READ THE CODE

Inside Bitcoin

The code behind the network, with room to understand it.

Stable release v32.1bitcoin/bitcoin · f0de87f04062 ↗3,020 source files · 47.5 MB stored on the server440 file guides

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1Bitcoin Core version 0.14.0 is now available from:
2
3  <https://bitcoin.org/bin/bitcoin-core-0.14.0/>
4
5This is a new major version release, including new features, various bugfixes
6and performance improvements, as well as updated translations.
7
8Please report bugs using the issue tracker at github:
9
10  <https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues>
11
12To receive security and update notifications, please subscribe to:
13
14  <https://bitcoincore.org/en/list/announcements/join/>
15
16Compatibility
17==============
18
19Bitcoin Core is extensively tested on multiple operating systems using
20the Linux kernel, macOS 10.8+, and Windows Vista and later.
21
22Microsoft ended support for Windows XP on [April 8th, 2014](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/WindowsForBusiness/end-of-xp-support),
23No attempt is made to prevent installing or running the software on Windows XP, you
24can still do so at your own risk but be aware that there are known instabilities and issues.
25Please do not report issues about Windows XP to the issue tracker.
26
27Bitcoin Core should also work on most other Unix-like systems but is not
28frequently tested on them.
29
30Notable changes
31===============
32
33Performance Improvements
34--------------
35
36Validation speed and network propagation performance have been greatly
37improved, leading to much shorter sync and initial block download times.
38
39- The script signature cache has been reimplemented as a "cuckoo cache",
40  allowing for more signatures to be cached and faster lookups.
41- Assumed-valid blocks have been introduced which allows script validation to
42  be skipped for ancestors of known-good blocks, without changing the security
43  model. See below for more details.
44- In some cases, compact blocks are now relayed before being fully validated as
45  per BIP152.
46- P2P networking has been refactored with a focus on concurrency and
47  throughput. Network operations are no longer bottlenecked by validation. As a
48  result, block fetching is several times faster than previous releases in many
49  cases.
50- The UTXO cache now claims unused mempool memory. This speeds up initial block
51  download as UTXO lookups are a major bottleneck there, and there is no use for
52  the mempool at that stage.
53
54
55Manual Pruning
56--------------
57
58Bitcoin Core has supported automatically pruning the blockchain since 0.11. Pruning
59the blockchain allows for significant storage space savings as the vast majority of
60the downloaded data can be discarded after processing so very little of it remains
61on the disk.
62
63Manual block pruning can now be enabled by setting `-prune=1`. Once that is set,
64the RPC command `pruneblockchain` can be used to prune the blockchain up to the
65specified height or timestamp.
66
67`getinfo` Deprecated
68--------------------
69
70The `getinfo` RPC command has been deprecated. Each field in the RPC call
71has been moved to another command's output with that command also giving
72additional information that `getinfo` did not provide. The following table
73shows where each field has been moved to:
74
75|`getinfo` field   | Moved to                                  |
76|------------------|-------------------------------------------|
77`"version"`	   | `getnetworkinfo()["version"]`
78`"protocolversion"`| `getnetworkinfo()["protocolversion"]`
79`"walletversion"`  | `getwalletinfo()["walletversion"]`
80`"balance"`	   | `getwalletinfo()["balance"]`
81`"blocks"`	   | `getblockchaininfo()["blocks"]`
82`"timeoffset"`	   | `getnetworkinfo()["timeoffset"]`
83`"connections"`	   | `getnetworkinfo()["connections"]`
84`"proxy"`	   | `getnetworkinfo()["networks"][0]["proxy"]`
85`"difficulty"`	   | `getblockchaininfo()["difficulty"]`
86`"testnet"`	   | `getblockchaininfo()["chain"] == "test"`
