Bitcoin Forum

Yesterday (May 4th, 2013), the Bitcoin-qt/Bitcoind packages were updated on the Ubuntu PPA (I'm using Ubuntu 13.04).  After the upgrade, Bitcoin fails to start due to database errors:


I have no intention of redownloading the whole blockchain again.  Is there any way to fix this, or should the Ubuntu PPA be deprecated?

Which previous version of the packages were you using?
I updated the 13.04 ppa stuff because 13.04 didnt have ppa packages at all, however there should be no issues as long as the new libdb and such were pulled along at the same time.  I'm assuming you were previously on the 12.10 version?

Also, this is a pretty terrible place to post for technical support when it comes to the PPA.  Best to ask on IRC if you can, or email the ppa group on launchpad.

Are you sure 13.04 didn't have packages before?  I did a fresh install of 13.04 last week, added the Ubuntu PPA, and installed the Bitcoin packages.  Today, I got the notification that some packages needed upgrading.  After "apt-get dist-upgrade", the packages bitcoin-qt, bitcoind, and libdb4.8++ were upgraded.  After the upgrade, bitcoin-qt/bitcoind no longer start due the error I mentioned.

Ahh, this is your problem...yes, raring had no packages whatsoever in the PPA, so when you installed bitcoin-qt, you actually installed Ubuntu's version, which depends on libdb5.1, making your wallet incompatible with bitcoin.org's binary releases.  Raring currently has the latest 0.8.1, however Ubuntu is not likely to keep that up to date as new releases come out.  If you have a backup of your wallet prior to the upgrade (I'd hope so) and you haven't done anything with it since, you can just restore that backup and use the PPA versions.  Otherwise you will have to either continue using Ubuntu's version (remove the ppa, remove bitcoin packages, reinstall, and hope you dont fall too far out of date) or build your own bitcoin-qt/d and keep doing so using libdb5.1.

Ah, mystery explained -- thanks!

I've removed the PPA and "downgraded" to Ubuntu's version, and it works fine now.  One problem remains, however: sooner or later I may need to upgrade to the PPA version.  When that happens, I'll need to convert the DBs.

Am I correct in assuming that the blockhain DB is using LevelDB and does not depend on libdb?  And is therefore wallet.dat the only critical file still using libdb?  If so, I can easily migrate simply by exporting+importing the relevant addresses.  Or is there something I'm missing?

Yes, wallet.dat is all that uses BDB anymore.  If you dont mind losing your address book (though you should be able to export that with bitcointools or something) you can just export your privkeys and reimport them with a BDB4.8-based build.

I might be having a similar problem.

I installed bitcoin-qt into Ubuntu using the ppa (might be version 0.6)
I just ran sudo apt-get update. I'm not sure if this updated bitcoin-qt or not. bitcoin-qt is still working.

How can I see what version of bitcoin-qt I currently have?
I heard that on May 15th, we will need the newest version of bitcoin-qt. Is this true, or will older versions still be OK?

thanks

apt-get update just updates the list of packages, you need apt-get upgrade to actually upgrade packages.

There should be an "About Bitcoin" button under help in the Bitcoin-Qt window.

Yes, you need to upgrade to at least 0.8.1 before May 15th (0.8.2 is also really nice, so upgrade to that when its out).  That said, its generally a very, very good idea to always update both Bitcoin and all your system packages very regularly, both because of new features and options and because the Bitcoin network benefits greatly when users upgrade.

It seems like every time the PPA gets improved upon it becomes less functional. I can no longer get it to work at all now.  ???

I can't wait for version 1.0 when, I assume, it will be in the standard repository.

Please either ask a specific question and I will try to give guidance or dont comment at all...

Bitcoin's status in the official Ubuntu/Debian repositories will likely never change because Ubuntu/Debian's policies are to not do major version upgrades after a release (you have to upgrade the OS itself to get those)...thus Bitcoin falls out of sync and you get old versions that either have significant bugs or don't work at all.

how do i check the version from the CLI?

Could you please somebody step-by-step guide me how to upgrade bitcoind from 0.8.1 to 0.8.2 on Ubuntu 13.04 64-bit server?
I tried:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bitcoin/bitcoin
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install bitcoind

But the system said that I have the latest version (0.8.1, but not 0.8.2)

When an update will be available in the repository??

Thanks

My computer hasn't upgraded from 0.8.1 to 0.8.2 via the PPA yet.
Is this because I am still using Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS, which has recently become obsolete?
I see that 0.8.2 for Lucid has been included in the PPA.
Is there something else that I need to do?

Compiling bitcoind/litecoind on Ubuntu Server 13.04

http://bitcointalk.co.za/t/compiling-bitcoind-litecoind-on-ubuntu-server-13-04/44

No, you're fine...launchpad is slow at building and I was busy...sorry for the delay but the upgrade should be available within the next few hours.

OK, I've received the 0.8.2 upgrade now. Thanks.
I don't really expect that 10.04 LTS will be supported for too much longer. I need to upgrade to 12.04 LTS eventually.

I'm not too keen on the change to the display, where it tells you how many hours you are behind. I liked the older version, where it told you how many blocks were left that you needed to download.

10.04 Desktop hasn't been supported for quite a while already...

Its nicer for inexperienced users, and its a pretty constant conversion from time->block count (well, for long timespans, otherwise there can be some variance).