A new wallet flag `avoid_reuse` has been added (default off). When enabled,
a wallet will distinguish between used and unused addresses, and default to not
use the former in coin selection.
(Note: rescanning the blockchain is required, to correctly mark previously
used destinations.)
Together with "avoid partial spends" (present as of Bitcoin v0.17), this
addresses a serious privacy issue where a malicious user can track spends by
peppering a previously paid to address with near-dust outputs, which would then
be inadvertently included in future payments.
Auto Loading Wallets
-------------
Wallets created or loaded in the GUI will now be automatically loaded on
startup, so they don't need to be manually reloaded next time Bitcoin is
started. The list of wallets to load on startup is stored in
`\<datadir\>/settings.json` and augments any command line or `bitcoin.conf`
`-wallet=` settings that specify more wallets to load. Wallets that are
unloaded in the GUI get removed from the settings list so they won't load again
automatically next startup. (bitcoin#19754)
The `createwallet`, `loadwallet`, and `unloadwallet` RPCs now accept
`load_on_startup` options to modify the settings list. Unless these options are
explicitly set to true or false, the list is not modified, so the RPC methods
remain backwards compatible. (bitcoin#15937)
Changes regarding misbehaving peers
-----------------------------------
Peers that misbehave (e.g. send us invalid blocks) are now referred to as
discouraged nodes in log output, as they're not (and weren't) strictly banned:
incoming connections are still allowed from them, but they're preferred for
eviction.
Furthermore, a few additional changes are introduced to how discouraged
addresses are treated:
- Discouraging an address does not time out automatically after 24 hours
(or the `-bantime` setting). Depending on traffic from other peers,
discouragement may time out at an indeterminate time.
- Discouragement is not persisted over restarts.
- There is no method to list discouraged addresses. They are not returned by
the `listbanned` RPC. That RPC also no longer reports the `ban_reason`
field, as `"manually added"` is the only remaining option.
- Discouragement cannot be removed with the `setban remove` RPC command.
If you need to remove a discouragement, you can remove all discouragements by
stop-starting your node.
Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Changes
-----------------------------------
Most changes here were introduced through Bitcoin backports mostly related to
the deprecation of wallet accounts in DashCore v0.17 and introduction of PSBT
format.
### The new RPCs are:
- A new `setwalletflag` RPC sets/unsets flags for an existing wallet.
- The `spork` RPC call will no longer offer both get (labelled as "basic mode") and set (labelled as "advanced mode") functionality. `spork` will now only offer "basic" functionality. "Advanced" functionality is now exposed through the `sporkupdate` RPC call.
- The `generateblock` RPC call will mine an array of ordered transactions, defined by hex array `transactions` that can contain either transaction IDs or a hex-encoded serialized raw transaction and set the coinbase destination defined by the `address/descriptor` argument.
- The `mockscheduler` is a debug RPC call that allows forwarding the scheduler by `delta_time`. This RPC call is hidden and will only be functional on mockable chains (i.e. primarily regtest). `delta_time` must be between 0 - 3600.
-`dumptxoutset` see bitcoin#16899 and the help text. This RPC is used for UTXO snapshot creation which is a part of the assume utxo project
-`generatetodescriptor` Mine blocks immediately to a specified descriptor. see bitcoin#16943
### The removed RPCs are:
- The wallet's `generate` RPC method has been removed. `generate` is only used for testing.
The RPC call reaches across multiple subsystems (wallet and mining), so is deprecated to simplify the wallet-node
interface. Projects that are using `generate` for testing purposes should
transition to using the `generatetoaddress` call, which does not require or use
the wallet component. Calling `generatetoaddress` with an address returned by
`getnewaddress` gives the same functionality as the old `generate` method.
### Changes in existing RPCs introduced through bitcoin backports:
- The `gettxoutsetinfo` RPC call now accept one optional argument (`hash_type`) that defines the algorithm used for calcluating the UTXO set hash, it will default to `hash_serialized_2` unless explicitly specified otherwise. `hash_type` will influence the key that is used to refer to refer to the UTXO set hash.
- The `generatedescriptor` RPC call has been introduced to allow mining a set number of blocks, defined by argument `num_blocks`, with the coinbase destination set to a descriptor, defined by the `descriptor` argument. The optional `maxtries` argument can be used to limit iterations.
- Descriptors with key origin information imported through `importmulti` will have their key origin information stored in the wallet for use with creating PSBTs.
