For feedback on this guide, please visit #27736

This document outlines some of the upcoming Bitcoin Core 25.0 release changes and provides steps to help test them. This guide is meant to be the starting point for experimentation and further testing, but is in no way comprehensive! After running through the steps in this guide, you are encouraged to do your own testing.

This can be as simple as testing the same features in this guide but trying it a different way. Even better, think of features you use regularly and test that they still work as expected in the release candidate. You can also read the release notes to find something not covered in this guide. This is a great way to be involved with Bitcoin's development and helps keep Bitcoin running smoothly and bug-free! Your help in this endeavor is greatly appreciated.

Changes covered in this testing guide include:

• Test -maxconnections=0 will now disable -dnsseed and -listen
• Test non-witness transaction that are greater than 65 bytes are allowed in the mempool and relayed #26265
• Test Finalizing a PSBT with inputs spending Miniscript-compatible P2WSH scripts #24149
• Test spending coins sent to sent to P2WSH Miniscript descriptors from a descriptor wallet #24149

For a comprehensive list of changes in Bitcoin Core 25.0, check out the release notes.

Current Release Candidate: Bitcoin Core 25.0rc2 (release-notes)

There are two ways to grab the latest release candidate: pre-compiled binary or source code. The source code for the latest release can be grabbed from here: latest release source code

If you want to use a binary, make sure to grab the correct one for your system.

If you grabbed a binary, skip this step

Before compiling, make sure that your system has all the right dependencies installed. Since descriptor wallets are now the default, it is recommended that you compile with sqlite(--with-sqlite=yes), so make sure you have installed the sqlite3 dependency.

For more information on compiling from source, here are some guides to compile Bitcoin Core for UNIX/Linux, macOS, Windows, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD.

First, create a temporary data directory

export DATA_DIR=/tmp/25-rc-test
mkdir $DATA_DIR

Next, specify the following paths. For source compiled, start from the root of your release candidate directory and run:

export BINARY_PATH=$(pwd)/src

For the downloaded binary, start from the root of the downloaded release candidate (cd ~/bitcoin-25.0rc2, for example) and run:

export BINARY_PATH=$(pwd)/bin

To avoid specifying the data directory (-datadir=$DATA_DIR) on each command, below are a few extra variables to set.

alias bitcoind-test="$(echo $BINARY_PATH)/bitcoind -datadir=$DATA_DIR"
alias bcli="$(echo $BINARY_PATH)/bitcoin-cli -datadir=$DATA_DIR"

The commands throughout the rest of the guide will look like:

bcli [cli args]

Start node

 cd $DATA_DIR && echo "regtest=1" >> bitcoin.conf && cd ~

 bitcoind-test

2023-05-11T13:42:54Z Bitcoin Core version v25.0rc2 (release build)
2023-05-11T13:42:54Z Using the 'x86_shani(1way,2way)' SHA256 implementation
2023-05-11T13:42:54Z Using RdSeed as an additional entropy source
2023-05-11T13:42:54Z Using RdRand as an additional entropy source
2023-05-11T13:42:54Z Default data directory /home/abubakarsadiq/.bitcoin
2023-05-11T13:42:54Z Using data directory /tmp/25-rc-test/regtest
2023-05-11T13:42:54Z Config file: /tmp/25-rc-test/bitcoin.conf (not found, skipping)

Stop the daemon

Ctrl + C

Look at the logs and ensure you are running the correct version.

Between sections in this guide, it's recommended to stop your node and wipe the data directory. You can use the commands provided below.

Stop node

bcli stop

Once the test is successful, don't forget to stop your node and clean the datadir.

Wipe and recreate the directory

rm -r $DATA_DIR
mkdir $DATA_DIR

Add signet=1 in the bitcoin.conf to use the signet network for testing.

 cd $DATA_DIR && echo "signet=1" >> bitcoin.conf && cd ~

bitcoind-test

If you observe the logs you will see DNS queries being logged out, which means your node is querying the DNS seeders for peers to connect to and start synchronizing the block headers. Your node is updating the chain to reach the tip.

2023-05-14T08:04:51Z loadblk thread exit
2023-05-14T08:04:51Z Bound to 127.0.0.1:38334
2023-05-14T08:04:51Z Bound to [::]:38333
2023-05-14T08:04:51Z Bound to 0.0.0.0:38333
2023-05-14T08:04:51Z Loaded 2 addresses from "anchors.dat"
2023-05-14T08:04:51Z 2 block-relay-only anchors will be tried for connections.
2023-05-14T08:04:51Z init message: Starting network threads…
2023-05-14T08:04:51Z net thread start
2023-05-14T08:04:51Z dnsseed thread start
2023-05-14T08:04:51Z addcon thread start
2023-05-14T08:04:51Z Loading addresses from DNS seed v7ajjeirttkbnt32wpy3c6w3emwnfr3fkla7hpxcfokr3ysd3kqtzmqd.onion:38333
2023-05-14T08:04:51Z init message: Done loading
2023-05-14T08:04:51Z msghand thread start
2023-05-14T08:04:51Z opencon thread start
2023-05-14T08:04:51Z Loading addresses from DNS seed 178.128.221.177
2023-05-14T08:04:52Z Loading addresses from DNS seed seed.signet.bitcoin.sprovoost.nl.
2023-05-14T08:04:52Z Cannot create socket for v7ajjeirttkbnt32wpy3c6w3emwnfr3fkla7hpxcfokr3ysd3kqtzmqd.onion:38333: unsupported network
2023-05-14T08:04:53Z New outbound peer connected: version: 70016, blocks=142849, peer=0 (block-relay-only)
2023-05-14T08:04:53Z 15 addresses found from DNS seeds
2023-05-14T08:04:53Z dnsseed thread exit
2023-05-14T08:04:53Z Leaving InitialBlockDownload (latching to false)
2023-05-14T08:04:54Z New outbound peer connected: version: 70016, blocks=142849, peer=1 (block-relay-only)
2023-05-14T08:04:54Z New outbound peer connected: version: 70016, blocks=142849, peer=2 (addr-fetch)
2023-05-14T08:04:54Z New outbound peer connected: version: 70016, blocks=142849, peer=3 (outbound-full-relay)
2023-05-14T08:05:02Z New outbound peer connected: version: 70016, blocks=142849, peer=4 (outbound-full-relay)

