consequences of --with-incompatible-bdb ?

[pysiak]

I'm building my bitcoind on debian 7.2 which provides libdb++-dev in 5.1 and this forces me to use --with-incomaptible-bdb.
It works, but what are the risks of running non 4.8? Is it only for portability of the data between installations using different version of the library?

[faceface]

Same question... 6 years later.

[danda]

as I recall, the blockchain database uses leveldb, but the wallet uses bdb.   So if you build with a different bdb version and then create and uses a wallet with that version, then your wallet cannot be opened with a standard ( bdb v4.8 ) version of bitcoin-core.   This could be an issue for you years down the road, when maybe you are trying to restore the wallet on some other computer/os.

[DaveF]

I'm trying to remember...this was a while ago...but the other issue is / was some wallet functions will not work because the calls do not exist or they are done differently.
There was an old thread (2014 or 15 perhaps) where someone was making an alt-coin that did this. You would have to go digging in the altcoin sections to even have a possibility of finding it. It's just something I vaguely remember from years ago.

Sorry I could not be more help.

-Dave

[wiggi]

So if you build with a different bdb version and then create and uses a wallet with that version, then your wallet cannot be opened with a standard ( bdb v4.8 ) version of bitcoin-core.   This could be an issue for you years down the road, when maybe you are trying to restore the wallet on some other computer/os.

Wallets created with different (I used v0.7 and v0.14) versions of the precompiled binaries in Windows can be used with Bitcoin Core made with --with-incompatible-bdb in Ubuntu 14.04, 16.04 and 18.04. At least I didn't encounter any obvious problem.

But it's potential incompatibility, risk that some wallet functions may not work. And risk that a wallet can't be opened with future versions.