Chapter 3. The Bitcoin Client
Bitcoin Core: The Reference Implementation
You can download the reference client Bitcoin Core, also known as the “Satoshi client,” from bitcoin.org. The reference client implements all aspects of the bitcoin system, including wallets, a transaction verification engine with a full copy of the entire transaction ledger (blockchain), and a full network node in the peer-to-peer bitcoin network.
On Bitcoin’s Choose Your Wallet page, select Bitcoin Core to download the reference client. Depending on your operating system, you will download an executable installer. For Windows, this is either a ZIP archive or an .exe executable. For Mac OS it is a .dmg disk image. Linux versions include a PPA package for Ubuntu or a tar.gz archive. The bitcoin.org page that lists recommended bitcoin clients is shown in Figure 3-1.
Running Bitcoin Core for the First Time
If you download an installable package, such as an .exe, .dmg, or PPA, you can install it the same way as any application on your operating system. For Windows, run the .exe and follow the step-by-step instructions. For Mac OS, launch the .dmg and drag the Bitcoin-QT icon into your Applications folder. For Ubuntu, double-click the PPA in your File Explorer and it will open the package manager to install the package. Once you have completed installation you should have a new application called Bitcoin-Qt in your application list. Double-click the icon to start the bitcoin client.
The first time you run Bitcoin Core it will start downloading the blockchain, a process that might take several days (see Figure 3-2). Leave it running in the background until it displays “Synchronized” and no longer shows “out of sync” next to the balance.
Tip
Bitcoin Core keeps a full copy of the transaction ledger (blockchain), with every transaction that has ever occurred on the bitcoin network since its inception in 2009. This dataset is several gigabytes in size (approximately 16 GB in late 2013) and is downloaded incrementally over several days. The client will not be able to process transactions or update account balances until the full blockchain dataset is downloaded. During that time, the client will display “out of sync” next to the account balances and show “Synchronizing” in the footer. Make sure you have enough disk space, bandwidth, and time to complete the initial synchronization.
Compiling Bitcoin Core from the Source Code
For developers, there is also the option to download the full source code as a ZIP archive or by cloning the authoritative source repository from GitHub. On the GitHub bitcoin page, select Download ZIP from the sidebar. Alternatively, use the git command line to create a local copy of the source code on your system. In the following example, we are cloning the source code from a Unix-like command line, in Linux or Mac OS:
$ git clone https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin.git Cloning into 'bitcoin'... remote: Counting objects: 31864, done. remote: Compressing objects: 100% (12007/12007), done. remote: Total 31864 (delta 24480), reused 26530 (delta 19621) Receiving objects: 100% (31864/31864), 18.47 MiB | 119 KiB/s, done. Resolving deltas: 100% (24480/24480), done. $
Tip
The instructions and resulting output might vary from version to version. Follow the documentation that comes with the code even if it differs from the instructions you see here, and don’t be surprised if the output displayed on your screen is slightly different from the examples here.
When the git cloning operation has completed, you will have a complete local copy of the source code repository in the directory bitcoin. Change to this directory by typing cd bitcoin at the prompt:
$ cd bitcoin
By default, the local copy will be synchronized with the most recent code, which might be an unstable or beta version of bitcoin. Before compiling the code, select a specific version by checking out a release tag. This will synchronize the local copy with a specific snapshot of the code repository identified by a keyword tag. Tags are used by the developers to mark specific releases of the code by version number. First, to find the available tags, we use the git tag command:
$ git tag v0.1.5 v0.1.6test1 v0.2.0 v0.2.10 v0.2.11 v0.2.12 [... many more tags ...] v0.8.4rc2 v0.8.5 v0.8.6 v0.8.6rc1 v0.9.0rc1
The list of tags shows all the released versions of bitcoin. By convention, release candidates, which are intended for testing, have the suffix “rc”. Stable releases that can be run on production systems have no suffix. From the preceding list, select the highest version release, which at this writing was v0.9.0rc1. To synchronize the local code with this version, use the git checkout command:
$ git checkout v0.9.0rc1 Note: checking out 'v0.9.0rc1'. HEAD is now at 15ec451... Merge pull request #3605 $
The source code includes documentation, which can be found in a number of files. Review the main documentation located in README.md in the bitcoin directory by typing more README.md at the prompt and using the space bar to progress to the next page. In this chapter, we will build the command-line bitcoin client, also known as bitcoind on Linux. Review the instructions for compiling the bitcoind command-line client on your platform by typing more doc/build-unix.md. Alternative instructions for Mac OS X and Windows can be found in the doc directory, as build-osx.md or build-msw.md, respectively.
Carefully review the build prerequisites, which are in the first part of the build documentation. These are libraries that must be present on your system before you can begin to compile bitcoin. If these prerequisites are missing, the build process will fail with an error. If this happens because you missed a prerequisite, you can install it and then resume the build process from where you left off. Assuming the prerequisites are installed, you start the build process by generating a set of build scripts using the autogen.sh script.
Tip
The Bitcoin Core build process was changed to use the autogen/configure/make system starting with version 0.9. Older versions use a simple Makefile and work slightly differently from the following example. Follow the instructions for the version you want to compile. The autogen/configure/make introduced in 0.9 is likely to be the build system used for all future versions of the code and is the system demonstrated in the following examples.
$ ./autogen.sh configure.ac:12: installing `src/build-aux/config.guess' configure.ac:12: installing `src/build-aux/config.sub' configure.ac:37: installing `src/build-aux/install-sh' configure.ac:37: installing `src/build-aux/missing' src/Makefile.am: installing `src/build-aux/depcomp' $
The autogen.sh script creates a set of automatic configuration scripts that will interrogate your system to discover the correct settings and ensure you have all the necessary libraries to compile the code. The most important of these is the configure script that offers a number of different options to customize the build process. Type ./configure --help to see the various options:
$ ./configure --help
`configure' configures Bitcoin Core 0.9.0 to adapt to many kinds of systems.
Usage: ./configure [OPTION]... [VAR=VALUE]...
To assign environment variables (e.g., CC, CFLAGS...), specify them as
VAR=VALUE. See below for descriptions of some of the useful variables.
Defaults for the options are specified in brackets.
Configuration:
-h, --help display this help and exit
--help=short display options specific to this package
--help=recursive display the short help of all the included packages
-V, --version display version information and exit
[... many more options and variables are displayed below ...]
Optional Features:
--disable-option-checking ignore unrecognized --enable/--with options
--disable-FEATURE do not include FEATURE (same as --enable-FEATURE=no)
--enable-FEATURE[=ARG] include FEATURE [ARG=yes]
[... more options ...]
