Files
bitcoin/doc
Ava Chow 34ac53457f Merge bitcoin/bitcoin#35402: doc: Compress doc/build-unix.md dependency package names into table
fa787043f5 doc: Compress doc/build-unix.md dependency package names into table (MarcoFalke)

Pull request description:

  Currently, `doc/build-unix.md` is tediously verbose, because for several Linux distros, it has exact duplicate sections with only the package names adjusted.

  This is hard to maintain, and review. Also, it is hard to read, and hard to use, because a one-line copy-paste does not work to fetch the list of packages.

  Fix all issues by compressing the 150+ lines into a small table and a short description.

ACKs for top commit:
  achow101:
    ACK fa787043f5
  darosior:
    ACK fa787043f5
  sedited:
    ACK fa787043f5
  hebasto:
    re-ACK fa787043f5.

Tree-SHA512: a6d7f18392ab5a0d468387ffe4335f71ae9656a100ede3de4118e3ef28814e5a70202ffa55eb0218a07effcde220b680499ea9068fd54b91cac42fca8699febf
2026-05-29 15:25:53 -07:00
..
2026-03-24 15:51:24 +01:00

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 several hundred gigabytes or more of disk space. Depending on the speed of your computer and network connection, the synchronization process can take anywhere from a few hours to several days 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) or
  • bin/bitcoind (headless)
  • bin/bitcoin (wrapper command)

The bitcoin command supports subcommands like bitcoin gui, bitcoin node, and bitcoin rpc exposing different functionality. Subcommands can be listed with bitcoin help.

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?

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.

Development

The Bitcoin repo's root README contains relevant information on the development process and automated testing.

Resources

Miscellaneous

License

Distributed under the MIT software license.