Downloading Bitcoin Network Software

[JTV95]

This may be weird because I don't understand how everything works. Ill try to explain the best I can.

I've heard that you can't just shut the bitcoin network down. So many connections to the network from around the world constantly keeping up with he same data and every 10 minutes a new block occurs. If I were to go download the blockchain. Everything seems to point toward Bitcoin.org. Let's say for some off the wall reason the websites that have a place to download the bitcoin blockchain were not there. How Would I go about downloading the software onto my computer and running a full node?

[pooya87]

you are pointed to a website like bitcoin.org because it is a good source for reading all the basic information you need as a beginner in one place and it is "correct" information unlike many of other sites that contain misleading stuff. and you do NOT download the blockchain there, you only find links to different software that are open source and are created to let you connect to the network.

what is this "network"? it is every computer anywhere in the world that has the blockchain and is connecting to others and communicating with them. this computer is called a node. you connect to these nodes and download the blockchain, transactions in the mempool, new blocks, broadcast your new transactions to them which they propagate by sending to others,...

[JTV95]

you are pointed to a website like bitcoin.org because it is a good source for reading all the basic information you need as a beginner in one place and it is "correct" information unlike many of other sites that contain misleading stuff. and you do NOT download the blockchain there, you only find links to different software that are open source and are created to let you connect to the network.

what is this "network"? it is every computer anywhere in the world that has the blockchain and is connecting to others and communicating with them. this computer is called a node. you connect to these nodes and download the blockchain, transactions in the mempool, new blocks, broadcast your new transactions to them which they propagate by sending to others,...

How can I connect to the nodes and download the blockchain without going through something like bitcoin.org?

[Deathwing]

You can always use GitHub. No need for Bitcoin.org

https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/releases

[JTV95]

You can always use GitHub. No need for Bitcoin.org

https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/releases

I want to know how to connect to the bitcoin network without using someones website. Not that I don't trust websites. Websites can be tampered with. I want to know how to go straight to the source.

[Deathwing]

You can always use GitHub. No need for Bitcoin.org

https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/releases

I want to know how to connect to the bitcoin network without using someones website. Not that I don't trust websites. Websites can be tampered with. I want to know how to go straight to the source.

This IS the source. The original source code of the Bitcoin. It's core. You can review it. You need to have the application itself to synchronize with the Blockchain. You have to go and download it from somewhere. Bitcoin.org or GitHub.com are the most reputable sources, you can also do triple check with the signs and hashes. The application won't install itself to your computer out of thin air.

[pooya87]

you are pointed to a website like bitcoin.org because it is a good source for reading all the basic information you need as a beginner in one place and it is "correct" information unlike many of other sites that contain misleading stuff. and you do NOT download the blockchain there, you only find links to different software that are open source and are created to let you connect to the network.

what is this "network"? it is every computer anywhere in the world that has the blockchain and is connecting to others and communicating with them. this computer is called a node. you connect to these nodes and download the blockchain, transactions in the mempool, new blocks, broadcast your new transactions to them which they propagate by sending to others,...

How can I connect to the nodes and download the blockchain without going through something like bitcoin.org?

well in order to do anything on your computer you first need a computer program that can do that thing for you. so you either have to write the code yourself or download the code that someone else has written. when you go to bitcoin.org you are downloading the open source code that groups of expert programmers have put a lot of effort in developing. it is an implementation of the protocol: https://bitcoin.org/en/developer-reference

the way you  connect to other nodes is like any other peer to peer system, you initially either have hard coded IP addresses or connect to a seeder and find them. then for future times your client stores a list of node IP addresses which it uses to connect to. and while connected you constantly share the list of other nodes with others. initial peer discovery: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/3537/87716

You can always use GitHub. No need for Bitcoin.org

https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/releases

I want to know how to connect to the bitcoin network without using someones website. Not that I don't trust websites. Websites can be tampered with. I want to know how to go straight to the source.

the link in that quote is the "source"! remove the /releases from the end and you'll see the code.

[JTV95]

Pooya explained it best Thank you!

"well in order to do anything on your computer you first need a computer program that can do that thing for you."
Those websites that offer a downloadable version of the bitcoin network are just simplified process? Basically built around to easily onboard the bitcoin network? For me to access the network without using others simplified version. I would have to write the code myself and access the network manually? Which would I'm assuming be very difficult?


I think I get what you guys mean. The more I think I know about the bitcoin network the more I realize I know very little. It's like a show. It starts off simple. Then by the end of it it's just chaotic with so many strings attached to everything that is happening.

[Deathwing]

If you were to be completely against downloading stuff from the websites, you would. Yes. You would have to comb through the source code of Bitcoin, write and then compile it yourself so that you can connect to the network. Your machine would be available to others (which makes you a "full bitcoin node") if you do not want to host a bitcoin node, there are alternative trusted wallets that have a server which has full connection to the blockchain and every transaction you make is sent to that server, the server pushes the "message" to the network and your transaction is complete. The downloadable version on Bitcoin.org is the compiled one, ready to run.

it it's just chaotic with so many strings attached to everything that is happening.

It's quite detailed. Even if you learn Bitcoin you'd have only learnt a small amount in the world of Crypto. Then there's Ethereum and more.

[pooya87]

If you were to be completely against downloading stuff from the websites, you would. Yes. You would have to comb through the source code of Bitcoin, write and then compile it yourself so that you can connect to the network.
The downloadable version on Bitcoin.org is the compiled one, ready to run.

the thing about compiled version of bitcoin core is that it is a deterministic build so you don't have to put any trust in bitcoin core developers. that makes things even more decentralized because when they release a binary (compiled version) anybody can compile it and see if the hashes are the same (it is called gitian builds). this basically acts as an insurance that the binaries are indeed the compiled version of the code you see on github not something else.