Use these variables to override the choices made by `configure' or to help
it to find libraries and programs with nonstandard names/locations.
Report bugs to <info@bitcoin.org>.
$The configure script allows you to enable or disable certain features of bitcoind through the use of the --enable-FEATURE and --disable-FEATURE flags, where FEATURE is replaced by the feature name, as listed in the help output. In this chapter, we will build the bitcoind client with all the default features. We won’t be using the configuration flags, but you should review them to understand what optional features are part of the client. Next, run the configure script to automatically discover all the necessary libraries and create a customized build script for your system:
$ ./configure checking build system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu checking host system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c checking whether build environment is sane... yes checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p... /bin/mkdir -p checking for gawk... no checking for mawk... mawk checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes [... many more system features are tested ...] configure: creating ./config.status config.status: creating Makefile config.status: creating src/Makefile config.status: creating src/test/Makefile config.status: creating src/qt/Makefile config.status: creating src/qt/test/Makefile config.status: creating share/setup.nsi config.status: creating share/qt/Info.plist config.status: creating qa/pull-tester/run-bitcoind-for-test.sh config.status: creating qa/pull-tester/build-tests.sh config.status: creating src/bitcoin-config.h config.status: executing depfiles commands $
If all goes well, the configure command will end by creating the customized build scripts that will allow us to compile bitcoind. If there are any missing libraries or errors, the configure command will terminate with an error instead of creating the build scripts. If an error occurs, it is most likely because of a missing or incompatible library. Review the build documentation again and make sure you install the missing prerequisites. Then run configure again and see if that fixes the error. Next, you will compile the source code, a process that can take up to an hour to complete. During the compilation process you should see output every few seconds or every few minutes, or an error if something goes wrong. The compilation process can be resumed at any time if interrupted. Type make to start compiling:
$ make Making all in src make[1]: Entering directory `/home/ubuntu/bitcoin/src' make all-recursive make[2]: Entering directory `/home/ubuntu/bitcoin/src' Making all in . make[3]: Entering directory `/home/ubuntu/bitcoin/src' CXX addrman.o CXX alert.o CXX rpcserver.o CXX bloom.o CXX chainparams.o [... many more compilation messages follow ...] CXX test_bitcoin-wallet_tests.o CXX test_bitcoin-rpc_wallet_tests.o CXXLD test_bitcoin make[4]: Leaving directory `/home/ubuntu/bitcoin/src/test' make[3]: Leaving directory `/home/ubuntu/bitcoin/src/test' make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/ubuntu/bitcoin/src' make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/ubuntu/bitcoin/src' make[1]: Entering directory `/home/ubuntu/bitcoin' make[1]: Nothing to be done for `all-am'. make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/ubuntu/bitcoin' $
If all goes well, bitcoind is now compiled. The final step is to install the bitcoind executable into the system path using the make command:
$ sudo make install Making install in src Making install in . /bin/mkdir -p '/usr/local/bin' /usr/bin/install -c bitcoind bitcoin-cli '/usr/local/bin' Making install in test make install-am /bin/mkdir -p '/usr/local/bin' /usr/bin/install -c test_bitcoin '/usr/local/bin' $
You can confirm that bitcoin is correctly installed by asking the system for the path of the two executables, as follows:
$which bitcoind /usr/local/bin/bitcoind$which bitcoin-cli /usr/local/bin/bitcoin-cli
The default installation of bitcoind puts it in /usr/local/bin. When you first run bitcoind, it will remind you to create a configuration file with a strong password for the JSON-RPC interface. Run bitcoind by typing bitcoind into the terminal:
$ bitcoind Error: To use the "-server" option, you must set a rpcpassword in the configuration file: /home/ubuntu/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf It is recommended you use the following random password: rpcuser=bitcoinrpc rpcpassword=2XA4DuKNCbtZXsBQRRNDEwEY2nM6M4H9Tx5dFjoAVVbK (you do not need to remember this password) The username and password MUST NOT be the same. If the file does not exist, create it with owner-readable-only file permissions. It is also recommended to set alertnotify so you are notified of problems; for example: alertnotify=echo %s | mail -s "Bitcoin Alert" admin@foo.com
Edit the configuration file in your preferred editor and set the parameters, replacing the password with a strong password as recommended by bitcoind. Do not use the password shown here. Create a file inside the .bitcoin directory so that it is named .bitcoin/bitcoin.conf and enter a username and password:
rpcuser=bitcoinrpcrpcpassword=2XA4DuKNCbtZXsBQRRNDEwEY2nM6M4H9Tx5dFjoAVVbK
While you’re editing this configuration file, you might want to set a few other options, such as txindex (see Transaction Database Index and txindex Option). For a full listing of the available options, type bitcoind --help.
Now, run the Bitcoin Core client. The first time you run it, it will rebuild the bitcoin blockchain by downloading all the blocks. This is a multigigabyte file and will take an average of two days to download in full. You can shorten the blockchain initialization time by downloading a partial copy of the blockchain using a BitTorrent client from SourceForge.
Run bitcoind in the background with the option -daemon:
$ bitcoind -daemon Bitcoin version v0.9.0rc1-beta (2014-01-31 09:30:15 +0100) Using OpenSSL version OpenSSL 1.0.1c 10 May 2012 Default data directory /home/bitcoin/.bitcoin Using data directory /bitcoin/ Using at most 4 connections (1024 file descriptors available) init message: Verifying wallet... dbenv.open LogDir=/bitcoin/database ErrorFile=/bitcoin/db.log Bound to [::]:8333 Bound to 0.0.0.0:8333 init message: Loading block index... Opening LevelDB in /bitcoin/blocks/index Opened LevelDB successfully Opening LevelDB in /bitcoin/chainstate Opened LevelDB successfully [... more startup messages ...]