87`"keypoololdest"`  | `getwalletinfo()["keypoololdest"]`
88`"keypoolsize"`	   | `getwalletinfo()["keypoolsize"]`
89`"unlocked_until"` | `getwalletinfo()["unlocked_until"]`
90`"paytxfee"`	   | `getwalletinfo()["paytxfee"]`
91`"relayfee"`	   | `getnetworkinfo()["relayfee"]`
92`"errors"`	   | `getnetworkinfo()["warnings"]`
93
94ZMQ On Windows
95--------------
96
97Previously the ZeroMQ notification system was unavailable on Windows
98due to various issues with ZMQ. These have been fixed upstream and
99now ZMQ can be used on Windows. Please see [this document](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/doc/zmq.md) for
100help with using ZMQ in general.
101
102Nested RPC Commands in Debug Console
103------------------------------------
104
105The ability to nest RPC commands has been added to the debug console. This
106allows users to have the output of a command become the input to another
107command without running the commands separately.
108
109The nested RPC commands use bracket syntax (i.e. `getwalletinfo()`) and can
110be nested (i.e. `getblock(getblockhash(1))`). Simple queries can be
111done with square brackets where object values are accessed with either an 
112array index or a non-quoted string (i.e. `listunspent()[0][txid]`). Both
113commas and spaces can be used to separate parameters in both the bracket syntax
114and normal RPC command syntax.
115
116Network Activity Toggle
117-----------------------
118
119A RPC command and GUI toggle have been added to enable or disable all p2p
120network activity. The network status icon in the bottom right hand corner 
121is now the GUI toggle. Clicking the icon will either enable or disable all
122p2p network activity. If network activity is disabled, the icon will 
123be grayed out with an X on top of it.
124
125Additionally the `setnetworkactive` RPC command has been added which does
126the same thing as the GUI icon. The command takes one boolean parameter,
127`true` enables networking and `false` disables it.
128
129Out-of-sync Modal Info Layer
130----------------------------
131
132When Bitcoin Core is out-of-sync on startup, a semi-transparent information
133layer will be shown over top of the normal display. This layer contains
134details about the current sync progress and estimates the amount of time
135remaining to finish syncing. This layer can also be hidden and subsequently
136unhidden by clicking on the progress bar at the bottom of the window.
137
138Support for JSON-RPC Named Arguments
139------------------------------------
140
141Commands sent over the JSON-RPC interface and through the `bitcoin-cli` binary
142can now use named arguments. This follows the [JSON-RPC specification](http://www.jsonrpc.org/specification)
143for passing parameters by-name with an object.
144
145`bitcoin-cli` has been updated to support this by parsing `name=value` arguments
146when the `-named` option is given.
147
148Some examples:
149
150    src/bitcoin-cli -named help command="help"
151    src/bitcoin-cli -named getblockhash height=0
152    src/bitcoin-cli -named getblock blockhash=000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f
153    src/bitcoin-cli -named sendtoaddress address="(snip)" amount="1.0" subtractfeefromamount=true
154
155The order of arguments doesn't matter in this case. Named arguments are also
156useful to leave out arguments that should stay at their default value. The
157rarely-used arguments `comment` and `comment_to` to `sendtoaddress`, for example, can
158be left out. However, this is not yet implemented for many RPC calls, this is
159expected to land in a later release.
160
161The RPC server remains fully backwards compatible with positional arguments.
162
163Opt into RBF When Sending
164-------------------------
165
166A new startup option, `-walletrbf`, has been added to allow users to have all
167transactions sent opt into RBF support. The default value for this option is
168currently `false`, so transactions will not opt into RBF by default. The new
169`bumpfee` RPC can be used to replace transactions that opt into RBF.
170
171Sensitive Data Is No Longer Stored In Debug Console History
