ltcd 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 ltcd 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 ltcd and Bitcoin Core is that ltcd 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 ltcd. That functionality is provided by the btcwallet and Paymetheus (Windows-only) projects which are both under active development.
Go 1.6 or newer.
https://github.com/ltcsuite/ltcd/releases
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Install Go according to the installation instructions here: http://golang.org/doc/install
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Ensure Go was installed properly and is a supported version:
$ go version
$ go env GOROOT GOPATHNOTE: 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 ltcd, all dependencies, and install it:
$ go get -u github.com/Masterminds/glide
$ git clone https://github.com/ltcsuite/ltcd $GOPATH/src/github.com/ltcsuite/ltcd
$ cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/ltcsuite/ltcd
$ glide install
$ go install . ./cmd/...- ltcd (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.
Install a newer MSI
- Run the following commands to update ltcd, all dependencies, and install it:
$ cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/ltcsuite/ltcd
$ git pull && glide install
$ go install . ./cmd/...ltcd has several configuration options avilable to tweak how it runs, but all of the basic operations described in the intro section work with zero configuration.
Launch ltcd from your Start menu.
$ ./ltcd- irc.freenode.net
- channel #ltcd
- webchat
- ltcd: discussion of ltcd and its packages.
- ltcd-commits: readonly mail-out of source code changes.
To subscribe to a given list, send email to list+subscribe@opensource.conformal.com
The integrated github issue tracker is used for this project.
The documentation is a work-in-progress. It is located in the docs folder.
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:
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Download the public key from the Conformal website at https://opensource.conformal.com/GIT-GPG-KEY-conformal.txt
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Import the public key into your GPG keyring:
gpg --import GIT-GPG-KEY-conformal.txt
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Verify the release tag with the following command where
TAG_NAMEis a placeholder for the specific tag:git tag -v TAG_NAME
ltcd is licensed under the copyfree ISC License.