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How advisable is using the following code to query the bitcoin core as compared to using some python RPC library.

import os
btc_prefix = 'bitcoin-cli '

def getblockcount(btc_prefix):
    print("in getblockcount")
    cmd = ' '.join([btc_prefix, 'getblockcount'])
    response = os.popen(cmd).read()
    return int(response)
getblockcount(btc_prefix)

It is kind of a wrapper function for the core API's. What are the drawbacks/advantages of using the above code. Also, does it affect security in anyway.

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bitcoin-cli is just a wrapper for the RPC functions so you're essentially doing the same exact thing as an RPC call. Generally, using RPC is preferred since you don't have to rely on the bitcoin-cli executable being on the system and in your current path. This most likely won't work on windows, for example.

In general RPC is preferred because you can access it from other systems. With your program, you'll only be able to run it on the system that has bitcoin core installed whereas with RPC, you can run from other systems.

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    It also has far lower overhead, as you don't need to start a new process for each request
    – Pieter Wuille
    Dec 21, 2016 at 18:02
  • @PieterWuille What has a lower overhead?
    – Shabahat M. Ayubi
    Dec 23, 2016 at 7:46
  • @Jimmy There isn't a security flaw as such in my approach ?
    – Shabahat M. Ayubi
    Dec 23, 2016 at 7:50
  • 1
    Using bitcoin-cli is very slow. Use JSON-RPC from your program directly; it will be much more flexible and faster than using Bitcoin Core's wrapper binary.
    – Pieter Wuille
    Dec 23, 2016 at 10:02
  • The security flaw in getblockcount is that an attacker can execute anything on your system (e.g. pass in btc_prefix as rm -rf /). I would strongly advise you use JSON-RPC which will only execute what you want.
    – Jimmy Song
    Dec 23, 2016 at 20:00

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