Questions tagged [development]

The creation and ongoing work for different existing and future Bitcoin-related projects and source code.

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How to redeem a basic Tx?

Given a raw, standard Tx (wiki): 01000000 01 26c07ece0bce7cda0ccd14d99e205f118cde27e83dd75da7b141fe487b5528fb 00000000 8b ...
ThePiachu's user avatar
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44 votes
1 answer
10k views

What do the different .dat files contain?

What data do different Bitcoin .dat files contain? How about the other files in the same folder? The wallet.dat file is somewhat documented and there are some ways to convert it to human-readable ...
ThePiachu's user avatar
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39 votes
4 answers
69k views

How to fork Bitcoin and build own cryptocurrency [closed]

Is there any step-by-step tutorial about how to build own cryptocurrency based on Bitcoin code?
Michal's user avatar
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36 votes
7 answers
21k views

How to generate a valid bitcoin address for destroying bitcoins?

(Following up to this question.) In order to put a bitcoin beyond use, the answer was to select a made up address. As this isn't a formal destruction of bitcoins, there's a risk that the private keys ...
billpg's user avatar
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31 votes
1 answer
15k views

How do I build Bitcoin source in Windows 7?

I am trying to build the current Bitcoin source in Windows 7x64 - Does anyone know of an idiot-proof tutorial? Some of the steps in the included doc give me errors. When I try to tar openssl with ...
Alex Waters's user avatar
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27 votes
5 answers
10k views

how to monitor +20,000 addresses for new received transactions?

I have around 20000 generated addresses which I want to monitor for new transactions. More addresses should probably come. Customers should use every address only once but I would like to monitor ...
curiosity's user avatar
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24 votes
3 answers
13k views

How do I implement a Merkle Tree?

I`m slowly implementing some Bitcoin protocols, and I'm not sure how to properly understand the Merkle Tree from the Bitcoin wiki: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Protocol_specification#Merkle_Trees I have ...
ThePiachu's user avatar
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24 votes
6 answers
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Can a bitcoin be destroyed?

Its the hypothetical future and BTC2 is being designed. Everyone loves BTC2 and no-one wants the old BTC1 any more. People who have BTC1 would be annoyed that their assets are suddently worth a lot ...
billpg's user avatar
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23 votes
1 answer
18k views

Get non-wallet transactions using bitcoin rpc (gettransaction)

I am playing around with Bitcoin-qt. I want to iterate all blocks and all their transactions. So far I've been able to get a list of all tx's in the blocks I want to. Now I want to get information ...
Lars Holdgaard's user avatar
21 votes
2 answers
12k views

How will multisig addresses work?

How will multisig addresses work? Will they consist of multiple traditional addresses, or will they have some different structure? Will one be able to specify whether they will require 2 out of 2, 2 ...
ThePiachu's user avatar
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21 votes
4 answers
1k views

How can I contribute to the open source Bitcoin project?

Generally speaking, how can: A) A programmer contribute to Bitcoin? B) A non-programmer contribute to Bitcoin? Essentially; which areas are in most need of programming work / non-programming work?
Alex Waters's user avatar
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19 votes
2 answers
3k views

How to start programming your own Bitcoin client?

I want to develop my own Bitcoin client in a language that is not yet supported. Are there any resources that can be referenced to help me, or any other future developer with the task, or is the ...
ThePiachu's user avatar
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17 votes
3 answers
8k views

How to calculate new "bits" value?

Every 2016 blocks one needs to calculate new bits value. What is the formula to calculate it?
ThePiachu's user avatar
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17 votes
5 answers
14k views

How to validate a Bitcoin address is a real one?

Is there a code snippet that validates a bitcoin address? I'm looking for both javascript and java snippets. The code should support both testnet and real addresses.
ripper234's user avatar
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17 votes
1 answer
587 views

IPv6 support status

What is the current status of IPv6 support? From what I gathered reading the Wiki, protocol specifications support IPv6, but the original client does not. However, I also came across the description ...
Nicolas Kaiser's user avatar
16 votes
3 answers
524 views

What happens if the developers make a controversial change to the "standard" client?

