Hello all,
I have been fighting GitHub and my ignorance, long and hard, but have finally won!
See
https://github.com/old-c-coder/bitcoin-git/commit/929019012dc7d93fd3ba59d8eb553e390211a713 If you can compile bitcoind &/or bitcoin-qt, you can have a wallet with any name, on any drive, in any directory. The wallet is not restricted to the name wallet.dat, nor is it tethered to the [data] directory.
Bitcoin-qt allows one to "backup" ones wallet to anywhere, with any name (not really! It doesn't allow names with no extension, at least on windows!). Now one can run from that back up wallet, or anywhere. The idea is that there is a new argument for bitcoin.conf or the command line, that names and locates what used to be wallet.dat only in the data directory.
For example, after exiting bitcoin, d or qt, one can copy ones wallet.dat to another location say drive x, path y and name z. One only has to add a line to bitcoin.conf, if you are using one, or an argument to the bitcoin program of -walletpath=x:/y/z, or in bitcoin.conf walletpath=x:/y/z
That's it. It can be a partial path, e.g. walletpath=y/z or a filename walletpath=z
If there is no walletpath argument, bitcoin behaves as before. Also if the argument is walletpath=wallet.dat it also behaves as before. This just makes explicit what was implicit before! This change then, if one doesn't use it doesn't 'disturb the force'
I have tested it successfully with all kinds of names, even with no extension, on various drives, in various directories. There is one proviso: the wallet file, whatever its name now, still has some "genetic" connection to a 1MB file called [data] directory/database/log.0000000001
I don't know their relationship, but I could probably move it with the wallet file if needed. This means that it would be prudent keep log.0000000001 in "sync" with one\'s wallet.
The advantage of separating the wallet from the now ~9.75GB block chain is that they can be on different drives or even computers!? Or one can have various, possibly test versions, of bitcoind or bitcoin-qt, and they can all share the same block chain, or can share the same wallet.
I have added the change to the 0.8.3 release source and it works there too.
All these changes have been on a windows unit, so I am curious about the other two platforms.
I haven't tried with coins in the wallet, but I see no problems:) Let me know if you like it, or have any questions.
Ron