Using Bitcoin Core’s JSON-RPC API from the Command Line
The Bitcoin Core client implements a JSON-RPC interface that can also be accessed using the command-line helper bitcoin-cli. The command line allows us to experiment interactively with the capabilities that are also available programmatically via the API. To start, invoke the help command to see a list of the available bitcoin RPC commands:
$ bitcoin-cli help
addmultisigaddress nrequired ["key",...] ( "account" )
addnode "node" "add|remove|onetry"
backupwallet "destination"
createmultisig nrequired ["key",...]
createrawtransaction [{"txid":"id","vout":n},...] {"address":amount,...}
decoderawtransaction "hexstring"
decodescript "hex"
dumpprivkey "bitcoinaddress"
dumpwallet "filename"
getaccount "bitcoinaddress"
getaccountaddress "account"
getaddednodeinfo dns ( "node" )
getaddressesbyaccount "account"
getbalance ( "account" minconf )
getbestblockhash
getblock "hash" ( verbose )
getblockchaininfo
getblockcount
getblockhash index
getblocktemplate ( "jsonrequestobject" )
getconnectioncount
getdifficulty
getgenerate
gethashespersec
getinfo
getmininginfo
getnettotals
getnetworkhashps ( blocks height )
getnetworkinfo
getnewaddress ( "account" )
getpeerinfo
getrawchangeaddress
getrawmempool ( verbose )
getrawtransaction "txid" ( verbose )
getreceivedbyaccount "account" ( minconf )
getreceivedbyaddress "bitcoinaddress" ( minconf )
gettransaction "txid"
gettxout "txid" n ( includemempool )
gettxoutsetinfo
getunconfirmedbalance
getwalletinfo
getwork ( "data" )
help ( "command" )
importprivkey "bitcoinprivkey" ( "label" rescan )
importwallet "filename"
keypoolrefill ( newsize )
listaccounts ( minconf )
listaddressgroupings
listlockunspent
listreceivedbyaccount ( minconf includeempty )
listreceivedbyaddress ( minconf includeempty )
listsinceblock ( "blockhash" target-confirmations )
listtransactions ( "account" count from )
listunspent ( minconf maxconf ["address",...] )
lockunspent unlock [{"txid":"txid","vout":n},...]
move "fromaccount" "toaccount" amount ( minconf "comment" )
ping
sendfrom "fromaccount" "tobitcoinaddress" amount ( minconf "comment" "comment-to" )
sendmany "fromaccount" {"address":amount,...} ( minconf "comment" )
sendrawtransaction "hexstring" ( allowhighfees )
sendtoaddress "bitcoinaddress" amount ( "comment" "comment-to" )
setaccount "bitcoinaddress" "account"
setgenerate generate ( genproclimit )
settxfee amount
signmessage "bitcoinaddress" "message"
signrawtransaction "hexstring" ( [{"txid":"id","vout":n,"scriptPubKey":"hex","redeemScript":"hex"},...] ["privatekey1",...] sighashtype )
stop
submitblock "hexdata" ( "jsonparametersobject" )
validateaddress "bitcoinaddress"
verifychain ( checklevel numblocks )
verifymessage "bitcoinaddress" "signature" "message"
walletlock
walletpassphrase "passphrase" timeout
walletpassphrasechange "oldpassphrase" "newpassphrase"Getting Information on the Bitcoin Core Client Status
Commands: getinfo
Bitcoin’s getinfo RPC command displays basic information about the status of the bitcoin network node, the wallet, and the blockchain database. Use bitcoin-cli to run it:
$ bitcoin-cli getinfo{"version":90000,"protocolversion":70002,"walletversion":60000,"balance":0.00000000,"blocks":286216,"timeoffset":-72,"connections":4,"proxy":"","difficulty":2621404453.06461525,"testnet":false,"keypoololdest":1374553827,"keypoolsize":101,"paytxfee":0.00000000,"errors":""}
The data is returned in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), a format that can easily be “consumed” by all programming languages but is also quite human-readable. Among this data we see the version numbers for the bitcoin software client (90000), protocol (70002), and wallet (60000). We see the current balance contained in the wallet, which is zero. We see the current block height, showing us how many blocks are known to this client (286216). We also see various statistics about the bitcoin network and the settings related to this client. We will explore these settings in more detail in the rest of this chapter.
Tip
It will take some time, perhaps more than a day, for the bitcoind client to “catch up” to the current blockchain height as it downloads blocks from other bitcoin clients. You can check its progress using getinfo to see the number of known blocks.
Wallet Setup and Encryption
Commands: encryptwallet, walletpassphrase
Before you proceed with creating keys and other commands, you should first encrypt the wallet with a password. For this example, you will use the encryptwallet command with the password “foo”. Obviously, replace “foo” with a strong and complex password!
$ bitcoin-cli encryptwallet foo wallet encrypted; Bitcoin server stopping, restart to run with encrypted wallet. The keypool has been flushed, you need to make a new backup. $
You can verify the wallet has been encrypted by running getinfo again. This time you will notice a new entry called unlocked_until. This is a counter showing how long the wallet decryption password will be stored in memory, keeping the wallet unlocked. At first this will be set to zero, meaning the wallet is locked:
$ bitcoin-cli getinfo{"version":90000,#[...otherinformation...]"unlocked_until":0,"errors":""}$
To unlock the wallet, issue the walletpassphrase command, which takes two parameters—the password and a number of seconds until the wallet is locked again automatically (a time counter):
$ bitcoin-cli walletpassphrase foo 360 $
You can confirm the wallet is unlocked and see the timeout by running getinfo again:
$ bitcoin-cli getinfo{"version":90000,#[...otherinformation...]"unlocked_until":1392580909,"errors":""}
Wallet Backup, Plain-text Dump, and Restore
Commands: backupwallet, importwallet, dumpwallet
Next, we will practice creating a wallet backup file and then restoring the wallet from the backup file. Use the backupwallet command to back up, providing the filename as the parameter. Here we back up the wallet to the file wallet.backup:
$ bitcoin-cli backupwallet wallet.backup $
Now, to restore the backup file, use the importwallet command. If your wallet is locked, you will need to unlock it first (see walletpassphrase in the preceding section) in order to import the backup file:
$ bitcoin-cli importwallet wallet.backup $
The dumpwallet command can be used to dump the wallet into a text file that is human-readable:
$ bitcoin-cli dumpwallet wallet.txt $ more wallet.txt # Wallet dump created by Bitcoin v0.9.0rc1-beta (2014-01-31 09:30:15 +0100) # * Created on 2014-02- 8dT20:34:55Z # * Best block at time of backup was 286234 (0000000000000000f74f0bc9d3c186267bc45c7b91c49a0386538ac24c0d3a44), # mined on 2014-02- 8dT20:24:01Z KzTg2wn6Z8s7ai5NA9MVX4vstHRsqP26QKJCzLg4JvFrp6mMaGB9 2013-07- 4dT04:30:27Z change=1 # addr=16pJ6XkwSQv5ma5FSXMRPaXEYrENCEg47F Kz3dVz7R6mUpXzdZy4gJEVZxXJwA15f198eVui4CUivXotzLBDKY 2013-07- 4dT04:30:27Z change=1 # addr=17oJds8kaN8LP8kuAkWTco6ZM7BGXFC3gk [... many more keys ...] $
Wallet Addresses and Receiving Transactions
Commands: getnewaddress, getreceivedbyaddress, listtransactions, getaddressesbyaccount, getbalance
The bitcoin reference client maintains a pool of addresses, the size of which is displayed by keypoolsize when you use the command getinfo. These addresses are generated automatically and can then be used as public receiving addresses or change addresses. To get one of these addresses, use the getnewaddress command:
$ bitcoin-cli getnewaddress 1hvzSofGwT8cjb8JU7nBsCSfEVQX5u9CL
Now, we can use this address to send a small amount of bitcoin to our bitcoind wallet from an external wallet (assuming you have some bitcoin in an exchange, web wallet, or other bitcoind wallet held elsewhere). For this example, we will send 50 millibits (0.050 bitcoin) to the preceding address.
