January 2022.2

rebalance-lnd doesn't really have versions, but I try to create a new release every now and then. Please use the latest commit on the main branch, if you can (follow the update instructions in the README).

January 2022

rebalance-lnd doesn't really have versions, but I try to create a new release every now and then. Please use the latest commit on the main branch, if you can (follow the update instructions in the README).

The big one, fixed, still with colors

This release includes a few fixes and improvements that didn't make it into v2.0.

The highlights:

• Everything from v2.0: https://github.com/C-Otto/rebalance-lnd/releases/tag/v2.0
• Bugfix: When specifying the --to channel, the v2.0 used a fee rate limit that was too low.
• You may now request a very compact list of all channels (ID, local/remote liquidity, alias): rebalance.py -c (or --compact).
• Everything is much faster: the script loads individual edges instead of the whole LN graph.
• You may pass channel IDs in three formats: 762081404967976961, 693109:2316:1, or 693109x2316x1.
• You can show information about a single channel: rebalance.py -l --show-only ID.
• A bug made --reckless more or less worthless in v2.0. This is fixed, so that you can be reckless!
• rebalance-lnd should also work on terminals that do not support unicode (UTF-8).

The big one, with colors

EDIT: Please use the fixed release: https://github.com/C-Otto/rebalance-lnd/releases/tag/v2.1

This is a big release, and it includes breaking changes. You may have a look at the previous release if you don't like this one.

Colors

The first thing you'll notice is that the output now uses colors, and that more information is shown. Please let me know how you like it!

Liquidity Limits vs. 50% ratio

Under the hood, the most important change is that the rebalance amount does not target a 50% ratio anymore.
While all previous versions worked towards a perfect 50/50 balance, from now on the script works towards having "enough" funds on both sides of the channels.
By default, those limits are both 1M sat for outbound liquidity (funds on your side of the channel) and inbound liquidity (funds on the remote side of the channel).
These values are configurable.

As such, if you use the script to send funds to a large (say, 50M sat) channel where 100% of the funds are on the remote side, you might end up with 1M / 49M. If you want to send more than that, you can specify the amount directly (-a), or use a higher value for --min-local.

This change also means that more funds may be taken out of a channel.
As an example, if you send 2M sat to a channel you specified using --to, the script automatically considers all channels as possible sources that have at least 1M + 2M sat of inbound liquidity, so that after the rebalance transaction the limit of 1M inbound liquidity still is met.

Fees

The previously introduced --econ-fee mode is now the default, and the old fee limits do not exist anymore.
As such, the script only allows rebalance transactions that are economically viable.
In short, the script only takes funds out of a channel if you'd earn more for routing those funds through the destination channel.
Please have a look at the README to read more about this reasoning.

The script automatically ignores channels that are "too expensive", so that the viable routes should be found more quickly.

One last release before the "big release"

The next release will contain breaking changes. If you'd rather stick to the old (and trusted?) rebalance-lnd, this is for you.

Most interesting and somewhat recent changes:

• bugfix: the previous code ignored the wrong "high fee" channel when using --econ-fee, causing suboptimal routing attempts
• bugfix: you can now select a random channel as the first hop (-f -1)
• bugfix: with --econ-fee the last hop is ignored less often, and only when intended
• bugfix: with --econ-fee the second hop may now be ignored when it is too expensive
• there's an economy fee mode (--econ-fee, have a look at the readme!)
• ignore more channels before even attempting to find a route (to avoid routes that will end up being too expensive anyway)
• fixed minor typo in readme (#180, thanks @GlenCooper!)
• fee rates for --econ-fee computation are capped at 2,000ppm (before: 1,000ppm)

Economy Fee Mode

rebalance-lnd is work in progress, and as such it doesn't make a lot of sense to create proper releases. I just wanted to make you aware of a new feature: Economy Fee Mode (--econ-fee), which is explained in the README.md. Enjoy!