Bound to 127.0.0.1:38334 and Bound to 0.0.0.0:38333 means that Bitcoin Core is listening on the following ports and IP address:

127.0.0.1:38334
0.0.0.0:38333

The IP address 0.0.0.0 means that the node is listening on all available network interfaces.

The port numbers 38333 and 38334 are the default Bitcoin Core ports (signet network) for incoming connections.

The log shows that the DNS seeders are active (dnsseed thread start) and trying to connect to other nodes on the network.

"Loading addresses from DNS seed 178.128.221.177" indicates that the node is trying to load addresses from a DNS seeder with the IP address "178.128.221.177".

These seeders can help the node discover new peers on the network and facilitate the initial sync process.

At the bottom the logs shows that several outbound peers were successfully connected to the node, with varying roles such as block-relay-only, addr-fetch, and outbound-full-relay. This indicates that the node is successfully connected to the Bitcoin network and is able to send and receive information from other peers.

Stop your node by

Ctrl + C

Add maxconnections=0 option to bitcoin.conf

 cd $DATA_DIR && echo "maxconnections=0" >> bitcoin.conf && cd ~

bitcoind-test

Observe the logs

2023-05-14T08:18:20Z Bitcoin Core version v25.0rc2 (release build)
2023-05-14T08:18:20Z InitParameterInteraction: parameter interaction: -connect or -maxconnections=0 set -> setting -dnsseed=0
2023-05-14T08:18:20Z InitParameterInteraction: parameter interaction: -connect or -maxconnections=0 set -> setting -listen=0
2023-05-14T08:18:20Z InitParameterInteraction: parameter interaction: -listen=0 -> setting -upnp=0
2023-05-14T08:18:20Z InitParameterInteraction: parameter interaction: -listen=0 -> setting -natpmp=0
2023-05-14T08:18:20Z InitParameterInteraction: parameter interaction: -listen=0 -> setting -discover=0
2023-05-14T08:18:20Z InitParameterInteraction: parameter interaction: -listen=0 -> setting -listenonion=0
2023-05-14T08:18:20Z InitParameterInteraction: parameter interaction: -listen=0 -> setting -i2pacceptincoming=0

It appears that the settings -dnsseed and -listen have been disabled as a result of setting -maxconnections=0.

Here are the relevant lines from the logs:

2023-05-14T08:18:20Z InitParameterInteraction: parameter interaction: -connect or -maxconnections=0 set -> setting -dnsseed=0
2023-05-14T08:18:20Z InitParameterInteraction: parameter interaction: -connect or -maxconnections=0 set -> setting -listen=0`

The logs show that the parameter interaction between -maxconnections=0 has resulted in the disabling of -dnsseed and -listen. Specifically, -dnsseed has been set to 0, and -listen has been set to 0.

To confirm that -dnsseed and -listen have been disabled, you can check the logs for any lines that mention those settings. If they have been disabled, you should not see any lines in the logs that refer to -dnsseed or -listen after the initialization.

Try getting the list of peers in a new terminal

Note that if you open another terminal you have to

export DATA_DIR=/tmp/25-rc-test

From the root of your release candidate directory, run

export BINARY_PATH=$(pwd)/src

Or else for the downloaded binary, start from the root of the downloaded release candidate (cd ~/bitcoin-25.0rc2, for example) and run:

export BINARY_PATH=$(pwd)/bin

The bcli command will be available after you run

alias bcli="$(echo $BINARY_PATH)/bitcoin-cli -datadir=$DATA_DIR"

bcli getpeerinfo

[
  
]

You get an empty list which means the node is not connected to any peer, and it should not be possible for any peer to connect to your node.

Clear the data directory

Run the commands below to overwrite the default config.

cd $DATA_DIR && echo "signet=1" >> bitcoin.conf && echo "maxconnections=0" >> bitcoin.conf && echo "dnsseed=1" >> bitcoin.conf  && echo "listen=1" >> bitcoin.conf && cd ~

bitcoind-test

If you observe the logs you will see

2023-05-14T08:33:08Z  block index            1513ms
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z Setting NODE_NETWORK on non-prune mode
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z block tree size = 142851
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z nBestHeight = 142850
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z Bound to 127.0.0.1:38334
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z Bound to [::]:38333
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z Bound to 0.0.0.0:38333
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z loadblk thread start
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z torcontrol thread start
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z Imported mempool transactions from disk: 0 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 expired, 0 already there, 0 waiting for initial broadcast
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z loadblk thread exit
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z Loaded 0 addresses from "anchors.dat"
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z 0 block-relay-only anchors will be tried for connections.
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z init message: Starting network threads…
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z net thread start
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z init message: Done loading
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z dnsseed thread start
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z msghand thread start
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z Loading addresses from DNS seed 178.128.221.177
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z addcon thread start
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z opencon thread start
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z Loading addresses from DNS seed seed.signet.bitcoin.sprovoost.nl.
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z Loading addresses from DNS seed v7ajjeirttkbnt32wpy3c6w3emwnfr3fkla7hpxcfokr3ysd3kqtzmqd.onion:38333
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z 15 addresses found from DNS seeds
2023-05-14T08:33:08Z dnsseed thread exit

it was overwritten and your node queries the dns seed and is listening but can not connect to a peer because maxconnections=0.

