README

btcd

btcd is an alternative full node bitcoin implementation written in Go (golang).

This project is currently under active development and is in a Beta state. It is extremely stable and has been in production use since October 2013.

It properly downloads, validates, and serves the block chain using the exact rules (including consensus bugs) for block acceptance as Bitcoin Core. We have taken great care to avoid btcd causing a fork to the block chain. It includes a full block validation testing framework which contains all of the 'official' block acceptance tests (and some additional ones) that is run on every pull request to help ensure it properly follows consensus. Also, it passes all of the JSON test data in the Bitcoin Core code.

It also properly relays newly mined blocks, maintains a transaction pool, and relays individual transactions that have not yet made it into a block. It ensures all individual transactions admitted to the pool follow the rules required by the block chain and also includes more strict checks which filter transactions based on miner requirements ("standard" transactions).

One key difference between btcd and Bitcoin Core is that btcd does NOT include wallet functionality and this was a very intentional design decision. See the blog entry here for more details. This means you can't actually make or receive payments directly with btcd. That functionality is provided by the btcwallet and Paymetheus (Windows-only) projects which are both under active development.

Requirements

Go 1.8 or newer.

Installation

Windows - MSI Available

https://github.com/btcsuite/btcd/releases

Linux/BSD/MacOSX/POSIX - Build from Source

• Install Go according to the installation instructions here: http://golang.org/doc/install

• Ensure Go was installed properly and is a supported version:

$ go version
$ go env GOROOT GOPATH

NOTE: The GOROOT and GOPATH above must not be the same path. It is recommended that GOPATH is set to a directory in your home directory such as ~/goprojects to avoid write permission issues. It is also recommended to add $GOPATH/bin to your PATH at this point.

• Run the following commands to obtain btcd, all dependencies, and install it:

$ go get -u github.com/Masterminds/glide
$ git clone https://github.com/btcsuite/btcd $GOPATH/src/github.com/btcsuite/btcd
$ cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/btcsuite/btcd
$ glide install
$ go install . ./cmd/...

• btcd (and utilities) will now be installed in $GOPATH/bin. If you did not already add the bin directory to your system path during Go installation, we recommend you do so now.

Updating

Windows

Install a newer MSI

Linux/BSD/MacOSX/POSIX - Build from Source

• Run the following commands to update btcd, all dependencies, and install it:

$ cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/btcsuite/btcd
$ git pull && glide install
$ go install . ./cmd/...

Getting Started

btcd has several configuration options available to tweak how it runs, but all of the basic operations described in the intro section work with zero configuration.

Windows (Installed from MSI)

Launch btcd from your Start menu.

Linux/BSD/POSIX/Source

$ ./btcd

IRC

• irc.freenode.net
• channel #btcd
• webchat

Issue Tracker

The integrated github issue tracker is used for this project.

Documentation

The documentation is a work-in-progress. It is located in the docs folder.

GPG Verification Key

All official release tags are signed by Conformal so users can ensure the code has not been tampered with and is coming from the btcsuite developers. To verify the signature perform the following:

• Download the Conformal public key: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/btcsuite/btcd/master/release/GIT-GPG-KEY-conformal.txt

• Import the public key into your GPG keyring:

  gpg --import GIT-GPG-KEY-conformal.txt
  

• Verify the release tag with the following command where TAG_NAME is a placeholder for the specific tag:

  git tag -v TAG_NAME
  

License

btcd is licensed under the copyfree ISC License.

Documentation

Overview

btcd is a full-node bitcoin implementation written in Go.

The default options are sane for most users. This means btcd will work 'out of the box' for most users. However, there are also a wide variety of flags that can be used to control it.

The following section provides a usage overview which enumerates the flags. An interesting point to note is that the long form of all of these options (except -C) can be specified in a configuration file that is automatically parsed when btcd starts up. By default, the configuration file is located at ~/.btcd/btcd.conf on POSIX-style operating systems and %LOCALAPPDATA%\btcd\btcd.conf on Windows. The -C (--configfile) flag, as shown below, can be used to override this location.

