Bitcoin Core 0.18.1 rc1 Released

From LinuxReviews
Jump to navigationJump to search
Cashandcreditcard.png

Bitcoin Core is the full blockchain client software for the dominant Bitcoin chain listed under the ticker "BTC" on most digital currency exchanges. The first release-candidate for it's next stable version 0.18.1 is now available. This version fixes a problem with version 0.18 where it just hangs on shutdown if it is connected to the Tor network.

Btc-2019-07-26-02.png

The Bitcoin Core code handling the P2P protocol and network code has seen these changes:

  • #15990 Add tests and documentation for blocksonly (MarcoFalke)
  • #16021 Avoid logging transaction decode errors to stderr (MarcoFalke)
  • #16405 fix: tor: Call event_base_loopbreak from the event's callback (promag)
  • #16412 Make poll in InterruptibleRecv only filter for POLLIN events (tecnovert)

#16405 is actually a fix for #16376 which is described as "Early shutdown results in freeze (torControlThread not stopping)". Basically Bitcoin Core would hang on shutdown one third of the time if it is connecting to the traffic analysis resistant Tor network.

There's also fixes for "RPC and other APIs":

  • #15991 Bugfix: fix pruneblockchain returned prune height (jonasschnelli)
  • #15899 Document iswitness flag and fix bug in converttopsbt (MarcoFalke)
  • #16026 Ensure that uncompressed public keys in a multisig always returns a legacy address (achow101)
  • #14039 Disallow extended encoding for non-witness transactions (sipa)
  • #16210 add 2nd arg to signrawtransactionwithkey examples (dooglus)
  • #16250 signrawtransactionwithkey: report error when missing redeemScript/witnessScript (ajtowns)

Bitcoin Core's absolutely horrible graphical user interface has also gotten some fixes:

  • #16044 fix the bug of OPEN CONFIGURATION FILE on Mac (shannon1916)
  • #15957 Show "No wallets available" in open menu instead of nothing (meshcollider)
  • #16118 Enable open wallet menu on setWalletController (promag)
  • #16135 Set progressDialog to nullptr (promag)
  • #16231 Fix open wallet menu initialization order (promag)
  • #16254 Set AA_EnableHighDpiScaling attribute early (hebasto)
  • #16122 Enable console line edit on setClientModel (promag)
  • #16348 Assert QMetaObject::invokeMethod result (promag)

There's also some rather dull changes to the build system.

Bitcoin Core 0.18.1rc1 can be acquired from bitcoincore.org: bitcoin-core-0.18.1/test.rc1. This is a release candidate. It may be worth upgrading if you are running a node for the fun of it. Waiting for 0.18.1 final to be released in a few weeks may be advisable if you have a Bitcoin wallet with funds worth millions of dollars.