Files
bitcoin/src/interfaces
Ava Chow c97ac44c34 Merge bitcoin/bitcoin#32297: bitcoin-cli: Add -ipcconnect option
4565cff72c bitcoin-gui: Implement missing Init::makeMining method (Ryan Ofsky)
fbea576c26 test: add interface_ipc_cli.py testing bitcoin-cli -ipcconnect (Ryan Ofsky)
0448a19b1b ipc: Improve -ipcconnect error checking (Ryan Ofsky)
8d614bfa47 bitcoin-cli: Add -ipcconnect option (Ryan Ofsky)
6a54834895 ipc: Expose an RPC interface over the -ipcbind socket (Ryan Ofsky)
df76891a3b refactor: Add ExecuteHTTPRPC function (Ryan Ofsky)
3cd1cd3ad3 ipc: Add MakeBasicInit function (Ryan Ofsky)

Pull request description:

  This implements an idea from sipa in https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/28722#issuecomment-2807026958 to allow `bitcoin-cli` to connect to the node via IPC instead of TCP, if the ENABLE_IPC cmake option is enabled and the node has been started with `-ipcbind`.

  This feature can be tested with:

  ```
  build/bin/bitcoin-node -regtest -ipcbind=unix -debug=ipc
  build/bin/bitcoin-cli -regtest -ipcconnect=unix -getinfo
  ```

  The -ipconnect parameter can also be omitted, since this change also makes `bitcoin-cli` prefer IPC over HTTP by default, and falling back to HTTP if an IPC connection can't be established.

  ---

  This PR is part of the [process separation project](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/28722).

ACKs for top commit:
  achow101:
    ACK 4565cff72c
  pinheadmz:
    ACK 4565cff72c
  enirox001:
    Tested ACK 4565cff72c

Tree-SHA512: cb0dc521d82591e4eb2723a37ae60949309a206265e0ccfbee1f4d59b426b770426fafa1e842819a2fa27322ecdfcd226f31da70f91c2c31b8095e1380666f1f
2026-03-30 15:12:04 -07:00
..
2026-02-27 19:26:08 -04:00

Internal c++ interfaces

The following interfaces are defined here:

  • Chain — used by wallet to access blockchain and mempool state. Added in #14437, #14711, #15288, and #10973.

  • ChainClient — used by node to start & stop Chain clients. Added in #14437.

  • Node — used by GUI to start & stop bitcoin node. Added in #10244.

  • Wallet — used by GUI to access wallets. Added in #10244.

  • Handler — returned by handleEvent methods on interfaces above and used to manage lifetimes of event handlers.

  • Init — used by multiprocess code to access interfaces above on startup. Added in #19160.

  • Ipc — used by multiprocess code to access Init interface across processes. Added in #19160.

  • Rpc — used by bitcoin-cli to be able to call RPC methods over a unix socket instead of TCP.

The interfaces above define boundaries between major components of bitcoin code (node, wallet, and gui), making it possible for them to run in different processes, and be tested, developed, and understood independently. These interfaces are not currently designed to be stable or to be used externally.