/XMRig and an (opt-in) auto-updater that runs at startup
- **Config:** All the basic configurations you would expect with P2Pool/XMRig (main, mini, peers, thread count, etc)
- **Status:** Status tab displaying mining statistics using P2Pool & XMRig's APIs
On macOS, if you want the binary to have an icon in `Finder`, you must install [`cargo-bundle`](https://github.com/burtonageo/cargo-bundle) and compile with:
The `build.rs` file in the repo root sets the icon in `File Explorer` for Windows. The taskbar icon & App frame icon (for all OS's) get set at runtime using pre-compiled bytes in [`src/constants.rs`](https://github.com/hinto-janaiyo/gupax/blob/main/src/constants.rs) from [`images`](https://github.com/hinto-janaiyo/gupax/blob/main/images).