when you get the list of peers in a new terminal it will still be empty

Set environmental variables in the new terminal

bcli getpeerinfo

[
  
]

Clear the data directory

Run the commands below to add the configs.

 cd $DATA_DIR && echo "signet=1" >> bitcoin.conf && echo "maxconnections=2" >> bitcoin.conf  && cd ~

bitcoind-test -daemon

The list of peers will be now 2 because maxconnections=2 will not override -dnsssed and -listen

bcli getpeerinfo

[
    {
    "id": 0,
    "addr": "13.213.57.217:38333",
    "addrbind": "172.20.10.2:37324",
    .......
  ,
    {
    "id": 1,
    "addr": "128.199.252.50:38333",
    "addrbind": "172.20.10.2:39204",
    .....
]

Stop the node

bcli stop

Clear the data directory

Tests transactions without witness data and with a size equal to or greater than 65 bytes are now accepted in the Bitcoin mempool.

To test this feature

bitcoind-test -regtest -daemon

Create a new wallet

bcli -regtest createwallet test-wallet

To test non-witness size, create a utxo.

For convienience

new_address=$(bcli -regtest getnewaddress)

Generate one block and send the subsidy output to the address you generated.

bcli -regtest generatetoaddress 1 $new_address

Generate enough blocks to make the output spendable.

bcli -regtest -generate 110

bcli -regtest listunspent | jq --arg new_address "$new_address" '.[] | select(.address==$new_address)'

[
  {
    "txid": "04b1a84bce28b2c989d53689404db5e3e22a2ca1875678e20286edd74dc11ace",
    "vout": 0,
  ................

Note: The transaction ID and vout number are required.

To create a non-witness transaction of 64 bytes or so, You can generate an OP_RETURN output with the following dummy data in hexadecimal format: 6a00000000.

Create a transaction with an OP_RETURN output with the hex value of 6a00000000

bcli -regtest createrawtransaction '[{"txid":"04b1a84bce28b2c989d53689404db5e3e22a2ca1875678e20286edd74dc11ace","vout":0}]' '{"data":"6a00000000"}'

You will get an unsigned transaction hex.

Decode the hex and verify the size is greater than 64 bytes.

bcli -regtest decoderawtransaction 0200000001ce1ac14dd7ed8602e2785687a12c2ae2e3b54d408936d589c9b228ce4ba8b1040000000000fdffffff010000000000000000076a056a0000000000000000

{
  "txid": "93b61622e84b78cb93daac2b79124159e299acef7b86d548cb518c34c27ddc99",
  "hash": "93b61622e84b78cb93daac2b79124159e299acef7b86d548cb518c34c27ddc99",
  "version": 2,
  "size": 67,
  "vsize": 67,
  "weight": 980,
  "locktime": 0,
  ...............

The non-witness size of the transaction is 67 bytes.

Sign the transaction.

bcli -regtest signrawtransactionwithwallet 0200000001ce1ac14dd7ed8602e2785687a12c2ae2e3b54d408936d589c9b228ce4ba8b1040000000000fdffffff010000000000000000076a056a0000000000000000

Try publishing it to the mempool.

Note: set maxfeerate to 0 to allow transaction with this huge fee to be accepted

bcli -regtest sendrawtransaction 02000000000101b0ce39d2e6488b3b2bb2d449235c918e21c1e97c18b9cdaf353757d8cd4639300000000000fdffffff010000000000000000076a056a000000000247304402207fa3000e8e052eef0722e51acd601af44aab29e79b5a7b98667ec4916e80503b0220127713d14d38a10be521f79db9050c922deb866385767e5baca1bc53625e016e012102b3f766aa46f0b3fa09e78b00df29b64519c09eb7d35065fb0a5175207597ef9100000000 0

Observe the mempool to see your transaction.

bcli -regtest getrawmempool

[
  "33752e3ccfdc5eade58c2d44335fd7315a6087e2eaebb52ce1ec8a608b95da2a"
]

Generate a block to see whether it will be mined in the next block.

bcli -regtest -generate 1

Get the block with its hash.

bcli -regtest getblock 0fcb2b4b937e8e5f1d97443178c5f8d4b62cf0899532900234916f1e49c4f527

{
  "hash": "0fcb2b4b937e8e5f1d97443178c5f8d4b62cf0899532900234916f1e49c4f527",
  .......
  .......
  "tx": [
    "5a05b4bd25b36d65d3a4c829d2d76a6d4d4d0d448675556a691b3680a7aa29f7",
    "b38745f3f6060f55b962c353e5058d289c25435d3466e54eaa45cab645b69375"
  ]
}

The transaction b38745f3f6060f55b962c353e5058d289c25435d3466e54eaa45cab645b69375, was accepted into the mempool and included in the next block.

