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Setting up our private bitcoin blockchain

This tutorial follows [1], [2].

First of all, you need to install the bitcoin core client on your computer. note that the bitcoin core client is actually three programs: bitcoind, bitcoin-qt, and bitcoin-cli. the first is the actual client, while the others are graphical and command line interfaces. we'll be using only the first and last programs.

If you don't want to install the bitcoin core client directly, you can follow the docker tutorial at /docker/docker-tut.md instead! (it is easier, but you'll have to install docker instead). if you do, go to step 3 directly.

If you have questions, feel free to ask me (@odanoburu). please tell me about any mistakes or possibilities of improvement!

  1. Download the bitcoin core client: [binaries] [instructions] [source]

    if you are using ubuntu, you can also install from a PPA (this is not recommended if you are going to use the real Bitcoin network):

     sudo snap install bitcoin-core

  2. Create a bitcoin.conf file in the application directory:

     Windows: %APPDATA%\Bitcoin\
         
 OSX: $HOME/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/
         
 Linux: $HOME/.bitcoin/

    you may have to create the directory first (mkdir $HOME/.bitcoin/).

    the content should be the following (see a template bitcoin.conf file if you like):

     rpcuser=[PICK_USER]
 rpcpassword=[PICK_YOUR_PASSWORD]
 regtest=1

    the regtest variable saves us from having to specify the flag --regtest for every command to bitcoin-cli.

  3. Before we run the bitcoin node in our private bitcoin network, we need to add a peer. ask for someone's IP, and run bitcoind -regtest -daemon -addnode=IP.ADDRESS:PORT, substituting the person's IP address and bitcoin client port. the default port for regtest mode is 18444, if the person has changed that you should change it too. obs: everyone using docker is using a different port, default is 4000. note that the node you added might have to add you back using bitcoin-cli addnode "[IP.ADDRESS:PORT]" "add".

    The bitcoin core client will start running in the background. we can now send RPC commands to bitcoin-cli.

    Try running bitcoin-cli getblockchaininfo. you should see your stats related to the regtest blockchain.

    Now try running bitcoin-cli getpeerinfo. see how many nodes you are connected to.

    to stop the bitcoin client from running, type bitcoin-cli stop.

    now run bitcoin-cli help. this summarizes some of the RPC commands available. a more complete reference is available at [2]. bitcoin-cli help [CMD] will give you specific info about a certain command;

    note that the regtest blockchain offers some additional RPCs, such as bitcoin-cli generate [nblocks], which creates nblocks out of thin air (which is obviously not possible in the traditional protocol). obs: don't use this command in our private blockchain, else you can mess up the network's consensus by creating too many blocks too fast.

  4. Run bitcoin-cli getnewaddress. publish it to the course's online blackboard (check the README).

  5. Check if your blockchain is synced by comparing the number of blocks between your peers. run bitcoin-cli getblockcount.