One criticism I commonly hear of Bitcoin is that it merely transfers trust from some sort of central bank or government entity to the developers of the main project. Can anyone provide a clean ...
eMansipater's user avatar
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16 votes
1 answer
1k views

Given a private key, how do you get a public address [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: How are public & private keys in an address created? I am scanning in a private key from a QR code in an app I am writting to handle the import of physical bitcoins. ...
RobKohr's user avatar
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14 votes
4 answers
628 views

How do I develop mobile applications for Bitcoin?

I would like to develop a mobile Bitcoin application for the Android and iPhone platforms. What libraries and resources can I use?
devrandom's user avatar
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14 votes
3 answers
4k views

Is there a list of available APIs for Bitcoin exchanges?

So far I have seen some Perl modules; Finance:MtGox and Webservice:MtGox for interacting with Mt.Gox, a Ruby gem for Mt.Gox and a Python based command line client for again, Mt.Gox. I'm wondering if ...
barrymac's user avatar
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13 votes
2 answers
4k views

Java library for Bitcoin Client Application

are there Java libraries for Bitcoin available to develop client applications?
Thor's user avatar
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13 votes
1 answer
973 views

What are the February 20 changes to the Bitcoin protocol?

From the BitcoinJ mailing list: the Bitcoin protocol bizarrely changes itself on February 20th 2012 in a backwards incompatible manner What are these changes, why are they necessary, when was ...
Thilo's user avatar
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13 votes
3 answers
4k views

What will happen when SHA 256 needs to be replaced?

MD5 used to be the hash algorithm. Everyone loved it, but now, not so much. What will happen to bitcoin if flaws are found in SHA256 in the future?
billpg's user avatar
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13 votes
1 answer
1k views

What is the meaning of the Bitcoin address version?

Bitcoin address versions are described on the Address wiki page: Normal addresses currently always start with 1, though this might change in a future version. Testnet addresses usually start with m ...
Ash Moran's user avatar
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12 votes
9 answers
5k views

Is there a reference, authoritative resource or book on Bitcoin programming?

Is there any reference or authoritative resource, or book on Bitcoin programming? Bitcoin is dubbed "programmable money" but there is no obvious resource for how to do that aside from ...
CQM's user avatar
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12 votes
3 answers
9k views

How can I generate a large number of Bitcoin addresses?

I would like to generate a large number of public Bitcoin addresses (several hundred thousand) quickly and efficiently into a simple text file. What would be the easiest way to get this done? I'm just ...
Gary's user avatar
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12 votes
2 answers
4k views

What are the steps in building bitcoind on Mac OS X 10.6?

Following the instructions in build-osx.txt (which seem sadly out of date) leaves me without a file named libboost_system.a. Here is how I built boost: % cd boost_1_42_0 % ./bootstrap.sh % ./bjam ...
sad_mac's user avatar
  • 121
12 votes
2 answers
4k views

How can I read information from the blockchain?

I don't want to use an existing service, like Blockchain.info or BlockExplorer.com. Is there some library out there that will let me read the blockchain programatically?
Shamoon's user avatar
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11 votes
2 answers
2k views

How many bitcoins have been sent to Base58-invalid addresses?

Some bitcoins have been permanently lost when they are sent the the following addresses. The explanation I've found is that they contain characters that are invalid in Base58 ...
makerofthings7's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
564 views

Bitcoin client IRC - a potential network weak link?

I'm currently learning more and more about the Bitcoin protocol and I`m wondering if using an IRC channel as the source to find your Bitcoin peers is a potential weak link of the Bitcoin network? ...
ThePiachu's user avatar
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11 votes
3 answers
2k views

What is the easiest way to programmatically obtain the current USD-BTC spot price?

E.g., if I wanted to create a cron script that would grab the latest spot price every hour and store it in a local file or database, what would be the place to "scrape" that information from? (...
Chris W.'s user avatar
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11 votes
2 answers
11k views

what programming languages are used to built bitcoin?

I have one very basic question, I would like to know: what programming languages are used to built bitcoin?
basicquestion's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
1k views

Turing completeness of Bitcoin Script

For me, scripts are one of the most interesting features of Bitcoin. They provide possibilities which have no equivalent in classical currencies. However, the wiki states It is purposefully not ...
jnnk's user avatar
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11 votes
3 answers
3k views

How to implement a game like SatoshiDice?