Stop the node

bcli stop

To test this feature, follow the steps below:

Clear the data directory

Add regtest=1 in the bitcoin.conf to use the regtest for testing.

 cd $DATA_DIR && echo "regtest=1" >> bitcoin.conf && cd ~

bitcoind-test -daemon

bcli -regtest createwallet test-wallet

I have a descriptor that you will use to test this feature.

or_d(pk(tprv8ZgxMBicQKsPerQj6m35no46amfKQdjY7AhLnmatHYXs8S4MTgeZYkWAn4edSGwwL3vkSiiGqSZQrmy5D3P5gBoqgvYP2fCUpBwbKTMTAkL/*),and_v(v:pk(tprv8ZgxMBicQKsPd3cbrKjE5GKKJLDEidhtzSSmPVtSPyoHQGL2LZw49yt9foZsN9BeiC5VqRaESUSDV2PS9w7zAVBSK6EQH3CZW9sMKxSKDwD),and_v(v:pk(tprv8iF7W37EHnVEtDr9EFeyFjQJFL6SfGby2AnZ2vQARxTQHQXy9tdzZvBBVp8a19e5vXhskczLkJ1AZjqgScqWL4FpmXVp8LLjiorcrFK63Sr),older(10))))

Assuming tprv8ZgxMBicQKsPerQj6m35no46amfKQdjY7AhLnmatHYXs8S4MTgeZYkWAn4edSGwwL3vkSiiGqSZQrmy5D3P5gBoqgvYP2fCUpBwbKTMTAkL is represented as A,

tprv8ZgxMBicQKsPd3cbrKjE5GKKJLDEidhtzSSmPVtSPyoHQGL2LZw49yt9foZsN9BeiC5VqRaESUSDV2PS9w7zAVBSK6EQH3CZW9sMKxSKDwD is represented B and , tprv8iF7W37EHnVEtDr9EFeyFjQJFL6SfGby2AnZ2vQARxTQHQXy9tdzZvBBVp8a19e5vXhskczLkJ1AZjqgScqWL4FpmXVp8LLjiorcrFK63Sr is represented as C.

This descriptor consists of an "or" condition and an "and" condition.

scriptPubKey from the descriptor will be

<pk(A)> OP_CHECKSIG OP_IFDUP OP_NOTIF
  <pk(B)> OP_CHECKSIGVERIFY <pk(C)> OP_CHECKSIGVERIFY 10 OP_CHECKSEQUENCEVERIFY
OP_ENDIF

There are two spending paths.

1. Spending with the private key derived from the extended private key A.
2. Spending with the combination of private keys derived from the extended private keys B and C after a time lock of 10 blocks.

Calculate the checksum to get. wsh(or_d(pk(tprv8ZgxMBicQKsPerQj6m35no46amfKQdjY7AhLnmatHYXs8S4MTgeZYkWAn4edSGwwL3vkSiiGqSZQrmy5D3P5gBoqgvYP2fCUpBwbKTMTAkL/*),and_v(v:pk(tprv8ZgxMBicQKsPd3cbrKjE5GKKJLDEidhtzSSmPVtSPyoHQGL2LZw49yt9foZsN9BeiC5VqRaESUSDV2PS9w7zAVBSK6EQH3CZW9sMKxSKDwD),and_v(v:pk(tprv8iF7W37EHnVEtDr9EFeyFjQJFL6SfGby2AnZ2vQARxTQHQXy9tdzZvBBVp8a19e5vXhskczLkJ1AZjqgScqWL4FpmXVp8LLjiorcrFK63Sr),older(10)))))#xstdlsna

Next import the descriptor.

bcli importdescriptors '[{"desc": "wsh(or_d(pk(tprv8ZgxMBicQKsPerQj6m35no46amfKQdjY7AhLnmatHYXs8S4MTgeZYkWAn4edSGwwL3vkSiiGqSZQrmy5D3P5gBoqgvYP2fCUpBwbKTMTAkL/*),and_v(v:pk(tprv8ZgxMBicQKsPd3cbrKjE5GKKJLDEidhtzSSmPVtSPyoHQGL2LZw49yt9foZsN9BeiC5VqRaESUSDV2PS9w7zAVBSK6EQH3CZW9sMKxSKDwD),and_v(v:pk(tprv8iF7W37EHnVEtDr9EFeyFjQJFL6SfGby2AnZ2vQARxTQHQXy9tdzZvBBVp8a19e5vXhskczLkJ1AZjqgScqWL4FpmXVp8LLjiorcrFK63Sr),older(10)))))#xstdlsna","timestamp": "now","active":true,"internal": true,"next": 0}]'

Derive an address from the descriptor

bcli deriveaddresses "wsh(or_d(pk(tprv8ZgxMBicQKsPerQj6m35no46amfKQdjY7AhLnmatHYXs8S4MTgeZYkWAn4edSGwwL3vkSiiGqSZQrmy5D3P5gBoqgvYP2fCUpBwbKTMTAkL/*),and_v(v:pk(tprv8ZgxMBicQKsPd3cbrKjE5GKKJLDEidhtzSSmPVtSPyoHQGL2LZw49yt9foZsN9BeiC5VqRaESUSDV2PS9w7zAVBSK6EQH3CZW9sMKxSKDwD),and_v(v:pk(tprv8iF7W37EHnVEtDr9EFeyFjQJFL6SfGby2AnZ2vQARxTQHQXy9tdzZvBBVp8a19e5vXhskczLkJ1AZjqgScqWL4FpmXVp8LLjiorcrFK63Sr),older(10)))))#xstdlsna" "[0,0]"

