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diff --git a/doc/README b/doc/README index 789cc9fb87..01b1d40050 100644 --- a/doc/README +++ b/doc/README @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ -Bitcoin 0.4.1 BETA +Bitcoin 0.5.0 BETA Copyright (c) 2009-2011 Bitcoin Developers Distributed under the MIT/X11 software license, see the accompanying @@ -19,99 +19,12 @@ with each other, with the help of a P2P network to check for double-spending. Setup ----- Unpack the files into a directory and run: - bin/32/bitcoin (GUI, 32-bit) + bin/32/bitcoin-qt (GUI, 32-bit) bin/32/bitcoind (headless, 32-bit) - bin/64/bitcoin (GUI, 64-bit) + bin/64/bitcoin-qt (GUI, 64-bit) bin/64/bitcoind (headless, 64-bit) -Wallet Encryption ------------------ -Bitcoin supports native wallet encryption so that people who steal your -wallet file don't automatically get access to all of your Bitcoins. -In order to enable this feature, chose "Encrypt Wallet" from the -Options menu. You will be prompted to enter a passphrase, which -will be used as the key to encrypt your wallet and will be needed -every time you wish to send Bitcoins. If you lose this passphrase, -you will lose access to spend all of the bitcoins in your wallet, -no one, not even the Bitcoin developers can recover your Bitcoins. -This means you are responsible for your own security, store your -passphrase in a secure location and do not forget it. - -Remember that the encryption built into bitcoin only encrypts the -actual keys which are required to send your bitcoins, not the full -wallet. This means that someone who steals your wallet file will -be able to see all the addresses which belong to you, as well as the -relevant transactions, you are only protected from someone spending -your coins. - -It is recommended that you backup your wallet file before you -encrypt your wallet. To do this, close the Bitcoin client and -copy the wallet.dat file from ~/.bitcoin/ on Linux, /Users/(user -name)/Application Support/Bitcoin/ on Mac OSX, and %APPDATA%/Bitcoin/ -on Windows (that is /Users/(user name)/AppData/Roaming/Bitcoin on -Windows Vista and 7 and /Documents and Settings/(user name)/Application -Data/Bitcoin on Windows XP). Once you have copied that file to a -safe location, reopen the Bitcoin client and Encrypt your wallet. -If everything goes fine, delete the backup and enjoy your encrypted -wallet. Note that once you encrypt your wallet, you will never be -able to go back to a version of the Bitcoin client older than 0.4. - -Keep in mind that you are always responsible for your own security. -All it takes is a slightly more advanced wallet-stealing trojan which -installs a keylogger to steal your wallet passphrase as you enter it -in addition to your wallet file and you have lost all your Bitcoins. -Wallet encryption cannot keep you safe if you do not practice -good security, such as running up-to-date antivirus software, only -entering your wallet passphrase in the Bitcoin client and using the -same passphrase only as your wallet passphrase. - - -Technical details of wallet encryption --------------------------------------- -Wallet encryption uses AES-256-CBC to encrypt only the private keys -that are held in a wallet. The keys are encrypted with a master key -which is entirely random. This master key is then encrypted with -AES-256-CBC with a key derived from the passphrase using SHA512 and -OpenSSL's EVP_BytesToKey and a dynamic number of rounds determined by -the speed of the machine which does the initial encryption (and is -updated based on the speed of a computer which does a subsequent -passphrase change). Although the underlying code supports multiple -encrypted copies of the same master key (and thus multiple passphrases) -the client does not yet have a method to add additional passphrases. - -At runtime, the client loads the wallet as it normally would, however -the keystore stores the keys in encrypted form. When the passphrase -is required (to top up keypool or send coins) it will either be queried -by a GUI prompt, or must first be entered with the walletpassphrase -RPC command. This will change the wallet to "unlocked" state where the -unencrypted master key is stored in memory (in the case of GUI, only for -long enough to complete the requested operation, in RPC, for as long as -is specified by the second parameter to walletpassphrase). The wallet is -then locked (or can be manually locked using the walletlock RPC command) -and the unencrypted master key is removed from memory. - -Implementation details of wallet encryption -------------------------------------------- -When the wallet is locked, calls to sendtoaddress, sendfrom, sendmany, -and keypoolrefill will return Error -13: "Error: Please enter the wallet -passphrase with walletpassphrase first." - -When the wallet is unlocked, calls to walletpassphrase will fail. - -When a wallet is encrypted, the passphrase is required to top up the -keypool, thus, if the passphrase is rarely entered, it is possible that -keypool might run out. In this case, the default key will be used as the -target for payouts for mining, and calls to getnewaddress and getaccount -address will return an error. In order to prevent such cases, the keypool -is automatically refilled when walletpassphrase is called with a correct -passphrase and when topupkeypool is called (while the wallet is unlocked). -Note that the keypool continues to be topped up on various occasions when -a new key from pool is used and the wallet is unlocked (or unencrypted). - - - See the documentation at the bitcoin wiki: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Main_Page - -... for help and more information. +for help and more information. |