bitcoin/doc
Ryan Ofsky 5f3848c63b
Merge bitcoin/bitcoin#31278: wallet, rpc: deprecate settxfee and paytxfee
2f2ab47bf7 Release notes (Pol Espinasa)
bf194c920c wallet, rpc: deprecate settxfee and paytxfee (Pol Espinasa)

Pull request description:

  **Summary**

  This PR deprecates the settxfee RPC and paytxfee setting, marking it for removal in Bitcoin Core 31.0.

  **Motivation**

  The PR was initially motivated by https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/31088. The intention was to create a new function `settxfeerate` to allow users to set a static fee rate in `sat/vB` instead of `btc/kvB`.

  The `settxfee` RPC allows users to set a static fee rate for all transactions created by the wallet. However, in a dynamic fee environment, this can lead to poor fee choices, either overpaying when the mempool is empty or underpaying when congestion is high. The preferred approach is to rely on fee estimation, which is designed to adapt to network conditions, and is the one by default. Same argument apply for `paytxfee` setting.

  During discussion the consensus was that static fee settings are a footgun and that users should instead specify the fee rate per transaction if they don't want to rely on the fee estimation. Given this, rather than introducing a `settxfeerate` alternative, this PR goes towards removing `settxfee` and `paytxfee` entirely.

  **Key Changes**

  `settxfee` and `paytxfee` is now deprecated and will be removed in Bitcoin Core 31.0.
  Users should rely on fee estimation or explicitly specify a fee rate when constructing transactions.

  **Impact on Users**

  If users currently use settxfee or paytxfee, they should transition to specifying fees per transaction.
  No immediate breakage in 30.0 (must use `-deprecatedrpc=settxfee`), but `settxfee` and `paytxfee` will be removed in 31.0.

  **Alternative Approaches Considered**

  A settxfeerate alternative (using sat/vB) was initially proposed but ultimately rejected in favor of deprecating static fee setting entirely.

  **Notes for removal**
  - When removing paytxfee we should also update txconfirmtarget startup option help text.
  - Get back the comment from `rpc_deprecated.py` test. [+info](https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/31278#discussion_r1998876768)

ACKs for top commit:
  fjahr:
    re-ACK 2f2ab47bf7
  ismaelsadeeq:
    re-ACK 2f2ab47bf7
  rkrux:
    Concept and utACK 2f2ab47bf7

