Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin-Qt/bitcoind version 0.8.1 is now available from:
  http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/Bitcoin/bitcoin-0.8.1/ (http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/Bitcoin/bitcoin-0.8.1/)

This is a maintenance release that adds a new network rule to avoid
a chain-forking incompatibility with versions 0.7.2 and earlier.

Please report bugs using the issue tracker at github:
  https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues (https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues)


How to Upgrade
--------------

If you are running an older version, shut it down. Wait
until it has completely shut down (which might take a few minutes for older
versions), then run the installer (on Windows) or just copy over
/Applications/Bitcoin-Qt (on Mac) or bitcoind/bitcoin-qt (on Linux).

If you are upgrading from version 0.7.2 or earlier, the first time you
run 0.8.1 your blockchain files will be re-indexed, which will take
anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours, depending on the speed of
your machine.

for those of us already on 0.8 who mine but don't tweak around with tx construction, do we need to upgrade?

This.

For those of us who run full 0.8.0 nodes, who either don't mine or only pool mine, is 0.8.1 a necessary step up, and if so why? And .. if not can we get an official blessing for our laziness? ;3

No; the only 0.8 users who should upgrade are miners who are creating blocks themselves (mining pool operators, solo miners, or people using p2pool).

Big merchants/services/exchanges who want to be as certain as possible they don't end up on the wrong side of a blockchain fork should also upgrade, although I think the risk of that happening if they keep running 0.8.0 is small.

this is very well played Gavin.  its time to get everyone off BDB due to its bugginess.  we'll all be better off on Level DB.

Thanks for the continued hard work  ;D

hopefully the PPA gets updated faster than last time, it was three days after the release before us linux guys got it.

Many thanks for your diligence. Some in userspace tend to forget that would be no Bitcoin but for the efforts and cooperation of the development and mining communities.

I'd like to update, but for me the coincontrol version has become an essential feature for a better control of privacy.
So I'm stuck with the DB_CONFIG workaround until this feature gets picked up by the devs :(

Armory will allow this and can be integrated with 0.8.1

Agreed. Fast work and much more helpful than the "contributions" made by the authors of the anti-dev threads.

Archlinux here. Latest bitcoin ver is 0.8.1 here.
Don't forget that entire linux world doesn't stop on debs with debian/ubuntu/mint and so on. :)

Raw transactions can do everything coin control can, just make sure you include your change as an output.

Who maintains this PPA anyway? Is there a way we can verify the .debs from the normal packages just to be 100% safe?

Is it possible to run the linux bitcoin client 100% portably off a flash drive?

0.8.1 is there but SF still claims 0.8.0 is the latest version.

Just installed 0.81.

Small issue:
Under help->about bitcoin it still says version 0.8.0-beta ?

Even if it does, you're still OK.  0.8.0 or better is fine.

The only people that 0.8.0 vs 0.8.1 makes a difference for are the large mining pool operators (not the members) or large solo miners.  Those folks already have it under control.

upgraded from 0.8 - had to reindex the blockchain for a 2nd time - but i'll do whatever needs to be done

Unless bitcoin.org has been comprismised, we're fine since they advertise the PPA.

Bluematt does, he's a contributed a lot to bitcoin development.

Should be possible to run of a flash drive, IDK why you would though.

Help!!!

I am using Multibit. Do i need to move my bitcoins to another wallet? for example, Blockchain or Bitcoin-Qt 0.8? I am not mining

I am on a Mac, running OSX 10.8.2
After updating from 0.7 to 0.8.1, is there some cleanup(obviously moving to offline storage and not deleting) to be done in the bitcoin directory /Users/uid/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin ?
The directory now contains 16.3Gb of stuff ;) in 146 items.
The biggest files I see are .../Bitcoin/blk000[1-4].dat, total 6.5Gb and
also .../Bitcoin/blocks/blk0000[0-4].dat, total 6.5Gb.

Upgraded on Win7x64 just fine.

No it doesn't, the block files are hardlinked.

