Bitcoin-Qt/bitcoind version 0.8.1 available

[BenTuras]

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.

[LightRider]

Upgraded on Win7x64 just fine.

[foo]

The directory now contains 16.3Gb of stuff in 146 items.

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

[BenTuras]

The directory now contains 16.3Gb of stuff in 146 items.

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

Thanks, you're right

Code:

uids-macbook-pro-2:Bitcoin uid$ ls -li blk* blocks/blk*
 414582 -rw-------  2 uid  staff  2097361271 Jul 11  2012 blk0001.dat
 414585 -rw-------  2 uid  staff  2097178774 Dec  6 10:28 blk0002.dat
1894633 -rw-------  2 uid  staff  2097168427 Mar 11 08:55 blk0003.dat
6274757 -rw-------  2 uid  staff   261849998 Mar 20 19:28 blk0004.dat
1894636 -rw-------  1 uid  staff  2067894272 Mar 20 19:28 blkindex.dat
 414582 -rw-------  2 uid  staff  2097361271 Jul 11  2012 blocks/blk00000.dat
 414585 -rw-------  2 uid  staff  2097178774 Dec  6 10:28 blocks/blk00001.dat
1894633 -rw-------  2 uid  staff  2097168427 Mar 11 08:55 blocks/blk00002.dat
6274757 -rw-------  2 uid  staff   261849998 Mar 20 19:28 blocks/blk00003.dat
8335820 -rw-------  1 uid  staff    33554432 Mar 21 10:19 blocks/blk00004.dat

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:

Code:

uids-macbook-pro-2:Bitcoin uid$ du -m .
32	./blocks/index
859	./blocks
182	./chainstate
30	./database
9296	.

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.

[TooCasual]

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

[xerces8]

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:

Mac and Windows binaries are signed with certificates owned by the Bitcoin
Foundation, to be compatible with the new security features in OSX 10.8 and
Windows 8.

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

[instaBoost]

final.

[BenTuras]

If I understand correctly, the "old" files (blk0001.dat, blk0002.dat, blk0003.dat and blkindex.dat ) can be deleted without any ill effects.

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.

[xerces8]

Wow, so my datadir went from ~7GB to ~13.5GB.

Is there any of this that is deprecated and can be pruned? I regularly backup the entire datadir and having it double in size in one day as opposed to over a couple of years is kind of harsh.

You can remove blk0001.dat, blk0002.dat, blk0003.dat and blkindex.dat from the data directory after a reindex is complete and you are caught up with the blockchain (and you don't plan on going back to an older version). Only blkindex should actually be using disk space, as the old BLK000x data are moved upon upgrade, and the blk000x.dat files you see there are hardlinks (shortcuts) on any filesystem that supports hardlinking.

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

[Gavin Andresen]

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).

[Stapleddiet]

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

[ralree]

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).

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!

[ydenys]

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.

[wumpus]

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...

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.

[BenTuras]

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

I would like to suggest Yubi key or Google Authenticator.

[wumpus]

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

[fredtrader]

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.

[drrussellshane]

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

 

[dlb76]

updated to 0.8.1-beta
Thanks!

[mctrix]

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

scrap the above it is synching just slowly...