172-----------------------------------------------------------
173
174The debug console maintains a history of previously entered commands that can be
175accessed by pressing the Up-arrow key so that users can easily reuse previously
176entered commands. Commands which have sensitive information such as passphrases and
177private keys will now have a `(...)` in place of the parameters when accessed through
178the history.
179
180Retaining the Mempool Across Restarts
181-------------------------------------
182
183The mempool will be saved to the data directory prior to shutdown
184to a `mempool.dat` file. This file preserves the mempool so that when the node
185restarts the mempool can be filled with transactions without waiting for new transactions
186to be created. This will also preserve any changes made to a transaction through
187commands such as `prioritisetransaction` so that those changes will not be lost.
188
189Final Alert
190-----------
191
192The Alert System was [disabled and deprecated](https://bitcoin.org/en/alert/2016-11-01-alert-retirement) in Bitcoin Core 0.12.1 and removed in 0.13.0. 
193The Alert System was retired with a maximum sequence final alert which causes any nodes
194supporting the Alert System to display a static hard-coded "Alert Key Compromised" message which also
195prevents any other alerts from overriding it. This final alert is hard-coded into this release
196so that all old nodes receive the final alert.
197
198GUI Changes
199-----------
200
201 - After resetting the options by clicking the `Reset Options` button 
202   in the options dialog or with the `-resetguioptions` startup option, 
203   the user will be prompted to choose the data directory again. This 
204   is to ensure that custom data directories will be kept after the 
205   option reset which clears the custom data directory set via the choose 
206   datadir dialog.
207
208 - Multiple peers can now be selected in the list of peers in the debug 
209   window. This allows for users to ban or disconnect multiple peers 
210   simultaneously instead of banning them one at a time.
211
212 - An indicator has been added to the bottom right hand corner of the main
213   window to indicate whether the wallet being used is a HD wallet. This
214   icon will be grayed out with an X on top of it if the wallet is not a
215   HD wallet.
216
217Low-level RPC changes
218----------------------
219
220 - `importprunedfunds` only accepts two required arguments. Some versions accept
221   an optional third arg, which was always ignored. Make sure to never pass more
222   than two arguments.
223
224 - The first boolean argument to `getaddednodeinfo` has been removed. This is 
225   an incompatible change.
226
227 - RPC command `getmininginfo` loses the "testnet" field in favor of the more
228   generic "chain" (which has been present for years).
229
230 - A new RPC command `preciousblock` has been added which marks a block as
231   precious. A precious block will be treated as if it were received earlier
232   than a competing block.
233
234 - A new RPC command `importmulti` has been added which receives an array of 
235   JSON objects representing the intention of importing a public key, a 
236   private key, an address and script/p2sh
237
238 - Use of `getrawtransaction` for retrieving confirmed transactions with unspent
239   outputs has been deprecated. For now this will still work, but in the future
240   it may change to only be able to retrieve information about transactions in
241   the mempool or if `txindex` is enabled.
242
243 - A new RPC command `getmemoryinfo` has been added which will return information
244   about the memory usage of Bitcoin Core. This was added in conjunction with
245   optimizations to memory management. See [Pull #8753](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/8753)
246   for more information.
247
248 - A new RPC command `bumpfee` has been added which allows replacing an
249   unconfirmed wallet transaction that signaled RBF (see the `-walletrbf`
250   startup option above) with a new transaction that pays a higher fee, and