Usage:

btcd [OPTIONS]

Application Options:

-V, --version             Display version information and exit
-C, --configfile=         Path to configuration file
-b, --datadir=            Directory to store data
    --logdir=             Directory to log output.
-a, --addpeer=            Add a peer to connect with at startup
    --connect=            Connect only to the specified peers at startup
    --nolisten            Disable listening for incoming connections -- NOTE:
                          Listening is automatically disabled if the --connect
                          or --proxy options are used without also specifying
                          listen interfaces via --listen
    --listen=             Add an interface/port to listen for connections
                          (default all interfaces port: 8333, testnet: 18333)
    --maxpeers=           Max number of inbound and outbound peers (125)
    --nobanning           Disable banning of misbehaving peers
    --banduration=        How long to ban misbehaving peers.  Valid time units
                          are {s, m, h}.  Minimum 1 second (24h0m0s)
    --banthreshold=       Maximum allowed ban score before disconnecting and
                          banning misbehaving peers.
    --whitelist=          Add an IP network or IP that will not be banned.
                          (eg. 192.168.1.0/24 or ::1)
-u, --rpcuser=            Username for RPC connections
-P, --rpcpass=            Password for RPC connections
    --rpclimituser=       Username for limited RPC connections
    --rpclimitpass=       Password for limited RPC connections
    --rpclisten=          Add an interface/port to listen for RPC connections
                          (default port: 8334, testnet: 18334)
    --rpccert=            File containing the certificate file
    --rpckey=             File containing the certificate key
    --rpcmaxclients=      Max number of RPC clients for standard connections
                          (10)
    --rpcmaxwebsockets=   Max number of RPC websocket connections (25)
    --rpcquirks           Mirror some JSON-RPC quirks of Bitcoin Core -- NOTE:
                          Discouraged unless interoperability issues need to
                          be worked around
    --norpc               Disable built-in RPC server -- NOTE: The RPC server
                          is disabled by default if no rpcuser/rpcpass or
                          rpclimituser/rpclimitpass is specified
    --notls               Disable TLS for the RPC server -- NOTE: This is only
                          allowed if the RPC server is bound to localhost
    --nodnsseed           Disable DNS seeding for peers
    --externalip=         Add an ip to the list of local addresses we claim to
                          listen on to peers
    --proxy=              Connect via SOCKS5 proxy (eg. 127.0.0.1:9050)
    --proxyuser=          Username for proxy server
    --proxypass=          Password for proxy server
    --onion=              Connect to tor hidden services via SOCKS5 proxy
                          (eg. 127.0.0.1:9050)
    --onionuser=          Username for onion proxy server
    --onionpass=          Password for onion proxy server
    --noonion             Disable connecting to tor hidden services
    --torisolation        Enable Tor stream isolation by randomizing user
                          credentials for each connection.
    --testnet             Use the test network
    --regtest             Use the regression test network
    --simnet              Use the simulation test network
    --addcheckpoint=      Add a custom checkpoint.  Format: '<height>:<hash>'
    --nocheckpoints       Disable built-in checkpoints.  Don't do this unless
                          you know what you're doing.
    --uacomment=          Comment to add to the user agent --
                          See BIP 14 for more information.
    --dbtype=             Database backend to use for the Block Chain (ffldb)
    --profile=            Enable HTTP profiling on given port -- NOTE port
                          must be between 1024 and 65536
    --cpuprofile=         Write CPU profile to the specified file
-d, --debuglevel=         Logging level for all subsystems {trace, debug,
                          info, warn, error, critical} -- You may also specify
                          <subsystem>=<level>,<subsystem2>=<level>,... to set
                          the log level for individual subsystems -- Use show
                          to list available subsystems (info)
    --upnp                Use UPnP to map our listening port outside of NAT
    --minrelaytxfee=      The minimum transaction fee in BTC/kB to be
                          considered a non-zero fee.
    --limitfreerelay=     Limit relay of transactions with no transaction fee
                          to the given amount in thousands of bytes per
                          minute (15)
    --norelaypriority     Do not require free or low-fee transactions to have
                          high priority for relaying
    --maxorphantx=        Max number of orphan transactions to keep in memory
                          (100)
    --generate            Generate (mine) bitcoins using the CPU
    --miningaddr=         Add the specified payment address to the list of
                          addresses to use for generated blocks -- At least
                          one address is required if the generate option is
                          set
    --blockminsize=       Mininum block size in bytes to be used when creating
                          a block
    --blockmaxsize=       Maximum block size in bytes to be used when creating
                          a block (750000)
    --blockprioritysize=  Size in bytes for high-priority/low-fee transactions
                          when creating a block (50000)
    --nopeerbloomfilters  Disable bloom filtering support.
    --nocfilters          Disable committed filtering (CF) support.
    --sigcachemaxsize=    The maximum number of entries in the signature
                          verification cache.
    --blocksonly          Do not accept transactions from remote peers.
    --relaynonstd         Relay non-standard transactions regardless of the
                          default settings for the active network.
    --rejectnonstd        Reject non-standard transactions regardless of the
                          default settings for the active network.

Help Options:

-h, --help           Show this help message