Until now a subdomain served the folder its labels spelled out, and that was the only thing it could ever do. There was no way to point one somewhere else, send one to another site, or stop one answering — the mapping was a convention with no override. A verified hosts entry now decides: a different folder, a redirect, or nothing at all. Block beats redirect beats path, so a host that is both blocked and redirected stays blocked. The manifest is fetched only when the request is actually for a subdomain, and the result — including the absence of one — is cached for a minute, so the apex pays nothing and a name that never published one pays one lookup per minute rather than one per request. A manifest that fails to verify is treated exactly like no manifest: the name keeps serving from its chain records instead of failing shut. The folder derivation moves next to the picking rule and grows tests, because getting it wrong does not raise an error — it quietly serves the wrong bytes. The subtle parts are that labels reverse (DNS reads outward, a path reads inward) and that a .bch name indexes as <label>.bch even though normalizeName collapses it to a bare label; matching the bare label would have served the bucket root for every subdomain of every .bch name. /api/dns answers for a host too. A host with its own dns block owns its record set outright, the way classic DNS works; one without inherits the apex, the way everything else on BNS does. |
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|---|---|---|
| contracts | ||
| setup | ||
| src | ||
| test | ||
| .gitignore | ||
| ariadne.config.json | ||
| BROWSER-PROMPT.md | ||
| build-web.mjs | ||
| DESIGN-collision-modes.md | ||
| DESIGN-hosting-pact.md | ||
| DESIGN-root-tld-cert.md | ||
| ENGINE.md | ||
| namespaces.pdf | ||
| OPERATIONS-electrum.md | ||
| package-lock.json | ||
| package.json | ||
| PROTOCOL.md | ||
| README.md | ||
| ROADMAP.md | ||
| sia-test.html | ||
BNS — Namecoin-style decentralized names on Bitcoin Cash (chipnet)
A working prototype of "Option 3": names are CashTokens name certificates on the BCH chain (no fork, no sidechain), records ride in OP_RETURN, discovery via a beacon address, and the resolver is embedded in a wallet app with a built-in browser pane — the Brave/MetaMask-browser architecture in miniature.
See PROTOCOL.md for the on-chain design and its honest limitations.
Layout
src/lib/bns.js— protocol core: payload codec, chain indexer/resolver, tx builderssrc/wallet-app.js— wallet + embedded resolver + browser UI (npm run wallet→ http://localhost:4626)src/register.js/src/update.js/src/resolve.js— CLI equivalentswallets.json— chipnet seed phrases (TESTNET ONLY — never reuse for real funds)src/lib/gen-wallets.js— one-time wallet generation (already run)
Setup
npm install- Fund the wallet with free chipnet tBCH: go to https://tbch.googol.cash/,
paste the wallet address (shown in the app sidebar or by
node src/lib/gen-wallets.js), pick chipnet, solve the captcha. ~0.001 tBCH funds hundreds of registrations. npm run walletand open http://localhost:4626
Standalone resolver daemon (make EVERY browser resolve .bch)
src/daemon/bnsd.js— DNS server (answers*.bchfrom the chain, forwards everything else upstream) + HTTP gateway that serves on-chain sites by Host header. Test unprivileged:node src/daemon/bnsd.js --dns-port 5354 --http-port 8081, thennode src/daemon/dig.js hello.bch.setup/install.ps1— run from an elevated PowerShell. Installs the daemon as a boot-time scheduled task (SYSTEM, auto-restart) and wires the OS to it:- default (
-Mode nrpt): adds an NRPT rule so only.bchqueries reach the daemon; all other DNS is untouched. -Mode full: points every adapter's DNS at 127.0.0.1 (daemon forwards non-.bch upstream, ncdns-style); original servers are saved and restored on uninstall.
- default (
setup/uninstall.ps1— reverses everything (rule/adapters/task).
HTTPS for .bch: the "BNS Local Root CA" (created on demand in ca/, keep
root-ca.key private) signs per-name certs. The daemon's :443 gateway mints
them on the fly for locally-served names; node src/lib/issue-cert.js <name>
issues one for a real server (see the coinspectrum.bch nginx vhost). The
installer trusts the root machine-wide and enables Firefox's
enterprise-roots policy; cert fingerprints are published in "tls" chain
records for pinning.
Caveats: browsers with "secure DNS" (DoH) enabled bypass the OS resolver — disable it or add an exception; ports 53/80/443 must be free.
Try it
- Register
hellowith inline HTML (a website stored entirely on-chain), then typehello.bchin the address bar — the app resolves it from the blockchain (not DNS) and renders it. - Or CLI:
node src/register.js hello '{"h":"<h1>Served from the BCH chain</h1>"}'thennode src/resolve.js hello