[
  bcrt1q2aujxv0tlu9pekg2c5jw4g0cx0ktgg99lfqy6ct6ga7kvfjksfxq7e3l7e
]

Generate one block to the address.

bcli generatetoaddress 1 bcrt1q2aujxv0tlu9pekg2c5jw4g0cx0ktgg99lfqy6ct6ga7kvfjksfxq7e3l7e

Mine 100 blocks on top to allow the output to mature.

bcli -generate 100

Get the list of UTXOs

bcli listunspent

Generate another address

bcli getnewaddress

Create a psbt with the utxo and the newly generated address.

bcli createpsbt '[{"txid":"41eb2bac1c8abd40a74b7c632efd555d311646bd053d0512e6cbdcebac8429f2","vout":0}]' '{"bcrt1q6v8s39fgpu2gj79nu7z4yfl5tdfc0v4xeaq73y":49.99}'

Process the psbt i.e append the inputs

bcli walletprocesspsbt cHNidP8BAFICAAAAAfIphKzr3MvmEgU9Bb1GFjFdVf0uY3xLp0C9ihysK+tBAAAAAAD9////AcCv9ikBAAAAFgAU0w8IlSgPFIl4s+eFUif0W1OHsqYAAAAAAAAA

Try finalizing the psbt

bcli finalizepsbt 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

You will get the transaction hex and a complete:true indicating it was signed successfully.

Publish the transaction hex to the mempool

bcli sendrawtransaction 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

Note the transaction Id

74f820e6efe429b11871468f81613c2905828b17086e2511150b1b7886a651a9

Mine the next block

bcli -generate 1

You will get the block hash and an address the subsidy was sent to.

{
  "address": "bcrt1q923u7h34hcqr47294n7x695409s8l0aeqf0py3",
  "blocks": [
    "4511f581428b2258cf4783225896b018dc96243551359b419ff5fc6d0c38ae29"
  ]
}

When you inspect the block you will see your transaction Id in the list of transactions.

bcli getblock 4511f581428b2258cf4783225896b018dc96243551359b419ff5fc6d0c38ae29

  .....
  "tx": [
    "e8df981cc24fa70019dd0a8b33354439bd70099e85c28e31c712f8a507bbfdc0",
    "74f820e6efe429b11871468f81613c2905828b17086e2511150b1b7886a651a9"
  ]

Stop the node

bcli stop

Thank you for your help in making Bitcoin as robust as it can be. Please remember to add a comment on v25.0-rc2 testing issue detailing:

1. Your hardware and operating system
2. Which release candidate you tested and whether you compiled from the source or used a binary (e.g. 25.0rc2 binary or 25.0rc2 compiled from source)
3. What you tested
4. Any other relevant findings

Don't be shy about leaving a comment even if everything worked as expected! We want to hear from you and so it doesn't count unless you leave some feedback.

Thank you for your contribution to bitcoin core.

Bonus tests to try later, or now :)

To test this feature, follow the steps below:

Clear the data directory

Add regtest=1 in the bitcoin.conf to use regtest for testing.

 cd $DATA_DIR && echo "regtest=1" >> bitcoin.conf && cd ~

bitcoind-test -daemon

bcli createwallet test-wallet

Note: Bitcoin core do not support creating a transaction with OP_RETURN output whose value is greater than zero, therefore I created an OP_RETURN output with a dummy hex value and value 1

which clearly exceeds the default maxburnamount of 0

The trasaction raw hex is:

02000000000101771af66ee30182031647c9133ebe697bbda06750d15af5e73ed26d280895a3dd0000000000fdffffff02608a0e24010000001600146a769389fb14872f826e43516200b40849a25ff500e1f50500000000116a0f48656c6c6f204f705f52657475726e0247304402204b1bdc32c9bd88a7f856555401246a314419182f27207e9b1ea9fc6eb4f20a0c02200795afa0d48c5fa2750350be75d7bca2a5241a96b0ae0ce2f1ddec1b314771370121035152789ed89e4689f6a797569cccf1f1f0a1b280bec6eb14396f3cea53881cad00000000

Note: You should also use the above transaction hex string or create your own manually

bcli decoderawtransaction 02000000000101771af66ee30182031647c9133ebe697bbda06750d15af5e73ed26d280895a3dd0000000000fdffffff02608a0e24010000001600146a769389fb14872f826e43516200b40849a25ff500e1f50500000000116a0f48656c6c6f204f705f52657475726e0247304402204b1bdc32c9bd88a7f856555401246a314419182f27207e9b1ea9fc6eb4f20a0c02200795afa0d48c5fa2750350be75d7bca2a5241a96b0ae0ce2f1ddec1b314771370121035152789ed89e4689f6a797569cccf1f1f0a1b280bec6eb14396f3cea53881cad00000000

You can the second output has a value of 1 bitcoin.

