Install-Bitcoind.md 2.4 KB
Note:
The bitcoin daemon on the offline computer is used solely to sign transactions and runs without a blockchain. Thus even a low-powered computer such as a netbook will suffice as your offline machine.
The bitcoin daemon on the online computer requires a complete and up-to-date blockchain for tracking addresses. Since its work is more CPU and disk intensive, a more powerful computer is recommended here. You'll also need plenty of free disk space for the rapidly growing blockchain (~30GB at the time of writing).
Two blockchain operations are especially resource-intensive: synchronizing the blockchain and importing existing addresses with balances. If you synchronize often (once a week, for example) and take care to import your addresses before spending into them, then it's possible to use a low-powered netbook as your online machine.
Download:
For the time being, Windows installers and Linux binary tarballs can be obtained here. Once version 0.10 is released, get them from Bitcoin Core's main download page instead. Choose the 32-bit or 64-bit versions appropriate for your respective computers.
Install:
On both the online and offline computers:
Windows users: run the Windows installer. Linux users: unpack the tar archive and copy the bitcoind executable in bin/ to your execution path or just run it in place.
Run:
On the online computer:
Open a terminal and start bitcoind with the command:
$ bitcoind -daemon
Warning: If you already have Bitcoin Core installed, move your existing wallet.dat out of harm's way before starting bitcoind. The new wallet now created will be used as your tracking wallet.
If you're connected to the Internet, bitcoind will begin downloading and verifying the blockchain. This can take many hours if you're downloading the blockchain from scratch. To speed up the process you may want to use the bootstrap.dat torrent provided by the Bitcoin Core developers. Instructions are provided on the linked page.
On the offline computer:
Open a terminal and start bitcoind with the command:
$ bitcoind -daemon -maxconnections=0 -listen=0
Note that in the absence of a blockchain the daemon starts very quickly and uses practically no CPU once running.