Testing Bitcoin Core 0.21 Release Candidates (tests)

Dec 23, 2020

Notes

Major versions of Bitcoin Core are released every 6-8 months. See the Life Cycle documentation for full details.
When all of the PRs for a release have been merged, Release Candidate 1 (rc1) is tagged. The rc is then tested. If any issues are found, fixes are merged into the branch and a new rc is tagged. This continues until no major issues are found in an rc, and that rc is then considered to be the final release version.
To ensure that users don’t experience issues with the new software, it’s essential that the rcs are thoroughly tested. This special review club meeting is for people who want to help with that vital review process.
This Bitcoin Core Release Candidate Testing Guide has a tutorial for testing the release candidate.

Meeting Log

18:00

<jarolrod> #startmeeting

18:00

<jarolrod> It’s a Christmas Miracle! The Bitcoin Core PR Review Club has returned for a Special Edition on testing the upcoming 0.21 release

18:00

<jarolrod> You have been enlisted to ensure the upcoming Bitcoin Core 0.21 Release is ready for production by going through some of its changes.

18:00

<jarolrod> Here are your mission instructions: https://gist.github.com/jarolrod/6495932dc6b598ddef49e6374b348f4e

18:00

<jarolrod> If you accept this mission, send a ‘hi’ in the chat. (Also so that we know who’s here)

18:00

<hmrawal> hi

18:00

<andozw> hi

18:00

<michaelfolkson> hi

18:00

<effexzi> hi

18:01

<anastasiia> Hi

18:01

<Caralie> hi

18:01

<jarolrod> Is anyone here for the first time?

18:01

<jnewbery> hi

18:01

<ajonas> hi

18:01

<anastasiia> Yes

18:01

<jarolrod> hello there anastasiia, welcome!

18:02

<jarolrod> I have linked to the guide, does everyone have it open?

18:02

<emzy> hi

18:02

<anastasiia> Yes

18:03

<michaelfolkson> Sure do

18:03

<Caralie> yes

18:03

<murtyjones> Yes

18:03

<hmrawal> yes

18:03

<jarolrod> Great. For all who’ve enlisted, here is a a magnifying glass, notebook, and pen. Let’s start inspecting!

18:04

<jarolrod> Those here for the first time: If any question pops up, just go right ahead and say it. You don’t need to ask in order to ask a question.

18:04

<jarolrod> We will begin with the section titled ‘Preparation’

18:04

<jarolrod> You have the option of grabbing the release candidate binary or compiling from source code.

18:05

<jarolrod> we'll wait for everyone to get there copy of the release candidate

18:05

<fodediop> hi

18:06

<Sishir> hi

18:06

<michaelfolkson> Any preference on the side of the core devs? I'm guessing the preference from the tester should be compile from source code

18:08

<jarolrod> hey there fodediop and sishir, we're just getting started. We're grabbing the rc candidate from the testing guide

18:08

<emzy> I downloaded the binary and checked the SHA256 hash of the binary against the gitian build.

18:09

<jarolrod> compiling is preferred, but compiling can take some time depending on the machine. Those who are not comfortable with compiling should grab the binary

18:10

<felixweis> hi

18:10

<jarolrod> emzy: 🎉

18:11

<jarolrod> welcome felixweis

18:11

<ajonas> emzy: did you use https://github.com/fanquake/core-review/tree/master/gitian-building to check that or the docs on bitcoin core?

18:13

<emzy> ajonas: I have still an old setup for the gitian builds. It is this https://github.com/bitcoin-core/docs/blob/master/gitian-building.md

18:14

<jonatack> hi

18:14

<michaelfolkson> By "old" you mean it shouldn't be followed anymore?

18:14

<murtyjones> For the macOS binary, how do we specify using the /tmp/21-rc-test data directory on launch?

18:14

<felixweis> is the apple signing bug for rc3 tracked somewhere?

18:15

<jarolrod> jonatack: welcome!

18:15

<jonatack> michaelfolkson: istm the goal is to test the binaries, as that is what most people will use...happy to be corrected on that

18:16

<jonatack> jarolrod: thanks ✨

18:17

<emzy> michaelfolkson: good question. I think the docker one from fanquake seems to be easier to set up.

18:17

<felixweis> nevermind

18:18

<jarolrod> does everyone have a copy of the current release candidate?