src/wallet/receive.cpp

src/wallet/coinselection.cpp

src/consensus/validation.h

src/primitives/transaction.cpp

src/script/descriptor.cpp

src/bitcoin-cli.cpp

src/rpc/blockchain.cpp

src/rpc/rawtransaction.cpp

src/init.cpp

src/crypto/sha256.cpp

src/consensus/merkle.h

src/consensus/tx_check.h

src/consensus/tx_verify.h

src/policy/feerate.h

src/policy/feerate.cpp

src/primitives/transaction_identifier.h

src/chainparamsbase.h

src/chainparamsbase.cpp

src/util/moneystr.cpp

src/crypto/ripemd160.h

src/crypto/sha1.h

src/crypto/sha512.h

src/crypto/hmac_sha256.h

src/crypto/hmac_sha512.h

src/crypto/hmac_sha256.cpp

src/crypto/hmac_sha512.cpp

src/crypto/hkdf_sha256_32.h

src/crypto/hkdf_sha256_32.cpp

src/support/cleanse.h

src/support/cleanse.cpp

src/crypto/siphash.cpp

src/crypto/muhash.h

src/crypto/chacha20.h

src/crypto/poly1305.h

src/crypto/chacha20poly1305.h

src/crypto/chacha20poly1305.cpp

src/util/chaintype.cpp

src/util/obfuscation.h

src/util/byte_units.h

src/util/overflow.h

src/blockencodings.cpp

src/net_permissions.cpp

src/policy/packages.cpp

src/policy/rbf.cpp

src/policy/truc_policy.cpp

src/policy/ephemeral_policy.cpp

src/policy/settings.cpp

src/policy/policy.cpp

src/node/transaction.cpp

src/node/coin.cpp

src/rpc/client.cpp

src/rpc/external_signer.cpp

src/rpc/request.cpp

src/rpc/server_util.cpp

src/rpc/fees.cpp

src/rpc/output_script.cpp

src/rpc/rawtransaction_util.cpp

src/rpc/rawtransaction_util.h

src/rpc/register.h

src/rpc/request.h

src/rpc/server_util.h

src/rpc/protocol.h

src/rpc/server.h

src/rpc/signmessage.cpp

src/rpc/txoutproof.cpp

src/rpc/util.cpp

src/rpc/util.h

src/wallet/rpc/addresses.cpp

src/wallet/rpc/backup.cpp

src/wallet/rpc/coins.cpp

src/wallet/rpc/encrypt.cpp

src/wallet/rpc/signmessage.cpp

src/wallet/rpc/util.cpp

src/wallet/rpc/util.h

src/wallet/coincontrol.cpp

src/wallet/coincontrol.h

src/wallet/context.cpp

src/wallet/context.h

src/wallet/crypter.cpp

src/wallet/crypter.h

src/wallet/db.cpp

src/wallet/export.cpp

src/wallet/external_signer_scriptpubkeyman.cpp

src/wallet/rpc/spend.cpp

src/wallet/rpc/transactions.cpp

src/wallet/rpc/wallet.cpp

src/wallet/feebumper.cpp

src/wallet/feebumper.h

src/index/base.h

src/index/base.cpp

src/index/txindex.h

src/index/txindex.cpp

src/index/txindex_key.h

src/index/txospenderindex.h

src/index/txospenderindex.cpp

src/index/blockfilterindex.h

src/index/blockfilterindex.cpp

src/index/coinstatsindex.h

src/index/coinstatsindex.cpp

src/index/db_key.h

src/index/disktxpos.h

src/kernel/chain.cpp

src/kernel/chain.h

src/kernel/checks.cpp

src/kernel/checks.h

src/kernel/context.cpp

src/kernel/context.h

src/kernel/cs_main.cpp

src/kernel/cs_main.h

src/kernel/disconnected_transactions.cpp

src/kernel/disconnected_transactions.h

src/kernel/mempool_removal_reason.cpp

src/kernel/mempool_removal_reason.h

src/kernel/coinstats.cpp

src/kernel/coinstats.h

src/kernel/chainparams.cpp

src/kernel/chainparams.h

src/wallet/sqlite.cpp

src/wallet/sqlite.h

src/wallet/transaction.cpp

src/wallet/transaction.h

src/wallet/dump.cpp

src/wallet/dump.h

src/wallet/init.cpp

src/wallet/walletutil.cpp

src/wallet/walletutil.h

src/wallet/wallettool.cpp

src/wallet/wallettool.h

src/wallet/export.h

src/wallet/migrate.cpp

src/wallet/migrate.h

src/wallet/db.h

src/wallet/walletdb.cpp

src/wallet/interfaces.cpp

src/wallet/scriptpubkeyman.cpp

src/wallet/scriptpubkeyman.h

src/kernel/bitcoinkernel.cpp

src/kernel/bitcoinkernel.h

src/kernel/bitcoinkernel_wrapper.h

src/node/chainstate.cpp

src/node/chainstate.h

src/node/blockstorage.cpp

src/node/blockstorage.h

src/node/mempool_persist.cpp

src/node/mempool_persist.h

src/node/utxo_snapshot.cpp

src/node/utxo_snapshot.h

src/node/kernel_notifications.cpp

src/node/kernel_notifications.h

src/node/blockmanager_args.cpp

src/kernel/blockmanager_opts.h

src/util/expected.cpp

src/policy/settings.h

src/util/types.h