{
  "txid": "ff14e464aea803901e24a669f45d072974a2c11e846ab4ab87d225417a5c53c0",
  "hash": "bc6f693c51bdc6d934ae37a67e38530eed0d8baaafa94e612254350c316a77a1",
  "version": 2,
  "size": 217,
  "vsize": 136,
  "weight": 541,
  "locktime": 0,
  "vin": [
    {
      "txid": "dda39508286dd23ee7f55ad15067a0bd7b69be3e13c94716038201e36ef61a77",
      "vout": 0,
      "scriptSig": {
        "asm": "",
        "hex": ""
      },
      "txinwitness": [
        "304402204b1bdc32c9bd88a7f856555401246a314419182f27207e9b1ea9fc6eb4f20a0c02200795afa0d48c5fa2750350be75d7bca2a5241a96b0ae0ce2f1ddec1b3147713701",
        "035152789ed89e4689f6a797569cccf1f1f0a1b280bec6eb14396f3cea53881cad"
      ],
      "sequence": 4294967293
    }
  ],
  "vout": [
    {
      "value": 48.99900000,
      "n": 0,
      "scriptPubKey": {
        "asm": "0 6a769389fb14872f826e43516200b40849a25ff5",
        "desc": "addr(bcrt1qdfmf8z0mzjrjlqnwgdgkyq95ppy6yhl48dnvl4)#hkfw40dj",
        "hex": "00146a769389fb14872f826e43516200b40849a25ff5",
        "address": "bcrt1qdfmf8z0mzjrjlqnwgdgkyq95ppy6yhl48dnvl4",
        "type": "witness_v0_keyhash"
      }
    },
    {
      "value": 1.00000000,
      "n": 1,
      "scriptPubKey": {
        "asm": "OP_RETURN 48656c6c6f204f705f52657475726e",
        "desc": "raw(6a0f48656c6c6f204f705f52657475726e)#37erpn56",
        "hex": "6a0f48656c6c6f204f705f52657475726e",
        "type": "nulldata"
      }
    }
  ]
}

If you try sending this transaction with the default maxburnamount it will fail.

bcli sendrawtransaction 02000000000101771af66ee30182031647c9133ebe697bbda06750d15af5e73ed26d280895a3dd0000000000fdffffff02608a0e24010000001600146a769389fb14872f826e43516200b40849a25ff500e1f50500000000116a0f48656c6c6f204f705f52657475726e0247304402204b1bdc32c9bd88a7f856555401246a314419182f27207e9b1ea9fc6eb4f20a0c02200795afa0d48c5fa2750350be75d7bca2a5241a96b0ae0ce2f1ddec1b314771370121035152789ed89e4689f6a797569cccf1f1f0a1b280bec6eb14396f3cea53881cad00000000

error code: -25
error message:
Unspendable output exceeds maximum configured by user (maxburnamount)

Note: If you try again after bumping the limit it will fail because the transaction id is not recognized or does not exist within your node's context

Stop the node

bcli stop

#26618

Clear the data directory

Add signet=1 in the bitcoin.conf to use the signet for testing.

 cd $DATA_DIR && echo "signet=1" >> bitcoin.conf && cd ~

bitcoind-test -daemon

bcli createwallet test-wallet

Import a descritor wallet which will trigger a rescan.

use your own descriptor or you can use this one wpkh(tprv8gxXKvjGCb1uidca4SXuUJJdK23mBBxtZUT91vGMLgJEEuxF35FHHCnCwqoFjTgL7Gb1AK8cgwCgy3TDq8oef5oDAFzssDiiVm3bDLcgLau/0/*)#9uzd3wgm

The parameters we will used

• "desc":Descriptor to import. -"active": If true the descriptor will be the active descriptor for the corresponding output type/externality
• "internal": A boolean value Whether matching outputs should be treated as range wil be set -"keypool": If true the default keypool range will be used.

bcli importdescriptors '[{"desc":"wpkh(tprv8gxXKvjGCb1uidca4SXuUJJdK23mBBxtZUT91vGMLgJEEuxF35FHHCnCwqoFjTgL7Gb1AK8cgwCgy3TDq8oef5oDAFzssDiiVm3bDLcgLau/0/*)#9uzd3wgm", "timestamp": 0,"active": false,"internal": true,"keypool":true}]'

While it is importing open another terminal window and try unloading the wallet.

Set environmental variables in the new terminal

bcli unloadwallet test-wallet

The wallet will not be unloaded it will return an error message

error code: -4
error message:
Wallet is currently rescanning. Abort existing rescan or wait.

Stop the node

bcli stop

#23395

To test this feature, follow the steps below:

Clear the data directory

Add regtest=1 in the bitcoin.conf to use the regtest for testing.

 cd $DATA_DIR && echo "regtest=1" >> bitcoin.conf && cd ~

bitcoind-test -daemon -shutdownnotify="touch hello.txt"

bcli stop

ls

And you will see hello.txt in the lists of files in the directory.

To test this feature, follow the steps below:

Clear the data directory

Add regtest=1 in the bitcoin.conf to use the regtest for testing.

 cd $DATA_DIR && echo "regtest=1" >> bitcoin.conf && cd ~

bitcoind-test -daemon

bcli createwallet test-wallet

When you try listlabels with any argument other than 'send', 'receive', and 'refund' you get an error.

bcli listlabels invalid

error code: -8
error message:
Invalid 'purpose' argument, must be a known purpose string, typically 'send', or 'receive'.

