This document describes how to install and configure Bitcoin Unlimited.
If you just want to run the Bitcoin Unlimited software go to the Download page and get the relevant files for your system.
If you are moving from another Bitcoin compatible implementations (Core, Classic, XT, ABC) to BU, make sure to follow this plan before moving:
- backup your wallet (if any)
- make a backup of the
~/.bitcoindir - if you have installed Core via apt using the ppa bitcoin core repo:
sudo apt-get remove bitcoin*sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bitcoin-*.*
- if you have compile Core from source:
cd /path/where/the/code/is/storedsudo make uninstall
You can choose
- Download the setup file (exe), and run the setup program, or
- download the (zip) file, unpack the files into a directory, and then run bitcoin-qt.exe.
Unpack the files into a directory and run:
bin/bitcoin-qt(GUI) orbin/bitcoind(headless)
Drag Bitcoin-Unlimited to your applications folder, and then run Bitcoin-Unlimited.
If you're running an Ubuntu system you can install Bitcoin Unlimited from the official BU repository. The repository will provide binaries and debug symbols for 4 different architectures: i386, amd64, armhf and arm64. From a terminal do
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bitcoin-unlimited/bu-ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install bitcoind bitcoin-qt (# on headlesse server just install bitcoind)Once installed you can run bitcoind or bitcoin-qt
See doc/build-*.md for detailed instructions on building the Bitcoin Unlimited software for your specific architecture. Includes both info on building
bitcoind, the intended-for-services, no-graphical-interface, implementation of Bitcoin andbitcoin-qt, the GUI.
Once you have finished the process you can find the relevant binary files (bitcoind, bitcoin-qt and bitcoin-cli) in /src/.
Make sure you have installed the Dependencies.
If you're compiling from source on a Ubuntu like system, you can get all the required dependencies with the commands below
sudo apt-get install git build-essential libtool autotools-dev automake pkg-config libssl-dev libevent-dev bsdmainutils libboost-all-dev
## optional: only needed if you want bitcoin-qt
sudo apt-get install qttools5-dev-tools qttools5-dev libprotobuf-dev protobuf-compiler libqrencode-dev
## optional: only needed if your wallet use the old format
## this not needed if your wallet will use the new
## format, or if you're not going to use a wallet at all
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bitcoin-unlimited/bu-ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libdb4.8-dev libdb4.8++-devgit clone https://github.com/BitcoinUnlimited/BitcoinUnlimited.git
cd BitcoinUnlimited
git checkout release # or git checkout origin/dev
./autogen.sh
# if you want a plain bitcoind binary without GUI and without wallet support, use this configure line:
./configure --disable-wallet --without-gui
# otherwise if you need bitcoin-qt just issue
./configure
export NUMCPUS=`grep -c '^processor' /proc/cpuinfo`
make -j$NUMCPUS
sudo make install #(will place them in /usr/local/bin, this step is to be considered optional.)strip(1)your binaries, bitcoind will get a lot smaller, from 73MB to 4.3MB)- execute
bitcoindusing the-daemonoption, bash will fork bitcoin process without cluttering the stdout
There are two modes of operation, one uses the QT UI and the other runs as a daemon from the command line. The QT version is bitcoin-qt or bitcoin-qt.exe, the command line version is bitcoind or bitcoind.exe. No matter which version you run, when you launch for the first time you will have to complete the intial blockchain sync.
When you first run the node it must first sync the current blockchain. All block headers are first retrieved and then each block is downloaded, checked and the UTXO finally updated. This process can take from hours to weeks depending on the node configuration, and therefore, node configuration is crucial.
The most important configuration which impacts the speed of the initial sync is the dbcache setting. The larger the dbcache the faster the initial sync will be, therefore, it is vital to make this setting as high as possible. If you are running on a Windows machine there is an automatically adjusting dbcache setting built in; it will size the dbcache in such a way as to leave only 10% of the physical memory free for other uses. On Linux and other OS's the sizing is such that one half the physical RAM will be used as dbcache. While these settings, particularly on non Windows setups, are not ideal they will help to improve the initial sync dramatically.
However, even with the automatic configuration of the dbcache setting it is recommended to set one manually if you haven't already done so (see the section below on Startup Configuration). This gives the node operator more control over memory use and in particular for non Windows setups, can further improve the performance of the initial sync.
There are dozens of configuration and node policy options available but the two most important for the initial blockchain sync are as follows.
As stated above, this setting is crucial to a fast initial sync. You can set this value from the command line by running
bitcoind -dbcache=<your size in MB>
For example, a 1GB dbcache would be
bitcoind -dbcache=1000
Similarly you can also add the setting to the bitcoin.conf file located in your installation folder. In the config file a simlilar entry would be
dbcache=1000
When entering the size try to give it the maximum that your system can afford while still leaving enough memory for other processes.
It is generally fine to leave the default outbound connection settings for doing a sync, however, at times some users have reported issues with not being able to find enough useful connections. If that happens you can change this setting to override the default. For instance
bitcoind -maxoutconnections=30
will give you 30 outbound connections and should be more than enough in the event that the node is having difficulty.
This can also be added to the config file with
maxoutconnections=30