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I just pulled from the bitcoin github and compiled, and noticed that there were three executable generated:

bitcoin-cli  bitcoin-tx   bitcoind

I have not heard of bitcoin-tx before, what is it? What are the main similarities/differences between these three executables?

In addition, I would be interested to find out if there are any plans to further develop these into different, complementary, executables.

Thank you!

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  • Hmm. I know the difference between bitcoind and bitcoin-cli, but I'm genuinely stumped as to what bitcoin-tx is. Google is being marvelously unhelpful.
    – Nick ODell
    Oct 20, 2014 at 21:33
  • That was my exact experience with googling it, as well.
    – morsecoder
    Oct 20, 2014 at 22:16

1 Answer 1

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bitcoind

The server version of bitcoin.

bitcoin-cli

This is a program that lets you issue commands to bitcoind. Example:

# ./bitcoin-cli getblockcount
326215

bitcoin-tx

This is a program that can create, parse, or modify transactions. Example:

# ./bitcoin-tx -json 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
{
    "txid": "8731eaae4520609d4ada30e23ee0f275b9dd62b72456a26dc0f137ae9fddd9b3",
    "version": 1,
    "locktime": 0,
    "vin": [
        {
            "txid": "3ac43b2fb5c31bde565a7a3ef1b53173246fb650d968da822d8d3f5d45907fee",
            "vout": 641,
            "scriptSig": {
                "asm": "3046022100a643127f3abb6d8a4d082bd66b9585a4e91a1e10bfce3ac749212b562f4a80560221008d68511acac655ce3df1dbda6a97cd74516ce2595a40e2e89a5168ba05be4c0601 047723d175cc78e974ea686a67d44fbed02c81c9c4c9639a4f452e43354ec1baf53777ea0b4483d7a4022cd0ab20bd18b5ec07be9bde19d20e289c0211c066f7bf",
...

In addition, I would be interested to find out if there are any plans to further develop these into different, complementary, executables.

No, there's no plan to change the scope of the programs. The most recent change was back in July 2014, which created bitcoin-cli, and removed that functionality from bitcoind.

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  • What I meant by that question was that I would be interested to know what the division of roles are for each of the programs, and if there are any plans for those roles to change. It sounds like the current state is that bitcoin-tx is a utility for parsing and modifying transactions, where as bitcoin-cli is a program for interacting with the daemon, which in turn interacts with the rest of the network?
    – morsecoder
    Oct 20, 2014 at 22:22
  • I use Bitcoin Core only as the dependency of my c-lightning node. I do not intend to use my Bitcoin Core as a wallet. That said, do I need bitcoin-tx for c-lightning to work properly? I thought about deleting it, along with deleting bitcoin-qt, or at least assigning to them permissions that would make them unusable, e.g. 000. Can I safely do so?
    – John Smith
    Dec 7, 2021 at 13:23
  • can bitcoin-cli decoderawtransaction work without bitcoin-tx?
    – Antoni
    Jan 10, 2022 at 16:27

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