Stop the node

bcli stop

#25730

To test this feature, follow the steps below:

Clear the data directory

Add regtest=1 in the bitcoin.conf to use the regtest for testing.

 cd $DATA_DIR && echo "regtest=1" >> bitcoin.conf && cd ~

bitcoind-test -daemon

bcli createwallet test-wallet

Mine 1 block

bcli -generate 1

bcli listunspent 

[
  
]

You expect to see one output in the list of unspent transactions. However, you might not find it there if the output is from a coinbase transaction because it is unspendable until it has reached a depth of 100 blocks

You can view the output by calling the RPC with the include_immature_coinbase=true query option, but keep in mind that it is still unspendable until it has matured.

bcli -named listunspent query_options='{ "include_immature_coinbase":true }'

[
  {
    "txid": "c5650762db3c5f38351cf85c18c1f3e65d3161ba5c297a994627dfec68c18f4f",
    "vout": 0,
    "address": "bcrt1qe86cj0n00y7f2mm7a46346nddfv53yckpt9mgl",
    "label": "",
    "scriptPubKey": "0014c9f5893e6f793c956f7eed751aea6d6a59489316",
    "amount": 50.00000000,
    "confirmations": 1,
    "spendable": true,
    "solvable": true,
    "desc": "wpkh([e1842a94/84'/1'/0'/0/0]02ce315b26c7cd860297093a5fe0ae31379c5ad118385ceec2b523dee19dab5fae)#5ywzv2y0",
    "parent_descs": [
      "wpkh(tpubD6NzVbkrYhZ4Yk7wbT1tRJAg5rQakNnmWPxMTzk5wmwCghzFGVV13Kz3WpddivixHi9iVXgBKy7LPG3EppXacsdufosyCT2tctaHpWc2zqu/84'/1'/0'/0/*)#7ttv4pe5"
    ],
    "safe": true
  }
]

Stop the node

bcli stop

#25412

Clear the data directory

Add signet=1 in the bitcoin.conf to use the signet for testing, rest=1 to enable the rest interface.

 cd $DATA_DIR && echo "signet=1" >> bitcoin.conf && echo "rest=1" >> bitcoin.conf && cd ~

bitcoind-test -daemon

Run this command to get the list of all the new consensus changes represend by their bip number

curl localhost:38332/rest/deploymentinfo.json | json_pp

{
   "deployments" : {
      "bip34" : {
         "active" : true,
         "height" : 1,
         "type" : "buried"
      },
      "bip65" : {
         "active" : true,
         "height" : 1,
         "type" : "buried"
      },
      .......

The deployments field contains a list of consensus changes, identified by their BIP numbers. Each consensus change includes information such as its status (active or inactive), height (the block height at which it was activated), and type (buried, locked-in, or active).

Stop the node

bcli stop

#25574

To test this feature, follow the steps below:

Clear the data directory

After clearing the data directory and creating a new one, add the following configurations to the bitcoin.conf file.

signet=1 we are using the signet network to test.

prune=550 we will pruned the blockchain to make verifychain fail due to missing blocks.

cd $DATA_DIR && echo "signet=1" >> bitcoin.conf && echo "prune=550" >> bitcoin.conf  && cd ~

bitcoind-test -daemon

Leave the daemon for some minutes to finish syncing the chain.

You can check the progress.

bcli -getinfo

Chain: signet
Blocks: 142573
Headers: 142573
Verification progress: 99.9999%
Difficulty: 0.003064903846153846

Network: in 0, out 10, total 10
Version: 250000
Time offset (s): -22
Proxies: n/a
Min tx relay fee rate (BTC/kvB): 0.00001000

Warnings: (none)

The daemon has finished syncing, pruned at 450 blocks.

Next step is to try verifychain rpc with the below parameters.

checklevel=1, nblocks=0

checklevel=4 means we want up to 1 level verification, for all the blocks.

• level 0 reads the blocks from disk

• level 1 verifies block validity

Each level includes the checks of the previous levels

nblocks=0 means verify blocks from genesis up to the chain tip.

bcli verifychain 1 0

The output should be

false

because the blockchain was pruned and some blocks data was missing, making it impossible to verify.

#25574

There will be no need to clear the data directory for this test, use the signet network, pruned.

Stop the node and add the options in the bitcoin.conf.

dbcache=20 would allocate 20 megabytes of memory for database caching.

checklevel=1 we want 1 level verification.

level 2 verifies undo data

level 3 checks disconnection of tip blocks

Each level includes the checks of the previous levels

checkblocks=0 we want all the blocks up to the tip to be verified.

Then run the following command

cd $DATA_DIR && echo "dbcache=20" >> bitcoin.conf && echo "checklevel=3" >> bitcoin.conf && echo "checkblocks=0" >> bitcoin.conf && cd ~

bitcoind-test

At the bottom of the log you can see

2023-05-12T10:09:43Z Verifying last 142577 blocks at level 1
2023-05-12T10:09:43Z Verification progress: 0%
2023-05-12T10:10:01Z Verification progress: 10%
2023-05-12T10:10:30Z Verification progress: 20%
2023-05-12T10:10:42Z VerifyDB(): block verification stopping at height 75904 (no data). This could be due to pruning or use of an assumeutxo snapshot.
2023-05-12T10:10:42Z Skipped verification of level >=1 (insufficient database cache size). Consider increasing -dbcache.
2023-05-12T10:10:42Z Verification: No coin database inconsistencies in last 66673 blocks (102270 transactions)
2023-05-12T10:10:42Z Error: Insufficient dbcache for block verification
Error: Insufficient dbcache for block verification
2023-05-12T10:10:42Z Shutdown: In progress...
2023-05-12T10:10:42Z scheduler thread exit
2023-05-12T10:10:42Z Shutdown: done

The dbcache is insufficient to finish the verification.

Block filtering BIP 157 has been on bitcoin core for a while The RPC scanblocks utilizes block filters to Return relevant blockhashes for given descriptors. Note that for this RPC to work you have to enable block filtering.

