database
========

[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/btcsuite/btcd.png?branch=master)]
(https://travis-ci.org/btcsuite/btcd)

Package database provides a block and metadata storage database.

Please note that this package is intended to enable btcd to support different
database backends and is not something that a client can directly access as only
one entity can have the database open at a time (for most database backends),
and that entity will be btcd.

When a client wants programmatic access to the data provided by btcd, they'll
likely want to use the [btcrpcclient](https://github.com/btcsuite/btcrpcclient)
package which makes use of the [JSON-RPC API]
(https://github.com/btcsuite/btcd/tree/master/docs/json_rpc_api.md).

However, this package could be extremely useful for any applications requiring
Bitcoin block storage capabilities.

As of July 2015, there are over 365,000 blocks in the Bitcoin block chain and
and over 76 million transactions (which turns out to be over 35GB of data).
This package provides a database layer to store and retrieve this data in a
simple and efficient manner.

The default backend, ffldb, has a strong focus on speed, efficiency, and
robustness.  It makes use of leveldb for the metadata, flat files for block
storage, and strict checksums in key areas to ensure data integrity.

## Feature Overview

- Key/value metadata store
- Bitcoin block storage
- Efficient retrieval of block headers and regions (transactions, scripts, etc)
- Read-only and read-write transactions with both manual and managed modes
- Nested buckets
- Iteration support including cursors with seek capability
- Supports registration of backend databases
- Comprehensive test coverage

## Documentation

[![GoDoc](https://godoc.org/github.com/btcsuite/btcd/database?status.png)]
(http://godoc.org/github.com/btcsuite/btcd/database)

Full `go doc` style documentation for the project can be viewed online without
installing this package by using the GoDoc site here:
http://godoc.org/github.com/btcsuite/btcd/database

You can also view the documentation locally once the package is installed with
the `godoc` tool by running `godoc -http=":6060"` and pointing your browser to
http://localhost:6060/pkg/github.com/btcsuite/btcd/database

## Installation

```bash
$ go get github.com/btcsuite/btcd/database
```

## Examples

* [Basic Usage Example]
  (http://godoc.org/github.com/btcsuite/btcd/database#example-package--BasicUsage)  
  Demonstrates creating a new database and using a managed read-write
  transaction to store and retrieve metadata.

* [Block Storage and Retrieval Example]
  (http://godoc.org/github.com/btcsuite/btcd/database#example-package--BlockStorageAndRetrieval)  
  Demonstrates creating a new database, using a managed read-write transaction
  to store a block, and then using a managed read-only transaction to fetch the
  block.

## License

Package database is licensed under the [copyfree](http://copyfree.org) ISC
License.