18:18

<jonatack> murtyjones: you can specify the data directory by passing -datadir=PATH on the command line or datadir=PATH in the bitcoin.conf configuration filse

18:18

<jonatack> file

18:19

<emzy> murtyjones: /Applications/Bitcoin-Qt.app/Contents/MacOS/Bitcoin-Qt -datadir=/tmp/21-rc-test

18:19

<murtyjones> thanks!

18:22

<jarolrod> The testing guide is divided into four missions: `Testing the Wallet`, `Testing Torv3`, `Signet`, and `Anchors`

18:22

<jarolrod> As you go through each section, please bring up any questions or problems that arise

18:22

<jonatack> one thought, the guide says to test the GUI or the command line per your preference, but if you can it's good to test both, as there can be issues in one and not the other

18:25

<jarolrod> To be inclusive, some people may not be too comfortable with the command line. If you are able to test both, then great!

18:26

<emzy> In the .dmg for macOS is afaik only the GUI version included. So I only tested that.

18:29

<jarolrod> emzy: AFAIK that is correct

18:30

<jonatack> the tor conf can be more minimal, e.g. no need to set onlynet=onion

18:31

<emzy> jonatack: I think it is important so see that you can bootstrap from tor only.

18:31

<jonatack> nor proxy/bind either in some cases

18:32

<hmrawal> I can still do the testing for 0.21 on testnet version right?

18:33

<jonatack> hmrawal: yep, the testnet chain is fine, and definitely try signet too

18:33

<hmrawal> jonatack: sure

18:34

<emzy> hmrawal: the tor part in the document adds some mainnet tor V3 onions. They will not work for testnet.

18:34

<murtyjones> should it take a while to connect to peers using tor? my node has been stuck on "Connecting to peers" for a bit and nodes keep appearing and disappearing from the "Peers" window

18:34

<jonatack> emzy: that's true

18:34

<felixweis> signet does IBD much faster

18:34

<jonatack> signet starts up much faster too. my go-to for quick manual testing.

18:34

<emzy> felixweis: because of smaller blocks ;)

18:35

<jarolrod> murtyjones: yes connecting to tor can take some time, we've supplied some torv3 nodes in the bitcoin.conf to try to get around this

18:35

<michaelfolkson> You can't see which connections are anchor in the GUI or CLI (getpeerinfo etc)?

18:35

<murtyjones> (y)

18:36

<emzy> btw. I'm running sxjbhmhob2xasx3vdsy5ke5j5jwecmh3ca4wbs7wf6sg4g2lm3mbszqd.onion

18:36

<felixweis> windows -> network traffic

18:36

<jonatack> michaelfolkson: the anchor connections will be the initial block-only peers. you can see them easily with ./src/bitcoin-cli -netinfo 4

18:37

<hmrawal> not sure but how much size is required in signet

18:37

<felixweis> emzy: which net?

18:38

<emzy> felixweis: mainnet

18:38

<felixweis> can you run a signet instance too please?

18:39

<jonatack> emzy: just connected to you

18:39

<emzy> felixweis: hm. Maybe on another host. This box is busy with the mainnet :)

18:39

<jonatack> if anyone wants to connect to emzy, run this on the command line:

18:39

<jonatack> ./src/bitcoin-cli addnode sxjbhmhob2xasx3vdsy5ke5j5jwecmh3ca4wbs7wf6sg4g2lm3mbszqd.onion onetry

18:39

<emzy> jonatack: I see one onion connection incomming.

18:40

<jonatack> emzy: the subversion should have @jon at the end

18:40

<jarolrod> for those on the tor section, here's some extra-credit work

18:40

<jarolrod> 1. Running `bitcoind` with the `-debug=tor` configuration option lets you see useful info on the onion configuration

18:40

<jarolrod> 2. This release includes a dashboard that lets you see useful network information. Instead of `getpeerinfo`, one can run `-netinfo 4`

18:40

<emzy> jonatack: yes: "70016/Satoshi:21.99.0(@jon)/"

18:40

<jarolrod> thanks jonatack for the tips

18:41

<jonatack> yes, -debug=tor is handy for seeing in the debug log if your tor setup has any issues or is working ok

18:42

<jonatack> it's not too noisy logging-wise so i always use it

18:44

<emzy> felixweis: signet: 4sk25djzsqqscnv4yfbbntiuo6xxbmddfweppmpc6p6wlt33p36iluyd.onion

18:45

<murtyjones> Have to drop off but thanks jarolrod!

18:45

<jarolrod> murtyjones: thanks for testing!