To test this feature, follow the steps below:

Clear the data directory

In the terminal run the following commands:

cd $DATA_DIR && echo "regtest=1" >> bitcoin.conf && echo "blockfilterindex=1" >> bitcoin.conf && cd ~

regtest=1 to use local regtest mode. blockfilterindex=1 to enable block filtering.

Spin up the node and create a new test-wallet

bitcoind-test -daemon

bcli createwallet test-wallet

bcli getnewaddress

Get a new address to getnerate blocks.

bcrt1quxctp7znsvv6jjd2e44aezne8ee0ghqt4e2qsn

bcli generatetoaddress 5 bcrt1quxctp7znsvv6jjd2e44aezne8ee0ghqt4e2qsn

Run the RPC with the address descriptor to get all the blockhashes relevant to the address descriptor, you can create an address descriptor using addr(address)

bcli scanblocks start '["addr(bcrt1quxctp7znsvv6jjd2e44aezne8ee0ghqt4e2qsn)"]'

{
  "from_height": 0,
  "to_height": 5,
  "relevant_blocks": [
    "65ce70dd4cd23f88c0540cf6207b7a9be30f5b14a9d5cfd9bd39eece2bb87c92",
    "543c559d151ac2c56180dd25c5a26671be912adaa8da276aa23f92c17a2630b7",
    "521e4a04e412e4981840ca3351d7e83256815360615fb88b23b4f5e492e87379",
    "7f33270924feea1e8d488c6e5ef38c7caec6f10d9c91f41a4dc133a9b0cec1b6",
    "4310c488820af09bdcfca51271962425920fe2b6b4ab89b014a201d63fb3b0f2"
  ],
  "completed": true
}

Stop the node

bcli stop

This feature also utilizes Block filtering BIP 157 to rescan wallet almost 10x faster.

To test this feature, follow the steps below:

Clear the data directory

In the terminal run the following commands:

cd $DATA_DIR && echo "signet=1" >> bitcoin.conf && echo "blockfilterindex=1" >> bitcoin.conf && cd ~

signet=1 to use local regtest mode. blockfilterindex=1 to enable block filtering.

Spin up the node and create a new test-wallet

bitcoind-test -daemon

Create a new watch-only wallet

bcli createwallet test-wallet true

Leave the daemon for some minutes to finish syncing the chain.

You can check the progress.

bcli -getinfo

When you are sure it finished syncing.

Use this descriptor "addr(tb1pwzv7fv35yl7ypwj8w7al2t8apd6yf4568cs772qjwper74xqc99sk8x7tk)" has some UTXOs on the signet chain.

I calculated the checksum to get addr(tb1pwzv7fv35yl7ypwj8w7al2t8apd6yf4568cs772qjwper74xqc99sk8x7tk)#30t3uj6k

Try Importing the descriptor

bcli importdescriptors '[{"desc": "addr(tb1pwzv7fv35yl7ypwj8w7al2t8apd6yf4568cs772qjwper74xqc99sk8x7tk)#30t3uj6k","timestamp": "now","active":false,"internal": true,"next": 0}]'

[
  {
    "success": true
  }
]

Try getting the balances

bcli getbalances

{
  "mine": {
    "trusted": 0.00000000,
    "untrusted_pending": 0.00000000,
    "immature": 900.00004272
  },
  "lastprocessedblock": {
    "hash": "000000dd1025507bd8150b1d313ad29ec91d49b468fbb2be44fd3fe75f28ae32",
    "height": 144834
  }
}

Note: The balance might be higher due to the address being active as the signet network's coinbase reward address.

Try getting the UTXOs

bcli -named listunspent query_options='{ "include_immature_coinbase":true }'

[
  {
    "txid": "45bce09956d4b297c4ae48530df9bbc8416b5637bc4ba95df51995c71e9e2d9a",
    "vout": 0,
    "address": "tb1pwzv7fv35yl7ypwj8w7al2t8apd6yf4568cs772qjwper74xqc99sk8x7tk",
    "scriptPubKey": "51207099e4b23427fc40ba4777bbf52cfd0b7444d69a3e21ef281270723f54c0c14b",
    "amount": 50.00000765,
    "confirmations": 1,
    ..........

Stop the node

bcli stop

Browse the list of frequent builder-keys and decide which keys you want to trust.

Download any gpg public key there

e.g. You downloaded Josibake pgp public key.

Open a terminal or command prompt.

Navigate to the directory where you downloaded the josibake.gpg file.

Run the following command to import the key:

gpg --import josibake.gpg

This command imports the key into your GPG keychain.

Verify Bitcoin Core v25rc2:

a. If you have the Bitcoin Core source code, navigate to the root directory of the source code.

cd /path/to/bitcoin-core

Make sure to replace /path/to/bitcoin-core with the actual path to the Bitcoin Core source code

Run the command

./contrib/verify-binaries/verify.py --trusted-keys josibake.gpg pub 25.0-rc2

b. If you are using the pre-built binaries, download the verify.py script from the Bitcoin Core repository

Run the command

./verify.py --trusted-keys josibake.gpg pub 25.0-rc2

When you run the verification script, it will perform the verification process and display the results directly in the terminal. The output will include information about signature verification, hash verification, and any warnings or errors encountered during the process of verifying the downloaded binaries.

Please note that the verification process may take some time.

By following these steps, you can verify the Bitcoin Core v25rc2 binaries using the provided public key and the verification script

Kudos if you make it this far 👏🎉

Thanks for your contribution and for taking the time to make Bitcoin awesome. For feedback on this guide, please visit #27736