mirror of https://github.com/dashpay/dash.git synced 2024-12-25 12:02:48 +01:00

Merge #18219 : doc: Add warning against wallet.dat re-use

c1e07423083cd2a7e3f2b28f69a573ea1837af4d doc: Warn about wallet.dat re-use and backups (Albert)

Pull request description:

  Following discussion in #18205, this PR adds a warning against re-use of the same wallet file on two different nodes, as that can cause problems due to race conditions between nodes (eg: both nodes using the same addresses at the same time for different things because they are not aware of the other node).

  I've also included the rationale behind the warning but I've kept it short to make it clearer to users, not sure if I should have written a longer explanation instead.

  Also, while this PR may help some users avoid problems, the changes are largely inconsequential, so feel free to close it if it's not worth the effort.

  On an unrelated note, I've also set up [this site](https://corollari.github.io/bitcoin-core-docs/), which periodically pulls bitcoin core and turns its docs into a webpage. Browsing the docs can also be done locally or on github, so this doesn't add much value, but I personally find that more comfortable and it makes them more searchable.

Top commit has no ACKs.

Tree-SHA512: 5ce06026176917304932714470be8c3410d35698f925875b0955ecd3b1756ef52793feb469dd4bdac4921f1a24daf59001e9911f1f096f559fb28c250baae378

2023-01-23 12:22:29 -06:00

7.7 KiB

Raw Blame History

Dash Core file system

Contents

Data directory location
Data directory layout
Multi-wallet environment
GUI settings
Legacy subdirectories and files
Notes

Data directory location

The data directory is the default location where the Dash Core files are stored.

The default data directory paths for supported platforms are:

Platform	Data directory path
Linux	`$HOME/.dashcore/`
macOS	`$HOME/Library/Application Support/Dashcore/`
Windows	`%APPDATA%\Dashcore\` ^[1]

The non-default data directory path can be specified by -datadir option.
All content of the data directory, except for dash.conf file, is chain-specific. This means the actual data directory paths for non-mainnet cases differ:

Chain option	Data directory path
no option (mainnet)	path_to_datadir`/`
`-testnet`	path_to_datadir`/testnet3/`
`-regtest`	path_to_datadir`/regtest/`

Data directory layout

Subdirectory	File(s)	Description
`blocks/`		Blocks directory; can be specified by `-blocksdir` option (except for `blocks/index/`)
`blocks/index/`	LevelDB database	Block index; `-blocksdir` option does not affect this path
`blocks/`	`blkNNNNN.dat`^[2]	Actual Dash blocks (in network format, dumped in raw on disk, 128 MiB per file)
`blocks/`	`revNNNNN.dat`^[2]	Block undo data (custom format)
`chainstate/`	LevelDB database	Blockchain state (a compact representation of all currently unspent transaction outputs and some metadata about the transactions they are from)
`indexes/txindex/`	LevelDB database	Transaction index; optional, used if `-txindex=1`
`indexes/blockfilter/basic/db/`	LevelDB database	Blockfilter index LevelDB database for the basic filtertype; optional, used if `-blockfilterindex=basic`
`indexes/blockfilter/basic/`	`fltrNNNNN.dat`^[2]	Blockfilter index filters for the basic filtertype; optional, used if `-blockfilterindex=basic`
`wallets/`		Contains wallets; can be specified by `-walletdir` option; if `wallets/` subdirectory does not exist, a wallet resides in the data directory
`evodb/`		special txes and quorums database
`llmq/`		quorum signatures database
`./`	`banlist.dat`	Stores the IPs/subnets of banned nodes
`./`	`dash.conf`	User-defined configuration settings for `dashd` or `dash-qt`. File is not written to by the software and must be created manually. Path can be specified by `-conf` option
`./`	`dashd.pid`	Stores the process ID (PID) of `dashd` or `dash-qt` while running; created at start and deleted on shutdown; can be specified by `-pid` option
`./`	`debug.log`	Contains debug information and general logging generated by `dashd` or `dash-qt`; can be specified by `-debuglogfile` option
`./`	`governance.dat`	stores data for governance objects
`./`	`mncache.dat`	stores data for masternode list
`./`	`netfulfilled.dat`	stores data about recently made network requests
`./`	`fee_estimates.dat`	Stores statistics used to estimate minimum transaction fees and priorities required for confirmation
`./`	`guisettings.ini.bak`	Backup of former GUI settings after `-resetguisettings` option is used
`./`	`mempool.dat`	Dump of the mempool's transactions
`./`	`onion_v3_private_key`	Cached Tor hidden service private key for `-listenonion` option
`./`	`peers.dat`	Peer IP address database (custom format)
`./`	`settings.json`	Read-write settings set through GUI or RPC interfaces, augmenting manual settings from dash.conf. File is created automatically if read-write settings storage is not disabled with `-nosettings` option. Path can be specified with `-settings` option
`./`	`.cookie`	Session RPC authentication cookie; if used, created at start and deleted on shutdown; can be specified by `-rpccookiefile` option
`./`	`.lock`	Data directory lock file

Multi-wallet environment

Wallets are Berkeley DB (BDB) databases:

Subdirectory	File(s)	Description
`database/`	BDB logging files	Part of BDB environment; created at start and deleted on shutdown; a user must keep it as safe as personal wallet `wallet.dat`
`./`	`db.log`	BDB error file
`./`	`wallet.dat`	Personal wallet (BDB) with keys and transactions
`./`	`.walletlock`	Wallet lock file

Each user-defined wallet named "wallet_name" resides in wallets/wallet_name/ subdirectory.
The default (unnamed) wallet resides in wallets/ subdirectory; if the latter does not exist, the wallet resides in the data directory.
A wallet database path can be specified by -wallet option.
wallet.dat files must not be shared across different node instances, as that can result in key-reuse and double-spends due the lack of synchronization between instances.
Any copy or backup of the wallet should be done through a backupwallet call in order to update and lock the wallet, preventing any file corruption caused by updates during the copy.

GUI settings

dash-qt uses QSettings class; this implies platform-specific locations where application settings are stored.

Legacy subdirectories and files

These subdirectories and files are no longer used by the Dash Core:

Path	Description	Repository notes
`blktree/`	Blockchain index; replaced by `blocks/index/` in 0.8.0	PR #2231, `8fdc94cc`
`coins/`	Unspent transaction output database; replaced by `chainstate/` in 0.8.0	PR #2231, `8fdc94cc`
`blkindex.dat`	Blockchain index BDB database; replaced by {`chainstate/`, `blocks/index/`, `blocks/revNNNNN.dat`^[2]} in 0.8.0	PR #1677
`blk000?.dat`	Block data (custom format, 2 GiB per file); replaced by `blocks/blkNNNNN.dat`^[2] in 0.8.0	PR #1677
`addr.dat`	Peer IP address BDB database; replaced by `peers.dat` in 0.7.0	PR #1198, `928d3a01`

Notes

1. The / (slash, U+002F) is used as the platform-independent path component separator in this paper.

2. NNNNN matches [0-9]{5} regex.

7.7 KiB Raw Blame History