Tree-SHA512: 0272812cbe5a519737c5d0683acc2072e67559792b4a6472bca8b23426e5ce9e88a3a1eba987feda70a082b8b474b3126893848628d7bf11e1520357b18c8d3e
2025-03-24 13:40:31 -04:00
..
design Docs: fix typos in documentation files 2025-03-08 09:26:18 +08:00
man build: Remove Autotools-based build system 2024-08-30 21:31:39 +01:00
policy fix typos 2025-01-24 09:12:38 +08:00
release-notes doc: Archive 28.1 release notes 2025-01-13 11:52:54 -05:00
assets-attribution.md [doc] Merge doc/assets-attribution.md into contrib/debian/copyright 2015-09-18 18:14:42 +02:00
assumeutxo.md doc: fix assumeutxo design doc link 2024-09-04 22:53:34 +01:00
benchmarking.md Merge bitcoin/bitcoin#31161: cmake: Set top-level target output locations 2025-03-12 11:19:00 +08:00
bips.md docs: remove requirement to signal bip125 2024-10-31 13:19:31 -04:00
bitcoin-conf.md doc: Add some general documentation about negated options 2025-02-13 12:30:15 -05:00
bitcoin_logo_doxygen.png Lossless image optimization 2013-12-02 10:10:22 +01:00
build-freebsd.md build: require sqlite when building the wallet 2025-03-12 15:42:38 +01:00
build-netbsd.md doc: Update NetBSD Build Guide 2024-12-31 10:14:02 +00:00
build-openbsd.md build: require sqlite when building the wallet 2025-03-12 15:42:38 +01:00
build-osx.md cmake: Require zip only for deploy target 2025-03-13 11:22:30 +00:00
build-unix.md build: require sqlite when building the wallet 2025-03-12 15:42:38 +01:00
build-windows-msvc.md doc: build: Fix instructions for msvc gui builds 2025-02-12 12:53:59 -08:00
build-windows.md doc: add note to windows build about stripping bin 2025-03-07 17:19:05 +00:00
cjdns.md doc: update getnodeaddresses for CJDNS, I2P and Tor and rm link 2023-06-01 15:52:51 +02:00
CMakeLists.txt cmake: add USE_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS to all configure_file usage 2024-09-06 10:52:19 +01:00
dependencies.md doc: Improve dependencies documentation 2025-01-20 16:15:02 +01:00
descriptors.md tests: add functional test for miniscript decaying multisig 2025-01-22 10:21:38 -06:00
developer-notes.md Merge bitcoin/bitcoin#30142: doc: add guidance for RPC to developer notes 2025-03-21 13:47:48 +08:00
dnsseed-policy.md Update the developer mailing list address. 2024-04-02 15:38:40 -03:00
Doxyfile.in build: Rename PACKAGE_* variables to CLIENT_* 2024-10-28 12:35:55 +00:00
external-signer.md wallet: compare address returned by displayaddress 2024-04-16 17:47:43 +02:00
files.md Merge bitcoin/bitcoin#29775: Testnet4 including PoW difficulty adjustment fix 2024-08-07 13:05:04 -04:00
fuzzing.md doc: shallow clone qa-assets 2025-03-17 13:06:22 +01:00
guix.md docs: Point to contrib/guix/README.md in doc/guix.md 2021-01-08 11:40:01 -05:00
i2p.md doc: i2p: improve -i2pacceptincoming mention 2024-04-04 18:32:39 -03:00
init.md Merge bitcoin/bitcoin#28167: init: Add option for rpccookie permissions (replace 26088) 2024-06-27 17:35:08 -04:00
JSON-RPC-interface.md minor: remove unnecessary semicolons from RPC content type examples 2024-06-07 10:47:24 -04:00
managing-wallets.md Merge bitcoin/bitcoin#27064: system: use %LOCALAPPDATA% as default datadir on windows 2024-05-23 12:11:55 -04:00
multiprocess.md Merge bitcoin/bitcoin#31161: cmake: Set top-level target output locations 2025-03-12 11:19:00 +08:00
multisig-tutorial.md scripted-diff: Adjust documentation per top-level target output location 2025-02-20 22:18:57 +00:00
offline-signing-tutorial.md scripted-diff: Adjust documentation per top-level target output location 2025-02-20 22:18:57 +00:00
p2p-bad-ports.md init, doc: improve -onlynet help and tor/i2p documentation 2022-03-03 16:14:01 +01:00
productivity.md doc: Update for CMake-based build system 2024-08-16 21:24:08 +01:00
psbt.md doc: mention descriptorprocesspsbt in psbt.md 2024-11-12 14:56:12 +01:00
README.md doc: update IBD requirements in doc/README.md 2024-10-02 17:46:11 +02:00
README_doxygen.md doc: Improve doxygen readme navigation section 2019-09-23 19:22:06 -04:00
README_windows.txt doc: Remove version numbers from READMEs 2017-04-05 09:40:48 +02:00
reduce-memory.md doc: Bring reduce-memory.md up to date 2025-03-04 15:37:59 +01:00
reduce-traffic.md doc: update/clarify max outbound connection count 2023-12-11 20:05:25 +01:00
release-notes-31278.md Release notes 2025-03-16 11:12:03 +01:00
release-notes-31603.md docs: add release notes for 31603 2025-02-24 09:58:11 -03:00
release-notes-empty-template.md doc: remove note about macOS self-signing 2025-03-05 17:35:58 +00:00
release-process.md Merge bitcoin/bitcoin#31407: guix: Notarize MacOS app bundle and codesign all MacOS and Windows binaries 2025-03-05 17:34:26 +00:00
REST-interface.md doc: Fix missing comma in JSON example in REST-interface.md 2024-11-08 14:24:01 -08:00
tor.md doc: remove mentions of UPnP 2024-10-25 09:27:29 -04:00
tracing.md Merge bitcoin/bitcoin#31161: cmake: Set top-level target output locations 2025-03-12 11:19:00 +08:00
translation_process.md doc: Update translation generation instructions 2025-02-26 14:24:10 -03:00
translation_strings_policy.md doc: Updating docs from autotools to cmake 2024-09-18 11:04:52 -04:00
zmq.md doc: correct the zmq automatic build info 2024-09-25 07:07:04 -04:00

Bitcoin Core

Setup

Bitcoin Core is the original Bitcoin client and it builds the backbone of the network. It downloads and, by default, stores the entire history of Bitcoin transactions, which requires several hundred gigabytes or more of disk space. Depending on the speed of your computer and network connection, the synchronization process can take anywhere from a few hours to several days or more.

To download Bitcoin Core, visit bitcoincore.org.

Running

The following are some helpful notes on how to run Bitcoin Core on your native platform.

Unix

Unpack the files into a directory and run:

  • bin/bitcoin-qt (GUI) or
  • bin/bitcoind (headless)

Windows

Unpack the files into a directory, and then run bitcoin-qt.exe.

macOS

Drag Bitcoin Core to your applications folder, and then run Bitcoin Core.

Need Help?

Building

The following are developer notes on how to build Bitcoin Core on your native platform. They are not complete guides, but include notes on the necessary libraries, compile flags, etc.

Development

The Bitcoin repo's root README contains relevant information on the development process and automated testing.

Resources

Miscellaneous

License

Distributed under the MIT software license.