18:46

<jonatack> jarolrod: this idea and guide and the one by ajonas is great. taking action, testing PRs and releases, and reporting feedback are a valuable part of reviewing.

18:47

<hmrawal> I have started signet, says connecting to peers . Is there some config that we should do beforehand ?

100

18:47

<michaelfolkson> Presumably those are temporary Tor nodes you've put up emzy. Would be good to know of a persistent Signet Tor node when doing Tor testing

101

18:48

<michaelfolkson> (outside of this session)

102

18:48

<jarolrod> hmrawal: the main config is to enable signet in your bitcoin.conf, one note is that for many it takes some time to connect as it is a new network

103

18:48

<felixweis> emzy, thanks still trying to get tor working

104

18:48

<jonatack> i have 4 tor v3 onion peers in signet ATM

105

18:48

<jarolrod> hmrawal: emzy put up a signet tor node in the chat, you can addnode it

106

18:49

<emzy> michaelfolkson: I could move the onions to some server. If people are interested.

107

18:49

<michaelfolkson> Persistent jonatack? Can I have one? :)

108

18:49

<jonatack> two testing 0.21.0 and two running master (0.21.99)

109

18:49

<jonatack> qlci54ryrj6ywxgki5vvf45fwtp3yhdxxftgnhczvo37qpc2abqcjoid.onion:38333

110

18:49

<michaelfolkson> Thanks

111

18:49

<jonatack> v7ajjeirttkbnt32wpy3c6w3emwnfr3fkla7hpxcfokr3ysd3kqtzmqd.onion:38333

112

18:49

<jarolrod> jonatack: thank you! ✨

113

18:49

<jonatack> those two are 0.21

114

18:49

<jonatack> hx3x3dhdxd5jbz5popeydcehuj5bpekztoya5b7ymvidlvgj6ean6pid.onion:38333

115

18:49

<jonatack> lktswnpsh3b7ctsvnf7xrjfbesho5l7i3fds2kwvmzufjv7mzgrgoiid.onion:38333

116

18:50

<michaelfolkson> They are running on VPS?

117

18:50

<jonatack> those two are 0.21.99 (master), i think most of them are persistent, maybe run by kalle or aj

118

18:52

<ajonas> With < 10 min left, are people close to being able to leave their comment on #20555?

119

18:52

<hmrawal> Okay, I need a little help. I am running bitcoin qt and in another tab in terminal I entered jonatack's terminal command to add emzy's node but I get an error saying I need to start bitcoind server

120

18:53

<jarolrod> hmrawal: iirc you cannot use bitcoin-cli to talk to bitcoin-qt

121

18:53

<jonatack> hmrawal: try entering it on the GUI (bitcoin qt) console

122

18:54

<jarolrod> as jonatack said

123

18:54

<sipa> jarolrod: you can, if bitcoin-qt was started with -server option

124

18:54

<ajonas> or you an add to your conf and restart

125

18:54

<jarolrod> sipa: thanks, didn't know that!

126

18:54

<emzy> hmrawal: on the GUI you have to use the console window (in bitcoin-qt) and type "addnode 4sk25djzsqqscnv4yfbbntiuo6xxbmddfweppmpc6p6wlt33p36iluyd.onion onetry"

127

18:55

<emzy> ^^ for a signet node

128

18:55

<jarolrod> We're getting close to time everyone, 5 minutes!

129

18:56

<jarolrod> Thanks everyone for testing, but the mission is not done!

130

18:57

<jarolrod> please report back your findings here: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/20555

131

18:57

<felixweis> got tor working, was :9150 for some reason

132

18:57

<hmrawal2008> are there any peers to connect for later testing ?

133

18:57

<jarolrod> felixweis: are you on windows?

134

18:57

<emzy> felixweis: that's the port tor-browser is using.

135

18:57

<felixweis> macos tor brwoser

136

18:58

<emzy> afaik Port 9150 is the default one of tor browser

137

18:58

<jonatack> hmrawal2008: you have mainnet tor v3 peers in the guide, and signet ones here in the discussion

138

18:58

<jarolrod> On making a comment on the issue page: list your hardware and operating system, the rc version you tested, what you were able to test, and what you found while testing

139

18:58

<hmrawal2008> so will these peers be available for later use also right ?

140

18:59

<jarolrod> If everything went well, that's great! let us know

141

18:59

<emzy> I will have mine up for a few weeks.

142

18:59

<jonatack> (i don't see any tor v3 peers in testnet ATM)