We can now query the bitcoind client for the amount received by this address, and specify how many confirmations are required before an amount is counted in that balance. For this example, we will specify zero confirmations. A few seconds after sending the bitcoin from another wallet, we will see it reflected in the wallet. We use getreceivedbyaddress with the address and the number of confirmations set to zero (0):
$ bitcoin-cli getreceivedbyaddress 1hvzSofGwT8cjb8JU7nBsCSfEVQX5u9CL 0 0.05000000
If we omit the zero from the end of this command, we will only see the amounts that have at least minconf confirmations, where minconf is the setting for the minimum number of confirmations before a transaction is listed in the balance. The minconf setting is specified in the bitcoind configuration file. Because the transaction sending this bitcoin was only sent in the last few seconds, it has still not confirmed and therefore we will see it list a zero balance:
$ bitcoin-cli getreceivedbyaddress 1hvzSofGwT8cjb8JU7nBsCSfEVQX5u9CL 0.00000000
The transactions received by the entire wallet can also be displayed using the listtransactions command:
$ bitcoin-cli listtransactions
[{"account":"","address":"1hvzSofGwT8cjb8JU7nBsCSfEVQX5u9CL","category":"receive","amount":0.05000000,"confirmations":0,"txid":"9ca8f969bd3ef5ec2a8685660fdbf7a8bd365524c2e1fc66c309acbae2c14ae3","time":1392660908,"timereceived":1392660908}]
We can list all addresses in the entire wallet using the getaddressesbyaccount command:
$ bitcoin-cli getaddressesbyaccount ""
["1LQoTPYy1TyERbNV4zZbhEmgyfAipC6eqL","17vrg8uwMQUibkvS2ECRX4zpcVJ78iFaZS","1FvRHWhHBBZA8cGRRsGiAeqEzUmjJkJQWR","1NVJK3JsL41BF1KyxrUyJW5XHjunjfp2jz","14MZqqzCxjc99M5ipsQSRfieT7qPZcM7Df","1BhrGvtKFjTAhGdPGbrEwP3xvFjkJBuFCa","15nem8CX91XtQE8B1Hdv97jE8X44H3DQMT","1Q3q6taTsUiv3mMemEuQQJ9sGLEGaSjo81","1HoSiTg8sb16oE6SrmazQEwcGEv8obv9ns","13fE8BGhBvnoy68yZKuWJ2hheYKovSDjqM","1hvzSofGwT8cjb8JU7nBsCSfEVQX5u9CL","1KHUmVfCJteJ21LmRXHSpPoe23rXKifAb2","1LqJZz1D9yHxG4cLkdujnqG5jNNGmPeAMD"]
Finally, the command getbalance will show the total balance of the wallet, adding up all transactions confirmed with at least minconf confirmations:
$ bitcoin-cli getbalance 0.05000000
Exploring and Decoding Transactions
Commands: gettransaction, getrawtransaction, decoderawtransaction
We’ll now explore the incoming transaction that was listed previously using the gettransaction command. We can retrieve a transaction by its transaction hash, shown at txid earlier, with the gettransaction command:
$ bitcoin-cli gettransaction 9ca8f969bd3ef5ec2a8685660fdbf7a8bd365524c2e1fc66c309acbae2c14ae3
{"amount":0.05000000,"confirmations":0,"txid":"9ca8f969bd3ef5ec2a8685660fdbf7a8bd365524c2e1fc66c309acbae2c14ae3","time":1392660908,"timereceived":1392660908,"details":[{"account":"","address":"1hvzSofGwT8cjb8JU7nBsCSfEVQX5u9CL","category":"receive","amount":0.05000000}]}
Tip
Transaction IDs are not authoritative until a transaction has been confirmed. Absence of a transaction hash in the blockchain does not mean the transaction was not processed. This is known as “transaction malleability,” because transaction hashes can be modified prior to confirmation in a block. After confirmation, the txid is immutable and authoritative.
The transaction form shown with the command gettransaction is the simplified form. To retrieve the full transaction code and decode it, we will use two commands: getrawtransaction and decoderawtransaction. First, getrawtransaction takes the transaction hash (txid) as a parameter and returns the full transaction as a “raw” hex string, exactly as it exists on the bitcoin network:
$ bitcoin-cli getrawtransaction 9ca8f969bd3ef5ec2a8685660fdbf7a8bd365524c2e1fc66c309acbae2c14ae3 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
To decode this hex string, use the decoderawtransaction command. Copy and paste the hex as the first parameter of decoderawtransaction to get the full contents interpreted as a JSON data structure (for formatting reasons the hex string is shortened in the following example):
$ bitcoin-cli decoderawtransaction 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
{
"txid" : "9ca8f969bd3ef5ec2a8685660fdbf7a8bd365524c2e1fc66c309acbae2c14ae3",
"version" : 1,
"locktime" : 0,
"vin" : [
{
"txid" : "d3c7e022ea80c4808e64dd0a1dba009f3eaee2318a4ece562f8ef815952717d7",
"vout" : 0,
"scriptSig" : {
"asm" : "3045022100a4ebbeec83225dedead659bbde7da3d026c8b8e12e61a2df0dd0758e227383b302203301768ef878007e9ef7c304f70ffaf1f2c975b192d34c5b9b2ac1bd193dfba20104793ac8a58ea751f9710e39aad2e296cc14daa44fa59248be58ede65e4c4b884ac5b5b6dede05ba84727e34c8fd3ee1d6929d7a44b6e111d41cc79e05dbfe5cea",
"hex": "483045022100a4ebbeec83225dedead659bbde7da3d026c8b8e12e61a2df0dd0758e227383b302203301768ef878007e9ef7c304f70ffaf1f2c975b192d34c5b9b2ac1bd193dfba2014104793ac8a58ea751f9710e39aad2e296cc14daa44fa59248be58ede65e4c4b884ac5b5b6dede05ba84727e34c8fd3ee1d6929d7a44b6e111d41cc79e05dbfe5cea"
},
"sequence" : 4294967295
}
],
"vout" : [
{
"value" : 0.05000000,
"n" : 0,
"scriptPubKey" : {
"asm" : "OP_DUP OP_HASH160 07bdb518fa2e6089fd810235cf1100c9c13d1fd2 OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG",
"hex" : "76a91407bdb518fa2e6089fd810235cf1100c9c13d1fd288ac",
"reqSigs" : 1,
"type" : "pubkeyhash",
"addresses" : [
"1hvzSofGwT8cjb8JU7nBsCSfEVQX5u9CL"
]
}
},
{
"value" : 1.03362847,
"n" : 1,
"scriptPubKey" : {
"asm" : "OP_DUP OP_HASH160 107b7086b31518935c8d28703d66d09b36231343 OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG",
"hex" : "76a914107b7086b31518935c8d28703d66d09b3623134388ac",
"reqSigs" : 1,
"type" : "pubkeyhash",
"addresses" : [
"12W9goQ3P7Waw5JH8fRVs1e2rVAKoGnvoy"
]
}
}
]
}
The transaction decode shows all the components of this transaction, including the transaction inputs and outputs. In this case we see that the transaction that credited our new address with 50 millibits used one input and generated two outputs. The input to this transaction was the output from a previously confirmed transaction (shown as the vin txid starting with d3c7). The two outputs correspond to the 50 millibit credit and an output with change back to the sender.