Everyone knows what SatoshiDice is. Their core mechanic is gambling through the use of Bitcoin transactions with the payout being directly linked to the transaction that fuelled the bed to avoid ...
ThePiachu's user avatar
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11 votes
3 answers
503 views

Changing Bitcoin's deflationary nature

One of the most common criticisms made against Bitcoin is related to its deflationary nature. Regardless of the advantages and disadvantages of an inflationary system, would it possible to change the ...
nmat's user avatar
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11 votes
6 answers
6k views

Are there any C# wrappers for the Bitcoin REST API?

Are there any C# wappers that take an OOO approach to the Bitcoin REST API, and encapsulate it in an easy to use format?
makerofthings7's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
746 views

How to build Bitcoin from source on Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal?

We have this detailed tutorial for Lucid Lynx, but somehow it doesn't work for Natty. We also have a similar question but it is too broad and the solution there isn't complete enough to work. I ...
Jader Dias's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
292 views

Are there alternatives to Gitian?

I like how Bitcoin Core uses Gitian to make their builds deterministic. But Gitian is also a really complicated workaround. Is there any research being done into alternatives for deterministic builds?
Кира Кисловская's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
733 views

Why don't developers switch from bitcoin-qt to a cleaner implementation?

The "reference client" bitcoin-qt receives a lot of complaints from developers on the messy way it was coded. It seems to require a big overhead to learn, and a lot of time is being spent on ...
Winslow Strong's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
36k views

Want to write my own solo cpu bitcoin miner

I just want to understand how this mining process works (from the developers point of view from very start to end). Can someone guide me towards a doc or a open source code (I am newbie here so a VERY ...
evans's user avatar
  • 101
10 votes
1 answer
3k views

What is an explanation of the P2SH voting in layman's terms?

Reading this question and looking in the bitcointalk forums at the related discussion, there seems to be some kind of miner vote being done on whether a change will be implemented in the bitcoin ...
Highly Irregular's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
1k views

Merkle Tree hashing

I'm trying to implement my own Markle Tree, currently I'm working on getting the hashing done correctly. I've used some hashes from http://blockexplorer.com/rawblock/...
ThePiachu's user avatar
  • 43k
10 votes
1 answer
657 views

How is a BIP accepted?

Who decides to change the status from Draft to Accepted? BIP 0001 doesn't seem to clearly state this. Is this a vote by the developers? Whose vote exactly do we count? How is it conducted and ...
ripper234's user avatar
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10 votes
4 answers
1k views

Are there any Scala libraries/implementations/projects on bitcoin?

There are quite a few Java libraries and I am building my Scala code on BitcoinJ, but obviously, native Scala libraries would be quite a bit more elegant. Has anyone tried?
stefanwouldgo's user avatar
10 votes
3 answers
2k views

What's the best practice for creating and maintaining an address index?

I am working on a Blockchain.info-like block explorer, and I have some questions regarding best practice for data retrieval. Bitcoin Core stores and serves all blocks and, if txindex is set to 1, all ...
user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
9k views

PHP script to create private key & public address

Does anyone have an PHP code that can do what is done on this website: https://www.bitaddress.org Namely create private keys and associated public addresses?
RobKohr's user avatar
  • 622
9 votes
2 answers
2k views

Is there developer documentation for the Bitcoin Core source code?

Is there a documentation somewhere to understand the C++ code of Bitcoin Core (available on Github) "from a to z" and being able to recreate it ?
smoumou's user avatar
  • 305
9 votes
1 answer
4k views

Is it possible to run Bitcoin on Google App Engine? / alternatives?

This question is cross-posted on bitcoin.stackexchange, stackoverflow and bitcointalks. I'm planning to build an application on Google App Engine that will heavily make use of Bitcoin trading. I've ...
Steven Roose's user avatar
  • 11.8k
9 votes
2 answers
5k views

Transaction signature generation

When one sets up a transaction, the input of the transaction needs to have a script with a signature to show that you can spend those coins. Which fields of the previous and current transactions need ...
ThePiachu's user avatar
  • 43k
9 votes
1 answer
647 views

Which of the open-source Bitcoin clients has the most thoroughly commented source code?

Learning from a source code is very useful at times, but it is a pain if the code is not commented well. Which of the open source Bitcoin software have the most thoroughly and understandably commented ...
ThePiachu's user avatar
  • 43k
8 votes
5 answers
3k views

Which programming languages support secp256k1?

Which programming languages have some ready libraries that support Bitcoin's ECDSA curve - secp256k1?
ThePiachu's user avatar
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