How to ./configure a built for Raspberry Pi?

Question

I want to use this guide to set up a headless bitcoin core full node and came across the line:

./configure CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/local/BerkeleyDB.4.8/include -O2" LDFLAGS="-L/usr/local/BerkeleyDB.4.8/lib" --disable-wallet

Unfortunately, the blog does not explain why he uses this.

First of all, I want to use my node with wallet. Second, I want to configure it to be usefull with a Raspberry Pi which has only 1GB of RAM and is also running other stuff, for example my Logitech Media Server for audio streaming. So I would like to make the node as lean as possible.

I know that I can use a config file for running bitcoind with entries for upload limit and other setups. Do I need to run the skript also with options or are both setups interchangeably?

Also, I get the error Found Berkeley DB other than 4.8 upon configure. Can Ihave a wallet with the BDB other than 4.8? The error message suggests, that 4.8 is needed for "portable wallets".

Here I found out about dependencies for the wallet and also about the option to built without GUI. Unfortunately, I cannot successfully ./configure with those neither, because BDB 4.8 is also not found this way.

However, to do it without GUI the option --without-guican be used, which is very usefull.

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EDIT: I encountered another problem while make:

/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -ldb_cxx-4.8
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
Makefile:4779: die Regel für Ziel „bitcoind“ scheiterte
make[2]: *** [bitcoind] Fehler 1
make[2]: Verzeichnis „/home/pi/Downloads/bin/bitcoin/src“ wird verlassen
Makefile:12975: die Regel für Ziel „all-recursive“ scheiterte
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Fehler 1
make[1]: Verzeichnis „/home/pi/Downloads/bin/bitcoin/src“ wird verlassen
Makefile:776: die Regel für Ziel „all-recursive“ scheiterte
make: *** [all-recursive] Fehler 1
19:07:10 [pi@raspberrypi bitcoin]$ /usr/bin/ld: cannot find -ldb_cxx-4.8
-bash: /usr/bin/ld:: Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden

Here I found an answer to a related error and I used ld -ldb_cxx-4.8 --verbose and got this:

attempt to open //usr/local/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libdb_cxx-4.8.so failed
attempt to open //usr/local/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libdb_cxx-4.8.a failed
attempt to open //lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libdb_cxx-4.8.so failed
attempt to open //lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libdb_cxx-4.8.a failed
attempt to open //usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libdb_cxx-4.8.so failed
attempt to open //usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libdb_cxx-4.8.a failed
attempt to open //usr/local/lib/libdb_cxx-4.8.so failed
attempt to open //usr/local/lib/libdb_cxx-4.8.a failed
attempt to open //lib/libdb_cxx-4.8.so failed
attempt to open //lib/libdb_cxx-4.8.a failed
attempt to open //usr/lib/libdb_cxx-4.8.so failed
attempt to open //usr/lib/libdb_cxx-4.8.a failed
attempt to open //usr/arm-linux-gnueabihf/lib/libdb_cxx-4.8.so failed
attempt to open //usr/arm-linux-gnueabihf/lib/libdb_cxx-4.8.a failed
ld: cannot find -ldb_cxx-4.8

Now trying with sudo apt-get install gcc-4.8 g++-4.8. That did not help.

Maybe I have to try this guide: https://medium.com/@meeDamian/bitcoin-full-node-on-rbp3-revised-88bb7c8ef1d1

Answer 1

You can follow the instructions for Debian at the build docs:

https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/doc/build-unix.md

For Berkely DB, specifically:

Berkeley DB

---

It is recommended to use Berkeley DB 4.8. If you have to build it yourself,

you can use the installation script included in contrib/

like so:

./contrib/install_db4.sh `pwd`

from the root of the repository.

Note: You only need Berkeley DB if the wallet is enabled (see Disable-wallet mode).

Answer 2

Following parts of this guide I was able to install a full node with wallet (without GUI) on my already running Raspberry Pi. I did not use all of the steps.

I did use my external hdd as swap:

sudo swapoff --all
sudo nano /etc/dphys-swapfile

Putting in the following

CONF_SWAPFILE=/mnt/hdd/swap
#CONF_SWAPSIZE=100
CONF_SWAPFACTOR=2

But I had to add this (as root) to make configuring work:

fallocate -l 4G /swapfile && chmod 600 /swapfile && mkswap /swapfile && swapon /swapfile && swapon --show

(It is also possible that the guide just missed the swapon --all after configuring /etc/dphys-swapfile.)

I installed dependencies according to the guide:

sudo apt install git build-essential libtool autotools-dev automake pkg-config libssl-dev libevent-dev bsdmainutils libboost-system-dev libboost-filesystem-dev libboost-chrono-dev libboost-program-options-dev libboost-test-dev libboost-thread-dev libminiupnpc-dev libzmq3-dev jq

But I have to say that I already installed a lot and probably more dependencies from the bitcoin github site.

I did ./contrib/install_db4.sh $(pwd) to install Berkeley DB 4.8.

I used the git I already cloned (in /home/Downloads/bin/bitcoin).

This was something I missed during the first attemps: ./autogen.sh.

Then I export BDB_PREFIX=$(pwd)/db4 (I am actually not sure if I did this first part which is included in the guide and is setting a variable which is used in the ./configure if I understand correctly.) But I definitely did

./configure BDB_LIBS="-L${BDB_PREFIX}/lib -ldb_cxx-4.8" BDB_CFLAGS="-I${BDB_PREFIX}/include" CXXFLAGS="--param ggc-min-expand=1 --param ggc-min-heapsize=32768" --enable-cxx --without-gui --disable-shared --with-pic --enable-upnp-default

And then of course (which might take a few hours)

make
sudo make install

This time I had no errors and no hangs while configuring.

I also added the bitcoin user and a firewall as decribed in the guide. In my case I had to open up more ports for the firewall because my Raspberry is running other stuff too (SMB, LMS, minidlna).