An alternative full node bitcoin implementation written in Go (golang)
Go to file
Dave Collins af3ed803f5 database: Major redesign of database package.
This commit contains a complete redesign and rewrite of the database
package that approaches things in a vastly different manner than the
previous version.  This is the first part of several stages that will be
needed to ultimately make use of this new package.

Some of the reason for this were discussed in #255, however a quick
summary is as follows:

- The previous database could only contain blocks on the main chain and
  reorgs required deleting the blocks from the database.  This made it
  impossible to store orphans and could make external RPC calls for
  information about blocks during the middle of a reorg fail.
- The previous database interface forced a high level of bitcoin-specific
  intelligence such as spend tracking into each backend driver.
- The aforementioned point led to making it difficult to implement new
  backend drivers due to the need to repeat a lot of non-trivial logic
  which is better handled at a higher layer, such as the blockchain
  package.
- The old database stored all blocks in leveldb.  This made it extremely
  inefficient to do things such as lookup headers and individual
  transactions since the entire block had to be loaded from leveldb (which
  entails it doing data copies) to get access.

In order to address all of these concerns, and others not mentioned, the
database interface has been redesigned as follows:

- Two main categories of functionality are provided: block storage and
  metadata storage
- All block storage and metadata storage are done via read-only and
  read-write MVCC transactions with both manual and managed modes
  - Support for multiple concurrent readers and a single writer
  - Readers use a snapshot and therefore are not blocked by the writer
- Some key properties of the block storage and retrieval API:
  - It is generic and does NOT contain additional bitcoin logic such spend
    tracking and block linking
  - Provides access to the raw serialized bytes so deserialization is not
    forced for callers that don't need it
  - Support for fetching headers via independent functions which allows
    implementations to provide significant optimizations
  - Ability to efficiently retrieve arbitrary regions of blocks
    (transactions, scripts, etc)
- A rich metadata storage API is provided:
  - Key/value with arbitrary data
  - Support for buckets and nested buckets
  - Bucket iteration through a couple of different mechanisms
  - Cursors for efficient and direct key seeking
- Supports registration of backend database implementations
- Comprehensive test coverage
- Provides strong documentation with example usage

This commit also contains an implementation of the previously discussed
interface named ffldb (flat file plus leveldb metadata backend).  Here
is a quick overview:

- Highly optimized for read performance with consistent write performance
  regardless of database size
- All blocks are stored in flat files on the file system
- Bulk block region fetching is optimized to perform linear reads which
  improves performance on spindle disks
- Anti-corruption mechanisms:
  - Flat files contain full block checksums to quickly an easily detect
    database corruption without needing to do expensive merkle root
    calculations
  - Metadata checksums
  - Open reconciliation
- Extensive test coverage:
  - Comprehensive blackbox interface testing
  - Whitebox testing which uses intimate knowledge to exercise uncommon
    failure paths such as deleting files out from under the database
  - Corruption tests (replacing random data in the files)

In addition, this commit also contains a new tool under the new database
directory named dbtool which provides a few basic commands for testing the
database.  It is designed around commands, so it could be useful to expand
on in the future.

Finally, this commit addresses the following issues:

- Adds support for and therefore closes #255
- Fixes #199
- Fixes #201
- Implements and closes #256
- Obsoletes and closes #257
- Closes #247 once the required chain and btcd modifications are in place
  to make use of this new code
2016-02-03 11:42:04 -06:00
addrmgr Relicense to the btcsuite developers. 2015-05-01 12:00:56 -05:00
blockchain blockchain: Correct serialized coinbase height error message. 2015-12-21 20:59:12 +01:00
btcec Change copyright date for code that was updated this year(2016). 2016-01-07 09:01:51 -07:00
btcjson adds filteraddrs param to searchrawtransactions API 2015-11-15 15:30:13 -08:00
chaincfg chaincfg: Remove testnet-seed.alexykot.me, it is defunct. 2016-01-05 16:16:11 -05:00
cmd Prepare for release 0.12.0. 2015-11-20 19:33:17 -06:00
database docs: Make various README.md files consistent. 2015-10-23 14:51:36 -05:00
database2 database: Major redesign of database package. 2016-02-03 11:42:04 -06:00
docs Fix inconsistent spacing. 2015-12-29 10:59:57 -07:00
limits Relicense to the btcsuite developers. 2015-05-01 12:00:56 -05:00
mining mining: Create skeleton package. 2015-11-30 12:23:50 -06:00
peer peer: Simplify PushAddrMsg method loop. 2016-01-24 10:52:59 +00:00
release Update release script to correct btcctl location. 2015-02-28 03:39:20 -06:00
txscript txscript: Fix typo in README 2016-01-29 12:39:11 -08:00
wire wire: Minor code clean up. 2016-01-26 23:09:18 +00:00
.gitignore Convert .gitignore line endings to unix. 2013-08-07 15:00:20 -05:00
.travis.yml Update TravisCI to test against golang 1.5.1. 2015-09-17 11:01:34 -05:00
blocklogger.go Add support for an optional address-based transaction index. 2015-02-05 14:48:19 -08:00
blockmanager.go Fix mempool transactions disappearing if a parent tx is confirmed. 2015-11-06 11:42:42 +01:00
btcd.go Output error to stderr if the limits can't be set. 2015-09-02 17:13:01 -05:00
chainindexer.go Convert block heights to int32. 2015-08-11 11:13:17 -05:00
CHANGES Fix typos in changelog. 2015-12-29 09:43:44 -07:00
config.go Fix dropaddrindex flag usage message 2015-11-23 22:20:02 +01:00
cpuminer.go mining: Create skeleton package. 2015-11-30 12:23:50 -06:00
deps.txt Add 0.12.0 deps to deps.txt. 2015-11-20 17:35:07 -06:00
discovery.go Relicense to the btcsuite developers. 2015-05-01 12:00:56 -05:00
doc.go config: New option --minrelaytxfee 2015-10-20 12:41:12 -04:00
goclean.sh Correct a few style related issues found by golint. 2015-10-20 10:34:14 -05:00
LICENSE Update LICENSE 2016-01-23 16:06:10 -05:00
log.go database: Major redesign of database package. 2016-02-03 11:42:04 -06:00
mempool.go mining: Create skeleton package. 2015-11-30 12:23:50 -06:00
mempoolerror.go Relicense to the btcsuite developers. 2015-05-01 12:00:56 -05:00
mining.go mining: Create skeleton package. 2015-11-30 12:23:50 -06:00
params.go Change copyright date for code that was updated this year(2016). 2016-01-07 09:01:51 -07:00
policy_test.go mempool: Move checkTransactionStandard to policy. 2015-11-11 13:34:32 -06:00
policy.go mempool/mining: Decouple and optimize priority calcs. 2015-11-25 12:39:47 -06:00
README.md Update README.md install section. 2015-05-29 15:34:16 -05:00
rpcserver.go mining: Create skeleton package. 2015-11-30 12:23:50 -06:00
rpcserverhelp_test.go Relicense to the btcsuite developers. 2015-05-01 12:00:56 -05:00
rpcserverhelp.go adds filteraddrs param to searchrawtransactions API 2015-11-15 15:30:13 -08:00
rpcwebsocket.go Add a websocket session RPC. 2015-09-17 12:18:15 -04:00
sample-btcd.conf config: New option --minrelaytxfee 2015-10-20 12:41:12 -04:00
server.go Bump copyright date to reflect fixes since the beginning of this year. 2016-01-06 15:29:58 -07:00
service_windows.go Relicense to the btcsuite developers. 2015-05-01 12:00:56 -05:00
signal.go Relicense to the btcsuite developers. 2015-05-01 12:00:56 -05:00
upgrade.go Relicense to the btcsuite developers. 2015-05-01 12:00:56 -05:00
upnp.go Fixed DeletePortMapping documentation typo 2015-01-01 21:59:57 +01:00
version.go Prepare for release 0.12.0. 2015-11-20 19:33:17 -06:00

btcd

[Build Status] (https://travis-ci.org/btcsuite/btcd)

btcd 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 for over 6 months as of May 2014, however there are still a couple of major features we want to add before we come out of beta.

It properly downloads, validates, and serves the block chain using the exact rules (including bugs) for block acceptance as Bitcoin Core. We have taken great care to avoid btcd causing a fork to the block chain. It passes all of the 'official' block acceptance tests (https://github.com/TheBlueMatt/test-scripts) as well as all of the JSON test data in the Bitcoin Core code.

It also relays newly mined blocks, maintains a transaction pool, and relays individual transactions that have not yet made it into a block. It ensures all transactions admitted to the pool follow the rules required by the block chain and also includes the same checks which filter transactions based on miner requirements ("standard" transactions) as Bitcoin Core.

One key difference between btcd and Bitcoin Core is that btcd 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 btcd. That functionality is provided by the btcwallet and btcgui projects which are both under active development.

Requirements

Go 1.3 or newer.

Installation

Windows - MSI Available

https://github.com/btcsuite/btcd/releases

Linux/BSD/MacOSX/POSIX - Build from Source

  • Install Go according to the installation instructions here: http://golang.org/doc/install

  • Ensure Go was installed properly and is a supported version:

$ go version
$ go env GOROOT GOPATH

NOTE: 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.

  • Run the following command to obtain btcd, all dependencies, and install it:
$ go get -u github.com/btcsuite/btcd/...
  • btcd (and utilities) will now be installed in either $GOROOT/bin or $GOPATH/bin depending on your configuration. If you did not already add the bin directory to your system path during Go installation, we recommend you do so now.

Updating

Windows

Install a newer MSI

Linux/BSD/MacOSX/POSIX - Build from Source

  • Run the following command to update btcd, all dependencies, and install it:
$ go get -u -v github.com/btcsuite/btcd/...

Getting Started

btcd 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.

Windows (Installed from MSI)

Launch btcd from your Start menu.

Linux/BSD/POSIX/Source

$ ./btcd

IRC

  • irc.freenode.net
  • channel #btcd
  • webchat

Mailing lists

  • btcd: discussion of btcd and its packages.
  • btcd-commits: readonly mail-out of source code changes.

To subscribe to a given list, send email to list+subscribe@opensource.conformal.com

Issue Tracker

The integrated github issue tracker is used for this project.

Documentation

The documentation is a work-in-progress. It is located in the docs folder.

GPG Verification Key

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:

  • Download the public key from the Conformal website at https://opensource.conformal.com/GIT-GPG-KEY-conformal.txt

  • Import the public key into your GPG keyring:

    gpg --import GIT-GPG-KEY-conformal.txt
    
  • Verify the release tag with the following command where TAG_NAME is a placeholder for the specific tag:

    git tag -v TAG_NAME
    

License

btcd is licensed under the copyfree ISC License.