We can further explore the blockchain by examining the previous transaction referenced by its txid in this transaction using the same commands (e.g., gettransaction). Jumping from transaction to transaction we can follow a chain of transactions back as the coins are transmitted from owner address to owner address.
Once the transaction we received has been confirmed by inclusion in a block, the gettransaction command will return additional information, showing the block hash (identifier) in which the transaction was included:
$ bitcoin-cli gettransaction 9ca8f969bd3ef5ec2a8685660fdbf7a8bd365524c2e1fc66c309acbae2c14ae3
{
"amount" : 0.05000000,
"confirmations" : 1,
"blockhash" : "000000000000000051d2e759c63a26e247f185ecb7926ed7a6624bc31c2a717b",
"blockindex" : 18,
"blocktime" : 1392660808,
"txid" : "9ca8f969bd3ef5ec2a8685660fdbf7a8bd365524c2e1fc66c309acbae2c14ae3",
"time" : 1392660908,
"timereceived" : 1392660908,
"details" : [
{
"account" : "",
"address" : "1hvzSofGwT8cjb8JU7nBsCSfEVQX5u9CL",
"category" : "receive",
"amount" : 0.05000000
}
]
}
Here, we see the new information in the entries blockhash (the hash of the block in which the transaction was included), and blockindex with value 18 (indicating that our transaction was the 18th transaction in that block).
Exploring Blocks
Commands: getblock, getblockhash
Now that we know which block our transaction was included in, we can query that block. We use the getblock command with the block hash as the parameter:
$ bitcoin-cli getblock 000000000000000051d2e759c63a26e247f185ecb7926ed7a6624bc31c2a717b true
{
"hash" : "000000000000000051d2e759c63a26e247f185ecb7926ed7a6624bc31c2a717b",
"confirmations" : 2,
"size" : 248758,
"height" : 286384,
"version" : 2,
"merkleroot" : "9891747e37903016c3b77c7a0ef10acf467c530de52d84735bd55538719f9916",
"tx" : [
"46e130ab3c67d31d2b2c7f8fbc1ca71604a72e6bc504c8a35f777286c6d89bf0",
"2d5625725b66d6c1da88b80b41e8c07dc5179ae2553361c96b14bcf1ce2c3868",
"923392fc41904894f32d7c127059bed27dbb3cfd550d87b9a2dc03824f249c80",
"f983739510a0f75837a82bfd9c96cd72090b15fa3928efb9cce95f6884203214",
"190e1b010d5a53161aa0733b953eb29ef1074070658aaa656f933ded1a177952",
"ee791ec8161440262f6e9144d5702f0057cef7e5767bc043879b7c2ff3ff5277",
"4c45449ff56582664abfadeb1907756d9bc90601d32387d9cfd4f1ef813b46be",
"3b031ed886c6d5220b3e3a28e3261727f3b4f0b29de5f93bc2de3e97938a8a53",
"14b533283751e34a8065952fd1cd2c954e3d37aaa69d4b183ac6483481e5497d",
"57b28365adaff61aaf60462e917a7cc9931904258127685c18f136eeaebd5d35",
"8c0cc19fff6b66980f90af39bee20294bc745baf32cd83199aa83a1f0cd6ca51",
"1b408640d54a1409d66ddaf3915a9dc2e8a6227439e8d91d2f74e704ba1cdae2",
"0568f4fad1fdeff4dc70b106b0f0ec7827642c05fe5d2295b9deba4f5c5f5168",
"9194bfe5756c7ec04743341a3605da285752685b9c7eebb594c6ed9ec9145f86",
"765038fc1d444c5d5db9163ba1cc74bba2b4f87dd87985342813bd24021b6faf",
"bff1caa9c20fa4eef33877765ee0a7d599fd1962417871ca63a2486476637136",
"d76aa89083f56fcce4d5bf7fcf20c0406abdac0375a2d3c62007f64aa80bed74",
"e57a4c70f91c8d9ba0ff0a55987ea578affb92daaa59c76820125f31a9584dfc",
"9ca8f969bd3ef5ec2a8685660fdbf7a8bd365524c2e1fc66c309acbae2c14ae3",
#[... many more transactions ...]
],
"time" : 1392660808,
"nonce" : 3888130470,
"bits" : "19015f53",
"difficulty" : 3129573174.52228737,
"chainwork" : "000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001931d1658fc04879e466",
"previousblockhash" : "0000000000000000177e61d5f6ba6b9450e0dade9f39c257b4d48b4941ac77e7",
"nextblockhash" : "0000000000000001239d2c3bf7f4c68a4ca673e434702a57da8fe0d829a92eb6"
The block contains 367 transactions and as you can see, the 18th transaction listed (9ca8f9…) is the txid of the one crediting 50 millibits to our address. The height entry tells us this is the 286384th block in the blockchain.
We can also retrieve a block by its block height using the getblockhash command, which takes the block height as the parameter and returns the block hash for that block:
$ bitcoin-cli getblockhash 0 000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f
Here, we retrieve the block hash of the “genesis block,” the first block mined by Satoshi Nakamoto, at height zero. Retrieving this block shows:
$ bitcoin-cli getblock 000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f
{
"hash" : "000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f",
"confirmations" : 286388,
"size" : 285,
"height" : 0,
"version" : 1,
"merkleroot" : "4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b",
"tx" : [
"4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b"
],
"time" : 1231006505,
"nonce" : 2083236893,
"bits" : "1d00ffff",
"difficulty" : 1.00000000,
"chainwork" : "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000100010001",
"nextblockhash" : "00000000839a8e6886ab5951d76f411475428afc90947ee320161bbf18eb6048"
}
The getblock, getblockhash, and gettransaction commands can be used to explore the blockchain database, programmatically.