src/kernel/messagestartchars.h

src/kernel/warning.h

src/util/exception.h

src/common/license_info.h

src/node/coins_view_args.h

src/node/database_args.h

src/util/batchpriority.h

src/util/ui_change_type.h

src/node/coins_view_args.cpp

src/node/peerman_args.h

src/util/serfloat.h

src/node/blockmanager_args.h

src/node/database_args.cpp

src/util/overloaded.h

src/interfaces/types.h

src/node/chainstatemanager_args.h

src/node/minisketchwrapper.h

src/util/macros.h

src/util/syserror.h

src/common/run_command.h

src/util/bytevectorhash.cpp

src/node/mempool_persist_args.cpp

src/util/exec.h

src/util/rbf.h

src/crypto/hex_base.h

src/node/mempool_persist_args.h

src/interfaces/echo.h

src/util/any.h

src/util/batchpriority.cpp

src/util/threadnames.h

src/node/coin.h

src/node/mempool_args.h

src/util/asmap.h

src/util/bytevectorhash.h

src/node/context.cpp

src/util/insert.h

src/util/readwritefile.h

src/node/peerman_args.cpp

src/node/interface_ui.cpp

src/interfaces/handler.h

src/node/mining_args.h

src/util/hasher.cpp

src/common/init.h

src/kernel/mempool_limits.h

src/common/system.h

src/crypto/sha3.h

src/util/threadinterrupt.cpp

src/node/protocol_version.h

src/util/exception.cpp

src/common/messages.h

src/node/connection_types.cpp

src/util/bip32.h

src/common/license_info.cpp

src/util/stdmutex.h

src/common/run_command.cpp

src/util/check.cpp

src/util/golombrice.h

src/node/types.h

src/node/timeoffsets.h

src/util/readwritefile.cpp

src/util/fastrange.h

src/util/signalinterrupt.h

src/util/task_runner.h

src/util/syserror.cpp

src/common/interfaces.cpp

src/common/types.h

src/util/threadinterrupt.h

src/kernel/chainstatemanager_opts.h

src/node/psbt.h

src/policy/ephemeral_policy.h

src/util/trace.h

src/common/url.cpp

src/kernel/mempool_options.h

src/util/serfloat.cpp

src/kernel/notifications_interface.h

src/node/timeoffsets.cpp

src/node/warnings.cpp

src/util/hash_type.h

src/crypto/hex_base.cpp

src/node/eviction.h

src/util/tokenbucket.h

src/crypto/aes.h

src/common/pcp.h

src/util/feefrac.cpp

src/node/transaction.h

src/util/threadnames.cpp

src/common/signmessage.h

src/util/exec.cpp

src/util/signalinterrupt.cpp

src/clientversion.cpp

src/common/signmessage.cpp

src/compat/assumptions.h

src/compat/byteswap.h

src/deploymentinfo.cpp

src/deploymentinfo.h

src/deploymentstatus.cpp

src/deploymentstatus.h

src/dummywallet.cpp

src/external_signer.h

src/init/bitcoin-gui.cpp

src/init/bitcoin-node.cpp

src/init/bitcoin-qt.cpp

src/init/bitcoin-wallet.cpp

src/init/bitcoind.cpp

src/init/common.h

src/interfaces/init.h

src/interfaces/ipc.h

src/key_io.h

src/logging/categories.h

src/logging/timer.h

src/mapport.h

src/musig.h

src/net_permissions.h

src/netgroup.h

src/netmessagemaker.h

src/node/chainstatemanager_args.cpp

src/node/connection_types.h

src/node/context.h

src/node/interface_ui.h

src/node/mempool_args.cpp

src/node/mining_args.cpp

src/node/minisketchwrapper.cpp

src/node/txreconciliation.h

src/policy/fees/estimator_args.cpp

src/policy/fees/estimator_args.h

src/policy/fees/estimator_man.cpp

src/policy/fees/estimator_man.h

src/policy/packages.h

src/policy/rbf.h

src/policy/truc_policy.h

src/pow.h

src/primitives/block.cpp

src/randomenv.h

src/rest.h

src/script/keyorigin.h

src/script/parsing.cpp

src/script/parsing.h

src/script/script_error.h

src/script/sigcache.cpp

src/script/sigcache.h

src/script/solver.h

src/script/verify_flags.h

src/semaphore_grant.h

src/signet.h

src/span.h

src/support/allocators/secure.h

src/support/allocators/zeroafterfree.h

src/util/tokenpipe.cpp

src/util/translation.h

src/util/vector.h

src/versionbits.h

src/versionbits_impl.h

src/wallet/external_signer_scriptpubkeyman.h

src/wallet/fees.h

src/wallet/load.h

src/wallet/receive.h

src/wallet/rpc/wallet.h

src/wallet/types.h

src/walletinitinterface.h

src/zmq/zmqabstractnotifier.cpp

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