1 files changed, 23 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
index 9ab1f44..be89416 100644
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -101,6 +101,29 @@ static const int BLOCK_FETCH_TRACK_MAX = 8;
 // forever; a re-announcement recreates it.
 static const int BLOCK_FETCH_GIVEUP_SECS = 10 * 60;
 
+// How stale our own best block may be before we stop calling this the tip.
+// Blocks target two minutes, so this is thirty intervals: far longer than any
+// stall worth failing over from -- the one in #33 ran sixteen minutes -- and
+// far shorter than catching up, which starts hours or days back.
+static const int BLOCK_FETCH_TIP_AGE_SECS = 60 * 60;
+
+// Whether this node is tracking the tip rather than still catching up.
+//
+// Measured off the age of our own best block, not off any height a peer told
+// us. nStartingHeight is optional in the version message and every node
+// released so far sends the short form, so it is -1 for essentially every
+// peer; and where it is filled in later it is filled in from the height of a
+// block that peer served us, which during catch-up tracks our own height and
+// would report "at the tip" for the whole download. Block timestamps are the
+// one clock here that peers cannot move: CheckBlock refuses anything more than
+// two hours ahead and AcceptBlock refuses anything at or before the previous
+// median, so the only way to make this read "at the tip" falsely is to mine,
+// and all that buys is the 15s spacing this code had unconditionally anyway.
+bool IsBlockFetchNearTip()
+{
+    return pindexBest && (int64)pindexBest->nTime > GetTime() - BLOCK_FETCH_TIP_AGE_SECS;
+}
+
 // Drop one entry so a hash announced by addrNew can be tracked.
 //
 // Refusing the insertion instead was a remote off-switch for the whole