Creating, Signing, and Submitting Transactions Based on Unspent Outputs
Commands: listunspent, gettxout, createrawtransaction, decoderawtransaction, signrawtransaction, sendrawtransaction
Bitcoin’s transactions are based on the concept of spending “outputs,” which are the result of previous transactions, to create a transaction chain that transfers ownership from address to address. Our wallet has now received a transaction that assigned one such output to our address. Once this is confirmed, we can spend that output.
First, we use the listunspent command to show all the unspent confirmed outputs in our wallet:
$ bitcoin-cli listunspent
[
{
"txid" : "9ca8f969bd3ef5ec2a8685660fdbf7a8bd365524c2e1fc66c309acbae2c14ae3",
"vout" : 0,
"address" : "1hvzSofGwT8cjb8JU7nBsCSfEVQX5u9CL",
"account" : "",
"scriptPubKey" : "76a91407bdb518fa2e6089fd810235cf1100c9c13d1fd288ac",
"amount" : 0.05000000,
"confirmations" : 7
}
]
We see that the transaction 9ca8f9… created an output (with vout index 0) assigned to the address 1hvzSo… for the amount of 50 millibits, which at this point has received seven confirmations. Transactions use previously created outputs as their inputs by referring to them by the previous txid and vout index. We will now create a transaction that will spend the 0th vout of the txid 9ca8f9… as its input and assign it to a new output that sends value to a new address.
First, let’s look at the specific output in more detail. We use gettxout to get the details of this unspent output. Transaction outputs are always referenced by txid and vout, and these are the parameters we pass to gettxout:
$ bitcoin-cli gettxout 9ca8f969bd3ef5ec2a8685660fdbf7a8bd365524c2e1fc66c309acbae2c14ae3 0
{
"bestblock" : "0000000000000001405ce69bd4ceebcdfdb537749cebe89d371eb37e13899fd9",
"confirmations" : 7,
"value" : 0.05000000,
"scriptPubKey" : {
"asm" : "OP_DUP OP_HASH160 07bdb518fa2e6089fd810235cf1100c9c13d1fd2
OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG",
"hex" : "76a91407bdb518fa2e6089fd810235cf1100c9c13d1fd288ac",
"reqSigs" : 1,
"type" : "pubkeyhash",
"addresses" : [
"1hvzSofGwT8cjb8JU7nBsCSfEVQX5u9CL"
]
},
"version" : 1,
"coinbase" : false
}
What we see here is the output that assigned 50 millibits to our address 1hvz…. To spend this output we will create a new transaction. First, let’s make an address to which we will send the money:
$ bitcoin-cli getnewaddress 1LnfTndy3qzXGN19Jwscj1T8LR3MVe3JDb
We will send 25 millibits to the new address 1LnfTn… we just created in our wallet. In our new transaction, we will spend the 50 millibit output and send 25 millibits to this new address. Because we have to spend the whole output from the previous transaction, we must also generate some change. We will generate change back to the 1hvz… address, sending the change back to the address from which the value originated. Finally, we will also have to pay a fee for this transaction. To pay the fee, we will reduce the change output by 0.5 millibits, and return 24.5 millibits in change. The difference between the sum of the new outputs (25 mBTC + 24.5 mBTC = 49.5 mBTC) and the input (50 mBTC) will be collected as a transaction fee by the miners.
We use createrawtransaction to create this transaction. As parameters to createrawtransaction we provide the transaction input (the 50 millibit unspent output from our confirmed transaction) and the two transaction outputs (money sent to the new address and change sent back to the previous address):
$ bitcoin-cli createrawtransaction '[{"txid" : "9ca8f969bd3ef5ec2a8685660fdbf7a8bd365524c2e1fc66c309acbae2c14ae3", "vout" : 0}]' '{"1LnfTndy3qzXGN19Jwscj1T8LR3MVe3JDb": 0.025, "1hvzSofGwT8cjb8JU7nBsCSfEVQX5u9CL": 0.0245}'
0100000001e34ac1e2baac09c366fce1c2245536bda8f7db0f6685862aecf53ebd69f9a89c0000000000ffffffff02a0252600000000001976a914d90d36e98f62968d2bc9bbd68107564a156a9bcf88ac50622500000000001976a91407bdb518fa2e6089fd810235cf1100c9c13d1fd288ac00000000
The createrawtransaction command produces a raw hex string that encodes the transaction details we supplied. Let’s confirm everything is correct by decoding this raw string using the decoderawtransaction command:
$ bitcoin-cli decoderawtransaction 0100000001e34ac1e2baac09c366fce1c2245536bda8f7db0f6685862aecf53ebd69f9a89c0000000000ffffffff02a0252600000000001976a914d90d36e98f62968d2bc9bbd68107564a156a9bcf88ac50622500000000001976a91407bdb518fa2e6089fd810235cf1100c9c13d1fd288ac00000000
{
"txid" : "0793299cb26246a8d24e468ec285a9520a1c30fcb5b6125a102e3fc05d4f3cba",
"version" : 1,
"locktime" : 0,
"vin" : [
{
"txid" : "9ca8f969bd3ef5ec2a8685660fdbf7a8bd365524c2e1fc66c309acbae2c14ae3",
"vout" : 0,
"scriptSig" : {
"asm" : "",
"hex" : ""
},
"sequence" : 4294967295
}
],
"vout" : [
{
"value" : 0.02500000,
"n" : 0,
"scriptPubKey" : {
"asm" : "OP_DUP OP_HASH160 d90d36e98f62968d2bc9bbd68107564a156a9bcf OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG",
"hex" : "76a914d90d36e98f62968d2bc9bbd68107564a156a9bcf88ac",
"reqSigs" : 1,
"type" : "pubkeyhash",
"addresses" : [
"1LnfTndy3qzXGN19Jwscj1T8LR3MVe3JDb"
]
}
},
{
"value" : 0.02450000,
"n" : 1,
"scriptPubKey" : {
"asm" : "OP_DUP OP_HASH160 07bdb518fa2e6089fd810235cf1100c9c13d1fd2 OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG",
"hex" : "76a91407bdb518fa2e6089fd810235cf1100c9c13d1fd288ac",
"reqSigs" : 1,
"type" : "pubkeyhash",
"addresses" : [
"1hvzSofGwT8cjb8JU7nBsCSfEVQX5u9CL"
]
}
}
]
}
That looks correct! Our new transaction “consumes” the unspent output from our confirmed transaction and then spends it in two outputs, one for 25 millibits to our new address and one for 24.5 millibits as change back to the original address. The difference of 0.5 millibits represents the transaction fee and will be credited to the miner who finds the block that includes our transaction.
