The gen option isnt copiously described in the sample bitcoin.conf file ... does that mean that the daemon started up will attempt to mine for coins?
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That configuration parameter no longer has any effect because the CPU mining engine has been removed from the mainline client.
Earlier versions of the client did have a built in miner and the gen parameter controlled if it ran in the background. Given the much higher difficulty today the developers felt it no longer served a purpose and would be confusing to new users (who could wait months of even years without generating a single coin). It was removed from the client. The wiki should be updated to reflect that.
answered Nov 10 '11 at 7:23
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2This is incorrect: the built in miner was removed from the GUI, but remains accessible in bitcoind. – Pieter Wuille Nov 13 '11 at 17:24
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1Your answer is now correct. RIP internal miner (see github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/7507) – Pieter Wuille Mar 16 '16 at 12:46
Yes, with -gen=1 on the command line or in the configuration file, bitcoind will use its built-in miner to search for blocks. It is inefficient, does not support pools, and does not use GPUs. It is only left as a reference and for testing, and will probably be removed completely soon.
answered Nov 13 '11 at 17:25
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when i "setgenerate true" in bitcoin-qt console window, and then "gethashespersec" it reports my hashing power, and "getgenerate" returns true, isn't this a proof that it's mining ? – Farghaly May 31 '14 at 15:56
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