1btcd 2==== 3 4[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/btcsuite/btcd.png?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/btcsuite/btcd) 5[![ISC License](http://img.shields.io/badge/license-ISC-blue.svg)](http://copyfree.org) 6[![GoDoc](https://img.shields.io/badge/godoc-reference-blue.svg)](http://godoc.org/github.com/btcsuite/btcd) 7 8btcd is an alternative full node bitcoin implementation written in Go (golang). 9 10This project is currently under active development and is in a Beta state. It 11is extremely stable and has been in production use since October 2013. 12 13It properly downloads, validates, and serves the block chain using the exact 14rules (including consensus bugs) for block acceptance as Bitcoin Core. We have 15taken great care to avoid btcd causing a fork to the block chain. It includes a 16full block validation testing framework which contains all of the 'official' 17block acceptance tests (and some additional ones) that is run on every pull 18request to help ensure it properly follows consensus. Also, it passes all of 19the JSON test data in the Bitcoin Core code. 20 21It also properly relays newly mined blocks, maintains a transaction pool, and 22relays individual transactions that have not yet made it into a block. It 23ensures all individual transactions admitted to the pool follow the rules 24required by the block chain and also includes more strict checks which filter 25transactions based on miner requirements ("standard" transactions). 26 27One key difference between btcd and Bitcoin Core is that btcd does *NOT* include 28wallet functionality and this was a very intentional design decision. See the 29blog entry [here](https://blog.conformal.com/btcd-not-your-moms-bitcoin-daemon) 30for more details. This means you can't actually make or receive payments 31directly with btcd. That functionality is provided by the 32[btcwallet](https://github.com/btcsuite/btcwallet) and 33[Paymetheus](https://github.com/btcsuite/Paymetheus) (Windows-only) projects 34which are both under active development. 35 36## Requirements 37 38[Go](http://golang.org) 1.12 or newer. 39 40## Installation 41 42#### Windows - MSI Available 43 44https://github.com/btcsuite/btcd/releases 45 46#### Linux/BSD/MacOSX/POSIX - Build from Source 47 48- Install Go according to the installation instructions here: 49 http://golang.org/doc/install 50 51- Ensure Go was installed properly and is a supported version: 52 53```bash 54$ go version 55$ go env GOROOT GOPATH 56``` 57 58NOTE: The `GOROOT` and `GOPATH` above must not be the same path. It is 59recommended that `GOPATH` is set to a directory in your home directory such as 60`~/goprojects` to avoid write permission issues. It is also recommended to add 61`$GOPATH/bin` to your `PATH` at this point. 62 63- Run the following commands to obtain btcd, all dependencies, and install it: 64 65```bash 66$ cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/btcsuite/btcd 67$ GO111MODULE=on go install -v . ./cmd/... 68``` 69 70- btcd (and utilities) will now be installed in ```$GOPATH/bin```. If you did 71 not already add the bin directory to your system path during Go installation, 72 we recommend you do so now. 73 74## Updating 75 76#### Windows 77 78Install a newer MSI 79 80#### Linux/BSD/MacOSX/POSIX - Build from Source 81 82- Run the following commands to update btcd, all dependencies, and install it: 83 84```bash 85$ cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/btcsuite/btcd 86$ git pull 87$ GO111MODULE=on go install -v . ./cmd/... 88``` 89 90## Getting Started 91 92btcd has several configuration options available to tweak how it runs, but all 93of the basic operations described in the intro section work with zero 94configuration. 95 96#### Windows (Installed from MSI) 97 98Launch btcd from your Start menu. 99 100#### Linux/BSD/POSIX/Source 101 102```bash 103$ ./btcd 104``` 105 106## IRC 107 108- irc.freenode.net 109- channel #btcd 110- [webchat](https://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=btcd) 111 112## Issue Tracker 113 114The [integrated github issue tracker](https://github.com/btcsuite/btcd/issues) 115is used for this project. 116 117## Documentation 118 119The documentation is a work-in-progress. It is located in the [docs](https://github.com/btcsuite/btcd/tree/master/docs) folder. 120 121## Release Verification 122 123Please see our [documentation on the current build/verification 124process](https://github.com/btcsuite/btcd/tree/master/release) for all our 125releases for information on how to verify the integrity of published releases 126using our reproducible build system. 127 128## License 129 130btcd is licensed under the [copyfree](http://copyfree.org) ISC License. 131