As you might notice, the transaction contains an empty scriptSig because we haven’t signed it yet. Without a signature, this transaction is meaningless; we haven’t yet proven that we own the address from which the unspent output is sourced. By signing, we remove the lock on the output and prove that we own this output and can spend it. We use the signrawtransaction command to sign the transaction. It takes the raw transaction hex string as the parameter:
Tip
An encrypted wallet must be unlocked before a transaction is signed because signing requires access to the secret keys in the wallet.
$ bitcoin-cli walletpassphrase foo 360 $ bitcoin-cli signrawtransaction 0100000001e34ac1e2baac09c366fce1c2245536bda8f7db0f6685862aecf53ebd69f9a89c0000000000ffffffff02a0252600000000001976a914d90d36e98f62968d2bc9bbd68107564a156a9bcf88ac50622500000000001976a91407bdb518fa2e6089fd810235cf1100c9c13d1fd288ac00000000
{
"hex" : "0100000001e34ac1e2baac09c366fce1c2245536bda8f7db0f6685862aecf53ebd69f9a89c000000006a47304402203e8a16522da80cef66bacfbc0c800c6d52c4a26d1d86a54e0a1b76d661f020c9022010397f00149f2a8fb2bc5bca52f2d7a7f87e3897a273ef54b277e4af52051a06012103c9700559f690c4a9182faa8bed88ad8a0c563777ac1d3f00fd44ea6c71dc5127ffffffff02a0252600000000001976a914d90d36e98f62968d2bc9bbd68107564a156a9bcf88ac50622500000000001976a91407bdb518fa2e6089fd810235cf1100c9c13d1fd288ac00000000",
"complete" : true
}
The signrawtransaction command returns another hex-encoded raw transaction. We decode it to see what changed, with decoderawtransaction:
$ bitcoin-cli decoderawtransaction 0100000001e34ac1e2baac09c366fce1c2245536bda8f7db0f6685862aecf53ebd69f9a89c000000006a47304402203e8a16522da80cef66bacfbc0c800c6d52c4a26d1d86a54e0a1b76d661f020c9022010397f00149f2a8fb2bc5bca52f2d7a7f87e3897a273ef54b277e4af52051a06012103c9700559f690c4a9182faa8bed88ad8a0c563777ac1d3f00fd44ea6c71dc5127ffffffff02a0252600000000001976a914d90d36e98f62968d2bc9bbd68107564a156a9bcf88ac50622500000000001976a91407bdb518fa2e6089fd810235cf1100c9c13d1fd288ac00000000
{
"txid" : "ae74538baa914f3799081ba78429d5d84f36a0127438e9f721dff584ac17b346",
"version" : 1,
"locktime" : 0,
"vin" : [
{
"txid" : "9ca8f969bd3ef5ec2a8685660fdbf7a8bd365524c2e1fc66c309acbae2c14ae3",
"vout" : 0,
"scriptSig" : {
"asm" : "304402203e8a16522da80cef66bacfbc0c800c6d52c4a26d1d86a54e0a1b76d661f020c9022010397f00149f2a8fb2bc5bca52f2d7a7f87e3897a273ef54b277e4af52051a0601 03c9700559f690c4a9182faa8bed88ad8a0c563777ac1d3f00fd44ea6c71dc5127",
"hex" : "47304402203e8a16522da80cef66bacfbc0c800c6d52c4a26d1d86a54e0a1b76d661f020c9022010397f00149f2a8fb2bc5bca52f2d7a7f87e3897a273ef54b277e4af52051a06012103c9700559f690c4a9182faa8bed88ad8a0c563777ac1d3f00fd44ea6c71dc5127"
},
"sequence" : 4294967295
}
],
"vout" : [
{
"value" : 0.02500000,
"n" : 0,
"scriptPubKey" : {
"asm" : "OP_DUP OP_HASH160 d90d36e98f62968d2bc9bbd68107564a156a9bcf OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG",
"hex" : "76a914d90d36e98f62968d2bc9bbd68107564a156a9bcf88ac",
"reqSigs" : 1,
"type" : "pubkeyhash",
"addresses" : [
"1LnfTndy3qzXGN19Jwscj1T8LR3MVe3JDb"
]
}
},
{
"value" : 0.02450000,
"n" : 1,
"scriptPubKey" : {
"asm" : "OP_DUP OP_HASH160 07bdb518fa2e6089fd810235cf1100c9c13d1fd2 OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG",
"hex" : "76a91407bdb518fa2e6089fd810235cf1100c9c13d1fd288ac",
"reqSigs" : 1,
"type" : "pubkeyhash",
"addresses" : [
"1hvzSofGwT8cjb8JU7nBsCSfEVQX5u9CL"
]
}
}
]
}
Now, the inputs used in the transaction contain a scriptSig, which is a digital signature proving ownership of address 1hvz… and removing the lock on the output so that it can be spent. The signature makes this transaction verifiable by any node in the bitcoin network.
Now it’s time to submit the newly created transaction to the network. We do that with the command sendrawtransaction, which takes the raw hex string produced by signrawtransaction. This is the same string we just decoded:
$ bitcoin-cli sendrawtransaction 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
The command sendrawtransaction returns a transaction hash (txid) as it submits the transaction on the network. We can now query that transaction ID with gettransaction:
$ bitcoin-cli gettransaction ae74538baa914f3799081ba78429d5d84f36a0127438e9f721dff584ac17b346
{"amount":0.00000000,"fee":-0.00050000,"confirmations":0,"txid":"ae74538baa914f3799081ba78429d5d84f36a0127438e9f721dff584ac17b346","time":1392666702,"timereceived":1392666702,"details":[{"account":"","address":"1LnfTndy3qzXGN19Jwscj1T8LR3MVe3JDb","category":"send","amount":-0.02500000,"fee":-0.00050000},{"account":"","address":"1hvzSofGwT8cjb8JU7nBsCSfEVQX5u9CL","category":"send","amount":-0.02450000,"fee":-0.00050000},{"account":"","address":"1LnfTndy3qzXGN19Jwscj1T8LR3MVe3JDb","category":"receive","amount":0.02500000},{"account":"","address":"1hvzSofGwT8cjb8JU7nBsCSfEVQX5u9CL","category":"receive","amount":0.02450000}]}
As before, we can also examine this in more detail using the getrawtransaction and decodetransaction commands. These commands will return the exact same hex string that we produced and decoded previously just before we sent it on the network.