Thanks, you're right :)


First column is inode number, same inode number means same data on disk.
Third column is link count, higher than 1 means there is more than one directory entry for the entry.

So actual data usage on disk in Megabyte for ../Bitcoin directory is:

I am still puzzled about the database engine change, how come the data files are still the same.
Perhaps  those blk files are not the database files ? -> they are, but the format stayed the same.
Perhaps only the index file changed format from BDB to LevelDB? -> yes, that's correct
I deducted the answer myself from https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory

For now I will not change anything.
In the future I might move the BDB files to offline storage (while bitcoin-qt is not active) and start bitcoin-qt again to check all is still ok.

Gavin,

Is there a possibility to have an optional Yubi key (issued from bitcoinfoundation.org - like Mt. Gox) for extra wallet security introduced in the next release?

This would help the bitcoinfoundation with extra funding too.  Sort of a two-fold benefit for all.

Just a thought...

TC

Hi!

I missed this information from the release notes (README.txt), found it later by googling, maybe it could be added to the official docs:
 - updating on Windows when not using the setup.exe but ZIP version: shut down old bitcoin-qs.exe then just copy over the new one (like on Mac or Linux)
 - the disk usage apparently doubles due to hardlinked "copies" of the data files

If I understand correctly, the "old" files (blk0001.dat, blk0002.dat, blk0003.dat and blkindex.dat ) can be deleted without any ill effects.
Why are they left there anyway? For compatibility with v0.7.x in case the user wants to revert?


Another thing, the notes say:
But opening the file Properties on bitcoin-qt.exe does not have a Digital Signatures tab. Also running it on one Windows PC brought up a warning dialog, saying the file has an unknown publisher.

Is it some different kind of signature?

Regards,
David

final.

You can NOT delete those files, they are used by the new version too!!
See my earlier email above.

I now see that you are on Windows, I would still be very carefull deleting those files. I am not sure whether or not the 'old' and 'new' files are somehow linked. I know Windows does support linking of files.

That is why this should be clarified in official documentation. To clear up contradicting information on the internet.

If you're on Linux or Mac, run contrib/tidy_datadir.sh if you want to get rid of old, not-used-any-more files in your data directory.

It will safely remove the blkindex.dat and blk000?.dat files.

If somebody wants to write an equivalent .bat file that does the same on Windows, that'd be fantastic!  I don't know hardly nuthin about Windows batch files.

As deepceleron says, the blk000?.dat files are hardlinks, so even though it looks like they're taking up space they're not. And they're safe to delete (just don't delete anything in the blocks/ or chainstate/ folders).

Win7 x64, all good but only a couple of transactions done. I leave the client open a fair bit with no drama.

Tried this and it still didn't work on my Mac.  I'll try moving the dir aside and see if it works.

EDIT: Looks like this is working, but a full resync will have to happen before I really know.  I have plenty of bandwidth for the chain!

Just to confirm that it works okay after removing blkindex.dat and four blk000*.dat files from users/[user name]/appdata/roaming/bitcoin/. Hard-linked block files in two different directories may be okay for now, but blkindex.dat should ideally be removed by setup due to its size.

I like the idea, but what I think is problematic is that the encryption key for the wallet would be stored in the yubikey. What if you lose it? Ok, the same is true for pass phrases, but at least that key should be human memorable and could be written down somewhere.

Please make an issue on github to make sure this doesn't get lost.

I would like to suggest Yubi key or Google Authenticator.

Google Authenticator won't work here. It is just an authentication mechanism and cannot store keys.

Stupid question but, how do I know which version my wallet is? I use a QT wallet but I cant find anywhere it says the version.

Click "Help"

then "About Bitcoin"

tips welcome: 1FyKZ1uC5tyY8ZAWJGfyEUoC1fSkSozbYJ

 ;D

updated to 0.8.1-beta
Thanks!

im using 0.8.1-beta and it wont synch - whats going on ?

scrap the above it is synching just slowly...