Bitcoin-Qt / bitcoind version 0.8.6 rc1 released

[wumpus]

Bitcoin-Qt version 0.8.6 release candidate 1 is now available from:
  http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/Bitcoin/bitcoin-0.8.6/test

This is a release candidate for a stable release. Everyone is welcome to help testing.

Please report bugs using the issue tracker at github:
  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 0.8.6 your blockchain files will be re-indexed, which will take
anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours, depending on the speed of
your machine.

0.8.6 Release notes
===================

- Default block size increase for miners.
  (see https://gist.github.com/gavinandresen/7670433#086-accept-into-block)

- Remove the all-outputs-must-be-greater-than-CENT-to-qualify-as-free rule for relaying
  (see https://gist.github.com/gavinandresen/7670433#086-relaying)

- Lower maximum size for free transaction creation
  (see https://gist.github.com/gavinandresen/7670433#086-wallet)

- OSX block chain database corruption fixes
  - Update leveldb to 1.13
  - Use fcntl with `F_FULLSYNC` instead of fsync on OSX
  - Use native Darwin memory barriers
  - Replace use of mmap in leveldb for improved reliability (only on OSX)

- Fix nodes forwarding transactions with empty vins and getting banned

- Network code performance and robustness improvements

- Additional debug.log logging for diagnosis of network problems, log timestamps by default

- Fix Bitcoin-Qt startup crash when clicking dock icon on OSX

- Fix memory leaks in CKey::SetCompactSignature() and Key::SignCompact()

- Fix rare GUI crash on send

- Various small GUI, documentation and build fixes

Warning
-------

- There have been frequent reports of users running out of virtual memory on 32-bit systems
  during the initial sync.
  Hence it is recommended to use a 64-bit executable if possible.
  A 64-bit executable for Windows is planned for 0.9.

[P_Shep]

Started fine on Win 8.1 here.

[WMLU]

OK on Mavericks. Looks like it's synchronizing with network faster than previous version....

[Bigworm37]

Much faster sync than last version....looks go so far   (running w7 x64)

[saddambitcoin]

working fine on OSX 10.8.5

hopefully the database corruption issues are a thing of the past now!

[virtualmaster]

Good work. Thanks.

[waqas]

Good work. Thanks.

I lost my harddisk and now have new one if I download this new version then can I bring my old coins in this I have wallet.dat please some one guide me thanks

[WMLU]

Good work. Thanks.

I lost my harddisk and now have new one if I download this new version then can I bring my old coins in this I have wallet.dat please some one guide me thanks

Sure,- all you've got to do is replace new wallet.dat with the one you have.

[toffoo]

I'm happy to say that so far I've been LevelDB corruption-free on OSX Mavericks with this and the other recent OMG builds.

However, this version seems to be missing some other features that Warren's OMG builds have:

• Coin Control.  Was this not slated for inclusion in the official v0.8.6 release?
• Retina font support.  v0.7.2 official release had it.  All the OMG builds had it.  Litecoin has it.  Can you include it in the official v0.8.6 release?
• Notification Center support.  Same.

I'm pretty sure the new official Litecoin release will have all these, and we can't start lagging behind those guys, am I right?

Thanks to all those who have helped recently to get the Mac client back to a usable state.

[saddambitcoin]

shoutout to that OMG support.  cmon bitcoin lets hear it for litecoin

[wumpus]

I'm happy to say that so far I've been LevelDB corruption-free on OSX Mavericks with this and the other recent OMG builds.

However, this version seems to be missing some other features that Warren's OMG builds have:

...

You don't understand how it works. We always have two active branches:

- 0.8.x AKA stable AKA "maintenance releases"
- master AKA unstable (which will be 0.9 when it is released, this is expected end of next month)

The new features that you mention (and more) are in the master branch, thus will be in 0.9.0rc1 when it is released. These new features also introduce potential bugs so the risk profile is larger.

Stable releases such as this one only contain bugfixes and very minor changes. By all means help by testing Bitcoin-OMG and other test builds, but they are not recommended for production usage.

(and this is a release candidate for a stable release, which is unusual, but we decided to go for this instead of a straight 0.8.6 release because we're not 100% that the MacOSX corruption fixes fix the entire problem. In any case, given that no new issues arise, this will be relabeled 0.8.6 final really soon)

[super3]

We are still planning on doing this(https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/3224) correct?

[bitpop]

Damn github returned downloads lol

[wumpus]

We are still planning on doing this(https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/3224) correct?

I'm not sure -- I suggest discussing this on the development mailing list. There are quite a few people that don't want to put all eggs in one basket on github.