Alternative Clients, Libraries, and Toolkits
Beyond the reference client (bitcoind), other clients and libraries can be used to interact with the bitcoin network and data structures. These are implemented in a variety of programming languages, offering programmers native interfaces in their own language.
Alternative implementations include:
- libbitcoin
- Bitcoin Cross-Platform C++ Development Toolkit
- bitcoin explorer
- Bitcoin Command Line Tool
- bitcoin server
- Bitcoin Full Node and Query Server
- bitcoinj
- A Java full-node client library
- btcd
- A Go language full-node bitcoin client
- Bits of Proof (BOP)
- A Java enterprise-class implementation of bitcoin
- picocoin
- A C implementation of a lightweight client library for bitcoin
- pybitcointools
- A Python bitcoin library
- pycoin
- Another Python bitcoin library
Many more libraries exist in a variety of other programming languages and more are created all the time.
Libbitcoin and Bitcoin Explorer
The libbitcoin library is a cross-platform C++ development toolkit that supports the libbitcoin-server full node and the Bitcoin Explorer (bx) command line tool.
The bx commands offer many of the same capabilities as the bitcoind client commands we illustrated in this chapter. The bx commands also offer some key management and manipulation tools that are not offered by bitcoind, including type-2 deterministic keys and mnemonic key encoding, as well as stealth address, payment, and query support.
Installing Bitcoin Explorer
To use Bitcoin Explorer, simply download the signed executable for your operating system. Builds are available for mainnet and testnet for Linux, OS X, and Windows.
Type bx with no parameters to display the list of all available commands (see Appendix D).
Bitcoin Explorer also provides an installer for building from sources on Linux and OS X, as well as Visual Studio projects for Windows. Sources can also be built manually using Autotools. These also install the libbitcoin library dependency.
Tip
Bitcoin Explorer offers many useful commands for encoding and decoding addresses, and converting to and from different formats and representations. Use them to explore the various formats such as Base16 (hex), Base58, Base58Check, Base64, etc.
Installing Libbitcoin
The libbitcoin library provides an installer for building from sources on Linux and OS X, as well as Visual Studio projects for Windows. Sources can also be built manually using Autotools.
Tip
The Bitcoin Explorer installer installs both bx and the libbitcoin library, so if you have built bx from sources, you can skip this step.
pycoin
The Python library pycoin, originally written and maintained by Richard Kiss, is a Python-based library that supports manipulation of bitcoin keys and transactions, even supporting the scripting language enough to properly deal with nonstandard transactions.
The pycoin library supports both Python 2 (2.7.x) and Python 3 (after 3.3), and comes with some handy command-line utilities, ku and tx. To install pycoin 0.42 under Python 3 in a virtual environment (venv), use the following:
$ python3 -m venv /tmp/pycoin
$ . /tmp/pycoin/bin/activate
$ pip install pycoin==0.42
Downloading/unpacking pycoin==0.42
Downloading pycoin-0.42.tar.gz (66kB): 66kB downloaded
Running setup.py (path:/tmp/pycoin/build/pycoin/setup.py) egg_info for package pycoin
Installing collected packages: pycoin
Running setup.py install for pycoin
Installing tx script to /tmp/pycoin/bin
Installing cache_tx script to /tmp/pycoin/bin
Installing bu script to /tmp/pycoin/bin
Installing fetch_unspent script to /tmp/pycoin/bin
Installing block script to /tmp/pycoin/bin
Installing spend script to /tmp/pycoin/bin
Installing ku script to /tmp/pycoin/bin
Installing genwallet script to /tmp/pycoin/bin
Successfully installed pycoin
Cleaning up...
$Here’s a sample Python script to fetch and spend some bitcoin using the pycoin library:
#!/usr/bin/env pythonfrompycoin.keyimportKeyfrompycoin.key.validateimportis_address_valid,is_wif_validfrompycoin.servicesimportspendables_for_addressfrompycoin.tx.tx_utilsimportcreate_signed_txdefget_address(which):while1:("enter the%saddress=> "%which,end='')address=input()is_valid=is_address_valid(address)ifis_valid:returnaddress("invalid address, please try again")src_address=get_address("source")spendables=spendables_for_address(src_address)(spendables)while1:("enter the WIF for%s=> "%src_address,end='')wif=input()is_valid=is_wif_valid(wif)ifis_valid:break("invalid wif, please try again")key=Key.from_text(wif)ifsrc_addressnotin(key.address(use_uncompressed=False),key.address(use_uncompressed=True)):("** WIF doesn't correspond to%s"%src_address)("The secret exponent is%d"%key.secret_exponent())dst_address=get_address("destination")tx=create_signed_tx(spendables,payables=[dst_address],wifs=[wif])("here is the signed output transaction")(tx.as_hex())
For examples using the command-line utilities ku and tx, see Appendix B.
btcd
btcd is a full-node bitcoin implementation written in Go. It currently downloads, validates, and serves the blockchain using the exact rules (including bugs) for block acceptance as the reference implementation, bitcoind. It also properly relays newly mined blocks, maintains a transaction pool, and relays individual transactions that have not yet made it into a block. It ensures that all individual transactions admitted to the pool follow the rules required and also includes the vast majority of the more strict checks that filter transactions based on miner requirements (“standard” transactions).
One key difference between btcd and bitcoind is that btcd does not include wallet functionality, and this was a very intentional design decision. 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. Other notable differences between btcd and bitcoind include btcd support for both HTTP POST requests (such as bitcoind) and the preferred Websockets, and the fact that btcd’s RPC connections are TLS-enabled by default.
Installing btcd
To install btcd for Windows, download and run the msi available at GitHub, or run the following command on Linux, assuming you already have installed the Go language:
$ go get github.com/conformal/btcd/...
To update btcd to the latest version, just run:
$ go get -u -v github.com/conformal/btcd/...
Controlling btcd
btcd has a number of configuration options, which you can view by running:
$ btcd --helpbtcd comes prepackaged with some goodies such as btcctl, which is a command-line utility that can be used to both control and query btcd via RPC. btcd does not enable its RPC server by default; you must configure at minimum both an RPC username and password in the following configuration files:
- btcd.conf:
[Application Options]rpcuser=myuserrpcpass=SomeDecentp4ssw0rd
- btcctl.conf:
[Application Options]rpcuser=myuserrpcpass=SomeDecentp4ssw0rd
Or if you want to override the configuration files from the command line:
$btcd -u myuser -P SomeDecentp4ssw0rd$btcctl -u myuser -P SomeDecentp4ssw0rd
For a list of available options, run the following:
$ btcctl --help
Get Mastering Bitcoin now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