- If `bip32derivs` of both `walletprocesspsbt` and `walletcreatefundedpsbt` is set to true but the key metadata for a public key has not been updated yet, then that key will have a derivation path as if it were just an independent key (i.e. no derivation path and its master fingerprint is itself)
- The `getblockstats` RPC is faster for fee calculation by using BlockUndo data. Also, `-txindex` is no longer required and `getblockstats` works for all non-pruned blocks.
- The `unloadwallet` RPC is now synchronous, meaning that it blocks until the wallet is fully unloaded.
- RPCs which have an `include_watchonly` argument or `includeWatching`
option now default to `true` for watch-only wallets. Affected RPCs
`walletcreatefundedpsbt`, and `fundrawtransaction`.
-`createwallet` now returns a warning if an empty string is used as an encryption password, and does not encrypt the wallet, instead of raising an error.
This makes it easier to disable encryption but also specify other options when using the `bitcoin-cli` tool.
- The RPC `joinpsbts` will shuffle the order of the inputs and outputs of the resulting joined psbt.
Previously inputs and outputs were added in the order that the PSBTs were provided which makes correlating inputs to outputs extremely easy.
-`importprivkey`: new label behavior.
Previously, `importprivkey` automatically added the default empty label
("") to all addresses associated with the imported private key. Now it
defaults to using any existing label for those addresses. For example:
- Old behavior: you import a watch-only address with the label "cold
wallet". Later, you import the corresponding private key using the
default settings. The address's label is changed from "cold wallet"
to "".
- New behavior: you import a watch-only address with the label "cold
wallet". Later, you import the corresponding private key using the
default settings. The address's label remains "cold wallet".
In both the previous and current case, if you directly specify a label
during the import, that label will override whatever previous label the
addresses may have had. Also in both cases, if none of the addresses
previously had a label, they will still receive the default empty label
(""). Examples:
- You import a watch-only address with the label "temporary". Later you
import the corresponding private key with the label "final". The
address's label will be changed to "final".
- You use the default settings to import a private key for an address that
was not previously in the wallet. Its addresses will receive the default
empty label ("").
- The `createwallet`, `loadwallet`, and `unloadwallet` RPCs now accept
`load_on_startup` options to modify the settings list.
- Several RPCs have been updated to include an "avoid_reuse" flag, used to control
whether already used addresses should be left out or included in the operation.
These include:
-`createwallet`
-`getbalance`
-`sendtoaddress`
In addition, `sendtoaddress` has been changed to enable `-avoidpartialspends` when
`avoid_reuse` is enabled.
The `listunspent` RPC has also been updated to now include a "reused" bool, for nodes
with "avoid_reuse" enabled.
### Dash-specific changes in existing RPCs:
- In rpc `upgradetohd` new parameter `rescan` was added which allows users to skip or force blockchain rescan. This params defaults to `false` when `mnemonic` parameter is empty and `true` otherwise.
Please check `help <command>` for more detailed information on specific RPCs.
Command-line options
--------------------
Most changes here were introduced through Bitcoin backports.
New cmd-line options:
- RPC Whitelist system. It can give certain RPC users permissions to only some RPC calls.
It can be set with two command line arguments (`rpcwhitelist` and `rpcwhitelistdefault`). (bitcoin#12763)
Removed cmd-line options:
- The `-zapwallettxes` startup option has been removed and its functionality removed from the wallet.
This option was originally intended to allow for the fee bumping of transactions that did not
signal RBF. This functionality has been superseded with the abandon transaction feature.
Changes in existing cmd-line options:
- The `testnet` field in `dash-cli -getinfo` has been renamed to `chain` and now returns the current network name as defined in BIP70 (main, test, regtest).
- Importing blocks upon startup via the `bootstrap.dat` file no longer occurs by default. The file must now be specified with `-loadblock=<file>`.
Please check `Help -> Command-line options` in Qt wallet or `dashd --help` for
more information.
Backports from Bitcoin Core
---------------------------
This release introduces many hundreds updates from Bitcoin v0.18/v0.19/v0.20/v0.21/v22. Bitcoin changes that do not align with Dash’s product needs, such as SegWit and RBF, are excluded from our backporting. For additional detail on what’s included in Bitcoin, please refer to their release notes.
v18.1.0 Change log
==================
See detailed [set of changes](https://github.com/dashpay/dash/compare/v18.0.2...dashpay:v18.1.0).
As well as everyone that submitted issues, reviewed pull requests, helped debug the release candidates, and write DIPs that were implemented in this release.
