Introductory guide to using Bitcoin Core through the command line
This document is under development.
What is a binary?
Difference between a binary and an "app".
What binaries are included with Bitcoin Core? Depends on which OS.
How to find the binaries?
Differences between the bitcoin-qt and bitcoind binaries
## Install the core dependencies
sudo apt-get install build-essential libtool autotools-dev automake pkg-config bsdmainutils python3
## Install the second set of dependencies
sudo apt-get install libevent-dev libboost-dev
## Install sqlite (for descriptor wallets)
sudo apt install libsqlite3-dev
## Install the qt graphical user interface dependencies
sudo apt-get install libqt5gui5 libqt5core5a libqt5dbus5 qttools5-dev qttools5-dev-tools
sudo apt-get install -y build-essential libtool autotools-dev automake pkg-config bsdmainutils python3 libevent-dev libboost-dev libsqlite3-dev libqt5gui5 libqt5core5a libqt5dbus5 qttools5-dev qttools5-dev-tools
#sudo apt-get install libboost-all-devgit clone https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin
cd bitcoin/## Change to the most recent version number.
git checkout $(git tag | sort -V | grep -vE "rc|test|final" | tail -1)
## Auto-generate the configure script.
./autogen.sh
## Check the dependencies and create the Makefile.
./configure
## Build Bitcoin Core using all CPU cores.
make -j "$(($(nproc)+1))"
## Check the integrity of the build.
make -j "$(($(nproc)+1))" check
python3 test/functional/test_runner.py --extended
## Install the Xcode command-line utilities.
xcode-select --install
## Install brew, a third-party package manager.
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
## Install dependencies
brew install automake berkeley-db@4 boost libevent libtool pkg-config qrencode qt@5## Install tor
brew install tor torsocks
## Start the tor service
brew services start tor
## Verify that tor is both "Running" and "Loaded". You should see a response like the following:
## <usere>@<computer> ~ % brew services info tor
## tor (homebrew.mxcl.tor)
## Running: ✔
## Loaded: ✔
## Schedulable: ✘
## User: <user_name>
## PID: <process_id>
## <user>@<computer> ~ %
brew services info torThere are many different options for cloning.
We'll go through a few, each followed by a cd ("change directory") to change directories into the cloned repository directory.
-
Basic clone (into a directory with the same name as the repository):
git clone https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin.git cd bitcoin/ -
You don't actually have to include the
.gitextension, for example:git clone https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin cd bitcoin/ -
If you set up Tor, adding
torsocksbefore the git clone command for added privacy. However, macOS won't let you use the standardgitdue to Apple's System Integrity Protection. We need to install a second copy ofgitusing brew, for example:## Use brew to install an alternate copy of git brew install git ## Clone the repository by running git with torsocks torsocks /opt/homebrew/Cellar/git/*/bin/git clone https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin cd bitcoin/
-
If you have limited network bandwidth or storage, add
--single-branch --depth 1to save space by cloning only themasterbranch with no history, for example:## Clone the master branch no history. In my test, the amount of data transferred is reduced over 90% from about 120 MB to 11MB. git clone --single-branch --depth 1 https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin.git cd bitcoin/
-
Clone into a different directory by passing in an additional argument, for example:
git clone https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin.git projects/bitcoin/ cd projects/bitcoin/ -
Combining all of these into one command, we can clone the main branch with no history over tor into a specific directory:
torsocks /opt/homebrew/Cellar/git/*/bin/git clone --single-branch --depth 1 https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin projects/bitcoin/ cd projects/bitcoin/
## Change to the most recent version number.
git checkout $(git tag | sort -V | grep -vE "rc|test|final" | tail -1)
## Auto-generate the configure script.
./autogen.sh
## Check the dependencies and create the Makefile. Tell the compiler to ignore warnings in external libraries used by Bitcoin Core.
./configure --enable-suppress-external-warnings
## Build (compile) Bitcoin Core. Speed up this step by using all CPU cores with the `-j` argument. For example, if `sysctl -n hw.physicalcpu` returns 8, use ` -j 8`.
make -j "$(($(sysctl -n hw.physicalcpu)+1))"
## (Optional/Educational) Verify that the binaries we will use exist in the src/ directory.
ls src/{bitcoind,bitcoin-cli,qt/bitcoin-qt}
## (Optional/Educational) Check the build using all of the CPU cores.
make check -j "$(($(sysctl -n hw.physicalcpu)+1))"
## (Optional/Educational) Run the extended functional tests to make sure everything is working properly. This optional step will take a long time.
python3 test/functional/test_runner.py --extendedYou don't have to actually install Bitcoin Core, but it makes things easier by not having to refernce the src/ directory every time you want to use bitcoin-cli.
## Copy the binaries to /usr/local/bin/ and additional support files to other directories.
## If you're curious, pay attention to the output from this command to see where these files are being installed.
sudo make install
## Look for the binaries in the /usr/local/bin/ directory.
ls /usr/local/bin/bitcoin*
## Run the GUI version of Bitcoin Core with server mode enabled.
## Note: After running this command, press `return` to get a prompt again.
bitcoin-qt --server & disown
## Test the cli
bitcoin-cli getblockchaininfocd ../
rm -rf bitcoin/Meh.
The following script will tell you how far back your Bitcoin Core blocks data goes.
## Set "asdf" on the next line to your binary directory
## For example, if your binary is located at ~/bitcoin/bin/,
## set binary_directory to $HOME/bitcoin/bin
binary_directory="$HOME/bitcoin/bin"
## Use bitcoin-cli to find the blockchain info
## Save the response as a variable blockchain_info
blockchain_info="$binary_directory"/bitcoin-cli getblockchaininfo
## asdf