223b1ba7d90509a47ea07af46f4b9c3b8efbc9f8 doc: Use CONFIG_SITE instead of --prefix (Hennadii Stepanov) Pull request description: The current examples of `--prefix=...` option usage to point `configure` script to appropriate `depends` directory is not [standard](https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Directory-Variables.html). This causes some [confusion](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/16691) and a bit of inconvenience. Consider a CentOS 7 32 bit system. Packages `libdb4-devel`, `libdb4-cxx-devel`, `miniupnpc-devel` and `zeromq-devel` are unavailable from repos. After recommended build with depends: ``` cd depends make cd .. ./autogen.sh ./configure --prefix=$PWD/depends/i686-pc-linux-gnu make ``` a user is unable to `make install` compiled binaries neither locally (to `~/.local`) nor system-wide (to `/usr/local`) as `--prefix` is set already. Meanwhile, the standard approach with using [`config.site`](https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/html_node/config_002esite.html) files allows both possibilities: ``` cd depends make cd .. ./autogen.sh CONFIG_SITE=$PWD/depends/i686-pc-linux-gnu/share/config.site ./configure --prefix ~/.local make make install ``` or ``` CONFIG_SITE=$PWD/depends/i686-pc-linux-gnu/share/config.site ./configure make sudo make install # install to /usr/local ``` Moreover, this approach is used in [Gitian descriptors](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/tree/master/contrib/gitian-descriptors) already. ACKs for top commit: practicalswift: ACK 223b1ba7d90509a47ea07af46f4b9c3b8efbc9f8: patch looks correct fanquake: ACK 223b1ba7d90509a47ea07af46f4b9c3b8efbc9f8 Tree-SHA512: 46d97924f0fc7e95ee4566737cf7c2ae805ca500e5c49af9aa99ecc3acede4b00329bc727a110aa1b62618dfbf5d1ca2234e736f16fbdf96d6ece5f821712f54
Bitcoin Core
Setup
Bitcoin Core is the original Bitcoin client and it builds the backbone of the network. It downloads and, by default, stores the entire history of Bitcoin transactions, which requires a few hundred gigabytes of disk space. Depending on the speed of your computer and network connection, the synchronization process can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or more.
To download Bitcoin Core, visit bitcoincore.org.
Running
The following are some helpful notes on how to run Bitcoin Core on your native platform.
Unix
Unpack the files into a directory and run:
bin/bitcoin-qt
(GUI) orbin/bitcoind
(headless)
Windows
Unpack the files into a directory, and then run bitcoin-qt.exe.
macOS
Drag Bitcoin Core to your applications folder, and then run Bitcoin Core.
Need Help?
- See the documentation at the Bitcoin Wiki for help and more information.
- Ask for help on #bitcoin on Freenode. If you don't have an IRC client, use webchat here.
- Ask for help on the BitcoinTalk forums, in the Technical Support board.
Building
The following are developer notes on how to build Bitcoin Core on your native platform. They are not complete guides, but include notes on the necessary libraries, compile flags, etc.
- Dependencies
- macOS Build Notes
- Unix Build Notes
- Windows Build Notes
- FreeBSD Build Notes
- OpenBSD Build Notes
- NetBSD Build Notes
- Android Build Notes
- Gitian Building Guide (External Link)
Development
The Bitcoin repo's root README contains relevant information on the development process and automated testing.
- Developer Notes
- Productivity Notes
- Release Notes
- Release Process
- Source Code Documentation (External Link)
- Translation Process
- Translation Strings Policy
- JSON-RPC Interface
- Unauthenticated REST Interface
- Shared Libraries
- BIPS
- Dnsseed Policy
- Benchmarking
Resources
- Discuss on the BitcoinTalk forums, in the Development & Technical Discussion board.
- Discuss project-specific development on #bitcoin-core-dev on Freenode. If you don't have an IRC client, use webchat here.
- Discuss general Bitcoin development on #bitcoin-dev on Freenode. If you don't have an IRC client, use webchat here.
Miscellaneous
- Assets Attribution
- bitcoin.conf Configuration File
- Files
- Fuzz-testing
- Reduce Memory
- Reduce Traffic
- Tor Support
- Init Scripts (systemd/upstart/openrc)
- ZMQ
- PSBT support
License
Distributed under the MIT software license.