Transaction pool

What is the TxPool used for?

The TxPool module manages the incoming transactions for processing. It maintains a list of unprocessed transactions and ensures they conform to specific constraints before entering the pool.

TxPool in Furtheon

The TxPool has several methods to handle incoming transactions.

Details on how the TxPool works

The addTx() method is the main entry point for all new transactions. It validates the incoming transaction and adds it to the pool. If the call is successful, an account is created for this address (only once), and an enqueueRequest is signaled.

The handleEnqueueRequest() method attempts to enqueue the transaction in the given request to the associated account. If the account is eligible for promotion, a promoteRequest is signaled afterward. The handlePromoteRequest() method moves promotable transactions of some accounts from enqueued to promoted. It can only be invoked by handleEnqueueRequest() or resetAccount().

The TxPool also has a validateTx() method that checks specific constraints before entering the pool. These constraints include checking the transaction size to overcome DOS Attacks, ensuring the transaction has a strictly positive value, and checking if the transaction is appropriately signed.

The resetAccounts() method also updates existing accounts with the new nonce and prunes stale transactions. This ensures that the pool only contains relevant and valid transactions. The updateAccountSkipsCounts() method updates the accounts' skips, which is the number of consecutive blocks that do not have the account's transactions.

The TxPool implementation in Furtheon uses several data structures to manage transactions efficiently. The accounts data structure stores all the accounts and transactions in the pool. The index data structure maintains a list of all transactions in the pool, and the gauge data structure keeps track of the number of slots used in the pool.

Finally, the TxPool implementation in Furtheon handles transactions gossiped by the network through the addGossipTx() method. It verifies that the gossiped transaction message is not empty, decodes the transaction, and adds it to the pool using the addTx() method.